Better Balance, here is something to debate

[Tin Bath]

Of course today was very frustrating to watch but i would like to debate how we have dropped the skipper for better balance in the side.

What I saw today was McCormack and Bailey work there socks off in the centre of the park covering every inch of Roots Hall today, while Black & Gower offered zero, they are there to create width, beat men and deliver dangerous balls into the box - did they do that ? No they dont have the pace or skill to beat a full back and in turn just lay it back to Lewis Hunt or Stevie Hammell.

He may not be a winger but I bet Moussa has more guts and willingness to try and beat a man

If we cant fit the skipper in the middle of the park because Bailey & McCormack are justifying there positions but do we do about the wide areas as I dont think messers Black & Gower are up to the job IMHO.

 

[Kenny]

we did look awful on the flanks today, Gower was terrible and Black wasn't much better. I wasn't too surprised Gowers number was up when Harrold came on.

 

[steve54]

i thought gower was a disgrace today poor passing strolled back anytime we lost the ball and atotal lack of effort, black wasn't much better but he made the effort to track back and help the defence.bailey and mccormack were quality and both had to do the work of 2 men

 

[mattytheshrimper]

agree with the original post, macca and bailey worked as hard as they possibly could but were let down time after time by gower and black giving away possession or putting in crap corners.

 

[Sean 2]

Agree about our wingers today,non-existant,unless we employ them to give it backwards,sideways or to the opposition.

Bloody bad day all round.

1.Carlisle worst team to come to the Hall so far.

2.We lost to them.

3.Looks like we've lost our manager to carrot-crunching ****s.

4.Leeoon didn't have a shot.

5.Hooper confirmed what we all knew.

6.Our defending looks as shaky as last season

7.Chris Houghton could be taking over.


Pass me the bullets and i'll load the gun to put an end to it all,just can't take it no more :cry: :cry: :mad: :cry:

 

[southend_united_fan]

Agree about our wingers today,non-existant,unless we employ them to give it backwards,sideways or to the opposition.

Bloody bad day all round.

1.Carlisle worst team to come to the Hall so far.

2.We lost to them.

3.Looks like we've lost our manager to carrot-crunching ****s.

4.Leeoon didn't have a shot.

5.Hooper confirmed what we all knew.

6.Our defending looks as shaky as last season

7.Chris Houghton could be taking over.


Pass me the bullets and i'll load the gun to put an end to it all,just can't take it no more :cry: :cry: :mad: :cry:

1. i disagree - crewe were worse, as were cheltneham and orient werent rthat good in honesty

2. yes

3. i dont think so! - he hasnt exactly been heavily linked

4. leon played well, and did have quite a few shots. the free kick shot was excellent and deserved a goal.

5. what did we all know about hooper? that hes rubbish?! humm too many tricks for my liking, but he wasnt that bad.

6. shakey defending?! undeserved statement there i think. we were very solid until the goal which just came out of nothing!

and finally....

7. yes lets all jump straight to conclusions...


.................


im probally as p*ssed off as you - but lets get a grip - its not that bad.

roll on northampton

 

[mattytheshrimper]

1. i disagree - crewe were worse, as were cheltneham and orient werent rthat good in honesty

2. yes

3. i dont think so! - he hasnt exactly been heavily linked

4. leon played well, and did have quite a few shots. the free kick shot was excellent and deserved a goal.

5. what did we all know about hooper? that hes rubbish?! humm too many tricks for my liking, but he wasnt that bad.

6. shakey defending?! undeserved statement there i think. we were very solid until the goal which just came out of nothing!

and finally....

7. yes lets all jump straight to conclusions...


.................


im probally as p*ssed off as you - but lets get a grip - its not that bad.

roll on northampton

exactly spot on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shoebury Shrimper]

maher back

I can't see any reason why maher won't be back in the team for the next game.

but it's a case of who does he drop? for me it has to be black, he let the ball roll passed him a few times with the intention of running on with the ball but each time it got away from him and as said before he did not chase back to get it back.

 

[jamesmut2000]

if anyone is to be dropped surely its gower? he has been getting steadily worse all season and maybe needs reminding that no one is untouchable and you have to perform to keep your place in the team.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

if anyone is to be dropped surely its gower? he has been getting steadily worse all season and maybe needs reminding that no one is untouchable and you have to perform to keep your place in the team.

agree, gowers got worse and worse and even more lazy every game.

 

[Sherif H]

I can understand Tilly's persistence with Gower...after all, we are talking about a midfielder who scored 10 goals in a poor Championship side last season. He is our most dangerous midfielder, but he has lost all form over the last 7 or 8 games and needs to be dropped, as we had nothing down the wings today.

Only a matter of time before we see King Kev back in the side and I also think Black will be given more time...if nothing else he worked hard...harder than Gower anyway!

 

[WestRoadShrimper]

Gower out over Black.

I know that Gower has traditionally gone wandering from his wing position during games, but on top of being crap and lazy today he was often also in the completely wrong areas of the park.

How many times did someone look for an out ball to the left wing to find an empty Gower-shaped space? Although Black did put a good few crosses to deep, they wouldn't have looked half as bad as they did if Gower had been attacking the space they dropped into - which rather unsurprisingly was the space the left winger should have been moving to at that point, instead of randomly standing in the middle of the park!!!!!

