Settling into my new season ticket now I'm back in the LOTG, and the Sheff Utd match was like being parachuted back 20 years to an early Wilko match in many ways. Blood, guts, long diagonal punts to gain field position in their half etc.
Team selection raised an interesting poser. If you think a match is going to be an attritional kick-fest and pick a team accordingly, isn't that actually a self-fulfilling prophesy? A team with Howson and Johnson in central midfield is never going to produce a highly cultured performance, and so it proved. Would we ave played a better match with Kilkenny in or would we just have got kicked and over-run? I think Grayson is of the view we have not developed far enough yet to be able to impose our game on experienced championship teams in the this kind of match. Maybe not an unfair judgment but it did immediately doom this match as a spectacle. Suffice to say when Collins and Hughes are your stand out players, you know what kind of match it was. The match turned on 2 things for me: (1) the introduction of Snoddy who made the right decision at the key moment, and crucially WENT TO THE SODDING BYLINE, which Sam and Gradel really need to learn should be done far more often) and Kilkenny, who transformed things, by actually looking to get the ball down, switch play and bring others into it, as well as providing an outlet for Collins and Bruce (quite amusing several times in the match to see Collins with the ball at the back looking for the short pass to Kilkenny then look bemused before remembering Kilkenny wasn't there and neither of Howson or Johnson had the wit to replicate his role. (2) fundamentally the 'howler moment' by the Sheff Utd lad. Nice to see we didn't make it this week though. May well be related to the changes in personnel at the back... On a side note I have to say I disagree entirely with the list comparisons last week of Kilkenny with McPhail. Kilkenny is 5 times the player of McPhail for me (I am a big Killkenny fan). He looks to slide balls through, create and make things happen. McPhail just played sideways passes and tried to achieve a high pass count as if that was an end in itself. If the aim of many on the list is to move towards a Somma / McCormack front line (though personally I think the 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 tactic has been dropped too quickly) then you have to have a Kilkenny there to be be able to slot the ball through. One long pass at Old Trafford does not a great passer Howson make. My scores on the doors: Higgs 7 - did everything well. His distribution is a pale shadow of Kasper, but then Kasper is astonishingly good at this. Hughes - 8 - pretty much as good as he gets in a match that suited him perfectly. Crunched a bloke in the first 5 minutes and after that he looked settled. Gave away too many freekicks in dangerous places, hut that's just Hughesy for you. McCartney - 7 - solid, did his thing, unspectacular. Collins - 9 MOTM - colossus, again perfect match for him. We conceded a LOT of freekicks in dangerous spots and he won a very high proportion of them. Seems to enjoy the greater organisational role he has in Naylor's absence. Bruce - 7 - generally good but a bit up and down - Collins covered for him a few times when he got done. Was never afraid to get in there though. Sam - 5.5 - clever player, but seem to lack a turn of pace to ever beat his man. Relies on out thinking him to get his cross in instead. Things didn't really come off for him on Saturday. Johnson - 5.5 - was a 4 until the goal, which was a good run to get there. Just simply not a central midfielder. I know he likes to think he is but everything looks better wehen hw switches to the left. Grayson is clearly a results / output man and so Johnson will keep getting picked for now - 2 key goals in 2 home games. Howson - 6.5 - scrapped and battled well but little quality on ball. Funny how everyone on the kop (who love him) always shout "oh unlucky Jonny, good try" as another long pass goes astray, but woe betide Kilkenny if he does the same. Gradel - 6 - Max, Max, Max. Calm down. Please. You're clearly a capable player. I like you. But calm down. Take a breath. Use your pace and energy in controlled bursts not in some perpetual motion state that makes it look like you are on speed. And try getting to the byline more. Becchio - 5 - fell over. Lots. Decided he was getting fouled and was being hard done by and so dropped into one of his sulky dive modes. Shame. Somma - 6 - good in patches but really needs to learn to be less over-elaborate. When the ball is knocked up to you. Control, look up, lay off. Simple. Don't try fancy flicks and turns every time. Snoddy - 7 - for thre right decision at the key moment. Kilkenny - 8 - short but excellent contribution. It's lovely to see a ball being passed simply but effectively. McCormack - 6 - not a lot. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
