Christ on an e-bike, 'suicide pinball'. Allsopp passed to Seri in acres of space with plenty of time and he chose, under no pressure, to pass it to one of theirs. It was an unforced error, nothing to do with the way we play football, unless you think the goalie should be belting all possession up to the ghost of Tom Eaves.
Anyone who's done any form of coaching. I know when I've coached friendlies or warm up games the general motto is "dont worry if you make a mistake thats what these games are for"
when I heared about bruised ribs I'd think "what's wrong with that I've had lots of bruises and it didnt affect me?" then I got bruised ribs and breathing was agony! broken ribs must be a lot worse
So we’re agreed it’s actually the first time this season in a competitive game? I’ll settle for that. In fact I wonder how many teams will have zero in our league, whatever style they play?
One was a training session, another a reserve team in a Mickey Mouse cup. So not for me. Better to make mistakes in those games.
If the goalkeeper passes the ball out to Seri it seems ridiculous to do what Seri did even if the player had been on our side we seem to pass the ball for the sake of it rather than to pass the ball forward the rule in playing from the back is to "play the ball forward if possible" we seem to think the rule is "play the ball sideways if possible"
Doncaster wasnt a competitive game now? it's been three times this season unless you think that you should try to take risks if it's not a league match
First paragraph I don't really agree with, the second one I do... It's not necessarily a 50/50 ball when you go long if the ball is good and a player has made a good run. We scored two goals from good long balls v Millwall, neither came from inviting pressure onto ourselves. You're conflating playing direct with playing long balls. Direct can be forward passing with purpose and into space, at a high tempo. What we didn't really have today was anyone making runs into space, but because we had central players out wide and because we took too long going sideways far too deep in our own half. The instance where Delap wins a free kick on the edge of their box, he was trying to dance through 4 of them. There was very little outlet from anyone else. You could see how frustrated he was today. Playing long balls doesn't have the same risk as trying to pass around the opposition in front our own goal. We lose possession from a punt up the field, we have time to react. We lose possession in front of our goal they only have to pull the trigger. Why do you think at the end of games the leading teams hold the ball up at the opposition corner flag and not their own corner flag. If you lose the ball in front of your own goal you've got potentially as little as one touch to try and resolve the issue. We've not played around our box so much since the international break, nor have we passed back to the keeper as much either, until today. Again, no wingers helping us drive it forwards probably caused that problem by and large.
You're really being quite facetious now. Next you'll be moaning about goals conceded in training because players should be trying their best in training.
This is a good point to be fair. To some extent I've conflated how we used to play with the mistake an individual made today. In the same breath if we didn't insist on that pass regularly and we went wide instead it wouldn't be setting the CM up for a fall in the first place. That one touch pass to wide whilst running towards your own goal isn't an easy pass to make. We're better at it than we were, but I think that specific element of our possession play should be removed.
Precisely. Training/friendlies are for making mistakes so players know what does and doesn't work in a risk free setting. There's nothing on the line so that's when players should be trying new things or making mistakes to know their limitations/opportunities so that when the real thing rolls around, they'll be better prepared.
Yes, stick a loaded dustbin in the position he takes up a few yards from his own penalty area and ping the ball off that. Move him to a more advanced position near the halfway line and allow him to skillfully dictate the game from there. Watch him go! I think it's a goer, what about you?
Yes. Live at the match I thought Allsop was equally at fault, but then saw the replay in the screen. It was a total balls-up by Seri, and I agree, not under particular pressure.
I agree that playing direct has worked for us at points but that has been by and large down to inviting pressure due to the risk of playing from the back. Against Milwall they went with a high line and press first half and it failed. But they did it because they thought that they could get it off us hence the space in behind. My point is that against a team like WBA today who have a deeper line then playing direct has the same inherent risk as playing out from the back. The reason being is that you are more likely to concede possession playing direct against a deeper line and allow a team to set up their attack. Yes we have time to react but so do they and this in turn does invite pressure in the form of having to deal with the potential of constantly playing it directly. Losing possession and subsequently having to defend an attack. There's an addage from a Spanish coach whose name escapes me but it generally goes along the line of "the quicker they receive the ball in their half the quicker they are to attack" Playing long balls does have the same risk especially with our midfield. We dont have the legs for them to contest second balls. I do agree that without the wingers providing any threat we didn't have the drive as that is normally where our transition comes from once we have beaten the press. For the record it frustrates me seeing Traore or Twine today receive the ball in a decent position to turn and play it back. I wont criticise the team, however, for playing out from the back which lead to the mistake today from Seri. It was a poor pass that he's made countless times before. We will make that mistake again I have no doubt as we are a championship team for a reason. But this playstyle has led to us sitting 9th in the table and getting some pretty good results. Its a philosophical thing and I get that everyone has different ways they would rather their football team play but as I said in an earlier post. We may as well buckle up and enjoy it come rain or shine. Regardless of playstyle they will make mistakes and will have games were they look unbeatable. To blame mistakes on playstyle is futile
You said: "Playing it direct in itself comes with as equal risk than playing it around the back especially when you have the distinct lack of physicality we have in this squad. As much as we did concede the way we did today it would be as equally **** to see Allsop hoof a long one to Tufan to lose it and in transition we get ****ed on the counter. But that wouldn’t be highlighted because Allsop would’ve in theory played the “less risky” pass but in reality it’s lead to the same outcome." do you think the only alternative to messing about at the back is "Allsop hoof a long one to Tufan to lose it"? Playing the ball from goalkeeper to defender with his back to his opponents has the same risk of losing the ball as playing the ball further forward if both times they are in space the problem is that if you make a mistake on the edge of your area when opponents are pressing you then it's more likely to result in conceding a goal if our players are in our opponents half and we lose possession we have more opportunity to ensure we dont concede a goal we should pass forward quickly if possible not wait until our opponents have a good defensive shape
