CroJack
Key Player
Tymon was poor today in my humble opinion.
Blackburn - (H)
- Thread starter KVetch
- Start date
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Looking at the Yates miss again, his first touch suggests he really had no idea what he was going to do. Should have been touch, stride, shoot. But he was in a dither.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
We are still only 4 points above the relegation posse on 38 points. Way Too tight. Can’t afford not to win at this point. Too easy to drop a point here and there and slip into the morass.
Three points; a great first half but overall this was ABSOLUTELY NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Why can't we play for 90 minutes? We don't seem to be playing for 60 minutes right now, let alone 90. It's not exactly a secret that a game of football lasts at least that long. Has it occurred to Luke Williams that his squad looks nowhere fit enough to play 90 minutes? I would say not, given the evidence of the last two games. It is shameful if a professional footballer is not fit enough to do his job but the coaching staff also have to take their share of the blame because it would appear that they're not doing their jobs either.
Sort it, Mr Williams, this is NOT amateur hour and we do not want to see any more part-time performances from your charges, our team.
Sort it, Mr Williams, this is NOT amateur hour and we do not want to see any more part-time performances from your charges, our team.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
We need a plan B. Allen is the key stone to Williams’ system. He can’t play 90 at that pace. When he goes off, we need an Allen #2 to slot in and take over, or a plan B that accommodates the lack of Allen but is just as effective.
KVetch
Key Player
Fitness has been an issue for a long time. It takes time to see an improvement. As long as they keep getting stronger. The tempo is there at least we see it in the 1st half. If we could keep that up for 90 we wouldn't have to worry.
Does Allen have 1 more season in him? It would be a nice end to his career if we can get promoted. Most people want Fulton to be able to fill his role.
Does Allen have 1 more season in him? It would be a nice end to his career if we can get promoted. Most people want Fulton to be able to fill his role.
Williams has again conceded that we didn't last the pace once more. Okay, he says he knows about it so let's see what he's going to do about it. Very happy with 6 points from the last two games but far from happy with both second half performances. Our team needs to play for 90 minutes because that's what other teams do - and if any player is unable to give us that then they should fuck off elsewhere. Some stats:
POSSESSION: 52-48 SHOTS: 7-10 OT: 4-5 CORNERS: 6-6 FOULS: 10-12 GOALS: 2-1
Despite a good first half, which had most of us purring, including radio comms, we fell off a cliff again in the second period. Note that Rovers had more shots and more on target than we did. Still much work to be done; literally in the case of most of our players.
POSSESSION: 52-48 SHOTS: 7-10 OT: 4-5 CORNERS: 6-6 FOULS: 10-12 GOALS: 2-1
Despite a good first half, which had most of us purring, including radio comms, we fell off a cliff again in the second period. Note that Rovers had more shots and more on target than we did. Still much work to be done; literally in the case of most of our players.
CroJack
Key Player
Even in the second half we were on top until the 66th minute, when Allen and Placheta were replaced by Yates and Fulton. Then Pato got injured and Lowe replaced him.
It was a different pattern we saw in the Sunderland game. In the 63rd minute, Yates and Fulton substituted Allen and Pato. At this point, we were already under continuous pressure. Yates and Fulton weren't able to make any impact in order to stop the pressure.
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Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Against Sunderland and Rovers, the Williams’ system came fully on-line. These are the games to judge.
Against Sunderland, we either ran out of gas or the opposition adjusted, neutralized and took control 5 to 10 minutes into the second half.
Against Rovers that pivot started to appear with 5 minutes left in the first half, we held them neutral until minute 50 or so in the second half and shortly thereafter they scored. Both teams made 2 subs. They continued the momentum and we struggled to reassert and never really did. There was a brief flurry late in the half that produced the Yates chance to kill the game that was squandered. Object lesson to be learned there … what we all know … Yates is not up to it. A decent #9 there takes that feed and shoots on target, the rest is up to the keeper. The “works hard” #9 is also being shown up by Cullen in that metric. For me, the next #9 to be sub’d on has to be Big Myk or we reintroduce Thomas if fit. Yates has been given more than a fair shake. Time to check out other options.
