How long do we have to watch boring lacklustre football .

Progressfan

Progressfan

Well-known member
Once again we areawatching absolute dross , we never made their keeper make a decent save , once again Evan’s in midfield not a decent forward pass and awful continual wasted free kicks from him , no sign of Banks until the last ten minutes, playing three at the back didn’t work and left us wide open against tricky wingers .
They were much sharper at passing and so much quicker and after they scored we were all over the place , maybe we should have chose Liam Richardson to give us some attractive wining football rather than Ian Evatt.
I don’t see what Evatt is trying to achieve that was any better than Bruce and Critchley tactics , this slow build up by passing across the back is so boring to watch and far from productive or entertaining.
The home fans were left flat as they had nothing to cheer about due to the lacklustre boring football on display , we can argue we’ve players missing however we are constantly reminded it’s a squad game these days so it’s even more important for the manager to pick the right players that are creative enough to beat the opposition , which was not evident on Saturday.

In a nutshell three at the back is not working , no creativity in midfield , and forwards who struggle to take half chances and for me the uncertainty around the manager and his tactics………… all of which sadly equals a gloomy outlook ahead .
 
To be fair Evatt himself looked exasperated, but yeah it’s been a trend ever since Critchley mk1 left, looking terrified to take a risk, shellshocked if we go 1-0 down, plodding nonsense, no philosophy or plan , just floating aimlessly towards football purgatory.
 
We are a pretty rubbish team really so we will have to watch rubbish football irrespective of formation or style of play until I'd say all of our injuries are back and maybe a couple of others added too.
Bruces football was worse. There was clearly no plan. Now you can see there is, we are just not great at it but we won't be great at any cos our players are not very good.
 
Progressfan said:
Once again we areawatching absolute dross , we never made their keeper make a decent save , once again Evan’s in midfield not a decent forward pass and awful continual wasted free kicks from him , no sign of Banks until the last ten minutes, playing three at the back didn’t work and left us wide open against tricky wingers .
They were much sharper at passing and so much quicker and after they scored we were all over the place , maybe we should have chose Liam Richardson to give us some attractive wining football rather than Ian Evatt.
I don’t see what Evatt is trying to achieve that was any better than Bruce and Critchley tactics , this slow build up by passing across the back is so boring to watch and far from productive or entertaining.
The home fans were left flat as they had nothing to cheer about due to the lacklustre boring football on display , we can argue we’ve players missing however we are constantly reminded it’s a squad game these days so it’s even more important for the manager to pick the right players that are creative enough to beat the opposition , which was not evident on Saturday.

In a nutshell three at the back is not working , no creativity in midfield , and forwards who struggle to take half chances and for me the uncertainty around the manager and his tactics………… all of which sadly equals a gloomy outlook ahead .
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Did you post that after the Cardiff game??

We’ve played 4 at the back and been absolutely dogshit and lost every away game… we won two with 3 at the back.

The issue is zero creativity and the wing-backs not being direct or brave enough on the ball.

Shite recruitment and lots of soft twats in the squad.

Evatt will sort it but he needs time.
 
Adams Kebab said:
Did you post that after the Cardiff game??

We’ve played 4 at the back and been absolutely dogshit and lost every away game… we won two with 3 at the back.

The issue is zero creativity and the wing-backs not being direct or brave enough on the ball.

Shite recruitment and lots of soft twats in the squad.

Evatt will sort it but he needs time.
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No I didn’t post as I hoped it was the beginning of a turnaround in our fortunes……. Unfortunately it seems to have been a one off as since then we’ve continued to be dished up more boring lacklustre football ……. One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
 
Progressfan said:
No I didn’t post as I hoped it was the beginning of a turnaround in our fortunes……. Unfortunately it seems to have been a one off as since then we’ve continued to be dished up more boring lacklustre football ……. One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
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So 3 at the back was ok then yeh…

Get used to possession based football because that’s how he likes to play, we just haven’t got any players at the moment who want to push the ball forwards, take risks, take players on, be brave on the ball.

The current problem is that when we have the ball they aren’t getting us out or up the pitch.

That’s the issue, whether it’s 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 3-1-4-2, 3-4-1-2… the same players aren’t good enough or have the necessary minerals to do it.

Steve Bruce playing 4 at the back and not passing it around at the back got us 8 out of 34 points.

