Thorn: Wants the same performance as 2nd half and waiting on a prem loan (1 Viewer)

[skyblu3sk]

ANDY Thorn wants Coventry City to reproduce Tuesday's second-half performance against Sheffield United from the kick-off tomorrow.

And all the signs are that the Sky Blues boss will name a same-again side spearheaded by Cody McDonald and Stephen Elliott when they take on Bury at the Ricoh Arena.
Thorn was forced to revamp his planning yesterday when Bury's caretaker manager Peter Shirtliff signed up two new players, veteran striker David Healy and young midfielder Shayne Byrne.
But he doesn't seem inclined to tweak his own team, explaining: “I've made it clear that if people are in form, they'll play ­ it's as simple as that. “We've got some players whose form isn't up to scratch at the moment but if they do well when they get their chance then they start next time; you can't be any fairer than that.
“With Cody and Stephen you don't get that big physical presence but they are a different kind of threat. Cody gets on the end of most crosses that come in, while Stephen looked really lively on Tuesday, getting down the sides, and supporters love to see centre-forwards chasing defenders down.
“We're waiting to see how Jordan Clarke will be but, apart from that, we look pretty much the way we were the other night.
“John Fleck keeps telling me he's all right but he's not ­ you have to be really careful with hamstrings and we don't want him coming back too soon and breaking down again.
“I picked him against Yeovil because he had trained all week so it was one of those things. When he's ready he'll come back in.“
Bury's star wide man David Worrall is almost certain to miss the game, even though X-rays have confirmed that he didn't break his leg at Doncaster on Tuesday night, but Thorn warned: “Shirty knows his stuff and he'll have them sorted out. They play two banks of four and are difficult to break down, so it's important that we're patient and move the ball around.“
Skipper Steven Schumacher's absence means that 19-year-old Byrne, who impressed during a loan spell at Gigg Lane last year, is likely to step straight into midfield but Healy is expected to start on the bench.
The 33-year-old, who has scored 98 goals in his nine-club career and a record-breaking 38 for Northern Ireland, was a free agent after the Ibrox implosion.
Thorn himself is keen to land another striker on loan before the transfer window closes next week. “We're waiting to hear on one,“ he confirmed. “We were pretty hopeful but sometimes with a Premier League side you have to wait a bit longer.“

 

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[Otis]

Same again up front?

Best stop hoofing high balls then into the pair of Cody and Elliott from the off, rather than waiting til the 2nd half.

And I would add that I don't want a repeat of the 2nd half. I want a repeat of the 20 minute spell we had when we played really well. The rest of the 2nd half we were poor.

 

[Macca]

Retreat to safety Otis. Someone will be telling you to feck off and support "the vile" soon. Or even more hilariously "manure"

 

[torchomatic]

So do we, Andy. So do we.

 

[Otis]

We are a strange bunch us City fans.

Reverse the fortunes of Tuesday and have us a goal up in the first half and the same great spell, with an awful 2nd half and everyone would have been saying how crap we were.

It's just a 20 min spell.

Yes, AT changed things at half-time, probably with a kick up the backsides, but by the same token, what happened at the start of the game and the first half where we didn't have a shot or even a corner? If people want to praise AT for the half-time rollicking you could quite equally point to what he said before the game in terms of motivation or lack of it for the players to put in a good performance from the off.

We all have short memories and cos we played well for a period in the 2nd half people are most reluctant to talk about the ever so dreadful first half and it's not even as if we ended Tuesday on the front foot. As soon as Sheff Utd scored there was only one likely winner and they finished the game on top.

As for me? Encouraged by the 20 min display, rather concerned about the other 70 mins.

 

[@richh87]

We are a strange bunch us City fans.

Reverse the fortunes of Tuesday and have us a goal up in the first half and the same great spell, with an awful 2nd half and everyone would have been saying how crap we were.

It's just a 20 min spell.

Yes, AT changed things at half-time, probably with a kick up the backsides, but by the same token, what happened at the start of the game and the first half where we didn't have a shot or even a corner? If people want to praise AT for the half-time rollicking you could quite equally point to what he said before the game in terms of motivation or lack of it for the players to put in a good performance from the off.

We all have short memories and cos we played well for a period in the 2nd half people are most reluctant to talk about the ever so dreadful first half and it's not even as if we ended Tuesday on the front foot. As soon as Sheff Utd scored there was only one likely winner and they finished the game on top.

