Bergen Blade
Well-Known Member
I think many United fans are generally too critical of the level we're playing at. There may not be many big teams in League One this season, but the general level of football is probably the best ever in my opinion. Even teams like Coventry, with one win in ten, short of confidence and struggling in general, can field a well balanced, well prepared team that are set up to make it hard for us and cause us problems.
When teams come to the Lane we shouldn't expect them to look fabulously entertaining. Playing away, especially against the better sides is a lot about defending, stopping us, upsetting our rhythm.
Coventry did that well at the start of the game. Playing a fairly narrow 4-4-2 and pressing us high up the pitch, they made it hard for us to get our passing moves going. To avoid losing the ball in dangerous areas we resorted to chipping the ball up field, but our wingers had their full backs breathing down their necks, while Baxter and Done couldn't get hold of the ball. We were basically outnumbered and outmuscled in their half.
Coventry's central midfielders, Fleck and Barton, are very comfortable on the ball and with Doyle and Coutts sitting deeper in our 4-4-1-1 starting formation, we didn't have any ball winners to challenge them. As mentioned they had a fairly narrow formation with solid, hard working wide men in O'Brien and Williams, who both have experience playing centrally. Their two forwards also got behind the ball and closed us down in midfield.
To change the early pattern of the game, Clough tried to invert our midfield triangle, meaning Baxter went deeper while Coutts and Doyle pushed higher to get more aggression higher up and hopefully stop their central midfielders dominating unchallenged.
I felt that we were actually coming into the game more before Baxter's sending off. While the above Coventry plan may seem perfect, it is very hard to keep it up for the full game. Without the sending off I think we gradually would have taken over more control of the game and eventually our quality would have given us more chances.
Then Coventry scored and we had to try carving them open with ten men. Coventry dropped deeper after they took the lead and for the last hour we dominated possession. With just one central striker this isn't easy though. Their second was also a blow which would have made a lot of teams lose faith. We sacrificed JCR at half time, and then Coutts, and the main difference was that we got more running and energy going forward through Basham and Freeman.
I think we kept going and did well in difficult circumstances and in the end were rewarded. I'd add at least a point to most players' ratings from Balham and Deadbat's reports.
When I saw the line up I thought that it was probably Clough's current favourite line up, with the probable exception of a fit Flynn. Although we went into the game high on confidence, belief and form, the early stages showed that it won't be easy to win most of our remaining games. Teams will have a plan of how to stop us and how to punish any mistake we make.
We will have to be at our best, but I'm personally relieved that the performance vs Coventry was better than I feared and I think it would have been another win if we'd kept 11 men on the pitch.
When teams come to the Lane we shouldn't expect them to look fabulously entertaining. Playing away, especially against the better sides is a lot about defending, stopping us, upsetting our rhythm.
Coventry did that well at the start of the game. Playing a fairly narrow 4-4-2 and pressing us high up the pitch, they made it hard for us to get our passing moves going. To avoid losing the ball in dangerous areas we resorted to chipping the ball up field, but our wingers had their full backs breathing down their necks, while Baxter and Done couldn't get hold of the ball. We were basically outnumbered and outmuscled in their half.
Coventry's central midfielders, Fleck and Barton, are very comfortable on the ball and with Doyle and Coutts sitting deeper in our 4-4-1-1 starting formation, we didn't have any ball winners to challenge them. As mentioned they had a fairly narrow formation with solid, hard working wide men in O'Brien and Williams, who both have experience playing centrally. Their two forwards also got behind the ball and closed us down in midfield.
To change the early pattern of the game, Clough tried to invert our midfield triangle, meaning Baxter went deeper while Coutts and Doyle pushed higher to get more aggression higher up and hopefully stop their central midfielders dominating unchallenged.
I felt that we were actually coming into the game more before Baxter's sending off. While the above Coventry plan may seem perfect, it is very hard to keep it up for the full game. Without the sending off I think we gradually would have taken over more control of the game and eventually our quality would have given us more chances.
Then Coventry scored and we had to try carving them open with ten men. Coventry dropped deeper after they took the lead and for the last hour we dominated possession. With just one central striker this isn't easy though. Their second was also a blow which would have made a lot of teams lose faith. We sacrificed JCR at half time, and then Coutts, and the main difference was that we got more running and energy going forward through Basham and Freeman.
I think we kept going and did well in difficult circumstances and in the end were rewarded. I'd add at least a point to most players' ratings from Balham and Deadbat's reports.
When I saw the line up I thought that it was probably Clough's current favourite line up, with the probable exception of a fit Flynn. Although we went into the game high on confidence, belief and form, the early stages showed that it won't be easy to win most of our remaining games. Teams will have a plan of how to stop us and how to punish any mistake we make.
We will have to be at our best, but I'm personally relieved that the performance vs Coventry was better than I feared and I think it would have been another win if we'd kept 11 men on the pitch.
