Have to say I’ve moved on the fence tonight about Cioffi. He didn’t pick our best team for our biggest game of the season, which on season’s form would have included both Palmer and Camera - and he shows loyalty to two dreadful full backs who have been at the root of most of our defensive disasters.
Typically we concede an appalling goal down our right and then Cioffi has to waste a sub on replacing Sesay. I actually think Sesay is a player that can be developed for the future but he’s been dreadful defensively of late, yet Cioffi nailed his reputation to picking him and we screwed up Dannie’s brilliant goal because of that.
Second half - where was the drive going to come from apart from the 2-player work rate Camera gives us in most (not all) games? The answer in the second half - nowhere.
We are a defensively brittle team. How the hell was it that it was our 2 Centre backs who found our pitch so slippery that they had to end up on their arse under no pressure and concede opportunities to Colchester in the second half? Everyone else on the f ing pitch had studs in their boots. 2-1 down thanks to conceding a keystone cops free kick and no credible revival plan back from Cioffi.
This was a watershed game. It wouldn’t surprise me now if he’s lost the middle ground among the supporters. Improve the team over the next few weeks or make way for someone who can
We have developed a bad habit of giving the ball away cheaply & created most of our own problems as a consequence, Colchester were savvy enough to capitalise on it.
There is bound to be scrutiny of the manager after the last few days, although it should remembered that we had made the last 16 of the League Cup with a very impressive run.
Cannot resist adding to the praise of DB, easily our best midfielder, defender & goalscorer, he's not a bad goalie either.
We need to look at the basics, our shape, composure & capacity for impact changes.
I was willing to continue to give Cioffi time, but after tonight I think we need a change. He's been in charge for over a year now and while he did improve things from Kewell, the performances just don't justify him having more time. Tonight was abysmal. We didn't just get beaten technically, we got out fought and out run. They just put in more physical effort than we did and that is unacceptable at any level. Team selection was shocking. No tactical plan (from what I could see), compared to Colchester's clear plan of get it out wide quickly and rinse us. When our best and most energetic player is a 40 year old, something is seriously wrong.
Post by broadfielddave on Oct 30, 2019 10:32:51 GMT
I can't remember the last time I was so angry with a performance as I was last night, though admittedly I wasn't able to attend on Saturday. Last night was a huge opportunity that will likely never happen again (a chance to reach a high profile cup quarter final by playing a League Two team at home). I'll have to break this down, as there's numerous things to analyse.
The team selection - Didn't have too much problem with this. Sesay has his issues but he's generally better than Young. I think Doherty is dreadful in the main, but we didn't bother to sign another viable left back in the summer so we were stuck. Starting Allarakhia and Bloomfield was frankly baffling. Taryn has his moments but is clearly not up to the required level, not as a starter anyway when you have significantly better players like Francomb, Camara and ANG on the bench. Bloomfield is simply woeful. Had a terrific first game for us, and since then has looked like he won a local radio competition to play for Crawley. Has an appalling first touch, gets bullied in the air, offers little to no goal threat and doesn't have all that much pace. With a fit Palmer and Nadesan on the bench, his selection in such a big game bordered on negligent. The only explanation is that he's immense in training, but surely Cioffi watches the same games that we do.
The goals conceded - After Bully's absolute thunderbolt, we had the momentum. We had been the better side, scored a wonder goal and Bully himself wasn't celebrating, just telling his teammates to concentrate. As they did then, and for the rest of the night, they let him down. Sesay is getting it a bit in the neck for allowing the cross, though I thought he was broadly the only one who managed Nouble well all night. For me, the fault was with Dallison for his pathetic attempt at dealing with the ball in the air, allowing Norris an easy header. Luyumbula should probably have done better too as it was straight at him more or less. The second was unlucky, hitting the bar and hitting ML before going in. The concession of the free kick was inexplicable though. Tunnicliffe and Dallison for some reason stood so far up the pitch that when ML's kick got headed back over them, it was insanely easy for (Norris, I think it was) to get in behind. Dallison again at fault after that as he panicked and slipped at the wrong moment to concede a completely needless free kick in a very dangerous area, as it turned out to be. The third was sloppy all round, but again, Dallison (or Dally-son) was far too slow to spot the danger. To allow Gambin to control, turn and shoot with no resistance at all was pathetic. Good finish mind.