Stephen Dobbie got us 1 out of 6 playing a back 4.

Ian Evatt has 7 out of 15 without key players that Bruce had.

The so called creative players aren’t creative but as he’s had no transfer window and is left with the likes of Coulson, CJ and Hansson to provide creativity and we have 2 fit strikers, one who’s a winger, you’d have to be pretty simple to pin this on Ian Evatt. The only thing I would say is we should be seeing more of Scott Banks.

He inherited a team who’d lost 6 out of 6 away games, he’s not even been here for 6 weeks FFS.
 
Progressfan said:
No I didn’t post as I hoped it was the beginning of a turnaround in our fortunes……. Unfortunately it seems to have been a one off as since then we’ve continued to be dished up more boring lacklustre football ……. One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
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I think you and some others need realise what we are and buckle up for an up and down ride to Jan.

Quite a few of the players have shown they aren’t up to it consistently in a variety of different styles, ultimately it comes down to taking chances, passing well, defending well etc and far too often we failed at the basics.

It almost didn't matter how we set up if basic things fail, but at least this way under Evatt we're not being overrun, we're creating chances, we're in games more, we can press higher and we're trying to improve in live games with some limited players whose confidence can drain easily. We also haven't been looking fragile from set pieces like we were early season.

We've had mixed bag of results and performances but its still better than early season with even less of a squad available now, we'll get a bit better in time and with some more key players back but some aren't upto it but there's little choice.

So fans need to be patient. Bruce got far more patience but was worse and it was his team and players, he'd also been here far longer by that point. Evatt is learning about the players and looked pretty shocked at some of what he saw and was actually going mad, they weren't doing what he wanted and fell back to a safety first panicking mode.

If anyone has studied what he likes at former clubs he likes proper footballers and gets his teams to be competing up there in leagues playing good football, he'll do that here but right now not 1 player is his, their confidence is fragile and he's having to stick with one's he wouldn't actually stick with when all are fit.

Whoever was in would be running into these issues in some form.
 
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PdxTangerine said:
To be fair Evatt himself looked exasperated, but yeah it’s been a trend ever since Critchley mk1 left, looking terrified to take a risk, shellshocked if we go 1-0 down, plodding nonsense, no philosophy or plan , just floating aimlessly towards football purgatory.
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No plan is pretty harsh. We look far and away better and with a clear plan (second half excluded yesterday) than at any time in the last 3/4 years
 
JJpool said:
I think you and some others need realise what we are and buckle up for an up and down ride to Jan.

Quite a few of the players have shown they aren’t up to it consistently in a variety of different styles, ultimately it comes down to taking chances, passing well, defending well etc and far too often we failed at the basics.

It almost didn't matter how we set up if basic things fail, but at least this way under Evatt we're not being overrun, we're creating chances, we're in games more, we can press higher and we're trying to improve in live games with some limited players whose confidence can drain easily. We also haven't been looking fragile from set pieces like we were early season.

We've had mixed bag of results and performances but its still better than early season with even less of a squad available now, we'll get a bit better in time and with some more key players back but some aren't upto it but there's little choice.

So fans need to be patient. Bruce got far more patience but was worse and it was his team and players, he'd also been here far longer by that point. Evatt is learning about the players and looked pretty shocked at some of what he saw and was actually going mad, they weren't doing what he wanted and fell back to a safety first panicking mode.

If anyone has studied what he likes at former clubs he likes proper footballers and gets his teams to be competing up there in leagues playing good football, he'll do that here but right now not 1 player is his, their confidence is fragile and he's having to stick with one's he wouldn't actually stick with when all are fit.

Whoever was in would be running into these issues in some form.
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Great post
 
JJpool said:
I think you and some others need realise what we are and buckle up for an up and down ride to Jan.

Quite a few of the players have shown they aren’t up to it consistently in a variety of different styles, ultimately it comes down to taking chances, passing well, defending well etc and far too often we failed at the basics.

It almost didn't matter how we set up if basic things fail, but at least this way under Evatt we're not being overrun, we're creating chances, we're in games more, we can press higher and we're trying to improve in live games with some limited players whose confidence can drain easily. We also haven't been looking fragile from set pieces like we were early season.

