jamessufc88
Youth Team
I was really, really confident that Barnsley was a place that we could get a result and turn our season around (it certainly should have been). How wrong I was. I feel most sorry for the fans who made the journey. People like me who skived off of my last lesson at school, got out of work in the evening when I really should have been earning some much needed wages, and got home at 2am to get a meagre 4 hours of sleep before I had to be up for school this morning.
So many things were wrong last night. The starting line up really did baffle. What was Mitchell Cole, who has hardly played for us in the last half a year, doing starting the match? And what was Lewis Hunt doing starting in centre midfield in his first match back following a month-long injury?
Tilson would have been much better off shifting JCR out to the left and putting Hooper on the right, and Clarke would have been a better option to start in centre midfield. I don't like him there, but he would have been an improvement on Hunt - at least he's match fit and puts in some tackles. Lewis Hunt has no forward-moving impetus; I didn't see a particularly good pass from him all match and he just seems to back off of players when he gets run at. As for Mitchell Cole - well, I don't really know what to say. Disinterested, unconfident, static, weak on the ball. I really think that he's finished here now. I felt sorry for McCormack, who wasn't able to play his usual style of game because he was having to do the work of two central midfielders, and JCR, who had the unenviable task of working both wings, especially in the second half, to cover for Mitchell Cole
I do realise that Maher and Gower weren't playing, and if they were, we'd probably have looked a lot better. But there has been the odd match this season when we haven't look much better, more creative or more inventive with those two in the starting line-up, and last night just proved that the back-up in certain positions is not good enough. I hope that Rieira is back soon.
The thing that impressed me most last season was our style of play. We kept it on the deck the whole time. Our midfielders and forwards, no matter who they were, were constantly moving, off the ball, into pockets of space behind opposition players to present options for short, forward moving passes. Then the ball would quickly be played out wide, still on the deck. We were constantly moving forward at quite a high tempo. This is the style of play that got us a lot of goals last season. But we don't seem to be doing that at all this season. And that applies to the odd game in which Maher and Gower are playing too. In a number of games this season, with last night being a prime example, there has been no inventiveness or movement. Players receive the ball, and no-one is moving to receive it, so the player on the ball either dithers on it and passes it sideways and backwards, hoofs it and loses possession, or runs aimlessly with it and gets tackled. I think that a lot of pre-season views that Championship football is played at pace on the deck have been proved to be a fair distance from the truth. There are so many teams around who seem to be lumping it, and we are allowing ourselves to dragged into that style of play. I realise that, after our lack of success in the past few months, it's probably a confidence thing, but the players need to be constantly motivated and they need to have the mental strength to keep the ball on the deck as much as possible and get some off the ball movement and forward momentum going.
As for the team as individuals - Flahavan could have done better with the first goal. The second one he stood still expecting Prior to clear it, and when he didn't, the ball just flew past him and into the net. Commanded his area well and was good at throwing the ball out quickly to start a counter-attack. The defence as a whole just didn't seem to work very well. Prior was badly at fault for both goals and was just not as dominant a figure as he's been in the past few games. Sodje was solid, nothing more. A few rash challenges from him, and today, his massive headers just seemed to go straight back to the opposition. Hammell looks uncomfortable without Gower in front of him and was having to get forward when Cole didn't, so he often got caught out on the counter attack. Also gives the ball away too often. Francis was pleasing, good on the ball, a few good tackles, but let the nippy left winger get in behind him too often. Can't say anymore about the midfield than I already have. JCR superb, Macca spread the play well and put in some good tackles but had to cover Lewis Hunt too, who went missing too often and offered nothing going forward. Cole was just cr@p. Simple as.
Harrold had a solid game too. Got some good flick-ons with his head and foot, was a nuisance to Barnsley, but stupidly blazed the ball over the ball after doing fantastically well to get through 2 or 3 Barnsley defenders into the box. Freddy was ineffectual. Few shots in the second half. Lost the ball to often and was quite lazy. Never seemed to be there when Harrold got in a flick-on; he needs to be more alert to those. Was, however, pretty much feeding off scraps from the midfield. He'll always look ineffective if there's a lack of decent service.
Flahavan 6, Francis 7, Hammell 6, Prior 5, Sodje 6, JCR 8*, McCormack 7, Hunt 5, Cole 4, Harrold 7, Eastwood 6.
Hoops and Bradders had little chance to make an impact. People were shouting for subs from the start of the second half, yet Tilson still waited until 8 minutes from time. Not good enough really, as the game was crying out for them. I hear he has some kind of superstition with regards to not liking to bring subs on till 15 minutes are remaining. Well, in the Championship, any superstition like that, if it's true, needs to go out the window. This is the big time now and we can't afford to let silly things like that play apart. If someone is ineffective/cr@p in the first half, tell them at half time that thay have the first 10 minutes of the second half to play up before you decide whether to substitute them or not!
So all in all, a bit of a let down, especially considering the length of journey and the sacrifices that some people might have made to go! Things need to change quickly and the eternal optimism has to stop. I know we've come a long way, Tilly has worked wonders, etc., but that's in the past. This is serious, and we need to focus on the present. And at the present, I see no reason to feel optimistic or to feel that we have a chance to stay up this season. I realise that we were without a few key players, but as I said, sometimes we have looked no better with Gower and Maher playing, and the quality of back-up does not bode well for the future. I just hope that Spurs isn't going to be too much of a distraction...
