Clough on Mcnulty

[OllyBlade]

 

[Darthblade]

Two late goals when you're down to ten following an injury, yep 100% managers fault....

We appear to have forgotten ALL that we have learned about this agricultural division. You win nothing with a midfield full of midgets.
Once Coutts went off through illness, we were completely destroyed in midfield by a very average long-ball (hoof) side, intent on roughing us up and allowed to get away with it by a poor, weak referee.
We have only two strikers at the Club, one of which is a development player and therefore options on the bench are zilch !!
Its realistic to say we were never going to achieve the top two places this season, following patchy recruitment in the summer, so all that is lost at this stage is our enthusiasm.
What IS highlighted here, is just how paper thin the quality of our squad is. Take out a couple of key players, and we roll over for a poor, hard-working, hoofy team. How the hell do we expect to seriously compete if we do get into the play-offs ?
UTB & FTP

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

My question is do you think NC is over harsh on mcnulty

I am a fan of mcnulty but he didn't play particular well tonight - that said how the hell is he supposed to work with the utter garbage service he is getting

Some may say Done makes a better job with the same service and I don't disagree but sitting where I do in the south stand I can see cloughs reaction virtually every time he can't say hold up play or can't win a header against a kid a foot taller and 3 stone heavier .

Heard NC interviewed on drive home and whilst he wasn't on his own mcnulty got slated ... again.

Is it me ???

Clough wants to work out where the real problems are - a left back and a midfield player impersonating a centre half (badly). It's okay Clough trying to shut up shop for the last few minutes but how the f*** are you supposed to do that with no real centre halves. He started pre-season with 4 - Maguire, Collins, Butler, & McGahey - and only 1 remains, that Clough won't play, and the other not mentioned, Kenneday, is injured.

 

[OllyBlade]

How the hell do we expect to seriously compete if we do get into the play-offs ?

Not to be facetious but we'll probably play the opposition in a football match?

Oh God we're all miserable again aren't we? I can't take these extreme oscillations between us being shit and quite good. Can't we make up our minds?!?!

 

[super_pig]

Oh God we're all miserable again aren't we? I can't take these extreme oscillations between us being shit and quite good. Can't we make up our minds?!?!

purely from a personal perspective.. i go. .

we're shit.. (but then a glimmer of hope)
we might still have a chance!.. (kick in the bollocks.. lose to another comedy goal to the bottom team)
that's it naar..

repeat ad nauseum.. it's bloody exhausting..
i've given up.. if by some miracle we do it then it will be a pleasant surprise

 

[SwissBlade]

would Mourinho have lost??

Good question, would he?

 

[SwissBlade]

We appear to have forgotten ALL that we have learned about this agricultural division. You win nothing with a midfield full of midgets.
Once Coutts went off through illness, we were completely destroyed in midfield by a very average long-ball (hoof) side, intent on roughing us up and allowed to get away with it by a poor, weak referee.
We have only two strikers at the Club, one of which is a development player and therefore options on the bench are zilch !!
Its realistic to say we were never going to achieve the top two places this season, following patchy recruitment in the summer, so all that is lost at this stage is our enthusiasm.
What IS highlighted here, is just how paper thin the quality of our squad is. Take out a couple of key players, and we roll over for a poor, hard-working, hoofy team. How the hell do we expect to seriously compete if we do get into the play-offs ?
UTB & FTP

I have no thoughts towards the play offs at all. No desire to discuss. However, our side is good. Depth and quality. One or two results don't worry me. Is height a problem?yes at set pieces, defensively and attacking set pieces. But competitively in midfield were good.

 

[Lane Ender]

Has anyone ever heard him slate with £1.5/2 million pound game changing, natural born motivator and leader right back? Cardiff must be p*ssing themselves at that bit of business. He could have bought 3 good players where we needed them.

Three ordinary players I prefer that bit of class
Time will prove it.

 

[TheBeard]

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.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Is height a problem?yes at set pieces, defensively and attacking set pieces. But competitively in midfield were good.

So, we're no threat in the opposition penalty area, extremely vulnerable in our own penalty area, but whizzo in the centre circle?

Hmmm

 

[SwissBlade]

So, we're no threat in the opposition penalty area, extremely vulnerable in our own penalty area, but whizzo in the centre circle?

Hmmm

Keep the ball on the deck, don't let it go out at either end, hoof out for throw ins instead

 

[TheBeard]

We had no one in central midfield running in when we put balls into the box, nothing was played through the Center of the park only tried to get at them on the wings. Our players are very static, they pass the ball and think they can stand still, there is very little movement to create space, I saw Coutts last night get the ball on the touch line pass it to Murphy and then just stood there watching Murphy try to take on two players to no avail and had no options to pass the ball forward and then had to pass it back to him as his only option where he was still in his same position on the touch line. When we get throw ins it's the same no movement, it's as if nobody wants the ball, and there are no options and inevitably the opposition get the ball and the advantage. It's the same with goal kicks we are booting the ball up with small target men and the ball is coming straight back at us, I think the keeper in those situations would be better kicking the ball as far upfield as possible but into touch so that we can try and take advantage of trying to win the ball from their throw ins and it gives us time to get the team structure back rather than the opposing team winning the ball and putting us under pressure and because the kick has been taken quickly we have not got our formation . What does get my goat last night was that we were winning with a fortuitous goal, albeit a great piece of skill by Done, we only really started playing after they went 2-1 up, we created more chances after that than we did the rest of the game, why aren't we starting matches with the same impetus ?

 

[Darthblade]

Not to be facetious but we'll probably play the opposition in a football match?

Oh God we're all miserable again aren't we? I can't take these extreme oscillations between us being shit and quite good. Can't we make up our minds?!?!

IF ONLY we were allowed to play the opposition in a football match I would have quite a bit of confidence, however, since the thoroughly crap referees at this agricultural level of football allow standard "cage fighting" techniques to be employed of the field of play, and quite a few from rugby as well, I have much less confidence with our squad full of midgets being probably the smallest and most lightweight in the Division.

Now I do not advocate that we should go down the "ladyboy" road and fill our squad with thugs and play hoofball like the pigs and Blackwell loved, however, we do need more players in the squad who are capable of "looking after themselves" whilst playing silky football, if we are to escape from the nightmare that is League 1.
UTB & FTP