Hull City V Swansea City.

ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Some other interesting stats in that Hull had 327 passes against our 638 (almost twice as much) and Hull had 9 touches in our box against the 16 we had in theirs. Quite clearly we are not turning possession and box pressure into goals, which is something we've all noticed this season.

So what to do about it? It's not our problem as it's something for Russell Martin to sort out - but it's NOT being sorted is it? Maybe Piroe is missing Pato, however he's also missing the chances he does get. In my book he's not a natural striker and neither is Obafemi. This is not being critical about Piroe because without his goals we'd be in even deeper shit than we are now.

We need to get more crosses into the box but they are of limited value unless we get bodies in and around the box to attack them and we don't do that. It's a problem that Martin has to find an answer to and pdq as well. Our only natural striker is at Lincoln along with Whits who offered a modicum of pace that we so badly lack. But even when we had Cullen, he was never used properly because his natural ability never suited how Martin wanted us to play. Perhaps our manager should sit down and have a re-think about certain aspects of our play. Goals win matches but we are not set up to score enough and that is down to him, player selection and the tactics he adopts. His present game plan is not working. He needs something different.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
We are not setup to score goals and typically we are not setup to stop the other team from scoring …. As the match numbers show.
Martin’s madness is not a system we can take into the Prem if promoted and survive
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
CroJack said:
It seems we need someone different. Pity, people are going to blame the passing football, not its poor implementation.
Click to expand...
I don't blame the passing football, I'm absolutely all for it. Granted the implementation is poor in that we get little or no result, BUT much of that is down to Martin's team selection where he has persistently played people out of position and has not played an attacking enough formation to score the goals we need. No use at all in having great possession when the final ball into the box is aimed at ONE player who's being marked by 2/3 defenders! The defensive minded players he's selected just don't get into the box anywhere often enough because they don't have the instinct, the DNA, to get in there. Yes, of course we need better players but, imo, he's not making the best use of those he has. We have midfielders who don't defend properly but neither do they attack properly. They seem content just to retain possession by passing the ball on and, once they've done that, they deem their work done. As for square pegs in round holes....... :mad:

All I read these days is Martin claiming that the players are either undercooked or tired from too many games. Which is it for pity's sake? And he seems to be always praising the players even when they've turned in a poor performance, a la Brendan Rodgers if you remember. No matter how much we stunk the place out, Brendan always reckoned we were excellent. We all knew we had not been, so stop treating us as though we know nothing about the game.
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
ivoralljack said:
Granted the implementation is poor in that we get little or no result, BUT much of that is down to Martin's team selection
Click to expand...
That's why I wrote we need someone different, meaning someone else in the managerial role.

Game after game it's the same pattern opposition uses to score goals against us. Not only it's the same pattern, it's the same fckin side! A long ball bypassing Cabango who is slow as a turtle, a cross, and a goal. We play a suicidal formation 1-4-2-3 when we have the ball, and we have the ball 66% of time on average. We don't play three at the back, we play one at the back, and thay one is Kyle Naughton who has never been a top defender, and who is not and never will be a centre-back.

I am not saying 1-4-2-3 can't be effective defensively.. It can, but we simply don't have players who have pace enough to play it. We play so high that every time we lose the ball we give away a high quality chance because we are not able to run fast enough to catch opposition attackers. When it comes to attacking, then one thing is clear - how on earth are we going to create chances and score goals when there are 8 defenders out of 10 outfield players in our starting XI? It simply doesn't make sense. Players who have been trained their whole lives to defend can't overnight become goal scorers. They lack technique and insticts. Manning has a potential to become a winger, and he can shoot, but others?
 
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