Match Report - The Craven Cottage win where we were in most control

[Olé]

In years to come we will have to talk about Johnson era wins at Craven Cottage by first asking "which one was that?" - so let's get that bit out of the way first, by saying this was the one where Fulham were absolutely dire and we were most in control. Yes, more so than the 4-0, which was actually a close game for an hour. This wasn't.

Apart from a 5 minute spell towards the end where the Fulham subs, trying to save some face, drew two typically sharp reaction saves from Frankie, and quite an even opening 15, when we were feeling out their weaknesses (it turns out we found an awful lot of them) there was only one side that was going to take control of this game.

 

Fulham played three across the back, held a poor shape with Sessegnon and Fredericks (remember him) offering up little cover while being wasteful going forward. Up front Kamara was, as one person put it, a comedy version of Barry Hayles, forever crashing into people (mainly Joe Bryan) without ever doing anything of value.

 

City on the other hand, once settled, were a brilliantly compact and mobile 4-5-1/4-3-3 - solid with two lines of bodies across our box when out of possession, fast and incisive in possession, springing forward via dominant central midfield play from Korey Smith and Brownhill, who ran the game and could both justifiably claim to be MoM.

 

This released O’Dowda (another contender) and Paterson on the wings, who continually got outside the back three, often joined by Joe Bryan overlaps, to quickly cut a direct path to the byline. In the middle, Bobby Reid was his energetic best, drifting behind the centre backs or dropping off to give the wingers someone to lay the ball back to. 

 

Once settled, Fulham could not live with an in-form team playing with pace and purpose. We did have to ride out another early defensive injury, and Magnússon on as sub took a while to settle; brilliant when stepping up into a Fulham pass in midfield, initiating our best early move, but poor with two clearances, from one Fulham’s best chance.

 

But our opener was deserved and was typical of how City’s pace and movement is tearing opponents to pieces. Bobby Reid started the move in central midfield, Korey Smith lifted the ball out to the right wing, and with City’s forward players breaking in all directions, dragging defenders in their wake, Brownhill squared the ball for Reid to finish.

 

In response to City’s confident approach - pace and passing going forward, throwing bodies at Fulham's shots in defence - the home side's response was physical. Frustrated by their inability to find their own players with attacking passes, and routinely putting shots wide, the hosts started flying into City’s players, Joe Bryan a particular victim.

 

Footballing justice would prevail, rewarding the side playing with enterprise and ability, not the side playing with hopeless bluffers like Fredericks and Kamara. Again breaking with pace and width, Reid released O’Dowda on the right, and with our attacking players again making runs to near and far post, Korey swept home from the edge of the box.

 

By now City were teeing off on Fulham. Brownhill, Smith and O’Dowda all had chances, while into the second half Paterson raced away and beat two defenders before firing narrowly over with players better placed either side of him, and soon after Joe Bryan would lash a shot across the face of goal with his Palace strike in everyone’s minds.

 

It was comfortable now against an utterly awful and largely dispirited Fulham side, and the only question was not if but how many. Wright had a goal disallowed for offside after Flint had hit the cross bar, before the home side’s meltdown consumed Kamara, physical all game, he appeared to connect with Wright, getting a red card and storming off.

 

It would kill the game as a spectacle as a combination of substitutions and energy meant that City perhaps took pity on their forlorn opponents - turning attention to Saturday. That’s not to say Johnson took his foot off the gas, quite the opposite - he chucked on Leko and then Duric, but the former particularly careless where he didn’t need to be.

 

Fulham’s subs created some chances in the final five minutes, Fielding springing to his left to tap away with one reaction save, while collecting two other high shots confidently, one of which was wildly spinning and dipping in front of him. But in truth Fulham had been punting most of their chances high and wide, such was their wastefulness in attack. 

 

For City, yet another convincing away win (no I am not still drunk!), where players in all positions were convincing, played exceptional counter attacking football on the break, dominated their defensive duties throwing themselves at everything, and utterly demoralised and made to look very slow and ordinary a talented, physical Fulham team.

 

Why shouldn’t we start dreaming? There isn’t any aspect of how we’re playing that is a fluke.

