My view of the game was that quite a few had off-night.
Coutts was terrible,plenty of mis-placed passes
McNulty's ball control was poor by his own standards
McCleverly made 3 or four really bad mistakes (that luckily we didn't get punished for)
Reed, who set up the goal for us with a long ball that Done scored from, later continued to concentrate on first-time flicks that went astray, the second of which led to the winning goal.
Holt had an ineffective game when brought on.
Clough should not have started with Coutts, by Clough's own admission, he was suffering from a virus before the game.
Clough should have substituted Flynn in the first half after a succession of tough tackles limited his effectiveness.
Clough not putting on another front man, such as Adams, capable of keeping the Peterborough defenders in their own half
Clough publicly berating his own players while on the pitch and on the radio. Good managers (those with any proper managerial training) are taught to discuss shortcomings with their staff on a 1:1 basis. in private.
Baxter was not available through a ridiculous challenge against Coventry. limiting his manager's selection options
Well said, in particular the public humiliations of players, there's a time and a place.
I would add:
I welcome 4-4-2 but the Coutts / Doyle central pairing is far too limited in the final third. Play one or the other together with a creator. In Baxter's and scougall's absence we should have played Reed from the start. We are in League 1 not Champions League! I thought both Doyle and Coutts played well individually but both far too deep as a pair. We should be looking to win games FFS. Coutts was great for half an hour and then lost it, maybe due to his illness.
The substitutions were bizarre, not just poor.
45 mins - Holt (why?) for Coutts. Reed is one of our best players and Holt has been weak in his short time here.
60 mins - Reed for McNulty. midfielder for a striker at 0-0.
Why oh why didn't we put Adams on for McNulty? Answer - to go 4-5-1 presumably, but what's wrong with icluding Adams in that formation like every other time he's played - and scored.
80 mins thereabouts. Freeman for Done -full back for a striker at 1-0 up.
The net effect after an hour, in a game with a lenient referee who allowed so much physical contact and against a team which had buffeted our forward players all night, was to play a midfield 5 of: Flynn, Doyle, Holt, Reed and Murphy. HOW SMALL AND LIGHTWEIGHT IS THAT MIDFIELD? Added to that our teamwork disintegrated and we were hacking the ball forward aimlessly. Clough said his subs were changed to "win the game" - WHAT? Our goal happened purely out of the perseverence of Done, well done sir, but not through good play. Reed's ball was intended at least, more than could be said for most hoofed forward balls in the second half, but Done would only score that goal once every 30 or so attempts.
Flynn's injury was unfortunate but we were only exposed because we had put a full back on for a striker at 1-0 up.
"No strikers on the bench" - well we have only one striker with an injury, so who's fault is that? We've just spent over £2m on two players and there is such a thing as a loan system anyway.
In the final analysis their keeper made 2 saves - one easy shot from Doyle and another good one he ti[[ed over the bar. Simply not good enough.
If you play 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 IF YOUR MIDFIELD DOESNT GET UPFIELD IN AND AROUND THE BOX YOU WILL NEVER SCORE ENOUGH GOALS. Last night Done and McNulty did not get enough service, nor were they supported with enough numbers in forward areas. We attack in twos and threes against defences of 8 and 9 players. It's rubbish.
McEveley has two or three mistakes in him per game and therefore the Kennedy injury is devastating news.
Like him or not, Campbell- Ryce was missed last night; he would have been a good option in that second half. Bizarre.
