If fit, Pilkington is the best winger we have by some distance, he actually has a final product, be it goals or better movement. I know we played differently but Redmond is well short od what Pilkington gives us.
Very true. Pilks would start over Redmond for me. The latter is a very useful player to bring off the bench against tiring defences and / or the game gets stretched.
Redmond really did disappoint me today, as did Bennett. Never really went for their defender or got close to getting behind the defence. We need a fair amount of improvement otherwise it'll be a pretty disappointing season
I have to say I'm not convinced we can blame the players. I think Jackett completely outthought Adams. It was obvious that we were going to play the diamond and his hard-pressing 4-5-1 caused us all sorts of problems. I thought both fullbacks ostensibly had shockers, but in reality they were horribly exposed. The real disappointment was in midfield where Surman, Hoolahan and Bennett just did not work, but that's because only really Surman can play his way out of being up against two opponents and we were outnumbered in midfield. Grabban also looked like he was playing badly, but that was because he was desperate for the ball and so he had to drop deep because the midfield were offering nothing. We either play the diamond with Lafferty as one of the top two to help relieve pressure, we play 4-3-3 which would fit Grabban, Redmond and Hoolhahan or we play a flat 4-4-2 and leave Hoolahan on the bench. Today was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I didn't expect much from the match though. It was always going to be tough. The real question is whether Adams can learn over the next five games. That's about as much time as he has, unfortunately. The biggest lesson I think he should have learnt though, is that in claiming that he wants us playing good attacking football, he's somewhat made his own bed. He should remember, though, that he's the manager and if he doesn't want to lie in it, he doesn't have to. Far better a dull draw away to Wolves as our opening fixture than a messy 1-0 defeat. Save the open football for our home games and away games once we've settled and confidence is high.
I agree with you to a degree, although I firmly believe that we would have drawn or won had Olsson not been sent off. Wolves only really got the better of us once we went down to ten men, and Garrido was at fault for the goal; perhaps Adams should have offered him more cover though. Had Olsson not been sent off, the game would have played out much like it did in the initial 60 minutes. Say we then snatch a late winner - more than possible, with 11 men. Nothing's changed from Adams, but suddenly he's the messiah. I know it didn't play out like that, but it could well have done tomorrow - or yesterday. Adams was unlucky today - give him a bloody chance. Only one manager in our history has ever won at Molineux. We've had more than one successful manager.
It's worth remembering they didn't have a shot on target whilst we had 11 men despite them having more ball. We were actually quite well organised defensively. We just had no midfield at times.
For me, this is worrying. Not just because Pilks at his best does have a final product as Carrabuh says, but also because Adams, despite all his talk about clean slates and everyone at the club being given a chance, seems very ready to take dislikes to players and to freeze them out. After the horrors of the last two seasons and what was clearly a divided squad at the end of the Prem campaign, the last thing we need are new cliques emerging and a manager, like Hughton, who has his favourites and has no idea how to use a squad effectively. That's one thing Lambert was superb at during his time with us - using the whole squad and keeping it unified. I hope we can get back to it.
I can't believe Pilkington was fully fit but not involved, that does sound very concerning as he had an excellent pre-season by the sounds of it.
Excellent post vc and your last sentence really 'hits the nail on the head' for me!!! I really hope that Pilks will not be left out so that Redmond/Murphy etc make the starting 11, as on his day he is far better than any of them. His team selection for our next match will be interesting to say the least.
No league is won or lost on the opening game of a league season, but a cloud can form or in our case, linger. Sunday’s display was abject from start to finish. The performance of the players was very poor in a system which left us outnumbered and outmuscled in midfield against an incredibly mediocre Wolves side. The red card certainly made it easier for the home side to win the game - let’s face it, it had ‘nil nil’ written all over it until that point - but even with ten men that game was there to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck, yet at no point did we stamp any kind of authority on proceedings. It was 'more of the same'. We looked very lightweight throughout the side. I sincerely hope we aren't going to persist with the diamond - it worked for us (for a while) under Lambert but its so easy to play against. Why oh why are we playing players out of position? Russell Martin and Nathan Redmond are both being played in their secondary positions. I don’t get this. It’s not as if we are down to the bare bones or anything! To be fair to Martin he played ok yesterday but both full back positions are causing us a headache at the moment (Whittaker is out of form, Olsson isn't fit - nor does he particularly look like he wants to be here, while the less said about Garrido the better), so why shift someone who is accomplished in that role to a less familiar position? We are stifling the potential of arguably our most talented centre half - Ryan Bennett - for no positive reason at all. In the case of Redmond (and Grabban), we had two very quick players in forward positions. So what did we do? We passed the ball with no urgency and rarely got them involved and certainly not to their strengths. It’s brainless. As are the alleged fans who racially abused Elliott Bennett’s family at the match (and I’m told by someone at very close quarters that it definitely happened). Life bans please. Then we have Pilkington’s very public announcement that he is fit and that the manager has been telling porkies. Nothing new in that but what a mess they are creating! Pilks should have just stayed quiet but he feels he is being forced out of the club and now we have reason to distrust the manager. Indeed I have now heard 100% that RvW was told he was not a part of Adams plans at the end of last season so that is something else that has been lied about. Again, nothing new in covering things like that up but its not good for the fans. Just tell the truth! Add this to other snippets from people saying the atmosphere inside the club is already troublesome and it really does not bode well. Whether this is a lack of respect for the manager or just a hangover from relegation is not clear, but it needs sorting asap or this season will become derailed very swiftly. Looking at our next three games you’d already have to argue that City need to take a minimum of four points from Watford, Blackburn and Ipswich, else we’ll be potentially 9-12 points adrift of the pace setters. It’s a long old season and things can change very quickly but we really needed to hit the ground running, or at the very least seeing signs of moving in the right direction! As my mum has suffered her second stroke in a matter of months, football is frankly pointless in comparison - I've just come on here this morning to air my disappointment and I probably won’t be posting much for a while. But I’m so fed up with the direction the club are taking - it would be nice to write something positive - even semi-positive - if just to give myself a lift, but there really isn’t anything to go at right now. And I’m normally the most optimistic person on here... Take care folks
Sorry to hear about your Mother Supers, football matters not one jot at times like this! I wish her and you all the very best, come back when you're ready!
Top post Supers and unless NA can turn things around VERY quickly (I felt that playing 2 up front - one of whom was Redmond, was a mistake, especially away from home!!!), then the fans will quickly return to the acrimony at the end of last season. I share your concern re R Bennett and as I've said previously the omission of Pilks is also worrying. As I see it, unless the team plays well (I'm not too bothered about winning, though that would be a bonus) against both Watford and Blackburn, then I'm afraid 'the writing will be on the wall' for NA and the board for appointing him in the first place!!! Hope your Mum recovers soon. for your Mum
Hey supers I know we have had our ups and downs, but my thoughts and preys go to your mum and the whole family and hopefully things will improve for you.
thanks for the kind words folks. i'm not going anywhere - i'll still post! just not quite as often i expect
This season will come down to away form ,if we can`t score or win on the road then we will not be going up .
Probably posted before and I've missed it, but yesterday's ref has reported the Olsson push incident to the FA, so we'll no doubt see an extended ban there. Not like the FA to oppose their men on anything.
FA have already charged Olsson http://www.canaries.co.uk/news/article/20140811-olsson-fa-charge-1821283.aspx
