Waited to see what the U23 team would be against Brighton tonight. All clear now that the Gaffer will be fielding some young, some new in tomorrow's game. .............................Bettinelli.......... ..S Sessegnon....Djalo..Odoi......Edun.. ...................Cisse..........Norwood.... ...........................O'Riley... ......Kebano..........Kamara........Ojo....
The man keeping a watchful eye over proceedings tonight is Dean Whitestone. please log in to view this image Whitestone, who hails from Nottingham, was a goalkeeper in his youth until his father suggested taking up refereeing. In his day job he's a member of the Met Police. And has been for some thirteen years; working mostly with the plain clothes youth violence team, targeting the activities of gang members. He openly admits that "It's sometimes difficult to get the right balance between policing and refereeing, it's a constant juggling act." Nonetheless, manage it he does - in the lower Leagues. We caught a brief glimpse of him last season when he was 4th official at our game at Loftus Road. And for real in season 2015/16 when he had a small flurry of Championship matches (probably as an assessment for higher things). That was our home defeat 3-2 to table toppers Burnley - McCormack and Dembele got our goals. PC Whitestone booked 3 (Madl on our side) but he'll be best remembered for a soft penalty decision when Tom Cairney was alleged to have pushed Joey Barton over in the box. Volkes converted the spot kick.
Pretty poor - not one shot to trouble the goalie. Think Slav wanted us out of the competition. Game screamed a substitution to change something but nothing came. Rovers defended extremely well but we made hard work of it. Wasn't impressed with Ojo and AK47 has not yet done enough for me - all early days I know. As for young O'Rily, I think he did better at Wycombe but hopefully he benefited from the experience. He faded in the 2nd half and ideally should have been subbed. Never like losing but with so many games coming up I suppose there is a silver lining.
Lack of a Plan B yet again and I don't mean because there were no substitutions (a full back for a full back 10 minutes from the end doesn't count!). There was a total lack of invention, nous - call it what you will - from those on the pitch and I suppose by definition the manager. For instance, why didn't Ojo and and Kebano change wings; Ojo is clearly left footed and kept cutting inside, running across the ten men they had parked in the final third. For instance, why did Norwood and Cisse keep going back to collect the ball from our backs and/or goalie and end up playing tick-tacky stuff. These were our senior players out there tonight but neither showed any tactical awareness - Norwood in particular had an opportunity to make his mark but, except for a few balls he pinged out to the wings early on, he didn't pass muster. Especially in the second half when there was nobody in the acres of space between half way and their penalty box yet we'd frequently have six or seven players in our own half - both could have pushed forward and let O'Riley drop back, more central. And a follow up for instance, why wasn't O'Riley switched to the left? Why play him wide-ish right midfield just to accommodate the two senior players when some of the most telling passes in the game came from him when he drifted over to the left? Still and all, the real problem was the lack of movement up front. Oh they chased the ball for sure but that isn't what creates chances; those come about by moving into space before the ball is played or by moving defenders out of position to create space for others. Take Kamara for instance, absolutely all game he had his back to goal and ran towards the ball. Taking himself further away from the penalty box and even if he'd been able to control the ball, their centre back still wouldn't have needed to move. But given that , why did none of our players at least go behind him into the box? Could go on but best end the rant for fear of going overboard Just so frustrating to see our team so lacking in organisation and motivation.
Did not see this game so i cannot comment to much,but from the above match reports there one again seems that there was a lack of ideas or motivation from our coaching staff. Something has to happen soon for fear of a season being not one of catch up, but stay up.