The effort/approach - It can't be said enough how good Dannie Bulman was last night. His absence on Saturday showed how important he is to this team, and last night he stood out so far ahead of everyone else in both ability and attitude. I love the man, a true club legend, but let's face it, when your best and most important player is a 41 year old, you have serious problems. He seemed to be the only player who wanted to win, and was certainly the only one who believed we could get back into it at 2-1 down. Everyone else either lacked effort, ability, or in most cases, both. Colchester were first to nearly every loose ball, which is unforgivable. This team has shown fight at times this season, more than in previous ones, so it was absolutely bizarre to see them more or less give up as soon as the second Colchester goal went in.
The subs - Where do you start with this? The one good thing about leaving some of your best players on the bench is that you can bring them on to change the game. Palmer for Bloomfield was absolutely the right sub, but why did it happen so early in the second half, and not just at half time? What did Gab think Mason was going to achieve in the 5 mins or so he gave him after half time? Young for Sesay was baffling. Young perhaps offers more going forward, even if it does take 150 crosses for him to find a teammate, but Nouble was their clear danger man, and Sesay was handling him well. It's no coincidence that Nouble all of a sudden completely dominated us as soon as Sesay went off. Also, being 2-1 down, is swapping your right backs the best you can come up with to get back into it? When you have ANG and Camara on the bench, with players in their positions playing far worse than Sesay was? Bringing Nadesan on at the time made sense, albeit felt far too late. As it turned out, he was awful. Looked well off the pace. Surely ANG was the sub, but it would have been hard to anticipate Nadesan being so poor.
That's it really. Poor all round, barring the odd obvious exception. Bully phenomenal, Sesay largely good considering the hiding to nothing most are on up against Nouble and that insanely pacy left back they had. Luyumbala, first goal aside, was very good too. That's about it. Ferguson anonymous, Reece did good bits but couldn't do anything other than kick the ball straight into defenders once he got in position, Bez seems to have forgotten how to control a football, which is a worry. Tunnicliffe did okay but seemed to shank a lot of his clearances. Dallison was appalling, and at fault for all three goals.
Yet again, Crawley have found themselves in a position where they could get loads of potential new fans through the gate, and showed them why their previous decision not to bother coming was probably the correct one. An FA Cup run will be more money-spinning, but getting drawn away to United, Liverpool, City or whoever in a League Cup quarter final could have really put our little club on the map again. As it is, that honour will go to Colchester, simply because, for some reason, they wanted it a lot more. Fingers crossed that they draw Oxford away and get battered.
I can't remember the last time I was so angry with a performance as I was last night, though admittedly I wasn't able to attend on Saturday. Last night was a huge opportunity that will likely never happen again (a chance to reach a high profile cup quarter final by playing a League Two team at home). I'll have to break this down, as there's numerous things to analyse.
The team selection - Didn't have too much problem with this. Sesay has his issues but he's generally better than Young. I think Doherty is dreadful in the main, but we didn't bother to sign another viable left back in the summer so we were stuck. Starting Allarakhia and Bloomfield was frankly baffling. Taryn has his moments but is clearly not up to the required level, not as a starter anyway when you have significantly better players like Francomb, Camara and ANG on the bench. Bloomfield is simply woeful. Had a terrific first game for us, and since then has looked like he won a local radio competition to play for Crawley. Has an appalling first touch, gets bullied in the air, offers little to no goal threat and doesn't have all that much pace. With a fit Palmer and Nadesan on the bench, his selection in such a big game bordered on negligent. The only explanation is that he's immense in training, but surely Cioffi watches the same games that we do.
