Esmond Million's Bung Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 The penalty was as we all know a needless challenge when we had enough cover and the player pretty much going nowhere, it was a soft penalty but it was a needless challenge. Their 2nd goal there wasn't a worthwhile challenge to prevent the cross, but more worryingly Joe Bryan went to sleep defensively and that seems to be a recurring theme over the past few weeks, Joe seems to switch off at decisive moments. Their 3rd goal shows up yet again our weak midfield, far too much room no one close to him and when Pack belatedly spots the danger, instead of standing up strong and taking one for the team, he turns his back on the ball from 6 feet away, it was pathetic and again a recurring theme. Since October 1st, teams have had to do little other than wait for us to surrender the midfield it is like a recurring nightmare because of the inevitable predictability of the eventual outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Balls Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Getting the midfield right has to be the priority. Many of our defensive problems stem from midfield. Wilbraham suggested as much on Rsdio Bristol on Monday. As a midfielder you would think LJ would know that, but then again defending & tackling was not exactly his forte, while he seems to have taken Guardiola's tactics to a degree, so yes to "tiki-taka" but no to "closing down", and yes to "no tackling". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikep Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 22 minutes ago, Dr Balls said: Getting the midfield right has to be the priority. Many of our defensive problems stem from midfield. Wilbraham suggested as much on Rsdio Bristol on Monday. As a midfielder you would think LJ would know that, but then again defending & tackling was not exactly his forte, while he seems to have taken Guardiola's tactics to a degree, so yes to "tiki-taka" but no to "closing down", and yes to "no tackling". And this is precisely why I worry about how we resolve this problem. As a player LJ would jog around the pitch for 90 minutes. He seemed to shy away from making a tackle, never quite seemed to track back quick enough, made very few assists and scored very few goals. So as a player he didn't really contribute a great deal to the midfield cause. I just can't see him being able to rectify this problem as a manager. I hope that I am wrong but as we freefall down the table, I have to say that I am worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne allisons tongues Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 It didn't help that as Pilkington got the ball our player was blocked by the ref, giving him time to line up a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmond Million's Bung Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 3 minutes ago, wayne allisons tongues said: It didn't help that as Pilkington got the ball our player was blocked by the ref, giving him time to line up a shot. Correct and it helped even less when our midfield player turned his back instead of standing tall and taking one for the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eardun Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 2 minutes ago, wayne allisons tongues said: It didn't help that as Pilkington got the ball our player was blocked by the ref, giving him time to line up a shot. Yes I just noticed that in the highlights myself. Brownhill was going to close Pilkington down but the ref blocked him off. (Clutching at straws!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickolas Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 19 minutes ago, mikep said: And this is precisely why I worry about how we resolve this problem. As a player LJ would jog around the pitch for 90 minutes. He seemed to shy away from making a tackle, never quite seemed to track back quick enough, made very few assists and scored very few goals. So as a player he didn't really contribute a great deal to the midfield cause. I just can't see him being able to rectify this problem as a manager. I hope that I am wrong but as we freefall down the table, I have to say that I am worried. How dare you state the facts about LJ as a player!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 We also gave away possession twice in the build to the second Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezo Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 1 hour ago, Esmond Million's Bung said: The penalty was as we all know a needless challenge when we had enough cover and the player pretty much going nowhere, it was a soft penalty but it was a needless challenge. Their 2nd goal there wasn't a worthwhile challenge to prevent the cross, but more worryingly Joe Bryan went to sleep defensively and that seems to be a recurring theme over the past few weeks, Joe seems to switch off at decisive moments. Their 3rd goal shows up yet again our weak midfield, far too much room no one close to him and when Pack belatedly spots the danger, instead of standing up strong and taking one for the team, he turns his back on the ball from 6 feet away, it was pathetic and again a recurring theme. Since October 1st, teams have had to do little other than wait for us to surrender the midfield it is like a recurring nightmare because of the inevitable predictability of the eventual outcome. It wasn't worth a challenge but it was worth getting close ensuring he didn't have time to look up and play an uncontested easy ball. A little bit closer with with some hustle would have stopped their last 2 goals IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesM Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 I thought our confidence and ability to seen the game out looked non existent. Some of our decisions with the ball, misplaced passes, attempted back heels on the edge of our own box, poor defensive shape with no-one picking up on the far post for their 2nd goal. Yes, Bryan had a crafty kip on the far post, but he can't mark 2 blokes, which is what he was trying to do. (All that is immaterial if you just attack the ball btw!) I had time to point it out to my mate, stand up, shout far post twice and sit back down before the cross came in. It was Downs League defending. It's really simple......defend properly or we go down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmond Million's Bung Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 1 minute ago, WesM said: I thought our confidence and ability to seen the game out looked non existent. Some of our decisions with the ball, misplaced passes, attempted back heels on the edge of our own box, poor defence shape with no-one picking up on the far post for their 2nd goal. Yes, Bryan had a crafty kip on the far post, but he can't mark 2 blokes, which is what he was trying to do. (All that is immaterial if you just attack the ball btw!) It's really simple......defend properly or we go down. Go back to September 13th away to Sheff Wednesday the evidence was already there and then fast forward to Reading home 2nd January and then yesterday, also look at the games in between that we have got back into after trailing and eventually lost, our game management is non existent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lack of Action Man Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 There was no pressure applied from the midfield for their 3rd goal, but that was also due to our positioning as a whole as a team. Look at our defensive line - we have 4 players in our own 18 yard area vs 2 of theirs as Pilkington sets up his shot. If our defence was pushed up further, our midfield would do so by instinct and consequently allow less time to line up the shot. Flint generally controls the depth of the back line, but he must be being coached or instructed by someone about positioning and on this occasion we sat far too deep, allowed time and space on the edge of our area. Whoever is doing our defensive positional coaching is not getting our players into the right areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmond Million's Bung Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 6 minutes ago, OddBallJim said: There was no pressure applied from the midfield for their 3rd goal, but that was also due to our positioning as a whole as a team. Look at our defensive line - we have 4 players in our own 18 yard area vs 2 of theirs as Pilkington sets up his shot. If our defence was pushed up further, our midfield would do so by instinct and consequently allow less time to line up the shot. Flint generally controls the depth of the back line, but he must be being coached or instructed by someone about positioning and on this occasion we sat far too deep, allowed time and space on the edge of our area. Whoever is doing our defensive positional coaching is not getting our players into the right areas. I agree, as the game moves on we surrender more and more of the middle third of the pitch and the pressure increases and the inevitable happens. As I said earlier either this what they are being coached to do (because it happens every game) or it's an instinctive action from our midfield and defence that bizarrely LJ seems unable to put a stop to or the players are completely confused by LJ's tactics (especially after substitutions) or game management is not being coached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stokes7 Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 45 minutes ago, wayne allisons tongues said: It didn't help that as Pilkington got the ball our player was blocked by the ref, giving him time to line up a shot. Yes I noticed that watching the highlights, that certainly didn't help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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