pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
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- #91
I thought you’d picked 12. Then I realised I was including Pommpey. I suggest we give this lad a go! Can’t do any worse just a question of whether he gets picked in goal instead of Near Post Wes, in central defence instead of anyone or in midfield instead of the Beige lad.
So many bones to pick out of that game.
First off, your point on the coverage. I thought we had left behind the nauseating anti-United, or at least pro-someone else’s-narrative behind. Unfortunately we’ve stepped into Carrick-Fergie-Protégé-world that the media are so desperate to get behind.
The commentator I listened to had clearly digested one fact he was keen to use to death - Millwall have a good set-piece output. Completely failed to mention that we are right up there as well. The ‘wouldn’t it be great if Boro caught them’ is a narrative I hope the players would like to ram down their throats. Maybe this is how we get the underdog/everyone is against us tag that we are far more comfortable with!
On the playing side, I really can’t get rid of the nagging thought that 2022 was Wes’ peak and we are starting to see the onset of a downturn. That’s two he has let in at the bear post. Sounds harsh but he did let Archer bash one in where if he stood tall there would have been no way past. Today he was crouching down and had his angles all wrong. Then he wasn’t decisive and could have given away a penalty. He went down in slow motion almost Ramsdaleesque vs Villa. Where was his footwork? He did the same for the offside (but wrongly given) goal that we conceded vs Wigan. The third as you say, was more Egan and those stopping the cross but he was neither use nor ornament, reaching out for a ball he could never get an this not forming a barrier on the line either. Even if we do get back on track, we should be under no doubt that a keeper should be a priority. Like Long did against Jebbo, he made a save with his legs vs Bradshaw and I’m not sure either take that much credit; it was more bad striking they picked their legs out to be honest. Also he needs harden up a bit. He’s got all the resilience of a Rich Tea biscuit. I’ve never seen a goalkeeper go down so much after the slightest of collisions.
Defensively we seem to have lost all sense of organisation. Robinson wasn’t the main culprit but the left side was badly exposed twice in a few days. I think we need Clark in there. Robbo may consider himself unlucky but Clark might add more organisation to a defence losing its way. Maybe he can compete with Lowe. Norton from-Davies is a huge upgrade defensively on both Lowe and Robinson. We’re unfortunate to have lost O’Connell, got Rhys and then lost him too.
Bogle needs to be more decisive. He made a lot of backward passes and at one point just stood with the ball either because he’d no idea what to do or that there were no options made for him.
Norwood is going to live and die by those around him. We know what he does well. He’s being left completely in exposed by those around him disappearing.
Berge in games like this is a liability. There should be few instances where someone given a role in the middle of the park is seen strolling around. Midfield should always be involved. Him turning up on about 65 minutes doesn’t do justice to a guy who is supposedly coveted every window. If he thinks he’s better than us then he’s in for a rude awakening. He needs to be dropped or hooked if that is his current capabilities right now. Like Egan he’s not seemingly allowed to have a bad game, he’s merely having a game where something good will come from him, but later, so we need to persevere with 60 minutes of absence in the hope that something pivotal may occur. You can’t run a team like this. I’d rather have 30 mins of running his blood to water than 90 with 2/3 of it an exercise in conserving energy.
Doyle scored and it’s his first game back. If he was ready to play then I don’t see why he had to depart so early. His replacement I don’t wish to demean but if Osborn is the answer, I’m not sure of the question. Plus why have 3 left sided short midfield players whilst leaving a box to box right footed player at home. It makes no sense unless Coulibaly was injured. I saw enough vs Wrexham to suggest he’s more about him then Osborn ever will have.
I thought McBurnie, despite being given little protection from the ref and limited opportunities, continued to lead the line well and provided a sublime outside of the foot pass to Jebbison.
Jebbison still has a bit of Bambi on ice about him and really needs to protect the ball more but to me it did seem like we may have found the Jake Cooper, someone tall and quick and he seemed to have him rattled, to use the word of the moment. This then left me more perplexed as to why he was withdrawn if we were ‘going for it’.
We ended up with:
Wes
Bogle Egan Robinson Lowe
Berge Norwood McAtee Ndiaye
McBurnie Ndiaye
I would have preferred to have seen something like:
Wes
Bogle Egan Clark Robinson
McAtee Norwood Fleck
Ndiaye
Jebbison McBurnie
The subs made no sense. Osborn I’ve mentioned would not have been in my squad. He brings none of what Fleck would have brought. His first impact was to fail to clear the first man on balls into the box and like Lowe, if he was there for defensive robustness, where was he on the third?
Hecky needs to stop favouring players. I don’t know if we go with a Man City midfield and have both Doyle and McAtee next game but I don’t want Osborn in there and I wouldn’t let Berge off the hook with two half-arsed performances. Maybe there is even room for Fleck, Norwood and Doyle together, with McAtee as first change.
Final bug bear. Subs. We can make five. So get used to making 5. It will stop us getting so ragged late on in games and it will also more evenly distribute minutes and protect against injuries. It’s as if Hecky doesn’t know the rules changed and as one of the bigger clubs, it arguably favours us. Also as we can make 5, make use of all of them. Don’t hang back with 4 just in case. When we could only make 3, we didn’t just make 2 just in case, did we?
Please jeep Coulibaly in the match day squad. You risk alienating a potential long term talent for the club. In favour of what? Making sure Ozzy feels involved. He’s contributed 1 goal and 1 assist in all competitions. He’s one of the first I’d let go in the summer. Coming on as sub unconvincingly isn’t what will take us forward and he’s failed to nail down any spot for 4 years now. He had a little spell under Slav but that’s your lot. He can’t live off one good game vs Peterborough at home. Coulibaly can be part of future options. He’s not going to want to stay if he’s the one that’s always the first one dropped.
Grateful for your very in depth response Champers. Good points well made
pommpey
