Rotation for the EFL Cup.

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Overthehills

Overthehills

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Despite injuries, I think we are still in the best position that we have been in for some time in terms of squad size and rotation.

There’s a lot of excitement about McAtee and rightly so, but I think it was pretty clear in Hecky’s pre match interview that he wouldn’t be thrown straight into the mix for the hell of it. The EFL Cup however provides a welcome opportunity to use him, whilst resting maybe Berge? For a tough Boro game.

I expect to see Khadra, McAtee, Lowe, Osborn, Jebbison and maybe even Osula involved in a rotated team. I don’t know what the rest of you think?
 



Yeah we need to get the likes of McAtee involved in competitive games asap to see what they're all about. All the hype so far, hoping to see some good performances.
 
Have we even got the ok from City for Mcatee to play in cup?
 
I wasn't a fan of what Hecky said yesterday when asked why he didn't put McAtee or Khadra on with 10 minutes to go. He said "players need to know they have to work hard for a place on the pitch" (or words to that effect). Reyt...so when can we expect to see them then? I understand it to an extent, that shirts aren't just given, but yesterday's game was won and after 60 minutes was pretty much a stroll. It would have been an ideal time to get the news lads into the habit of how we play. Will we see them Thursday? Or the same squad? I want us to go out and win on Thursday as winning breeds confidence and Boro is a bogey ground for us. But I wanna see McAtee in particular.
 
I think the good thing about the squad depth we have now, is we can rotate for the cups and still give them a real go. Would still like to see 3/4 the usual starters down the spine of the side for WBA, just so the new players have someone to play off, who knows the system.
 
Bladedownsouth said:
There’s a lot of excitement about McAtee and rightly so, but I think it was pretty clear in Hecky’s pre match interview that he wouldn’t be thrown straight into the mix for the hell of it. The EFL Cup however provides a welcome opportunity to use him, whilst resting maybe Berge? For a tough Boro game.

I expect to see Khadra, McAtee, Lowe, Osborn, Jebbison and maybe even Osula involved in a rotated team. I don’t know what the rest of you think?
Click to expand...

In the post match interview Hecky explained the situation really clearly regards why he didn't give Khadra or McAtee any game time against Millwall.

He said neither have been with the club long enough to fully understand our team tactics especially regards how they need to defend as team when out of possession.
I suppose it's also knowing what to do when defending corners too.

We had a 2-0 lead and Hecky said even with 10 minutes to go he wasn't prepared to take any risks.
If we had been losing then I suspect at least one or even both would have seen some game time.
 
Last edited:
Ainsley Harriott said:
I wasn't a fan of what Hecky said yesterday when asked why he didn't put McAtee or Khadra on with 10 minutes to go. He said "players need to know they have to work hard for a place on the pitch" (or words to that effect). Reyt...so when can we expect to see them then? I understand it to an extent, that shirts aren't just given, but yesterday's game was won and after 60 minutes was pretty much a stroll. It would have been an ideal time to get the news lads into the habit of how we play. Will we see them Thursday? Or the same squad? I want us to go out and win on Thursday as winning breeds confidence and Boro is a bogey ground for us. But I wanna see McAtee in particular.
Click to expand...

Just seen your post....maybe I imagined it....wouldn't be a surprise ha ha
but as stated in my post above Im sure Hecky said he refused to entertain the idea of bringing on either Khadra or McAtee
because neither have been at the club long enough to understand their defensive roles when we're out of possession.
 
We have a big enough squad to cope with a few competitions now, but I am still not that arsed about the League Cup tbh and the Boro match is far more important. I'd give a few the night off and bench a couple more, whilst also making sure others get some minutes, both established players and young uns.


Here would be my team, assuming they are all fit.

------------------ Wes------------------
-------Bash------Egan-----RND-------
Baldock---------------------------Lowe
-----------------Arblaster---------------
-----Khadra---------------Coulibaly---
----------Brewster-------Jebbo--------

Bench:
Amissah
Ahmedhodzic
Gordon
Ozzy
Norwood
McAtee
Osula
 
Last edited:
Sheffsteel said:
In the post match interview Hecky explained the situation really clearly regards why he didn't give Khadra or McAtee any game time against Millwall.

He said neither have been with the club long enough to fully understand our team tactics especially regards how they need to defend as team when out of possession.
I suppose it's also knowing what to do when defending corners too.

We had a 2-0 lead and Hecky said even with 10 minutes to go he wasn't prepared to take any risks.
If we had been losing then I suspect at least one or even both would have seen some game time.
Click to expand...

Yep it was probably the worst scoreline for the new lads.

