Subbing Sawyer off?? Bad decision!!

[mattytheshrimper]

i thought the booing when sawyer came off was very harsh, it was obviously settling for a point but in tilly we trust. i actually thought sawyer would be coming off for macca anyway but sending off obviously changed this. also felt sawyer didn't have the best of games by his standard

 

[Suomi Shrimper]

I beg to differ, in the East you could see people standing up and directing their vitriol at the bench calling Tilson every name under the sun.

I know we have a lot of ridiculously fickle idiot fans like TTk who watch the OS and matches in earnest for the slightest thing they can jump out of the shadows and complain about, but this was disgusting. If all it takes is a wonder (if slightly fluky) goal, red card and substitution for certain fans to turn on the manager after 4 straight wins then I am ashamed that I share a common bond with them.

I sincerely hope that the people responsible's emotions were just running high after a debatable sending off and that in the cold light of day they will reflect on their vitriol against Tilly and concede that their reaction was totally inappropriate even if they didn't agree with the decision at the time.

 

[Beefy]

Personally, I thought that the second change - Macca for Revell was the worst of the two (although I was disappointed to see Sawyer taken off too). If we were going to play one up front then it surely should have been Revell who could then hold the ball up nd wait for support.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Personally, I thought that the second change - Macca for Revell was the worst of the two (although I was disappointed to see Sawyer taken off too). If we were going to play one up front then it surely should have been Revell who could then hold the ball up nd wait for support.

Yes, I agree with that Beefy, Barney was struggling with his defender anyway and kept having to drop back and wide, Rev's height was more to our benefit, especially with Fed's clearances.

 

[McNasty]

How badly does Francis have to play before he is replaced ?

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

How badly does Francis have to play before he is replaced ?

By who ? Sankofa is the only one putting pressure on the back four and he dosent exactly look a super star either.

Francis has no competition for his place so he knows he'll be in the team every week.

 

[Ailsa Road Shrimper]

What was all that about?

Our best player on the pitch IMO, and Tilly goes and subs him off, bad move. The guy covered every blade of grass, and was a constant threat. We must sign him up for good.

Why was it a bad move? We didn't concede after the substitution.

Sawyer doesn't last 90 minutes so it would've been risky playing with 10 men including a guy who'll be tired for the last 20 minutes. We needed 10 fit and mobile bodies on the pitch to secure the draw, which we did.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Having had time to reflect on the decision, it looks to me as if Tilly got the decision right again, like he has done many times since his been here.

Stockport looked the better team yesterday, and a point was a good result. I felt as if they would score when we went down to 10, just like Brighton at home but the boys showed the right spirit and determination to stop that from happening.

Sawyer was beginning to tire, and when we are down to 10 men, we need a central midfielder who is prepared to sit in front of the back four and protect it. Which is exactly what Christophe does. Even when we have 11 men, he sits in front of the back four and provides the extra protection that has resulted in us looking more solid defensively.

Yes if we was on top and playing against someone who was playing poor like Hereford a couple of weeks ago, we could have took Christophe off, and leave Sawyer on to attempt to grab the winning goal, but Stockport where on top and we needed the extra steel in midfield hence Macca coming on to join Christophe.

I might off taken Barnard off, who I thought looked tired, and kept Revell on, but Barnard only needs half a chance to stick the ball away, ala his goal yesterday.

Well played Tilson.

I think the booing was pent up frustation from the sending off to be honest, and taking one of our better players off in Sawyer just brought the frustation to boiling point.

 

[David Icke]

Sawyer was distributing well in midfield. No one else was delivering slide rule passes like him. He was tackling well, holding the ball well, and was the only way we were going to be a threat after Dan went.

To pitch Sankofa in at the deep end like that when Stockport were oozing confidence was bad judgement. Did Sankofa have any chance of getting the pace of the game? No. Wrong player to put on in those circumstances, wrong player to take off

 

[DTS]

TTK re-appears after us not winning. There's a huge shock. Esp after Einstein's little fact earlier this week!

