30-08-2015, 11:06
Five Games, Five Points
We are three points off the Playoffs and two points above relegation.
Too many fans are over reacting because for some reason they think that we should be in the top two because we have spent a few million. Even now, we are competing against eight teams on parachute payments who will have budgets of more than double our budget. Middlesbrough are not one of those sides but they still have a budget well ahead of our & allegedly Stewart Downing is on over £60k per week.
Maybe we should be looking at Boro as a role model for what we need to achieve. In a season and a half, Karanka has moved them forward from being an average SBC team to genuine promotion contenders. There was a slight improvement in his first half season in charge. Last season, they reached the Playoffs. This summer, the changes have been fine tuning and it is clear that they are operating as a team and will probably be as good as any team we face this season.
We are still at the first phase of that development. We have upgraded our playing squad but it will take us months to work out our best team, formation and style. Next season should see us challenge. If we get lucky, who knows, things might happen a bit quicker but to expect it, is too much.
I was ashamed at the behaviour of some of our fans yesterday. Booing during the game can only reduce our chances of a good outcome. The booing at half time was bad enough but the booing of Wiggins each time he touched the ball towards the end was shameful. These people are not supporters. The clue is in the word and booing does nothing to support the team.
Boro started brightly and left us sorely exposed particularly on our right side with Hunt looking lost and Wallace giving little support. We could learn a lot from the movement of Reach, Fabbrini & Kike, who kept our back four confused with intelligent movement. Price made a couple of fantastic saves to keep us level until close to half time, Reach was given too much space in the box & Boro took a deserved lead.
The second half was much improved and we dominated play & created a few chances. Lopez fired just wide, Lee hesitated too long when cleverly put clear against the keeper and Matias levelled the scores when his shot went in courtesy of a deflection.
At this point, it was as though we got carried away and over committed. We had a corner & within 15 seconds, Boro had scored. A couple of poor attempted challenges & they were through on our goal. After that, Boro just picked us off as we attempted to equalise again, Wiggins being at fault for the third goal.
Price - 7 - kept us in game in first half
Hunt - 4 - terrible first half, stabilised a bit second half
Lees - 6 - best of a bad back four
Sasso - 5 - struggled at times
Wiggins - 4 - looks off the pace
Lopez - 6 - not involved first half but looked good second half until subbed
Hutchinson - 6 - looked good but injured early
Wallace - 4 - contributed nothing
Lee - 6 - bright apart from poor spell after missing good chance
Matias - 5 - missing first half, goal
Joao - 6 - best player first half but faded
......................................................
Semedo - 6 - solid but poor distribution
Nuhiu - 6 - controlled ball better
Sougou - 5 - didn't get involved
In many ways, it was a game of two halves. First half, we weren't at it but second half, we were much better. There is a danger that we might draw the wrong conclusions from this. We adjusted the formation. We brought Nuhiu on. However, the biggest difference between the two halves was that Lopez & Matias got involved in the game. First half, both were on the periphery, watching the game go by. In the second half, Lopez was running the game & making things happen while Matias at least made a nuisance of himself.
I read one fan say we should return to 442. That would throw away so much to return to the style of AI, DJ & SG. The key now is flexibility & Boro showed that as their players showed a willingness to play all over the pitch to benefit their side. If Matias & Wallace had shown the same movement as Reach & Fabbrini then we might have won this game. Formations will be flexible. There will be times we play with one striker & times we play with two strikers but movement & flexibility are key.
Some fans have said that Nuhiu turned the match. Undoubtedly Nuhiu played better than he has in previous matches. He controlled the ball better & his passing wasn't as bad as previously. His arrival gave us another option - hitting it long.
We need more patience. It will be a bumpy road but we will get there. We have five points from the first five matches. Hopefully we will get more points from the next five matches. In my view, the season only really starts after the first International break when the transfer window has closed.
Wiggins looks to be a poor signing but CC did say that he is two weeks behind the rest of the squad. This season, Helan has been far better and much improved. We still lack leadership on the pitch. Maybe Michael Turner is that man. Not sure.
Lopez & Matias have got to get more involved. Both look quality at times but they have to do more, more often. Joao looked stronger yesterday & was our only threat in the first half. Hutchinson looked good but injured himself going for a ball that he couldn't possibly reach. If he only had a brain.
