4 - 0 TO 5-3 ...or ...we won 4-0 then lost 3-1............. It still shows a glaring inadequacy of our teams ability to stop conceeding goals W E A R E T H E W O R S T I N T H E D I V I S I O N on the other hand the 6th best at scoring goals OK 4-0 up we took the foot off for a bit? ..but we shouldnt have, did the raft of SUBS IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES unsettle the balance? I think it did maybe leaving Pearson for another 5 mins then giving Bates a blow out?
But if it wasnt for the ref giving a freekick for their player falling over we would have gone 6-1 up if our 6th goal wasnt disallowed which might have then killed the game off. I will admit i walked away feeling slightly gutted with how it ended even though we won.
We won the first half 2-0 and drew the 2nd 3-3 Even if we didn't score the 6th goal we could have carried on for a 5-1 victory but SOD took Kelly out of the team and replaced him with Kilkenny WHY!! As soon as Kelly went off we lost shape and Barnsley found it easier to get through.
Which shows how important Kelly is to our team, and why we missed Cisse so much. These days having a midfield destroyer in the team is vital to winning matches, and Kelly is rapidly becoming my favourite player
That is my point almost, I say almost, as in about 2 mins he had completely gutted our central field, I think he should have left it later or changed one at 76 mins...Adomah on.....then maybe at 85 mins + the other 2? I dont think changing them was wrong just the disruption caused by all so quickly
I posted a thread that mentioned our defensive frailties and got stick for my negative comments. You would think that when a team is 5-1 up then they would flood the midfield to stifle the opposition attacks but regrettably we don't have those kind of players available. We keep tallking about bringing in strong defensive/midfield players to give our squad a better shape and aggressiveness but as yet we have not fully strengthened that area of our play. If, and when, we do then I believe that we have a better chance of being more competitive and right now we hope that it is in the Championship. We should have brought in those types of players over the summer and if we had I think we would be at least mid-table now and not where we are.
To be honest when Kilkenny and Howard came on they looked like foreigners, Didn't have a clue what they were doing and looked like they came on with no orders. Which is why Barnsley found it easy, The score line flattered them IMO.
I suspect that they would have had orders, problem is you cant have a huddle, spend a couple minutes explaining it has to be done as you are playing and 2 stops for a substitution in a short space cant help..the team was playing really well as a unit..he broke the rythym twice..and has hopefully learned..having said that none of us our managers so we can only surmise the thinking or the need behind it
They obviously has orders yes but it looked like they didn't follow them through, I expect at 5-1 up SOD knew we would win so decided to throw our probably 2 most creative players on at once whilst we were free flow attacking but like everyone has said it backfired and I hope he learns from the mistake.
Well of course it did First we had a brilliant goal wrongfully struck off, then our best midfield player missed a sitter. It could (and maybe should) have been 7 As has been said on here, losing Kelly was probably the biggest factor but maybe we are being churlish. After all, we made a hatful of chances, and like The Olde SOD said: We probably wont be able to get the balance right this season. Incidentally, thats another good sign, because that means he is not moving on any time soon. Next season will be about pulling some of this team apart and either reconstructing a team for promotion to the Championship, or (Heaven forbid) the Premiership. The Olde SOD looks capable of achieving either
SOD has come up with the right system at home. He needs to come up with the right system away and, whilst I can see AA being needed at home and away, he'll have to "get" what SOD's preaching and, at home, delivering.Fitting into a system is sometimes difficult for flair players. Howard doesn't look match fit to me and Pompey fans have commented that he isn't hard working & can't defend which is similar to Kilkenny.I can't see both being in the same team and I'd much rather have someone like Tunnicliffe who scored for Barnsley Saturday. That being said, they can only afford to pay him & Delap because they sold their best player to Everton (Jon Stones) for abot £3m.Had we sold AA perhaps we could have some better loans in.