We've had mixed bag of results and performances but its still better than early season with even less of a squad available now, we'll get a bit better in time and with some more key players back but some aren't upto it but there's little choice.

So fans need to be patient. Bruce got far more patience but was worse and it was his team and players, he'd also been here far longer by that point. Evatt is learning about the players and looked pretty shocked at some of what he saw and was actually going mad, they weren't doing what he wanted and fell back to a safety first panicking mode.

If anyone has studied what he likes at former clubs he likes proper footballers and gets his teams to be competing up there in leagues playing good football, he'll do that here but right now not 1 player is his, their confidence is fragile and he's having to stick with one's he wouldn't actually stick with when all are fit.

Whoever was in would be running into these issues in some form.
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They don’t like Evatt cos we do short goal-kicks…

They’d much prefer it to be pumped up to two strikers who don’t like heading it!

“Get it forward ffs!”

Painful.
 
Adams Kebab said:
They don’t like Evatt cos we do short goal-kicks…

They’d much prefer it to be pumped up to two strikers who don’t like heading it!

“Get it forward ffs!”

Painful.
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I'm all aboard the more manly Critchley who we know train but I would imagine Evo is starting to get his own eye opener, that we predicted when he took this on. Rocking up and expecting the likes of Micky Icky to be his new Ricardo Santos man mountain pass-from-the-back guy ain't happening any more than Bruce's wang it long and hope for the best.

Whilst we've done a bit, we do need to somehow find a lot of league points (no matter how it looks) before he can do anything about it in January. And only then he can start to try to re-enact what he learned on his course that has formed what he is now.

Ended up near him yesterday as I had my pick of seats and actually felt a bit sorry for him when he was barking at the moon. He looked like how he was at centre half in the Prem when he had Kingson the mute behind him instead of Matt Gilks keeping everyone in line and making things OK.
 
Adams Kebab said:
They don’t like Evatt cos we do short goal-kicks…

They’d much prefer it to be pumped up to two strikers who don’t like heading it!

“Get it forward ffs!”

Painful.
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Thing is you can look at some of those goal kicks at times and think ok we're looking a bit unsure, fine, to be expected, learning something new isn’t easy and takes time, otherwise everyone would just be Barcelona.

But I don't recall us getting into real serious trouble doing that, if we were closed down we went long like it would have anyway. It drew them up the pitch to create more space and when we did do it, many times BPF looked right, passed it left and it would be up with Coulson running around halfway which is one pass away from being on the attack, at times we were on the attack.

So when it worked it can be surprisingly effective even with the players we have now.

Evatt has said you play the game in front of you but show for it to create the extra space if you do go long.
 
JJpool said:
Thing is you can look at some of those goal kicks at times and think ok we're looking a bit unsure, fine, to be expected, learning something new isn’t easy and takes time, otherwise everyone would just be Barcelona.

But I don't recall us getting into real serious trouble doing that, if we were closed down we went long like it would have anyway. It drew them up the pitch to create more space and when we did do it, many times BPF looked right, passed it left and it would be up with Coulson running around halfway which is one pass away from being on the attack, at times we were on the attack.

So when it worked it can be surprisingly effective even with the players we have now.

Evatt has said you play the game in front of you but show for it to create the extra space if you do go long.
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Reading looked like they were just keeping it simple and playing for the league points as they need them too. I don't know what Leam Richardson sees them as being long term or who they had missing or whatever but they look like they turned up to deal with and try to win the game happening in front of them. Not focus on ideals.

Lad who scored the third is an old Evo guy who they brought in to try and help them in the interim. I'm surprised we've not even tried to do that sort of thing to help us through a moment. We seem like we're just hoping for the best or deluding ourselves it will suddenly click.
 
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Midfield is the major problem IMO. Until we have a ball playing CM (Morgan) alongside Brown and Honeyman we will struggle.
 
Progressfan said:
Once again we areawatching absolute dross , we never made their keeper make a decent save , once again Evan’s in midfield not a decent forward pass and awful continual wasted free kicks from him , no sign of Banks until the last ten minutes, playing three at the back didn’t work and left us wide open against tricky wingers .
They were much sharper at passing and so much quicker and after they scored we were all over the place , maybe we should have chose Liam Richardson to give us some attractive wining football rather than Ian Evatt.
I don’t see what Evatt is trying to achieve that was any better than Bruce and Critchley tactics , this slow build up by passing across the back is so boring to watch and far from productive or entertaining.
The home fans were left flat as they had nothing to cheer about due to the lacklustre boring football on display , we can argue we’ve players missing however we are constantly reminded it’s a squad game these days so it’s even more important for the manager to pick the right players that are creative enough to beat the opposition , which was not evident on Saturday.

