3 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 3 hours ago by Slick_Footwork.)
We saw the good, the bad and ugly tonight. Mixed bag. I'll start to judge Eric Ramsay after 3 or 4 games.
First half, we had a game plan to sit in, frustrate and counter...
Whether or not Boro are good enough to justify that approach, at home, I'm not sure as I've not seen enough of them. I think they probably do have better players than we do. However, I think at home we don't need to be quite so negative.
Our execution of the plan was okay. We looked more threatening initially and probably should've scored on one of our counters. However, Boro scored thanks to yet another mistake with the own goal.
Second half started pretty poorly. We didn't seem to know what to do after falling behind. Boro scored again after Nat Phillips sold himself and the game looked dead.
The manager then made a few positive changes, dropping Price back into the midfield two for the first time, put Mikey back on the wing, had Maja in the hole and we had a good spell. We put Boro on the back foot, scored 2 and looked good.
What really frustrated me was the fact we put all that effort in and got back to 2-2 and then can't defend to keep the draw. The ball watching for their 3rd goal really was poor. Styles, Price, Phillips, Taylor all failed to pick players up. I think the goals that we conceded tonight highlight our lack of quality. In all fairness to any manager, we have to acknowledge that we've got some poor players in this squad.
In terms of positives, we saw Krystian Bielik used in midfield for the first time. He should've been picked there by Mason ahead of Diakite. We saw Price drop back into a midfield two for the first time after the changes and tbh, he looked better in that position. He's never a number 10.
On the downside, I think it was poor to play Mikey Johnston at wing back. Yes, Illing-Junior can play that role, but Mikey is an out and out attacker. Seeing him shoe horned in as a wing back reminded me a bit of what Amorim had been doing at United, playing players out of position to run with his 3 at the back formation. But at least he rectified it with the changes.
We'll see what happens in the coming games. Obviously we had injuries tonight, played one of the best teams in the division and the lads didn't have much time with the manager.
However, if he's going to continue with 3 at the back, we really could do with brining in a proper right sider, because I don't fancy anyone on our books to be able to play that role. Wallace and Mikey can't defend. Gilchrist and Campbell are naturally centre backs. Price played that role for Mowbray once last year and looked okay, but it was only once. We need reinforcements.
First half, we had a game plan to sit in, frustrate and counter...
Whether or not Boro are good enough to justify that approach, at home, I'm not sure as I've not seen enough of them. I think they probably do have better players than we do. However, I think at home we don't need to be quite so negative.
Our execution of the plan was okay. We looked more threatening initially and probably should've scored on one of our counters. However, Boro scored thanks to yet another mistake with the own goal.
Second half started pretty poorly. We didn't seem to know what to do after falling behind. Boro scored again after Nat Phillips sold himself and the game looked dead.
The manager then made a few positive changes, dropping Price back into the midfield two for the first time, put Mikey back on the wing, had Maja in the hole and we had a good spell. We put Boro on the back foot, scored 2 and looked good.
What really frustrated me was the fact we put all that effort in and got back to 2-2 and then can't defend to keep the draw. The ball watching for their 3rd goal really was poor. Styles, Price, Phillips, Taylor all failed to pick players up. I think the goals that we conceded tonight highlight our lack of quality. In all fairness to any manager, we have to acknowledge that we've got some poor players in this squad.
In terms of positives, we saw Krystian Bielik used in midfield for the first time. He should've been picked there by Mason ahead of Diakite. We saw Price drop back into a midfield two for the first time after the changes and tbh, he looked better in that position. He's never a number 10.
On the downside, I think it was poor to play Mikey Johnston at wing back. Yes, Illing-Junior can play that role, but Mikey is an out and out attacker. Seeing him shoe horned in as a wing back reminded me a bit of what Amorim had been doing at United, playing players out of position to run with his 3 at the back formation. But at least he rectified it with the changes.
We'll see what happens in the coming games. Obviously we had injuries tonight, played one of the best teams in the division and the lads didn't have much time with the manager.
However, if he's going to continue with 3 at the back, we really could do with brining in a proper right sider, because I don't fancy anyone on our books to be able to play that role. Wallace and Mikey can't defend. Gilchrist and Campbell are naturally centre backs. Price played that role for Mowbray once last year and looked okay, but it was only once. We need reinforcements.