What fact was this Kev?

 

[leeblue]

apart from one tackle and a fancy turn in the first half what did sawyer do yesterday, he can be brillliant but wasnt that good yesterday, and TTK moaning abouth the floodlights......classic

 

[Mick]

apart from one tackle and a fancy turn in the first half what did sawyer do yesterday, he can be brillliant but wasnt that good yesterday, and TTK moaning abouth the floodlights......classic

I thought he was exceptional. Positioning, anticipation, energy, tenaciousness, vision and pace ... he has it all. I would never ever take him off ahead of such an average player as Betsy.

 

[Csboy]

I am sure it must have been TTK a few rows behind me who spent the whole game slagging Tilson off and the players whenever they made a mistake. You do wonder why these people bother coming if all they are going to do is moan the whole time. Clearly those people wern't here 7 or 8 years ago when there was far more to moan about.

Maybe the club could look to introduce a moaners section where the likes of TTK can congregate and moan to their hearts content away from those of us who want to get behind our team and have faith in Tilson.

 

[Beefy]

Sawyer was distributing well in midfield. No one else was delivering slide rule passes like him. He was tackling well, holding the ball well, and was the only way we were going to be a threat after Dan went.

To pitch Sankofa in at the deep end like that when Stockport were oozing confidence was bad judgement. Did Sankofa have any chance of getting the pace of the game? No. Wrong player to put on in those circumstances, wrong player to take off

Sankofa had to come on as we were a defender down.

 

[Welly7]

Personally, I wouldn't have taken Swayer off as I wanted us to try to win the game. My only criticism of Tilly was that perhaps he made the decision too quickly after the sending off. He was obviously concerned that our midfield would get over run and wanted a physical presence in there.
Maybe Tilly could have brought Sankofa on for Revell or Barney and left Sawyer alongside Christophe in the centre of midfield.

As for the reaction of the fans, well I thought it was disgraceful. Having just won 4 on the bounce to boo and sing "you don't know what you're doing" was out of order and showed a complete lack of respect for Tilly. As I've said, I would have kept Sawyer on, but on a point was a good one against a very capable side - therefore Tilly was justified in the decisions he made.

 

[KrustyTheKray]

I thought he was exceptional. Positioning, anticipation, energy, tenaciousness, vision and pace ... he has it all. I would never ever take him off ahead of such an average player as Betsy.

Agreed.

I would have even put Sawyer up front with Barnard, and brought Macca on for Revell. Then Macca could have dropped back to help out when needed.

We also need competition for Francis' position, who i think is the weak link in the team.

 

[Firestorm]

I felt , at the time , that I would have taken Barnard off for Sankofa, The thinking was taht the ball was more likely to stick up front if it was knocked long (which is all we were doing before the sending off due to the pressure Stockport were putting us under) the midfield would have then been able to get up in support to maintain the attack.

However , as Tilly has managed a fairly good career out of football management and I have only 6 years of Southend Junior league on my CV , I will respect his choice and begrudging accept it was probably a better move :)

And , Tony, Could you pop round my house, my clock needs winding up as well.............

 

[Gremlin]

I would have even put Sawyer up front with Barnard

Genius. Smallest player on the pitch asked to play out of position vs. their centre halves. Thanks for the insight Mr Wenger.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Sawyer was playing well, however it was the right decision. We'd just had defended subbed off, we were moving to play 4-4-1, and tilson has to think about the best balance for the team and how best to protect the points we have. McCormack in the middle with Christophe was clearly the best option to do this, as well as adding fresh legs to combat Stockport's superior numbers. Taking a winger off and putting a cm on would have unbalanced the side.

 

[Jam_Man]

Genius. Smallest player on the pitch asked to play out of position vs. their centre halves. Thanks for the insight Mr Wenger.

Indeed, no point in that, you might as well take him off than play him up front where he would have no impact whatsoever.