To be fair to Brayford re:equaliser

[ReeceofBDTBL]

As the left winger bombed down the flank Brayford spotted him and moved to take him, but the Louis Reed moved across to covered the man himself.

Reed then inexplicably decides to charge at the guy in the middle (despite having a million men moving towards him) and leaves Brayford pretty much phucked.

Reed has shown time and time again that whilst he's got some talent on the ball, when it comes to the basics of positioning, holding his ground and forcing the opposition to move sideways, he's one of the most inept you'll ever see in professional football.

He's 18, but even then that was poor yesterday.

Of course this is all academic if we had centre backs who actually organised the players around them, made sure the full backs moved across and that the midfield didn't drop right back onto them, rather than ball watching like a set of gawping window lickers.

Main culprit - Collins. I hate that player with a passion.

 

[Deadbat]

Its bewildering that Collins was clearly not good enough 5 seasons ago when we went down and he is still here offering up the same pathetic performances. I really am counting down the games till we never have to see many of these fickwits in an sufc shirt ever again.

19 and counting. (Dont say it 21/22!)

 

[Deadbat]

You are right about Reed though. Sadly not even promising anymore. What does he offer? He gives it away, cant tackle, doesnt score. Remarkable that him and De Girolamo have another year too. Both have gone from so called hot prospecs to a player I doubt will bein league football in a few years.

We really should be looking to mive these on with the rest at the end of the season. The fact neither even can get a loan move says it all.

 

[Whiston Blade]

Add in the fact that he's the world tallest midget, makes him an all round useless footballer.

 

[chesblade]

How come a Bradford post has turned into hate against Collins. He wasn't to blame for there goal. Leave the guy alone

 

[Dnblade]

Pity Edgar didn't stay on his feet and hold his ground in the space behind Brayford...no need to dive in really,and it just left a big gap.

 

[UnitedBlade]

How come a Bradford post has turned into hate against Collins. He wasn't to blame for there goal. Leave the guy alone

Collins did score it ! It was an own goal. However, I don't blame him, he was trying to keep it out.

 

[bornablade]

How is it last season, according to many on here Collins was the answer to all our problems and Clough was roundly criticized for not playing him? And yet this season according to many Collins is the cause of all our problems?

 

[Beat Jedi]

I think it was because we had zero centre backs and Collins sat there doing nothing and was surely a better option than playing people out of position and/or not very good like Alcock. I doubt anyone really believed Collins was the answer to all our problems. It was just desperation.

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

How is it last season, according to many on here Collins was the answer to all our problems and Clough was roundly criticized for not playing him? And yet this season according to many Collins is the cause of all our problems?

There were also plenty of us, myself included, who never wanted him back as his ball watching, poor reading of the game and complete ineptitude against any sort of movement (demonstrated over and over and over again, year in year out).

If one player encapsulates the essence of the last 6 years for this club, it's this incompetent leech.

Not to mention he doesn't even have a good attitude and routinely blames and shouts at all around him when we concede, when he's always at the epicentre of us having a defensively line that's all over the place.

Like Deadbat, I am counting down the days till his contracts up.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

As someone else has posted Edgar should have stayed on his feet, it's bad enough one of 'um sliding in, but two was ridiculous. Edgar stands up and their forward doesn't have a free shot.

Edgar and Collins, either would be fine playing off a big dominant centre half, but they're both struggling as neither can do that attacking the first ball role. There was a point during the match that summed it up, where Edgar lost out to one of their dwarf forwards in the air. It would have been meat-and-drink for a proper big centre half but Edgar and Collins at times struggle with it.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I think the scorer was offside when the ball was played.




From our perspective though, we're not well organised. As Swindon switch play from (their) right to left, our midfield can't keep up. This is basically it, and what follows is panic defending.

Baxter falls to deep (covering for Collins, good, but your defensive job doesn't end there buddy) and is slow to move back up, Flynn's challenge is weak. When Kasim gets on the ball, Reed should have closed him down with Brayford taking up a covering position. Brayford panics as he sees Kasim in space, starts running towards him, but realises Reed is doing the same. Desperately chasing back when the ball is played wide, Brayford can't keep up when Ottewill cuts inside. Rather comically Edgar comes flying as well, needlessly, as he should have stayed on his feet and covered. Collins can't get there before Ottewill fires it in at the near post.


