I think this game shows how buggered we are in terms of injuries with our defenders. And can someone explain to me why the hell Bidwell and Robinson are being played where they are? Why is Robinson not on the wing-back and Bidwell in the back three? Robinson looked a bit out of his depth against a sizeable forward whereas Bidwell probably would have managed a lot better. Also, Robinson is better at getting forward than Bidwell. So it's a no brainer, but Ollie doesn't see it that way for some reason. Anyway, last night if we had been given the early penalty shout (which we should have imo, any day of the week) then the game could have panned out quite differently. We also had another big penalty shout but I think the earlier one was stone wall.
He's clearly not a CB and Morison bullied him for most of the game. He was better second half IMO but looked weak in the first half when we were under pressure. He was painfully slow for the second. Those are harder for keepers than they look. I won't blame Smithies.
Looking at the video we got our basics wrong in defence. Allowing their #2 to be behind our man left him open to take the ball and our man was struggling with his back to him as the ball played. For the second, we just looked silly as we left space for their man to run between our defenders on the chip pass - something that has happened a number of times in our defence this season already; I agree you would have expected better from Smithies. They really need to improve their spatial awareness as a unit or we are going to keep giving ourselves a mountain to climb as other teams spot our weakness.
For their second Robinson seemed to half-stop, expecting one of the others to cover. We had 5 or 6 players in the vicinity. Poor defending all round.
That more or less sums it up for me. We were really bad against 11 and when Millwall attacked us with 10 we really stuggled again. I can't think of anyone in the start 11 who had a decent game - Scowen was perhaps closest. Baptiste looked poor and is certainly not a good attacking option out right. Robinson also looked out of position at CB. Freeman again flattered to deceive, and like Washington, Mackie, Pawel, and Luongo, doesn't look like he'll ever score though given enough chances they occasionally do. Smithies made an outstanding save in the first minute or so, but I thought he could have done better with the goals. Smith did well when he came on, he finally gave us some attacking threat and we didn't just lump it up to him. He was probably our best player on the night, though Morrison must have been MOM.
I know we regularly criticise Holloway for unnecessary fiddling with the starting line up but he undoubtedly made a mistake in the other direction in naming an unchanged team and formation last night. Our makeshift back 4 was never going to be comfortable with the aerial onslaught and our midfield clearly does not respond well to a highly physical opposition. Smith should have started both to provide a long ball option of our own to relieve the pressure on midfield and to help out at set pieces. Holloway's substitutions were also as quirky as ever. Why was Onuoha the one to go at half time? Why take off Washington (who disappeared straight down the tunnel BTW) when the problem was not with converting chances but creating them? What can Lua Lua do that Jamie Mackie can't in this situation (other than to fall over with monotonous regularity)? Wszolek played the full 90 minutes and saw a lot of the ball but was a cul-de-sac option for most of the game. Even when he did manage to cross we were never likely to score from headers against the defensive giants. It was no surprise that the goals came from working the ball on the edge of the area. A blot on Holloway's tactical copybook.
Agreed and I fear a little bit for this lot against Assombalonga on Saturday (Traore is suspended thankfully). Desperately need Onuoha to be available. I would go with Mackie and Wash again on Saturday. Millwall don't get pressed at the back because the ball is launched towards Morison within a second every time. Boro are more likely to try and play out a bit. I think Holloway is using Smith effectively right now- he's the top scorer in the league based on minutes per goal apparently.
I thought Lua Lua created more and earned more free kicks in the short time he was on than Mackie had done all game.
I spent most of the last 20 minutes berating Yeni for being his usual crap self and only realised when I logged on here it was Lua Lua Probably the right call as a last throw of the dice but Mackie for me nine times out of ten.
The substitutions worked actually...I think Ollie was right. We wondered if we would lose one of the 3 CDs at halftime ourselves as a tactical change....but we thought it would be Robinson, so we wait to hear if Ned was carrying an injury. Smith was an obvious change for me, and the midfield had got hold of the game when Millwall went down to 10 (so we could not change them) With both Sylla and Smith on...Ollie wanted to widen the pitch, and I think it was too much of a caldron to put Wheeler on, which is why Pawel stayed on imho and Lualua came on (Lualua has put a lot into his last two cameo roles.....and he is a true winger who will take on players along the wing, and not just cross early as Pawel does.) I think the substitutions were spot on to be honest, and we were 3 inches (Freemans free kick) from winning a match we could easily have been embarrasingly beaten in. The team, is playing as a team with heart....we just need to keep improving the defence, we are moving in the right direction
Onuoha went because he was already booked and that ref would've been happy to even up the numbers - was the consensus around me
Hope this is correct and he isn't injured like the rest of our better CB's. He was rubbing his hamstring when he got the yellow card, hopefully just a knock.
So obvious it should have been made from the start. Once he was on Washington really should have been given a chance alongside him as he really had no service before that. Was I the only one to see him head straight down the tunnel once subbed? Unless he had a knock this would be a worrying lapse in the team spirit we thought had been established.
Possibly the team spirit was improved by Ollie giving a start to the same team that according to all accounts played so well Saturday. I don't blame him for doing that at all, and he wouldn't want Millwall dictating the way we played either, which they would have been if we had tried to shore up against their aerial threat from the start. But I imagine he was well disappointed that the same team couldn't cope at all with Millwall's 11 men. Smith did well when he did come on, and he was given some decent balls in, rather than the continual long punts that we have often resorted to in the past when he's been on the pitch.
Nice to see the match highlights - seems like we could easily have won 4-2, nice to see so many shots on target. That late strike from the free kick, that bounced off the crossbar would have been a magical story book end to the evening, but we did really well to come back and grab a point.
The highlights don't do Millwall's first half performance justice. Smithies save in the first minute was one of his best ever.
The good. Brentford lost. The bad. 2 points dropped and it will feel like a victory for them. The ugly. Millwall.
