Omg I'm surprised I've got any voice left. I must spend 75% of the game shouting FORWARDS ! I cannot understand why we spend so much of the game passing the ball sidewards or backwards. Unless we place another goal on either side of the pitch i cannot see us scoring in the near future ! I know people will say the players are low on confidence blah blah but surely they can see we need to get forward. At Reading we cheered when we touched the ball for about 20 passes and ended back where we started ! Also no one seems to want the ball in front of goal or to have a shot. They must know that if the ball is put in the area with plenty of pace on it anything can happen.. at least try for gods sake !
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I have to ask the question, what the fook do their do in training if their don't know what to do?
Have always said that if your going to boo at a Football match you have to beware of the consequences
It's intensely frustrating, but to me they are either playing to orders ( why are you going to go against your boss and get dropped / not picked).
Or a complete lack of trust in each other's ability.
Whatever it is, we need someone with the Cahoonas to suss it out & affect positive change.
What our players need to learn to do (Which'll only come with confidence) is to pass to a player who'll be left free in that gap rather than playing from Fox to Bauer... back to Fox and then back to Bauer (You get the picture)
Instead if its Judge that comes forward, Cousins (as two players for an example) should then occupy that spot, Fox can then pass to Bauer, who then passes it forwards to Cousins gaining us a few yards... If he doesnt get anywhere (because he's got no one to pass to going forwards), it can then go backwards (or sidewards), till we can try it again.
As said, all the time we have the ball, the opposition dont have it and so cant score... Eventually out of desperation to get the ball they'll make even mistakes for us to capitalise on, putting pressure on the players to move themselves wont help... Yet another reason why I dont shout or boo at them when they're not moving quick enough.
There are 90-mins in a game of Football, only takes a second to score.
That means the team has no confidence, individuals won't take responsibility and we were unable to find a killer pass. You are right it only takes a couple of seconds to score a goal but currently we could pay all week and not win.
Makes the stats look good
Fail to do that and your making the job harder for yourselves
Watch KAG and Watt, both have their back to goal, both screaming for the ball but neither of them move for it. It's so easy to defend against and the player in possession has a split second choice - keep the ball or lose it.
Twice we played it down the left channel to Watt in the first half and when that didn't work we totally ran out of ideas. One player needs to show for it the other needs to try and run the channel or behind the back line to try and stretch the defence.
The other problem we have is that no-one in the team is willing to take a player on. The pattern is get the ball, get closed down, pass the ball sideways. Repeat. It means to opposition can keep their two banks of4 or 5 without ever being moved out of position.
With Watt and JBG in the team we have people willing to run with the ball but if we're going to have Cousins / BA / Kashi playing so deep we really need another outlet which is why our decision not to sign a proper left winger seems even more bizarre.
But, as we've quite clearly gone to shit, it looks pretty terrible now where our only good touches are the boring ones in our own half and then we play it forward and lose it. So we need a more direct Plan B - what I found massively frustrating was when we won free kicks on the halfway line, 2-0 down, and instead of getting it in the box - we persist with the slow play that just hasn't worked for the last hour/7 games, and never get it anywhere near their goal from it! I think sticking with something that's not working in those circumstances is something you can definitely blame management/coaching for.
Short version: Generally prefer the patient/slow stuff, need a back-up when it's not working at all (e.g. vs Preston).
This is why I think Makienok is important and has been sorely missed, you can't lump it up at Vetokele, KAG or Watt but you can at him, in his 20mins on the pitch I thought he created more than the rest of the team by virtue of being a lump. If Watt can stop playing so deep and get on the end of his flicks we might start playing effective long ball football.
Having watched carefully over the weeks particularly in away matches, it is clear that the forwards have given up making diagonal runs and the like because they know they'll never get a pass. That's because there is no vision or ability behind them to make the killer ball. So why would they waste their energy?
No one at the back or midfield even looks up quickly enough to see a run into space, let alone make the pass. Solly and Cousins have, I'm afraid to say, been serial offenders.