Having thought about the game last night and given the knee jerk reaction time to settle, what are the issues as I see them.
We arrived at Cheltenham last night knowing it is a small, tight ground and the approach they were going to take was to launch the ball into our area at every opportunity and get physically stuck in all over the pitch. No surprise really because recent away matches make it clear that works against Blackpool.
It seems obvious that it works against us for several reasons.
1. The centre of our defence is vulnerable because we lack the defenders who totally dominate in the air. The percentage of our headed clearance the go up rather than out is far too high and there is a lack of pace to recover. With what we had available last and both Casey and Ekepteta need to be out there. There was also a good case for playing a deep midfielder like Connolly to shield the back three.
2. Against teams like Cheltenham it is hard to justify the presence of Hamilton, Dembele and Lyons because they just don’t cut it physically especially when the referees have collectively declared an open season of hacking down Dembele.
3. Our midfield lacks the aggression and legs to compete with the physical effort put in by teams that play in the style of the opposition last night. The goals came last night because we simply didn’t close the opposition down when the long ball dropped in the area. In scrappy games you have to physically earn the right to play and we simply don’t too often
4. To play a possession based game you need a creative midfield with players off the ball continually moving into space. We are short in both of those, especially when Rhodes is missing. For various reasons Morgan, Norburn nor Carey are currently providing this.
5. Probably because of this lack of movement we are reduced to playing balls longer and the retention of of kuoassi, Lavery and Joseph is not great. Kuoassi is a big unit and has potential but is not quick or experienced enough to make the right runs, Lavery is quick but small and lacks awareness of the players around him and Joseph is talented but lacking the creative player to slide the ball through to him at the moment.
6. We need more pace added throughout the team and a more aggressive approach against teams willing to battle. Many things can be coached but some are inherent and down to character.
Unlike many on here I don't think sacking the manager is the answer and Critchley should be given more time to develop a stronger squad with a definite identity. At the moment our squad is what it is but consistentl calls to change the manager has not worked for us in the past and sometimes a long term view and patience is required.
We would all like to see free flowing football but first you need to win the physical battles.
Of course all this is my opinion and others might not agree
Stan53
We arrived at Cheltenham last night knowing it is a small, tight ground and the approach they were going to take was to launch the ball into our area at every opportunity and get physically stuck in all over the pitch. No surprise really because recent away matches make it clear that works against Blackpool.
It seems obvious that it works against us for several reasons.
1. The centre of our defence is vulnerable because we lack the defenders who totally dominate in the air. The percentage of our headed clearance the go up rather than out is far too high and there is a lack of pace to recover. With what we had available last and both Casey and Ekepteta need to be out there. There was also a good case for playing a deep midfielder like Connolly to shield the back three.
2. Against teams like Cheltenham it is hard to justify the presence of Hamilton, Dembele and Lyons because they just don’t cut it physically especially when the referees have collectively declared an open season of hacking down Dembele.
3. Our midfield lacks the aggression and legs to compete with the physical effort put in by teams that play in the style of the opposition last night. The goals came last night because we simply didn’t close the opposition down when the long ball dropped in the area. In scrappy games you have to physically earn the right to play and we simply don’t too often
4. To play a possession based game you need a creative midfield with players off the ball continually moving into space. We are short in both of those, especially when Rhodes is missing. For various reasons Morgan, Norburn nor Carey are currently providing this.
5. Probably because of this lack of movement we are reduced to playing balls longer and the retention of of kuoassi, Lavery and Joseph is not great. Kuoassi is a big unit and has potential but is not quick or experienced enough to make the right runs, Lavery is quick but small and lacks awareness of the players around him and Joseph is talented but lacking the creative player to slide the ball through to him at the moment.
6. We need more pace added throughout the team and a more aggressive approach against teams willing to battle. Many things can be coached but some are inherent and down to character.
Unlike many on here I don't think sacking the manager is the answer and Critchley should be given more time to develop a stronger squad with a definite identity. At the moment our squad is what it is but consistentl calls to change the manager has not worked for us in the past and sometimes a long term view and patience is required.
We would all like to see free flowing football but first you need to win the physical battles.
Of course all this is my opinion and others might not agree
Stan53
