much like life under Drummy, all talk of style of play, formations, effort, mentality etc is going to prove irrelevant unless we can do the basics defensively.
early signs are that we don't look like a side full of goals and if we continue to get done by basic set pieces and poor marking, more often than not we will concede more than we score. really need a commanding centre back who the others can work around but not many of those about even at the top level.
thought our best 30 mins at start of second half coincided with Randall getting on the ball and making things happen, seems to have a nice touch and an eye for a pass. Of the other new boys, thought the big fella up front tried hard but looks a bit limited and Evina looks like he'll be solid enough at left back.
Lots of positives in Rendell performance and the fact we played so much better in the second half. I don't recall us ever turning around a bad first half to come out fighting like that under Drummy. Left back looked good as wel.
Sadly the mistakes in the defence are still there. I fear that we may not dominate better teams than Port vale and goals look like they will be hard to come by. If we are going to play 5-2-2-1 or 5-2-3 like the top premiership sides do Enzio and Roberts need to be closer to TV upfront as when they went off we lacked pace. Hopefully we will stop the mistakes. Great to see Bulman still breaking up play. Some great football played. About as upbeat as you can be from loosing 1:3.
Post by Red, Red & Red on Aug 5, 2017 19:37:01 GMT
I agree redtiger but disagree too, the fact he was at times our only defender made things near impossible for him and in the circumstances think he did ok certainly enough to suggest giving him another starting place
The BBC stats suggest we murdered them!!Not the case, obviously but a step up from the usual reading of about two shots on target in 90 minutes. You just can't start games the way we did today.You can't defend set pieces the way we did today. Just what do these FULL TIME professionals work on during the week when you and I are working our bollocks off to pay their wages come the weekend??
Roberts and Enzio seemed clueless about how to play with TV, every time a ball was played for the flick on instead of going inside to get the ball they both dropped wide, they need to get closer to him instead of going further away. We need another striker, we won't sign one, but we definitely need one with pace otherwise it will be a long season.
I agree redtiger but disagree too, the fact he was at times our only defender made things near impossible for him and in the circumstances think he did ok certainly enough to suggest giving him another starting place
Fair enough I'm maybe being a tad harsh on him today. Don't want to pick out individuals to be honest, the defending wasn't great considering Vale didn't offer much yet we've giving them a soft 3 goals and should have been 4 as their guy headed over from 6 yards first half. The last goal looks like lelan had 2 or 3 to mark which backs up what you say. Impressed with Randall.
Roberts and Enzio seemed clueless about how to play with TV, every time a ball was played for the flick on instead of going inside to get the ball they both dropped wide, they need to get closer to him instead of going further away. We need another striker, we won't sign one, but we definitely need one with pace otherwise it will be a long season.
I was criticised for pointing this out a few weeks back. We have two very big, not very mobile target men and we need other options.
Post by Red, Red & Red on Aug 5, 2017 20:23:49 GMT
Now listen here Loo Town fan this is something you might just find you have in common with the foul mouthed Porky Vale Fans singing that our West Sussex town of outstanding natural beauty is a s*** hole and wanting to go home.... obviously tounge in cheek ..... as Stoke is without doubt one of the worst sewage dumps in England, closely matched with .... Loo Town.
Today was evident we were missing someone with Collins work rate and link up play up front. It's not just his goals that make him a good player, it's his work rate too.
Quite difficult to assess today but my main concern is conceding three goals to a Vale side who looked pretty dreadful, played one up front and offered very little.
As soon as they went 2-0 up it was obvious they were just going to sit back and we never worked out that quick passing was the only way to break them down.
The second half was better from us, Enzio scored a decent goal and our tails were up. For some reason - Kewell said afterwards that he wasn't injured - Enzio was taken off. A baffling decision.
Not sure on Kewell's other subs either, taking off Yorwerth just after we pulled a goal back was harsh IMO and as for Lewis, I think Kewell himself had more touches of a ball this afternoon.
I like the way we tried to play but there's no way the passing out from the back will work all season with Conns and Lelan splitting and going out wide and Yorwerth moving into midfield when Morris has the ball at his feet.
Speaking of the defence, was anyone else nervous seeing the two Joshs in the three? One sometimes loses his head and takes chances, the other who looks shaky and gives away penalties.
Cox was busy when he came on and to be fair to Verheydt, he didn't really have too much service today and was well marshalled by the Vale defence.
More positives than negatives to take IMO and we have to admit and appreciate that Harry - for the next month or two, especially - is learning on the job. Also thought Young had one of his better games for us, really good outlet down the right at times.
I still think we need a nippy Tubbs type striker as an option - by the way, any reason why there was no Camara in the squad? Was hopeful of seeing what he could do today.
No Clifford, Taj or Sanoh in the squad - hopefully the two formers will be moved on soon.