It's definitely Garry Monk tactics - one up front. Just don't understand it ?
From: Jim Moran <[email protected]>
To: Richard Walker <[email protected]>; "[email protected]"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, 28 October 2017, 10:27
Subject: Re: [LU] Sheff Utd
Cooper went off with a dead leg. Looked like he started with one to me.
I think we lost because we played one up front against 3 centre halves. That
allowed two of them to easily manage Lasogga and gave them an extra man in
midfield. Every loose ball in the middle was picked up by them.
I can see them going up. I can see us top half, but need a lot of new players
next season and another coach for the defence.
Boro supporting mate of mine went and said it looked like a Garry Monk side!
On Sat, 28 Oct 2017 at 10:03, {broken-address} Richard Walker
<[email protected]> wrote:
a few thoughts
I was very impressed with the way Sheff Utd started. They played some of the
best football I've seen for a while and all their players seemed to know where
each other were and in Duffy they had the man of the match and the most
intelligent footballer I've seen for a while. I'd get a bid in for him in
January. If only our midfielders had the awareness and poise of Duffy. He found
time on the ball and used it effectively however that applied to just about
everyone in their team. Billy Sharpe, who I always thought was lively but never
convincing at Leeds, looked like a totally different player and if it wasn't
for Lonergan he could have / should have had a hatful in the first half.
The Blades played with 2 effective wingers and full backs who also came forward
and contributed. It was actually good to watch and I rarely say that about the
opposition. Their style is similar to what we are trying to achieve but I don't
think we have the players to do it at the moment.
Their goal was a result of great link up play and good movement from Sharpe in
the box but it looked like he wasn't marked ? Need to see it again but if a
little bloke like Sharp gets a free header from 4 yards you have to ask
questions of our 6 ft central defenders.
I thought our defence crumbled under the attacks. Cooper and Pennington as
first choice is as bad a decision as selling Rob Green and I'm losing faith in
our attacker manager who doesn't seem to know who are the best defenders.
Cooper for me is 4th in line at the moment yet if he is fit he plays and to top
it all he is captain. Bad decision after bad decision.
I also think we have to look a bit further than the central two who were not
helped by Ayling who I thought had a poor game defensively. Anita also
struggled against lively attackers. I like Anita but I don't think he's a left
back.
In midfield, we started with Philips playing as the 'no 10' and Saiz on the
left wing. Another bad decision, Philips hardly touching the ball and I didn't
know Saiz was on the pitch in the first 30 minutes. As for Lasogga, big
questions have to be asked. Can he really play as a lone striker in this league
when he's constantly outbattled and out muscled off the ball so easily ? He
looks powder puff to me.
Allioski saw a lot of the ball on the right but he failed to deliver on every
occasion.
Any positives ?
Well, yes. I thought we responded really well to going 1 down and unlike some
performances we didn't crumble. TC made a good decision in moving Saiz into the
'no 10' position however this meant Philips was asked to play as a left winger
which rendered him even more useless than he had been previous to that.
At one point after we equalised I thought we had them on the ropes and their
slick football stopped and we did take control but a mixture of an inability to
pass and keep the ball (Lasogga, Allioski, Ayling) let them back into it and
normally service was resumed when their 10 year old sub came on and showed
Lasogga how to play as a centre forward. Very, very frustrating.
Saiz tried as a one man show to win the game and he really had them worried but
he can't do it on his own and we can't expect him week in week out to be the
midfield and the attack.
Overall, I'd say it was a fair result. I thought we battled well to get back in
the game but ultimately key players let us down today.
Lonergan - 8. Kept us in it first half.
Ayling - 4. I thought it was his worst game for Leeds - he has always struggled
IMO on the back foot against pacey opposition. Not a premier league defender as
some think.
Anita - 5. Struggled
Pennington - 6. I thought first 20 minutes he was all over the place but I
wouldn't completely blame him. I thought he improved massively in the second
half and I thought he defended pretty well overall. I'd settle for him and
Jansson to be given a run in the team. Stopped fucking about with the pairings
TC.
Cooper - 3. I've never been convinced by him and against tricky and speedy
opponents and lik Pennington he started really shakily but he didn't improve
until he got injured. Is he playing with an injury ? He's very inconsistent and
the decision to make him captain is a really bad one.
Philips - 3. Another good goal masking a performance that contributed nothing.
Everyone will remember the goal and say that justifies why he is one of the
first names on the teamsheet. I say no ! His general play is not good enough
and putting in the odd hospital tackle doesn't represent a good performance in
my book. Take away the goal and I'd say he was our second weakest player.
Definitely not a 'No 10'.
Saiz - 7. Didn't touch the ball much in the first half as he was dumped on the
left wing in preference to playing Philips at no 10. Another bad decision.
Second half he scared them to death and was unlucky not to have put us in the
lead with a great shot which hot the post. Would we have won if that had gone
in ? Not sure.
Allioski - 3. Overhit and poorly executed dead balls and just isn't doing
things right at the moment.
Vierra - 5. I was disappointed with Vierra last night. He got around the pitch
and did some decent stuff but he looks naive (which he is) at times and he
loses his position and commits unnecessary fouls. He needs a run in the team.
Lasogga - 2. Another very disappointing performance from the big man .... a big
man who plays like a fairy. He did win a few headers last night but overall he
was muscled out of the game and when he did get the ball at the feet he was
unable to do anything through being too isolated. I don't think at home when
the pressure is on us to attack he can play that role. That creates a massive
problem for us because we seem to have adopted a tactic to play one up front. I
still don't get that ? Why do we have to have a 'No 10' role that plays deeper.
Shove someone up beside him. No bloody idea who like ? Is there anyone in the
U-23 worth a punt or maybe Grot should be given a chance from the start with
Lasogga ? Or maybe, Lasogga isn't any good ? Hamburg wouldn't let a player go
and pay most of his wages if he was any good. Have we been sold a dud ?
O'Kane - 4 . Eunan O'Kane, Mr average, Mr Unspectacular , Mr Nothing. He's
certainly found a new role which involves him sitting depp between the centre
halves and collecting the ball and laying it off to someone. Great ! That's
brilliant. We have a midfielder who is acting as a central defender. It's
fucking awful to watch and O'Kane for me is a perfect example of why we are not
progressing. He offers nothing.
Subs
Grot - just not able to impact a game on his own. I'm still not writing this
fella off though.
Hernandes - tried to get invovled and did a bit but nothing worked.
TC - bad decision after bade decision. It was noticealbe that Lonergan has
started to go long with his distribution which is either TC abandoning his
tippy tappy football across the back or the players deciding that route one is
the best way against pacey opponents ? I think his weakness is the defence.
Getting rid of a consistent keeper and bringing in your own keeper only to
abandon that idea and bring in another old keeper doesn't fill you with
confidence. I don't think he knows how defences work - he's now plugging O'kane
in there and in general I feel he's stuggling a bit. 5 losses out of 6 may have
got you sacked under the previous owner but early results have kept us in the
top 6 and will give him the chance to put things right. I hope he succeeds but
the next few games will determine his future.
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