I've not been posting much this weekend but have been reading... mostly positive stuff.
But did anyone else have fans round them on Friday who were whinging that we were taking too much time over the ball, complaining that we were passing it around the defence too much and generally were displeased at any ball that wasn't a forward one?
We had a few chuntering round us. You could see that United were trying to play a patient, possession game, trying not to panic, and all you could hear was "no... not backwards!" "grrrrr!" "wrong ball!" and the like.
It was pointed out a few times that the opposition can't score when we have the ball and keep it and they were chasing shadows with ten men, but that did little to placate them.
Carsley's chat before the Q&A was mainly a plea for patience from the fans and at the time, I didn't think it was necessary. But we sit fairly near the dugout and it would be naïve to think that the bench and subs aren't hearing some of these complaints. Last season we did panic in possession and Friday night looked different... I don't want a vocal minority putting pressure on the players which leads to mistakes.
I'm not sure what you can do, other than telling them to get real. But it is a concern that if the impatience spreads further, the fans could be heaping problems on to players who have been told by the manager to do one thing but the crowd expects another.
The problem as I saw it (on Sky) is that we were constantly trying to proble through the middle rather than getting wide and 'round the back' and when we did, many times we'd go back to the halfway line.
Many times the 3 midfielders would have the option to give the ball to the overlapping Williams and Westlake (in particular) in good positions yet would try and thread a pass through a line of 9 defenders (as happens against 10 men). This happened soooo often last season and resulted in 0-0's or last minute equilisers (Oldham springs to mind) and I don't want us to repeat the same mistakes again. We can't afford another season in this godforsaken league. When we did give it wide we got the first goal, which was as good a move as you'll see. This needed to happen more, and needs to in future games against 11 men.
With regard to 'gerrit int box', when you get into the channel, the ball should be crossed. It is so frustrating to get near the corner flag and go back to the halfway line, especially if we are playing Porter (who would prefer crosses from wide rather than balls into feet or launched from the back). Lumping it in from the halfway line or even 10 yards behind the box is useless, but once you get past your full back you should take the opportunity to get the ball in the box. The more crosses go in, the more goals we'll score. Again, last season Robson and Flynn constantly cut back onto the other foot which allowed defenders time to get back in position. The second goal came from a cross from wide (albeit a free kick).
With regard to passing it around the back, that's all well and good on a great surface, but in Jan & Feb (Yeovil at home springs to mind) they were passing the ball from full back to centre backs, and the pitch was so bad and bobbly it was inevitable that a slip would come. I was amazed that they continued to do this and as sure as night follows day, passing backwards, then backwards resulted in Long gifting them their second goal. Granted this is last season but I don't want to see the same mistakes replicated just because we play nice football on good surfaces in August.
Also, on Friday we really needed to kill the game off with a second goal. While we did create in the 2nd half (which we didn't last season) we're always vulnerable at 1-0 and it just seemed inevitable that they would nick one. At home against 10 men, a second goal would have killed it. How many times last season did we hang on to a 1-0 early in the season, didn't heed the warnings and that turned round during the second half of the season. I'd like us to carry on (at home anyway) and get 2 and 3 and kill games off rather than settle for a 1-0.
Weir promised a change and to be more attacking and to be fair it looks like we will be (Brandy was particularly impressive), but the proof will be in the pudding over coming weeks and one good home game against 10 men doesn't mean there aren't things which need rectifying, otherwise we'll be in this exact same position next year, and the one after..........and the one after........
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