20-08-2018, 18:10
(This post was last modified: 20-08-2018, 18:16 by SaltergateBorn.)
I spent the week-end with the family and only got back home this lunch-time so haven`t really had chance to offer my pearls of `wisdom` as yet - and I was going to wait until I`d seen MA`s interview on Spireites Digital before I did; so far I`ve only seen the couple of quotes on the website. But seein` as you asked - here goes.
MA was quoted as praising the players for their effort - I agree with him on that point - and saying he thought we were the better team and unlucky to lose - I don`t on either of those. To me, the game was a mirror-image of Braintree in that the halves were changed around. On Saturday we played okay in the first half and perhaps should have been ahead. Reid looked very lively and gave their full-back a bit of a roasting, I thought, and we missed a couple of decent chances. Unfortunately Rooney showed that he has too much class for this level - although Maguire was playing far too narrow, I thought - and all we had to show for our efforts was Hines` brilliantly manufactured goal. Fair play to him, though, he got the goal through his persistence and effort.
In the second half we reverted to playing the same hoofball (as Dancing so accurately describes it) that we did in the first half against Braintree. Admittedly Carter`s injury didn`t help but, as my son pointed out during the game, playing the `forward press` is fine as long as your midfield pushes on as well to close down the space you leave behind. When you don`t have a midfield that ain`t easy and you run the risk of surrendering midfield completely to the opposition - which is what we did. We threw a load of long balls - and throws - at their defence, but apart from the one occasion when Hines actually got round the back of them we created absolutely nothing. Again, a total lack of creativity.
Salford, on the other hand, looked dangerous a few times. Their second goal came from a free header and was almost a carbon copy of a chance we gave them a few minutes earlier when another header, equally free, was on its way into the top corner (I was right behind the line of it) until one of the Salford players obligingly turned it over the bar for us. Damned decent of him, I thought. We have plenty of height in our back line and really shouldn`t be allowing free headers like that. Work to be done, Mr Allen.
Their winner came a few minutes after MA had taken Weir off. I`ve no idea whether he was injured or not, but you have to wonder whether it would have been scored if he had still been on the pitch. Their lad was given enough space and time to comb his hair - probably with cut and blow-dry included - before he picked his spot. Even in the absence of Weir, somebody should have closed him down.
There we are then; they`re my thoughts, for what they`re worth. Disappointing, and MA certainly has work to do on defensive organisation if nothing else.
No seats, Dancing, I`m afraid. The only seating was down the sides and we were standing behind the goal. I haven`t done that for years; great fun. It looks like MA will have to change the team, with Carter apparently being out for 3 weeks or so. That is worrying, I agree, but it could have been far worse than seems to be the case. When it happened, I feared another Wedgebury situation.
MA was quoted as praising the players for their effort - I agree with him on that point - and saying he thought we were the better team and unlucky to lose - I don`t on either of those. To me, the game was a mirror-image of Braintree in that the halves were changed around. On Saturday we played okay in the first half and perhaps should have been ahead. Reid looked very lively and gave their full-back a bit of a roasting, I thought, and we missed a couple of decent chances. Unfortunately Rooney showed that he has too much class for this level - although Maguire was playing far too narrow, I thought - and all we had to show for our efforts was Hines` brilliantly manufactured goal. Fair play to him, though, he got the goal through his persistence and effort.
In the second half we reverted to playing the same hoofball (as Dancing so accurately describes it) that we did in the first half against Braintree. Admittedly Carter`s injury didn`t help but, as my son pointed out during the game, playing the `forward press` is fine as long as your midfield pushes on as well to close down the space you leave behind. When you don`t have a midfield that ain`t easy and you run the risk of surrendering midfield completely to the opposition - which is what we did. We threw a load of long balls - and throws - at their defence, but apart from the one occasion when Hines actually got round the back of them we created absolutely nothing. Again, a total lack of creativity.
Salford, on the other hand, looked dangerous a few times. Their second goal came from a free header and was almost a carbon copy of a chance we gave them a few minutes earlier when another header, equally free, was on its way into the top corner (I was right behind the line of it) until one of the Salford players obligingly turned it over the bar for us. Damned decent of him, I thought. We have plenty of height in our back line and really shouldn`t be allowing free headers like that. Work to be done, Mr Allen.
Their winner came a few minutes after MA had taken Weir off. I`ve no idea whether he was injured or not, but you have to wonder whether it would have been scored if he had still been on the pitch. Their lad was given enough space and time to comb his hair - probably with cut and blow-dry included - before he picked his spot. Even in the absence of Weir, somebody should have closed him down.
There we are then; they`re my thoughts, for what they`re worth. Disappointing, and MA certainly has work to do on defensive organisation if nothing else.
No seats, Dancing, I`m afraid. The only seating was down the sides and we were standing behind the goal. I haven`t done that for years; great fun. It looks like MA will have to change the team, with Carter apparently being out for 3 weeks or so. That is worrying, I agree, but it could have been far worse than seems to be the case. When it happened, I feared another Wedgebury situation.