04-08-2019, 13:28
There is someone who drives up from Cornwall ......... Stays the night, goes home Sunday I think.
It is brilliant that you travel so far Salts.
It occurs to me that Joe Rowley has been instructed to take as few touches as possible and that's why he's getting rid of the ball so quickly and inaccurately (it's fashionable). And young players who want to do well, but realise they are having a nightmare, often do react by going into headless chicken mode. They've been coached that if they keep working they'll get the rewards, so they work harder (and often get worse!)
It seems to me that due to Sheridan's inaction over the summer and clear problems with his selection policy we had no-one on the bench who could actually change a game ..... and that's one of the main functions of substitutes. In Smith, Weston and the dreaded Weir we had three of the least creative midfielders in the country ........ and we'd got Wedgbury, the inexperienced Wakefield and Sheridan (scouted over breakfast one day) on the bench waiting to achieve what? That committed us to keeping McKay on for the whole game, it meant Rowley had to be on top of his game and he wasn't, and ensured Boden was left to forage alone (not his game).
How was that team ever going to score many? The full backs are hardly Jones and Darikwa going forward are they? In midfield we had only Mandy trying to keep a very old clock ticking over gently and up front we had one forward who can score but is not the easiest to find with a pass. The only player we had on the field who might DISRUPT the opposition in an attacking sense was Evans from dead balls. The height of a Denton can't help but disrupt the opposition, a flying winger or wing back does the same, somebody determined to power forward from midfield has the same effect ...... but we've got no one with those unusual qualities. The nearest we've got with that kind of unpredictability that frightens defences and drags them out of position is Amantchi and I think we've retired him.
If we have no one better available than McKay I would play Evans at centre forward with Boden and draft Sharman into defence.
But sadly I no longer feel like a supporter, just a vaguely interested by-stander at a car crash.
It is brilliant that you travel so far Salts.
It occurs to me that Joe Rowley has been instructed to take as few touches as possible and that's why he's getting rid of the ball so quickly and inaccurately (it's fashionable). And young players who want to do well, but realise they are having a nightmare, often do react by going into headless chicken mode. They've been coached that if they keep working they'll get the rewards, so they work harder (and often get worse!)
It seems to me that due to Sheridan's inaction over the summer and clear problems with his selection policy we had no-one on the bench who could actually change a game ..... and that's one of the main functions of substitutes. In Smith, Weston and the dreaded Weir we had three of the least creative midfielders in the country ........ and we'd got Wedgbury, the inexperienced Wakefield and Sheridan (scouted over breakfast one day) on the bench waiting to achieve what? That committed us to keeping McKay on for the whole game, it meant Rowley had to be on top of his game and he wasn't, and ensured Boden was left to forage alone (not his game).
How was that team ever going to score many? The full backs are hardly Jones and Darikwa going forward are they? In midfield we had only Mandy trying to keep a very old clock ticking over gently and up front we had one forward who can score but is not the easiest to find with a pass. The only player we had on the field who might DISRUPT the opposition in an attacking sense was Evans from dead balls. The height of a Denton can't help but disrupt the opposition, a flying winger or wing back does the same, somebody determined to power forward from midfield has the same effect ...... but we've got no one with those unusual qualities. The nearest we've got with that kind of unpredictability that frightens defences and drags them out of position is Amantchi and I think we've retired him.
If we have no one better available than McKay I would play Evans at centre forward with Boden and draft Sharman into defence.
But sadly I no longer feel like a supporter, just a vaguely interested by-stander at a car crash.