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Elliot May Need Resting


OddBallJim

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I thought in the first half that Elliot was his usual astute tidy self and had things in midfield ticking over nicely but as the game wore on he looked to me to be tiring significantly, his passes continually getting weaker and less accurate. I wouldn't be adverse to him being rested sooner rather than later to have him fresh for the hectic winter period ahead.

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last night Elliott was having to work double hard to cover a lot of the work that Pack wasn't doing. normally with Corey Smith he operates much  more forward as Smith does a great job at tidying up.

It may have been a tatics thing as well as Bradford pressed the midfield very hard last night to great effect - it stopped the ball getting to freeman, and Little and Bryan were left hugely ineffective.

 

I would only rest him IF Smith were fully fit, and then against weaker teams.

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last night Elliott was having to work double hard to cover a lot of the work that Pack wasn't doing. normally with Corey Smith he operates much more forward as Smith does a great job at tidying up.

It may have been a tatics thing as well as Bradford pressed the midfield very hard last night to great effect - it stopped the ball getting to freeman, and Little and Bryan were left hugely ineffective.

I would only rest him IF Smith were fully fit, and then against weaker teams.

I thought Pack had another good game personally.

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I thought Pack had another good game personally.

 

I thought he had a good game too and I have no worries about him stepping into the team, but I do think Smith is the better player.  I take the poster's point, but on that basis you are going to rest more than just Elliott!

Hopefully Bantam10 has buggered off back to where he came from, as he is right in that Bradford are a strong away team, presumably by doing what they did to us and strangling the game, but also having the ability to take chances when they are presented to them.  Bradford had done their homework on us and had the skill and discipline to put it into practise, not all teams do. They couldn't play like that at home all the time, so whether they are a top 6 side or not will depend on how good they are at a more open style.

We need to be able to break teams like this down, but a little less wayward shooting and a little more discipline in defence would have seen us home comfortably.  I don't think the result is anything to do with Elliott needing a rest.

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I thought he had a good game too and I have no worries about him stepping into the team, but I do think Smith is the better player.  I take the poster's point, but on that basis you are going to rest more than just Elliott!

Hopefully Bantam10 has buggered off back to where he came from, as he is right in that Bradford are a strong away team, presumably by doing what they did to us and strangling the game, but also having the ability to take chances when they are presented to them.  Bradford had done their homework on us and had the skill and discipline to put it into practise, not all teams do. They couldn't play like that at home all the time, so whether they are a top 6 side or not will depend on how good they are at a more open style.

We need to be able to break teams like this down, but a little less wayward shooting and a little more discipline in defence would have seen us home comfortably.  I don't think the result is anything to do with Elliott needing a rest.

 

I also agree that Pack played well and I was really glad he was given another start for several reasons, one being simply that his performance at Coventry merited it, two that the recognition of that fact by the manager sends a positive message to the other guys sitting on the bench patiently waiting their chance and, finally, it allowed Korey Smith another four or five days at least to make absolutely sure his hamstring is OK, because he clearly is a vital player for us. An all-round spot-on decision by Cotterill for me. 

 

As for Elliot, I don't disagree at all with the general point that at his age he may need a rest from time to time, but I can't say I noticed any falling off in his performance last night. In fact, I thought he had an excellent game and was still demanding the ball and pulling the strings at the end. You have to give some of the credit to Bradford for the occasional intercepted pass - they were a very hard-working side who stuck well to their game plan, most noticeably when it came to suffocating Little and thus snuffing out one of our major sources of danger to the opposition. They are not the first team recently to have targeted him: Cotterill may have to think about a tactical response to that if other sides copy the strategy.

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I also agree that Pack played well and I was really glad he was given another start for several reasons, one being simply that his performance at Coventry merited it, two that the recognition of that fact by the manager sends a positive message to the other guys sitting on the bench patiently waiting their chance and, finally, it allowed Korey Smith another four or five days at least to make absolutely sure his hamstring is OK, because he clearly is a vital player for us. An all-round spot-on decision by Cotterill for me. 

 

As for Elliot, I don't disagree at all with the general point that at his age he may need a rest from time to time, but I can't say I noticed any falling off in his performance last night. In fact, I thought he had an excellent game and was still demanding the ball and pulling the strings at the end. You have to give some of the credit to Bradford for the occasional intercepted pass - they were a very hard-working side who stuck well to their game plan, most noticeably when it came to suffocating Little and thus snuffing out one of our major sources of danger to the opposition. They are not the first team recently to have targeted him: Cotterill may have to think about a tactical response to that if other sides copy the strategy.

 

I think Elliott lingered on the ball a bit too much and therefore was dispossessed occasionally, and there were the two blood rush to the head moments, when he blasted the ball wide from range.  HOWEVER, he was pretty active getting the ball to dangerous positions, and I didn't really detect any tiredness.

 

It wasn't his best game by any means, but I think his mid 30s body is holding up a bit better than Wilbs, who looked a bit jaded in the closing stages.

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having elliott come so deep so much, meant that the service to Freeman was stifled - as I said, prob through Bradfords tactics more than anything, and it worked.

 they killed off any wing play through  (an underperforming ) Little and Bryan and that strangled service to the front two.

 

it seemed that Elliott was playing right alongside Pack too much for me, instead of in front of him.

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I think Elliott lingered on the ball a bit too much and therefore was dispossessed occasionally, and there were the two blood rush to the head moments, when he blasted the ball wide from range.  HOWEVER, he was pretty active getting the ball to dangerous positions, and I didn't really detect any tiredness.

 

It wasn't his best game by any means, but I think his mid 30s body is holding up a bit better than Wilbs, who looked a bit jaded in the closing stages.

 

With you on the Wilbs point. Was a revelation at the start of the season. Seems just to have gone off the boil a little, though I still think his hold-up and linking play is pretty good, even if the goals have dried up for the time being. Any loss of form or injury to him or Aygard does tend to focus attention back on the absence of a fourth striker in the squad following Baldock's departure, unless one considers Burns to have progressed enough to be adequate cover, which I don't think he yet has, quite. Might be one area to be looked at in the Janauary window.

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With you on the Wilbs point. Was a revelation at the start of the season. Seems just to have gone off the boil a little, though I still think his hold-up and linking play is pretty good, even if the goals have dried up for the time being. Any loss of form or injury to him or Aygard does tend to focus attention back on the absence of a fourth striker in the squad following Baldock's departure, unless one considers Burns to have progressed enough to be adequate cover, which I don't think he yet has, quite. Might be one area to be looked at in the Janauary window.

Absolutely. We need a "standby Wilbraham".

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Absolutely. We need a "standby Wilbraham".

 

You've probably noticed on another thread that some people have suggested we could do a lot worse on last night's evidence than to resign John Stead. I'm half-inclined to agree. Always thought he's a better player than some here give him credit for and I felt he had a pretty good game against us. He won't let you down in terms of attitude and commitment, that's for sure.

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What's Stern John doing these days?

 

Er, not him! :laugh:

 

And I'm not so sure about Stead, who'll want a fair bit of dosh I imagine. As we're talking a 4th/5th choice strker, I'd have thought someone up-and-coming from the lower leagues or a PL loan youngster would be a better fit.

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