| An utter mess of a performance last night 07:39 - Nov 24 with 2439 views | Steve_M |
The team selection was bizarre, the three behind Bonne has been erratic all season and Cook seems to be randomly juggling those at times. Certainly the lack of physicality and pace from Celina, Fraser and Chaplin in together made little sense. Granted Aluko was absent but playing Burns against Oldham hasn't helped with our managing of his injury.
Bailey Clements struggled against Sunderland on Saturday so the play him for the fourth match in ten days was poor management and completely unfair on him. I thought he had a decent enough first half but was struggling in the second. And so Cook had to waste a sub to replace him.
Bonne is also a problem at the moment, isolated and increasingly frustrated up front, I did wonder whether yesterday might be a match to start Pigott and, certainly in hindsight, it was the latter who caused Rotherham slightly more problems.
Not that that was a lot. We were poor from the start, lucky not to concede for as long as we did and only - very - sporadically did we ever put enough passing together to start to threaten The little spell from Fraser when we went 4-3-3 at the start of the second half stood out but, other than a couple of balls across the box, we never looked like scoring. And the abject defending for their second goal made the last half hour a non-event.
Rotherham were good though, well organised and moved the ball at pace. Yes, bits of cynicism but in all honesty they didn't need to do much of that. The contrast between watching them and Oxford off the ball and the shambles we too often are is very stark.
Three weeks ago we went to Wycombe and produced an excellent away performance against one of the division's better sides. Since then we've stumbled past two fourth division sides in cup completions and failed to score in three matches against three of the better sides in the division (well, two of them were Sunderland were abysmal). Four points from the last five matches is very telling of where we are at the moment.
And that is nowhere near where this squad be. Cook hid behind last season's players and achieved worse results with them than Lambert did. Then with the pick of players for this division and a budget probably bigger than everyone bar Sunderland he's stumbled around for three months and the team looks less cohesive than back in August.
Six wins from 19 matches this season, 10 from 35 in total. The three away wins this season have been good but at home we've only beaten three of the bottom four. This is the third division and we are not very good at being in it. I can't really see much difference between last night and matches like Hull and Charlton this time last year, indeed Hull was a year ago this week and I've just re-read my blog I wrote afterwards.
And yet everything has changed, the club is in such a better position than a year ago except for one crucial aspect. The manager and his inadequate coaching team are failing again and should be replaced as soon as possible.
https://www.twtd.co.uk/blogs/21848/cycle-of-hurt/#0
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| An utter mess of a performance last night on 11:27 - Nov 25 with 251 views | itfcjoe |
| An utter mess of a performance last night on 11:08 - Nov 25 by LankHenners |
Yep, have been thinking that people are getting a bit carried away with the whole ‘he’s too wedded to 4231’ ‘why not 2 up front’ etc. when the reality is we just simply don’t play the 4231 well enough in the first place.
Wycombe was the blueprint. Yes, Burgess having to play LB for most of the game may have been a blessing in disguise but it showed that if you get pace down the wings you can stretch play and free up the central attacking midfielder to impact the game.
Certain tactical tweaks may be needed (e.g. some games may require Aluko’s ability to keep possession) but in general Cook should really know what he’s doing and not faff around with it unnecessary.
You’re right on Bonne and it’s a shame Burns is injured as his ability to pick Bonne out at the back stick was very very effective.
If he can’t play his first choice full backs for whatever reason he needs to work out a different way to make the formation effective. We know JD is a good defensive full back but isn’t the same going forwards, consistently anyway. It’s also a lot of ask of Clements so there are some games where maybe you put Harper in instead of Evans as he can break the lines through carrying the ball and is quite press resistant which may have helped against a team like Rotherham.
In general it’s like he’s stuck between his ideals and trying to fit everyone he likes into the team which isn’t helping anybody. |
4231 are just numbers on a page and framework to play from - the individuals and the roles they are asked to play make it what it is.
It's fine to say to Evans and Morsy don't get in front of the ball when you have Coulson and Vincent-Young bombing on all game - but if they have the same instructions when Donacien and Clements are there then we are desperately short in linking the defence to the attack.
But a good manager has to change things, change roles or personnel when those who can't play how he wants are starting |  |
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| An utter mess of a performance last night on 11:45 - Nov 25 with 218 views | DavoIPB |
| An utter mess of a performance last night on 08:33 - Nov 24 by pointofblue |
We didn’t look like when knew what we were doing because we were trying to play Cook’s usual approach without the players on the pitch to do it. In order to facilitate his tactics you need attacking full backs and proper wide players to compliment them. Instead we had three number tens - with the one player who could play on the left instead out on the right - and two defensive full backs.
It was an absolute tactical failure from a man whose lack of Plan B is strangling us. |
Don't know if people are aware but he couldn't play the players he wanted to,
Burns and Aluko were out. He has to be careful with KVY, still carrying injuries, Penney has been unwell and only just recovered. Everyone was calling for Chaplin to be playing and not Edwards - Chaplin had a really poor game, Edwards came on and made a real difference. |  | | |
| An utter mess of a performance last night on 11:49 - Nov 25 with 211 views | pointofblue |
| An utter mess of a performance last night on 11:45 - Nov 25 by DavoIPB |
Don't know if people are aware but he couldn't play the players he wanted to,
Burns and Aluko were out. He has to be careful with KVY, still carrying injuries, Penney has been unwell and only just recovered. Everyone was calling for Chaplin to be playing and not Edwards - Chaplin had a really poor game, Edwards came on and made a real difference. |
So adapt the system to make the most out of the players who are there, rather than try and get the players to fit the system? | |
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| An utter mess of a performance last night on 11:50 - Nov 25 with 210 views | Stenvict |
| An utter mess of a performance last night on 09:43 - Nov 25 by tractorboy1978 |
Nsiala isn't good enough, he's always two seconds away from an error. How a defender can reach 29 and 350 career appearances and still not realise you shouldn't let the ball bounce is amazing. And as you say, poor on the ball.
I think Cook is tying himself in knots at the moment. I posted this elsewhere I don't know how you can line up at Wycombe with Coulson/KVY at full back and Edwards/Burns wide and then Tuesday with Clements/Donacien and Fraser/Celina in front of them, and expect to play in exactly the same way.
Penney has his defensive faults but until Coulson is fit he needs to be playing at LB and KVY needs to be at RB. Perhaps slot Donacien in at centre half alongside Edmundson. |
The one time Nsiala went to get the ball before it bounced, he timed it completely wrong and it went under his foot. I was directly side on to it and could see that he was never going to get it. | |
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