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Hoofing it

Hoofing it

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balmerino

Joined
Nov 18, 2012
Messages
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Why is it that every game I watch of PNE that we seem to hoof the ball, play long balls up from the back much much more than any of our opponents. When I watch the premier league or the better teams than us in the championship (which is most of them) they play football as in intricate passing to create goal scoring opportunities. Hoofing it up from the back almost always ends up with the opposition getting the ball and it coming back towards us. I think the answer to my own question is that the calibre of players we have are not capable of playing attractive football on the deck. You just have to look at our recent contract extensions and there’s part of the problem. Oh well, perhaps the hoofing may work in league 1.
 
Doubtful, our manager plays football that is as outdated as Peter Risdale’s capabilities as a football director.
 
balmerino said:
Why is it that every game I watch of PNE that we seem to hoof the ball, play long balls up from the back much much more than any of our opponents. When I watch the premier league or the better teams than us in the championship (which is most of them) they play football as in intricate passing to create goal scoring opportunities. Hoofing it up from the back almost always ends up with the opposition getting the ball and it coming back towards us. I think the answer to my own question is that the calibre of players we have are not capable of playing attractive football on the deck. You just have to look at our recent contract extensions and there’s part of the problem. Oh well, perhaps the hoofing may work in league 1.
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Because we recruit defenders who are incapable of controlling and progressing the ball.
 
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Here’s most of the reason
 
It’s easier to hit the ball into the channel and hope the striker gets on end of it. That’s all our defenders can do.
 
It makes me laugh when i read comments that Iversen is hopeless with his feet. All we do is pass it around at the back and then hoof it forward anyway. Then we are so deep, as our wings backs have come back to receive the ball and whitemans pretending hes a quaterback just passing it between central defenders. We virtually have 6 defenders and the keeper in one line.
Id sooner we stopped this charade that we can play it out from the back and go long on goal kicks, win knock downs and have everyone much further up the pitch. The biggest issue is how static we are in possession. I dont get why we only sprint when defending. Why cant we sprint to move into place? Why cant whiteman not pass the ball to a defender and rather than just jogging following his pass, he actually sprints beyond his marker and looks to receive it further up the pitch. This applies to everyone not just whiteman by the way. We often play with 3 central midfielders, but i cant remember them ever stringing 3 passes between themselves without it going to a defender. Its because our movement in possession is so crap.
 
And also because we have zero to offer in the middle so bypass it and our strikers have zero control so no point playing it in to their feet.

Be getting the corners overloaded with sand next season at this rate.
 
IrishNorthEnder93 said:
We’ve been doing it since the Grayson days,I don’t understand why we can’t play football on the ground and pass the ball around, instead it’s just hoof it up to Riis or whoever the striker is and hope for the best.
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We did it better under Grayson though.
The hoofs would sometimes give the striker at least a bit of a chance of gettin to it
 
I'm not opposed to going long. The problem lies in execution. Our problem is every facet of our play is slow and/or panicked, limited by the lack of variety in the squad and hampered by a three at the back formation.

Our players can't run quickly, meaning a long ball counter is rarely on the cards. Often too players aren't ready to attack and/or our keeper keeps hold of the ball allowing the opposition to regroup into a lower block. Even if we do hit with a quick counter, we rarely get anyone forward to support the attacker (see Hull away). We also lack the ability to release the ball quickly to players who might exploit gaps.

We don't have wingers, so you can't even Beck ball it to the corners and cross it into the box.

We have no target man (I'm excluding Ched considering he can't start a game) to hold the ball up and bring attacking midfielders into play. Alex Neil used to do this on occasion with Hugill and Stockley. We also lack one for the occasions where we do cross.

Our three at the back also means we can't commit as many men forward.

Thing is though, we keep doing it because our back three, with the exception of Gibson, struggle with the ball but also the sheer lack of creativity and movement at the top end of the pitch. We struggle to break down low blocks to the point someone just gets frustrated and just aimlessly punts it.
 
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