I’m not saying he’s undroppable, I just think some of the stick he’s getting is a bit unfair, in the circumstances. The trouble is if you were going to push him into the ‘number 10’ role, he’s then up against Tufan, Traore or Twine. He’s been a regular under Rosie but I suspect once everyone is fit and up to speed, he may well struggle to hold down a regular first team spot but will still be an important part of the squad.
Some strange takes on here today. How anyone can watch last night's game and blame us not scoring on playing out from the back is beyond me. We barely even did it yesterday, Leeds dominated the ball first half and for most of the second they were sat off us, letting us come on to them, so there was no build up from the back to be done. Just seems to be the easy thing to reach for any time people are unhappy.
Not sure anyone is blaming not scoring on playing out from the back as such! Rightly, imo, some are saying that we continue to be too slow / pedestrian too often. And we managed several times to 're-cycle' from advanced attacking positions, both in set piece situations and open play, back to our keeper. All this even during the 2nd half against 10 men. We still need quicker build up, to look forward rather than backward, to show more urgency & adventure, etc more than we are doing .... but tbf we are gradually getting better. Although Ingram hasn't done much wrong, I thought Allsop last night was a serious upgrade in terms of speed, accuracy and calculated risk (only 1 'hairy' moment I can recall).
I agree but that is an issue in itself. Last night’s game plan, especially in the first half, was odd. It was like a hybrid of playing out from the back and long ball. What I mean by that is, we played out from the keeper and the back four played short, simple passes amongst themselves but then they just hoofed it to Delap. We rarely played the ball on the ground in midfield and to the forward line. We did that more when they went to ten men but by that point, they just sat deep and played for the point. If we are to play possession-based football and build from the back, Rosenior and the team need to be confident and brave enough to do it against the better teams in the division. We gave Leeds far too much respect. On the plus side, we defended really well and were solid barring Rutter’s chance clean through on goal but going forward we lacked bravery to play the ball on the ground. I also think a flat 4-4-2 doesn’t suit this possession football. I don’t want to blame it on formations but Delap as a target man and Connolly as a second striker feeding on knock downs and making runs in behind the defence is more suited to the long-ball or quick counter-attacking football most English teams played in the 2000s. For possession football to be effective, you really need three in midfield. Whether it’s two holding mids and a #10 or one holding mid and two ‘#8s’, you need that extra man in midfield to link up. Twine was also ineffective. His positioning was woeful and he just didn’t offer much on the ball. Square pegs in round holes by playing him on the right. Either play him as a #10 or inside left-winger like he’s played most his career, or play someone else on the right.
Doesn't state 65m worth of talent vs 210m though does it? Decent point against a technically superior side and folk are blaming the tactics that levelled the playing field, and acting as if it was an expected win. Guess some folk will always have something to moan about.
Greaves might have a promising carreer within MMA after he hangs up his boots Coyle's nose took a proper hit from that arm
Don't know if it's been said, but the fact that Coyle went off after getting at least 5 mins of treatment with no sub ready to replace him was baffling. McLoughlin only took off his warm up gear after Coyle was walking off behind the north stand goal. The communication between the medics and the bench can't have been working or it just simply wasn't mentioned at all. Odd.
And then the ref only added 6 minutes added time despite all the substitutions and their ****er right back wasting a good minute going off
Baffles me that we had to stop the game for Gnonto being on the floor with a sore leg, but Coyle getting cleaned out by an obvious blow to the head wasn't worthy of a stoppage. I'm always conscious of being biased but I'm really struggling to see how there can possibly be a justification for that. The rules are pretty clear that the one time you definitely do stop is for a head injury, but last night the rule seemed to be you stop the game as long as Leeds aren't on the attack.
I think using the odd long ball has always been part of the plan. When they press high, we go long and try to get a striker to hold it up. Delap is brilliant at that. I think it's very harsh to accuse us of not being brave enough to play out against the top teams. LR has made it clear that that's exactly what we do want to do, and we won at Leicester doing it. Last night we came up against a team who for the first half played better than us. Our pressing was poor according to LR, and Leeds played well. That happens. Doesn't mean we bottled it or didn't want to play football.