So a lot of mistakes from a lot of different people! For me there is a weakness with the diamond formation. Lately we've had two banks of four, keeping a rather solid, compact, narrow and deep shape. With the diamond that we used in the second half, Flynn is given some licence to stay ahead of the other midfielders. As can be seen earlier in the attack, he's not in line with the others, he gets back, but he's facing Long, not waiting for Swindon's players:



So one by one our midfield is taken out. Woolford can't stop Obika, Flynn also fails to do it, Baxter is awol, pretending to be a libero. As Kasim gets the ball we only have one protective midfielder left and that's Reed. He's probably been instructed to keep an eye on their overlapping left back, hence him being a bit wide and reluctant to close down Kasim.

Playing two strikers and also one in the hole, means the reamaining three midfielders have to cover a lot of space. Especially when the ball is switched from side to side it can be difficult.

 

[TonyAgana]

How is it last season, according to many on here Collins was the answer to all our problems and Clough was roundly criticized for not playing him? And yet this season according to many Collins is the cause of all our problems?

Specifically regarding the Swindon 2nd leg, had we played but one recognised centre half, the chances of us conceding 5 goals would've been greatly reduced.

 

[Keen Blade]

I think the scorer was offside when the ball was played.


View attachment 15621

From our perspective though, we're not well organised. As Swindon switch play from (their) right to left, our midfield can't keep up. This is basically it, and what follows is panic defending.

Baxter falls to deep (covering for Collins, good, but your defensive job doesn't end there buddy) and is slow to move back up, Flynn's challenge is weak. When Kasim gets on the ball, Reed should have closed him down with Brayford taking up a covering position. Brayford panics as he sees Kasim in space, starts running towards him, but realises Reed is doing the same. Desperately chasing back when the ball is played wide, Brayford can't keep up when Ottewill cuts inside. Rather comically Edgar comes flying as well, needlessly, as he should have stayed on his feet and covered. Collins can't get there before Ottewill fires it in at the near post.


So a lot of mistakes from a lot of different people! For me there is a weakness with the diamond formation. Lately we've had two banks of four, keeping a rather solid, compact, narrow and deep shape. With the diamond that we used in the second half, Flynn is given some licence to stay ahead of the other midfielders. As can be seen earlier in the attack, he's not in line with the others, he gets back, but he's facing Long, not waiting for Swindon's players:

View attachment 15623

So one by one our midfield is taken out. Woolford can't stop Obika, Flynn also fails to do it, Baxter is awol, pretending to be a libero. As Kasim gets the ball we only have one protective midfielder left and that's Reed. He's probably been instructed to keep an eye on their overlapping left back, hence him being a bit wide and reluctant to close down Kasim.

Playing two strikers and also one in the hole, means the reamaining three midfielders have to cover a lot of space. Especially when the ball is switched from side to side it can be difficult.

Look at your first photo Bergen. Are you seriously suggesting that our fullbacks are ANYWHERE NEAR where they should be ? Look at McEverley , despite having central men alongside him he watching the ball and completely oblivious to their right winger. Look at £2m Bradford , wtf is he doing in the centre with 8 teammates ? Both the opposition wingers have unforgiveable acres of space and Brayfords poor position and emergency dash gives his oppo an easy chance to cut inside. Could you see that shitty organisation happening under Chris Morgan ? He would have twatted them so hard in the tunnel they wouldn't dream of being so incompetent again. But we haven't got Capt Morgan have we ? We've got an incompetent left back as Captain and neither centre back is capable of organising their way out of a wet paper bag. FFS , if Adkins cant see this , he is incompetent and if he can see it , why isn't he addressing it ? Instead of telling us that he's got honest hardworking lads ? Has he , as a goalkeeper , never opened his mouth to organise a defence ? God help us.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Look at your first photo Bergen. Are you seriously suggesting that our fullbacks are ANYWHERE NEAR where they should be ? Look at McEverley , despite having central men alongside him he watching the ball and completely oblivious to their right winger. Look at £2m Bradford , wtf is he doing in the centre with 8 teammates ? Both the opposition wingers have unforgiveable acres of space and Brayfords poor position and emergency dash gives his oppo an easy chance to cut inside. Could you see that shitty organisation happening under Chris Morgan ? He would have twatted them so hard in the tunnel they wouldn't dream of being so incompetent again. But we haven't got Capt Morgan have we ? We've got an incompetent left back as Captain and neither centre back is capable of organising their way out of a wet paper bag. FFS , if Adkins cant see this , he is incompetent and if he can see it , why isn't he addressing it ? Instead of telling us that he's got honest hardworking lads ? Has he , as a goalkeeper , never opened his mouth to organise a defence ? God help us.

