First half was awful. Coventry looked like scoring whenever they went forward for the first 20 mins or so, then sat back. We didn't have any attacking intent whatsoever. I've no idea what we were doing with the formation - Mawson seemed to move into midfield after the first and after a while it stabilised us, but we really were dreadful. Second half was the complete opposite. From the whistle we played with much more intensity, and actually looked like scoring when we went forward (first time I've seen us like this in weeks). Scowen and Pearson both had really good halves and for the first time both seemed to want to get forward. Both of Coventry's goals came out of the blue and in between that was a blatant penalty we should have been given. All in all, the second half almost made the night enjoyable for me. It's the first time I've seen us scare a defence in weeks and we created several really good opportunities (two of which Wilkinson should have done so much better with). I'm not sure what was said at half time, but I can't understand how we could go from being such a disjointed, unstructured side with such a lack of threat to one that could have had several goals in the second half and played really well.
Cheers mate. But nowt was said at half time, according to Scowen. They just felt "ah well, we might as well go for it now" at 2-0 down. Shame they don't do that for 90 minutes.
Same as above. It's exactly as I saw it too. We all even gave them a decent clap off the pitch. All players and LJ also came over to reciprocate. Much better 2nd half. Leaving the feeling of what if..... we did the same in the 1st. But. Ultimately it's still another defeat... There was no chants of anyone out or owt like that. But I think it was more of everyone who went just expected defeat.
I had a different view t.t. I thought we were trying in the first half - we were just completely devoid of any confidence. No had the confidence to take a man on or have a shot or even commit fully to a tackle. IMO it changed when we scored. All of a sudden some belief returned. I enjoyed us having a go for a change. Marc - I thought the fans were good, both in numbers and support. Yes, it was quiet in the first half but there were murmurings of approval in the second and even a standing ovation at the end.
I've not been to an away game in a long time and was expecting a lot of negativity. Considering the position we find ourselves in, it was quite a positive atmosphere and most people appreciated how well we played in the second half. I'm still struggling to work out how we've lost seven on the bounce yet I enjoyed the game - and enjoyed how we played. Definitely encouraging, but I can't buy into the fact that nothing was said at half time. There was a sense of urgency that's been missing for a while in that second half.
Would agree that we were completely out of confidence. Not sure if we weren't trying or what in the first, but in the second half from the very start there was a lot more urgency about our play.
I clapped the players off, particularly Scowen who almost single-handedly pulled it round in the second-half for me. Goals papered over some of the cracks though of what was still powder puff defending for their third and fourth. LJ comments about some of the players are a bit overboard for mine. Sure Pearson put himself about a bit more but he still got a nosebleed and looked lost anywhere near the opposition box. Yes Mawson scored and did some good work in midfield but he also was out of position a fair bit and gave away the free kick for their fourth. Isgrove flitted about achieving not a lot and got knocked off the ball a heck of a lot. Much better second half but you can't play for one half each game and the first half was like torture. Everyone round me was saying how we'd sunk to a new low and I don't think anyone could disagree. It's a mark of the improvement in the second half that we did it with only ten men really as Smith was totally ineffectual and replaced by Wilkinson, who was Wilkinson (and should probably have been sent off). Little wonder we take time to get started in games though as it's a different fcukin formation every time and different square pegs in different round holes all over the pitch. Changing again from Saturday's 5 at the back, today's masterpiece was a kind of 4-1-4-1, with Mawson in between defence and midfield and Smith up on his own. Poor old Sammy was alternated between left and right wing. My view of Coventry was that they were poor defensively masked by some pretty potent forward players and we get carried away with that second half at our peril. It did show that there are things to work with, however, with a number of these players but only someone who knows more about what they are doing than LJ will be able to do it.
Agree with the assessments in this thread. The first half was as bad as it's been at any time this season, no ideas, no intent, shambolic allover the pitch. No one bothered closing Coventry's goalscorers down. Mawson was playing DM and Winnall LM. Smith up front on his own was utterly useless. Will leave it at that as you'll all have seen the same at some stage in this losing run. Second half was much better, just a shame the defence went awol again for 3-1 and then a superb free kick from a former England regular killed off any real chance of us getting back in it. We knocked it about with more intent but there still wasn't anyone willing to have a shot in open play and no-one (including, again I'm sad to say, Winnall) attacked the numerous balls into the box other than at corners/free kicks. Wilkinson came on and actually had a couple of decent touches but spooned over when clean through, and Winnall had what looked like a blatant penalty turned down when their keeper came and took him out from behind (the ref had a very poor game overall). Making it 4-3 with 10-15 minutes left would have made it interesting, but I'm happy to say that unlike in recent weeks they never once gave up in the second half and we got a deserved 3rd goal via a penalty in the last minute. Cov probably deserved to win but that's the first time I've seen the players up for a fight in 7/8 games so hopefully they can build on that, as well as a first goal from open play in god knows how long.
Well on the upside it sounds like they found some sort of belief and form in the second half. And we did actually win half of football! Whoop! Let's hope they can carry that last 45 mins into the next game.
Gives us something to build on for what is 4 very winnable games coming up. If we can progress in both cups, we might just get that confidence back. Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
This group of players is certainly able to play much better football, and even half decent stuff would see us in a better off league position. Sometimes a group of players need a run like this and then to come out the other side, intact. Fingers crossed.