As for me? Encouraged by the 20 min display, rather concerned about the other 70 mins.

So what you're trying to say Otis is that there's not enough criticism of Thorn on this site.

Maybe start a thread?

 

[smileycov]

So who has said different? cant really recall too many on here saying we are playing ace and it's all rosy!! There is a massive divide on here and as soon as a post starts we are looking to split it into 2 camps!!! "strange bunch us city fans", on here most defo!

 

[PVA]

Best stop hoofing high balls then into the pair of Cody and Elliott from the off, rather than waiting til the 2nd half.

The goal came from a big high hoof into McDonald....

 

[Astute]

The goal came from a big high hoof into McDonald....

You are not supposed to mention that as it don't fully go with what some people on here are saying. You will be called an AT lover soon

 

[Up North Sky Blue]

I couldnt give a shite how we score, as long as we actually score. Elliott's finish was one of the best Ive seen by a City player at the Ricoh.

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

Same again up front?

Best stop hoofing high balls then into the pair of Cody and Elliott from the off, rather than waiting til the 2nd half.

And I would add that I don't want a repeat of the 2nd half. I want a repeat of the 20 minute spell we had when we played really well. The rest of the 2nd half we were poor.

I agree people are letting that second half spell go to there head, we were on top in that time for sure but people suggesting after the match that we deserved to win were watching a different game to me.

A draw was the most are performance deserved

I would disagree about your long ball comment, I don't think we played it consistently long ball any time in the match. besides nothing wrong with a long pass to the strikers, we just need to make sure it is into feet or chest area or in behind the full backs for the strikers to chase onto

 

[stupot07]

Same again up front?

Best stop hoofing high balls then into the pair of Cody and Elliott from the off, rather than waiting til the 2nd half.

And I would add that I don't want a repeat of the 2nd half. I want a repeat of the 20 minute spell we had when we played really well. The rest of the 2nd half we were poor.

Yeah agree a sustained performance is needed on saturday. We had one 20 min spell, but don't forget Sheff utd were very very poor.

 

[Grendel]

Yeah agree a sustained performance is needed on saturday. We had one 20 min spell, but don't forget Sheff utd were very very poor.

If Worrall and Shumacker are injures then I don't think we should have a lot to worry about - it looks a weak team.

 

[Sick Boy]

'Thorn: Wants the same performance as 2nd half and waiting on a prem loan'

I think I just had déjà vu.

 

[Astute]

Yeah agree a sustained performance is needed on saturday. We had one 20 min spell, but don't forget Sheff utd were very very poor.

How were they very very poor when they were better than us for 70 mins?

 

[stupot07]

How were they very very poor when they were better than us for 70 mins?

They weren't, I thought they looked very good, maybe lacking a bit up top, but in Quinn had the best player on the pitch. However I have seen a lot of posts saying how poor they were.

 

[wingy]

For me it was a strange game /experience ,it did'nt feel like we'd dropped a league or were watching a lower level game.However we were extremely poor in the first half and we have used the long airborne outball far too much in both games .We should have been 1-0 up at halftime as Elliott was definately pushed in the back just before the break, but only due to SU's inadiquacy in front of goal

 

[coop]

That means brown starts again then.Needs to pick up his game and quick

 

[sylus]

2moro will be a carbon copy of tues.

 

[ccfcway]

2moro will be a carbon copy of tues.

wish i could disagree

 

[LJC_CCFC]

This Prem loan signing better be pacy, that has been one of the major problems with this club since relegation no pace. When Marlon king joined we looked a different team, his main asset was his pace. Another is mifsud whose pace allowed him to score until he was put out on the wing. When was the last time we had a really pacy winger

 

[oldskyblue58]

I am inclined to agree with wingy on this one......... Tuesday we didnt really affect the game first half, sheffUtd looked more likely to score and but for Wood would have, and our preferred method of attack was to pass it around deep in our own half before launching a long ball aimed at the front two (who because of their stature usually failed to win it). Second half we were much better and for 10 minutes either side of the goal played well ..... before seemingly running out of steam which allowed Sheffutd back into the game and a point.

