When he came on for Oilyvagina we were a changed side. All of a sudden we looked a lot more composed in front of the defence and that freed Koren, Rosenior and Dawson to attack their wingbacks. King was very impressive as well, but MOTM by a country mile was McKenna. Well done boys, good point that. UTT
Spot on!! The difference in our performance when Oli was on the field, and after he was replaced by Evans after 60 minutes, was glaringly obvious. Sure he can spray nice passes out to wide open wingers with the outside of his right foot. Very pretty...ooohh..ahhh. But give him a 50/50 challenge and he'll back off or throw his hands in the air (he actually did that tonight...unbelievable!!!). He is as slow as molasses...they ran past him like he wasn't there ..McKenna was doing the work of two men. Oli can't tackle, cover, get back to help the defense. Evans comes on and we are a different team. First 2 minutes he thunders into a tackle...gets a yellow card...but Blackpool know he's there. He's up and down the field, pulling defenders out of position. No more Mr.Nice Guy. Give us 5 more minutes and we'd have won that game. Hope Nick stays with that final 11 against TWS with Brady in for Cullen. And please Nick...no more Oli!!
got to agree with that above, Oli "looks" good, he's got a quality pass but Corry is the real deal, bite yer ankles no messing combatative midfielder we need. Evans & King Kenna anyday.
Totally agree with every word except for maybe dropping Cullen, think Brady was injured anyway. I know Brady is good but maybe they should start with one and finish with the other.
Having seen him all season I hadn't really seen evans as a 'good player' just another whose job could be done by anyone, after seeing someone else doing his job he does need to be in the team for me. I did like seyi as a player but he looked so slow and unathletic, I hope he does better when he gets more fitness because on last night i'd only stick him in the reserves he just wasn't good enough.
Certainly did make a difference last night, I like Evans. Hopefully with Oli it's just a case of getting some sharpness back, I don't remember him being so slow. I might be wrong. It is infuriating though when the big lads get out-muscled on a regular basis. Evans to start against Leeds for me.
We always seem to play well when we have 3 forwards on the pitch. Fryatt, McLean and Simpson look good together I seem to remember (last 20 minutes vs Swansea was it last season?). I've not watched the game (Tigers Player in a few days) yet so I can't comment much. I'm a bit perturbed that what we thought would be a dream pair of wingers tearing teams apart has not materialised (Brady and Stewart not there yet). Will it be: Back 5 (all sorted there). McKenna Evans Koren Stewart Fryatt King
It wasn't just the bringing on of Evans, Barmby changed the formation and stuck two more forwards on to cause more of a threat to their goal and it worked. It may of worked who ever Barmby brought on. Evans, King and Cullen were impressive tho'. Barmby played a defensive game at the beginning and we were lucky to survive, they scored a good goal and could have have a couple more with a bit of luck. Having said all that, City certainly looked good in the last 15 minutes and deserved their goal I am glad to say..
Barmby changed the formation when Cullen came on for McLean. Evans was a straight swap for Oilyvagina and King was a straight swap for Stewart. The formation didn't change at that point. 15 minutes later McLean went off for Cullen, Koren moved out wide left and we went 442 with Cullen and Fryatt up front, Koren left, King right and McKenna and Evans pushing up. Left the defence quite exposed but by that time Blackpool were knackered after chasing us around for 15 minutes, and rarely threatened with any decisiveness. If we had had a more potent striker we would have won that game last night. That's the frustrating thing.
i play defensive midfield so was watching olifinjana off the ball and when he had it just to see if i was missing something other people see. seems to be that because hes 6ft4 or something and built like a brick outhouse a section of fans think hes awesome , let me tell you that impressive physique counts for absolutley nothing, never have i seen such bulk go to waste. 3 times i counted him pull out of 50 50 challenges against much smaller men, whereas evans and mckenna never shy away. watched his workrate off the ball and it amounts to the peter kay dad run my gf pointed out when i asked her to watch the big massive dude in the middle, the blackpool goal when the ball came to ince he half heartedly made an attempt to close him down, then once ince had released the ball and made a run oli just let him canter by him and recieve it back to stick it into the top corner. its either bad concentration when failing to pick up runners or mark up or just plain lazy and whats the excuses for pulling out of challenges especially on 25k a week. it wont be a fully negative post from me, as yes fair enough he hasnt played much football but that still doesnt excuse some of the half hearted attempts we saw, and yes he played some decent passes but the negatives far outweigh the positives with this guy id go as far as to say in the system we play olis a liability in the role he was asked to play, i think the only position for him on the field would be in the koren role due to him shirking and defensive commitment and even then would he offer much going forward. a big waste of 25k a week imo. be very interesting to see our recruitment once oli's, mcshanes, cairneys, kilbanes, ghilas's wages are freed up
I've got no problem with 442 under the circumstances that arose last night, ie. last 15 mins, goal down, game stretched, oppo looking to be on back foot etc etc. But I don't agree with playing 442 with our existing personnel from the start.
Hutch you really nailed it. Give Oli a 50/50 ball and he'll run up the white flag every time. He actually threw up his hands in surrender one time and backed off...check the replay mid-way through the first half. Off the ball he's a freaking statue...looks like he's been planted. The Ince goal was a classic on how not to cover. A complete and utter liability defensively. I doubt Barmby will have him in the squad again.