Either losing or 3-0 at halftime and I'm sure both would have gotten game time.

Let's blame Norwood 😅
 
Sheffsteel said:
Just seen your post....maybe I imagined it....wouldn't be a surprise ha ha
but as stated in my post above Im sure Hecky said he refused to entertain the idea of bringing on either Khadra or McAtee
because neither have been at the club long enough to understand their defensive roles when we're out of possession.
Click to expand...
Yeah he said that as well.

I can understand that bit as well, but the defence were well in control of the game. Bringing Khadra on wouldn't have harmed a thing. As I said, after 60 mins it was a stroll and borderline boring to be honest (despite being 2 up). It would have stirred the game into life again. Game management has been our downfall in recent times (the amount of late goals last season was awful) but we could all see that game was won yesterday. Would 20 minutes or so have hurt? They'd have learned more about off the ball play being on the pitch than off it.
 
Sheffsteel said:
Just seen your post....maybe I imagined it....wouldn't be a surprise ha ha
but as stated in my post above Im sure Hecky said he refused to entertain the idea of bringing on either Khadra or McAtee
because neither have been at the club long enough to understand their defensive roles when we're out of possession.
Click to expand...
Yes you completely understood what Heckinbottom actually said.
Sad that others want to put a negative slant on things.
If we bring subs on, Millwall get a corner on say 80 minutes and sneak a goal because one of the subs isn't tuned in to picking a runner up it's gone from comfortable to panic which as we know too many times from last season we don't cope with well. Utb
 
It was classic cautious heckingbottom with the non introduction of Khadra in particular, the sort of negativity that will cost us points and help us miss out on the top 2

Bringing him on would have made our lives easier

But but but shape without the ball blah blah blah...... whatever

I worry this will be the pattern with Khadra. We'll feel we can fuck him about, cos he's only from Brighton. But the City lads will get plenty of starts, don't worry about that

For Thurs, we should stick with the same back 3, for practice but also the likely replacements aren't fit anyway

Khadra, Coulibaly, Lowe, Osborn, McAtee and Jebbison should all start

Easily enough quality there to win
 



Ainsley Harriott said:
I wasn't a fan of what Hecky said yesterday when asked why he didn't put McAtee or Khadra on with 10 minutes to go. He said "players need to know they have to work hard for a place on the pitch" (or words to that effect). Reyt...so when can we expect to see them then? I understand it to an extent, that shirts aren't just given, but yesterday's game was won and after 60 minutes was pretty much a stroll. It would have been an ideal time to get the news lads into the habit of how we play. Will we see them Thursday? Or the same squad? I want us to go out and win on Thursday as winning breeds confidence and Boro is a bogey ground for us. But I wanna see McAtee in particular.
Click to expand...
Tbf if we'd done that and they grabbed one back or even levelled it people would be going mad at Hecky.
I get what you're saying but I can't agree.
Both our goals were mistakes by them. And we love to make a mistake of monumental proportions at times.
 
knowsnowt said:
Tbf if we'd done that and they grabbed one back or even levelled it people would be going mad at Hecky.
I get what you're saying but I can't agree.
Both our goals were mistakes by them. And we love to make a mistake of monumental proportions at times.
Click to expand...
Aye, mistakes by defenders. We wpuldnt have been changing that defence in this case.

But what's done is done and we go to thursday. Hopefully see some of the new lads get a run out 👍
 
Hamandcheese said:
It was classic cautious heckingbottom with the non introduction of Khadra in particular, the sort of negativity that will cost us points and help us miss out on the top 2

Bringing him on would have made our lives easier

But but but shape without the ball blah blah blah...... whatever

I worry this will be the pattern with Khadra. We'll feel we can fuck him about, cos he's only from Brighton. But the City lads will get plenty of starts, don't worry about that

For Thurs, we should stick with the same back 3, for practice but also the likely replacements aren't fit anyway

Khadra, Coulibaly, Lowe, Osborn, McAtee and Jebbison should all start

Easily enough quality there to win
Click to expand...
Khadra has to play X amount of games if we want to sign him next season. Doubt we will fuck about too much
 
Ainsley Harriott said:
I wasn't a fan of what Hecky said yesterday when asked why he didn't put McAtee or Khadra on with 10 minutes to go. He said "players need to know they have to work hard for a place on the pitch" (or words to that effect). Reyt...so when can we expect to see them then? I understand it to an extent, that shirts aren't just given, but yesterday's game was won and after 60 minutes was pretty much a stroll. It would have been an ideal time to get the news lads into the habit of how we play. Will we see them Thursday? Or the same squad? I want us to go out and win on Thursday as winning breeds confidence and Boro is a bogey ground for us. But I wanna see McAtee in particular.
Click to expand...
At 60 minutes we were being pushed back if they had scored then the whole game would have changed No way was that game won
 
Hamandcheese said:
That made it all the more baffling we didn't bring him on at an ideal moment
Click to expand...
Heckingbottom has explained his reasons. Clearly felt it was unnecessary risk, and a pointless exercise.

