Punk Blade
Active Member
This is the lesson we have learned tonight.
Flynn staying on the pitch cost us in the end. I'm not saying we deserved to win or that they deserved nothing, but for me the turning point was Flynn staying on.
If he had gone off we would have set up properly with ten, most likely 4-4-1 with Holt and Freeman wide and Murphy up top. We'd have kept some shape across midfield and had Murphy as an outlet to keep the ball up their end or even nick another on the break. Instead we went 4-5-1 with Flynn hobbling about up front meaning we had no outlet and they could easily get the ball from back to front quickly. When play finally moved into their half everything obviously bypassed Flynn and while others looked to make up for the lack of striker, Flynn could offer nothing defensively when they regained possession.
I'm not usually one for pointing fingers anywhere other than at referees, but some very poor and ultimately amateurish decisions were made following Flynn pulling up:
First, Flynn himself knew he couldn't run and that he should have come off. However with no instruction to leave the pitch from the management I commend his dedication to the cause by keeping going to the end.
Next, the physios should have seen that it looked like a hamstring injury and that trying to run on it (and then have someone twice his size leaning on it) would only make it worse. What may have been a couple of weeks out could now turn out to be the rest of the season. Hopefully that won't turn out to be the case.
Finally, the management should have seen that, even ignoring the type or severity of injury, we were worse off for having him on the pitch. Shoving him up front out of the way is not decisive action and the refusal to deal with the problem has cost us.
My dad joked after the game that we could have put him in goal and at least Turner would have been able to run. I doubt we'd have conceded more than we did!
Flynn staying on the pitch cost us in the end. I'm not saying we deserved to win or that they deserved nothing, but for me the turning point was Flynn staying on.
If he had gone off we would have set up properly with ten, most likely 4-4-1 with Holt and Freeman wide and Murphy up top. We'd have kept some shape across midfield and had Murphy as an outlet to keep the ball up their end or even nick another on the break. Instead we went 4-5-1 with Flynn hobbling about up front meaning we had no outlet and they could easily get the ball from back to front quickly. When play finally moved into their half everything obviously bypassed Flynn and while others looked to make up for the lack of striker, Flynn could offer nothing defensively when they regained possession.
I'm not usually one for pointing fingers anywhere other than at referees, but some very poor and ultimately amateurish decisions were made following Flynn pulling up:
First, Flynn himself knew he couldn't run and that he should have come off. However with no instruction to leave the pitch from the management I commend his dedication to the cause by keeping going to the end.
Next, the physios should have seen that it looked like a hamstring injury and that trying to run on it (and then have someone twice his size leaning on it) would only make it worse. What may have been a couple of weeks out could now turn out to be the rest of the season. Hopefully that won't turn out to be the case.
Finally, the management should have seen that, even ignoring the type or severity of injury, we were worse off for having him on the pitch. Shoving him up front out of the way is not decisive action and the refusal to deal with the problem has cost us.
My dad joked after the game that we could have put him in goal and at least Turner would have been able to run. I doubt we'd have conceded more than we did!
