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Post by Alptrotter on Sept 13, 2017 6:37:54 GMT
I agree with many of the comments here. However it was very much the proverbial game of two halves. For me Bolton were timid and unadventurous in the first half, Robinson and Karacan excepted. The.second half was much better, albeit lots of huffing and puffing and no real clear chances from open play. Three at the back looked better tonight, with both Little and Robinson adding attacking width. But there are huge problems. Is Armstrong interested?Certainly didn't look it to me. His performance was summed up,when he turned away expecting a goal kick only for the ball to hit the corner flag and stay in play. For me, his attitude has to change. Madine laboured hard, but his limitations are clear. Karacan tried to drive the team as a captain should, but Beevers and Morais still seem out of sorts. Some encouragement in the second half, but we desperately need more speed of thought, sharpness and creativity in attacking midfiield and forward play. We are as good as Sheffield United. We need to start grinding out the points like they do.
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Post by davidm on Sept 13, 2017 8:06:45 GMT
I'm going to be Mr Negative here because I thought it was a dire performance and we deserved nothing. Sheffield played within themselves, passed the ball accurately (a million times better than us) and coasted through the second half, content that they had the lead and we couldn't threaten them.
Yet another really poor performance.
Outplayed at home again. We just have no idea how to attack and our defence will always concede.
Andy – Sorry but I don’t see your view “No defeat can be a good defeat but that was a battling performance totally vindicating the manager's selection. It was a close game and could have gone either way. We were quite good with certain caveats. Had we had their keeper and they ours I think we'd have been the victors.” at all. We were always second best.
The manager changed the system again. I don’t understand why he went back to 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 whichever way you want to look at it. It is a system that has failed us most of the season so why do it again.
We set off on the back foot and it continued throughout the game. Sheffield didn’t dominate as much as Boro or Derby but were well in control.
We got to half an hour before our defensive frailties caught up with us. Burke made an almighty mess of a simple ball and deflected it behind for a corner. The corner went to the far post where we were outjumped and the ball was headed back into the centre of the box. Someone (Wheater?) blocked the first shot but then we froze. We had 10 men back defending and they all just stood still while the Sheffield man had time to control and poke the ball forward into the net. We are like rabbits in headlights at times!
Five minutes later and the same happened but this time the shot went straight into Alnwick's chest. Could so easily have been 2-0.
We created just one chance (I am not counting Madine’s ridiculous 35 yards dribbled shot) when Little got through on the right and set Armstrong up for a decent attempt which the keeper blocked. Really that was it. I can’t recall another decent attack.
Second half we pressed a bit and a few tackles got rash but we create nothing. Wheater headed one of their chances off the line and they broke in the last minute and hit the bar when clean through.
I have really lost heart.
I cannot see what tactics the managers has. He cannot react during a match and change things. He put Morais to left wing back and then pushed Wheater up for the last 2 minutes but he cannot change his basic style of play.
Alnwick - 5 Again had little to do. He doesn’t seem to organise his defence though and distribution is purely a long punt upfield
Little - 5 He looks like a bog-standard full back trying to play wing back. A couple of good forays forward but not a wing back for me
Burke - 4 Shaky. He looks to have been hit by the general malaise of our defence
Wheater - 5 Struggled against Clarke
Beevers - 4 Uncharacteristically poor. Looks to have taken over from Dervite as the launcher of long balls up to Madine which he didn’t do at all well
Robinson - 5 Has a positive attitude but tends to run into dead ends. Defensively, he gets caught but this is probably inexperience
Cullen - 4 I am still waiting to see what he brings to the side. It is rare to see him make a forward pass
Karacan - 5 Involved and probably a decent captain but he created little
Buckley - 3 Just nothing from him until his injury
Armstrong - 4 Unable to contribute any runs. Got our only shot on target
Madine - 5 Won some good balls from long punts but really he is not dangerous. Footwork is still very average
Le Fondre - 4 Couldn’t get involved when he came on. It is worrying that he and Madine just have no understanding between them
Morais - 4 Out of position. He is a right winger or right wing back not a central midfielder
Wilbraham - 4 No problem for Sheffield defenders Manager - 2 Dreadful tactics. No reaction to going behind. No change of tactics when it was obvious that our style wasn’t working.
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Post by whitesince63 on Sept 13, 2017 9:05:40 GMT
I think part of the problem David is that the performances have dropped to such a low level we are becoming accepting of even mediocre performances. I don't blame for Parky talking things up but surely even he must be accepting that he doesn't have the answers to our problem, if I were him, I'd think about walking away whilst his stock is still high and he can easily get another job in div 1 or 2. Everyone knows his hands have been tied which he can use as a reason for going but basically I wouldn't trust him to do better if we gave him cash. I just don't think he's got the ability at this level and we'd still be just humping it forward endlessly. I maintain that a better manager would get far more from this squad than Parky will ever do.
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