Match Day Thread Rotherham v Hull City

[SydneyTiger14]

Biggest reason for this is lack of support. Philogene was frustrating the other day but sometimes there was nobody with him for 30 seconds or so. When we break it never seems to be more than 2 players maximum chasing up the pitch. That includes the man on the ball. We just get outnumbered too quickly as a result and part of that absolutely is due to playing it around at the back. We pull players deep to make them available for the pass and then when we do get it forwards occasionally we've too many men back that just can't, don't or won't push up as more of a unit.

Quite often there was someone with him though or an opportunity to shoot earlier and he didn't take it. This was consistently an issue.

 

[PLT]

Biggest reason for this is lack of support. Philogene was frustrating the other day but sometimes there was nobody with him for 30 seconds or so. When we break it never seems to be more than 2 players maximum chasing up the pitch. That includes the man on the ball. We just get outnumbered too quickly as a result and part of that absolutely is due to playing it around at the back. We pull players deep to make them available for the pass and then when we do get it forwards occasionally we've too many men back that just can't, don't or won't push up as more of a unit.

Again I think this kind of ignores the reality of what actually happens. When we play out, we always leave our attackers very high up, waiting for the long pass into space from Allsop if and when the time is right. This is a tactic we rely on a lot and it's pretty unusual. Most teams don't have such a spread of some players high up and other players deep while in possession. This is part of our strategy to stretch the pitch and create space and it often leads to a huge gap for someone in the middle to stride forward into space with it. We often have both of our supposedly holding midfielders committed way up the pitch when we're attacking. I really don't think this team can be criticised for not getting enough men forward.

Clearly there is an issue with converting promising positions into chances, I don't know what the answer is and I'm not saying I do. I think people wind themselves up by coming up with simple explanations when we have a poor performance and convincing themselves that it's the only possible explanation and that if only the manager could see it too then we'd be fine.

 

[GlassHalfHull]

I’d be inclined to try the old fashioned centre forward approach tomorrow. Play Sharp from the off and concentrate on serving balls in that the Championship’s top scorer ever (is that right?) can use. That way, whether Sharp lasts 45 mins or 90, a couple of games or a couple of months, we get the team playing to the opposition’s goal. Drop Connolly or Ohio into that same CF position and keep doing the same. Service, service, service.

 

[originallambrettaman]

Again I think this kind of ignores the reality of what actually happens. When we play out, we always leave our attackers very high up, waiting for the long pass into space from Allsop if and when the time is right. This is a tactic we rely on a lot and it's pretty unusual. Most teams don't have such a spread of some players high up and other players deep while in possession. This is part of our strategy to stretch the pitch and create space and it often leads to a huge gap for someone in the middle to stride forward into space with it. We often have both of our supposedly holding midfielders committed way up the pitch when we're attacking. I really don't think this team can be criticised for not getting enough men forward.

Clearly there is an issue with converting promising positions into chances, I don't know what the answer is and I'm not saying I do. I think people wind themselves up by coming up with simple explanations when we have a poor performance and convincing themselves that it's the only possible explanation and that if only the manager could see it too then we'd be fine.

We're far too slow and predictable when it comes to starting an attack, the fact that 55% of our possession this season has been in our own defensive third shows how much time we spend knocking it around with no purpose, we definitely need to improve this.

 

[NewcastleTiger]

I’d be inclined to try the old fashioned centre forward approach tomorrow. Play Sharp from the off and concentrate on serving balls in that the Championship’s top scorer ever (is that right?) can use. That way, whether Sharp lasts 45 mins or 90, a couple of games or a couple of months, we get the team playing to the opposition’s goal. Drop Connolly or Ohio into that same CF position and keep doing the same. Service, service, service.

Sharp has shown he can’t contribute outside of the penalty box, we don’t create unless our striker does that.

 

[PLT]

It'll be very interesting to see what changes are made tomorrow. Rosenior wasn't happy with intensity levels although he sort of blamed himself for that because he'd been on at them all week about scoring more and killing teams off and he felt it might have contributed to us being overconfident and lacking intensity as a result.

So will he drop players? Carvalho, Philogene and Zaroury were all pretty poor and I suspect it's that end of the pitch he was talking about, but it'd be a shame to bring in all this quality and then have to drop them. The obvious change is to bring a striker in but you'd have to drop one of those three or Tufan. And I couldn't even guess which of the three strikers it'd be. Most curious team selection decision we've had for a while.

 

[PLT]

We're far too slow and predictable when it comes to starting an attack, the fact that 55% of our possession this season has been in our own defensive third shows how much time we spend knocking it around with no purpose, we definitely need to improve this.

And yet we've scored more goals than we have done at this level for years, and that's despite being incredibly wasteful all season.

 

[AlRawdah]

We're far too slow and predictable when it comes to starting an attack, the fact that 55% of our possession this season has been in our own defensive third shows how much time we spend knocking it around with no purpose, we definitely need to improve this.

I watch a few Championship games a week on TV and I don't think we play it around the back four appreciably more than most other teams in the division. Like it or loathe it, they are all at it - and quite a few do it a lot less well that we do.