 

Fielding 8 Faultless with his handling 

Pisano 6 Injured early (Magnússon 7 - a few loose balls and Flint doesn’t look as confident with him in, but generally solid)

Bryan 8 Battled well at the back against physical opponents, caused lots of problems going forward

Wright 8 Won all his battles

Flint 8 Won all his battles and a threat at set pieces

Smith 9 Ran the game with Brownhill, dominated central midfield and always picked the right outlet ball

Pack 7 The weakest of the central midfielders, but by no means poor (Duric 6 - didn’t have much time to get into the game)

Brownhill 9 See Smith. Ran the game, his energy and drive is frightening now. Will be a Premiership player

Paterson 7 A problem for Fulham but wanted to cut in at times and didn’t always make the right decision, perhaps not back to full fitness (Leko 5 - was very poor and careless)

O’Dowda 8 Looks better and better, constantly gets inside defenders, strong enough to create chances and delivery is spot on

Reid 8 A constant nuisance wherever he drifted and made light work of my fears about having no target man

[Chairman Mao]

4-3-3/4-5-1 with false 9 was the best way to describe the tactics. LJ got it spot on, the interchange between the midfield (O'Dowda and Smith in particular) and Reid for the two goals was excellent.

Smith was remarkable today, along with Reid his fitness is incredible.

[gow2gooseya]

9 minutes ago, Chairman Mao said:

4-3-3/4-5-1 with false 9 was the best way to describe the tactics. LJ got it spot on, the interchange between the midfield (O'Dowda and Smith in particular) and Reid for the two goals was excellent.

LJ is beginning to look to me like the real deal

[downendcity]

Just think what a team we would be if we had a striker with proven championship experience and do not have so many players who are ones for the future. 

[redfieldred]

Thought pack was better than a 7. He passed consistently well and accurately and was effective at neutralising the talented cairney. His work meant smith and brownhill were able to press higher. Got a standing ovation going off. Highly deserved, and we looked less solid defensively after he came off. 

[The Bard]

 

1 hour ago, Olé said:

In years to come we will have to talk about Johnson era wins at Craven Cottage by first asking "which one was that?" - so let's get that bit out of the way first, by saying this was the one where Fulham were absolutely dire and we were most in control. Yes, more so than the 4-0, which was actually a close game for an hour. This wasn't.

Apart from a 5 minute spell towards the end where the Fulham subs, trying to save some face, drew two typically sharp reaction saves from Frankie, and quite an even opening 15, when we were feeling out their weaknesses (it turns out we found an awful lot of them) there was only one side that was going to take control of this game.

 

Fulham played three across the back, held a poor shape with Sessegnon and Fredericks (remember him) offering up little cover while being wasteful going forward. Up front Kamara was, as one person put it, a comedy version of Barry Hayles, forever crashing into people (mainly Joe Bryan) without ever doing anything of value.

 

City on the other hand, once settled, were a brilliantly compact and mobile 4-5-1/4-3-3 - solid with two lines of bodies across our box when out of possession, fast and incisive in possession, springing forward via dominant central midfield play from Korey Smith and Brownhill, who ran the game and could both justifiably claim to be MoM.

 

This released O’Dowda (another contender) and Paterson on the wings, who continually got outside the back three, often joined by Joe Bryan overlaps, to quickly cut a direct path to the byline. In the middle, Bobby Reid was his energetic best, drifting behind the centre backs or dropping off to give the wingers someone to lay the ball back to. 

 

Once settled, Fulham could not live with an in-form team playing with pace and purpose. We did have to ride out another early defensive injury, and Magnússon on as sub took a while to settle; brilliant when stepping up into a Fulham pass in midfield, initiating our best early move, but poor with two clearances, from one Fulham’s best chance.

 

But our opener was deserved and was typical of how City’s pace and movement is tearing opponents to pieces. Bobby Reid started the move in central midfield, Korey Smith lifted the ball out to the right wing, and with City’s forward players breaking in all directions, dragging defenders in their wake, Brownhill squared the ball for Reid to finish.

 

In response to City’s confident approach - pace and passing going forward, throwing bodies at Fulham's shots in defence - the home side's response was physical. Frustrated by their inability to find their own players with attacking passes, and routinely putting shots wide, the hosts started flying into City’s players, Joe Bryan a particular victim.

 

Footballing justice would prevail, rewarding the side playing with enterprise and ability, not the side playing with hopeless bluffers like Fredericks and Kamara. Again breaking with pace and width, Reid released O’Dowda on the right, and with our attacking players again making runs to near and far post, Korey swept home from the edge of the box.

 

By now City were teeing off on Fulham. Brownhill, Smith and O’Dowda all had chances, while into the second half Paterson raced away and beat two defenders before firing narrowly over with players better placed either side of him, and soon after Joe Bryan would lash a shot across the face of goal with his Palace strike in everyone’s minds.

