Some general thoughts;-
1). The good bits
A great start to the season at home, we actually looked like a football team. Heaton rolling the ball out to defenders and players playing the simple ball to a red shirt and not just lumping it without purpose. Confidence was up and, for the first time in many seasons, we carried a threat down BOTH flanks with Albert and various down the right and Cunningham and Woolly down the left. We looked more balanced overall and it looked possible that we could string together a reasonably consistant sequence .
Then Peterborough did a hatchet job on Greg and Cole and we lost our "glue", 2 very important players (especially Greg) in positions where we have regularly struggled in recent years and whilst Marv came back in and did a job at Watford, we then lost him and all of a sudden, we have lost much of our driving force providing our forward impetus and we look lop-sided again.
2). The bad bits
The absence of the 3 players named above has well and truely shown up how important they are to us. Since their lose, our midfield (Albert aside) has lost its way and the defence has become exposed and under pressure again resulting in our reverting to the Key Stone Cops defending but more worryingly, the old and very bad habit of NOT ATTACKING THE BALL has returned, to our cost.
3). Why...?
I don't know what it is about the City but to me, this very basic requirement of the game (attacking the ball) is badly lacking, at BOTH ENDS of the pitch. Our midfield has historically come up well short in this department but more worryingly, the number of goals condeded by and the lack of goals scored by our defenders shows that there is something very wrong in this department. Normally you would expect central defenders to score maybe double figures (or more) a season between them - ours score a big fat ZERO a huge indication that the ball is not attacked...
The only players we have that do this are Sam B, Steve Davies, Cole, Marv, Foster (R), Ryan T and James Wilson, the rest range from intermediate to weak which is ok because you need some balance but the 2 biggest culprits are in thhe centre of our defence and that is BAD NEWS...
4). Comment
The players read these forums and there is no doubt that our central defenders are well aware that they are under the spotlight and I do have some sympathy with for instances Fonts yesterday who must immediately have thought OMG, what are they going to be saying now, after the 1st goal. I haven't voted in the "should he be dropped" pole but agree with some that maybe its time for a rest, mainly just to remove the mounting pressure which will undoubtedly be a disappointment but sometimes, it is better for all to step away, re-focus and come back stronger. Sometimes, the harder you try, the worse things get...
I don't go for this reluctance to play young players, if they are good enough, they are old enough. Maybe time to give youth its head and put Holloway in and see how strong his hunger, his desire is...
Whatever happens, as long as we have defenders who have no composure on the ball and who watch rather than attack it, the half decent start to the season will continue to evaporate...
1). The good bits
A great start to the season at home, we actually looked like a football team. Heaton rolling the ball out to defenders and players playing the simple ball to a red shirt and not just lumping it without purpose. Confidence was up and, for the first time in many seasons, we carried a threat down BOTH flanks with Albert and various down the right and Cunningham and Woolly down the left. We looked more balanced overall and it looked possible that we could string together a reasonably consistant sequence .
Then Peterborough did a hatchet job on Greg and Cole and we lost our "glue", 2 very important players (especially Greg) in positions where we have regularly struggled in recent years and whilst Marv came back in and did a job at Watford, we then lost him and all of a sudden, we have lost much of our driving force providing our forward impetus and we look lop-sided again.
2). The bad bits
The absence of the 3 players named above has well and truely shown up how important they are to us. Since their lose, our midfield (Albert aside) has lost its way and the defence has become exposed and under pressure again resulting in our reverting to the Key Stone Cops defending but more worryingly, the old and very bad habit of NOT ATTACKING THE BALL has returned, to our cost.
3). Why...?
I don't know what it is about the City but to me, this very basic requirement of the game (attacking the ball) is badly lacking, at BOTH ENDS of the pitch. Our midfield has historically come up well short in this department but more worryingly, the number of goals condeded by and the lack of goals scored by our defenders shows that there is something very wrong in this department. Normally you would expect central defenders to score maybe double figures (or more) a season between them - ours score a big fat ZERO a huge indication that the ball is not attacked...
The only players we have that do this are Sam B, Steve Davies, Cole, Marv, Foster (R), Ryan T and James Wilson, the rest range from intermediate to weak which is ok because you need some balance but the 2 biggest culprits are in thhe centre of our defence and that is BAD NEWS...
4). Comment
The players read these forums and there is no doubt that our central defenders are well aware that they are under the spotlight and I do have some sympathy with for instances Fonts yesterday who must immediately have thought OMG, what are they going to be saying now, after the 1st goal. I haven't voted in the "should he be dropped" pole but agree with some that maybe its time for a rest, mainly just to remove the mounting pressure which will undoubtedly be a disappointment but sometimes, it is better for all to step away, re-focus and come back stronger. Sometimes, the harder you try, the worse things get...
I don't go for this reluctance to play young players, if they are good enough, they are old enough. Maybe time to give youth its head and put Holloway in and see how strong his hunger, his desire is...
Whatever happens, as long as we have defenders who have no composure on the ball and who watch rather than attack it, the half decent start to the season will continue to evaporate...
