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What we are missing
- Thread starter Green 1886
- Start date
As said by others we don't really have any tough players in that midfield. Lots of players with good passing ability but do they know how to roll their sleeves up? I'm not so sure and that's why I think we'll struggle to pick up points away from home. Having watched the away games to date, I don't get the feeling we're really giving everything to win. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's a bit harsh, but we just look a bit nonchalant about it all from what I can see. Like we're waiting for someone to pick the team up, to drive us forward. We lack aggression in that midfield and there's too much tippy tappy passing.
Looking at our defence and the 6 centrebacks we have, we have 2 premiership loanees that aren't of the promise or calibre that you would expect. I think both of them will do a Hiram Boateng and end up at a lower league club this time next year (Opoku is 22 and Watts is 21 next month). When we were in League 2 we had Bradley, and later in League 1, Vyner (or was that League 2 also). Both Vyner and Bradley (who are both regular starters in the Championship), would walk into our first 11, and that's even from 2/3 years ago. I struggle to see Watts or Opoku stamping down their place in a Championship side next season. Canavan and Wootton are extremely limited and Sawyer is now pretty much finished. Watching the games this season, my impression is that they move the ball far too slow. Lots of sideways and backward passing and that allows the opposition to push the whole team towards our own goal. Watts looks to be maybe our best passer? I'm not so sure, but either way his distribution is absolutely bang average.
There's an overreliance on Mayor. Without expanding too much on him as per other threads, he's in the team as he's a difference-maker. But he's not making a difference. I've read a number of people say well he runs from deep and starts attacks and so he's not necessarily the guy that gets the glory, but he also gets in great positions time and time again inside the box and just outside - and fails to deliver. I don't like the status he seems to have in the team as being undroppable, and I don't think it's healthy. It seems the rest of the players also rely on him to change the game, but for whatever reason(s), I don't get the feeling it's really working. Last season we had Sarcevic and Cooper chipping in with lots of goals and assists. This season Conor Grant has stepped up and already scored/assisted a number of goals. But we need more from Mayor, especially given that he never gets dropped by Lowe. Our play just becomes repeatable with our overreliance on him, and for whatever reason, he's not causing any damage for us to roll out the red carpet for him.
The other issue with that is the service to strikers. I've noticed their backs are always to goal. We don't seem to be opening teams up. I haven't seen any passes in behind and Jepchott or Hardie going 1 on 1? I don't see midfield runners going beyond the forward? It's all backs to goal, chase balls in the channel stuff for our strikers. Our strikers haven't done anything yet, but they also need more service. They are living off of scraps. Take Lincoln, I can think of one time in the entire game where they were given something. Mayor fed Jephcott with a cute pass in the 2nd half and he sliced it into the sidenetting from a tight angle. That was it. Does anyone remember a single other moment? I'm wondering if this is because of how slow our build-up play is from the back with all this side to side stuff.
Looking at our defence and the 6 centrebacks we have, we have 2 premiership loanees that aren't of the promise or calibre that you would expect. I think both of them will do a Hiram Boateng and end up at a lower league club this time next year (Opoku is 22 and Watts is 21 next month). When we were in League 2 we had Bradley, and later in League 1, Vyner (or was that League 2 also). Both Vyner and Bradley (who are both regular starters in the Championship), would walk into our first 11, and that's even from 2/3 years ago. I struggle to see Watts or Opoku stamping down their place in a Championship side next season. Canavan and Wootton are extremely limited and Sawyer is now pretty much finished. Watching the games this season, my impression is that they move the ball far too slow. Lots of sideways and backward passing and that allows the opposition to push the whole team towards our own goal. Watts looks to be maybe our best passer? I'm not so sure, but either way his distribution is absolutely bang average.
There's an overreliance on Mayor. Without expanding too much on him as per other threads, he's in the team as he's a difference-maker. But he's not making a difference. I've read a number of people say well he runs from deep and starts attacks and so he's not necessarily the guy that gets the glory, but he also gets in great positions time and time again inside the box and just outside - and fails to deliver. I don't like the status he seems to have in the team as being undroppable, and I don't think it's healthy. It seems the rest of the players also rely on him to change the game, but for whatever reason(s), I don't get the feeling it's really working. Last season we had Sarcevic and Cooper chipping in with lots of goals and assists. This season Conor Grant has stepped up and already scored/assisted a number of goals. But we need more from Mayor, especially given that he never gets dropped by Lowe. Our play just becomes repeatable with our overreliance on him, and for whatever reason, he's not causing any damage for us to roll out the red carpet for him.
The other issue with that is the service to strikers. I've noticed their backs are always to goal. We don't seem to be opening teams up. I haven't seen any passes in behind and Jepchott or Hardie going 1 on 1? I don't see midfield runners going beyond the forward? It's all backs to goal, chase balls in the channel stuff for our strikers. Our strikers haven't done anything yet, but they also need more service. They are living off of scraps. Take Lincoln, I can think of one time in the entire game where they were given something. Mayor fed Jephcott with a cute pass in the 2nd half and he sliced it into the sidenetting from a tight angle. That was it. Does anyone remember a single other moment? I'm wondering if this is because of how slow our build-up play is from the back with all this side to side stuff.
