03-11-2022, 10:42
Another game that I've decided to sleep on and have a think about.
I thought Town deserved a point last night. We started off well and were on the front foot for the first 15minutes but we are toothless in front of goal. The game plan is obviously get it wide and get the ball into the box but we rarely have anybody there and with Rhodes and Holmes to aim for it's hardly the land of the giants and so the ball in has to be Beckham standard...and it isn't
After that spell the game seemed to drift into a midfield battle with neither side really dominating the game. Sunderland had a couple of chances down the left mainly thanks to Holmes failing to track back with his man but as a whole it just turned into a scrappy affair with little quality.
Losing Nakayama to injury was a real blow for us, but what must it say to Mbete and Boyle when he is replaced at half time by Diarra? Don't get me wrong Diarra did ok when he first came on but as soon as Sunderland went a goal in front Mowbray made subs and changed the formation which made it difficult for him to get through a packed midfield and as a consequence he faded out of the game.
So we're a goal down at home and what does he do, takes Rhodes off for a straight swap with Ward. Now at 0-0 I have no problem with that but we're a goal down at home and given we started with 5 defenders on the pitch and two holding midfielders(that's 8 defensive players including the keeper) we desperately need more attacking options on the pitch. I hoped when he fetched Mahoney on we might go for it a bit more but all he did was change players positions and stuck with the same formation. By this point he was struggling to change formation because of that Rhodes/Ward substitution. Even by the time Jackson went off we didn't see a change just a rejig of who was playing where in the same formation. He gave himself nowhere to go with his choice of subs.
How long do we have to wait before MF swallows his prides and recalls Hogg to the team?, Don't get me wrong Hogg's best days are well behind him but when you have a midfield of
Kasumu aged 23 only played 69 games in League 1 before this season
Camara, aged 19, Never played a professional game at any level until this season
Rudoni, aged 21, 91 games at League 1 level before this season
Jackson, aged 21, 19 League games in L1 & 2 before this season
We only have Holmes with any experience and he struggles to influence games when stuck out wide. We need Hogg back in the middle.
I thought Town deserved a point last night. We started off well and were on the front foot for the first 15minutes but we are toothless in front of goal. The game plan is obviously get it wide and get the ball into the box but we rarely have anybody there and with Rhodes and Holmes to aim for it's hardly the land of the giants and so the ball in has to be Beckham standard...and it isn't
After that spell the game seemed to drift into a midfield battle with neither side really dominating the game. Sunderland had a couple of chances down the left mainly thanks to Holmes failing to track back with his man but as a whole it just turned into a scrappy affair with little quality.
Losing Nakayama to injury was a real blow for us, but what must it say to Mbete and Boyle when he is replaced at half time by Diarra? Don't get me wrong Diarra did ok when he first came on but as soon as Sunderland went a goal in front Mowbray made subs and changed the formation which made it difficult for him to get through a packed midfield and as a consequence he faded out of the game.
So we're a goal down at home and what does he do, takes Rhodes off for a straight swap with Ward. Now at 0-0 I have no problem with that but we're a goal down at home and given we started with 5 defenders on the pitch and two holding midfielders(that's 8 defensive players including the keeper) we desperately need more attacking options on the pitch. I hoped when he fetched Mahoney on we might go for it a bit more but all he did was change players positions and stuck with the same formation. By this point he was struggling to change formation because of that Rhodes/Ward substitution. Even by the time Jackson went off we didn't see a change just a rejig of who was playing where in the same formation. He gave himself nowhere to go with his choice of subs.
How long do we have to wait before MF swallows his prides and recalls Hogg to the team?, Don't get me wrong Hogg's best days are well behind him but when you have a midfield of
Kasumu aged 23 only played 69 games in League 1 before this season
Camara, aged 19, Never played a professional game at any level until this season
Rudoni, aged 21, 91 games at League 1 level before this season
Jackson, aged 21, 19 League games in L1 & 2 before this season
We only have Holmes with any experience and he struggles to influence games when stuck out wide. We need Hogg back in the middle.