We need to maintain that 20 minutes for much longer and in the periods we dominate the game put the other team out of the game. You could not say on Tuesday at any point of the match that Sheffutd were out of it. Some of that control of games (and winning )will come with more games, a big chunk of it will come from actually playing the game in the opponents half. First 45 minutes AT wasnt happy about how deep we were playing (was waving and shouting at players like a mad un) and he cant have been happy that we didnt control the game better after we scored.

I understand what he says about being patient ..... but that does not mean playing safe passes to each other in our own half. Lets go keep the ball in their half and be patient there.

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

“Shirty knows his stuff and he'll have them sorted out. They play two banks of four and are difficult to break down, so it's important that we're patient and move the ball around.“


That's strange...it almost sounds as if we do scout the opposition. Nah, can't be true, he's just making stuff up...

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

“Shirty knows his stuff and he'll have them sorted out. They play two banks of four and are difficult to break down, so it's important that we're patient and move the ball around.“


That's strange...it almost sounds as if we do scout the opposition. Nah, can't be true, he's just making stuff up...

Wait, Grendal will criticise AT if he has a different gameplan for this game calling it 'inconsistency in tatics'... :facepalm:

 

[Otis]

The goal came from a big high hoof into McDonald....

It did.

Think you will find though that we must have played about 30 high balls up to the forwards. One came off.

Would think that if we did the same thing again week in week out that result would hardly ever be the same.

The long ball clearly wasn't working on Tuesday and we lost every header and kept giving possession back to Sheff Utd. We therefore changed our shape and began playing the ball in to feet. The goal just happened to come from one big lump upfield by Joe Murphy amongst all the better play on the ground and it was one big punt that just happened luckily to land at the feet of our attackers for once.

 

[Nick]

Their centre halves were miles bigger than our strikers, it worked for the goal as it wasn't to their head it luckily landed at McDonalds feet.

If he is going to play Elliott and McDonald we should tone the long ball down, it is as if we are hoofing it on the hope their defenders mess up or it goes over their head.

 

[Otis]

Exactly!!!!!

 

[Nick]

The frustrating thing is that even when Ball came on, we put it to McDonald.

I think Malaga will be an option to go up front in the last 5-10 if we are losing as he seemed to clean up in the air.

 

[sylus]

thorns game plan is,if you hoof it up field enough times,eventually something will give,basically he doesn't have a game plan.

 

[ClarrieB]

hoe people think that they can mock someone fr being critical of a failing manager is beyond me

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

hoe people think that they can mock someone fr being critical of a failing manager is beyond me

He isn't failing this season (yet) though, is he?

You class being unbeaten as failing, what is success!?

Before you refer to it, last season is irrelevant, it's been and gone.

 

[Otis]

So who has said different? cant really recall too many on here saying we are playing ace and it's all rosy!! There is a massive divide on here and as soon as a post starts we are looking to split it into 2 camps!!! "strange bunch us city fans", on here most defo!

Look back at the posts after the game and look how many were 'encouraged' by our 2nd half performance.

What I am saying is that it was just 20 mins. It wasn't the 2nd half by a long chalk. Just saying that people seem clouded by this odd 20 min domination.

I saw a lot more to discourage me that encourage me. I saw 70 mins of crapness and 20 mins of optimism.

If the 20 min spell had been the last 20 mins I might well have been a bit more optimistic as that could have pointed maybe to us starting to gel and get into our game plan and that it could be the springboard for games to come ...... but it wasn't the last 20 mins, it was a spell midway through and the last 10-15 mins of the game if anything, we were holding on!

 

[Nick]

We always went through phases last season of playing well for 15 or so minutes and really turning it on and then turning it off just as quick.

The second half wasn't amazing but we did play well for that spell.

 

[Otis]

And last season we had these little spells and kept losing.

New season and all that, but you can surely see why I am a little discouraged at a spell for less than a quarter of the game.

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Their centre halves were miles bigger than our strikers, it worked for the goal as it wasn't to their head it luckily landed at McDonalds feet.

If he is going to play Elliott and McDonald we should tone the long ball down, it is as if we are hoofing it on the hope their defenders mess up or it goes over their head.

There's a difference between playing long ball as a tactic, and having players who lack composure resorting to a hoof when the lack of movement in front of them provides precious little in the way of passing options. All you "why the long ball?!" posters are totally misinterpreting what's going wrong: right to criticise, but it's the movement and lack of composure at the back you should be criticising.