Have we really improved?

[Oldsparkey]

Didn't listen to the game last night and hadn't seen anything other than the goals, but just watched the first 45 on CC Player. We went in 3-0 up but Just how poor were Rotherham? They were pathetic at the back and very little better anywhere else on the pitch.

Our 3 goals were all all well taken, but apart from Macheda's excellent strike, Manga had a totally free header from a set piece, and McAleny was given so much room and time he could have read the Echo before putting the ball away.

You can probably see where I'm going here. They were so poor they made us look better than we are. Morrison was superb at the back (better than Manga this time) and the two Everton boys and Ralls had a real go in the middle. Apart from that we were fortunate (yet again like at Wigan) they had an offside goal ruled out before we'd scored our first.

Peltier and Connolly pumped the ball aimlessly forward to Revell and Macheda who can't head a ball anyway. Rotherham were even more guilty of the punting contest and the ball spent more time in the air than in a volleyball game. Terrible game that made us look good but we won and took the three points - hallelujah to that. However, like at Wigan, a better side would have seriously reduced our points tally from those two away games.

Haven't seen the second half yet only the highlights but we lost that 1-0. On the bright side, good job we're beating these teams below us now to keep us clear of them - we couldn't even do that before at the likes of Blackpool and Millwall. I said after the Wigan win it would be a different story taking on Wolves even at home, and so it proved.

Charlton who themselves are a far better outfit than Rotherham are up next, and then we've got Brentford and Bournemouth - those games will be very interesting in telling us how far we've come on rather than that bloody farce last night.

Glass half empty yet again Sparks?............Yup

 

[remote]

Glass half empty yet again Sparks?............Yup

Dose of realism again Sparks? YUP.

 

[ninian opinion]

Improved to the extent that we are not conceding as many goals but until the possession stats improve (Rotherham were the latest team to have a higher stat that us), and the ball gets moved quicker along the floor through from the back to midfield then to the forwards, centrally and out wide, then City are just not going to create enough chances.to win more games, especially against the better teams.

The positive is that City have now won some games and the relegation talk of recent weeks seemed prematurely pessimistic.

 

[Oldsparkey]

Improved to the extent that we are not conceding as many goals but until the possession stats improve (Rotherham were the latest team to have a higher stat that us), and the ball gets moved quicker along the floor through from the back to midfield then to the forwards, centrally and out wide, then City are just not going to create enough chances.to win more games, especially against the better teams.

The positive is that City have now won some games and the relegation talk of recent weeks seemed prematurely pessimistic.

Agreed NIn, but lose 2 of the next three games (perfectly possible) and it'll be back on the agenda - but that's the nature of fans.

You can still win a game with poor possession stats, and Wigan unbelievably did it again last night beating Norwich at Carrow Road with just 32% possession.

The problem is that giving the ball to the other side for more than half the game means you need to make far better use of it when you do have it. We've been far too slow in moving the ball quickly out of defence to feet and too quick to lump it . Resorting to route one can be a perfectly effective method, but you need the right men up there to hold up and the right men coming through from midfield to support them.

Allowing the opposition the right to control the game through possession and then relying on a counter attacking strategy to win a game means you have to be sound at the back to start with. Our defence hasn't been up to it until recently but is starting to look far more solid. Once you've got that sorted and someone in the "Medel" role in front of them as a destroyer, you can build on it.

Midfield is still the key to unlocking other sides. Pace of thought as well as feet is essential to capitalise when you break down the opposition attack and pinch the ball. That's something we still need to sort out, though the two Everton youngsters and our own Rallsy gave us some hope on Tuesday.

We need to take a tip from that, though I still say Rotherham were very poor and most in this division would have got a similar result on the night.