Felt we did well first half, the pressing game worked & we forced them to go long which big Jean & Nyatanga dealt with near enough every time. The only problem was we didn't create enough & all our attacks seemed to come down the right with Hemmings rather than the left with Cole. The start of the second half was where it all went wrong though, we seemed to suddenly decide that we'd abandon the tactics that had worked so well in the first half & go all out for the win which backfired big time. Players were constantly out of position, Dudgeon was the man at fault more than anyone & either Cranie or Bailey seemed to be constantly covering for him. Now I'm no manager or coach but when you've got a striker playing on the wing in front of you it's highly likely that he's not going to provide you with as much cover as a typical winger would so stop bombing forward! The less said about his efforts in stopping Byrne for the first goal the better. Awful, as bad as any Tom Kennedy or Scott Wiseman gaffes. I've no idea what was wrong with him as I think he's been a decent signing up to yesterday. Hemmings on the wing was bizarre & didn't work, he should've been hooked instead of Winnall who was also **** but not as ****. The midfield didn't work, Cranie was playing the role Bailey normally does, Bailey didn't seem to know what to do & Hourihane was too far up the pitch to create. Nyatanga strikes me as been made of glass & scared to sprint for fear of pulling up. He's always stood too far off the opposing striker / winger as if he's terrified of them running at him & been forced to sprint. This & him been covered almost from head to toe in black tape makes me sure of it. Credit to Turnbull & Bree who were the only two to come out of the game with any credit for me. As for Danny, it's not working at the minute. I can understand why some are already wanting him out but I'm happy to give him time simply because I'm sick of the sacking culture & the high turnover of players each season. He does need to improve things though & his first aim should be to play players in their actual positions. My hope is that the more games this young / new team play the better they'll become.
Best post I've read. Not a time for knee jerk reactions. The one thing that worries me is that to play they style of football Danny is espousing (and I think most fans want) requires us to be able to press teams for 90 minutes. It seemed totally obvious that we managed it for 45 minutes & then fitness & discipline let us down. The lack of post match comments from Danny illustrates how he is feeling about that. (& undoubtably how he got the tactics wrong). I'm off to Rochdale & think we may grab something there...
Cheers. Completely agree about it not been time for knee jerk reactions. I'm also off to Rochdale but don't think we'll get owt! Ha