My thoughts..

Good blog mate, agree with most of it.

Thought you were a bit harsh on Cranie and don't get what people saw in Bailey. I thought he did nothing. He reminded me of David Fox - tidy on the ball, easy on the eye but never actually achieved anything or created anything for the team. I'm not writing him off after one game though.

Let's not forget a lot of these lads have never even played at this level. Davies, Brown, Dudgeon, Berry, Hourihane, Rose and Winnall probably haven't got 50 games at League 1 or higher between them. It's early days yet.

Will be interesting to see where we are at the end of September.

 

Maybe we can get thereev to restart his weekly reports, they're always very insightful.

 

Majority prefer this scheme. Soz, pal.

Just copy and paste it onto summat. Or, dunt read it. Tha not missing much.

 

Bailey is easy on the eye alright. Oh ar.

And yes, I agree regards the lack of proper football in em all. Hopefully, Treacy and Lita and maybe a couple more faces will help with that. And Turnbull of course.

 

It doesn't. I know more than anyone I've ever met.

Seriously.

 

I feel humbled that you've even answered one of my posts.

 

You ought to sit in the East Stand more often. That report is just about spot on. I tend to attract a lot of criticism for my analysis based comments on games, but you can see now how much easier it is to see exactly what is happening from higher up. I know the atmosphere is not what you want, but it is an exchange that I personally am happy to make in order for the insight into the game that you get.

Just a few points. We played 4-4-2 without the ball and 3-4-3 with it. The differences were that Brown pushed up into wide midfield when we had the ball with Berry shuffling across to make room for him, and Jennings pushed forward. In order that we were not caught out defensively down our right, the back three were then required to shift over if Crawley tired to expose the absence of Brown when they attacked. Cranie was supposed to cover Brown with Nyatanga and Dudgeon also required to shift right in order to cover the space vacated by the covering players. Like yourself, I thought Cranie was slow to see the danger and consequently Crawley always seemed dangerous down our right side. The tactic also failed because Brown was so uncomfortable with the ball at his feet in the opposition half. It seemed to me that the defense would have been far happier had Dudgeon been the player to provide the extra man in midfield, but this would have involved Jennings playing on the right. Personally that would suit me as I would be far happier with a right footed player on the right side. I am not sure Jennings sees it that way though.

Our midfield failed to dominate the game to ensure it was played in the way the we wanted, that is, on the floor with short sharp passes and plenty of movement. Consequently, the players were forced to hit long balls, many in the air to a small front two. I am sure that this is not how Danny wanted us to play the game, but it was clear to me that it will take time to develop the understanding between the players before we will be able to play this way effectively. When all our players are fit, I think that Danny will opt for 4-4-2, in which case the Brown problem goes away.

Nice report though.

 

I was a bit pissed when I logged on last night, ridiculous was a bit harsh! Still think he was a lot better than Brown who I thought along with Jennings were our worst players

 

Pretty fair summary that. Only quibble would be regarding Brown who I thought was decent. Yes, in terms of physical attributes he looks like a centre back playing right back but he was certainly mobile enough...and kept going for 90 mins so he's got an engine. Remains to be seen if he has the crossing ability and technique to play that position consistently but the addition of Treacy/Jennings (a more natural wide player) will certainly aid his cause as he didn't get a lot of help from Berry either defensively or offensively.

 

I still don't get why we changed to this after the first 15 minutes. Up to that point we'd let both full backs push on and Bailey had dropped back in to form the three - much like Liverpool last season. I thought this looked more balanced with Berry tucking in and Jennings having an option outside him to create space for him, and also gave Bailey plenty of time on the ball. I'd certainly like us to find a way of playing that allows both full backs to push on, but I think that will require sacrificing a man up top to go 4-3-3, or playing with a genuine number 10.

When we changed we were very deep and weren't able to easily pass the ball forward to create possession in the right areas. The gap between Dudgeon and Jennings and Bailey and Hourihane was too great which resulted in too many aimless balls forward.

But early days. Will be interesting to see how it pans out and how they start to grow as a midfield.

 

I must confess that my first 15 minutes were spent sorting out all the new players and I did not focus on the system until later. This was also the reason that I failed to concentrate on what system Crawley were using, and particularly if we were getting outnumbered in midfield. The natural thing to do in order to reduce the distance the ball has to be played forward is to hold a high line. However, with so many changes in personnel, and particularly a keeper who is an unknown when it comes to sweeping behind the high line, this would have been suicide.

There are so many things that we could have done differently if the players knew each other better. The fact is that Saturday showed how far away we are from that ideal. Understanding will only come from playing games together. The sooner the manager can pick his best 11 and mould them into the system he wants to play and finally keeps them together in spite of results, the sooner they will begin to bond as a team.

 

Some I agree with some I don't but well written and passionate as always. Doesn't solve the eternal dillema of how you get triangles from a cow though.

 

Yeah, I'm loathed to criticise tactics yet until they're used to each other's games. Just a bit concerned by how stretched we were from front to back and the problems that inevitably brought, particualrly when neither centre forward are the type to hold the ball up. But it'll come.

 

Just listened to Cranie's interview and feel lifted by it actually. Admits that the lads are still getting to know each other, learning about each others strengths and weaknesses etc. I know you can point to Crawley being in the same boat, but lets be honest, their goal came about through our **** defending of a set piece, expertly dispatched by a quality player at this level. Their other opportunities also came about through our mistakes.


I admit that I expected better from us. But you only need look on my twitter account from Saturday morning to know what I was expecting in terms of a result...






Whitey @Andy__White · Aug 9

on a train to Barnsley, via Leeds, then to r old boys, back into tarn, meet pals, drink, chat ****, watch tarn lose, then home #newseason

 

Judging only from the players Danny has brought in, he wants to get away from the staccato football that resulted from O'Grady's dominance of the way we played last season, in favour of a quicker game played mainly on the floor. He has brought in pace up front, but we need to dominate the ball in midfield in order to create the space for this to happen. We are some way away from this ideal, but I hope he is successful because this is the type of football that I enjoy.