Great resilience shown by the team. Hopefully we can back it up with 3 points on Tuesday. Am I being harsh in this thinking but I thought Clarke was again very poor positionally for both goals both again from the right hand side. Gave too much space on the first and went too deep too quickly and the second just went chasing the ball.
Nope, watching it live with him right in front of us first half it was glaringly obvious and would’ve been worse if it wasn’t for Woolfy covering. Clarke’s at fault for both goals (again). Clarke wanders into the middle or goes forward with no idea of who is around and seemingly knows none of the basics of positioning or the full back role. There was a lightbulb went off at one point when he was marking two players and realised he should be marking the wide one and left his man in the middle. Fortunately for the result nothing developed from that particular situation. He didn’t have the best game on the ball either, but he was not alone in that. What we can’t fault him on - and here’s where I have some hope - is his work rate.
Yes agreed PTC & Hampy, Clarke was poor. We need Williams & Burnsy back. Hutch is clearly being coached to finish his dazzling cameo runs better. To be fair to my old mate Spanish, several of us were exasperated by Harness and his weaving cluelessly around. A different player now, and again down to coaching & confidence. Should he now start and give Chappers & Broadie a break, as games coming thick & fast. I remember Chappers coming on as sub and causing mayhem at Accers!
Given how well others have improved positionally under McKenna you'd hope he will over time. He has a lot of the physical attributes just feels like he's too caught up in it all. I actually feel at the moment he would be better in Wes Burns position. He did provide a great pass also in the build up to the first goal. It is a weakness of the team because usually the back 4 don't get pulled about too often but you see if he gets pulled out of position so does the rest of the team and we look stretched.
I also think Williams can be risky defensively he does have a habit of diving into tackles, fortunately the majority seem to pay off but Donacien is clearly the best defensively by a long way, hopefully Clarke can learn off him. Definitely feel we miss Burns....Chaplin, Broadhead and Hutchingson are quality players at this level but they are what I call moments players who produce high quality moments which can change a game but sometimes they do go missing and aren't players getting on the ball all the time. Burns even if he has a bad game the full back knows he's been in a game against him. When you have 3 players who are 'moments' players it can sometimes mean there isn't that consistency or ability to hold onto the ball as much up top.