 

It was comfortable now against an utterly awful and largely dispirited Fulham side, and the only question was not if but how many. Wright had a goal disallowed for offside after Flint had hit the cross bar, before the home side’s meltdown consumed Kamara, physical all game, he appeared to connect with Wright, getting a red card and storming off.

 

It would kill the game as a spectacle as a combination of substitutions and energy meant that City perhaps took pity on their forlorn opponents - turning attention to Saturday. That’s not to say Johnson took his foot off the gas, quite the opposite - he chucked on Leko and then Duric, but the former particularly careless where he didn’t need to be.

 

Fulham’s subs created some chances in the final five minutes, Fielding springing to his left to tap away with one reaction save, while collecting two other high shots confidently, one of which was wildly spinning and dipping in front of him. But in truth Fulham had been punting most of their chances high and wide, such was their wastefulness in attack. 

 

For City, yet another convincing away win (no I am not still drunk!), where players in all positions were convincing, played exceptional counter attacking football on the break, dominated their defensive duties throwing themselves at everything, and utterly demoralised and made to look very slow and ordinary a talented, physical Fulham team.

 

Why shouldn’t we start dreaming? There isn’t any aspect of how we’re playing that is a fluke.

 

Fielding 8 Faultless with his handling 

Pisano 6 Injured early (Magnússon 7 - a few loose balls and Flint doesn’t look as confident with him in, but generally solid)

Bryan 8 Battled well at the back against physical opponents, caused lots of problems going forward

Wright 8 Won all his battles

Flint 8 Won all his battles and a threat at set pieces

Smith 9 Ran the game with Brownhill, dominated central midfield and always picked the right outlet ball

Pack 7 The weakest of the central midfielders, but by no means poor (Duric 6 - didn’t have much time to get into the game)

Brownhill 9 See Smith. Ran the game, his energy and drive is frightening now. Will be a Premiership player

Paterson 7 A problem for Fulham but wanted to cut in at times and didn’t always make the right decision, perhaps not back to full fitness (Leko 5 - was very poor and careless)

O’Dowda 8 Looks better and better, constantly gets inside defenders, strong enough to create chances and delivery is spot on

Reid 8 A constant nuisance wherever he drifted and made light work of my fears about having no target man

Excellent analysis there. I thought Smith was a 10 tonight or as near damn it.  He absolutely bossed it for me.  Calmed things down when needed, pressed their defenders high, covered for Paterson and as well as scoring should have been played in by Paterson for a 2nd goal.  

[Curr Avon]

3 hours ago, Olé said:

In years to come we will have to talk about Johnson era wins at Craven Cottage by first asking "which one was that?" - so let's get that bit out of the way first, by saying this was the one where Fulham were absolutely dire and we were most in control. Yes, more so than the 4-0, which was actually a close game for an hour. This wasn't.

Apart from a 5 minute spell towards the end where the Fulham subs, trying to save some face, drew two typically sharp reaction saves from Frankie, and quite an even opening 15, when we were feeling out their weaknesses (it turns out we found an awful lot of them) there was only one side that was going to take control of this game.

 

Fulham played three across the back, held a poor shape with Sessegnon and Fredericks (remember him) offering up little cover while being wasteful going forward. Up front Kamara was, as one person put it, a comedy version of Barry Hayles, forever crashing into people (mainly Joe Bryan) without ever doing anything of value.

 

City on the other hand, once settled, were a brilliantly compact and mobile 4-5-1/4-3-3 - solid with two lines of bodies across our box when out of possession, fast and incisive in possession, springing forward via dominant central midfield play from Korey Smith and Brownhill, who ran the game and could both justifiably claim to be MoM.

 

This released O’Dowda (another contender) and Paterson on the wings, who continually got outside the back three, often joined by Joe Bryan overlaps, to quickly cut a direct path to the byline. In the middle, Bobby Reid was his energetic best, drifting behind the centre backs or dropping off to give the wingers someone to lay the ball back to. 

 

Once settled, Fulham could not live with an in-form team playing with pace and purpose. We did have to ride out another early defensive injury, and Magnússon on as sub took a while to settle; brilliant when stepping up into a Fulham pass in midfield, initiating our best early move, but poor with two clearances, from one Fulham’s best chance.

 

But our opener was deserved and was typical of how City’s pace and movement is tearing opponents to pieces. Bobby Reid started the move in central midfield, Korey Smith lifted the ball out to the right wing, and with City’s forward players breaking in all directions, dragging defenders in their wake, Brownhill squared the ball for Reid to finish.

