Posted this on TWTD, thought I would put it on here also; A bit of common sense, some seem to be pressing the panic button already, 4 games in with our 2 away games against 2 sides that will probably finish top six.! Reading away, played well first half, should have gone in at H/T 1-0 up but let a last gasp equaliser in (an OG to boot) On the back foot 2nd half, a deflected winner for the Royals but we did still carve out a couple of half decent chances ourselves. 40% possession Total shots; Town 6 on target 5 – Reading 8 on target 6 Millwall home, dull 1st half although we always looked in control apart from a small spell towards the end of the half when Millwall did threaten, the 2nd half started how the 1st finished but that all changed with our first goal albeit an OG, we dominated the rest of the game without allowing a single shot on target. 58% possession Total shots; Town 8 on target 5 – Millwall 5 on target 0 QPR away, played well 1st half matched QPR for chances possession etc, only a real good save by Green kept Murphy’s effort out. 2nd half was pretty much one way traffic, the most annoying thing was the lateness of the winner, saying that only a deflection on Cressy’s last minute effort stopped us pinching a point. Possession 49% Total shots; Town 8 on target 4 – QPR 14 on target 3 Leeds home, first 25 mins was 1 way traffic, we carved out chance after chance, well worth the lead was unlucky not to be 2-0 before a deflected shot fell into the path of Varney for a good finish, Leeds did finish the half stronger although we had a chance at the end of the half to get back in front. 2nd half started badly with a soft goal again a deflection on the shot, but probably should still have been saved. Leeds remained on top until around the hour mark when Town began to push forward and created pressure and chances on the Leeds goal, a couple of hand ball shouts fell on deaf ears, just one of those days IMO. Possession 51% Total shots; Town 16 on target 5 – Leeds 9 on target 3 Overall first 4 games; Possession 49.3% Total shots; Town 38 on target 19 – Opposition 36 on target 12 So we are creating more chances than the opposition & more are on target, our conversion rate does need to improve. This league is just as tight as ever, it is often a bit of class but more often luck that makes the difference, I would say that over the first 4 games we are not getting the rub of the green, just. 3 of the 5 goals conceded have been deflected with 1 OG, only the QPR winner was “Clean” On the other hand we have had the fortune of an OG & the Anderson goal v Millwall was a scruffy one, the others, strikes by our players. The only game we have really rode our luck at times was QPR away, even at the death luck went against us. I am not saying football is all about luck, I am just saying that we have been very close to getting more out of some of the games than we have, so it is not time to PANIC……yet.!
While I'm certainly not panicking, yesterday really did make me think a few things. Notably, do we have the ££££ to compete, and is the chairman going to put his ££££ where it's badly needed? McCarthy so far has done a very good job. We've got rid of the final big £££££, and the team isn't filled with loanees. We actually play players in their correct position too, something that hasn't happened for quite some time. HOWEVER. As stated in another article, I believe 7/11 starting players are good enough at present. A team can carry 2 players sure, not 4. This needs to be addressed rapidly, or we will very much struggle. After spending roughly £20k for an 18 year old this summer, in our ONLY ££££ spend, what did we realistically expect this season!?!? That said, I'd rather us still HAVE Ipswich Town, and be well run financially. I hate what's happened at Coventry, and hope that never happens to us. Birmingham having Zigic on £55k a week sums up other clubs, glad we are not in that boat. As for other clubs..... QPR/Reading/Wigan are all going to be very hard for us to compete with for starters. I'd put them ahead of us. Nottingham Forest + Watford are investing substantially in building a strong side, both have very good managers, and have both made a strong start to the season. Are we realistically going to be better than them over 46 games!?!??! Bolton have very strong players at this level, such as Chris Eagles. They will spend ££££ on wages etc. Blackburn will surely do better this time around, beat us to Judge. Seems a lot better off the pitch, and without opening a " Rhodes " debate they have a goalscorer at this level. Leicester have been heavily bankrolled over the past few years too! Brighton get gates regularly over 25,000, well run financially, have done well the last few years. Same as above...! Then there are other sides that will have aims on the top 6, noticeably at present Blackpool and Leeds! I just think it's a crying shame we didn't get McCarthy as manager after Magilton. I think literally most managers would struggle to achieve top 6 with a side that isn't investing, and that has a ridiculous player turnover the past 6 years or so. Realistically, whether I want to admit it or not, this season is simply about getting a coherent side together, and not being in a relegation dogfight all season. We are too good to go down I feel, and I think our home form will be strong. We need to get some continuity together at the club in order for us to compete at the higher regions of the division for an entire season. This is no means a dig at the club, manager or anything else, this is just simply where I see us currently at.
