Dealing with the big bullies?

[EyeinBISA]

Clearly Critch and the boys prefer to play against passing / flowing football sides and we have proven we can match teams from last years Prem amongst others. Against Big, strong, direct (and ugly football) Cardiff we were bullied and couldn’t cope, I thought last night we coped much better with the same style of football and were unlucky to concede. Agree with lots of other comments, we need to move them around and run at teams like Stoke more. Still 16 games in Critch gets a 9/10 from me…

 

[TangerineBayern]

Last night was just one of those games between 2 teams playing some poor football at times, it happens. We’ve played some great football and been on a very good run but last night was a bad night at the office, we'll dust ourselves down and go again Saturday.

 

[Northstandsinger]

Clearly Critch and the boys prefer to play against passing / flowing football sides and we have proven we can match teams from last years Prem amongst others. Against Big, strong, direct (and ugly football) Cardiff we were bullied and couldn’t cope, I thought last night we coped much better with the same style of football and were unlucky to concede. Agree with lots of other comments, we need to move them around and run at teams like Stoke more. Still 16 games in Critch gets a 9/10 from me…

Stoke played nothing like Cardiff.

 

[Chunkylad]

When Keogh went off we lost a lot of the defensive rigidity as Husband is able to win the aerial battles (against Fletcher particularly)
Happened just the same last time Keogh limped off.

Husband has good positional awareness and is brave in the tackle but he is a major step down in the aerial duals. He’s a better left back for sure

 

[Scaramanga]

Personally i felt we never really got in behind them. You have to turn giants like that around and we didn't do it. Bringing Madine on was the wrong choice because it just meant we were looking to occupy the lump. We should of brought dale on and tried to get in behind them. Only an opinion of course.

 

[TangerineBayern]

Personally i felt we never really got in behind them. You have to turn giants like that around and we didn't do it. Bringing Madine on was the wrong choice because it just meant we were looking to occupy the lump. We should of brought dale on and tried to get in behind them. Only an opinion of course.

Not so sure they were giants Scara apart from Souttar at the back who was on loan to Fleetwood a couple of seasons ago and played against us. I thought Dale should have been given a chance and as you say we failed to get in behind their defence.

 

[Scaramanga]

Not so sure they were giants Scara apart from Souttar at the back who was on loan to Fleetwood a couple of seasons ago and played against us. I thought Dale should have been given a chance and as you say we failed to get in behind their defence.

Yes i remember, i also remember not being able to get the better of him then as well. Apparently Everton looking at him for 20 million

 

[TangerineBayern]

Yes i remember, i also remember not being able to get the better of him then as well. Apparently Everton looking at him for 20 million

He’s a decent player too, proper big fella!

 

[Chesterbfc]

They were giants!! Several players 6 ft plus and I thought them playing Jordan Thompson summed them up. When he played for us he was a cynical little sh#te, it took me a while to spot him cos now he,s a cynical big sh#te !!
We just need a better plan to deal with these big hard nosed Championship sides. I,m sure it took teams like Brentford, and Bournemouth time to develop a plan. Rock on,who realistically would have thought we,d be in the position we are back in August.?

 

[Wizaard]

Coming away from the game disappointed not to have got something is a sign of progress.

We've come a long way and need to acknowledge that. In the end, we should have got at least a point, but it was our own failings in front of goal that cost us.

 

[SeasideKurt]

Marv looked an absolute shambles after Keogh went off, it's outrageous he got MOTM to be honest.

 

[Jaffa_The_Hut]

Coming away from the game disappointed not to have got something is a sign of progress.

We've come a long way and need to acknowledge that. In the end, we should have got at least a point, but it was our own failings in front of goal that cost us.

Totally agree up to your last line.

Did we have any real goal chances?

One shot at goal and I’am pretty sure their keeper didn’t have to make a single save in the whole 90 minutes.

 

[Wizaard]

Totally agree up to your last line.

Did we have any real goal chances?

One shot at goal and I’am pretty sure their keeper didn’t have to make a single save in the whole 90 minutes.