As you eloquently point out Shape without the ball is crucial when defending a lead or seeing out a game…

Especially after losing the first game, it was essential we got 3 points on the board and saw the game out, which is what we did. Given this outcome calling the managerial decisions baffling is strange

Imagine we would have done this as well if we’d bought those lads on, but if it was even slightly less likely then it was the right call

Both Khadra and Mcatee will get their fair share of minutes this season
 
Back to the OP. With too many changes we risk losing the shapes we are supposed to be in. Last few years we have looked at those rotation games and determined none of them are good enough, which I think has been unhelpful. Coubaliy, Khadra and McAtee need to be introduced one at a time.
 
JonnyD said:
Heckingbottom has explained his reasons. Clearly felt it was unnecessary risk, and a pointless exercise.

As you eloquently point out Shape without the ball is crucial when defending a lead or seeing out a game…

Especially after losing the first game, it was essential we got 3 points on the board and saw the game out, which is what we did. Given this outcome calling the managerial decisions baffling is strange

Imagine we would have done this as well if we’d bought those lads on, but if it was even slightly less likely then it was the right call

Both Khadra and Mcatee will get their fair share of minutes this season
Click to expand...
Just how wrong could khadra have got it when it comes to 'shape without the ball', especially in his position? Has he never played football before? Is he a moron?

Any positional imperfections would likely have been outweighed by his value as an outlet, winning free kicks etc - that's the defensive contribution of a player like that and it can be considerable

Hecky's decision and comments scream zero risk, and while it was important to get the 3 points and wasn't as comfortable as it should have been thanks to fucking Norwood, zero risk will lose us more than it gains us this season imo
 
Bladedownsouth said:
Despite injuries, I think we are still in the best position that we have been in for some time in terms of squad size and rotation.

There’s a lot of excitement about McAtee and rightly so, but I think it was pretty clear in Hecky’s pre match interview that he wouldn’t be thrown straight into the mix for the hell of it. The EFL Cup however provides a welcome opportunity to use him, whilst resting maybe Berge? For a tough Boro game.

I expect to see Khadra, McAtee, Lowe, Osborn, Jebbison and maybe even Osula involved in a rotated team. I don’t know what the rest of you think?
Click to expand...
Midfielders don’t worry me. It’s the back 3 that shouldn’t be involved as were thin on the ground if we lose Clarke, Egan and Anel
 
Ainsley Harriott said:
I wasn't a fan of what Hecky said yesterday when asked why he didn't put McAtee or Khadra on with 10 minutes to go. He said "players need to know they have to work hard for a place on the pitch" (or words to that effect). Reyt...so when can we expect to see them then? I understand it to an extent, that shirts aren't just given, but yesterday's game was won and after 60 minutes was pretty much a stroll. It would have been an ideal time to get the news lads into the habit of how we play. Will we see them Thursday? Or the same squad? I want us to go out and win on Thursday as winning breeds confidence and Boro is a bogey ground for us. But I wanna see McAtee in particular.
Click to expand...
He also said that players need to know their roles both with and without the ball and he has not been here long enough yet (same with Khadra) so there was no point in putting them in as yet when we didn't need to.
 
Sheffsteel said:
In the post match interview Hecky explained the situation really clearly regards why he didn't give Khadra or McAtee any game time against Millwall.

He said neither have been with the club long enough to fully understand our team tactics especially regards how they need to defend as team when out of possession.
I suppose it's also knowing what to do when defending corners too.

We had a 2-0 lead and Hecky said even with 10 minutes to go he wasn't prepared to take any risks.
If we had been losing then I suspect at least one or even both would have seen some game time.
Click to expand...
Sorry - only saw this after I had posted my response :)
 



I’d like the two most recent signings to start, as I think they will. I’d also a smattering of our regulars to also start to begin building “on the the pitch” relationships with them.



------------------ Wes------------------
-------Bash------Gordon -----Clark
Baldock---------------------------Lowe
-----------------Arblaster/Doyle-------------
-----Khadra---------------McAteer -
----------Brewster-------Jebbo--------

Extra fitness/game time for Clark and Brewster.
 
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