Nigel’s post match thoughts

[Merrick's Marvels]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

They weren’t dominating at all….it was a scrappy half, a pretty even half.  

3 hours ago, 054123 said:

Our own frailties gave them impetus, but even with that they didn’t strike me as being able to construct anything of note.

 

 

Only one team had a coherent pattern of play.

Only one team looked like they had a plan when in possession of the ball.

And it wasn't us.

At home. To bottom of the league Barnsley.

Forget the result. Everything else about today screamed relegation. 

[Davefevs]

11 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Only one team had a coherent pattern of play.

Only one team looked like they had a plan when in possession of the ball.

And it wasn't us.

At home. To bottom of the league Barnsley.

Forget the result. Everything else about today screamed relegation. 

I agree, but they weren’t dominant despite that.

[RedNachos]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

How do you improve composure….and explain / convey that to the relevant audience….in a 2/3 minute media interview.

This is for the domain on the “classroom” with video, whiteboard, etc.

Yeah my bad for the terrible example. Me and my mate were discussing pre match about his though, what I feel is Nige never seems to take any sense of ownership in interviews, the common cliche used (which I'm very glad is not reciprocated by Pearson) of '' back to the drawing board'' seems to be alien to his media handling style. That's good for multiple reasons but at times I just wonder where the sense of maybe I'll do something about this problem type attitudes in press conferences means he takes accountability or tries to insight change, I doubt that's the case though, I think the most likely answer is he doesn't like to reveal too much off the pitch insight in the media. Again sorry for the poor example

[Davefevs]

8 minutes ago, RedNachos said:

Yeah my bad for the terrible example. Me and my mate were discussing pre match about his though, what I feel is Nige never seems to take any sense of ownership in interviews, the common cliche used (which I'm very glad is not reciprocated by Pearson) of '' back to the drawing board'' seems to be alien to his media handling style. That's good for multiple reasons but at times I just wonder where the sense of maybe I'll do something about this problem type attitudes in press conferences means he takes accountability or tries to insight change, I doubt that's the case though, I think the most likely answer is he doesn't like to reveal too much off the pitch insight in the media. Again sorry for the poor example

No need to apologise at all, least of all to me.

[Judda]

Just needed that first one... hopefully like the bristol bus... one comes along...

[Rocking Red Cyril]

5 hours ago, Davefevs said:

They weren’t dominating at all….it was a scrappy half, a pretty even half.  Bugs me that just because they were leading he thinks they were dominating.  Had our passing been a bit tighter we would’ve ripped their high line apart, which is what we threatened to do and eventually did.

As always spot on Dave. I did feel disappointed we where not able to properly put the game to bed as I think a third would of finished them. I know we where not good today as a team. But thought Han did well in places. But our midfield was woefull as a unit. And I know Wells blasted that sitter over the bar but his positional sense today of being right on the defenders shoulder set for the run on goal but no one found any thing like a supply line to him . I want to see more of Wells and central. As I have stated before.

But was pleased I was able to get to the game today and it was immense to see the support cranked right up last 10 mins. and at last a home win. ;0)

COYR

 

[City oz]

2 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Only one team had a coherent pattern of play.

Only one team looked like they had a plan when in possession of the ball.

And it wasn't us.

At home. To bottom of the league Barnsley.

Forget the result. Everything else about today screamed relegation. 

Just watched the highlites and I agree Barnsley were the coherent team however we showed some spirit today which was above and beyond what we have seen of late. Determination and great fan support got us over the line.

A win is a win and what I watched did not scream out relegation material too me.

 

[Son of Fred]

32 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

our midfield was woefull as a unit

A fit Williams (again) can't come quickly enough....

Praying this isn't a 'pipe dream!!

[Rocking Red Cyril]

Just now, Son of Fred said:

A fit Williams (again) can't come quickly enough....

Praying this isn't a 'pipe dream!!

No agree Williams and Han needed together. But then do we run  a 3 or 4 man midfield cause we do have options with players and formation . I feel James and or King most likely. I thought Bakenson was woefull today but not alone in that 

[Son of Fred]

1 minute ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

No agree Williams and Han needed together. But then do we run  a 3 or 4 man midfield cause we do have options with players and formation . I feel James and or King most likely. I thought Bakenson was woefull today but not alone in that 

I feel we need the stability of a four...James,,king,,han & Williams....as & when possible!

