A few minor observations.
Hardie/Jephcott have the best understanding of each others games of all the combinations we have, they are also the best goalscorers we have and provide the best movement. If we are going to play passing football - these two have to start - Sorry Frank.
Midfield - please lets not confuse passing sideways as being negative - retaining possession is part of Lowe's set up, there are players who have made it to the very top of the game by doing the basics well, the idea of the formation is that the wing backs have space to move forward, so passing it sideways to a wing back is not bad. What cannot happen is you pick three midfielders all doing the same (Please note England's performances when they pick Dier/Henderson/Rice in midfield together) - because one you know a midfield isn't coming at you its ridiculously easy to play against. We miss Mayor so much last night it was untrue and deeply worrying. Conor Grant continues to baffle me, when we were 2-1 v Pompey, i thought his 25/30 minute cameo was superb, he came on and gave us everything we needed at the point in the game, his performances since have been woeful, to the point i bet Ryan Lowe has checked Adam Randell's loan deal to see if he can cut it short.
Defenders - on another thread about irrational love of players - i mentioned the name Gerry McElhinney - not a great footballer, old style centre half, but we are crying out for someone of that ilk right now. I want one centre back who is brave, committed and no nonsense. The others can all be "nice footballers" but i would like to see just one defender out there who hates conceding, that it feels like a life or death situation. Too often we have three centre backs who collectively look weak and too busy trying to create space and make nice passing patterns - thats great when you are winning and going well, but when you are conceding too many silly goals, lets just go back to basics and be solid.
Despite all that, it is very easy to lose sight that in 2020 our home form has been excellent and there have been very few if any poor performances until last night. The playing ingredients are there, we've seen enough in the home performances to know we aren't a bad side - over to you RL to restore confidence and get back to the level of performance we should be seeing.
Hardie/Jephcott have the best understanding of each others games of all the combinations we have, they are also the best goalscorers we have and provide the best movement. If we are going to play passing football - these two have to start - Sorry Frank.
Midfield - please lets not confuse passing sideways as being negative - retaining possession is part of Lowe's set up, there are players who have made it to the very top of the game by doing the basics well, the idea of the formation is that the wing backs have space to move forward, so passing it sideways to a wing back is not bad. What cannot happen is you pick three midfielders all doing the same (Please note England's performances when they pick Dier/Henderson/Rice in midfield together) - because one you know a midfield isn't coming at you its ridiculously easy to play against. We miss Mayor so much last night it was untrue and deeply worrying. Conor Grant continues to baffle me, when we were 2-1 v Pompey, i thought his 25/30 minute cameo was superb, he came on and gave us everything we needed at the point in the game, his performances since have been woeful, to the point i bet Ryan Lowe has checked Adam Randell's loan deal to see if he can cut it short.
Defenders - on another thread about irrational love of players - i mentioned the name Gerry McElhinney - not a great footballer, old style centre half, but we are crying out for someone of that ilk right now. I want one centre back who is brave, committed and no nonsense. The others can all be "nice footballers" but i would like to see just one defender out there who hates conceding, that it feels like a life or death situation. Too often we have three centre backs who collectively look weak and too busy trying to create space and make nice passing patterns - thats great when you are winning and going well, but when you are conceding too many silly goals, lets just go back to basics and be solid.
Despite all that, it is very easy to lose sight that in 2020 our home form has been excellent and there have been very few if any poor performances until last night. The playing ingredients are there, we've seen enough in the home performances to know we aren't a bad side - over to you RL to restore confidence and get back to the level of performance we should be seeing.
