1. Russell absolutely blasting the ball as hard as he could backwards down the pitch randomly in the first half. 2. Phillips absolutely blasting the ball as hard as he could towards grove street from in the 18 yard box.
Phillips is over rated Russell isn’t good enough despite having obvious talent. He’s just too immobile to play in midfield.
What about our kick off after the penalty? We played it back, then hoofed it straight to them. A few seconds later it was in our net again. Appalling lack of concentration there.
Every player did not cover themselves in glory in the first half. Kane making back passes to the defence for me was more of an issue. We were out thought, out fought & out played. It took Collins too long to address it too. Still, we are in a decent position to press on. Only 3 points in it now, need a reaction.
You would think that a midfielder who cost us the thick end of a million would have the skill and vision to look up and play a decent pass 9 times out of 10. Kane’s favourite one though is a short side ways or back pass to a young, inexperienced defender. It’s just dodging responsibility and he does it FAR too often. His good passes are rare. He’s barely an average footballer for me and I cannot understand why so many seem to love him
Maybe from your angle he looked good. I watched on iFollow and just saw him halting any forward movement time after time.
Tried not to make any knee jerk reactions last night. However today on reflection we were f$%#@^&*€ awful first 20 minutes. I can't recall a side that looked so lacklustre. I've defended Russel so many times ,however if he gets in before Styles Saturday next I'm gobsmacked. DODS was outstanding for a loan player too. Looked so much up for it. Let me say this , there's young uns waiting for their chances who are also well up for it and good enough. Play them, please coach as they won't let you down.
I can’t understand why so many don’t love him. On the other hand, Phillips, for example, barely gets involved but seems to get away with it for whatever reason. I know it’s about opinions but still…
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ How anyone could come out with any credit that first half would bemuse me. But he (collins) did make the right changes. Proper learning curve for everyone. At least the second half bucked me up enough to look forward to Saturday.
There’s a decent player in Kane definitely but he’s not showing it often enough. Perhaps he’s playing too deep and it doesn’t suit him. Connell coming back will help but, in the meantime, he drives me bonkers every game. He absolves himself of all responsibility for moving us forward time after time and that’s just lazy - cowardly even. He’d rather say “Here lads - one of you lump it upfield because I don’t want to look bad”. When he had Kitching to give it to there was a decent chance of a good pass. Not now though, or at least not until our inexperienced defenders get more games under their belts.
I'm surprised how quick some fans have turned against Kane without first questioning what Collins is asking him to do. I thought he looked much better second half when he was further up the pitch. In my opinion Russell and Kane were hung out to dry in the first half, playing so deep just doesn't suit either of them or the team.
Always been a bit of a question mark hovering over Phillips. Looks great on paper because of the goals. But his all round contribution week in week out for 90 minutes, has been very patchy. Which becomes a problem very quickly, if the goals start to dry up.
I loved watching Cotter sprint 40 yard to reach a loose ball in their half on the counter attack, just to absolutely blast it out of play. I loved it.