 

In response to City’s confident approach - pace and passing going forward, throwing bodies at Fulham's shots in defence - the home side's response was physical. Frustrated by their inability to find their own players with attacking passes, and routinely putting shots wide, the hosts started flying into City’s players, Joe Bryan a particular victim.

 

Footballing justice would prevail, rewarding the side playing with enterprise and ability, not the side playing with hopeless bluffers like Fredericks and Kamara. Again breaking with pace and width, Reid released O’Dowda on the right, and with our attacking players again making runs to near and far post, Korey swept home from the edge of the box.

 

By now City were teeing off on Fulham. Brownhill, Smith and O’Dowda all had chances, while into the second half Paterson raced away and beat two defenders before firing narrowly over with players better placed either side of him, and soon after Joe Bryan would lash a shot across the face of goal with his Palace strike in everyone’s minds.

 

It was comfortable now against an utterly awful and largely dispirited Fulham side, and the only question was not if but how many. Wright had a goal disallowed for offside after Flint had hit the cross bar, before the home side’s meltdown consumed Kamara, physical all game, he appeared to connect with Wright, getting a red card and storming off.

 

It would kill the game as a spectacle as a combination of substitutions and energy meant that City perhaps took pity on their forlorn opponents - turning attention to Saturday. That’s not to say Johnson took his foot off the gas, quite the opposite - he chucked on Leko and then Duric, but the former particularly careless where he didn’t need to be.

 

Fulham’s subs created some chances in the final five minutes, Fielding springing to his left to tap away with one reaction save, while collecting two other high shots confidently, one of which was wildly spinning and dipping in front of him. But in truth Fulham had been punting most of their chances high and wide, such was their wastefulness in attack. 

 

For City, yet another convincing away win (no I am not still drunk!), where players in all positions were convincing, played exceptional counter attacking football on the break, dominated their defensive duties throwing themselves at everything, and utterly demoralised and made to look very slow and ordinary a talented, physical Fulham team.

 

Why shouldn’t we start dreaming? There isn’t any aspect of how we’re playing that is a fluke.

 

Fielding 8 Faultless with his handling 

Pisano 6 Injured early (Magnússon 7 - a few loose balls and Flint doesn’t look as confident with him in, but generally solid)

Bryan 8 Battled well at the back against physical opponents, caused lots of problems going forward

Wright 8 Won all his battles

Flint 8 Won all his battles and a threat at set pieces

Smith 9 Ran the game with Brownhill, dominated central midfield and always picked the right outlet ball

Pack 7 The weakest of the central midfielders, but by no means poor (Duric 6 - didn’t have much time to get into the game)

Brownhill 9 See Smith. Ran the game, his energy and drive is frightening now. Will be a Premiership player

Paterson 7 A problem for Fulham but wanted to cut in at times and didn’t always make the right decision, perhaps not back to full fitness (Leko 5 - was very poor and careless)

O’Dowda 8 Looks better and better, constantly gets inside defenders, strong enough to create chances and delivery is spot on

Reid 8 A constant nuisance wherever he drifted and made light work of my fears about having no target man

A read that reflects City's performance; superb.

[Red Exile]

Spot on @Olé. Great performance, especially first half. Good turn out too. Becoming a favourite ground!

 

[exAtyeoMax]

A really good report. Is Leko contracted to play a number of games a season?

[Jacki]

Fantastic report again Ole. 

The transformation in our results and performances this season so far has been nothing short of staggering, especially away from home. LJ deserves enormous credit; I was all for him going during ‘that’ run as I didn’t think it possible that he could turn it around but I couldn’t be happier to be proved so wrong. 

Onwards and upwards now. We just need to keep ticking off the games and carry on doing what we’re doing. It’s bloody exciting!

[Tin Soldier]

Great report

[GrahamC]

Great report @Olé I'm guessing that you have had a bit less to drink than at the Sunderland game?

Really heartening, encouraging stuff.

We seem at present to be able to ride out a mini injury crisis to put in a serious playoff challenge.

I am a bit concerned about Pisano though, he is going to have to improve his availability record so far to make a big enough contribution and would also add a note of realism.

In a division where Villa, Wolves and Boro have spent absolute fortunes we have done amazingly well thus far to be ahead of two of them and in contact with a third.

If we don't end up achieving what we want I do hope that is taken into consideration, but at present we are matching the 2007/08 team, which achieved our highest finish since 1980.

