My Yeovil match report

Here are my thoughts on saturdays game for those of you interested.

I havent read any of the other postings, so apologies if i repeat what others have said.

I dont get to many games these days, for various reasons, so this was my first game since the rochdale/oldham week.

Having not been for a while, i expected to see an improvement in team shape and tactics but sadly i saw none at all.
Danny is still for some reason playing the 4-1-2-3 formation and this did not work for me at all against Yeovil.

Playing that system means that all the game is condensed into the middle of the pitch and their is no space at all to play in and subsequently teams find it very easy to defend against as they are not stretched at all.

To the game itself for the first 20 minutes or so, Yeovil had the majority of possession and should have been at least 1 or 2 goals ahead.
Until the sending off of their centre half, then they decided to sit back and just left the big man up front on his own.
I dont recall them then having a single shot for the rest of the entire game.

After the sending off, it was even more essential that to win the game comfortably we needed to utilise all the pitch including the wings and with an extra man it should have been simple to do. Unfortunately Danny failed to change the system at all and the only width we got was young Smith on his own on the left and even with one less man Yeovil could double up on him and crowd him out.

Lets make no mistake Yeovil were a very poor team and justified their league standing as the worst team in it and we could only beat them by two goalkeeping errors.
Danny talks of the play offs been achievable this season, but i disagree on that showing of his tactics, if thats what we will have to put up with for the rest of the season.

I am still in the camp of sticking with him, as i believe him to be a good manager who could turn us around, but i was very disappointed with saturdays game which beforehand and especially after half hour i expected and wanted us to put on an impressive showing for the home fans.

Im not going to mark all the players as most of them were a distinct average 5/10, but the exceptions were :-

Holgate 7 - Moved early on into centre half after Ramages injury and looked calm and assured throughout, although he was helped by having no one directly to mark

M'Voto 7 - Purely as a defender he was outstanding against their big man, won everything against him all game. Distribution was woeful though.

Pearson 7 MOM - the defensive midfielder we have been looking for. broke up countless attacks and actually used the ball well when in possession.

Kiwomya 6 - Looked full of running and very pacey, lost the ball more times than not though. Showed promise.

Williams 6 - Calm on the ball and looked good in both defence and attack, considering hes come from non league.

Lalkovic 7 - A half hour cameo that lit up the game, very skillful, fast and direct. Could be an inspired signing?

To me we have the players to play much better than saturday, but the system has to change.
A 4-4-2 with jennings/kiwomya out wide and pearson/hourihane in the middle would have torn yeovil apart in my opinion, but hey ho we won and what do i know anyway im just a fan?!

coyr

 

We won 2-0.

 

I'm sorry, but you missed something that was very important to the structure of the game. Yeovil attack almost exclusively via their big centre forward. He is vital to the way they play. Consequently, for every dead ball kick from the back we had him sandwiched between Digby to the front and Mvoto behind. For every ball knocked at head height in his direction, Digby was backing into him, making it difficult for him to find a firm foundation to jump from. What Digby did not win from his position in front of the lad, Mvoto was able to win from behind. The tactic took their main strategy out of the game and rendered them impotent as an attacking force.

I suspect that we will not have to use the tactic again this season, but if Digby had not played yesterday, this major factor in our win could not have been used. It turns out that Danny does know something about tactics after all.

I think that you should also give the team some credit for winning in spite of the relative youth of the team, in spite of having so many players making their league debuts and in spite of the lack of familiarity with each others games. Finally, you surely have to take account of the horrendous conditions that the first half was played in, when the team was kicking into the heart of a gale.

 

Trust you to be 'funny'!

 

I'm one of those who never moans when we win. Seriously, we could have been smashed up all afternoon and fluked one in the last minute and I'd still not moan. In my 26 years watching Tarn am pretty sure I've seen us lose more than we've won, by some distance. So when we win, I'm happy.

 

Fair comment re Digby and he did indeed do that job well. To counter that though i would ask are we really at the point were we have to have our tactics suited solely to combat the one attacking threat that a bottom of the table team have? Surely we should be making them worry about our attacking threat and not changing ours to stop theirs?

Yes it was windy in the first half, but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half? Sorry but i dont think it is. Also with regard youth players, its upto danny even more sore to coach them to be equiped to cope with systems and tactics

 

In my 40+ years of following us, i find it much easier to be happier when we win if i havent been to the game and therefore cant be frustrated at the display!

 

"but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

I'm sure Hourihane had a shot that flashed across goal?

 

I went and didn't find it frustrating. It wasn't a superb display, but we competed well, we deserved to win, and we did do, and kept another clean sheet. I've seen us play better and lose this season.

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

And Digby powered a header just over the bar, Holgate put a cross over that the wind caught which the keeper had to tip around his post. We created little, but we did create.

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

"on target" been my quote......................

 

I think thats part of my frustration, we can and should have played much better. We wont win playing like that against better opposition

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

again, not "on target"!

 

We weren't playing against better opposition though.

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

I think tipping the ball around his post counts as on target.

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

"a single shot on target", holgate's was a lucky cross not a shot! ha ha i win!

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

We still won. I win.

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

ha ha i take my hat off to you, you are obviously more experienced in this arguing sarcastically lark!

 

Re: "but is that acceptable to not have a single shot on target in the half"

I can argue with anybody. Except the missus.

 

The next few games will be a better barometer of the new lads and the system Wilson enforces.

Tough Game next Saturday