RATINGS FOLKS v Cardiff (1 Viewer)

Murphy 7
Christie 5
Keogh 8
Crainie 7
Hussey 7
Gael 5
Thomas 6
Clingan 7
McSheffrey 5
Platt 7
Juke 7

Subs:

Baker 6
Wood 6

Can't be bothered, it's too depressing. Call it a a 7 for Murphy and Hussey, 8 for Keogh, 6 for everyone else. Nurse, get the valium!!!

Murphy 7
Christie 6
Keogh 8
Crainie 6
Hussey 6
Gael 6
Thomas 6
Clingan 6
McSheffrey 6
Platt 8
Juke 7

Subs:

Baker 6
Wood 6

MOM

Keogh

Murphy-7- two fantastic saves
Christie-6-Didn't seem to get forward too much today and crossing was poor
Keogh-7-Solid but Miller got free many times in the box today, not sure who should have been picking him up
Cranie-7-See above
Hussey-7-Great cross for the goal
Clingan-6-Didn't really get a foot hold in the game against the Cardiff midfield
Gael-4-Had an absolute mare, his worst game for us at home by far. Misplaced passes, poor control, didn't get in the game at any point.
Thomas-6-Nothing good or bad to report, did a solid job and done the basics well.
Mcsheff-4-Never picked up on any knock downs, poor passes and poor control aswell. Poor workrate and never looked a threat
Juke-7-Good header for the goal, anyone confirm it crossed the line?
Platt-6-Didn't look much of a threat but won a great number of headers against a strong CB pairing.

Overall I think we were pretty awful tbh. No Passion or desire to try and press the opponent or win the ball back, at one point Miller was frankly walking through our whole defence unchallenged. Didn't get enough bodies forward into the box, I remember Hussey or Juke when he pulls wide putting in a couple of really good balls and Platt is the only one in the area 9/10 it is collected easily by a defender or keeper, If Platt does manage to get something on it, it falls to a Cardiff player. We gave Whittingham far too much time on the ball. For most of the game I felt we were sitting ducks and there for the taking.
Hope Hussey wasn't injured when he was substituted.

Baker again came on and did brilliant, but he only seems to make a impact when being a supersub.

Murphy 7 - two good saves

Christie 5- was poor today IMHO couldn't defend and had nothing to offer going forward.

Keogh 8- outstanding, won everything in the air and tackled well, made the only forward run of the game as well! Could have had a goal Aswell

Craine 7- no nonsense, just heads it away and casually gets on with things.

Hussey 7- had a good game, put some cracking crosses in, could potentially be a good player if he can sort out abit of his defending.

Gael 6- just ran around, didn't do too much just got on with it, was left on his own at times. Always passes sideways!

Thomas 6- ditto to Gael

Clingan 6- didn't really get a hold of the game tbh, I think we rely on him too much to get an attack moving. Again passes sideways instead of forward.

McSheffrey 5- was he even on the pitch? Didn't do much, didn't challenge, they looked too strong for him and he's lost all his pace and ability to beat a man.

Platt 7- played well, linked well with juke and held the ball up well at times! Ran his socks off good shift

Juke 7- a bit anonymous throughout the game, eventhough he scored. Ran and chased and gave it his all, but I think he could be on his way out tbh

Subs:

Baker 6- looked tired as soon as he came on and didn't think he knew what position he was playing

Wood 6- wasn't on long enough to comment

MOM

Keogh by far!

Nathccfc said:

Murphy 7 - two good saves

Christie 5- was poor today IMHO couldn't defend and had nothing to offer going forward.

Keogh 8- outstanding, won everything in the air and tackled well, made the only forward run of the game as well! Could have had a goal Aswell

Craine 7- no nonsense, just heads it away and casually gets on with things.

Hussey 7- had a good game, put some cracking crosses in, could potentially be a good player if he can sort out abit of his defending.

Gael 6- just ran around, didn't do too much just got on with it, was left on his own at times. Always passes sideways!

Thomas 6- ditto to Gael

Clingan 6- didn't really get a hold of the game tbh, I think we rely on him too much to get an attack moving. Again passes sideways instead of forward.

McSheffrey 5- was he even on the pitch? Didn't do much, didn't challenge, they looked too strong for him and he's lost all his pace and ability to beat a man.

