Some positives, but...

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Houso

Houso

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... why are we in such poor shape defensively at the start the season? Two players out of position in there, no leader and the feeling that we'd banked on Brayford or Freeman signing and Maguire staying.

I like what I see of Higdon and we looked good going forward in general. Louis Reed was outstanding - good standard throughout and 90 minutes under his belt.

Very disappointing overall and there's a long way to go; particularly in defence. I actually think we'll finish above Bristol City simply because they made a meal of getting goals out of our cobbled together back 4 - and not a chance Baldock stays.

Time for you to stop being a tight arse Nigel and get some money spent.
 

I thought we were mince going forward. Time and again a player got the ball, stopped, looked sideways, saw nobody, looked behind him, saw somebody, and passed it backwards. The amount of space that went unattacked was incredible at times. Bristol must have been pissing themselves.
 
Houso said:
... why are we in such poor shape defensively at the start the season? Two players out of position in there, no leader and the feeling that we'd banked on Brayford or Freeman signing and Maguire staying.

I like what I see of Higdon and we looked good going forward in general. Louis Reed was outstanding - good standard throughout and 90 minutes under his belt.

Very disappointing overall and there's a long way to go; particularly in defence. I actually think we'll finish above Bristol City simply because they made a meal of getting goals out of our cobbled together back 4 - and not a chance Baldock stays.

Time for you to stop being a tight arse Nigel and get some money spent.
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1st Half I thought were were unlucky not to to be leading and Howard should have done better with the their goal, 2nd half very poor stopped pressurising and slept walked into giving them the lead then desperation.
 
WalthamstowBlade said:
I thought we were mince going forward. Time and again a player got the ball, stopped, looked sideways, saw nobody, looked behind him, saw somebody, and passed it backwards. The amount of space that went unattacked was incredible at times. Bristol must have been pissing themselves.
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More so the second half.
 
just got back and I have to say first half we looked just ok second we looked poor .alcock was the motm for me from a poor team .saying that I think the team need time to gel so ill give it a few more weeks
 
Howard: 7/10 - Unlucky with the first. Let down by his defence. Could have been more forward for the second to narrow the angle. Good save I second half
Harris: 6/10 - Faded after his injury. Looked short of confidence and positioning.
McGahey: 6/10 - It should have been him on Wilbrahim formost of the game given his height. He wasn't too bad but is a bit naïve in spells.
Alcock: 7.5/10 - Like this bloke. For his lack of height, he is a grafter. Better with Collins and McGahey in the middle and Alcock in place of Harris or Davies?
Davies: 5/10 - Thought he had a torrid game. Wasn't impressed. Second half he was nowhere to link with Flynn or JCR
Scogall: 8/10 - first half he was superb. Busy with everything and unlucky with the header and blocked shot. Second half I have no idea why he was subbed.
Reed: 9/10 - This lad is excellent. Looks up, places the pass. I counted one pass that failed to connect. He is one to watch.
Basham: 6/10 - Didn't look up to much and was instrumental in both their goals. Not impressed so far
Flynn: 4/10 - We have last year's Ryan Flynn back, it seems. Take the fucking man on Ryan, eh?
Murphy: 6/10 - Made no real impact in either half. Gets the ball, defender shows him the inside channel, he takes it. Job done. Playing the 4-3-2(wide)-1 system lends itself to wingers burning up the touchline and banging crosses in for the CF or for the second ball. Flynn and Murphy were playing Weir-standard today and they are why we only got one goal and not much more.
Higdon: 7/10 - Big, strong and dangerous and not Porter. He won't score goals however unless he gets the service of which today there was next to nowt.

Subs:

JCR: 7/10: Didn't get much but the fact that every time Davies got the ball, two defenders drifted over toward JCR to stop him bombing down the line. He is more a winger than Flynn.
McNulty: */10 - didn't see him touch the ball save for away from goal.
Baxter: */10 - Too little involvement to judge

We need to switch this to 4-1-2-1-2 in my opinion. Two up front puts more pressure on their defence (there wasn't much of that today that actually resulted in anything) and the wide me need to get round the back of their defence and get on their fucking toes.

