Wednesday, Saturday!

And it results in a Sheffield goal, mistake from Burns to give away a foul in the RB area

 

Keogh on for Jackson.

McKenna making sure we get the win

 

Everybody is taking one for the team. Harness gets a yellow for pulling a player back to prevent a counter

 

No, no, no.

Sheffield score again. 2-2

We've not used the ball well under pressure. Too many punts forward and not enough control.

 

Whilst it's disappointing to let a 2 goal lead slip a draw is not a bad result.

 

Damn it, we made that draw ourselves. Burns with the needless free kick in our RB area started Sheffield's come back as the free kick ended up as a goal. We lost our composure a bit and punted the ball forward too much resulting in constant pressure coming back against us.

Never mind, it was a great game to watch, plenty of drama and we remain top of the tree. Definitely lessons to be learned from this one, but with Portsmouth drawing as well, all stays the same at the top.

 

Never got our own game going. But last season we’re losing that game all day long. The own goal was our undoing. They came at us with nothing to lose. Disappointed we tried to defend the lead and bring Keogh on at 2-1, that just invited more pressure on. Long and short of it was, far too sloppy in possession. Again at 2-2, we had no intention of trying to force a win.

 

Ref was embarrassing, easily swung by the crowd so after they kept attacking the linesman and jeering he started giving everything their way ! Plenty of ridiculous decisions on both sides.

 

Disagree mate, Burns' needless free kick he gave away was where it went wrong. They upped the pressure on us after their first goal, not our second in my opinion.

Agree we got a bit ragged though. Too many aimless clearances gifted possession back far too much and helped Sheffield pin us in.

 

Yep, he lost it in the second half.

 

McKenna confirmed in his post match what I'd noticed during the game about sitting in a little more. We weren't pressing as early today, instead we kept our shape more, allowed Sheffield some time at the back and then tried to exploit the space behind when we won the ball back in the middle third. It was a small tactical change to our normal aggressive press, but it was noticeable.

 

Eh? How on Earth do you fathom that then? There were a couple of minutes between the restart and their goal going in and in that time they… literally scored a goal.

 

No doubt their goal going in inspired them and they threw the kitchen sink at it after that. But until we got our second we looked well in control so for me chances are their first goal never happens and it ends 1-0.

 

It was fascinating to watch. It was close to being a master stroke but as it turned out we didn’t mark up or press the edge of the box and that’s how they scored. I don’t think it’s something we can do every week because clever sides will easily exploit the overload. It did mean we nearly always outnumbered them where the action was happening and that’s why their players and fans were so rattled.

 

Good point on the road, would've taken it all day long but given our defensive strength and possession based game we have to be a little disappointed its not all 3, although sounds like it was a fair result.

I didn't watch the game but heard a couple of good phone ins on the local radio on a couple of things which have chimed with me about McKenna in terms of tactically and its really difficult to tell if it's a strength or a weakness. I think we can all agree tactically McKenna knows his stuff and majority of the time gets it right but yesterday sums up that comes with its risks sometimes in that sometimes I think he overthinks the game and sometimes football is a simple game.

It sounds like for 70 minutes yesterday he changed our normal tactics and it worked for what looked like would be a masterclass of an away performance however did those same tactics influence our downfall? He took Jackson off for a CB, not sure I've seen him do that before and for me with the quality we've had keeping hold of the ball with a good outlet upfront is the thing to do. If we'd have played our normal game would we have been able to take the sting out of it a bit more but on the other hand if we played our normal game would we have been 2-0 up, all ifs buts and maybes but I like to think we have enough quality to play our A game and get a result anywhere. Another caller like myself expressed his delight in terms of the style of football we are watching but a small frustration was we don't put the ball in the box quick or often enough when we get the opportunity, which I have noticed which adds to the frustration of the striker.

I think we are seeing less of the frustrations I saw under McKenna last season but some of those traits are still there. I don't mind him changing the team how he has done but I've always felt if a player is in good form you don't drop him and I think he is guilty of that, so even though I'm not a huge fan of Jackson apparently he was superb yesterday but I bet he'll be dropped for the next game. There are times when it's clear players are in form and he drops them.

We've now had an identical start to the 19/20 let's hope this one doesn't go the same way, it does feel like we've got alot stronger foundations this time to cope. Onwards and staying top.

 

Old friends arrived so I missed last 20 mins, wen it all kicked off!
Good points ptc and I too am surprjsed he drops and changes players so readily. Cant be good for their confidence.
A real pity we couldnt hold such a good lead, but a point gained on away turf, and their 2pts lost will do nicely. From all of your observations, it seems we learn more and can take heart from this one. Abysmal match officials in this league and will be nice to leave at end of season.

 

Regardless of our formations, tactics and personnel, sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and give credit to the other team. They are a top team in this division, amd will definitely be top 6. If we don't top the league, then more than likely Wednesday will, so no disgrace on yesterday's result

 

Certainly shows we don't have a playmaker with quite the star quality of Bannan. Should've probably brought on another midfielder than a defender IMO to stifle the midfield

 

Not sure if Burns is carrying a slight injury but has not seemed the same player he was last season. Part of this is because other teams have seen how we played and tried to stop the outlet ball to him but to me, he seems to be missing a yard of pace. I think he could use a break - being selfish, hope he doesn’t play for Wales next week

 

I think McK got his subs wrong, we were 2 goals up and comfortable then the subs came on and we lost control of midfield resulting in pressure in our half, a needless free kick given away and a simple goal at the far post got Sheff W back in the game followed by a yard offside header and we were rocking.
I thought before the game i would be happy with a point but after dominating the first half and getting a 2 goal lead it seems a bit disappointing.
Great support in the away end again and it was bedlam when we scored, these travelling Town fans are something else.