Not impressed with Gower today - does it show? :D

 

[peanut12]

I have been at my most confident with our midfield when Kev was in the middle with either Macca or Bailey alongside and the other on the right as a more solid right sider. We can afford 1 winger to lose position and not get in a good cross but not 2. Go back to the solid 3 with 1 winger given licesne to pop up on either side

 

[sufcintheprem]

Although Black did put a good few crosses to deep, they wouldn't have looked half as bad as they did if Gower had been attacking the space they dropped into - which rather unsurprisingly was the space the left winger should have been moving to at that point, instead of randomly standing in the middle of the park!!!!!

Maybe, given that Black had a chance to look up for pretty much every cross he delivered, he should have stopped crossing it to the back post when there was no-one there. I don't really understand the fuss over Blakc. From seeing him play in the past he was a tricky winger with a good cross. Today he wasn't at all tricky and kept putting in bad crosses.

As for the part n bold, surely this is because he'd cut inside with the ball or (as he did on several occasions which appear to have escaped attention) he had just been tracking his man who was running cross-field.

He didn't play well but some of the criticism seems completely unsubstantiated.

 

[WestRoadShrimper]

Maybe, given that Black had a chance to look up for pretty much every cross he delivered, he should have stopped crossing it to the back post when there was no-one there. I don't really understand the fuss over Blakc. From seeing him play in the past he was a tricky winger with a good cross. Today he wasn't at all tricky and kept putting in bad crosses.

As for the part n bold, surely this is because he'd cut inside with the ball or (as he did on several occasions which appear to have escaped attention) he had just been tracking his man who was running cross-field.

He didn't play well but some of the criticism seems completely unsubstantiated.

I generally agree about Black today, all I meant was that some of the crosses looked worse than they were - clearly after a while he should've stopped doing them.

Again, yes, sometimes he was tracking/making a run etc... but the thing that bugged me was that once he'd passed he just stood there. At no time did he make an effort to get back in position to take a return ball etc...

Also, I was talking about when we had the ball. Has to be applauded for doing his defensive duties, but once we get the ball he HAS to be in position to contribute to the attack.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

ignore....

 

[mattytheshrimper]

and what was he thinking when he messed up that ball that was going for a throw in????

 

[Skyblue]

If Gower was so bad today why didnt Tilly take him off at half time or at least when they scored! Should have brought Maher on dropped Bailey back to cover Hunt and Hammel out wide.

 

[Sean 2]

1. i disagree - crewe were worse, as were cheltneham and orient werent rthat good in honesty

2. yes

3. i dont think so! - he hasnt exactly been heavily linked

4. leon played well, and did have quite a few shots. the free kick shot was excellent and deserved a goal.

5. what did we all know about hooper? that hes rubbish?! humm too many tricks for my liking, but he wasnt that bad.

6. shakey defending?! undeserved statement there i think. we were very solid until the goal which just came out of nothing!

and finally....

7. yes lets all jump straight to conclusions...


.................


im probally as p*ssed off as you - but lets get a grip - its not that bad.

roll on northampton

If our defenders and midfield actually bothered to mark up when the ball came in our box (about 3 times?) they would not have scored,lets face it,Carlisle were rubbish and consistently gave the ball away.Awful.

I didn't think Tilly was heavily linked to Norwich either until i drove home and heard the BBC ESSEX interview,then someone posts on here that Tilly has already had an interview with the carrot-crunchers.

Leon played well but was definetly shot-shy against a team we dominated,free-kick was a great move and if Gower could pass water i'm sure that Leon would've scored when he run through in the first half.I just wish he would shoot more 'cos his shot is true and powerful.

Hooper has one good shot in a game we dominated.At times he does make things happen but why flick the ball on when he has a defender behind him?
Of course it's frustating to see him lose possession so easily when he had more time to look up and pass.

Yes,shaky defending which has seen us surrender to teams who thought they had no chance.How TF can a striker have his back to goal in our box,control it,turn,then score???? It's called getting close to your man,try it in training guys.

Finally,yes of course i'll jump to conclusions,i might be wrong and add 2+2 then make 5 but when our manager won't elaborate on Norwich rumours but just gives an abbrupt "i don't know,i don't know" i guess i'm entitled to think the worst.Oh and Norwich will be announcing their new manager in a few days.Houghton and Jol didn't seem to be anyone's guest so hey.

 

[sufcintheprem]

I generally agree about Black today, all I meant was that some of the crosses looked worse than they were - clearly after a while he should've stopped doing them.

Again, yes, sometimes he was tracking/making a run etc... but the thing that bugged me was that once he'd passed he just stood there. At no time did he make an effort to get back in position to take a return ball etc...

Also, I was talking about when we had the ball. Has to be applauded for doing his defensive duties, but once we get the ball he HAS to be in position to contribute to the attack.

I think it's most likely a confidence thing. I've not seen many of our recent games but if that's how he's been playing for weeks then he could do with a spell on the bench perhaps. I'm not convinced we have the depth to bring in another winger though.

If Gower was so bad today why didnt Tilly take him off at half time or at least when they scored!

I have to admit I did despair a bit when we left the changes til late again. It seemed quite obvious that we weren't creating chances.