We lack the courage to fail

[Major Isewater]

I am convinced that our strategy of stroking the ball about in our own half comes from the desire to stay in games longer .

We got done so often when we first came up just through a bit of naivety and our overriding belief that we'd score more than the opposition, which in League 1 we mostly did.

So keep possession , don't take risks and stay in the game,  sounds logical except that we are stronger when we are 'at it ' .

We now seem terrified to attack in numbers and as a result we produce very few scoring opportunities and subsequently very few goals. 

Having a raft of new players doesn't help a cohesive attacking force admittedly and I pray to Bob that with a bit more familiarity and the return of Famara that we will find the essential balance between gung ho and gone home , which is where  many fans will go if results don't pick up .

We need courage from all at the club to kick start our season.

 I still believe in the players we have at the club now show us that you care .

Courage to fail .

[Xspence]

I completely get the concept behind possession football. Gets players more confident on the ball and wears down the opposition etc. Also it’s nice to watch. But you are completely right we seem to lack the courage to do it where it matters. On Saturday so much of our 60odd% possession was Niki passing to Kelly and Webster. Who in turn pass it back to him, who plays it to the other centre back. This doesn’t tire out an opposition who is winning as they don’t bother to chase any of it. It also doesn’t make players more confident on the ball as Webster, Niki and Kelly are not playing it in the attacking half. All the opposition like Boro do is sit in their defensive lines and wait. 

To make it work when level or behind we need to be playing it in their half and getting it forward much faster. 

[marmite]

7 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

I am convinced that our strategy of stroking the ball about in our own half comes from the desire to stay in games longer .

We got done so often when we first came up just through a bit of naivety and our overriding belief that we'd score more than the opposition, which in League 1 we mostly did.

So keep possession , don't take risks and stay in the game,  sounds logical except that we are stronger when we are 'at it ' .

We now seem terrified to attack in numbers and as a result we produce very few scoring opportunities and subsequently very few goals. 

Having a raft of new players doesn't help a cohesive attacking force admittedly and I pray to Bob that with a bit more familiarity and the return of Famara that we will find the essential balance between gung ho and gone home , which is where  many fans will go if results don't pick up .

We need courage from all at the club to kick start our season.

 I still believe in the players we have at the club now show us that you care .

Courage to fail .

Good post again Major. We are far too cautious in possession.

[LondonBristolian]

I couldn't get to our League Cup game last week and actually ended up going to QPR-Peterborough with a QPR-supporting mate.

I agree with the OP, and based on what I saw last week, I think myself and anyone else going tomorrow are in for 90 minutes of two sets of isolated forwards up-front with a failure to create meaningful opportunities. I might bring a book...

 

[old_eastender]

Agree with OP. First half against Plymouth Hunt received the ball 4 or 5 times in space in Plymouth half on the flank, every time he delayed and ended up laying ball off with a sideways or backwards short pass, instead of running with ball to the byline and trying to whip a cross in. He was better second half.

Other issue we have is players making forward runs into space, only Wiemann is doing this. Pato is capable but is generally just coming to near  the halfway line to pick the ball up and then playing safe sideways/backwards little passes. Taylor is capable but is playing like he has lead in his boots. COD seems incapable of beating his man. Only Elliason, who has been dropped for unknown reasons, shows a willingness to take it on. 

[Major Isewater]

7 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

I couldn't get to our League Cup game last week and actually ended up going to QPR-Peterborough with a QPR-supporting mate.

I agree with the OP, and based on what I saw last week, I think myself and anyone else going tomorrow are in for 90 minutes of two sets of isolated forwards up-front with a failure to create meaningful opportunities. I might bring a book...

 

You could watch ' Seven ' on your iPad and share it with our Cockney friends .

 

[Major Isewater]

1 minute ago, old_eastender said:

Agree with OP. First half against Plymouth Hunt received the ball 4 or 5 times in space in Plymouth half on the flank, every time he delayed and ended up laying ball off with a sideways or backwards short pass, instead of running with ball to the byline and trying to whip a cross in. He was better second half.

Other issue we have is players making forward runs into space, only Wiemann is doing this. Pato is capable but is generally just coming to near  the halfway line to pick the ball up and then playing safe sideways/backwards little passes. Taylor is capable but is playing like he has lead in his boots. COD seems incapable of beating his man. Only Elliason, who has been dropped for unknown reasons, shows a willingness to take it on. 

Perhaps ' rotated' is a better word than dropped.

If he's fit I expect to see him start against QPR.

