Life Without Alex Scott

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, Jose said:

Yesterdays subs were just like for like. Slightly surprised we didn’t change shape at all. It was pretty obvious from early on it wasn’t working and we managed to just get worse second half. I guess being in the lead made it difficult to do that. 
 

Do I rate Cornick? Not overly but was far from the worst yesterday. I do think McCorie will be straight in at right back. Offer us more height in the team. Can’t say I know to much about him going forward but he can’t be any worse than George was yesterday. 
 

Scott staying ( not going to happen I know)or a replacement is imperative as I think along with the full backs the midfield was the biggest issue. I thought James lacked his usual composure and we just didn’t have anyone to make something happen.

Just need to remind ourselves it’s still early days. See similar over the next few games then It will be time to ask some serious questions. 

They sat Frokjaer on James yesterday….he got away once all game.

from a clever reverse pass from Dickie.  I think James needed to drag Frokjaer out if the centre to create space for Dickie and Vyner, and then ultimately Pring.  We didn’t get crisp passes into Weimann (Williams) or Knight on the half-turn like we did pre-season.

[Jose]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I wasn’t comparing, just asking for opinion on his contribution.  We can judge him better when he starts.  But “we” often use one player to beat a stick against the other.

We (Tanner) need to play more quickly when Cornick is in front of him…or even drive into the space that Cornick creates.

I’d imagine you’ve seen more of him than I have Dave but is that something McCorie can do? 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Jose

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, Jose said:

I’d imagine you’ve seen more of him than I have Dave but is that something McCorie can do? 

He likes to drive forward with the ball.  He’s not an expansive RB nor dribbler per se, but I think he will offer a bit more.  Fingers crossed.

[Mr Popodopolous]

12 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

They sat Frokjaer on James yesterday….he got away once all game.

from a clever reverse pass from Dickie.  I think James needed to drag Frokjaer out if the centre to create space for Dickie and Vyner, and then ultimately Pring.  We didn’t get crisp passes into Weimann (Williams) or Knight on the half-turn like we did pre-season.

Do you think Naismith would make a difference with this Dave or is he more of a distributor than someone to drag out of position?

In my mind pre season I was weighing up pros and cons of Naismith-Scott-Knight vs James-Scott-Knight. I remember how bereft we were in some creative senses when he went off injured at home v Coventry last sesson from then onwards in some games. Then again James can offer great stability and is sound technically.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Red-Robbo]

8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I wasn’t comparing, just asking for opinion on his contribution.  We can judge him better when he starts.  But “we” often use one player to beat a stick against the other.

We (Tanner) need to play more quickly when Cornick is in front of him…or even drive into the space that Cornick creates.

 Unfortunately, Harry's close control let him down more than once yesterday - although I'd agree the quality of the passes he received were likewise sub-standard. He (understandably) doesn't have the pace of Bell and Wells, so got caught by defenders more easily.  He gets his usually 6/10 from me, but I still can't say he's really clicked at City, despite the ample game time he's been afforded. Overall, he's been a disappointment, but then perhaps my expectations were unrealistically high.

But I'll take your point that there was a lot more going wrong for City yesterday than Harry Cornick's presence for 73 minutes. 

[Shuffle]

31 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest, for all the Cornick bashing, I thought Sykes offered nigh on bugger-all when he came on.  One little exchange with Conway was about it.

Agree in that he didn’t offer much & thought Williams aside all the subs were disappointing. 

[steviestevieneville]

2 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Cornick is an interesting one, his Luton record suggests there is a player there but his best position is harder to pin-point.

Thought v Middlesbrough over Easter he was very decent but one swallow etc even if it was against one of the top sides in the division.

What is a bit of a puzzle for me is, the final third of last season really showed a progression in intent and playing style..this was a bit of a step back.

He doesn’t add pace to the front line. As I’ve sad on another thread. I don’t judge players early, they need time , but he was really poor yesterday . Bloke in front of me shouted at Tanner for going backwards in the first half but cornick made a terrible run blocking off any pass to him . I just don’t see what nige does with him tbh . 

[mozo]

Regards the signings, I said on here at the end of last season that the big question mark for me is: is our squad made up of top young Championship players, or do we have young players with the potential to be top Championship players?

Are Knight and Mehmeti ready to be top players in this league now, or will they need a season to bed in? And do we therefore need to be patient with our expectations of pushing for top six?

In contrast, Dickie is a signing that should add immediate quality, and I think he does.

[Mr Popodopolous]

20 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

He doesn’t add pace to the front line. As I’ve sad on another thread. I don’t judge players early, they need time , but he was really poor yesterday . Bloke in front of me shouted at Tanner for going backwards in the first half but cornick made a terrible run blocking off any pass to him . I just don’t see what nige does with him tbh . 