I like this Westy, exactly why we should not be panicking. No trees are going to be pulled up this season, I would like us to have a side largely made up of town players, 1 or 2 loan players acceptable, a mid-table to 10th finish with a + GD and I for one will be happy, then push on for a play off spot the following season. There is talk already on this forum & TWTD about the side being in decline, is that any real surprise with the money being withheld by Evans.!
I agree with the sentiment of not panicking, however we've had similar 'look how impressive our statistics are' threads under Keane and Jewell. Fact is we've only had one game that we've got something out of. 2 of the games we've lost we were ahead 1 was against lower league opposition The other was against QPR, where once again the curse of seasons gone by, the late goal, reared its ugly head. Those facts are very worrying for a manager that sets up his teams on a strong, composed, defence. The other thing I find worrying is the message coming from the PR dept. McCarthy saying we are aiming for playoffs, Loach saying the current lot could be better than the class of 2000. Now I understand having to have a positive message, but there has to be some sort of expectation management. Like westy says this is (or should be) the foundation season to a longer term strategy. A season where, as depressing as it is, success would be not looking over our shoulder at any point. My worry is now that the P word has been mentioned, A comfortable season wont be good enough for either fan or owner and by January if were not in the play-off mix there will be a significant section of the fans calling for ME to wield the Axe once again as we search for another messiah. (For those confused, our start to the season doesn't give me cause to worry that we wont be making play-offs this season, it gives me cause to worry that we wont get our comfortable season and the unrealistic message coming from PR will only serve to increase the pressure, and the cycle will continue)
I'm not panicking, I'm sure we'll be fine this season but it will be a slog, simply because we don't have a very good team. I have to say I think the chances created is a bit of an elusion, statistics say we created some chance but they don't show what type of chances they are. For me all season we haven't created many clear cut chances at all, it's all generally half chances or pot shots from outside the penalty box and as we saw yesterday if Cresswell gets a job done on him, we don't create anything unless McGoldrick managers to run at a player. I still think we look fairly solid defensively although Hewitt is getting caught out a bit at times but he's young and also being asked to attack more than Stearman or Orr ever did. Think we've been a bit unlucky with some of the goals we've conceded this season, haven't been any major mistakes at the back. As I've said we look fairly comfortable when we're drawing or winning but when we're loosing we look poor, I think this comes from having our 2 of our best players McGoldrick and Skuse being very good at keeping the ball but they both lack a bit of purpose and don't probe enough or get in enough attacking positions. This means we can keep the ball comfortably but can't hurt the opposition unless we have a pot shot. You could solve this by having more probing players around them, unfortunately the players around them are all work horses, this is why we won't score many goals this season!!! I'm not overly concerned (yet) as nothing has really surprised me about the team this year, we are what we are and that is a very average championship team with a manager who's good at getting the best out of average players!!! I just think it's a bit of a wake up call to people who thought Mick had signed some quality players, he didn't he's bought a load of hardworking misfits from clubs who didn't want them!!! We'll be okay this season but with the squad we've got, the lack of quality, the lack of creativity and the how we are set up, every game is going to be a scrap, with not much between us, against Reading and QPR they had that extra bit of quality and against Leeds they had that bit of luck then we didn't change it!!
