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Post by avit on Apr 30, 2023 23:23:09 GMT
The team I watched in the 3 games before and including the first half against Bristol played with verve, creativeness and what was noticeable, a smile on all there faces. They went in half time against Bristol and never came back out???? I started to get optimistic and thought we might have something here. I’ve convinced myself we have closed down tactically in preparation for a barn storming 23/24 season and not giving away A.N’s game plan when we have nothing to play for. 🤞
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Post by iglugluk on May 1, 2023 10:47:07 GMT
The team I watched in the 3 games before and including the first half against Bristol played with verve, creativeness and what was noticeable, a smile on all there faces. They went in half time against Bristol and never came back out???? I started to get optimistic and thought we might have something here. I’ve convinced myself we have closed down tactically in preparation for a barn storming 23/24 season and not giving away A.N’s game plan when we have nothing to play for. 🤞 I was asking a similar myself about what happened during half time at that match. I'm certainly not of the opinion that Neil closed the team down in preparation for next year, though. We saw a similar vector in the West Brom match and our capitulation against them after leading was a psychological blow for an up for it home crowd and I definitely don't think that was a deliberate decision.. at all! What it makes me question is Neil's ability to produce a decent second half performance from his team on a sufficiently regular basis. Admittedly he clearly struggled to find a player on the bench to positively influence the game. He's had all season to bring his ideas into effect but the lack of spirit in the last few games has been very worrying. We find ourselves moving into the summer transfer window with alot of uncertainty now and it could have been a very different proposition, indeed, if the last 6 games had been well managed and we'd been properly competitive. |
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Post by lawrieleslie on May 1, 2023 10:52:14 GMT
The team I watched in the 3 games before and including the first half against Bristol played with verve, creativeness and what was noticeable, a smile on all there faces. They went in half time against Bristol and never came back out???? I started to get optimistic and thought we might have something here. I’ve convinced myself we have closed down tactically in preparation for a barn storming 23/24 season and not giving away A.N’s game plan when we have nothing to play for. 🤞 But what about entertainment and fans who spend a lot of money watching. Don’t think anybody would mind losing that much when there’s nowt to play for, as long as they are watching decent football that you alluded to before the Bristol game. Those last 4 home games could have had the same outcome if he had given some of our young academy players an extended run. Think fans would have appreciated ANs foresight for next season had he done that. |
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Post by OldStokie on May 1, 2023 11:00:34 GMT
The answer is simple. His half time talk may have upset a number of his players who are not the least bit interested in this club and couldn't give a toss. We need players in who will buy into his way of doing things. The close season should help in this regard. He's created good sides before at other clubs and we need to let him prove he can do it again.
OS.
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Post by cheadlepotter on May 1, 2023 12:12:41 GMT
Nigel Pearson spotted where Bristol were going wrong and made minor but noticeable changes to his team, such as where his back four were sitting and the level of pressing.
As usual, Neil didn’t react to it and refused to change tactics, formations or players.
Once any half decent team spots how we attack we are very easy to defend against and always have a cock-up or two at the back to enable them to score.
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Post by wazbagsbro on May 1, 2023 12:39:54 GMT
The answer is simple. His half time talk may have upset a number of his players who are not the least bit interested in this club and couldn't give a toss. We need players in who will buy into his way of doing things. The close season should help in this regard. He's created good sides before at other clubs and we need to let him prove he can do it again. OS. The fact that the team, who were playing so well, with a smile ect, have suddenly returned to shite. Well is it possible the manager has told the players he doesn’t want to keep to look for another club? Most of those guys will be going to smaller clubs, divisions and wages, but any manager worth his salt will give some notice to anyone being let go, even tho it’s ruined whatever spirit was being created. Just a thought! |
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Post by J-Roar on May 1, 2023 13:05:37 GMT
Nigel Pearson spotted where Bristol were going wrong and made minor but noticeable changes to his team, such as where his back four were sitting and the level of pressing. As usual, Neil didn’t react to it and refused to change tactics, formations or players. Once any half decent team spots how we attack we are very easy to defend against and always have a cock-up or two at the back to enable them to score. Agree. We got sussed. Bristol had a couple of easy chances in the first half as well. |
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Post by Olgrligm on May 1, 2023 21:00:06 GMT
I thought we were pretty good against West Brom but were fighting against circumstance. It was in the second half of that game that the wheels really came off. Post-West Brom, our game struggled without Wilmot's pace. Brown's injury then killed the season stone dead.
I think there's something that's been missed and it's a bit of a nuance on 'the pressing got sussed out'. Teams obviously did adapt to our pressing game and change how they set up against us. West Brom are not an agricultural team but they never even bothered tippy tapping around in their own penalty area; they spent much of the game booting the ball around instead. Only somebody like Mowbray, whose principles cannot be bent even a micron, would willingly stick their head into the lion's mouth and pass the ball around on the edge of their own box.