The goals conceded - After Bully's absolute thunderbolt, we had the momentum. We had been the better side, scored a wonder goal and Bully himself wasn't celebrating, just telling his teammates to concentrate. As they did then, and for the rest of the night, they let him down. Sesay is getting it a bit in the neck for allowing the cross, though I thought he was broadly the only one who managed Nouble well all night. For me, the fault was with Dallison for his pathetic attempt at dealing with the ball in the air, allowing Norris an easy header. Luyumbula should probably have done better too as it was straight at him more or less. The second was unlucky, hitting the bar and hitting ML before going in. The concession of the free kick was inexplicable though. Tunnicliffe and Dallison for some reason stood so far up the pitch that when ML's kick got headed back over them, it was insanely easy for (Norris, I think it was) to get in behind. Dallison again at fault after that as he panicked and slipped at the wrong moment to concede a completely needless free kick in a very dangerous area, as it turned out to be. The third was sloppy all round, but again, Dallison (or Dally-son) was far too slow to spot the danger. To allow Gambin to control, turn and shoot with no resistance at all was pathetic. Good finish mind.
The effort/approach - It can't be said enough how good Dannie Bulman was last night. His absence on Saturday showed how important he is to this team, and last night he stood out so far ahead of everyone else in both ability and attitude. I love the man, a true club legend, but let's face it, when your best and most important player is a 41 year old, you have serious problems. He seemed to be the only player who wanted to win, and was certainly the only one who believed we could get back into it at 2-1 down. Everyone else either lacked effort, ability, or in most cases, both. Colchester were first to nearly every loose ball, which is unforgivable. This team has shown fight at times this season, more than in previous ones, so it was absolutely bizarre to see them more or less give up as soon as the second Colchester goal went in.
The subs - Where do you start with this? The one good thing about leaving some of your best players on the bench is that you can bring them on to change the game. Palmer for Bloomfield was absolutely the right sub, but why did it happen so early in the second half, and not just at half time? What did Gab think Mason was going to achieve in the 5 mins or so he gave him after half time? Young for Sesay was baffling. Young perhaps offers more going forward, even if it does take 150 crosses for him to find a teammate, but Nouble was their clear danger man, and Sesay was handling him well. It's no coincidence that Nouble all of a sudden completely dominated us as soon as Sesay went off. Also, being 2-1 down, is swapping your right backs the best you can come up with to get back into it? When you have ANG and Camara on the bench, with players in their positions playing far worse than Sesay was? Bringing Nadesan on at the time made sense, albeit felt far too late. As it turned out, he was awful. Looked well off the pace. Surely ANG was the sub, but it would have been hard to anticipate Nadesan being so poor.
That's it really. Poor all round, barring the odd obvious exception. Bully phenomenal, Sesay largely good considering the hiding to nothing most are on up against Nouble and that insanely pacy left back they had. Luyumbala, first goal aside, was very good too. That's about it. Ferguson anonymous, Reece did good bits but couldn't do anything other than kick the ball straight into defenders once he got in position, Bez seems to have forgotten how to control a football, which is a worry. Tunnicliffe did okay but seemed to shank a lot of his clearances. Dallison was appalling, and at fault for all three goals.
Yet again, Crawley have found themselves in a position where they could get loads of potential new fans through the gate, and showed them why their previous decision not to bother coming was probably the correct one. An FA Cup run will be more money-spinning, but getting drawn away to United, Liverpool, City or whoever in a League Cup quarter final could have really put our little club on the map again. As it is, that honour will go to Colchester, simply because, for some reason, they wanted it a lot more. Fingers crossed that they draw Oxford away and get battered.
I think this is an excellently written piece.
Just to add my two-penneth and possibly a little background; Palmer was said to have "about 30 minutes in him" last night because he's still not fit, which is why he didn't start. The plan was to bring him on at 60, but clearly Gaby didn't think he could wait that long. Otherwise I'd agree that we should have started with him over Bloomfield.
I'd like to have seen Camara and ANG on early in the second half and I'm not sure why this didn't materialise.
