But the performances thus far have a distinct resemblance to the ones under Keith Hill last season. Lots of energy and endeavour, but very little cutting edge or end product in the final third. The performances against Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town at home under Hill both spring to mind where I felt we didn't play badly, but just lacked the confidence and creativity in and around the box. We seemingly recovered this under Flicker last season, but in these first three games, we seem to have regressed to that same team under Hill who look shot-shy and low on confidence in the final third. That cannot be doubted. I know it's only early days, and I for one will be behind Flicker all the way after the way he turned us around last season, but I just hope these first three matches have been a 'blip' and we can bounce back on Saturday against a Charlton side that put six past us only a few months ago. Come on you Reds!
We have different tactics under Flicker. We're much more direct and there's less passing it along the back four. The trouble is, it's not sticking up front. Dagnall played too many loose passes on Saturday and O'Grady hardly won a thing in the air. If you think back the the Leicester match, he won 90% of the balls in the air. He's only won about 10% this season and I'm not sure why. Hopefully we'll have a bit more joy against Charlton who also have 0 points. The problem is, they're lacking creativity but have a reasonably strong defensive. It could be another 1-0 that could go either way.
In fairness to O'Grady he is most effective with the ball played in to his chest or feet. The reason he was less effective for Wednesday was because they just pinged balls at his head
