Quick thoughts:
Disagree a bit with Rich. I thought O’Kane was the only one who tried the whole
game and who tried to string defense to attack. I like him. Just needs a strong
partner so he can push forward a bit. That would be Viera.
Phillips: slow, thick and uninspiring. Third or fourth division player.
Hernandez: stuck out on the wing all the time. He is not a winger. No pace but
bright and skillful. But we have one of those on Saiz so a conundrum. What to
do?
Roofe; scored a bunch as a forward do why do we play him as a winger/ outside
mid?
Nick
Sent from my iPhone
> On Oct 14, 2017, at 2:37 PM, {broken-address} Richard Walker
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> This was a horror show especially the first 45 minutes where we just didn't
> look like a team. TC dropped his keeper which was a good decision but he now
> has to seriously have a look at his style of play and look to whether he
> should develop a Plan B.
> It is painful to see us pass square balls across the back until we were put
> under pressure and had to go back to Lonerghan. You could see the players
> thinking we've been told to do this but it isn't working. We continually put
> herself under pressure because to play this system you need at least one
> midfielder who can sit deep, offer himself and make things happen. Both
> O'Kane and Philips didn't seem to want to do this. It took TC 45 minutes to
> see that this wasn't working and he changed it second half by moving O'Kane
> deep to sit between them and start the moves. It was better but I still don't
> think we're a team that is capable of playing this type of football in the
> championship. And whilst we've been praising TC and slagging Garry Monk (me
> included) maybe we should now begin to question whether Monk's limited
> tactics and straight forward approach with a hungry team might be a better
> way forward to this continental game that TC is trying to adopt with players
> who find it hard to pass a ball at times.
> The reason TC doesn't want to see us punt it long is that we don't have
> anyone capable of winning the ball. Lasogga is a big unit but he is shite at
> 50:50 balls in the air, in fact today he rarely got off the ground and when
> Grot came on he us a masterclass of how a 7ft bloke can look ineffective in
> the air.
> I think the main weaknesses today other than the system was our two central
> midfielders - O'Kane and Philips. It seemed at the start of the season the TC
> had spotted something we hadn't and had moulded Philips into a new , young
> superstar. I think we can reflect and see that Philips got a 4 year contract
> based on a few goals and half decent games against the poorer teams in the
> league. In fact, our results have come against the weaker teams in the
> leagues and if you take an objective look at the table and who we have played
> you'd have to say a mid table finish with this team is about right.
> However, I do think there is potential in this team, I do think we have some
> better players and I think if TC can steady the ship and maybe pick players
> more suited to his style we have a chance of improving on last year but I
> think the next few games are the true test of TC and his team. I remember
> Wagner adopted this style and was crucified by some Town fans after variable
> results but he stuck to his task , got some players in who can handle it and
> he ended up in the PL.
> As for the game today, I thought it was a game between two low in confidence
> , poor teams. I thought Reading has a couple of top players. Their big
> striker had a nice touch on him and one left Cooper for dead in the first
> half - you rarely see a central defender left for dead like he did to Cooper.
> There weren't many chances (I don't think we had any) and Lonergan made a
> decent save for their only chance. The worrying thing for me though is that
> we played 45 mins looking like a team who weren't that bothered. We struggled
> to put 2 passes together and in midfield we didn't compete. Hernandez was
> again relegated to the left wing and Saiz was playing high up the park and as
> a result hardly had a kick as we struggled to take control of the game.
> Second half, with O'Kane came deeper it was better but it took the
> introduction of Sackoshit (for ineffective Roofe) to really change things. He
> gave us a bit of pace and a bit of directness that seemed to spur us on.
> Suddenly we wanted it and Saiz started to get on the ball and we started to
> llok dangerous. However as we pushed forward Reading did us on the break with
> a simple goal scored by Barrow - when he came it on someone commented that it
> was inevitable he was going to score. He nearly scored prior to the goal with
> a hard shot which was well saved by Lonergan.
> We huffed and puffed, Jansson missed the chance of the game, skying over from
> 6 yards after great work from Hernandes and eventually we got what we
> deserved as Saiz jinked into the box and was brought down.
> Hernandes, the king of penalties, stepped up and placed it with no pace, on
> the floor about 1 yard from the keeper. The easiest penalty save ever.
> Hernandes sank to his knees. Summed up the whole day and the performance
> perfectly.
> There's so many positive things going on at ER at the moment, the atmosphere
> is great pre-match and the big crowds are coming back however I think there's
> definitely a mini-crisis at the moment which is going to take some hard work
> to get out of. I go from thinking TC will pull it out of the bag and then I
> think he's actually out of his depth as a championship manager. Time will
> tell.
> Scores:
> Lonergan - 7. Good decision, he looked much more solid and made some good
> saves. But why the fuck did we get rid of Rob Green - what a fuck up TC has
> made there.
> Ayling - 6. Did ok but seemed under pressure and made mistakes
> Beradi - 6. Was up against their best player and I think first half he was
> given the run around a bit however even on a yellow card Beradi give him a
> good battle. I think TC took Beradi off cos he was heading for a red as the
> pressure mounted.
> Jansson - 5. Doesn't look like the same player to me. I think his partner
> didn't help plus the constant switching of pairings isn't helping either.
> Cooper - 4. I don't like him bringing the ball out from the back - he is
> incapable , I don't like his defending at times when he just looks like an
> accident waiting to happen. An incident in the 2nd half summed up Cooper.
> Reading were in the area, Cooper made a brilliant last ditch tackle and
> brought the ball away but he seemed to get caught off balance and ended up
> having the ball taken off him and Reading gained possession again and should
> have scored. He's a dodgy defender I'm afraid.
> O'Kane - 5. Horrendous first half but second half I thought he did his best
> to try and make things happen. He had a couple of woeful shots but at least
> he looked like he cared.
> Philips - 2. I've always had a problem with this lad and to be fair to him at
> times this season you could argue he looks like he might be kicking on. Well,
> I was never convinced and I think his performances in the last half a dozen
> games have shown he is not up to it and I do think his performances a major
> part of why we are struggling. He is one paced and he sits in games and
> doesn't get involved. His contribution to the first half was zilch, nothing,
> fuck all. Second half he made one or two tackles but watch him next game. For
> someone who we know has a decent engine (I think ?) he doesn't track his man
> and strolls around the pitch. I wanted to see him flying around putting in
> those Forest type tackles but he doesn't. I think together with O'Kane they
> are without doubt our biggest weakness. Come on TC it's time for Vierra.
> Roofe - 3. He started fairly lively without being that effective but he just
> faded into insignificance. He is no winger and I still maintain he's no
> championship player. He will score goals for a lower league team and that's
> where he should be playing.
> Hernandez - 5. He had a poor game but what I like about him is that he always
> gets invovled , he chases and he tries things. You could never say that about
> Philips. His pens have been good up to now so I think like a lot of the
> players he is suffering from the lull we are in.
> Saiz - 6. Hardly had a kick first half but came into 2nd half and it looked
> like to me that he saved all his effort for the last 15 mins. He needs
> someone behind him to be effective.
> Lasogga - 3. Very disappointed with him today. This was up there with the
> worst of Chris Wood. For a big bloke he gets knocked off the ball too easily
> and he is shite in the air. I thought he was a beast against Burton but he
> was obviously up against shite that day. He looks like a big fairy.
> Subs;
> Sackoshit - 7 CHanged the game without any end product
> Grot - 0 He looked good against Forest, since then he's hardly done anything
> of any merit.
> Dallas - not on long enough
> TC - needs to make some big decisions.
>
>
>
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