Roberts and Clarke are obviously talented players, who I'd imagine are incredible in training, but lack a nasty side. Players like Billy Hughes, Summerbee, McGeady, etc, would taunt defenders and invite ridiculous tackles ... ... Clarke avoids that by checking back, coming inside or passing the ball to Cirkin or Pritchard.
Spot on Smug Im not sure though that I could criticise his technique as he did a few times went down the wing and crossed. there were though 4-5 times when instead of getting stuck in at deep crosses Clarke stood off and the attack fizzled out
Not hammering him as such but it is one thing I think he got wrong was a lack of rotation. Obviously that can be a symptom of player availablity but I do think he could have done more with selections and especially subs (earlier!) to help recovery
I class all very late goals as being fortunate having fought a 95 minute stalemate this one's no different in my opinion, however well worked it was it's a lottery that late on. The match was seconds from being another 2 points dropped against a relegation threatened team. We have to do better it's as simple as that, got out of jail today but we may not be as lucky against better opposition. Thankfully we don't look as piss weak at the back so that's a big bonus but we need to kill these games early so the opposition can't play spoiling tactics for the full 90.
He should be kicking their arses tbh. 'Wingers - beat the man, cross the ball. Midfield - go past a man and move the ball quickly. Striker - bully the defenders ffs!'"
However better opposition would play more football against us and be prepared to be more expansive in an effort to actually try and win the game which may allow us to catch them on the break. I would quite fancy our chances in a game of football, may not win all the time but far more interesting than 10 men behind the ball and time wasting
Haven't taken any notice but if they nicked a win in the last minute then yeah they were lucky. Our opposition were set up to a) piss us off, b) stifle our attack, c) waste time and d) stop us scoring. They did all of it really well for 95 minutes so I would say we were fortunate to get all three points regardless of how we dominated the game as their game plan worked a treat up until that point and we couldn't put the ball in the net. Had we nicked an early goal all that would have been out of the window and we would have probably run riot and given them a good old arse kicking. It didn't though but I am happy we stuck at it and grabbed the winner at the end. It feels great that we scored so late to take the points but what would it be like now if that last chance was saved or went wide, we would be gutted and pissed off in equal measure wouldn't we?
Why is a goal is the first minute less lucky than the last? We've won the game whereas Oxford lost theirs with a goal in some minute or another. That means we have a better chance of going up ... ... if we're lucky.
Interesting to hear his comments on the extra man behind the ball. I thought his line up today was too defensive minded. If he has the players able though to play ahead of the ball from deeper positions, whether that be full backs or holding midfielders then that is impressive coaching. It is what Man City do well with their play, at any given moment there is a minimum number of players ahead of the ball. It takes some doing as a coach though, and players need to be really alert. If this is something he wants to do I applaud it. What is key though is to be patient in possession when playing like that and play really quick balls, so still aomething to work on.
He appears to be very very tactically switched on imo. I think we have got ourselves a really good gaffer. Maybe we won't go up this season but he needs to stay for next season regardless.
In the last minute you have had the whole game to score and have failed meaning the game looks like it's going to end level barring the last gasp effort. I would argue a 1st minute goal is just as lucky anyway as these are often scored because of mistakes due to teams taking a few minutes to settle into a rhythm at the start of a match. Often early goals do not result in the floodgates opening for the team that took advantage of the opposition starting slowly and making the initial mistake. They were fortunate in catching the opposition "sleeping" in the first few minutes.
The greatest pleasure I've had in a long time was to watch the gillies complain about our keeper taking his time with the last goal kick. I know, a sad old git, but still.
Can someone please get our wingers to go on the outside more than twice a game please. It really annoys me the constant coming inside