Platt 7- played well, linked well with juke and held the ball up well at times! Ran his socks off good shift

Juke 7- a bit anonymous throughout the game, eventhough he scored. Ran and chased and gave it his all, but I think he could be on his way out tbh

Subs:

Baker 6- looked tired as soon as he came on and didn't think he knew what position he was playing

Wood 6- wasn't on long enough to comment

MOM

Keogh by far!

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Glad I couldn't be arsed typing my thoughts, knew someone else would have seen it just like me

Nonleagueherewecome said:

Glad I couldn't be arsed typing my thoughts, knew someone else would have seen it just like me

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Haha I even did this on my iPhone while in the toilet I had to get my opinion across, was happy with a point but judging by the first half we should have actually gone in 2-0 up in all fairness! Again we only play for one half ! I think the diamond needs to be ditched its leaving us too exposed on the wings! One ball from left to right and it automatically takes three of our midfielders out the game! It's simple if I was a scout, my advice would be get the ball wing and run down the left and expose Christie..

Yes, yes, yes! It was embarrassing tonight. I kept saying things like "I'm no manager, but just look at that space in front of the full-back. All their full-back needs to do is stroll into space, the man on the other flank switches it to him, and he has all the time in the world to pick out a man"-and then it would happen. Time after time after time. If we had Aron in the RCM role like last year there would be some protection, but Connor seems to have fallen into the Gael trap of old of playing the role too narrowly. Frankly, I'd give up and either go 442 (2nd half v Saints) or a 433 with wide striker/wingers, as I outlined on here in the "wingers" thread.

My other one tonight was "watch this..we'll battle desperately to retain possession, pass it backwards and sideways, we'll get forced back, knock it to Murphy, and he'll just hoof it to Cardiff, defeating the entire passage of play"-and that's exactly what happened. About a dozen times.

Now as I said, I'm not a football manager..if I can sit there and display almost Nostradamus-esque powers of foresight in terms of how we play, and how to exploit it, I'm pretty certain that every single manager in our division-or indeed the whole league-can do so much more adeptly.

Now I'm a big McSheff fan but he was so disappointing last night compared to Saturday where he looked a little like his old self. He's better on the left where he scored a hat full for us in the past.

Keogh again looks the part. Make him captain, AT. Clingan isn't your man for that job: Misplaced pass, puts hand up, "sorry".

I dont think that we are good enough to carry 2 passengers in a match and last night McSheffery & Bigi were awful.

McSheffery ambled around in midfield achieving very little. Couldnt control or pass a ball, he made it look like he was closing players down but if you watched what he actually did was to sprint 5m then jog into the "tackle" too late because the ball had moved on. Not an unexpected performance from him - by my reckoning in 4 games time we should get another decent performance from him. How can he call himself a mentor to the young lads ? if they follow his current example they can kiss a decent career goodbye

Bigi - by far the worst I have seen him play - lightweight in the tackle, poor passing, no composure on the ball, poor decision making. He followed the ball rather than kept position. So many times in the first half in particular he came over to the right leaving a huge space for McNaughton to exploit - we were lucky that Cardiff didnt make more of it.

The passing back and sideways has to be something instilled into the team by the manager and coaches. Sammy always had a reputation for it but I think AT sees it as retaining the ball and if we have the ball they cant score. We just look slow and deliberate to be honest. The opposition get organised and it is harder to create anything. Our only out ball at the moment is the long diagonal ball to Platt or Juke in the box which is percentage ball at best.

One moment summed up what is being coached - we had the ball on the right second half lost possession, Thomas passed the midfield man on to Cyrus and ran forward to pressure the fullback who had dropped deep to receive the pass. Conor continued his run to pressure but then seemed to look up 10m off and remember where he was, looked across to the dug out and dropped back to midfield. Leaving himself in no mans land and the fullback loads of space to pass or move forward. Conor Thomas is a disciplined player, he follows through on what he is asked to do. In my mind some of the things he is asked to do are wrong. Look at the U18's and they play on the front foot, pass it around, move forward at speed, pressure the ball all over the pitch - get them in the first team and it is coached out of them... why? All season we have set up to retain the ball in our half, not pressuring the ball in midfield, our movement reacts to situations it doesnt cause them and it has been at the expense of quick attacking play - it is how AT wants us to play it would seem, it is costing us

Cardiff i felt never got out of 2nd gear - Gunnar looks a more relaxed and effective player, Turner was solid in defence. I think their attitude was wrong on the night, expecting to win not motivated enough to do so though. Coventry was a performance after the lord mayors show - it lacked real passion, no speed, fairly one dimensional for most of it (apart from when they scored from a decent cross), carried 2 players, lacking in confidence and with some pretty poor passing at times. Sorry but I didnt think it was a good match at all.