Yes that's true. Wasn't he used at Luton more in the middle?

I would balance concerns aside wonder if Bell-Conway-Mehmeti could provide some pace.

[GBF]

2 hours ago, ProfitInMyPocket said:

Batter Cornick all you like but there were worse performers than him yesterday. 

Tanner, Pring (second half) and Knight all had worse games then our resident flak taker. 

Hope we haven't paid 2m for another Kilkenny, thought Knight was really off it. Couldn't control the ball, lots of endeavour but really little quality. 

If Scott does magically stay my midfield three is still Naismith, Scott and James, none of the others come close to what these three can do together.

Agree the most disappointing if not the worst performance was Knight

[GBF]

Yesterday too many players had an off day. I rate both Pring and Tanner  yet both were poor .

Even without Scott I believe we can play a lot better in midfield. Yesterday was surely as bad as any of our midfielders selected can play.
Knaismith in the absence of Scott our most creative passer was unavailable.  

If however Knight  is not a good passer and doesn’t take up positions to facilitate an easy pass for the person on the ball (both skills were not evident yesterday), we need to buy another midfielder who can do that .

Personally I thought Zac was exceptional 2nd half and good generally and Dickie good throughout the whole game but with the obvious exception of their goal!

Despite most things  not being good yesterday we were minutes away from a good result and maybe  that means things aren’t as bad as they appea

 

[Dr Balls]

For so many seasons we have said that the central midfield is the problem. That was masked to a large degree last season by the efforts of Scott, but since the days of Pack and Smith at their best, we have struggled to find the right combination. We had minimal movement and zero creativity yesterday, with no one willing to carry the ball forward other than Pring, Vyner and Dickie. That shouldn’t be just their responsibility, and it wouldn’t be if we had some half decent midfielders. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

22 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

For so many seasons we have said that the central midfield is the problem. That was masked to a large degree last season by the efforts of Scott, but since the days of Pack and Smith at their best, we have struggled to find the right combination. We had minimal movement and zero creativity yesterday, with no one willing to carry the ball forward other than Pring, Vyner and Dickie. That shouldn’t be just their responsibility, and it wouldn’t be if we had some half decent midfielders. 

Individually I don't think a few of our midfielders are too bad, but collectively without Scott and quite possibly Naismith with his distribution the combination doesn't quite mesh.

Knight will grow, James is more about stability and Williams more about bite than technical play.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Offside]

We definitely missed him yesterday - his ability to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and carry the ball to drag the opposing players out of position. Yesterday, apart from Bell’s pace, we didn’t have anything to really worry them. 

[RED4LIFE]

5 hours ago, johnbytheriver said:

My eyes don't decieve me! Cornick can't even trap a ball! He is never going to come good!

That's the spirit. 

Thankfully, we have professionals running the club not knee-jerk reactionists.

I actually didn't think he did too badly yesterday but I suppose haters gotta hate.

On a related note, I though Zak was excellent yesterday and a section of fans were saying the same about him as they are about Cornick in the not too distant past.

[The Bard]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

They sat Frokjaer on James yesterday….he got away once all game.

from a clever reverse pass from Dickie.  I think James needed to drag Frokjaer out if the centre to create space for Dickie and Vyner, and then ultimately Pring.  We didn’t get crisp passes into Weimann (Williams) or Knight on the half-turn like we did pre-season.

They closed off balls into midfield which is precisely why we ended up hitting long balls

[Super]

It's the lack of creativity without Scott which is a massive worry. If he does leave we definitely need someone in. The midfield yesterday were 2nd best by a distance.

[johnbytheriver]

2 hours ago, RED4LIFE said:

 

I actually didn't think he did too badly yesterday 

Shows you know nothing about football!

[maxjak]

I like the  way James Piercy in his article makes the point that due to Scotty's failure to play against Preston.....it actually increased his value?   There are a lot of PNE type teams in the Championship, and you really need something different or special to crack their type of set up, and  Scott is just that man, his exceptional talent can really make such a difference in our league?  He is almost irreplaceable, unless somehow our scouting network can turn up a better replacement than they have managed with Antione's successor?  

I am desperately hoping that there is some way we can hold on to Scotty for just one more season(Wishful thinking i know?), as he is that one player who can turn a game on it's head at this level..........Preston showed us that there are players out there in Europe that can be found, with their recruitment of Mads Jensen, at a snip of a fee, who i thought looked just the type of player we could do with?   But our lack of loan players, lack of a quality European scout....and,  probably our lack of the wonderful (probably) Alex Scott.............  means that at best it will  be a season loitering  near  the edge of the play offs............i sincerely hope I am wrong, of course!  

