That Second Half

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Clutton Caveman said:

I have had my doubts about DH and still am not 100% sure BUT last night although the tactics were very negative it was very clear we had a plan and every player knew his job and the jobs of others.

This has been missing for sometime and it was great to see  far better level of organisation. I also felt that the players where talking far more.

I also like that DH coaches from his box unlike LJ who preferred to harass the fourth official most of the game.

Cautious optimism

Not saying we don’t need to improve with the ball...that has definitely degraded over the previous 3/4/5 games, but I think that there is a general acceptance that trying to play past paced football with the ball and without (pressing) is gonna burn us out.  Some squads might get away with it, but in our current state I don’t think we can risk playing full-tilt, so Holden is being pragmatic.  We will try to play quicker with the ball, but we will get behind the ball when we don’t have it.

Whether injuries will relent and we can tweak again we will have to wait and see.

[beaverface]

4 hours ago, tin said:

I thought we played really well in the first half down at Bournemouth, to be fair. The second half last night didn't quite hit that level, but wasn't far off. 

Personally, I don't know why we abandoned the 4-3-3 last night. The in-form Semenyo in that left channel is a real threat at the moment, much more than when he's asked to play centrally, and he had the right-back Ngakia - who's a really bright prospect - on toast the two times he squared him up in that position. 

I think we learnt a great lesson from the Bournemouth game. We came out in that first half, gave it a go and played very well. Unfortunately we burnt ourselves out.

Last night I think we did the opposite - we deliberately didn't go too mad in the first half and kept in the game with moments of decent team pressing. In the second half, you could see that we came out with the intention of giving everything, and that's what we did in the second half. A little bit more luck, and we could've scored 3 or 4 goals in that second half.

[Major Isewater]

3 hours ago, maxjak said:

WTF is that?

Does this help ?

 

[Guest]

We just looked organised throughout.

First half, closed them down, didn't allow them to run at us etc. Our defence was rock solid.

Second half, took the game to them but unfortunately just couldn't finish.

Keep this up and we can look forward to an interesting season.

[Sheltons Army]

2 hours ago, Northern Red said:

I think this is a key point, regardless of whether you like the tactics or not we do at least seem to play with a plan and the players look like they know what they're supposed to be doing, which was one of the major failings of the last couple of years.

Doesn't mean they'll always get it right, or that the opposition won't work it out and get the better of it at times but we look like a well-drilled side. And when you consider that the fixture schedule means there's not a lot of time between games to work on things, that's a real testament to the staff and players.

Out of likes but good post - spot on IMHO

We do look , or are starting to look , a well drilled side

And for me , that’s the base for any successful side

 

* The one thing I’d like to see us spend some time in now ,  is attacking set pieces

[tin]

1 hour ago, beaverface said:

I think we learnt a great lesson from the Bournemouth game. We came out in that first half, gave it a go and played very well. Unfortunately we burnt ourselves out.

Last night I think we did the opposite - we deliberately didn't go too mad in the first half and kept in the game with moments of decent team pressing. In the second half, you could see that we came out with the intention of giving everything, and that's what we did in the second half. A little bit more luck, and we could've scored 3 or 4 goals in that second half.

Maybe. IMO, Bournemouth had more quality about them than the Watford XI we faced last night. When Bournemouth up it a notch, Holden was slow to react with his subs when you could see certain players were on their knees shortly after the break. 

Bar Foster's save that prevented a tap-in for Fam and the chance Semenyo should've done better with, what other second-half chances are you talking about? The two shanked efforts from Rowe and Moore towards the end? You don't often see defenders produce technical finishes like that at this level. 

[Davefevs]

29 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

Out of likes but good post - spot on IMHO

We do look , or are starting to look , a well drilled side

And for me , that’s the base for any successful side

 

* The one thing I’d like to see us spend some time in now ,  is attacking set pieces

When was the last time we looked well drilled?  3 months during 17/18!

[Sheltons Army]

Just now, Davefevs said:

When was the last time we looked well drilled?  3 months during 17/18!

Was thinking that earlier , as I typed

Absolutely

I see Michael Dawson as match pundit for Sky made complimentary comments about it 

[Major Isewater]

5 hours ago, Sheltons Army said:

We do look , or are starting to look , a well drilled side

And for me , that’s the base for any successful side

I have been banging on about this for years.

Even if you don’t have the best players at your disposal there is no excuse for not getting them well drilled.

 We now appear to have proper football coaches and players motivated enough to take it all on board and execute it on match days . 
 

 

[Sheltons Army]

1 minute ago, Major Isewater said:

I have been banging on about this for years.

Even if you don’t have the best players at your disposal there is no excuse for not getting them well drilled.

 We now appear to have proper football coaches and players motivated enough to take it all on board and execute it on match days . 
 

 

Agree Major

But you do need Staff to keep working at the same things , even when it appears boring 

and

A set of players who want to do it

On Monday Night Football Eddie Howe was talking about the fitness at Bournemouth (Didnt realise they were top of running stats for most of their time in Prem)

Said the staff worked them hard but more importantly the players were good pros and bought into it , especially when they saw the results , and that was the key 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

When was the last time we looked well drilled?  3 months during 17/18!

What about the 15 unbeaten in 2018/19- phases of that maybe? Not to the level of the 3 months in 2017/18 but...

[Davefevs]

7 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

What about the 15 unbeaten in 2018/19- phases of that maybe? Not to the level of the 3 months in 2017/18 but...

Ok, 2 three month spells