coaxingstar71
First 10 yards are in the head
Two things straight away...
1. This isn't about defending that performance
2. If this has already been covered elsewhere in a thread I can't find then I apologise wholeheartedly to @grumpyblade
I would argue that despite a mindless performance by the team (and I use the word team in the loosest possible sense of the word), that actually our defence actually did ok.
For large parts of the game, they restricted them to long shots and when they did get a shot on target, apart from the goal itself, obviously, George made some good stops.
There were a few hairy moments including when George flapped at an opponents feet in the 2nd half near the goal line, but other than that they were fairly solid. Of course there was no outlet and every time they were playing it across the back, it looked like we'd give it away at any given moment. I thought Jay was probably MOTM until he went off, even going on one of his customary runs which was about as close as we got in the 2nd half, probably due to the lack of options further ahead of him. Brayford is woefully out of form but I noticed something that has become prevalent recently, in part, I'm sure, due to the general lack of confidence throughout the team - we keep giving the ball to him in tight areas or when he's under pressure, presumably in the hope he'll do something with it and because he's not superman, he's getting tackled or being forced into a panicky clearance or back pass. I noticed this happens with other players too but particularly JB.
Edgar was one of our better players too, got a couple of important tackles in, though god knows why he started in defensive midfield as his general passing ranges from mediocre to poor. It just shows the lack of options in that area when we are relying heavily on Hammond coming back. For the goal, apparently he didn't cover very well but he was probably as surprised as I was to see Coutts under no pressure whatsoever and with space to run into, decide to gift one of their players the ball, which 5 seconds later ended up in the back of our net.
Collins, well, he was Collins. Won most of his headers, frightens me when he has the ball at his feet but actually didn't do that much wrong.
In my opinion, the midfield was the biggest problem in that they didn't work with the defenders or help them and there was zero quality supply to the forwards.
Another observation is that the manager changed from a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2) to a 4-2-3-1 and ended with a 4-2-4 and in his words he said we needed make chances - Nigel, you don't make chances simply by putting more forwards on (same as Bury), you need players to get quality ball to the forwards to make chances. As Brian Clough said, tactics and formations don't lose you football matches, players do - never was it so truer than last night.
1. This isn't about defending that performance
2. If this has already been covered elsewhere in a thread I can't find then I apologise wholeheartedly to @grumpyblade
I would argue that despite a mindless performance by the team (and I use the word team in the loosest possible sense of the word), that actually our defence actually did ok.
For large parts of the game, they restricted them to long shots and when they did get a shot on target, apart from the goal itself, obviously, George made some good stops.
There were a few hairy moments including when George flapped at an opponents feet in the 2nd half near the goal line, but other than that they were fairly solid. Of course there was no outlet and every time they were playing it across the back, it looked like we'd give it away at any given moment. I thought Jay was probably MOTM until he went off, even going on one of his customary runs which was about as close as we got in the 2nd half, probably due to the lack of options further ahead of him. Brayford is woefully out of form but I noticed something that has become prevalent recently, in part, I'm sure, due to the general lack of confidence throughout the team - we keep giving the ball to him in tight areas or when he's under pressure, presumably in the hope he'll do something with it and because he's not superman, he's getting tackled or being forced into a panicky clearance or back pass. I noticed this happens with other players too but particularly JB.
Edgar was one of our better players too, got a couple of important tackles in, though god knows why he started in defensive midfield as his general passing ranges from mediocre to poor. It just shows the lack of options in that area when we are relying heavily on Hammond coming back. For the goal, apparently he didn't cover very well but he was probably as surprised as I was to see Coutts under no pressure whatsoever and with space to run into, decide to gift one of their players the ball, which 5 seconds later ended up in the back of our net.
Collins, well, he was Collins. Won most of his headers, frightens me when he has the ball at his feet but actually didn't do that much wrong.
In my opinion, the midfield was the biggest problem in that they didn't work with the defenders or help them and there was zero quality supply to the forwards.
Another observation is that the manager changed from a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2) to a 4-2-3-1 and ended with a 4-2-4 and in his words he said we needed make chances - Nigel, you don't make chances simply by putting more forwards on (same as Bury), you need players to get quality ball to the forwards to make chances. As Brian Clough said, tactics and formations don't lose you football matches, players do - never was it so truer than last night.