 

 

[Rocking Red Cyril]

2 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

I feel we need the stability of a four...James,,king,,han & Williams....as & when possible!

 

 

Yes I can agree. But fitness and formation changes do not allow that seems to me. Strikes me NP does not know his best starting eleven or formation yet . Or maybe he is keeping it to himself ;0)

[Rocking Red Cyril]

5 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

I feel we need the stability of a four...James,,king,,han & Williams....as & when possible!

 

 

And I still think a number of players he wants gone are still in the side and squad. But he needs money to buy anew. Over to you Mr Lansdown 

[Waconda]

The best I have heard NP speak post game. Very honest and thoughtful.

Reassuring that he knows the performance was poor.

Hopefully the turning point.

Great to see Alex Ball actually doing some useful drills pre game.

[grifty]

The problem is we don't seem to have a game plan or style of play that suits our players.

From what I've seen it's get it to the full backs for them to either chip the ball down the line or pump it into Martin in the hope he can knock it down to someone else. Problem is Martin is too slow to chase a ball down the line, too small to effectively challenge and win a ball chipped up to him and Weimann, Wells, etc are never close enough to win any knockdown.

No-one seems to want the ball in midfield off the defence. Look at our throw-ins. HNM, James, Bakinson all stood completely still. The taker has no choice but to lob it up the line to Martin who won't win it v a 6'3" defender. If we are playing 3 central midfielders, we need them to be moving, making space for each other/themselves to get some passing play/triangles between them to break the lines. Williams does this, but can he be trusted to play more than 2 games in a row before he's out for a month?

The other thing that winds me up is the lack of awareness or talking between them team for simple instructions. The amount of times a lofted ball from the opposition goes to one of our centre backs who has no-one within 25 yards of them and instead of someone giving them a call they have time, they aimlessly head it back into the middle of the pitch where we invariable lose the ball. I don't mind it if we lose the ball trying to play someone through or creating an overload and a risky pass to break the lines, but as we don't get much possession anyway, we need to take care of it when we have the chance.

[DaveInSA]

I've said it before on hear, you can coach and coach and coach on the training pitch, but it means nothing if the players don't IMPLEMENT that plan, then they ain't good enough.

There's something in this combination of players, individually they might be technically skilled, composed intelligent footballers. Put them together as a team and they're panic stricken loonatics.

I only saw the first half, but it wasn't pretty (apart from the two goals). We panic. The defence lump the ball OVER the midfield to our attack. Who inevitably lose the ball; rinse and repeat. The midfield were absent, running around aimlessly. It's pitiful. And if that is what Pearson is coaching, then, "put my head in a paper bag and call me Russell".

I wonder if the collective don't TRUST each other. Because SURELY, it's clear to everyone when we actuallly get the ball on the deck and pass it, we're actually not that bad?

I think this is the connundrum the past 3 managers tried to solve. Unfortunately with FFP Nige has his hands tied with the personnel.

3 year project it is then.

Hopefully we don't get relegated in the process.

[DaveInSA]

6 minutes ago, grifty said:

The problem is we don't seem to have a game plan or style of play that suits our players.

From what I've seen it's get it to the full backs for them to either chip the ball down the line or pump it into Martin in the hope he can knock it down to someone else. Problem is Martin is too slow to chase a ball down the line, too small to effectively challenge and win a ball chipped up to him and Weimann, Wells, etc are never close enough to win any knockdown.

No-one seems to want the ball in midfield off the defence. Look at our throw-ins. HNM, James, Bakinson all stood completely still. The taker has no choice but to lob it up the line to Martin who won't win it v a 6'3" defender. If we are playing 3 central midfielders, we need them to be moving, making space for each other/themselves to get some passing play/triangles between them to break the lines. Williams does this, but can he be trusted to play more than 2 games in a row before he's out for a month?