MOM - Keogh (easily our best player)

Took a look at the stats from the game......... yes we shaded the possession (AT's treferred measurement of success?) But Cardiff had more chances and the better chances. We got something but could easily have lost that game. Kenny Miller should have scored at least one. Not really sure how AT can say they were disappointed they didnt win with any great conviction

Nearly exactly how I saw the game OSB, I felt we were sitting ducks and there for the taking against Cardiff. I can only assume they had an off night as well.

oldskyblue58 said:

Took a look at the stats from the game......... yes we shaded the possession (AT's treferred measurement of success?) But Cardiff had more chances and the better chances. We got something but could easily have lost that game. Kenny Miller should have scored at least one. Not really sure how AT can say they were disappointed they didnt win with any great conviction

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To be fair we could have easily gone into the break 2-0 if we had taken a couple of our chances in the first half.

how mcsheffrey can get more than 2 is a joke - played 1 ok ball and bottled every thing else - complete waste of space

As far as short passing goes: there were once again a lot of long balls last night; we keep possession deep, but it seems to be that if the full-backs are marked (actually our most reliable out-ball, OSB!), all that neat passing is just to tee up a hoof. What's the point? The opposition are in position by then. The point of long ball is that you play it quick, at tempo, and "put it in areas". I hate it, even when it works as it did early last season. But we are playing a very ineffectual hybrid version of long ball.

And also, the lack of forward passing on the floor: I strongly disagree. Both of the last two matches have seen Sammy and Gael, in particular, play a lot of straight "through balls", on the deck, aimed at the edge of the opposition penalty area. Certainly a lot more than we had been doing previously, and I read this as a deliberate tactical adjustment. An alternative to simply working the ball wide to Hussey or Christie (which we still do a lot, but Cyrus simply isn't getting into the right positions enough). These through balls generally didn't work, largely due to a shocking lack of movement by the front 3. The man who takes most of the blame for that is McSheffrey, and he was the man who was making it work last season. Great examples of these through balls that failed was Sammy's almost perfect ball to Gael last night (just intercepted), and one that Gael tried against West Ham when well placed just outside the D. One difference is that at least Gael is making some forward runs, giving Sammy a moving target now and again. But often he still ignored him, and the balance is undermined by Connor getting a nosebleed if ever he steps forwards. Maybe he's confused by his defensive responsibility in having to protect his FB-indeed, both Gael and him do look to be. We're asking them to do too much, whilst the "hole" man does nothing, and that is partly why the formation is utterly ineffective.

"As far as short passing goes: there were once again a lot of long balls last night; we keep possession deep, but it seems to be that if the full-backs are marked (actually our most reliable out-ball, OSB!), all that neat passing is just to tee up a hoof. What's the point? The opposition are in position by then. The point of long ball is that you play it quick, at tempo, and "put it in areas". I hate it, even when it works as it did early last season. But we are playing a very ineffectual hybrid version of long ball."

Totally agree NLHWC ...... Didnt like it because it achieved little

Also agree the biggest flaw in AT's master plan is McSheffery. One good game (WHU) in 5 is no reason to build a team or formation around him. Baker seemed to spark the team more last night. But the formation doesnt give us enough points this season and we need to change

Murphy 8
Hussey 7
Christie 6
Keogh 8
Cranie 7
Clingan 7
Bigirimana 6
Thomas 6
Mcsheffrey 5
Jutkiewicz 7
Platt 8

Subs:

Wood 6
Baker 6

The trouble with Baker is that he is still too lightweight. True, his cameo at the end of the West Ham match showed something of what he is capable of, but he still lost possession cheaply a couple of times to allow the Hammers to break, and last night he was very lucky to miss with a challenge that could so easily have got him sent off.
I like him, but he needs to concentrate on what he is good at, attacking defences in and around the opposition area....