I pretty much agree with this. I said after the Ipswich game that we were over powered in midfield that day and at Millwall, Cardiff plus the Wendies afterwards. Without doubt Philips is at the root of the midfield malaise where his goals have flattered to deceive the fact that he is not capable of stamping any authority on a game. Midfield is disconnected from defence as well as Saiz in attack. I'm starting to lay the blame firmly at TC's door. It's not the players passion but his selection. Philips has to go and make way for Viera. I feel O'Kane may kick on with him alongside but if not I'd consider Dallas in there. At least he knows what's needed to win, a bit risky perhaps but I do like Saiz, Hernadez and Alioski playing behind the "Deutscher", we just need some combative midfield behind them to make it work. In defence Jansson is off colour but anyone would playing alongside Cooper who still is an accident waiting to happen. Beradi / Anita and Ayling all OK even though Ayling got caught out for the Reading goal more often than not he's saved us. It nearly works just needs TC to realise what's needed before the calls for his head begin. Oh yeah Lonergan should have cemented his place and I said before why did we get rid of Rob Green??
Jezz (from the NE Upper) -----Original Message----- From: Leedslist [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of {broken-address} Richard Walker Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2017 19:38 To: [email protected] Subject: [LU] Reading 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 pa ss 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 Sa iz 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 b all 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 ti me 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. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] FLAME WARS 'R US _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] FLAME WARS 'R US