Agree with the main point of your post Westy but I think this is a bit of a myth. I think McCarthy has been as guilty as any of our previous managers of not playing our players in their best positions. Smith at LB Stearman is a CB who we played at RB Edwards for me is a wing back, he's a terrible winger Tabb is not a LW Tunicliffe is not a LW JET is not a winger in a 442 Hyam is not an attacking CM I actually think in alot of regards I was more impressed with Murphy on the LW than I have been as a striker and also with Edwards at RB
In answer to each of them. I cannot recall McCarthy ONCE playing Smith at LB, can you inform me of this? Stearman was absolutely FANTASTIC at RB, and is equally capable at either. Seriously, even if he is so called " better " at CB, he performed out of his skin at RB for us. Surely that is not a negative!? Well we play 4-4-2 not 3-5-2, so Edwards correct position in a 4-4-2 is actually RM. Tabb/ Tunicliffe play LM due to Cresswell being very poor defensively. Awesome going forward, but very suspect defensively. Should we put an out and out winger at LM, such as Anderson, i think we'd be exposed. Hyam has been asked to do both. I don't think Hyam has ever been played specifically at the attacking role of the two, McCarthy has identified there is more to his game than simply defending. In a 4-4-2 McCarthy style team, he would expect both players to definitely have the defensive steel, which for me is why Wordsworth is hugely unlikely to ever play CM in a McCarthy 4-4-2 Agree with you regarding JET though. Murphy at LW? Seriously? He was horrific there!
Its a pity Mings is injured as i would like to see Cressy moved forward and mings drop into LB. Loach Hewitt Chambers Smith Mings Anyone other than Edwards Tabb Tunny Skuse Cressy Goldy Think with current personnel we would be better playing 5 in the middle with either Tabb or Tunny playing an attacking role. For me, none of our strikers fill me with confidence so 1 up top with attacking midfielders would be better.
Smith played LB in the league cup Stearman is for me a CB who can play RB but is primarily a CB and in the game today is too defensive to play in that position. Cresswell very poor defensively, really???? I think he's actually pretty good defensively I thought Murphy in a team of more flair players under Jewell actually brought some solidity to the left hand side and actually played more like a winger than anyone I've seen out there in a while, he'd at least try and take on his man and put a cross in and has he actually been any better, apart from a short spell with DJ uptop?? From what I've seen aswell I don't think Anderson is an out and out winger It's not a criticism of McCarthy I just think he's played players as out of position as any other manager has so this Mick is a round pegs in round holes is a myth IMO.
I stick by Cresswell not being fantastic defensively. Sure, he's improved there. However, if he was fantastic there, would McCarthy, who is known to love playing wingers in a 4-4-2 have not played an out and winger there by now?! " Its a pity Mings is injured as i would like to see Cressy moved forward and mings drop into LB. " I can only assume you haven't had the pleasure of seeing Mings play Spanish, he is about as much use to us at the moment as I am to central midfield for my saturday side = not much!
The Watford v Forest clash today has shown we are a million miles from genuine promotion contenders, two sides who are going to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season, good goalkeeping from both sides, fast direct wide men creating chances by running at defenders, and panicking them into mistakes, and players linking up all over the pitch, and knowing each others play, we do not appear to have any of the above
He could have played David October, Hoppers. Although I understand why he didn't, Smith has played left back before, if not overly successfully.
What does this tell us Hoppers? Looking at the chances we created doesn't tell us a lot - the problem was lack of composure and confidence. Joe Hart made a terrific save just before half time today in an almost identical situation to the first Leeds goal that Loach had 'no chance with'.
I did this to show that we are CREATING chances despite our lack of a creative midfielder, trust Hampy to move the goal posts and talk about composure and confidence and compare Loach to Hart.......pls try to stay on topic.
The title of the post is 'don't panic' and the introduction is: "A bit of common sense, some seem to be pressing the panic button already, 4 games in with our 2 away games against 2 sides that will probably finish top six.!" ... so I don't see how it's off topic? We had more than enough chances - would've been even more if the ref had his glasses on. Creating chances is not going to help us if the opposition scores a goal more than us in each game...
I'm also not comparing Loach to Hart, but there's no reason why Loach couldn't have made himself big instead of hitting the deck. If he does all that and it still goes in then fair enough, but we're not playing percentages. The first Leeds goal was preventable - preventable with better decision making in the back four to not invite pressure on and preventable with Loach handling the one on one. The point is, that while we have that sort of problem - if we're not doing those basics right, we'll throw away points. We are creating chances but we don't have enough fire power which means we need to be stronger in other areas of the pitch. Last season's success was built on a sound foundation that meant we could nick points with the odd goal or two and build on it. You can argue it's strong opposition, but there is no side in this division we shouldn't be competing with.
