We played without our identity

[old_eastender]

First time this season LJ has reverted to the BS that we heard so often last season. Would have been so refreshing to hear him say he was at least partly responsible for selecting Bryan and Pato to start when plainly neither were fully fit. As a result we were totally ineffective down the LHS and Preston could comfortably double up on COD down the RHS, so with no wide outlets not really surprising we resorted to 70 yard punts to Djuric.

LJ is still well in credit, we have seen him get tactics and subs right many time this season, hopefully this is just a blip but a bit rich for him to be lumping all the blame on the players. 

At least LJ called out Eliasson's good sub performance - it was just such a shame that when we really could have made good on Djuric's aerial presence he was not at the pitch to challenge for the good crosses Eliasson was putting it. Who knows what might have happened has Eliasson started instead of Pato.

[italian dave]

In fairness, Bryan had a fitness test and passed; I doubt that is down to LJ. And Patonhas often played whist not fully fit and been subbed after an hour. He looked sharp when he came on at Wednesday.

I suppose it depends whether the 70 yard punts were on LJs instructions, in which case yes he has to take some of the blame, or whether players were just looking for the easy option.

But I agree we need to work how our style and how to adapt it; Pato is much more the player to play it through the middle with Reid, Fammy etc up front making the runs. COD and Elliason will get the the line and play balls in for Djuric. 

[Robbored]

10 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

First time this season LJ has reverted to the BS that we heard so often last season. Would have been so refreshing to hear him say he was at least partly responsible for selecting Bryan and Pato to start when plainly neither were fully fit. As a result we were totally ineffective down the LHS and Preston could comfortably double up on COD down the RHS, so with no wide outlets not really surprising we resorted to 70 yard punts to Djuric.

LJ is still well in credit, we have seen him get tactics and subs right many time this season, hopefully this is just a blip but a bit rich for him to be lumping all the blame on the players. 

At least LJ called out Eliasson's good sub performance - it was just such a shame that when we really could have made good on Djuric's aerial presence he was not at the pitch to challenge for the good crosses Eliasson was putting it. Who knows what might have happened has Eliasson started instead of Pato.

Strange how we hear/see things differently.

I thought what he said post match was 100% spot on. Not a trace of bullshit. He was candid and said how it was - like he often does.

He couldn't put his finger on why City played in the way they did.  

They didn't perform in the way they have been and there was no sign of City's usual style of play and to me credit has to go to Preston who  did an excellent job in playing in Colin's style. They  feigned injury, rolled around, took and age over throw ins and free kicks. It's ugly to watch but it worked for them last night. 

 

 

[tinman85]

Made a mistake not going 3.5.2 at the break. 

[ExiledAjax]

It's not smoke and mirrors, bs, or corporate speak. Here are some direct quotes from the OS:

"I don't know why we played what felt like 100 long balls in the first half and that certainly wasn't the plan. I don't know why [we did that]. Milan Djuric was on and we need to feed him because what can he do with a 70-yard ball up and around his Adam's apple? He can't do much with it there. We needed to put the extra pass in."

He is saying that he had no idea why the guys didn't do what he told them to do in the first half. He obviously didn't plan for the long balls and was frustrated with the team playing them.  Yes Djuric was on, but he'd clearly not planned to do all long balls.  I suspect he told the lads something like "If there's nothing else on then lob a long one up to Djuric".  Trouble was there was never anything on...so they lobbed up long balls all the time.

"I didn't take him off because of anything he did, it was because I couldn't understand our first half identity. I wanted the extra pass."

So the half time subs were an attempt to force the team to play it on the deck and to stop the long balls. He was obviously frustrated by the team not playing to instructions so he removed the excuse for them to do that.

Interesting that this is what Djuric does to our players. Perhaps the big Bosnian needs to be used as a last 30mins sub, thrown on to disrupt teams that have settled. 

[megansdad]

Think LJ interview was simply honest and reflected his genuine frustration. Personally think Pack for Pato would have been enough of a change at half time and may have seen improvement. Bryan was injured by a foul so not a fitness issue in him going off. He did not look at his best to be fair though.

[BobBobSuperBob]

39 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

It's not smoke and mirrors, bs, or corporate speak. Here are some direct quotes from the OS:

"I don't know why we played what felt like 100 long balls in the first half and that certainly wasn't the plan. I don't know why [we did that]. Milan Djuric was on and we need to feed him because what can he do with a 70-yard ball up and around his Adam's apple? He can't do much with it there. We needed to put the extra pass in."