Most Attempts:
Lopez 2
Wallace 2
Joao 2
Most Attempts On Target:
Lopez 1
Lee 1
Matias 1
Joao 1
Most Tackles:
Lees 4
Hunt 4
Sasso 2
Lee 2
Joao 2
Most Interceptions:
Hutchinson 5
Lopez 5
Sasso 3
Wiggins 3
Most Dribbles:
Matias 1
Joao 1
Nuhiu 1
Passing Accuracy:
Wiggins 83%
Lopez 81%
Matias 79%
Lee 77%
Semedo 74%
Sasso 72%
Joao 71%
Hutchinson 70%
Lees 65%
Hunt 61%
Nuhiu 57%
Wallace 50%
Price 43%
Sougou 0%
Key Passes:
Wallace 2
Joao 1
Lee 1
Total Touches:
Lopez 58
Sasso 56
Lees 54
Semedo 49
Hunt 43
Lee 42
Price 40
Wiggins 34
Matias 31
Joao 31
Nuhiu 27
Hutchinson 16
Wallace 15
Sougou 5
CC has two weeks now to make the team more cohesive before the next block of matches. Hopefully there will be an improvement. For now, I am happy with the intentions but want to see a lot of improvement in the execution.
There seem to be two camps - those who think we will get promoted (this group is getting smaller) and those who think we are going about things the wrong way & want 442, SG, cheap seats (& presumably JOC) back because everything is terrible. The truth (as ever) is somewhere in between.
This isn't the worst Wednesday team ever, that wasn't the worst performance for years & the world hasn't come off its axis. We are a "work in progress." Only three of our starting eleven yesterday were at the Club last season - the least for any club in the top four divisions. A lot of fans struggle to understand how this will affect us over the opening couple of months. There is a lot of work to be done in terms of finding the best formation and how to make Matias more effective. There have been three more new signings not playing yesterday & possibly more to come so it will take a while before we are anywhere close to a settled side.
Let's look at it in five match blocks. We need to be getting ten points from each five match block for automatic promotion and at least eight for the Playoffs. I will be looking for at least seven points from the next block of five matches, gradually increasing so that we are getting eight points plus per block in the second half of the season.
Enjoy the International Break & Transfer Deadline Day then we come back refreshed to visit Burnley.
We are three points off the Playoffs and two points above relegation.
Too many fans are over reacting because for some reason they think that we should be in the top two because we have spent a few million. Even now, we are competing against eight teams on parachute payments who will have budgets of more than double our budget. Middlesbrough are not one of those sides but they still have a budget well ahead of our & allegedly Stewart Downing is on over £60k per week.
Maybe we should be looking at Boro as a role model for what we need to achieve. In a season and a half, Karanka has moved them forward from being an average SBC team to genuine promotion contenders. There was a slight improvement in his first half season in charge. Last season, they reached the Playoffs. This summer, the changes have been fine tuning and it is clear that they are operating as a team and will probably be as good as any team we face this season.
We are still at the first phase of that development. We have upgraded our playing squad but it will take us months to work out our best team, formation and style. Next season should see us challenge. If we get lucky, who knows, things might happen a bit quicker but to expect it, is too much.
I was ashamed at the behaviour of some of our fans yesterday. Booing during the game can only reduce our chances of a good outcome. The booing at half time was bad enough but the booing of Wiggins each time he touched the ball towards the end was shameful. These people are not supporters. The clue is in the word and booing does nothing to support the team.
Boro started brightly and left us sorely exposed particularly on our right side with Hunt looking lost and Wallace giving little support. We could learn a lot from the movement of Reach, Fabbrini & Kike, who kept our back four confused with intelligent movement. Price made a couple of fantastic saves to keep us level until close to half time, Reach was given too much space in the box & Boro took a deserved lead.
The second half was much improved and we dominated play & created a few chances. Lopez fired just wide, Lee hesitated too long when cleverly put clear against the keeper and Matias levelled the scores when his shot went in courtesy of a deflection.
At this point, it was as though we got carried away and over committed. We had a corner & within 15 seconds, Boro had scored. A couple of poor attempted challenges & they were through on our goal. After that, Boro just picked us off as we attempted to equalise again, Wiggins being at fault for the third goal.
