So folks is that what you expected from a Yorkshire Derby yesterday? More like a Yorkshire Whimper! Where was the blood and fury, the cut and thrust, the passion, the 'in your face football', 22 players getting stuck in and giving everything for the shirt? At the end looking at City's players, I reckon half of them hadn't got a sweat on! Don't get me wrong; a very professional performance, a very typical Brucey performance were we have the majority of possession but 95% of the passes achieve very little other than retain possession, sideways or backwards. I thought afterwards whether I would have felt the same had we won 1-0, the answer is yes. Give me Leicesters, Watford or Bournemouths brand of football any time over this. Crowds may be down due to the increased ticket prices, but envisage Bruceys brand of football is contributing too. Success at any cost; no thanks, is asking for some entertainment as well too much?
I don't get how we are supposed to 'go for it' against teams who park a fleet of buses. We are top of the league which means that teams now come here very wary and a point is like a win for them. The days of making hay at the KC this season are gone, no team will play to win. Boro, Burnley etc thought they could take us on and got wiped out. It's also the time of the season when a lot of teams are tightening up and playing not to lose, at the top and the bottom. We got 4 points out of 6 from two very decent opponents , no goals conceded, ITFC won the their last 17(?) night games - a very acceptable return, which keeps us well on track. Next up Birmingham away , on the fringes of the playoffs, another team who will roll over and die, eh?
I think under this tenure the way we play will NEVER change. Bruce can talk a good fight and say we're working on getting the ball forward quicker, but the fact is the personnel on the pitch are told to 'look after the ball'. We break up an attack, sprint to the halfway line and then pass sideways as if waiting for them to get behind the ball. I was belittling boring Boro' a few weeks ago who went was it 10 games without conceding but only scoring 13 in the same period. Bruces mentality seems to be we start with a point!!! clean sheet, excellent and we have a great defence, but having spent £110 on tickets alone for 1 goal this week I feel cheated.
We're 4th top scorers in the division with 48 (19 against). Disappointing. Must do better. Craven Cottage may well be to your liking 51 scored (54 against). They're 18th in the table. Great entertainment there though....
Bournemouth and Watford both managed to play attacking football last season whilst teams parked the bus. Sheffield Wednesday maybe parked the bus more and more as the game went on, but they definitely didn't in the first half. The way to beat teams who sit deep is to play with some speed, attack them whilst they are at the weakest. If we pass it around the back four allowing them to get organised of course it's going to look like they parked the bus. I think we were all disappointed last night (and against Brighton) but we are in a good position. We just need to improve in front of goal, which has been a recurring theme for how long now? Five years?
It's a good point, we do pass the ball around the centre halves far too often, which not only invites pressure but gives the opposition time to line up behind the ball. Same when counter attacking, we bombed down that wing seven or eight times last night and 80% of the time, instead of getting a cross in we would stop (even with space ahead) and either cut inside or pass backwards. At one point Moses ran all the way down the line to the edge of the 18 yard line, stopped and passed it all the way back to the half way line? What was the point of that? This stopped the attack dead and allowed Wednesday to get back behind the ball. If it happened once, I would've let it go. But because of the frequency it happens, it's obviously some sort of instruction from the manager.
Agreed,but it's taken us top of the table albeit for now. Were do see the issue with the slow build up,how would you quicken things up?
Slow build up hasn't taken us to the top of the table, we've done this to ourselves. We are far too happy to accept that a bank of 5 in defence or midfield can't be broken down when really, if we haven't done it by the first half, we should change our tactics. Not at 85 minutes either. Why did he bother bringing elmo on last night? The game was effectively over, the changes need to be made much earlier on, like every other team we've seen.
On one hand I don't see the reason to complain. Before Brighton we hadn't been involved in a 0-0 this season, and we're one of the top scorers in the league. On the other I agree that we only rarely really put our foot down and go for it, instead cautiously building up from the back. If we have new owners in the summer I honestly don't see Bruce here next season.
Bruce change his mentality you mean,won't happen. Like I suggested last night,our game now is all about possession but few teams are prepared to take us on at football at the KC. The system we use does not allow for the fact we might get shut out,and as you say there seems to be no alternate plan. Elmo coming on was too little too late. Maybe Bruce had already settled for a point. If we go up the possession game will give us more of a chance,but again,last night our strikers had to feed off scaps.
They had clearly done there homework and kept showing snodgrass onto his right foot , elmo should of been brought on far earlier
We tend to sent all our forward play down the wings and it was noticeable that Wednesday set out to stop this avenue of play last night, and didn't do a bad job in doing it, one moan that I do have is how the opposition cb's most believing its there lucky day when they see the home team playing with one forward and a make shift back up.
I think you are right, but it's a false picture. The tactics we use limit the natural styles of players. Neither Dave or Robbo are best used as fullbacks, others would push forward and release an attack but we play with one striker and Diame as a Band-Aid forward playing against his best style. I keep reading about how well we've done with Bruce's tactics, but I honestly think it is despite them and we really could do better.
Couple of times last night Sno Agree, but when it doesn't come off then you need a plan B, sure we're not losing, but at the same time we're not winning.
So once again, a player who isn't playing, & hasn't played well when he has been given a chance, is the answer! Elmo for whatever reason isn't the answer to anything except the question name the Hull a City player from Egypt! Anyway to the main point, passing backwards! Yes it is frustrating. There is a reason for it, if you watch the opposition, they're packed in their own half. To pull them out they need to get the ball, passing it in our midfield is not going to pull them into our half & create space, so the answer is to get it back to open some space. Also SB said in his interview the other day that he was a defender & his mentality isn't going to change! IF we get new owners, I expect SB to still be here, whether they would be as lenient with him as the Allams is anyone's guess. As I always say, be careful what you wish for, you might just get it, remember there is IT in ****!
When a team has 11 men behind the ball, surely it's better to keep possession and try and work an opening than to just launch a hopeful ball forward which will probably surrender possession to the opposition?
