This is my first game in quite a while so this will be quite a lengthy post. If you don't want to read it, you don't have to.
First Half = Awful.
There was no movement, no creativity but there was a spark. That spark was Aneke. He won a lot of headers, was strong on the ball and you can see he has an intelligent football brain. He was quite poor on the ball today but understandable seeing as he's 18, making his debut, and the nearest man to him was about 25m away at all times. As I mentioned in the Matchday Thread, the only player to seem to care was Procter (I can see why you complain), and maybe that was unfair on Paul Parry.
Our two central midfielders (if you can call them that) were non existent for nearly the entirity of the game. They were playing secondary roles on each wing. I don't remember seeing Procter battling in the middle of the pitch, it was constantly on the right wing. I liked that about him though, his tenacity to win the ball back. It did lead to him being out of position quite a bit, but once he's given a 3 man midfield and a responsibility to sit I think he'll come good. His weighted pass is awful however, and he lacks a footballing brain.
Stuckmann was once again brilliant. The save from the header which came from a corner was sublime. I thought he was dodgy after I first witnessed him but I'd love to retract that statement now.
The back four were solid for 92 minutes. You can ask your defence to distribute the ball well, Westley obviously doesn't. I don't mind that, it takes mistakes out of the game (which we've made too many of in recent seasons) but it's not hard work to take the ball down and punt it to either wing. Please, for the love of god, stop the aimless punts upfield. If you take a second to look, Parry is free 75% of the time.
Robertson was the main culprit for the above, but he won every single header. He's solid enough, and so is Devine.
Second half was quite decent. We reverted Aneke back into midfield, which is his position and slotted the "useful and lively" Holroyd upfront. That's all I'd describe him as. He's energetic. Not great, but does a job. We actually wanted to attack in the second half and we did a decent job of it. Scabby goal, but the lad will love to have scored on his debut. Conceding in the last minute was a killer blow and solely Robertson's fault. He stopped defending to berate the referee. I don't know what for but he was claiming a foul.
Mellor made a difference as soon as he came on, and it will be interesting to see how the team develops given his inclusion.
It's worth to note that I think Hume's heart has gone. I didn't see him close down like he used to, and his interest in the game wained. Can't blame him for a lack of service, but if he harrassed like Holroyd did, it would create a sense of hope around the ground.
That's it for now I think. There's a lot of negatives up there. But, oddly, I am positive. I love a 1-0 win, and think next season, if we get the midfield right, we'll see a lot of them. We're hard to beat now. That's a great thing as far as I'm concerned and I can see a return of the Billy Davies days.
See you on Tuesday folks.
First Half = Awful.
There was no movement, no creativity but there was a spark. That spark was Aneke. He won a lot of headers, was strong on the ball and you can see he has an intelligent football brain. He was quite poor on the ball today but understandable seeing as he's 18, making his debut, and the nearest man to him was about 25m away at all times. As I mentioned in the Matchday Thread, the only player to seem to care was Procter (I can see why you complain), and maybe that was unfair on Paul Parry.
Our two central midfielders (if you can call them that) were non existent for nearly the entirity of the game. They were playing secondary roles on each wing. I don't remember seeing Procter battling in the middle of the pitch, it was constantly on the right wing. I liked that about him though, his tenacity to win the ball back. It did lead to him being out of position quite a bit, but once he's given a 3 man midfield and a responsibility to sit I think he'll come good. His weighted pass is awful however, and he lacks a footballing brain.
Stuckmann was once again brilliant. The save from the header which came from a corner was sublime. I thought he was dodgy after I first witnessed him but I'd love to retract that statement now.
The back four were solid for 92 minutes. You can ask your defence to distribute the ball well, Westley obviously doesn't. I don't mind that, it takes mistakes out of the game (which we've made too many of in recent seasons) but it's not hard work to take the ball down and punt it to either wing. Please, for the love of god, stop the aimless punts upfield. If you take a second to look, Parry is free 75% of the time.
Robertson was the main culprit for the above, but he won every single header. He's solid enough, and so is Devine.
Second half was quite decent. We reverted Aneke back into midfield, which is his position and slotted the "useful and lively" Holroyd upfront. That's all I'd describe him as. He's energetic. Not great, but does a job. We actually wanted to attack in the second half and we did a decent job of it. Scabby goal, but the lad will love to have scored on his debut. Conceding in the last minute was a killer blow and solely Robertson's fault. He stopped defending to berate the referee. I don't know what for but he was claiming a foul.
Mellor made a difference as soon as he came on, and it will be interesting to see how the team develops given his inclusion.
It's worth to note that I think Hume's heart has gone. I didn't see him close down like he used to, and his interest in the game wained. Can't blame him for a lack of service, but if he harrassed like Holroyd did, it would create a sense of hope around the ground.
That's it for now I think. There's a lot of negatives up there. But, oddly, I am positive. I love a 1-0 win, and think next season, if we get the midfield right, we'll see a lot of them. We're hard to beat now. That's a great thing as far as I'm concerned and I can see a return of the Billy Davies days.
See you on Tuesday folks.