Yates put one in the side netting that he should have hit the target with, and Carey had the whole goal to aim at and hit the defender with the keeper nowhere. He has to score. Add Keshi clean through and failing to control it, so it went to the keeper, and there's the game right there.

 

[SeasideKurt]

Totally agree up to your last line.

Did we have any real goal chances?

One shot at goal and I’am pretty sure their keeper didn’t have to make a single save in the whole 90 minutes.

You must have gone to a different game. First half we had 3 or 4 chances and fluffed our lines.

 

[Poolview]

The fact they had 5 men booked in the first half shows how cynical they were, which stopped us getting any momentum in the game. By the way 5 bookings was not enough. The refs rarely give us anything and so these teams are allowed to get away with it

 

[Steve Fisher]

One major positive from last night is that at least we don't have to watch Stoke play every week.. I thought we coped with their size pretty well for the most part, but it's hard to play our usual fast flowing football when the game is constantly broken up by cynical fouling.. I thought Stoke were lucky to end up with 11 men on the pitch last night - particularly the kick-out that only received a yellow card!

 

[Phil_bfc deux]

Stoke are nothing like Cardiff only similarity is that they had 11 men

First half was even we probably had the better chances

Second half they out footballed us and deserved their win, there were times when we couldn't get the ball off them and i though Critchley was too slow to change things

They deserved the win and played some decent stuff

 

[GazMadinesChickenCurry]

Marv looked an absolute shambles after Keogh went off, it's outrageous he got MOTM to be honest.

I think 'an absolute shambles' is a little harsh tbh. Didn't do that much wrong, few misplaced passes yes, but defensively sound, the goal was unfortunate.

 

[Torycorner]

I didn’t go last night but watched the game on my pen-stick.
We were worth a draw but ok it didn’t happen.
More lessons learned & we learn quickly.
It’s a TEN/10 for our season so far from me.
Let’s “stick together” & “enjoy the ride”
UTMP

 

[Charlie Gracie]

Stoke are nothing like Cardiff only similarity is that they had 11 men

First half was even we probably had the better chances

Second half they out footballed us and deserved their win, there were times when we couldn't get the ball off them and i though Critchley was too slow to change things

They deserved the win and played some decent stuff

Job is back!

 

[20togo]

Stoke played nothing like Cardiff.

agree. Don't think Stoke really bullied us at all. They were just very cynical with their fouls

 

[SirHarryThomson]

Teams with lumbering defenders don't like pace and we didn't use our pace to advantage. Bowler should have been on earlier. I was disappointed with Carey and Yates who didn't show enough. I'm happy with a point off playoffs and hope Critch learnt from last night.

 

[20togo]

Yates put one in the side netting that he should have hit the target with, and Carey had the whole goal to aim at and hit the defender with the keeper nowhere. He has to score. Add Keshi clean through and failing to control it, so it went to the keeper, and there's the game right there.

agree or I'd prefer to say we had situations where we should have created a better chance than we did.

 

[Wizaard]

agree or I'd prefer to say we had situations where we should have created a better chance than we did.

Yes, good way of phrasing it.

 

[Stony Hill]

Totally agree up to your last line.

Did we have any real goal chances?

One shot at goal and I’am pretty sure their keeper didn’t have to make a single save in the whole 90 minutes.

”our own failings in front of goal.”
In my mind, you’re agreeing with Wiz. No?

 

[Phil_bfc deux]

Job is back!

What don't you agree with?

 

[Jaffa_The_Hut]

”our own failings in front of goal.”
In my mind, you’re agreeing with Wiz. No?

No I’am not.

I’am saying what chances we did have were only half chances nothing at all that you could have said we should have scored from.

 

[Tr33frog]

I don’t get why we signed Connolly, we’ve seen Husband at centre back and it just doesn’t work, teams just target him and it lets them get in behind

 

[20togo]

No I’am not.

I’am saying what chances we did have were only half chances nothing at all that you could have said we should have scored from.

see my earlier post. I agree that they were only half chances but that's because our touch at times when in the clear was poor. And so what was and should have been a clear chance became only a half chance. At least three times in that first half. A decent first touch stops their player from closing us down and allows us to get a shot away much quicker.