[mozo]

6 minutes ago, maxjak said:

I like the  way James Piercy in his article makes the point that due to Scotty's failure to play against Preston.....it actually increased his value?   There are a lot of PNE type teams in the Championship, and you really need something different or special to crack their type of set up, and  Scott is just that man, his exceptional talent can really make such a difference in our league?  He is almost irreplaceable, unless somehow our scouting network can turn up a better replacement than they have managed with Antione's successor?  

I am desperately hoping that there is some way we can hold on to Scotty for just one more season(Wishful thinking i know?), as he is that one player who can turn a game on it's head at this level..........Preston showed us that there are players out there in Europe that can be found, with their recruitment of Mads Jensen, at a snip of a fee, who i thought looked just the type of player we could do with?   But our lack of loan players, lack of a quality European scout....and,  probably our lack of the wonderful (probably) Alex Scott.............  means that at best it will  be a season loitering  near  the edge of the play offs............i sincerely hope I am wrong, of course!  

Realistically, Alex Scott is a generational talent and we won't unearth one like him for a very long time. 

I do fancy one, if not both, of Bell and Conway to be big players for us though and to also be sold for big money. 

We also seem to have some good defenders coming up as well so still an exciting future when Scott moves on.

Edited August 6, 2023 by mozo

[Mr Popodopolous]

14 minutes ago, mozo said:

Realistically, Alex Scott is a generational talent and we won't unearth one like him for a very long time. 

I do fancy one, if not both, of Bell and Conway to be big players for us though and to also be sold for big money. 

We also seem to have some good defenders coming up as well so still an exciting future when Scott moves on.

We need to seek to the them down for a bit longer.

Those two, 2025. Pring 2024 with an option to take to 2025 and Vyner 2024.

No immediate hurry but one to keep an eye on certainly.

[And Its Smith]

1 hour ago, johnbytheriver said:

Shows you know nothing about football!

Such a wankery comment on a forum of opinions 

[Merrick's Marvels]

1 hour ago, The Bard said:

They closed off balls into midfield which is precisely why we ended up hitting long balls

That shouldn't have come as a surprise though - surely we work on what to do when this happens? It seems not. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

That shouldn't have come as a surprise though - surely we work on what to do when this happens? It seems not. 

Without Scott and Naismith and you could argue Atkinson carrying into midfield and v their slightly uncommon shape our options seemed somewhat limited.

[Andy082005]

7 hours ago, steviestevieneville said:

He doesn’t add pace to the front line. As I’ve sad on another thread. I don’t judge players early, they need time , but he was really poor yesterday . Bloke in front of me shouted at Tanner for going backwards in the first half but cornick made a terrible run blocking off any pass to him . I just don’t see what nige does with him tbh . 

Cornick - if playing and in this formation - has to be in the middle of the front 3. As you say he doesn’t have the pace or the ability to play wider 

For me he is third choice behind Conway and Wells 

 

[Lew-T]

2 hours ago, The Bard said:

They closed off balls into midfield which is precisely why we ended up hitting long balls

Which is a perfect game plan to us. Because they know we aren’t going to win anything in the air up there.

It was bread and butter yesterday for PNE.

[johnbytheriver]

47 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Such a wankery comment on a forum of opinions 

You did not give an opinion you talked  about hate! 

Edited August 6, 2023 by johnbytheriver
omitted a letter

[And Its Smith]

8 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

You did not give an opinion you talked  about hate! 

I gave an opinion about your post 

[johnbytheriver]

Just now, And Its Smith said:

I gave an opinion about your post 

i gave an opinion on cornick i genuinely don't think he is any good. you gave an opnion but then started talking about hate which was a deliberate attempt at agitation.In your last post you used the word wankery more agitation! No need of it. you are the one provoking not me.

[RED4LIFE]

2 hours ago, johnbytheriver said:

Shows you know nothing about football!

Really? 

I played at a semi-pro standard for years and have got FA coaching badges. It's only work that has stopped my doing my UEFA badges.

Besides that, I see football as a team game, not a blame game.

I think you fail to understand that there are 11 other professionals trying to stop our team achieving their aims. 

I find it bizarre that you have stated as fact that a Pro footballer cannot even control the ball. If that was the case there isn't a hope in hell he would've made it as a pro let alone clubs spending good money on signing him. 

Fwiw, Cornick didn't have a great game but neither did the vast majority of our team yesterday and because of that he was starved of service. He can't do well without the ball and players around him giving him outlets.

But hey, if you say I know nothing about football, then who I am I to argue? After all, if I try, you will only bring me down to your level and beat me with experience yeah?