Lots of random thoughts...
Wrexham are at Coventry on Sunday... But will Cov be on holiday at this point? I suppose it doesn't really matter that much when we can't handle our own business.
Positives - We put Leicester down to League 1 and that's frankly very amusing.
I feel really sorry for Millar. Took his goal really well and great assist for the second - despite his often poor finishing attempts, he found himself in so much space tonight over and over again and the player on the ball rarely chose him as the option. He could have been incredibly dangerous for us tonight if we'd used him more but we didn't due to poor decision making in our attacking play.
Ajayi was like tossing a coin. He had moments of brilliance and moments of utter madness, but as a defender he needs to be constantly dependable.
I don't see why we took Giles off at 90 minutes. What's 7 more at that point? He adds a whole other dimension to our play and we removed that option late in the game.
Lundstram hit some good Huddlestone-esque passes tonight. Slightly redeemed himself.
The soft penalty and the goal they gifted us cancel each other out. We definitely weren't worth more than a draw again tonight on the balance.
We're guilty of an awful lot of poor decision making, individually and as a whole. 5 on 3 counter attack and the ball goes the wrong way and behind the player it's intended for. Moments like that are just **** to be honest. Same comes to clearing the ball when we're under pressure and hesitating to the point the ball bounces in and around our box. Just get rid of it. You don't see that happen to other teams that often so it's definitely a weakness of ours.
Earlier in the season this team thrived under adversity. Now when something potentially controversial happens they lose their heads a la Sheff Utd. The composure has pretty much gone.
Belloumi needs to not be injured as he's the only one who's a constant threat at the moment.
Coyle was appalling tonight. He can batter his liver all he wants if he turns in a worldy every game, but he was a complete liability in this game and to be brutally honest he's rarely shined this season. Runs the ball forward into a dead end, misses multiple opportunities to pass the ball progressively in the process, then stands still and shrugs like it's everyone else's fault the options have gone before playing back the way he came from. He does this every single game, multiple times. I think we need an upgrade in the summer regardless of what league we're in. It'll probably mean having to sell Drameh, who I rate by comparison, but realistically nobody is going to come in for Coyle should we try and offload him, which we won't do anyways.
It seems regardless of who's in midfield they consistently let their man go when defending. It piles so much pressure on the defence after dealing with the initial assault.
Hirakawa looked decent when he came on. A really good option to have back available.
We need to see what Matazo can do. He can't be any worse in the middle can he? It's our weakest position and in the brief time we had him before he was a cut above.
Giving Joseph ten minutes at the end doesn't work. I'd give him a go in that 10 slot with licence to drift around and harass. We've missed that a lot and it helps us stop the opposition building momentum before they can really get started feeling confident on the ball. But then who do you sacrifice to get him on? Right now I can only think Gelhardt, but he's been far from the worst performer for us.
When talking about momentum - every game as we're building up some steam, one of our deeper players always does something unecessarily **** which dissipates all of our momentum and puts the opposition back on the front foot. It happens too often. Coyle getting caught in possession tonight was the perfect example. We rattled them with that second goal and they'd gone very quiet and sat deep. That's our chance to pile the pressure on. We stretch them a couple of times and they're on the ropes, then when we recycle again, Coyle gets needlessly caught out on the ball and suddenly we're rattled and on the back foot for 5 or 10 minutes clinging on for dear life. It's those moments after the needless **** up where we can never get the ball clear and it's hearts in mouths while the opponents tails are all up. It's as if the player that ****ed up initially has had a rotten brain fart and the resulting smell of it puts off the rest of the team.
'It wouldn't be City if we didn't do it the hard way'... I'm going to be sick of hearing that over the next few days.
It's not over yet, but them two wins now need to come in the last two games, and it still might not be enough. Regardless of what happens I think the team and the management have had a brilliant season all things considered.
Sorry for the long post.