[LondonBristolian]

1 minute ago, Major Isewater said:

You could watch ' Seven ' on your iPad and share it with our Cockney friends .

 

Apparently West Brom fans on Saturday were chanting "He'd get in your team, he'd get in your team, our ****ing mascot, he'd get in your team"...

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, LondonBristolian said:

Apparently West Brom fans on Saturday were chanting "He'd get in your team, he'd get in your team, our ****ing mascot, he'd get in your team"...

West Brom mascot has some lace mind!

sorry for dragging my photo up again 

[Aaron-Bcfc]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

West Brom mascot has some lace mind!

sorry for dragging my photo up again 

That mascot is long gone I’m afraid 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/04/west-brom-unveil-boiler-man-greatest-ever-mascot/

[phantom]

14 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

Remember that day, I was sat roughly in line with the touchline in the corner of the away end - it was hysterical watching him sprint up and down the touchline, not surprised he never made it with us

(I was on about the player and not the mascot)

[Fjmcity]

47 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

I am convinced that our strategy of stroking the ball about in our own half comes from the desire to stay in games longer .

We got done so often when we first came up just through a bit of naivety and our overriding belief that we'd score more than the opposition, which in League 1 we mostly did.

So keep possession , don't take risks and stay in the game,  sounds logical except that we are stronger when we are 'at it ' .

We now seem terrified to attack in numbers and as a result we produce very few scoring opportunities and subsequently very few goals. 

Having a raft of new players doesn't help a cohesive attacking force admittedly and I pray to Bob that with a bit more familiarity and the return of Famara that we will find the essential balance between gung ho and gone home , which is where  many fans will go if results don't pick up .

We need courage from all at the club to kick start our season.

 I still believe in the players we have at the club now show us that you care .

Courage to fail .

Id agree with this - we had this in spades at the start of last season. Worked against Barnsley first game, didnt at birmingham and so on in a pattern that bought us success.  we then seem to doubt ourselves and stop doing that things that bought success

[Davefevs]

15 minutes ago, phantom said:

Remember that day, I was sat roughly in line with the touchline in the corner of the away end - it was hysterical watching him sprint up and down the touchline, not surprised he never made it with us

(I was on about the player and not the mascot)

You must’ve been sat close to me then.  He was blowing out his arse - think the training might have been a huge shock to him. 

24 minutes ago, Aaron-Bcfc said:

That mascot is long gone I’m afraid 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/04/west-brom-unveil-boiler-man-greatest-ever-mascot/

That’s awful

[swanker]

3 minutes ago, Fjmcity said:

Id agree with this - we had this in spades at the start of last season. Worked against Barnsley first game, didnt at birmingham and so on in a pattern that bought us success.  we then seem to doubt ourselves and stop doing that things that bought success

To be successful in the league you need quality players. We ain’t got many. That’s why most supporters thought we were in for a difficult season before it started. Whatever our style of play we’re in a relegation scrap already. Lose tomorrow and it’ll knock the confidence right out of us!

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, swanker said:

To be successful in the league you need quality players. We ain’t got many. That’s why most supporters thought we were in for a difficult season before it started. Whatever our style of play we’re in a relegation scrap already. Lose tomorrow and it’ll knock the confidence right out of us!

Correct, we’ve probably got Diedhiou, Weimann and Paterson, who on their day might make the difference in a game.  Other than that we have an average group.  That group ought to be good enough to stay in this division but to push on we do need more quality.  You could say that Flint, Bryan and Reid all had that bit of something to winnacgame by the scruff of the neck.

I’m still fairly relaxed 3 games in.

Really glad as a non-traveler (get away rarely), I will get to see tomorrow’s game on the box and see whether we’ve got better away from home.

One game could make or break this season.  It shouldn’t do, but you can’t ignore the games last season either.

[Aaron-Bcfc]

8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

That’s awful

It’s brilliant

[bristolborn_and_red]

19 hours ago, old_eastender said:

Agree with OP. First half against Plymouth Hunt received the ball 4 or 5 times in space in Plymouth half on the flank, every time he delayed and ended up laying ball off with a sideways or backwards short pass, instead of running with ball to the byline and trying to whip a cross in. He was better second half.

Other issue we have is players making forward runs into space, only Wiemann is doing this. Pato is capable but is generally just coming to near  the halfway line to pick the ball up and then playing safe sideways/backwards little passes. Taylor is capable but is playing like he has lead in his boots. COD seems incapable of beating his man. Only Elliason, who has been dropped for unknown reasons, shows a willingness to take it on. 

Maybe, he hasn't been following instructions.