This was pretty poor stuff and although Grayson did try to ring some changes
after the Preston debacle, we now have several reasons to be concerned about
progress this season.
I'm going to pause there for a moment to indulge in a reality check.
Mid-table is where most of us expected to be this season and mid-table is
where we are. Players that were fine if inconsistent in Div3 are slightly
less effective and just as inconsistent in Div2. I've been as guilty as the
next fan of taking the bright points and magnifying them into unrealistic
hope, and that must stop. We're going to lose pkenty more this season, and
against much worse sides than Ipswich - so keep a level head.
However. It's concerning that we got so much of the basics wrong yesterday.
The back four continues to be a shambles. Collins and Naylor, as we know, is
a bad pairing, and pushing Bruce out to right-back now appears to have been
a mistake. Time and again the CBs were out of position, and they haven't got
the pace to cope with that when the opposition attacks. Bruce was at fault
for the goal, too, although I'm guessing he wasn't happy at full-back.
McCartney acquitted himself quite well - but I think Grayson is hamstrung
until we get Kisnorbo and Parker back.
Sitting in front of the defence (in theory) was our supposedly defensive
midfield Faye. He looks past it. He tried quite hard and did, to be fair,
make some decent tackles, especially early on. But he's clueless about
distribution and (as someone I chatted to in the crowd at half time pointed
out), we need a Batty - someone who can win possession them play the easy,
reliable ball to a flair player. Faye looks every inch the stop-gap. Worse,
however, was that he seemed poorly briefed. Surely we all know we need cover
for the CBs - but Faye kept getting sucked into what's an increasingly
congested and aimless central midfield unit. Manager has to think about
shape and discipline whenever we don't have the ball.
We also know our midfield is hot-and-cold, and yesterday was a cold one.
Howson was in and out of the game and lost possession a lot. Snoddy ran
hard, but looks off his fitness. Championship Manager would have him at 85%
fitness - playable, but you know he needs more time to come back. Kilkenny
worries me. He's a gabby so-and-so - which is good if he's motivating and
organising, but I think he spends too much time chiding and arguing. I saw
his in conversation with Snoddy in the warm-up and Snoddy didn't look too
engaged... Then at the re-start after Ipswich's 1st, he was wittering away
like a fish-wife. Johnson looked quite lively, but he needs service. I
watched the highlights DVD from last season this week, and he scored loads
for us - all from close range. These days it's all long-range shots and
limited options.
Somma was good up front initially. He works hard, and (RW will like this)
he's being a more like Becchio with skills - in that he's industrious. But
then he had to be, with Snoddy quite deep off him and labouring without an
out-and-out strike partner.
Here's the thing: it looked like Grayson wanted us not to embarrass
ourselves after Preston - and that was the wrong call. Keane ("One Alfie
Haarland, there's only one...") sets out his side to frustrate the
opposition, even at home, and they did that brilliantly. We had loads of
possession in the first half and kept running into blind alleys. Part of the
reason was lack of support from midfield. And I think the players may be a
bit gun-shy after ER midweek. At corners and free kicks, we lacked numbers
and movement - so we failed to capitalise and still managed to get hit on
the break.
So: a few glimmers of hope. But we need to find a better way of holing it
all together until our injury crisis - now most evident between the sticks
after Higgs limped off (great save by Brown, mind!) - is over. Perhaps we
should just close our eyes until January.
Best,
Richard
--------------------
Richard Young
Freelance writer and editor
079 4108 1739
http://web.mac.com/richardjgyoung/
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