The other thing that winds me up is the lack of awareness or talking between them team for simple instructions. The amount of times a lofted ball from the opposition goes to one of our centre backs who has no-one within 25 yards of them and instead of someone giving them a call they have time, they aimlessly head it back into the middle of the pitch where we invariable lose the ball. I don't mind it if we lose the ball trying to play someone through or creating an overload and a risky pass to break the lines, but as we don't get much possession anyway, we need to take care of it when we have the chance.

wot he said, then I almost said the same thing right afterward

 

[bexhill reds]

One positive that I did take from yesterday was the entire team’s willingness to fight and literally put bodies on the line, it wasn’t high quality nor want we want to see but you can’t argue that this lot don’t want to play for the shirt, cliche perhaps but the effort was top quality even if the standard not, that’s definitely the Pearson effect.

[Fuber]

13 hours ago, Top Robin said:

Every post match interview he highlights our weaknesses and faults but I wish he'd ******* sort them out at some point.

 

We shall see.

Simpson and Downing being booted out means something must be in the works, or at least being sorted, with regards to coaching setup.

I quite like the way NP is diagnosing the issues piece by piece. Communicating that with the fans in an open and honest manner.

I think by clearing our the deadwood he wanted to see how KD and PS dealt with a smaller core group, as in theory the time per player should've been higher and the training and instructions more effective.

Obviously (as we've seen) things improved initially this season, and have now nearly reverted to last season's awful standard, in spite of said smaller core of players. Ergo he pulled the trigger on both.

A note on Recruitment, I think he's handed over to Gillespie, and barring his own connection signings (Simpson, King, James), and the supposed shabby running or replying to agents on the former's part that were commented on here, I have to say that Tanner and Atkinson have been very astute bits of business. Can't criticise in that respect. Hopefully if that keeps up and we can sign lower league gems with the same dedication and the odd PL cast offs, can only improve.

Onwards and Upwards.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

31 minutes ago, DaveInSA said:

I've said it before on hear, you can coach and coach and coach on the training pitch, but it means nothing if the players don't IMPLEMENT that plan, then they ain't good enough.

There's something in this combination of players, individually they might be technically skilled, composed intelligent footballers. Put them together as a team and they're panic stricken loonatics.

I only saw the first half, but it wasn't pretty (apart from the two goals). We panic. The defence lump the ball OVER the midfield to our attack. Who inevitably lose the ball; rinse and repeat. The midfield were absent, running around aimlessly. It's pitiful. And if that is what Pearson is coaching, then, "put my head in a paper bag and call me Russell".

I wonder if the collective don't TRUST each other. Because SURELY, it's clear to everyone when we actuallly get the ball on the deck and pass it, we're actually not that bad?

I think this is the connundrum the past 3 managers tried to solve. Unfortunately with FFP Nige has his hands tied with the personnel.

3 year project it is then.

Hopefully we don't get relegated in the process.

The same was true last season, but in that case Dean Holden was entirely blamed.  I heard that on his final day at the club, Holden told the players what he thought of them.  Sadly, Pearson doesn’t seem to be getting any better response,

[Davefevs]

54 minutes ago, grifty said:

The problem is we don't seem to have a game plan or style of play that suits our players.

From what I've seen it's get it to the full backs for them to either chip the ball down the line or pump it into Martin in the hope he can knock it down to someone else. Problem is Martin is too slow to chase a ball down the line, too small to effectively challenge and win a ball chipped up to him and Weimann, Wells, etc are never close enough to win any knockdown.

No-one seems to want the ball in midfield off the defence. Look at our throw-ins. HNM, James, Bakinson all stood completely still. The taker has no choice but to lob it up the line to Martin who won't win it v a 6'3" defender. If we are playing 3 central midfielders, we need them to be moving, making space for each other/themselves to get some passing play/triangles between them to break the lines. Williams does this, but can he be trusted to play more than 2 games in a row before he's out for a month?

The other thing that winds me up is the lack of awareness or talking between them team for simple instructions. The amount of times a lofted ball from the opposition goes to one of our centre backs who has no-one within 25 yards of them and instead of someone giving them a call they have time, they aimlessly head it back into the middle of the pitch where we invariable lose the ball. I don't mind it if we lose the ball trying to play someone through or creating an overload and a risky pass to break the lines, but as we don't get much possession anyway, we need to take care of it when we have the chance.

Spot on Grifty.

Earlier this season we did see some patterns forming, but they’ve gone out the window as we’ve resorted to reactive football, requiring a bit of magic to create a chance rather than carefully constructed moves.  It’s very similar to a lot of the last 2/3 seasons.

