thought Lenny the lion looked very nice in his kilt! thought town were poor in the first half very slow and ponderous , Dundee played high up the park and parked two wingers on the half way line nuliffying the wing backs , i cant remmeber either of our wings backs getting over the half way line that often and they wont when they have to mark two wingers. whilst towns defence communicate and are a lot more vocal than last season, they got opened up three times with a diaganole pass and a well timed run also on two occassions from corners / crosses Williams did pick not the player who dropped off him to then get a free header. i thought the player was off side but Dundee scored from a penalty. town looked to play it from the back but due to no out ball , they passed it from side to side or back to the keeper and were very slow and ponderous and were limited to a number of route one balls. Vincelot was trying to be a link up player but the midfield was rather congested, thought town were lucky to get a soft penalty and Okenabirhie emphatcily smashed it home. town lucky to go in equal when Dundee hit the bar. town really lacked a midfield general today, no real plan B for town in the first half and too many long balls. a much better second half by town, better pace ,better movment , played higher up the park with some good runs from the wing back. Ricketts spent a lot of the second half screaming "play wide and press." morrison and Okenabirhie linked up together Okenabirhie who was very brave to go for a header with a good chance he was going to get a knock.Walker came on for Vincelot i thought Walker had a good game but he was not put under the sustained pressuer that Vincelot did. lot of subs by Dundee united, town did really well to limit the chances and possession by Shankland only had one chance were fortunently for town he scuffed his shoot. town again caught out by not picking the players who drops off the defenders for corners / crosses. we played Dundee's second string for 70 minutes. some warning signs today that Ricketts will need to work on in training otherwise we will be punished by Portsmouth. both Villa and Dundee emplyed similier tactics to nuliffy the wing backs
Ricketts has mentioned he wants players with brains .so clearly they had not worked out what was needed otherwise why did Ricketts spent a lot of the second half screaming "play wide and press." whith the system Ricketts likes you have a major problem when the wing backs are nulified by pressing high and parking wingers on the half way line. the only options then are play it long or go through the midfield.,unfortently we dont have a midfielder with the ability to do it.
Giles and McCormick allowed too much to get through to Pierre in the first half. Giles looks great going forward but needs to get his foot in to tackle more. Love looked pretty good on rhs, but we didn't see him attempt to beat others and chose to pass instead. Morison looked intelligent and popped up in good spots, think he'll be a good signing. Ebanks Lansdel didn't seem to put a foot wrong. Goalie rushed out too many times that could've led to more than one big fault, but did a tidy save in second half. McCormick looks promising but was quieter in the second half. Overall nice game.
McCormick looks to be a find but he needs to track back more as Vincelot gets overwhelmed with Edwards playing a more forward role , there are a lot of gaps for teams to exploit. teams will quickly work out how to deal with the wing backs, so the midfield are going to need to up there game.
Perhaps Laurent could do a good job as holding midfielder when he is fit - he is a decent athlete and is learning to read the game. Vincelot is a good player to have in the squad as he is versatile and usually puts in a solid performance.
You are probably right Matster though I have always thought Norburn was a bit over-rated (though of course Ricketts rates him highly). I suspect Edwards will be captain at the start of the season and it will be interesting to see if Norburn takes over when he comes back.
after watching him last season in the reserve games i really did not rate vincelot but i have been plesently suprised , i think he needs to be more physical but i think it would be unfair to put it all on vincelot as the midfield look like rather 3 seperate units and disjointed with gaps between them that other teamns will expolit McCormick /Walker need to track back more ,all three have talent but need to work better together going forward and defending. who will be on the subs bench when Norburn is fit ? as Norburn tends to be in a more attacking role.
