Yesterday reaffirmed a few things for me. We don't have the pace to stretch teams, so despite Rotherham playing a high line rather ineptly we couldn't exploit it. This should've been the cost of Rotherham's press, but we couldn't capitalise. We had ample opportunities to put McGoldrick clean through on goal but we couldn't do it. We have the choice of two immobile forwards in Sharp and Clarke, or playing McGoldrick and Sharp with McGoldrick congesting the midfield. To counter United you press them high and congest the midfield and have some pacy wide players in a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 system. You can also play very defensively in a system that congests the central areas and have success
Freeman: Once again atrocious in both his attacking and defensive play. He needs taking out for the good of the team.
Norwood: Excellent technician, but he only turns up when he feels like it. This wasn't the case with Coutts over the last two seasons. Fleck was also poor yesterday, but both he and Duffy never hid.
Duffy: We have nothing on the bench to replace him when he tires during the game or during two/three game weeks. I flagged this up as a big concern before the season.
Bench: It's clear there is nothing on the bench to enhance our team - whilst we continue with the same tactical approach - or to radically change tactics. David Brooks offered the chance to witch to 4-3-3/4-5-1 - but he's at Bournemouth. Wilder doesn't seem to trust Washington to have the quality to stretch teams with pace. Clarke has been poor compared to last season's standards. Baldock has not been given an opportunity - despite Freeman leaving a lot to be desired over the last two months. I'd say the jury is still out over Johnson, who is a little unfortunate given Stevens form. Stearman, Moore and Baldock are good players if we have injuries or tired bodies but that's about it.