He is saying that he had no idea why the guys didn't do what he told them to do in the first half. He obviously didn't plan for the long balls and was frustrated with the team playing them.  Yes Djuric was on, but he'd clearly not planned to do all long balls.  I suspect he told the lads something like "If there's nothing else on then lob a long one up to Djuric".  Trouble was there was never anything on...so they lobbed up long balls all the time.

"I didn't take him off because of anything he did, it was because I couldn't understand our first half identity. I wanted the extra pass."

So the half time subs were an attempt to force the team to play it on the deck and to stop the long balls. He was obviously frustrated by the team not playing to instructions so he removed the excuse for them to do that.

Interesting that this is what Djuric does to our players. Perhaps the big Bosnian needs to be used as a last 30mins sub, thrown on to disrupt teams that have settled. 

Thought it was a combination of things - 

Us not being sharp (Int break ?) and sharp / slick  and unable to cope with Prestons press and doing what most players do in that scenario and go long , accentuated by the presence / option of MD , and the effect that some of our players were not fully fit and firing 

I did wonder whether it was a plan (a common used one) in response to Prestons press but clearly not

Lee , it appears wanted us to play our way (And thus can understand in some ways why he withdrew MD)but I think the problem was that on the night we simply weren't sharp / cohesive enough to do that and players playing without that slick confidence will go safe / and long 

I was surprised that he didn't seem to understand why it had happened , but maybe I've got it wrong

Preston were busier than use and did to us what we have regularly done to sides

Lack of movement from playersoff the ball , providing options wasone of our big negatives last night - which happens when you're not 'on you're game' -hiding in a way

Very frustrating but we will stick to our playing philosophy I'm sure and injuries  permitting we will get rolling again 

With the upcoming fixtures and the ever increasing injuries to key players , I've said elsewhere - we may be in for a sticky patch which going by the reaction to last nights totally frustrating outing , may be a bit volataile on OTIB

 

[ExiledAjax]

1 minute ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

I was surprised that he didn't seem to understand why it had happened , but maybe I've got it wrong

I think he does understand why it happened - Djuric was on and Preston flooded the midfield...thus our players decided to lob it over the midfield to Djuric. I think what he doesn't understand is why our guys decided to do that.  Presumably he feels that despite Preston's numbers in the middle we still had the talent and game plan to pass it around them.  He would have preferred it if the players had tried that.  It's perhaps a poor choice of words but I think he understands the reasons - shown by the substitutes, but he doesn't understand the thinking.

[BobBobSuperBob]

6 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

I think he does understand why it happened - Djuric was on and Preston flooded the midfield...thus our players decided to lob it over the midfield to Djuric. I think what he doesn't understand is why our guys decided to do that.  Presumably he feels that despite Preston's numbers in the middle we still had the talent and game plan to pass it around them.  He would have preferred it if the players had tried that.  It's perhaps a poor choice of words but I think he understands the reasons - shown by the substitutes, but he doesn't understand the thinking.

Agree - he realised what happened but didn't understand why , or rather why the players weren't sharp / confident enough to stick to our method - think that's a better way of putting it ?

 

 

[Robbored]

44 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

It's not smoke and mirrors, bs, or corporate speak. Here are some direct quotes from the OS:

"I don't know why we played what felt like 100 long balls in the first half and that certainly wasn't the plan. I don't know why [we did that]. Milan Djuric was on and we need to feed him because what can he do with a 70-yard ball up and around his Adam's apple? He can't do much with it there. We needed to put the extra pass in."

He is saying that he had no idea why the guys didn't do what he told them to do in the first half. He obviously didn't plan for the long balls and was frustrated with the team playing them.  Yes Djuric was on, but he'd clearly not planned to do all long balls.  I suspect he told the lads something like "If there's nothing else on then lob a long one up to Djuric".  Trouble was there was never anything on...so they lobbed up long balls all the time.

"I didn't take him off because of anything he did, it was because I couldn't understand our first half identity. I wanted the extra pass."

So the half time subs were an attempt to force the team to play it on the deck and to stop the long balls. He was obviously frustrated by the team not playing to instructions so he removed the excuse for them to do that.

Interesting that this is what Djuric does to our players. Perhaps the big Bosnian needs to be used as a last 30mins sub, thrown on to disrupt teams that have settled. 

Well said and spot on. An excellent reply Ajax. 

Having a 'target man' and lumping it up to him is so lower league and a 'tactic'  we should never see in the Championship from City.

I counted 4 diagonal balls of 40+ yards from RB to LW  in the first half alone. I assumed LJ had told his players that PNE were weak in the RB position so unusual was it.