0-0 and Howard Kendall

[Northern Rivers Blade]

0-0 is OK at the start of a new regime, with a new style of play. OK, we've had a couple of 0-1 defeats as well, but I don't think our lack of goals should be a worry at this stage.

I seem to remember Howard Kendall leading us to a few 0-0s when he took over. Then, as confidence grew and players started to understand the system, the 0-0s turned into 2-0s.

I'm sure the same is going to happen under Weir.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Didn't Kendall draw his first five matches 1-1?

 

[SwissBlade]

I'd rather that we built a strong base of not conceding first. It makes sense to make yourself difficult to beat.

It may seem negative but you start each game with 1 point. You can either increase that to 3 by the end of the game or you could lose it. We have to learn to control the games and make the opposition work hard without the ball. I never understand this desire to play the killer 70 yd pass every time. Be patient control the game and make those killer passes count.

When I coached a team a few years back I wanted them to regroup and get their shape back as soon as they lost possession. Forget the ball and regroup. But it was so hard to get into them. They naturally wanted to stop the ball in the opposition half. I was asking them to work in a counter defence way. Just like breaking fast to attack, I wanted them to get back quickly and let the one/ two strikers trying and slow the attack down.

Work on that first then worry about the goals.

I also believe that if you sit back a little and defend as a unit of 8/ 9 then the opposition will naturally come forward. If you have pace in your side then you could find yourself with over half the pitch to play the ball into - clever passes in behind the back four which your faster players can run onto.

 

[Northern Rivers Blade]

OK, I've looked it up, and it turns out those early 0-0 draws under Kendall were, technically speaking, all in my head.

You are almost right, Ndlovu, we started out:


FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 16Dec 1995

Ipswich​

1 - 1​

Sheff Utd
D
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 23Dec 1995

Stoke​

2 - 2​

Sheff Utd
D
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Tu 26Dec 1995

Sheff Utd​

1 - 1​

Birmingham
D
ENGLISH FA CUP Sa 06Jan 1996

Arsenal​

1 - 1​

Sheff Utd
D
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 13Jan 1996

Tranmere​

1 - 1​

Sheff Utd
D
ENGLISH FA CUP We 17Jan 1996

Sheff Utd​

1 - 0​

Arsenal
W
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 20Jan 1996

Sheff Utd​

1 - 1​

Watford


(We did have a fair few 0-0s later in the season, which must have stuck in my head.)

Anyway, if I can recast my argument a bit: it took us a while to learn how to win, but we got there in the end.

 

[Gavlar]

OK, I've looked it up, and it turns out those early 0-0 draws under Kendall were, technically speaking, all in my head.

You are almost right, Ndlovu, we started out:


FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 16Dec 1995

Ipswich​

1 - 1​

Sheff Utd
D
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 23Dec 1995

Stoke​

2 - 2​

Sheff Utd
D
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Tu 26Dec 1995

Sheff Utd​

1 - 1​

Birmingham
D
ENGLISH FA CUP Sa 06Jan 1996

Arsenal​

1 - 1​

Sheff Utd
D
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 13Jan 1996

Tranmere​

1 - 1​

Sheff Utd
D
ENGLISH FA CUP We 17Jan 1996

Sheff Utd​

1 - 0​

Arsenal
W
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 1 Sa 20Jan 1996

Sheff Utd​

1 - 1​

Watford


(We did have a fair few 0-0s later in the season, which must have stuck in my head.)

Anyway, if I can recast my argument a bit: it took us a while to learn how to win, but we got there in the end.

good stuff, 41 league games left and hopefully we can turn it round. just have to get our strikers scoring asap.

 

[2ndtenorblade]

Strikers will never get the ball if it is played sideways or backwards, even a passing team needs to pass the ball FORWARDS occasionally.

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

Any change of personnel, be it manager, players or both (as has been the case for us) will take time to adapt. Come Christmas I've no doubt we'll be rocking, the toast of the division

 

[2ndtenorblade]

Any change of personnel, be it manager, players or both (as has been the case for us) will take time to adapt. Come Christmas I've no doubt we'll be rocking, the toast of the division

I hope you're right, can't see it happening though.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Just out of curiosity I looked at Southampton's start in 2010/11 where they struggled until the end of September and then went up. They'd won once up to beating Wednesday on 25 September - that was a 4-0 win and they sacked Pardew afterwards in late August. Their run of results started in October - ending up with promotion on 92 points.

Different looking squad though, with Allana, Chaplow and Lambert all coming good in that run.

Apart from no longer being curious, I'm not sure what I can draw from that other than a change in manager after 6 weeks works when you've got a future England striker to bang them in.

 

[Grecian2000]

Apart from no longer being curious, I'm not sure what I can draw from that

I'd be happy to draw the conclusion that you don't get promoted in August/September.

My concern is that, unlike the Kendall team that was drawing but looked like it could win at any moment, we actually look as far away from turning around as we did at the end of last season. Notts County aside, it has been pretty dire so far.