So many things were wrong last night. The starting line up really did baffle. What was Mitchell Cole, who has hardly played for us in the last half a year, doing starting the match? And what was Lewis Hunt doing starting in centre midfield in his first match back following a month-long injury?
Tilson would have been much better off shifting JCR out to the left and putting Hooper on the right, and Clarke would have been a better option to start in centre midfield. I don't like him there, but he would have been an improvement on Hunt - at least he's match fit and puts in some tackles. Lewis Hunt has no forward-moving impetus; I didn't see a particularly good pass from him all match and he just seems to back off of players when he gets run at. As for Mitchell Cole - well, I don't really know what to say. Disinterested, unconfident, static, weak on the ball. I really think that he's finished here now. I felt sorry for McCormack, who wasn't able to play his usual style of game because he was having to do the work of two central midfielders, and JCR, who had the unenviable task of working both wings, especially in the second half, to cover for Mitchell Cole
I do realise that Maher and Gower weren't playing, and if they were, we'd probably have looked a lot better. But there has been the odd match this season when we haven't look much better, more creative or more inventive with those two in the starting line-up, and last night just proved that the back-up in certain positions is not good enough. I hope that Rieira is back soon.
The thing that impressed me most last season was our style of play. We kept it on the deck the whole time. Our midfielders and forwards, no matter who they were, were constantly moving, off the ball, into pockets of space behind opposition players to present options for short, forward moving passes. Then the ball would quickly be played out wide, still on the deck. We were constantly moving forward at quite a high tempo. This is the style of play that got us a lot of goals last season. But we don't seem to be doing that at all this season. And that applies to the odd game in which Maher and Gower are playing too. In a number of games this season, with last night being a prime example, there has been no inventiveness or movement. Players receive the ball, and no-one is moving to receive it, so the player on the ball either dithers on it and passes it sideways and backwards, hoofs it and loses possession, or runs aimlessly with it and gets tackled. I think that a lot of pre-season views that Championship football is played at pace on the deck have been proved to be a fair distance from the truth. There are so many teams around who seem to be lumping it, and we are allowing ourselves to dragged into that style of play. I realise that, after our lack of success in the past few months, it's probably a confidence thing, but the players need to be constantly motivated and they need to have the mental strength to keep the ball on the deck as much as possible and get some off the ball movement and forward momentum going.
As for the team as individuals - Flahavan could have done better with the first goal. The second one he stood still expecting Prior to clear it, and when he didn't, the ball just flew past him and into the net. Commanded his area well and was good at throwing the ball out quickly to start a counter-attack. The defence as a whole just didn't seem to work very well. Prior was badly at fault for both goals and was just not as dominant a figure as he's been in the past few games. Sodje was solid, nothing more. A few rash challenges from him, and today, his massive headers just seemed to go straight back to the opposition. Hammell looks uncomfortable without Gower in front of him and was having to get forward when Cole didn't, so he often got caught out on the counter attack. Also gives the ball away too often. Francis was pleasing, good on the ball, a few good tackles, but let the nippy left winger get in behind him too often. Can't say anymore about the midfield than I already have. JCR superb, Macca spread the play well and put in some good tackles but had to cover Lewis Hunt too, who went missing too often and offered nothing going forward. Cole was just cr@p. Simple as.
Harrold had a solid game too. Got some good flick-ons with his head and foot, was a nuisance to Barnsley, but stupidly blazed the ball over the ball after doing fantastically well to get through 2 or 3 Barnsley defenders into the box. Freddy was ineffectual. Few shots in the second half. Lost the ball to often and was quite lazy. Never seemed to be there when Harrold got in a flick-on; he needs to be more alert to those. Was, however, pretty much feeding off scraps from the midfield. He'll always look ineffective if there's a lack of decent service.
Flahavan 6, Francis 7, Hammell 6, Prior 5, Sodje 6, JCR 8*, McCormack 7, Hunt 5, Cole 4, Harrold 7, Eastwood 6.
Hoops and Bradders had little chance to make an impact. People were shouting for subs from the start of the second half, yet Tilson still waited until 8 minutes from time. Not good enough really, as the game was crying out for them. I hear he has some kind of superstition with regards to not liking to bring subs on till 15 minutes are remaining. Well, in the Championship, any superstition like that, if it's true, needs to go out the window. This is the big time now and we can't afford to let silly things like that play apart. If someone is ineffective/cr@p in the first half, tell them at half time that thay have the first 10 minutes of the second half to play up before you decide whether to substitute them or not!
So all in all, a bit of a let down, especially considering the length of journey and the sacrifices that some people might have made to go! Things need to change quickly and the eternal optimism has to stop. I know we've come a long way, Tilly has worked wonders, etc., but that's in the past. This is serious, and we need to focus on the present. And at the present, I see no reason to feel optimistic or to feel that we have a chance to stay up this season. I realise that we were without a few key players, but as I said, sometimes we have looked no better with Gower and Maher playing, and the quality of back-up does not bode well for the future. I just hope that Spurs isn't going to be too much of a distraction...