 

[Stony Hill]

No I’am not.

I’am saying what chances we did have were only half chances nothing at all that you could have said we should have scored from.

Any/all our chances were missed = our own failings.
From where I was sitting, we created NO chances. Again, our own failings.
Aah, well. Just opinions.

 

[Phil_bfc deux]

We had 2 maybe 3 clear cut chances in the 1st half

Yates and Carey should have scored

 

[phill]

The way stoke pressed us last night in the second half was impressive very hard to play against especially on top of the cynical stuff .We couldnt cope with it and the reason why we went long and played right into their hands.As did the missile throwers reacting to the disgusting goading of our fans by the stoke arsehole

 

[Scaramanga]

We had 2 maybe 3 clear cut chances in the 1st half

Yates and Carey should have scored

1 goal was always going to decide that game, and you are right, we should of got it in the first half.

 

[BFCAleman]

Not so sure they were giants Scara apart from Souttar at the back who was on loan to Fleetwood a couple of seasons ago and played against us. I thought Dale should have been given a chance and as you say we failed to get in behind their defence.

Once keogh went off, we played with only one 6 footer (until madine came on) against a team that must have had at least 7. That is always going to be a struggle .

Ironically I thought Sheffield were not a big unit and low and behold we managed to deal with them easily. Most other teams seem huge .

 

[Hevster]

Reasonable first half. Husband held well in the middle after Keoghs departure and our first half chat in the stands was definitely feeling positive about how we were now playing against a very experienced Championship side. Expectation in our half time chat was that we were at least equal to them, and with 5 of theirs in the book and the players we had on the pitch and on the bench, we had the pace and guile to get at them more directly and force things second half.

Second half then felt like we missed a trick. Stoke upped their game cos they'd worked us out and we didn't change approach, they pressed higher and nullified us. Aerial balls to Mitchell or Anderson weren't working and were never going to. Almost nothing went round the corners or drilled into the spaces to get our pace men into a running race they would have won. That's the main frustration for me, it felt like we had the resources to go at them but we weren't able to switch it up. Some of that was Stoke playing much better but a fair bit of it was our approach.

We have come a long way, and the fact I expected at least a point out of last night shows the belief I have in this side, cos Stoke are pretty much as experienced as it comes at this level. First half we looked easily a match if not better than them. I'm sure the lads will pick themselves up and we will have hopefully learned another lesson - big picture is still very positive but last night feels a little bit of a missed opportunity.

 

[20togo]

Reasonable first half. Husband held well in the middle after Keoghs departure and our first half chat in the stands was definitely feeling positive about how we were now playing against a very experienced Championship side. Expectation in our half time chat was that we were at least equal to them, and with 5 of theirs in the book and the players we had on the pitch and on the bench, we had the pace and guile to get at them more directly and force things second half.

Second half then felt like we missed a trick. Stoke upped their game cos they'd worked us out and we didn't change approach, they pressed higher and nullified us. Aerial balls to Mitchell or Anderson weren't working and were never going to. Almost nothing went round the corners or drilled into the spaces to get our pace men into a running race they would have won. That's the main frustration for me, it felt like we had the resources to go at them but we weren't able to switch it up. Some of that was Stoke playing much better but a fair bit of it was our approach.

We have come a long way, and the fact I expected at least a point out of last night shows the belief I have in this side, cos Stoke are pretty much as experienced as it comes at this level. First half we looked easily a match if not better than them. I'm sure the lads will pick themselves up and we will have hopefully learned another lesson - big picture is still very positive but last night feels a little bit of a missed opportunity.

yep, I thought that Husband lost aerial duals that Keogh was winning. Agree about the aerial balls to our wingers too. Developing your point about balls round the corners or drilled into spaces I agree and that's why Carey couldn't get in the game at all second half. Everything was focused on the wide players and there was very little by way of playing through the middle into the pockets of space where Carey was. It's easy to say Carey was poor but the fact is for me, we didn't try to play in a way that suited him.