Finally, on the Young substitution: Had we have had ANG or Camara on earlier I don't think this was a necessary change, but giving the timing I actually thought it was the right decision. We were getting nothing down the middle and we needed width. Gaby was yelling and yelling at Sesay to overlap and go forwards, but he looked like a rabbit in the headlights. When Young came on he did exactly what needed to be done, unfortunately we had a front line that was still jogging a fair few paces behind him...
A disappointing whimper to go out on in all honesty and one that we need to get over quickly...
I can't remember the last time I was so angry with a performance as I was last night, though admittedly I wasn't able to attend on Saturday. Last night was a huge opportunity that will likely never happen again (a chance to reach a high profile cup quarter final by playing a League Two team at home). I'll have to break this down, as there's numerous things to analyse.
The team selection - Didn't have too much problem with this. Sesay has his issues but he's generally better than Young. I think Doherty is dreadful in the main, but we didn't bother to sign another viable left back in the summer so we were stuck. Starting Allarakhia and Bloomfield was frankly baffling. Taryn has his moments but is clearly not up to the required level, not as a starter anyway when you have significantly better players like Francomb, Camara and ANG on the bench. Bloomfield is simply woeful. Had a terrific first game for us, and since then has looked like he won a local radio competition to play for Crawley. Has an appalling first touch, gets bullied in the air, offers little to no goal threat and doesn't have all that much pace. With a fit Palmer and Nadesan on the bench, his selection in such a big game bordered on negligent. The only explanation is that he's immense in training, but surely Cioffi watches the same games that we do.
The goals conceded - After Bully's absolute thunderbolt, we had the momentum. We had been the better side, scored a wonder goal and Bully himself wasn't celebrating, just telling his teammates to concentrate. As they did then, and for the rest of the night, they let him down. Sesay is getting it a bit in the neck for allowing the cross, though I thought he was broadly the only one who managed Nouble well all night. For me, the fault was with Dallison for his pathetic attempt at dealing with the ball in the air, allowing Norris an easy header. Luyumbula should probably have done better too as it was straight at him more or less. The second was unlucky, hitting the bar and hitting ML before going in. The concession of the free kick was inexplicable though. Tunnicliffe and Dallison for some reason stood so far up the pitch that when ML's kick got headed back over them, it was insanely easy for (Norris, I think it was) to get in behind. Dallison again at fault after that as he panicked and slipped at the wrong moment to concede a completely needless free kick in a very dangerous area, as it turned out to be. The third was sloppy all round, but again, Dallison (or Dally-son) was far too slow to spot the danger. To allow Gambin to control, turn and shoot with no resistance at all was pathetic. Good finish mind.
The effort/approach - It can't be said enough how good Dannie Bulman was last night. His absence on Saturday showed how important he is to this team, and last night he stood out so far ahead of everyone else in both ability and attitude. I love the man, a true club legend, but let's face it, when your best and most important player is a 41 year old, you have serious problems. He seemed to be the only player who wanted to win, and was certainly the only one who believed we could get back into it at 2-1 down. Everyone else either lacked effort, ability, or in most cases, both. Colchester were first to nearly every loose ball, which is unforgivable. This team has shown fight at times this season, more than in previous ones, so it was absolutely bizarre to see them more or less give up as soon as the second Colchester goal went in.
The subs - Where do you start with this? The one good thing about leaving some of your best players on the bench is that you can bring them on to change the game. Palmer for Bloomfield was absolutely the right sub, but why did it happen so early in the second half, and not just at half time? What did Gab think Mason was going to achieve in the 5 mins or so he gave him after half time? Young for Sesay was baffling. Young perhaps offers more going forward, even if it does take 150 crosses for him to find a teammate, but Nouble was their clear danger man, and Sesay was handling him well. It's no coincidence that Nouble all of a sudden completely dominated us as soon as Sesay went off. Also, being 2-1 down, is swapping your right backs the best you can come up with to get back into it? When you have ANG and Camara on the bench, with players in their positions playing far worse than Sesay was? Bringing Nadesan on at the time made sense, albeit felt far too late. As it turned out, he was awful. Looked well off the pace. Surely ANG was the sub, but it would have been hard to anticipate Nadesan being so poor.