You can produce all the cliches you want to explain it but matter of factly when Allen is present we have dominated as other players have more freedom to play. The moment he drops to average so do we. As suggested, fitness levels are not going to be the answer, although better is always better. Allen is great and giving all he can at his age. He’s not going to be a Prem league midfield leader at 34 for 90 minutes. We need a second “Allen” to assume that role when the real Allen drops off. It’s not Fulton. It could be Cooper. It could be Abdulai. It could be PP. but the truth is that there’s only one Allen, and so we really need a Plan B, that can be in the same theme as Plan A, just a tweaked version to accommodate the different combination of players.
Big work in progress. for now we have to be more ruthless when we are in control and clearly we need to score 3 when we own the first half. And, each game going forward is going to be against opposition that have had more time to go to school on the Williams’ method and devise counter measures.
Pato’s injury and perhaps the recovery limitations of other players is going to impact team selection against Watford. This will be a challenge to Williams and the ability to replicate the system across the squad … there is going to be a Plan B or A’
Against Sunderland, we either ran out of gas or the opposition adjusted, neutralized and took control 5 to 10 minutes into the second half.
Against Rovers that pivot started to appear with 5 minutes left in the first half, we held them neutral until minute 50 or so in the second half and shortly thereafter they scored. Both teams made 2 subs. They continued the momentum and we struggled to reassert and never really did. There was a brief flurry late in the half that produced the Yates chance to kill the game that was squandered. Object lesson to be learned there … what we all know … Yates is not up to it. A decent #9 there takes that feed and shoots on target, the rest is up to the keeper. The “works hard” #9 is also being shown up by Cullen in that metric. For me, the next #9 to be sub’d on has to be Big Myk or we reintroduce Thomas if fit. Yates has been given more than a fair shake. Time to check out other options.
You can produce all the cliches you want to explain it but matter of factly when Allen is present we have dominated as other players have more freedom to play. The moment he drops to average so do we. As suggested, fitness levels are not going to be the answer, although better is always better. Allen is great and giving all he can at his age. He’s not going to be a Prem league midfield leader at 34 for 90 minutes. We need a second “Allen” to assume that role when the real Allen drops off. It’s not Fulton. It could be Cooper. It could be Abdulai. It could be PP. but the truth is that there’s only one Allen, and so we really need a Plan B, that can be in the same theme as Plan A, just a tweaked version to accommodate the different combination of players.
Big work in progress. for now we have to be more ruthless when we are in control and clearly we need to score 3 when we own the first half. And, each game going forward is going to be against opposition that have had more time to go to school on the Williams’ method and devise counter measures.
Pato’s injury and perhaps the recovery limitations of other players is going to impact team selection against Watford. This will be a challenge to Williams and the ability to replicate the system across the squad … there is going to be a Plan B or A’
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Ollie Cooper isn't it? The best Allen replacement in the squad. The team's most energetic midfielder, tons of quality, and as good and willing a tackler as Fulton or Allen. Not as experienced as either but there's always swings and roundabouts.
CroJack
Key Player
I remember when Rodgers was in charge of Liverpool during that near title-winning season, when Suarez and Sturridge were a formidable partnership up front and scoring a lot of goals. His tactic was to go all out in the first half, run like mad and score 3, 4, 5+ goals. The opposition were shell-shocked by the intensity with which Liverpool played in those first halves. Liverpool were terrible defensively and conceded a lot of goals in the second halves, but they always had that cushion of goals from the first halves.
So, yes, I agree that we should score 3 or more goals in our first halves.
The beauty of it is that you can't counter teams that play with more intensity, run more, press more, cross more and shoot more. No matter what you try, you're going to lose 95 per cent of those games. That's why I like high-intensity, high-pressing football.