 

[rovertiger]

Copied off rovrum board about tomorrows officials.
February 2023 - Billy Sharp [Blades] charged by FA for " Attacking the Integrity "
of Leigh Doughty, in a FA cup game against Wrexham.

 

[BlackAndAmberGambler]

Our big problem. No proper no 9 after Delaps injury. Our second big problem, you don’t score goals in your own half and if you are spending 50 per cent of your time playing it around there it makes for no real momentum. Third big problem is Rosie overthinking everything. I like the lad but rather than debate the rights and wrongs the whole team looked like it needed a giant kick up the arse after the first half. We need to do things quicker and let a very good set of players just play.

The last sentence is 100% spot on.

 

[tigers1970]

I’d be inclined to try the old fashioned centre forward approach tomorrow. Play Sharp from the off and concentrate on serving balls in that the Championship’s top scorer ever (is that right?) can use. That way, whether Sharp lasts 45 mins or 90, a couple of games or a couple of months, we get the team playing to the opposition’s goal. Drop Connolly or Ohio into that same CF position and keep doing the same. Service, service, service.

Shame our fantastic manager doesn't read this

 

[TwoWrights]

I watch a few Championship games a week on TV and I don't think we play it around the back four appreciably more than most other teams in the division. Like it or loathe it, they are all at it - and quite a few do it a lot less well that we do.

Lineker to Elton John of Football Focus recently, 'they're all playing out from the back now, even the ones that can't'.


The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.

 

[HulltoHellandback]

Copied off rovrum board about tomorrows officials.
February 2023 - Billy Sharp [Blades] charged by FA for " Attacking the Integrity "
of Leigh Doughty, in a FA cup game against Wrexham.

Another ref we're getting nowt from then

 

[originallambrettaman]

I watch a few Championship games a week on TV and I don't think we play it around the back four appreciably more than most other teams in the division. Like it or loathe it, they are all at it - and quite a few do it a lot less well that we do.

According to the stats we do, we have more touches in our own defensive third than any other team in the league, over double the amount of some teams.

 

[AlRawdah]

According to the stats we do, we have more touches in our own defensive third than any other team in the league, over double the amount of some teams.

Yeah I saw that chart. Didn't pass the eye test for me though.

 

[PLT]

Yeah I saw that chart. Didn't pass the eye test for me though.

It is an interesting stat, but as always with stats you need the full picture. Was it really for the season or just the last game? It came from a Watford fan posting it on Twitter and he didn't say which. What's the rest of the make-up in terms of middle and final thirds? Is our final third proportion particularly low? And is it necessarily a problem anyway if we're creating and scoring goals? Obviously lately we haven't been creating anywhere near enough, but at other times we have, whilst also playing out from the back.

 

[originallambrettaman]

It is an interesting stat, but as always with stats you need the full picture. Was it really for the season or just the last game? It came from a Watford fan posting it on Twitter and he didn't say which. What's the rest of the make-up in terms of middle and final thirds? Is our final third proportion particularly low? And is it necessarily a problem anyway if we're creating and scoring goals? Obviously lately we haven't been creating anywhere near enough, but at other times we have, whilst also playing out from the back.

I've found the full stats for the season in each area (so that table posted isn't accurate)...

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[NewcastleTiger]

It is an interesting stat, but as always with stats you need the full picture. Was it really for the season or just the last game? It came from a Watford fan posting it on Twitter and he didn't say which. What's the rest of the make-up in terms of middle and final thirds? Is our final third proportion particularly low? And is it necessarily a problem anyway if we're creating and scoring goals? Obviously lately we haven't been creating anywhere near enough, but at other times we have, whilst also playing out from the back.

He said total touches.

 

[Der Alte]

Posts like this always seem to lack any basis in reality to me. Of course it would be better to pass to players behind the defence and in space, no one would argue with that. The problem is how to get into a position to do that. You can't just decide to have that pass available, and that is the reason why teams play out from the back and try to create space, rather than rushing it forward to a sea of bodies. On Saturday Swansea seemed to be better at not being pulled about than most teams we play, although we did still break through their press plenty of times, and on numerous occasions had the wingers, Carvalho, Tufan or Morton running into space up the middle, but it always fizzled out once it reached the penalty area. A few times it seemed like we didn't have any idea where to go or who to pass to from the edge of the box. Philogene two or three times got running with it and looked very similar to the position he scored from against Preston for example, but this time seemed unsure where to go, couldn't find a progressive pass and ended up dribbling sideways across the box into less and less space until eventually being tackled. I see this line on here a lot about defenders getting into position while we pass it around at the back - I think it's the opposite that often happens, especially on Saturday, they were getting back into position while we had the ball near their box but struggled to find a way into it. As I said after the game, execution was also a big issue. First touches and passes in key areas were terrible. I think as ever there are multiple reasons we struggled.

I don't disagree with this. What really frustrates me though is the number of occasions that the positive ball is on but not seen or is simply ignored.

 

[AlRawdah]

I've found the full stats for the season in each area (so that table posted isn't accurate)...

You must log in or register to see images

So 55% is actually 49% - hmm. Rounding error, perhaps