That's it really. Poor all round, barring the odd obvious exception. Bully phenomenal, Sesay largely good considering the hiding to nothing most are on up against Nouble and that insanely pacy left back they had. Luyumbala, first goal aside, was very good too. That's about it. Ferguson anonymous, Reece did good bits but couldn't do anything other than kick the ball straight into defenders once he got in position, Bez seems to have forgotten how to control a football, which is a worry. Tunnicliffe did okay but seemed to shank a lot of his clearances. Dallison was appalling, and at fault for all three goals.
Yet again, Crawley have found themselves in a position where they could get loads of potential new fans through the gate, and showed them why their previous decision not to bother coming was probably the correct one. An FA Cup run will be more money-spinning, but getting drawn away to United, Liverpool, City or whoever in a League Cup quarter final could have really put our little club on the map again. As it is, that honour will go to Colchester, simply because, for some reason, they wanted it a lot more. Fingers crossed that they draw Oxford away and get battered.
Key moment was first goal which was the most simple regulation save. Catch it, don’t try and flick it to make it look good. That killed us a bit but I can’t work out why we’d leave our best player over last 4 years out in our biggest game. I can’t work out why we only have a Plan A nothing else. You only need to watch Crawley once to work out a plan how to beat us not the 20 odd we’ve had so far. I can’t work out how we’d go into a season with Doherty as only left back. Can’t work out why Francomb can’t get a game at right back when he’s the only full back who can defend?
I can't remember the last time I was so angry with a performance as I was last night, though admittedly I wasn't able to attend on Saturday. Last night was a huge opportunity that will likely never happen again (a chance to reach a high profile cup quarter final by playing a League Two team at home). I'll have to break this down, as there's numerous things to analyse.
The team selection - Didn't have too much problem with this. Sesay has his issues but he's generally better than Young. I think Doherty is dreadful in the main, but we didn't bother to sign another viable left back in the summer so we were stuck. Starting Allarakhia and Bloomfield was frankly baffling. Taryn has his moments but is clearly not up to the required level, not as a starter anyway when you have significantly better players like Francomb, Camara and ANG on the bench. Bloomfield is simply woeful. Had a terrific first game for us, and since then has looked like he won a local radio competition to play for Crawley. Has an appalling first touch, gets bullied in the air, offers little to no goal threat and doesn't have all that much pace. With a fit Palmer and Nadesan on the bench, his selection in such a big game bordered on negligent. The only explanation is that he's immense in training, but surely Cioffi watches the same games that we do.
The goals conceded - After Bully's absolute thunderbolt, we had the momentum. We had been the better side, scored a wonder goal and Bully himself wasn't celebrating, just telling his teammates to concentrate. As they did then, and for the rest of the night, they let him down. Sesay is getting it a bit in the neck for allowing the cross, though I thought he was broadly the only one who managed Nouble well all night. For me, the fault was with Dallison for his pathetic attempt at dealing with the ball in the air, allowing Norris an easy header. Luyumbula should probably have done better too as it was straight at him more or less. The second was unlucky, hitting the bar and hitting ML before going in. The concession of the free kick was inexplicable though. Tunnicliffe and Dallison for some reason stood so far up the pitch that when ML's kick got headed back over them, it was insanely easy for (Norris, I think it was) to get in behind. Dallison again at fault after that as he panicked and slipped at the wrong moment to concede a completely needless free kick in a very dangerous area, as it turned out to be. The third was sloppy all round, but again, Dallison (or Dally-son) was far too slow to spot the danger. To allow Gambin to control, turn and shoot with no resistance at all was pathetic. Good finish mind.