[Coppello]

@Olé I don't know how you manage to write such detailed and excellent match reports. This is how I imagine you watching games:

On the other hand, I probably sit there a bit more like this:

[CHAZ MICHAELS]

Great write up.

I'm starting to get a little bit excited by this team of ours.

[Dullmoan Tone]

23 minutes ago, CHAZ MICHAELS said:

Great write up.

I'm starting to get a little bit excited by this team of ours.

The only thing stopping me also getting excited is I just want us to give Bobby a new contract to ward off buyers in January - 10 goals (a now proven Championship scorer) and running down a cheap contract...

[BRISTOL86]

2 hours ago, exAtyeoMax said:

A really good report. Is Leko contracted to play a number of games a season?

Hopefully not, he’s looked absolutely woeful every time I’ve seen him!

[exAtyeoMax]

33 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Hopefully not, he’s looked absolutely woeful every time I’ve seen him!

well, that's why I was thinking, he has to play. He was awful last night. I don't know much about him, has he been out on loan before? He doesn't seem to have any game savvy…

[spudski]

Great report @Olé

The title of the thread is most poignant for how our season is different to last imo

Even though we had less possession than Fulham last night, approx. 60-40, we still controlled the game when not in possession.

We defend well, keep our shape, rotate when needed, press hard, and push the opposition into making mistakes, either intercepting, tackling or winning the second ball.

We are often more effective, when we've won the ball, and can play on the counter attack in numbers...much more so, than when we are trying to break down the opposition when we have had possession for a period of time, and there are 10 players behind the ball.

It's a notable difference from last season...we work so hard when we don't have the ball, and control what the opposition do. Pushing them into those mistakes.

It's an effective plan...and one that works well, when you have pace and energy in the team.

[BRISTOL86]

16 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

well, that's why I was thinking, he has to play. He was awful last night. I don't know much about him, has he been out on loan before? He doesn't seem to have any game savvy…

Not sure if he’s been out before but he has all the footballing intelligence of a kid in the playground. I think I’ve seen him give the ball away more than I’ve seen him give it to a red (or purple!) shirt!

[exAtyeoMax]

17 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Not sure if he’s been out before but he has all the footballing intelligence of a kid in the playground. I think I’ve seen him give the ball away more than I’ve seen him give it to a red (or purple!) shirt!

I felt the other players didn't have much faith in him either…a bit worrying.

[Xiled]

16 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Not sure if he’s been out before but he has all the footballing intelligence of a kid in the playground. I think I’ve seen him give the ball away more than I’ve seen him give it to a red (or purple!) shirt!

A real shame.  I though Pulis had actually done us a favour after Leko's first showing.  Now we've got to somehow show him that attempting to beat every player on the pitch isn't always the best option.  Unfortunately, something we were unable to do with Tomlin last season as he always wanted to be the hero.  Our success since August has come from solid teamwork - and long may it continue.

[Olé]

Leko was good against Reading, Wolves and Derby so it's too early to write him off. He looks headless at the moment and is a liability giving the ball away, but every time you can see that he is over elaborating and trying to beat an opponent at close range, it is playground football and he will need to learn to be footballer first and entertainer second.

The consolation is that he was exactly the same for his first 5-10 minutes away at Reading, I remember thinking we had got exactly the headless teenager we saw last night, but we then managed to get him into space and working off the last man while others attacked, and he was a revelation.

That will only happen in matches we are trying to win, last night had become so comfortable the rest of the team were back down to first gear and Leko was trying to trick defenders who knew there was no threat from runners around them so were able to commit fully to standing up to and making Leko looking amateur.

Let's see how a Cardiff full back fancies it when he's got three other City attacking players flying past him at all angles and then has to decide whether to sell out to stop Leko's close control... 

[Malago]

2 hours ago, Olé said:

Leko was good against Reading, Wolves and Derby so it's too early to write him off. He looks headless at the moment and is a liability giving the ball away, but every time you can see that he is over elaborating and trying to beat an opponent at close range, it is playground football and he will need to learn to be footballer first and entertainer second.

The consolation is that he was exactly the same for his first 5-10 minutes away at Reading, I remember thinking we had got exactly the headless teenager we saw last night, but we then managed to get him into space and working off the last man while others attacked, and he was a revelation.

That will only happen in matches we are trying to win, last night had become so comfortable the rest of the team were back down to first gear and Leko was trying to trick defenders who knew there was no threat from runners around them so were able to commit fully to standing up to and making Leko looking amateur.

