I've said this before so apologies for repeating myself, but the fact that six of the players that played for us today were League One players with us sort of highlights where the issue lies. You can see the likes of Seri, Christie, Oscar, Tufan etc pinging balls about at pace, but the others aren't at that level of awareness and they don't appear to be able to play consistently at that tempo. I think Doc would be the exception to this and he wouldn't have been bullied off the ball like Woods was for their goal. Our main attacking strategy, once again for what feels like the billionth time under a "new manager", is crosses into the box. Blackpool's goal came from pressing us. One thing I've noticed about many teams in this division, they aren't overly reliant on crosses. Many play through the middle using a recognised playmaker. Crosses still go in, but they're not the only source of attack and I really think this dependency on it makes us so one dimensional.
Good point, and we don't really have any proper wingers! Perhaps if we did it would work better, who knows.
He's on about the Sheff utd home game. Today was our biggest attendance of home fans this season but because Sheff U brought more than Blackpool then the overall gate vs Sheff utd was higher than today.
Yes. We’re so predictable. It gets passed from left to right and right to left across the back-line, then to Seri who looks up and sees someone making a run on the wing so passes to them, then whoever’s on the wing will wait for the full-back to overlap and they’ll play it to them who will then attempt a cross. Also, I’ve said it all season, but someone stronger and more physical next to Seri would allow Seri and Tufan to play more through the middle. Woods isn’t the worst midfielder we’ve ever had but he’s painfully average. He doesn’t excel at defending/breaking up play like a traditional holding midfielder but he isn’t creative or positive enough passing forward. Mr Sideways Pass should be his nickname. Woods should be backup for Seri, not his midfield partner. I don’t know any good or great team that plays two holding midfielders in today’s game that are both diminutive ball-players. I do think Smallwood would be a better partner for Seri than Woods as it stands, and one of the biggest mistakes in the summer was not replacing Smallwood with a like-for-like traditional #6, albeit much better.
just listened to Rosie - if I've got it right we deserved to win today, but we were **** up front and we were **** at the back - otherwise his tactics would have worked
We tried to sign one and were rebuffed, then by the time we'd been turned down our other target signed for somebody else. So we signed Woods instead. I think Doc would be fine in that role given his robustness and his energy, but for some reason he just isn't getting into the side and I don't know what Woods brings other than the occasional sideways pass.
I don’t agree. We play balls through the middle, diagonal balls, square balls from the wings, pull backs. I think we have a very well rounded lot of attempted chances.
100%. I think Woods is alright and is not a bad player by any stretch, but Doc is needed alongside Seri. I also like Slater, but he’s not a winger. Allahyar or Sinik to start for him. Oh and dare I say it, Longman is looking better and better. Not the finished product, but he’s proving me wrong in the last few matches and is deserving of his starting place.
I think there is clearly work to be done on our attacking play. As you say, the way we use the wide areas is strange. Today we seemed desperate to get it wide and keep it there, but then unsure what to do with it once it was there. A few times we got it wide to Allahyar and Sinik but didn't support them with runs and expected them to just make something happen, which led to Allahyar trying to buy cheap fouls a couple of times. On a couple of other occasions, our full backs had opportunities to drive more centrally towards the box after the winger had drawn a man wide and opened up a space, but all the full back wanted to do was play it out wide again. This happened on both sides in the second half. Once again Coyle's League 1 crossing got us the goal, but relying on that doesn't seem like a very rounded attacking game plan. I'm sure Rosenior will work on this in the coming weeks because the creative side of things is clearly an issue. Several times we got into good positions but just didn't have the right pass, touch or finish to be ruthless with it.