The effort/approach - It can't be said enough how good Dannie Bulman was last night. His absence on Saturday showed how important he is to this team, and last night he stood out so far ahead of everyone else in both ability and attitude. I love the man, a true club legend, but let's face it, when your best and most important player is a 41 year old, you have serious problems. He seemed to be the only player who wanted to win, and was certainly the only one who believed we could get back into it at 2-1 down. Everyone else either lacked effort, ability, or in most cases, both. Colchester were first to nearly every loose ball, which is unforgivable. This team has shown fight at times this season, more than in previous ones, so it was absolutely bizarre to see them more or less give up as soon as the second Colchester goal went in.
The subs - Where do you start with this? The one good thing about leaving some of your best players on the bench is that you can bring them on to change the game. Palmer for Bloomfield was absolutely the right sub, but why did it happen so early in the second half, and not just at half time? What did Gab think Mason was going to achieve in the 5 mins or so he gave him after half time? Young for Sesay was baffling. Young perhaps offers more going forward, even if it does take 150 crosses for him to find a teammate, but Nouble was their clear danger man, and Sesay was handling him well. It's no coincidence that Nouble all of a sudden completely dominated us as soon as Sesay went off. Also, being 2-1 down, is swapping your right backs the best you can come up with to get back into it? When you have ANG and Camara on the bench, with players in their positions playing far worse than Sesay was? Bringing Nadesan on at the time made sense, albeit felt far too late. As it turned out, he was awful. Looked well off the pace. Surely ANG was the sub, but it would have been hard to anticipate Nadesan being so poor.
That's it really. Poor all round, barring the odd obvious exception. Bully phenomenal, Sesay largely good considering the hiding to nothing most are on up against Nouble and that insanely pacy left back they had. Luyumbala, first goal aside, was very good too. That's about it. Ferguson anonymous, Reece did good bits but couldn't do anything other than kick the ball straight into defenders once he got in position, Bez seems to have forgotten how to control a football, which is a worry. Tunnicliffe did okay but seemed to shank a lot of his clearances. Dallison was appalling, and at fault for all three goals.
Yet again, Crawley have found themselves in a position where they could get loads of potential new fans through the gate, and showed them why their previous decision not to bother coming was probably the correct one. An FA Cup run will be more money-spinning, but getting drawn away to United, Liverpool, City or whoever in a League Cup quarter final could have really put our little club on the map again. As it is, that honour will go to Colchester, simply because, for some reason, they wanted it a lot more. Fingers crossed that they draw Oxford away and get battered.
I think this is an excellently written piece.
Just to add my two-penneth and possibly a little background; Palmer was said to have "about 30 minutes in him" last night because he's still not fit, which is why he didn't start. The plan was to bring him on at 60, but clearly Gaby didn't think he could wait that long. Otherwise I'd agree that we should have started with him over Bloomfield.
I'd like to have seen Camara and ANG on early in the second half and I'm not sure why this didn't materialise.
Finally, on the Young substitution: Had we have had ANG or Camara on earlier I don't think this was a necessary change, but giving the timing I actually thought it was the right decision. We were getting nothing down the middle and we needed width. Gaby was yelling and yelling at Sesay to overlap and go forwards, but he looked like a rabbit in the headlights. When Young came on he did exactly what needed to be done, unfortunately we had a front line that was still jogging a fair few paces behind him...
A disappointing whimper to go out on in all honesty and one that we need to get over quickly...
Thanks Mat. Fair enough re: Palmer, if he wasn't fit enough to start. Nadesan also looked too far off sharpness to start, so perhaps Bloomfield's selection was forced. In hindsight though, I'd have simply put Bez up front and started ANG on the left. Would surely offer more danger than MB.
Think you're right on Young too. It was to provide more width and danger down that side, but Cioffi wildly underestimated the effect Nouble would have without Sesay's supervision. Think the more sensible move would have been to get ANG on the left and concentrate getting the ball over on that side to make sure the ball was nowhere near Nouble, who was obviously going to take advantage of the spaces and weak opposition on his side.
As you say, particularly disappointing to go out of such a promising cup run with such a whimper. Losing, I could take. Losing like that made me absolutely furious.