Let's see how a Cardiff full back fancies it when he's got three other City attacking players flying past him at all angles and then has to decide whether to sell out to stop Leko's close control... 

I thought sending Leko on last night had more to do with complying the terms of the loan deal with WBA than the needs of the game, but I may be wrong.  It certainly didn’t make sense to send on a “green” youngster when you’re comfortably seeing out an important away win.

[Captain Beano]

Excellent match summary and analysis there Ole, thank you and keep up the good work!  But I think it's harsh and a bit misleading to describe Marlon Pack as the "weakest of the midfield players".  It's true he may not have the extravagant pace and flair of some of his more ostentatiously gifted teammates, but he gets through a great deal of work and his style of solid, gritty, grafting away just in front of the defence is highly effective and allows Brownhill, Paterson, O'Dowda and Smith to make those surging pacey attacks. which can tear the opposition apart.   He tends to be right in the thick of the midfield battles, is a good ball winner, strong, combative and good in the air.    I particularly like the fact that he doesn't hide away and seems always available to receive the ball  and to provide cover all over the pitch.  The work he does is not as eye-catching as the flair players, and I notice that sometimes the City fans grumble a bit about his passing, but personally I think he's highly effective and an essential member of a what is becoming a very promising squad - potentially the most exciting and watchable team in the Championship! 

On Leko, I don't disagree with the comments saying he has a lot to learn, and yes he does tend to give away the ball, but he's very young with the potential to become an extraordinary player so please let's not unduly knock his confidence.  It would be a shame to discourage him from using his pace and skill and dribbling ability  to bamboozle and go past defenders.   Sometimes teams are so packed defensively (e.g. Burton, Millwall) that we can't pass our way through them, and Jonathan Leko can be our secret weapon.  He has a rare and special skill set  that can unlock defences and earn penalties as he's already demonstrated so strikingly against Derby! 

 

[red panda]

I was a bit worried before this match, as we had an important midweek match last week, a very long away trip last weekend, then another trip yesterday. Fulham didn't have a midweek match and were at home both Saturday and yesterday (obvs!) So delighted it was such a comfortable win 

[BCFC Jimmer]

I believe I was stood behind Ole for the game last night and I can confirm that it looked like he was concentrating. Hence the accuracy of the report.

[INCRED]

5 hours ago, exAtyeoMax said:

well, that's why I was thinking, he has to play. He was awful last night. I don't know much about him, has he been out on loan before? He doesn't seem to have any game savvy…

He looked a world beater versus Derby but since then he has been like a rabbit in headlights and unable to reproduce the form against Derby

[exAtyeoMax]

7 hours ago, Coppello said:

@Olé I don't know how you manage to write such detailed and excellent match reports. This is how I imagine you watching games:

On the other hand, I probably sit there a bit more like this:

I think we spent a lot of the first half watching people tripping down the stairs (P7) or second half, a chap being ejected for drinking beer. We missed the altercation with BW…

[Red Army 87]

6 hours ago, spudski said:

Great report @Olé

The title of the thread is most poignant for how our season is different to last imo

Even though we had less possession than Fulham last night, approx. 60-40, we still controlled the game when not in possession.

We defend well, keep our shape, rotate when needed, press hard, and push the opposition into making mistakes, either intercepting, tackling or winning the second ball.

We are often more effective, when we've won the ball, and can play on the counter attack in numbers...much more so, than when we are trying to break down the opposition when we have had possession for a period of time, and there are 10 players behind the ball.

It's a notable difference from last season...we work so hard when we don't have the ball, and control what the opposition do. Pushing them into those mistakes.

It's an effective plan...and one that works well, when you have pace and energy in the team.

Completely agree with this, the challenge is, the more successful we are the more respect the opposition will give us. That means we have to try and break teams down, which we have struggled with at home with the exception of the fantastic start against Barnsley. Burton and Millwall set up to stop us rather than beat us and it worked.

thats the next challenge for Lj and his team, although I think having duric available changes the dynamic a bit with this.

If we can work a way to deal with those games and play away games as we have done, we will be up there at the end of the season imo.

[cidered abroad]

15 hours ago, redfieldred said:

Thought pack was better than a 7. He passed consistently well and accurately and was effective at neutralising the talented cairney. His work meant smith and brownhill were able to press higher. Got a standing ovation going off. Highly deserved, and we looked less solid defensively after he came off. 

I assume you were at the match which I unfortunately wasn't but listening to Radio Bristol.

The commentary contained several references to misplaced passes or losing possession attributable to Pack.

Which should I believe to be the most accurate?