Most weeks pre-game I have a little look at the opposition and think how are we gonna cope with them.  A lot of my focus is usually how do we stop them building out, and this is typically how will our forwards and wide midfielders deal with their CBs and FBs/WBs.

Yesterday was a simple Barnsley back 3 and WBs.  Three CBs who don’t really play, but 2 WBs who play high.

I thought Nige would go 442 and that would mean our 2 CFs would split their 3 CBs (no rocket science there) and our 2 WMs would attach to their WBs.  All good.

Even when I saw the line up I assumed 433, so the front 3 of AW, CM and NW would assign 2 to split the CBs and depending on which side of the pitch the ball was on, that forward would attach to the WB, shuffling across the pitch if Barnsley moved side to side.  We would then have 3v2 in midfield and they’d have to go long.  And that would mean our numerical advantage in midfield would pick up lots of bits and pieces.  

So when I saw it start to form as what I’m calling a 4312-diamond it really did raise some questions as to how we’d stop them getting their wingbacks into the game.  They had acres to play in….and we didn’t stop their service.

Between them they had 6 shots (4 on target).

Massengo (RM) and Bakinson (LM) were left with lots of ground to cover.  Too much ground, and we saw how one pass bypasses a one man press all too often.  Ali Hines on co-comms mentioned how two passes got Williams into our final third, with Tanner then going out to engage him.  Really Tanner needs to engage in a “double-up”, but that doesn’t seem to happen in a 442 let alone a narrow (on paper 4312d!  Not blaming Tanner btw.

Its resulting in a lot of needless running, and then we are knackered final 20.

On the flipside, the Weimann in the hole worked fantastically for our two goals….but my question is could they have achieved the same playing as a three rather than a narrow two-plus-one?

Oh, please give me the day when our FBs get a heatmap like above!

[Davefevs]

8 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

It is interesting that there were not many comments that Holden had such a difficult job after just one window, that the players aren't good enough, just staying up would be a good achievement etc.

Loads of people wanted him out when we were 8th! And generally blamed him for how the players performed on the pitch.

But you’re assuming lots of fans aren’t fickle / knee-jerk!

Seriously though, Dean wasn’t backed.  Ashton should’ve gone, not Dean, SL should’ve spotted the Charlatan a mile off.

I think what you are now seeing is that it wasn’t Dean per se that was the problem, but fans needed a scapegoat / SL needed a scapegoat, because he was too blind to see what was going on.  I think if SL had known that MA was pissing off, Dean would’ve been kept in place.  Ashton’s final year (or however long it was) was a professional disgrace.  He shafted Holden last January too as his final act of “power”.  I’d love to tell him face to face what I think of him.

Dean can feel hard done by.

However, I don’t think Dean was the man for a complete rebuild….which is what we now need….because of MA.

[Waconda]

15 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

It is interesting that there were not many comments that Holden had such a difficult job after just one window, that the players aren't good enough, just staying up would be a good achievement etc.

Loads of people wanted him out when we were 8th! And generally blamed him for how the players performed on the pitch.

Also is often conveniently forgotten is that most of his first choice starting 11 were injured after his first 5 games.

There is a middle ground here but the almost "cult like" defence of the current management and coaching set up is odd at times.

 

[INCRED]

12 hours ago, RedNachos said:

A common theme i'm noticing in Nige is he is incredibly honest in pointing out where we go wrong and critical where necessary, however I never get the sense he has a plan to combat what he sees.

Instead of: "we didn't play well we weren't composed"

I'd love it to be: "This performance was not the standard we strive for at City, we'll be working heavily on improving composure"

Probably because he is yet to have sufficiently capable players in the squad to play the way he wants and to manage situations on the pitch. Let’s see what happens to those who aren’t on the NP bus and who we bring in over the next few transfer windows 

He may respond differently in future interviews?

[Dr Balls]

8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Spot on Grifty.

Earlier this season we did see some patterns forming, but they’ve gone out the window as we’ve resorted to reactive football, requiring a bit of magic to create a chance rather than carefully constructed moves.  It’s very similar to a lot of the last 2/3 seasons.

