Mmm.............I know I'm going to regret this, but here goes.
Firstly, Henry was pressing on his own prior to their jammy goal. To press properly, you need to hunt in packs. No one helped him. The bias on here against Henry is bordering on the bizarre.
I'm not convinced about JFH yet either and I agree that I'd want Faurlin to start and that Washington should have been on earlier. However, to suggest that today's line up was negative is just plain wrong.
We lined up 4-3-3 with only one holding midfield player in Henry. There were massive holes through the middle today as a result. Luongo, for all his energy, repeatedly gave the ball away by simply hooking it forward. Polter, Phillips and Hoilett interchanged as a front three in a very fluid, progressive formation, which incidentally, should suit Washington perfectly. All the substitutions were positive and attacking, although they should have been made sooner.
It's all very frustrating at the moment, but we must give JFH time to get his way of playing into the team. Next season will tell us whether he will be a success or not imo.
Have some patience people. The first half was excellent, high tempo and Wolves had not a sniff. Second half they get a huge slice of luck and the obligatory 20 minutes or so of pressure all decent sides will have. The signs are encouraging.
The goal was nobody's fault but Henry and Perch were crap again. Some others not much better but those two week after week just look inept.
No. Perch was good today.
Regardless of team pressing that is irrelevant when an individual makes a tackle but does so too weakly. It is that individual’s responsibility. But this obsession with finding someone else to share or take the blame is just weird.
Also it wasn’t a 4-3-3.Fer and Hoilett changed position regularly so how could it be. Actually it was 4-2-3-1. There is no way Luongo and Fer were playing the same position
Henry was predominantly covering left side of pitch. Luongo on right (central roles of course). Difference was Luongo attempted to get involved with the play when we had the ball.
In front of that until the sub. Phillips Fer and Hoilett. Fer and Hoilett swapped roles often between left wing behind the striker
But regardless of that if you pick Henry you are being negative. If you sign a striker for £3m and give him just 10m mins in a flat game with nothing to play for you are being negative. But most of all if your main tactic is to just hoof the ball and worry about your shape and skip the midfield repeatedly then you are being negative
The atmosphere is flat because we are negative
First half Onouha skilfully stopped a certain goal from inside the six yard box after an attack started when I cant remember who... ****ed up.
Should also remember this is a team who sold Afobe last week and their most creative player Graham is now out for the season
Really? I'm just delighted when he doesn't give the ball away. That time in the second half when he managed to give the ball back to Wolves on the edge of the box twice in about ten seconds would have raised the roof if it was Henry. I still don't see what the bloke is good at, in attack or defence. More to the point, I don't see what he does that Furlong can't.
No. Perch was good today.
Have some patience people. The first half was excellent, high tempo and Wolves had not a sniff. Second half they get a huge slice of luck and the obligatory 20 minutes or so of pressure all decent sides will have. The signs are encouraging.
The goal was nobody's fault but Henry and Perch were crap again. Some others not much better but those two week after week just look inept.
This was how it lined up:
----------------------------------Smithies--------------------------------
Perch----------------Onuoha-------------Hall------------Konchesky
-----------------------------------Henry-----------------------------------
----------------Luongo--------------------------Fer----------------------
Phillips------------------------Polter-----------------------------Hoilett
Henry was naturally covering the left more because Fer does very little defensively.
If Luongo was part of a defensive two, then he was out of position for virtually the entire game.
Fer drifted out wide a lot and really isn't suited to this position in this formation (or to this league imo). Usually when he was further forward on the left, Hoilett hadn't "swapped position" with him as you say, but was central.
However, it was a very fluid formation which means of course that at times it was 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, 4-5-1 etc etc.
I'll let you have the last word.
His first sub after 73 nearly lost us the game. Cheri came on for Henry and promptly let his man go when he cut inside. Henry wouldn't have let him do that. That immediately gave Smithies the first of 3 saves in a couple of minutes, 2 of them top drawer. Ale would have been a better sub for Henry imo.Too many players are wasting possession. Hoilett, in particular, so often has no end product and then falls over looking for a foul. Phillips spent much of the match scowling and producing very little. We need someone who can consistently take on and beat his man and put in a cross that gives Polter a chance to use his height. So many things aren't clicking at present, so JFH needs to use the rest of the season to decide who is staying and who is going at the end of the season.
My main criticism of JFH is he should have made subs around the hour mark as Wolves were in the ascendency, too little too late and ineffective until Washington came on...
Read that back and if you truly believe that makes sense then I give up and we can agree to disagree
I have to say that blaming Henry for an unbelievable piece of bad luck perfectly demonstrates the ridiculous bias against him by some.
If he had done his job properly there would have been no goal, simple!
If he wins his tackle properly then what followed never happens
This is it, rock bottom. I was watching on the telly as my wife went out. On her return she asked if we had won. On hearing the result, her words were "At least they didn't lose" with a concerned look on her face.
She's moved from amusement and contempt at our struggles to pity and fear for my mental well being. I think I preferred being laughed at.