I think after a hugely disappointing night like that it is important to take a step back, take a deep breath and take the emotion out of it.
Broadfielddave - that is an outstanding post and pretty much captures it.
I would only add a few other thoughts.
We were the better side for the first 25 minutes but losing a goal so soon after scoring seemed to affect both teams - they got a real lift from it and a nervousness started to creep into our play. On the positive side, we had a much better shape than we had against Swindon thanks to Danny coming back into the team but Danny can't do it alone.
The reliance on players who are not good enough at this level is a real problem though. Docherty is one of those to my mind - he can't play the position properly - he always lets his man turn and run at him. Compare this with Sesay who handled Nouble very well, prevented him from turning and was strong at the first point of contact. I am not sure he gets enough credit for that. Docherty however, backs off and backs off, even into the penalty area, where typically one of the CBs is drawn out of position to cover for him and leaves big gaps in the middle.
It is time to re-evaluate the central defence. Three of the goals against Swindon came down the middle, others have claimed that Dallison was at blame for all three last night. Something is clearly not working - we can debate the full backs and the midfield cover as much as we wish but the central defence is not working at the moment - we are shipping two to three goals a game just now and it may be time to bring in another CB for Dallison.
In midfield unfortunately, Ferguson is a real weakness. He is good enough on the ball but the rest of his game just isn't up to this level. He is too slow, he can't/won't track back and seems to get in the way of his teammates with alarming regularity, which causes uncertainty.
I actually thought Bez had a decent game - he managed to hold the ball up and take some pressure off the defence, which Mason was unable to do. Mason has his strengths but he clearly can't play the sole striker role well and he should have been supported. Dropping either Reece or ANG just behind him would have been sensible but as the game went on, the gap between him and the midfield grew and grew as the midfield realised that Mason couldn't hold onto the ball.
The game was crying out for Panuche and his non-stop, high energy, high tempo play. A midfield with him, Danny and Allarakhia may have given a better balance.
We also need more experience and cooler heads in the team - a recall for Jimmy Smith in January would be a good start.
Still, we can concentrate on the league now...and Scunthorpe!
We started brightly, pressed well and looked up for it. Had we not conceded immediately after scoring it could well have been a different result. We just fell apart, didn't get the ball down and play which is how we were going to beat a more physical colchester team. I felt Camara should have come on for Tarryn at half time (or from the start) and Young for Sesay seemed a wasted sub. Disappointing night overall. Think it puts the rumours about Cioffi and Bulman falling out to bed though.
Young did well when he came on, put in some good crosses.
agree was going to say the same. Our attack is a lot better when our full backs go on runs. Doherty did these runs about three times towards the end and it was positive. Lewis also made some great crosses but not enough men in the box or Palmer wasn’t in a good position.
Post by broadfielddave on Oct 30, 2019 15:49:37 GMT
Young definitely offered something else with his overlapping runs, but not sure I agree on the crossing. As someone who always played right wing, and later right back in my career (at a significantly lower level), just blindly pumping crosses into the box is not good play. I was always told to get my head up and look where I was crossing it, rather than assuming a striker would be there. It's all well and good blaming a striker for not being there, but if he isn't, then hold onto the ball and recycle it. Don't gift possession back to the opposition by just wellying it in the hope that a striker is there. Playing a ball into a "good area" is neither use, nor ornament. Playing the ball into an area where a teammate is should be the aim, and looking up before crossing is not a difficult skill.
Young definitely offered something else with his overlapping runs, but not sure I agree on the crossing. As someone who always played right wing, and later right back in my career (at a significantly lower level), just blindly pumping crosses into the box is not good play. I was always told to get my head up and look where I was crossing it, rather than assuming a striker would be there. It's all well and good blaming a striker for not being there, but if he isn't, then hold onto the ball and recycle it. Don't gift possession back to the opposition by just wellying it in the hope that a striker is there. Playing a ball into a "good area" is neither use, nor ornament. Playing the ball into an area where a teammate is should be the aim, and looking up before crossing is not a difficult skill.