Most weeks pre-game I have a little look at the opposition and think how are we gonna cope with them.  A lot of my focus is usually how do we stop them building out, and this is typically how will our forwards and wide midfielders deal with their CBs and FBs/WBs.

Yesterday was a simple Barnsley back 3 and WBs.  Three CBs who don’t really play, but 2 WBs who play high.

I thought Nige would go 442 and that would mean our 2 CFs would split their 3 CBs (no rocket science there) and our 2 WMs would attach to their WBs.  All good.

Even when I saw the line up I assumed 433, so the front 3 of AW, CM and NW would assign 2 to split the CBs and depending on which side of the pitch the ball was on, that forward would attach to the WB, shuffling across the pitch if Barnsley moved side to side.  We would then have 3v2 in midfield and they’d have to go long.  And that would mean our numerical advantage in midfield would pick up lots of bits and pieces.  

So when I saw it start to form as what I’m calling a 4312-diamond it really did raise some questions as to how we’d stop them getting their wingbacks into the game.  They had acres to play in….and we didn’t stop their service.

Between them they had 6 shots (4 on target).

Massengo (RM) and Bakinson (LM) were left with lots of ground to cover.  Too much ground, and we saw how one pass bypasses a one man press all too often.  Ali Hines on co-comms mentioned how two passes got Williams into our final third, with Tanner then going out to engage him.  Really Tanner needs to engage in a “double-up”, but that doesn’t seem to happen in a 442 let alone a narrow (on paper 4312d!  Not blaming Tanner btw.

Its resulting in a lot of needless running, and then we are knackered final 20.

On the flipside, the Weimann in the hole worked fantastically for our two goals….but my question is could they have achieved the same playing as a three rather than a narrow two-plus-one?

Oh, please give me the day when our FBs get a heatmap like above!

Thanks Dave. it was clear so often in the first half how Barnsley had width and we didn’t. There were times that their wing backs came forward and none of our players were within 25 yards of them.

What I also spotted is that when they lost the ball, Barnsley’s front 3 dropped back to get behind the ball and support the 4 man midfield. With just our 3 in midfield it was also impossible to play through, and we didn’t have any width to get past that. By contrast, until the Alamo at the end, Wells and Martin did very little to get back and support the midfield, so again we were outnumbered. 

I am not suggesting that the forwards should go back into the penalty area unless it’s heading away corners, as Martin proved in those last few minutes, being far too slow and giving the ball away in dangerous areas, but we do need to play as a combined team rather than disparate units that don’t seem to fit together.

 

[Davefevs]

7 minutes ago, VT05763 said:

Also is often conveniently forgotten is that most of his first choice starting 11 were injured after his first 5 games.

There is a middle ground here but the almost "cult like" defence of the current management and coaching set up is odd at times.

 

It’s hard to scroll past some posters isn’t it.  There are some good, balanced posters on here, but boy are there some extremists too…on both sides.

[INCRED]

1 hour ago, VT05763 said:

The best I have heard NP speak post game. Very honest and thoughtful.

Reassuring that he knows the performance was poor.

Hopefully the turning point.

Great to see Alex Ball actually doing some useful drills pre game.

It won’t necessarily be a turning point as NP spelt out in his interview, basically we are still crap but Barnsley we’re crap also and didn’t take the chances we gave them to get back into the game 

Fortunately there are 3 or 4 other teams that are worse than us in this division 

[Waconda]

6 minutes ago, INCRED said:

It won’t necessarily be a turning point as NP spelt out in his interview, basically we are still crap but Barnsley we’re crap also and didn’t take the chances we gave them to get back into the game 

Fortunately there are 3 or 4 other teams that are worse than us in this division 

I did say "hopefully".

[Davefevs]

13 minutes ago, INCRED said:

It won’t necessarily be a turning point as NP spelt out in his interview, basically we are still crap but Barnsley we’re crap also and didn’t take the chances we gave them to get back into the game 

Fortunately there are 3 or 4 other teams that are worse than us in this division 

Absolutely, and probably 5-7 teams that are no better than us too, all jostling for lower-half of the table.

[mozo]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Absolutely, and probably 5-7 teams that are no better than us too, all jostling for lower-half of the table.

I feel reassured that we have 19 points before November, and we have a few games coming up against other teams in the bottom half.

[Roger Red Hat]