Well I'd say the evidence suggests they didn't know what to do because they didn't do it. I'd say we also sat back against Bristol and it was only that we got two lucky goals early on instead of one that we won the game.
Two things. If the players on the pitch aren't doing the job and as manager you leave them on the pitch then it's your fault. And the reason there's an assertion that it's Poya deciding to do so is that from the day he walked through the door he has repeatedly made negative comments about defending, about how he doesn't like to involve the opposition keeper, how there are other ways to play a game without worrying about shots etc. All he talks about is us sitting back and defending so when people come to the conclusion that he likes sitting back and defending that's all on him
That’s not true though. We created a number of chances ourselves against Bristol City. I don’t think we sat back in the first half. We were simply outplayed all over the pitch. No players won their battles and we lost every 50-50 and every second ball. Trouble is, when it was crying out for a more physical presence up the pitch, Poya decided to bring Odour on.
Also, they know what to do after we score. The plan will have been outlined to them five minutes earlier. That interview from Brittain was just a buck passing exercise from someone that should’ve won us the game at the end anyway.
Well the plan wasn't enforced by the manager then and he chose not to substitute the players who clearly weren't following his plan
I get make subs if it’s not working but as you know the bench options are poor and i get we could put Academy/younger lads in the bench instead but I’m not sure that is the answer. Big problem is players like Halme would could come on and do a job can’t stay fit and two big players from last year (Palmer and Styles) have been broadly poor this season. but regardless I stand by the fact that you are going to end up retreating if you don’t have the quality to retain the ball/lose your 50/50’s like we did yesterday. Ref was awful too but that is no excuse.
I agree that he had far better options to take when making changes in the second half. But the suggestion that the players didn’t know what to do after scoring is a joke of a statement.
Brittain seems to be the voice of the dressing room. He threw Schopp under the bus earlier in the season and he now appears to be doing the same with Asbaghi. It's another diss of the tactics and preparation.
Yet it was only a couple of weeks ago that he was full of praise for poya, saying we’d be in a much better position if he’d been here all season.
It’s not a Barnsley mentality. It certainly wasn’t a Heckingbottom or Val mentality, how many times did they change games through subs? They never sat on a 1-0 lead. Even Struber didn’t with a weaker squad than them two. He got performances & results out of Simoes, Palmer, Ritzmaier, Halme, Chaplin, Walton etc, all players that people wouldn’t want to play for us now. You can’t just decide your bench is no good & not use them. They’re only an injury or two away from becoming regular starters for you.
The first change he made wouldn’t have made it into the top ten of my choices. But to play devil’s advocate, he’s used his bench before, only to get the same result, with Cole, Palmer and Benson coming in for stick. I mentioned on another thread that if he’s not happy with his players on the bench, then he needs to try new ones. Hondermarck and Marsh are the two that spring immediately to mind. Are there any centre mids doing well in the u23s (should’ve kept Ackroyd at the club)? Given our away form, and chances of winning next week, I wouldn’t mind if he started one of those and kept Bassi or Quina on the bench to give him an option later in the game.
Basically, we’ve got a load of absolutely dog **** players who need to sort themselves out and literally do basic things right and sort out their fitness before we even think of looking at the head coach.
I personally think we’re better with a back 5 as I think Brittain & Vita are wing backs rather than full backs. If he goes to a back 5 when Helik returns it’ll be interesting to see who he drops in Quina, Bassi, Styles, Wolfe & Gomes
I think we look ok if one of the back 3 can also play full back and drive forward with a bit of pace. I.e. Williams. Kitching sort of did a similar role against Fulham when he started at left back but would sometimes tuck in to make a back 3. With two away games coming up, we’re almost at the point we may as well take a punt on Hondermarck playing that right of a 3 man defence. If we did revert back, i wouldn’t be surprised to see Styles at RWB and Brittain on the bench.
