We need to stop fighting fire with fire

[blader]

I'm sick of watching us against big physical teams, we look completely incapable to defend and attack these teams. As soon as a team starts lumping the ball up and using physicality, we try fighting 'fire with fire', which we do not have the team to do. Yesterday, we had one of the smallest teams in the football league, so decided that pumping the ball upfield would be the answer. The only chances we created were when we had the ball on the floor and attacked using pace and passing. This we MUST learn, and we NEED to play to our strengths in future, otherwise people will notice this (if they already haven't) and just bully us out of every game.

A couple more points from yesterday's game:

1. Williams is completely useless in attack and defence - send him back NOW please.
2. HOW MANY TIMES are we going to try Monty and Doyle together? No wonder we didn't pass the ball with these 2 who couldn't pass water between 'em.
3. It seems we have become too reliant on Clarke and Phillips, when they have a bad game we seem to create very little.
4. Best player - Ched Evans again. This guy has to start ahead of Cresswell and Porter for me.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

3. It seems we have become too reliant on Clarke and Phillips, when they have a bad game we seem to create very little.

I can't believe that there has not been a strong discussion about how we will struggle after these two have left.

How many loans have we had recently 70+?

Apart from these two how many have had an impact?

Histroy seems to say forget the play offs.

 

[Ollessendro]

Completely agree blader. We have not played to our strengths of late and that is one of the reasons we are not picking up points. I was banging on about this to some of the lads in the pub before the game. We'll beat them if we stick to our game plan. If we pass it around, control possession, pass and move etc then we will create chances and be in with a good shout of winning. They are a physical side, but we can out pass them. My heart sank when I saw that McDonald (our only decent centre mid) was on the bench and Monty and Doyle were together in centre mid. I wrote more in a brief match summary in the match section, but safe to say we got drawn into a direct battle. And like you said, they were better at hoof than us. Just like Wednesday were a few weeks ago.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I also agree. Wilson may claim that he was going back to basics with a similar line up (Monty-Doyle in CM) that brought early season away wins at Oldham and Yeovil? I hope we'll try a couple of new things tomorrow as I think there are options within the squad that could see us improve.

 

[TopBoy]

Spot on.
Monty and Doyle is the kind of pairing you'd use in a cup match away from home against a much better side and not against bloody Stevenage, they offer absolutely nothing going forward.

 

[Eskimo]

Agree Blader. Both Lowton and Williams were poor defensively. In every area of the pitch we were bullied and harrassed and the only time we looked half decent was when we tried to play it around on the floor. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I'd rather see us lose playing football like at Wycombe then what we saw on saturday.

 

[Rustyblade]

Pace is one of our strengths?!? Subjectivity, eh? Bloody hell.

 

[Sirius]

Completely agree blader. We have not played to our strengths of late and that is one of the reasons we are not picking up points. I was banging on about this to some of the lads in the pub before the game. We'll beat them if we stick to our game plan. If we pass it around, control possession, pass and move etc then we will create chances and be in with a good shout of winning. They are a physical side, but we can out pass them. My heart sank when I saw that McDonald (our only decent centre mid) was on the bench and Monty and Doyle were together in centre mid. I wrote more in a brief match summary in the match section, but safe to say we got drawn into a direct battle. And like you said, they were better at hoof than us. Just like Wednesday were a few weeks ago.

I agree Olle, we can outpass teams. Unfortunately,when they have the ball they lump it into the box and we don't have the physicality to defend against this ploy. I do like to see football played on the deck but wonder if at present, defenders built like brick outhouses might serve our purpose better.

 

[blade too long]

we are still better than most in this division , the fact Stevenage are 7th tells us that
we are 4 points behind the oinkers, thats weve drawn 2 games theyve won, as weve both lost 4

The way people talk they are doing great and we are rubbish , but the facts state we got more points per game without the blackpool pair so losing them isnt the end of the world

 

[Bergen Blade]

Just watched the full game on Stevenage's website, and have to say we were awful. Agree with Blader that we seem to have picked the team to combat Stevenage's style. They weren't a team of giants, but they looked extremely fit and aggressive and were very determined to win every second ball. We seemed to know that this was their strength, hence Monty/Doyle just hoofing it clear every time they got near the ball. This meant our more creative players never got any decent balls to work with and they became forced to just chase the long balls. Their defenders were well organised and individually strong and as a team they got men behind the ball very quickly, meaning our forwards were always outnumbered.

When I heard of Clarke, Phillips and Williams having off games I wondered if the fact that their loan periods are coming to an end meant that they lacked a little bit of extra motivation. But having seen the game I just think we worked so poorly as an attacking unit that we never got any decent moves going. Monty had an absolute nightmare, worse than the Exeter game, and him and Doyle seriously restricted us going forward. I think Wilson was hoping that Phillips, Quinn, Clarke and Cresswell would create chances for themselves, but I think that's an underestimation of Stevenage's defence - they are quite good, and you need a lot more attacking intent to cause them trouble.

Bright spots, I think Simonsen and Collins had good games, and Maguire was allright. Although Clarke and Phillips were largely anonymous, I think it was down to our tactics on the day, rather than them not being bothered.

 

[Ollessendro]

Just watched the full game on Stevenage's website, and have to say we were awful. Agree with Blader that we seem to have picked the team to combat Stevenage's style. They weren't a team of giants, but they looked extremely fit and aggressive and were very determined to win every second ball. We seemed to know that this was their strength, hence Monty/Doyle just hoofing it clear every time they got near the ball. This meant our more creative players never got any decent balls to work with and they became forced to just chase the long balls. Their defenders were well organised and individually strong and as a team they got men behind the ball very quickly, meaning our forwards were always outnumbered.

When I heard of Clarke, Phillips and Williams having off games I wondered if the fact that their loan periods are coming to an end meant that they lacked a little bit of extra motivation. But having seen the game I just think we worked so poorly as an attacking unit that we never got any decent moves going. Monty had an absolute nightmare, worse than the Exeter game, and him and Doyle seriously restricted us going forward. I think Wilson was hoping that Phillips, Quinn, Clarke and Cresswell would create chances for themselves, but I think that's an underestimation of Stevenage's defence - they are quite good, and you need a lot more attacking intent to cause them trouble.

Bright spots, I think Simonsen and Collins had good games, and Maguire was allright. Although Clarke and Phillips were largely anonymous, I think it was down to our tactics on the day, rather than them not being bothered.

spot on. Exactly as I saw it from the stand.