@ Jimmy
We all I think accept that Powell has been dealt a bum hand by the Board. The results of a complete lack of investment were shown for all to see today, courtesy of Sky TV.
What I can't begin to fathom are Powell's tactics. We are trying to play it through the Millwall defence....so we play long balls to two strikers who can't hold the ball up. We are trying to get round the back of the Wall defence....nope...can't be that one either....no wingers, no width, and full backs pushed up who can't cross a ball.
So...what were the tactics today ?
The long ball is not what we were set up to play. With the wing backs it was pretty apparant the lads had been told he wanted balls coming in from Wiggins and Wilson, whilst at the same time having numbers at the back when we were not in possession of the ball. Sadly, when you have players like Dale Stephens on the pitch, passing the ball around and building play is simply not an option available.
How many times today did we see 2 or 3 passes in the middle, all played sideways or backwards, for someone to then get jumpy and just lump it because there were no options in the middle of the pitch? I single Stephens out particularly for this, but the sad fact is although i think he is the worst player we have, the other options are hardly amazing either. We need a midfielder with a bit of a brain on him. I can see Kermo ending up playing in midfield when he gets a bit older because he has that footballing brain and the vision to pull it off.
If we had a midfield capable of keeping the ball for longer than 20 seconds before panicking and making a mistake, we could build from there. The midfield we have today not only gave the ball away, but they always make the job of our defenders much harder and the job of our strikers impossible. How are you supposed to win games when your front men get no service and the boys at the back are constantly under pressure due to mistakes made by our central players.
Widemen cant run into the middle of the pitch, make a wonder tackle, get up, run out wide past everyone again and then put a perfect cross in. The fault here is simply, we have no creativity and not enough quality elsewhere to make up for it. Put a player like Scott Parker in that midfield and every other player immediately has the chance to stick to their own job, and start to perform accordingly.
Powell knows this, but has no option to do it. The board should know this, and should have got it sorted. This is the Championship, not a pub league