We are trying to keep the team compact and that means concentrating towards wherever the ball is and leaving gaps at the far side, relying on moving over quickly if the opposition switches play. Obviously in this situation we can't quite do it.

McEveley's position is not a concern in this situation. Brayford gets caught out of position, but it's not only his fault. He is marking Ajose in the first image and probably thinks Reed will help him with the attacking left back. When Kasim gets on the ball in a decent shooting position somebody has to close him down. As said Woolford, Baxter and Flynn are not helping and Edgar is also too slow to move over to the right.

IF Brayford had thought that his job is to just man mark whoever they have on the left, I think Kasim would have just threaded it through to Ajose centrally, which normally would have been an even bigger chance:



I think this photo shows that our team as a unit were not keeping up with Swindon, so just blaming Brayford because it was down that side is a bit simplistic.

 

[derryblade]

From that picture we basically look like an under7s team all running towards the ball.

 

[Ricky]

We are trying to keep the team compact and that means concentrating towards wherever the ball is and leaving gaps at the far side, relying on moving over quickly if the opposition switches play. Obviously in this situation we can't quite do it.

McEveley's position is not a concern in this situation. Brayford gets caught out of position, but it's not only his fault. He is marking Ajose in the first image and probably thinks Reed will help him with the attacking left back. When Kasim gets on the ball in a decent shooting position somebody has to close him down. As said Woolford, Baxter and Flynn are not helping and Edgar is also too slow to move over to the right.

IF Brayford had thought that his job is to just man mark whoever they have on the left, I think Kasim would have just threaded it through to Ajose centrally, which normally would have been an even bigger chance:

View attachment 15629

I think this photo shows that our team as a unit were not keeping up with Swindon, so just blaming Brayford because it was down that side is a bit simplistic.

If Brayford was further wide one of the central three marking nobody would've stepped across to mark Ajose.

If Brayford was just a few yards over to the right he could've stopped the goal.

Very poor organisation from the whole team and players not doing their jobs but as the right back I think Brayford has to recognise the threat.

Have you got the full clip of that goal btw Bergen?

 

[blade too long]

View attachment 15621

how do we manage to get into an 8 man huddle in a 10 yard radius and offer no width
miscommunication somewhere

looks like a union meeting

 

[Bergen Blade]

If Brayford was further wide one of the central three marking nobody would've stepped across to mark Ajose.

If Brayford was just a few yards over to the right he could've stopped the goal.

Very poor organisation from the whole team and players not doing their jobs but as the right back I think Brayford has to recognise the threat.

Have you got the full clip of that goal btw Bergen?

Yes, seen the full game. The goal is also well covered here:



Edgar is making a hand gesture to Brayford (1:30, probably "he's yours"), so I don't agree Brayford could have just left Ajose. Ajose is THE reason he's so central, but I don't think he should have pushed out to challenge Kasim, but we're struggling. There's a man on the ball to close down and two targets to mark and we only have Reed and Brayford.

In general I think Edgar is ok when he's well protected, but makes many errors with his positioning and awareness when the midfield struggles in front of him.

 

[Balham]

That first picture shows an absolute shambles of a defence. The issue for me is that playing a diamond with Baxter at its base means that you'll need the wider (ha! wider than Baxter...) midfielders to tuck in. This then leaves the opposition full backs and wingers free to double up on our full backs; something that's been exploited time and again this season.

Playing Flynn at the top of the diamond also makes absolutely no sense to me. He's a decent, diligent wide midfielder/full back, a trequartista he is not. Had Reed been instructed to sit alongside Baxter with Flynn on the right of a more traditional midfield 4 I very much doubt we'd have conceded this goal.

On Edgar's madcap slide: panic, pure and simple.

On Collins: not to blame for this goal but I agree wholeheartedly with Deadbat and ReeceofBDTBL that he should be shown the door at the end of the season. We're paying top whack for a below average centre half with next to no footballing ability.

In general I think Edgar is ok when he's well protected, but makes many errors with his positioning and awareness when the midfield struggles in front of him.

Agreed. It's almost like he knows that he's aware of his lack of pace and slow turning circle. A quicker partner than Collins would help enormously with that; as would a more mobile central midfield.

 

[Treeton Blade]

How is it last season, according to many on here Collins was the answer to all our problems and Clough was roundly criticized for not playing him? And yet this season according to many Collins is the cause of all our problems?

Its because people not in the side instantly become better players in peoples minds.

Once in the side they should be replaced by someone else.

