What an entertaining game! Not sure where to start on that, so will start with us out of possession which was quite a bit of the game. We seem to have a hybrid press system, where we seem to press, but only one player at a time. How this shook out tonight with our 3-4-3 versus their 3-5-2 was that our forwards would press their back 3, mainly preventing the long ball. However an out-ball to their wing-backs was always on, they would then draw in Styles or Sibbick and play into centre mid where their 3 versus 2 made passing through the lines very easy and which they got joy from all evening. If we aren't going to fully press, then a forward should drop back out of possession giving us more solidity in midfield and we don't need our wingbacks pressing forward in a completely ineffective manner, it was too easy for Stoke tonight to pass the ball forward. With the ball, we need to hoof more from the back under pressure. However it is difficult to understand why our back 3 hoof so much when not under pressure. I can't remember anything this season coming off from one of these long balls. Last year we hoofed so a) we'd win the ball up the pitch or b) even better, they'd win it and try to play out allowing us to deploy The Press. We don't have the players for a at the moment and b doesn't seem to be a tactic, so I'm not sure why we currently do it. When we passed quickly between the lines we have created our best chances this season, against QPR away and in glimpses tonight. We have some tidy players going forward, but not many tall ones, so this seems like a no brainer for me at the moment. Personnel wise. I thought we looked best when Brittain moved back to right back and started to create from there. I think the right of a back 3 is Sibbick's perfect position, but he doesn't offer a huge amount going forward as a wing-back which was an issue tonight. Brittain didn't do badly in the middle and I appreciate we are short there, but it was a poor use of resources. Conversely I felt we really lacked Sibbick's pace at the back, the ball over the top was too easy for them and they should have had 2-3, and did get one, from quick low crosses which Moon, Halme and Helik didn't have the pace or the positional awareness to cut out. With the way we want our midfield to play and no one being able to complete 90 minutes it seems bizarre to me that we let Herbie Kane go on loan. He was decent last season, not Mowatt good, but who is? If we had him today we could have had Brittain in his natural positional, Sibbick in his and wouldn't have to use Hondermarck who is very raw. Finally, was great to see some fight in the team and will definitely take a hard one point away to 5th. Onwards and upwards!
I suspect Kane is still some way off after his injuries. Didn’t get in the Oxford team last week either. Hondermarck looked promising and offers a better option off the bench than putting a centre back in midfield. Our defence is so vulnerable out wide on both flanks. Hopefully Vita can come in and improve the side on that front.
Yes, hopefully Vita can make a difference mate. Not sure if Styles is the best defensively, which was rarely an issue last year as he didn't have to do much of it. Thought the issue with space out wide was a tactical one. We tried to play a man for man press which continually dragged centre and full backs out of position as they had an extra man in midfield. This created all sorts of space, mainly out wide. Understand Schoppy was known for his unique pressing system in Austria and it worked a treat, obviously its quite complex though, so hopefully the team can learn it sooner rather than later as we were very open tonight.