Price - 7 - kept us in game in first half
Hunt - 4 - terrible first half, stabilised a bit second half
Lees - 6 - best of a bad back four
Sasso - 5 - struggled at times
Wiggins - 4 - looks off the pace
Lopez - 6 - not involved first half but looked good second half until subbed
Hutchinson - 6 - looked good but injured early
Wallace - 4 - contributed nothing
Lee - 6 - bright apart from poor spell after missing good chance
Matias - 5 - missing first half, goal
Joao - 6 - best player first half but faded
......................................................
Semedo - 6 - solid but poor distribution
Nuhiu - 6 - controlled ball better
Sougou - 5 - didn't get involved
In many ways, it was a game of two halves. First half, we weren't at it but second half, we were much better. There is a danger that we might draw the wrong conclusions from this. We adjusted the formation. We brought Nuhiu on. However, the biggest difference between the two halves was that Lopez & Matias got involved in the game. First half, both were on the periphery, watching the game go by. In the second half, Lopez was running the game & making things happen while Matias at least made a nuisance of himself.
I read one fan say we should return to 442. That would throw away so much to return to the style of AI, DJ & SG. The key now is flexibility & Boro showed that as their players showed a willingness to play all over the pitch to benefit their side. If Matias & Wallace had shown the same movement as Reach & Fabbrini then we might have won this game. Formations will be flexible. There will be times we play with one striker & times we play with two strikers but movement & flexibility are key.
Some fans have said that Nuhiu turned the match. Undoubtedly Nuhiu played better than he has in previous matches. He controlled the ball better & his passing wasn't as bad as previously. His arrival gave us another option - hitting it long.
We need more patience. It will be a bumpy road but we will get there. We have five points from the first five matches. Hopefully we will get more points from the next five matches. In my view, the season only really starts after the first International break when the transfer window has closed.
Wiggins looks to be a poor signing but CC did say that he is two weeks behind the rest of the squad. This season, Helan has been far better and much improved. We still lack leadership on the pitch. Maybe Michael Turner is that man. Not sure.
Lopez & Matias have got to get more involved. Both look quality at times but they have to do more, more often. Joao looked stronger yesterday & was our only threat in the first half. Hutchinson looked good but injured himself going for a ball that he couldn't possibly reach. If he only had a brain.
Most Attempts:
Lopez 2
Wallace 2
Joao 2
Most Attempts On Target:
Lopez 1
Lee 1
Matias 1
Joao 1
Most Tackles:
Lees 4
Hunt 4
Sasso 2
Lee 2
Joao 2
Most Interceptions:
Hutchinson 5
Lopez 5
Sasso 3
Wiggins 3
Most Dribbles:
Matias 1
Joao 1
Nuhiu 1
Passing Accuracy:
Wiggins 83%
Lopez 81%
Matias 79%
Lee 77%
Semedo 74%
Sasso 72%
Joao 71%
Hutchinson 70%
Lees 65%
Hunt 61%
Nuhiu 57%
Wallace 50%
Price 43%
Sougou 0%
Key Passes:
Wallace 2
Joao 1
Lee 1
Total Touches:
Lopez 58
Sasso 56
Lees 54
Semedo 49
Hunt 43
Lee 42
Price 40
Wiggins 34
Matias 31
Joao 31
Nuhiu 27
Hutchinson 16
Wallace 15
Sougou 5
CC has two weeks now to make the team more cohesive before the next block of matches. Hopefully there will be an improvement. For now, I am happy with the intentions but want to see a lot of improvement in the execution.
There seem to be two camps - those who think we will get promoted (this group is getting smaller) and those who think we are going about things the wrong way & want 442, SG, cheap seats (& presumably JOC) back because everything is terrible. The truth (as ever) is somewhere in between.
This isn't the worst Wednesday team ever, that wasn't the worst performance for years & the world hasn't come off its axis. We are a "work in progress." Only three of our starting eleven yesterday were at the Club last season - the least for any club in the top four divisions. A lot of fans struggle to understand how this will affect us over the opening couple of months. There is a lot of work to be done in terms of finding the best formation and how to make Matias more effective. There have been three more new signings not playing yesterday & possibly more to come so it will take a while before we are anywhere close to a settled side.
Let's look at it in five match blocks. We need to be getting ten points from each five match block for automatic promotion and at least eight for the Playoffs. I will be looking for at least seven points from the next block of five matches, gradually increasing so that we are getting eight points plus per block in the second half of the season.
Enjoy the International Break & Transfer Deadline Day then we come back refreshed to visit Burnley.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.