When did we last pass so comfortably?

[highpeakblade]

My old man says to me "This brings back memories of the 70's, I think that was the last time I saw them put it around as well".

I have vague memories as a lad of the 70's, of my hero growing up TC himself but without running the risk of being called over optimistic or stupid I am personally struggling to thing of a time when we have put the ball around as well as that.

Under Wilson at times he encourage passing football, attractive football, attacking football but as much as we piled on the pressure and looked well going forward we lacked consistency and found ourselves lacking at the back at times as well.

From back to front, left to right the ball was moved today. I remember arsenals unbeaten run a few years back and how they put the ball around in triangles with ease and I could quite easily draw some comparisons.

Every single player on that pitch tonight looked comfortable. Every single player on that pitch tonight looked up for it. Every single pyer on that pitch tonight gave 110% for the win.

Style and substance tonight, 71% possesion, 24 attempts on goal!.

1 game is all it is but it's a bloody good platform to start from. Play like that all season and we won't have too many problems. I considered County to be one of our main threats and 10 men or not we made them look average!

 

[SRBlade]

Wilson, I think, had the tools to play this formation, especially when Blackman was sold, Forte on the left Murphy on the right, or involve flynn in that, with either kitson or porter up front. but no, it was Kitson and Porter up front together.

I mean, ffs, The only qualifications in sport i have are level 1's in Dodgeball and Tchoukball but even I could see that 4-4-2 was not working and something like 4-5-1 (4-3-3 with the ball, 4-5-1 without it) would have at least been a better option, yet neither Wilson nor Morgs saw that, or gambled on that.

But tonight, albeit against 10 men, was quite pleasing to watch and we appeared to have a LOT more idea when going forward, once this side get accustom to this formation hopefully we see a lot more movement in the final third.

All in all, decent display, onwards to Brentford

 

[LoughboroBlade]

At no point in the game today did I think that we didn't know what we were doing when in possession - there was always a purpose and direction. It's been a while since I can say that's been the case for a full 90 minutes.

 

[awblade]

But those players last season weren't good enough to play nice tippy tappy football.... Oh wait, most of those today that played were the same players as last season

 

[gavtheblade]

The football played last night was championship standard-most teams in league 1 will not cope against that.
Keep that up and we`ll be top 2 contenders.

 

[SUFCMontBlade]

Won't be many teams in League 1 that could match that performance

 

[Bladesway]

When Kendall took over he had a Basset team passing and the oohs and aaahs were great to see. Also Spackman started like this. Wilsons first season was also pretty impressive.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

But those players last season weren't good enough to play nice tippy tappy football.... Oh wait, most of those today that played were the same players as last season

Agreed, but the two additions made a massive difference. McGinn was as good as anybody out there. Held it together, never misplaced a pass, and always looked to be positive with the movement of the ball. Brandy offered something we haven't had for ages. Unpredictable, pacy, direct, loads of tricks and drawing fouls aplenty.

You could argue it shows how close Wilson was to getting it right!

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Agreed, but the two additions made a massive difference. McGinn was as good as anybody out there. Held it together, never misplaced a pass, and always looked to be positive with the movement of the ball. Brandy offered something we haven't had for ages. Unpredictable, pacy, direct, loads of tricks and drawing fouls aplenty.

You could argue it shows how close Wilson was to getting it right!

I never saw us as good as that under Wilson so you could say it proves how crap he was

 

[Bergen Blade]

Our first goal was excellent. Several positive passes in a row. Notice how we roam around, how Brandy, really our right winger, has moved in centrally. This makes their left back Dumbuya sloppy, thinking he's got nothing to do as his man Brandy is nowhere near his zone.

Brandy swiftly turns on the ball and plays it out wide to the overlapping Westlake. Dumbuya being a couple of yards ahead of the rest of their back four means Westlake has space to run into. Despite Dumbuya's excellent pace he can't get close enough to block Westlake, who decides to cross it low, picking out McDonald's run.

While we passed it about nicely all game, it's when our movement and positive passing come together like this that we'll score our open play goals.

 

[boo radley]

Play off semi at home against PNE.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

If we're still passing like that on the bramall lane surface after Christmas I'll be amazed

 

[vorpal blade]

Tee hee. The Maguire goal is hilarious. 2 Notts players were marking each other and with Porter and another defender handbagging they all missed Maguire completely.

Showumni (Enoch) and his teammate had their eyes on the ball, they didn't even know they were scrapping each other! It made a mockery of the way teams defending corners get 'shirty' and physical these days because it was so counter-productive. Or is it the attacking teams who start it and therefore it works......?

Either way, there were fouls aplenty and always are, the referees seem blind to it all, in a Nelsonian kind of a way.


(I haven't looked up any spellings or indeed whether I've got the right Notts. players so if it is bad, its my bad, sorry)

 

[blade too long]

Swansea intoduced the passing style under Martinez , and it took a while to pay dividends as they changed managers , but not ethos. a place in the prem , europe and a trophy later its been worth the wait. The season will see us make the odd passing mistake that will lead to conceding goals , but if we are patient enough we should see entertaining football giving us some happier days ahead, if it gets better, which it will if we keep at it as the pilot showing was encouraging .

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Swansea intoduced the passing style under Martinez , and it took a while to pay dividends as they changed managers , but not ethos. a place in the prem , europe and a trophy later its been worth the wait. The season will see us make the odd passing mistake that will lead to conceding goals , but if we are patient enough we should see entertaining football giving us some happier days ahead, if it gets better, which it will if we keep at it as the pilot showing was encouraging .

They also started it in div 4 , and took 10 yrs to get were they are now , I'd take that.

 

[blade too long]

think it took 6 ( Martinez became manager in 2006/7 )and we are a division higher so give it 5 years

 

[Northyorksblade]

Our Jack, aged 13 said after the game, 'I don't care if we lose if we play like that every game.' So even through the eyes of a child there was a massive improvement. And I sort of agree, although, if we do play like that every game, we'll win more than we lose.

 

[Trafford]

My only (muted) criticism of the passing was that we weren't always clinical enough. We moved the ball around well, created a space, but then often played it backwards again, allowing them time to recover. That changed towards the end of the game and we got through on goal several times - we need to learn from that.

For the record, what a different player Doyle looks when he has time on the ball, rather than constantly having to move it on first time or try to force a pass when one isn't available. I'm hoping that this is the start of one of those season-on-season incredible changes that we last saw with Ched....

 

[ZoneManWilf]

For the record, what a different player Doyle looks when he has time on the ball, rather than constantly having to move it on first time or try to force a pass when one isn't available. I'm hoping that this is the start of one of those season-on-season incredible changes that we last saw with Ched....

We saw it with Doyle too that season - he was possibly my most disliked player in the year we got relegated. He just he regressed again last year.

 

[Eskimo]

It will be interesting to see what happens at Brentford when our backs are pressured by the home team. I don't rate williams as a defender and I'm not keen on Westlake either. Both look good going forward but....
could you play Hill and McMahon (sp?) away from home and still stick to the new system?

 

[Bladesway]

When did we last pass so comfortably?

Oh not another poo thread.

 

[Kenilworth]

It's all to do with the preparation.
Preparation H - that is.