However, if a team has abandoned its plan A and is having to do something unfamiliar or uncomfortable, that should be a big win for us. It means we've already got the opposition on the back foot, providing we can outmatch them in their plan B. Since plan B almost always involves having to smack the ball long to avoid giving away a goal to the press, we need to have the sort of defenders who can easily dominate aerially. Think a Robert Huth-type defender. We don't have anybody who resembles that in our current squad. You also need an effective target man at the other end to act as a fulcrum, and we also lack that.
They're the key elements that Neil needs to add to the team this summer (along with lots of others).
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Post by benjaminbiscuit on May 1, 2023 21:34:45 GMT
When we played Bristol,city people were speculating would 72 be enough , turns out it definitely would , as it is we may well miss out by 18 points a truly appalling collapse leading is possibly just 6 or 9 from being relegated
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Post by lordb on May 1, 2023 21:36:27 GMT
I thought we were pretty good against West Brom but were fighting against circumstance. It was in the second half of that game that the wheels really came off. Post-West Brom, our game struggled without Wilmot's pace. Brown's injury then killed the season stone dead. I think there's something that's been missed and it's a bit of a nuance on 'the pressing got sussed out'. Teams obviously did adapt to our pressing game and change how they set up against us. West Brom are not an agricultural team but they never even bothered tippy tapping around in their own penalty area; they spent much of the game booting the ball around instead. Only somebody like Mowbray, whose principles cannot be bent even a micron, would willingly stick their head into the lion's mouth and pass the ball around on the edge of their own box. However, if a team has abandoned its plan A and is having to do something unfamiliar or uncomfortable, that should be a big win for us. It means we've already got the opposition on the back foot, providing we can outmatch them in their plan B. Since plan B almost always involves having to smack the ball long to avoid giving away a goal to the press, we need to have the sort of defenders who can easily dominate aerially. Think a Robert Huth-type defender. We don't have anybody who resembles that in our current squad. You also need an effective target man at the other end to act as a fulcrum, and we also lack that. They're the key elements that Neil needs to add to the team this summer (along with lots of others). The attempted signing of Cresswell suggests the manager agrees with you |
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Post by a on May 1, 2023 21:53:52 GMT
No disrespect but I’d love to hear a qualified coach respond to this very valid question
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Post by skip on May 1, 2023 23:15:04 GMT
Cock up over conspiracy every time:
Little picture: Bristol sussed us and wanted it more.
Big picture: Our current squad don't have the nous or balls when the going gets tougher.
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Post by benjaminbiscuit on May 2, 2023 7:20:43 GMT
No disrespect but I’d love to hear a qualified coach respond to this very valid question If only we had one in the building 😉 |
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Post by redstriper on May 2, 2023 8:57:59 GMT
I had a balti pie and spilt crumbs onto the empty seat next to me, then Bristol came back onto the pitch looking focussed a good couple of minutes before Stoke wandered on.
One of these facts may be significant.
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Post by Staffsoatcake on May 2, 2023 12:44:17 GMT
Players got a bollocking & have sulked ever since.
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Post by avit on May 5, 2023 17:14:05 GMT
Players got a bollocking & have sulked ever since. If players had a team talk that they didn’t like or agree with then they are 100% players we don’t want to have around. Maybe A.N is using this point in the season to cut the wheat from the chaff. On the note about paying fans turning away after poor performances I did also note the dip and increase in performance coincided with season ticket renewals. Non season ticket holders turn up when the side is doing well and have a chance of doing something. Slightly hopeful here but let’s say Alex’s plan for success next season comes to fruition then the season ticket sales of say 14000 will end up with sell out match day crowds in the back half of the season which is probably just as profitable given the price difference. I’m hoping that this really is the case and Alex has the masterplan. 🤞 |
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Post by thehartshillbadger on May 5, 2023 17:16:25 GMT
I had a balti pie and spilt crumbs onto the empty seat next to me, then Bristol came back onto the pitch looking focussed a good couple of minutes before Stoke wandered on. One of these facts may be significant. No doubt it was burnt to a cinder? |
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Post by redstriper on May 6, 2023 10:27:35 GMT
I had a balti pie and spilt crumbs onto the empty seat next to me, then Bristol came back onto the pitch looking focussed a good couple of minutes before Stoke wandered on. One of these facts may be significant. No doubt it was burnt to a cinder? It was actually very nice, in retrospect it was the highlight of the match  |
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Post by march4 on May 6, 2023 11:31:27 GMT
According to the conspiracy theorists, contract negotiations took place with all the players at half time and consequently they have since downed tools. What a ridiculous notion.
More likely the players, many of whom had barely played for months, have just run out of steam.
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Post by thanksjon on May 8, 2023 10:20:40 GMT
Whatever happened has not been fixed since. Ground was hopping first half, optimism everywhere and someone stuck a pin in the baloon.
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Post by robwahlmann on May 8, 2023 10:24:42 GMT
It was a very strange game as we played ever so well for half an hour, then the game became more even but we scored. I really thought we would come out flying in the second half, but we looked totally deflated! It really didn't look the same team and we deservedly lost the game.  |
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Post by nott1 on May 8, 2023 13:00:48 GMT
They have lacked motivation for weeks.....who is the person charged with that responsibility? Therein lies the answer!
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