I thought this was a pretty entertaining game and a definite improvement on
recent home performances. I’ll start with the positives as this was a game of
many however for every good thing there was at least one mistake to match. I
thought the defence was better, more solid, certainly not perfect but I think
Grayson should stick with that back four now and stop changing things at the
back. You couldn’t really blame the back 4 for either of the goals. Their first
was a stupid tackle from Johnson giving them a 30 yard free kick. I thought
Schmeichel was a bit lapse with his wall organisation , he seemed to be peeping
round the other side when Bostock stuck it in the top corner, a great
free-kick.
The second in the last few minutes was from a corner. Again the brain dead
Bradley Johnson threw his trusty left boot at it, he completely missed it and
sliced it into the top of the net. Complete school boy error.
I thought we started the game really well with the midfield moving and passing
very effectively however there wasn’t much end product. Hull were also lively
in
the first half and caused us a few problems on the break. I thought they were a
decent team and have one or two very good players. We didn’t create that many
chances but the ones we did were squandered including Becchio obligatory free
header in the 6 yard box that he unbelievably put up into the air when it was
easier to score. Our equaliser when it came was deserved. Becchio pounced on to
a ball , tried to control it but it hit is knee and bounced off into the path
of
Johnson who cracked it along the floor into the bottom corner. Good strike and
good to see a Johnson strike that doesn’t end up in row z. The main problem
with our first half performance was the formation / tactics. Why play with a
lone striker at home against a struggling Hull team ? Ok, we’ve won away with
the same system but come on Simon use your head ? Becchio is totally
ineffective
as a lone striker, he won nothing in the air tonight and they were completely
dominant against him (not hard to do !). To Grayson’s credit he realised this
and tried to change things second half by pushing the lively Gradel alongside
Becchio up front. I like Gradel, yes he can be inconsistent , yes he can be
frustrating but he works hard and really puts himself about a bit. He’s also
pretty decent in the air for a small lad – better than his strike partner.
I thought it was a strange decision to drag Gradel off after 70 minutes to be
replaced by Somma. Surely Becchio would have been the better bet. Grayson
eventually hauled Becchio off with 5 minutes to go to be replaced by Paynter –
pointless.
Our second goal came from header from O’Brien after good work from Snodgrass.
We should have gone further ahead when Johnson was unmarked in the 6 yard box
but put his header wide, bad miss.
They then had a man sent off for 2 yellows and all of a sudden we decided to
play possession football in our own half. Just knew what would happen and it
did.
Scores:
Schmeicel – 5. Had little to do other than pick the ball out of the net twice
and some long range kicking. I think he needs to sort out his defensive walls
better. I watched a later freekicj by Bostock where the players had no idea
what
he was asking of them.
Connolly – 7. I thought he did well tonight. Looked solid.
Bruce – 7. A few dodgy moments but also some good defending.
O’Brien – 8. Calm under pressure, good solid defending.
McCartney – 7. Decent game.
Johnson – 5. Average footballer at best, brain dead, lacking in consistency and
quality. Won’t sign his contract – thank God.
Snodgrass – 7. Better. Lively throughout especially at times in the first half.
Still needs better fitness.
Howson – 6. A few good contributions but one bad miss first half and generally
didn’t do enough.
Gradel – 7. Worked hard, effective first half. Tried hard when up front but
nothing really came off.
Becchio – 4. Totally ineffective as a target man. Won none of the 50:50 balls
in
the air. One or two ineffective knock downs and a speculative sfloating side
footer that hit the bar were his contributions. Just don’t understand why he is
our number 1 striker. His goal tally is looking a bit poor recently as well.
He’ll soon be hitting the 1 in 3/4 that we have come to expect from him.
Kilkenny – 7. Our best midfielder on the night. Links up play with intelligent
football. When he was taken off Bradley Johnson took over this role and showed
just how difficult Kilkenny’s brand of football is for someone without a brain.
Not everything came off for Kilkenny but he did well. Needs to be in the team
week in week out.
Subs:
Somma – didn’t do a right lot apart from look lively and make some runs.
Paynter – not on for long.
Grayson – I’d like to think he’s sorting the defence out but I fully expect to
Collins to make a return on Saturday. My main concern is that our top scorer is
sat on the bloody bench ? and that Becchio as a lone striker seems to be his
preferred option home or away. Not only is Becchio not good enough at this
level
I think it’s criminal for the Leeds fans not to see the best strikers starting.
Decent crowd for a Tuesday night.
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