In a nutshell three at the back is not working , no creativity in midfield , and forwards who struggle to take half chances and for me the uncertainty around the manager and his tactics………… all of which sadly equals a gloomy outlook ahead .
Click to expand...
How long do we have to watch boring, lacklustre football?

Not a moment longer, unless someone is blackmailing you to attend - or else.

Evatt can alter little with "fit" players now.

Wait until the injured first teamers return.

Or when January's transfer window shuts.
 
poolfc said:
Jordan Brown should just be given the simple job of sitting in front of the defence and protecting it.
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Agreed. I feel his being asked to do too much with his forward runs. He must clock up some miles but at the moment that back three needs protection.
 
JJpool said:
I think you and some others need realise what we are and buckle up for an up and down ride to Jan.

Quite a few of the players have shown they aren’t up to it consistently in a variety of different styles, ultimately it comes down to taking chances, passing well, defending well etc and far too often we failed at the basics.

It almost didn't matter how we set up if basic things fail, but at least this way under Evatt we're not being overrun, we're creating chances, we're in games more, we can press higher and we're trying to improve in live games with some limited players whose confidence can drain easily. We also haven't been looking fragile from set pieces like we were early season.

We've had mixed bag of results and performances but its still better than early season with even less of a squad available now, we'll get a bit better in time and with some more key players back but some aren't upto it but there's little choice.

So fans need to be patient. Bruce got far more patience but was worse and it was his team and players, he'd also been here far longer by that point. Evatt is learning about the players and looked pretty shocked at some of what he saw and was actually going mad, they weren't doing what he wanted and fell back to a safety first panicking mode.

If anyone has studied what he likes at former clubs he likes proper footballers and gets his teams to be competing up there in leagues playing good football, he'll do that here but right now not 1 player is his, their confidence is fragile and he's having to stick with one's he wouldn't actually stick with when all are fit.

Whoever was in would be running into these issues in some form.
Click to expand...
Good post JJ. Get sick of reading repetitive threads expecting an immediate fix post Bruce. We seen glimpses of fast, forward passes to the feet of Fletcher who draws the opposition in creating space for the likes of Coulson to charge into, then nosebleed & goes back. The likes of Imray would revel in that. Also agree our defending of set pieces has greatly improved but would help if we could grab a few goals from our back three from corners etc. I'm confident we'll start to see more consistent improvement.
 
Ashworth and maybe a returning Husband can pass from the back. Maybe one day they will get on the pitch. If we continue with three at the back, it has to be Casey - Horsfall - Husband.
 
Evatt's look on his face post match said "****ing hell, I didn't know it was possible for a League 1 team to be this bad. How am I going to fix this shit?"

We need a brain surgeon not a plumber
 
The midfield is the real problem and the lack of creativity and piayers who are able to get up and down the field for 90 mins, essential
 
Adams Kebab said:
Did you post that after the Cardiff game??

We’ve played 4 at the back and been absolutely dogshit and lost every away game… we won two with 3 at the back.

The issue is zero creativity and the wing-backs not being direct or brave enough on the ball.

Shite recruitment and lots of soft twats in the squad.

Evatt will sort it but he needs time.
Click to expand...
'The issue is zero creativity and the wing-backs not being direct or brave enough on the ball.'

In half-a-sentence, A K, you've successfully managed to capture the very essence of C-omplete J-oke Hamilton's game as succinctly as anyone else I've come across... Credit to you.
 
tarantula said:
'The issue is zero creativity and the wing-backs not being direct or brave enough on the ball.'

In half-a-sentence, A K, you've successfully managed to capture the very essence of C-omplete J-oke Hamilton's game as succinctly as anyone else I've come across... Credit to you.
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He’s been doing this shit for years now and it sums it up he’s made 200 appearances for us.

He’s not as fast as he was either which now means he’s relying more on touch and speed of thought which is why he’s struggling like hell.
 
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