That`s why the subs are the players to get the biggest round of applause at home games, never understood that.

 

[Ricky]

Yes, seen the full game. The goal is also well covered here:



Edgar is making a hand gesture to Brayford (1:30, probably "he's yours"), so I don't agree Brayford could have just left Ajose. Ajose is THE reason he's so central, but I don't think he should have pushed out to challenge Kasim, but we're struggling. There's a man on the ball to close down and two targets to mark and we only have Reed and Brayford.

In general I think Edgar is ok when he's well protected, but makes many errors with his positioning and awareness when the midfield struggles in front of him.

Watching it in full there I'd say Brayford's biggest mistake was going to close down Kasim rather than marking Ajose.

 

[TonyAgana]

Is that goal now widely accepted as an omni-shambles, with the major contributing factors being crazy substitutions and subsequent confusion in the players? If so, I reckon it's time to move on.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Its bewildering that Collins was clearly not good enough 5 seasons ago when we went down and he is still here offering up the same pathetic performances. I really am counting down the games till we never have to see many of these fickwits in an sufc shirt ever again.

19 and counting. (Dont say it 21/22!)

Sorry, most of them are staying I bet.

 

[Benny and the Blades]

No one seems to have seen Brayford run over to Adkins after the goal and hold his hands close together then opren them out, couldn't hear what was said but to me he was saying to Adkins we were playing too narrow. Brayford was playing to orders covering the winger but there was no one covering their fullback.
Back when the right side were playing well Brayford and Flynn interchanged, when brayford moved out of position Flynn fell back to cover but Adkins had Flynn up field so no one was covering the wing .......
For me that goal was purely down to the Manager....

 

[cooperblade]

No one seems to have seen Brayford run over to Adkins after the goal and hold his hands close together then opren them out, couldn't hear what was said but to me he was saying to Adkins we were playing too narrow. Brayford was playing to orders covering the winger but there was no one covering their fullback.
Back when the right side were playing well Brayford and Flynn interchanged, when brayford moved out of position Flynn fell back to cover but Adkins had Flynn up field so no one was covering the wing .......
For me that goal was purely down to the Manager....

I thought their left back was causing us problems throughout and giving them a lot of width so the decision to narrow our midfield at half-time made little sense to me. It was clear that whoever was on the right of the diamond wasn't sure whether to pull wide and pick up the full back or stay in the middle and Brayford was badly exposed.

I'm still confused now about the changes Adkins made (both to the formation and the players on the pitch).

 

[Bergen Blade]

I thought their left back was causing us problems throughout and giving them a lot of width so the decision to narrow our midfield at half-time made little sense to me. It was clear that whoever was on the right of the diamond wasn't sure whether to pull wide and pick up the full back or stay in the middle and Brayford was badly exposed.

I'm still confused now about the changes Adkins made (both to the formation and the players on the pitch).

Yes, it was unclear who was supposed to pick him up, and as we sacrificed width going forward he had an easy second half defensively and could go forward as much as he wanted to.

 

[Bladesway]

We are trying to keep the team compact and that means concentrating towards wherever the ball is and leaving gaps at the far side, relying on moving over quickly if the opposition switches play. Obviously in this situation we can't quite do it.

McEveley's position is not a concern in this situation. Brayford gets caught out of position, but it's not only his fault. He is marking Ajose in the first image and probably thinks Reed will help him with the attacking left back. When Kasim gets on the ball in a decent shooting position somebody has to close him down. As said Woolford, Baxter and Flynn are not helping and Edgar is also too slow to move over to the right.

IF Brayford had thought that his job is to just man mark whoever they have on the left, I think Kasim would have just threaded it through to Ajose centrally, which normally would have been an even bigger chance:

View attachment 15629

I think this photo shows that our team as a unit were not keeping up with Swindon, so just blaming Brayford because it was down that side is a bit simplistic.

This is simple. We are too narrow and they have filled that with width. Whilever they have the ball we have a massive problem here.

 

[Bergen Blade]

This is simple. We are too narrow and they have filled that with width. Whilever they have the ball we have a massive problem here.

The first paragraph you quoted also gives a simple summary of what happened.

Or as said by Pep Guardiola:

"In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak."

"And when we've done all that, we attack and score from the other side.
​

 

[Bladesway]

The first paragraph you quoted also gives a simple summary of what happened.

Or as said by Pep Guardiola:

"In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak."

"And when we've done all that, we attack and score from the other side.
​

It's not often I say this but this is the Managers fault. Bad tactical setup.