All Those First Half Free-kicks...

[Olé]

Although the exact outcome of each was not clear from the other end of the ground, it seemed to me that we had about 7 or 8 long free-kick opportunities just in the first half alone and yet failed to generate a single clear chance, shot on goal or even header from any of them.

That for me is the story of the game. There's all this doom and gloom and concern about tactics and perhaps rightly so but the long and short of it is that we were presented more than enough opportunities to put a ball into the box like we must do in training and we got nothing out of it.

Stoke are clearly a strong team at set pieces but to create no chances from all those free-kicks is unforgivable. It was evidently a day where the first goal was crucial to keep supporters fired up and settle the team and either side could have done that but only one converted a free kick.

We need to learn why we weren't ever winning quality headers from balls into the box, no one is asking them to become a set piece team but when Mike Riley gives you that many opportunities to deliver, any team serious about winning or achieving their aims, has to do more with it.

Are we good enough in the air? Do we have enough big players? We've got Adebola, McCombe and to a lesser extent Carey and Elliott but that isn't enough if you're conceeding a man on man height advantage in most match ups at free kicks. We were second best at them all first half.

Elliott used to be the one who played above his 'match-up' and would win a lot of good headers but the other key feature of the game for me was that he got a knock in the first five minutes and looked like he was playing hurt for the rest of it including losing that crucial first header.

Anyway, this seemed to me to be the defining contrast of the game, other people will have many more reasons for what happened but to me this was the most straightforwardly obvious reason we didn't make more of the first half and give ourselves something to play for,

As to the rest of it, it's been said elsewhere about Lee Johnson; I did want Wilson in for Sproule but he didn't seem to know or execute his role, we didn't give attacking players options so even if they did win the ball there wasn't much on, and only McIndoe and Orr played with any guile.

I'm not sure whether McAllister is a liability or whether he's just more cavalier than the rest of the defence, he certainly doesn't play percentages which puts himself under more pressure as it's always all or nothing, Bradley Orr polices his area much more responsibly these days,

I don't think Noble or Trundle are the answer, Noble brings a bit of time and thinking and Trundle did inject a few decent touches but we've been here before, neither is fast enough or fit enough to be effective from the start and I think even yesterday there was evidence of that.

Finally Skuse was his usual enigmatic self yesterday. He stands out to me as someone we could get a lot more from. When we're getting on top he plays with a real confidence to win loose balls and do the necessary tidying up and passing to keep our momentum going as in the second half.

Yet when the game is open or we're behind he doesn't seem to offer the same attention or his role changes so much that he goes missing playing a containing role. It's such a contrast. Perhaps I'm naive but I'd like to see the guy given more of a license to play a bit from the start.

Anyway, you can throw all of this into the mix but I still think the lack of winning our headers and creating chances from all the first half free kicks was most to blame for being second best (and lets face it, even when in front the Stoke fans were getting wound up by Mike Riley giving us all these kicks, they expected something from us)

[CiderSomerset]

Although the exact outcome of each was not clear from the other end of the ground, it seemed to me that we had about 7 or 8 long free-kick opportunities just in the first half alone and yet failed to generate a single clear chance, shot on goal or even header from any of them.

The balls into the box were not good, some in fact terrible - thats the problem..

[zookeeper]

The balls into the box were not good, some in fact terrible - thats the problem..

I think the difference between the two teams was where the free kicks were conceeded.

Stoke were willing to conceed fouls on the half way line and the delivery from there is always going to be hard.

We conceeded free kicks in dangerous positions and paid the price.

If we want to compete agaisnt these teams we have to get that bit more nasty in the middle of the pitch.