Disappointing loss at the beginning of a season where something positive needs to happen.

pommpey
 
Second half was woeful, both going forward and at the back. We need to improve drastically if we want to seriously challenge for promotion. It's only the first game but I would have expected a bit more cohesion than that.
 
DSB-91 said:
Second half was woeful, both going forward and at the back. We need to improve drastically if we want to seriously challenge for promotion. It's only the first game but I would have expected a bit more cohesion than that.
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I just don't know what made Clough go with that back four.

I am sure he will tell us.
 
Thought Alcock was an absolute hero, would like to see him paired with Butler next week.
 
I've seen both great and shocking reviews of Alcock.

I thought he was 'okay'. Seemed to vary between outright panic and ridiculously composed. I don't think he has the physical presence for central defence.

On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised with McGahey.
 
Alcock had a very good game, earned a start next week.

Biggest positive to come from today was Louis Reed. He was brilliant,a very mature performance and thoroughly deserved his start. Can't wait to see more from him.
 
Alcock my MOM also. Think we're back to bashing Flynn a bit harder than anyone else. He did take his man on a few times in the first half. In fact, I thought he was better than Murphy today and I'm Murphy's biggest fan. Nobody was that great today, bit strange to be singling out Flynn for ratings as low as 4.
 

moDtheGod said:
Alcock my MOM also. Think we're back to bashing Flynn a bit harder than anyone else. He did take his man on a few times in the first half. In fact, I thought he was better than Murphy today and I'm Murphy's biggest fan. Nobody was that great today, bit strange to be singling out Flynn for ratings as low as 4.
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He's also clearly not fit, having had very little time pre-season.
 
Yeah I felt for Flynn a bit today - hardly played any preseason then expected to be up to speed for the first game. Very surprised not to see JCR or Baxter in his place.
 
Bladesman said:
I just don't know what made Clough go with that back four.

I am sure he will tell us.
Click to expand...

Wasn't it a back 3 with Davies more midfield? He was the one to drop to make up the back 4 when it was needed but I agree we looked to play as a back 4 second half.
 
Foxy said:
I'm not Nigel Clough, but I'm assuming as he's fit enough to put some minutes in which will help him get up to speed.

Same reason he gave Higdon 90 minutes I'd imagine.
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seems a bit strange with a fully fit JCR on the bench. anyway i'm not there but never been his biggest fan tbh
 
After a poor start when Bristol unsurprisingly went ahead, I thought we came back superbly. For me, the turning point was when that dirty fucker Little committed a shocking foul on our man. We were knocked off our stride and didn't play with as much tempo again. Equally sickening was Cotterill geeing Little up as if this was all part of their game plan. The ref. then exacerbated a terrible display when, after finally booking that thug Little, promply booked two Blades for 'simulation'.

I fully expected this result. Too many 'new faces' with no time to gel after an extremely indifferent pre-season. However, once again we didn't press their defence nearly enough to say we were the home team. This was often the case last season. Saying that, we had some extremely bad luck. The goaline clearance in the first half (which their player knew nothing about) and that incident in the Kop end when it seemed to have gone in twice.

No complaints with the result though. For a first game this was, incredibly, a six-pointer and leaves much for NC to do. Not sure what he can do about United lacking the 'speed of thought' to carve open defences. Too much pondering, too many 'hit and hope' balls into the area. Just like the majority of last season.

I though Alcock was excellent but can't really single anybody else out. Maybe Howard could have done more with their first (seemed to get a full hand to it), Basham appears very poor and Scougs and Porter were totally ineffective.

One last point. Get the fuck out of the Capital One Cup and the Paint Pot trophy asap. This season will, as ever, be extremely tough and we don't need the distraction of these meaningless tournaments.
 
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super_pig said:
seems a bit strange with a fully fit JCR on the bench. anyway i'm not there but never been his biggest fan tbh
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JCR's pulled no trees up pre-season in the more time he's had, which I'm guessing was Clough's thinking.
 

Davies lost a lot of headers today and was poor all round. We all know he's got good delivery but shoehorning him into the side at right back is to the detriment of the side. Positive was that Alcock is a younger better version of Hill and Reed was the best midfielder for us.
 
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