| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday 08:35 - Feb 2 with 3452 views | Dubtractor |
Still quite shocked that we managed to lose, and actually play quite poorly, against a team as bad as that. I won't be at all surprised if Southampton don't get another win all season.
I don't tend to go all in on player critique, and in most cases this is just a reflection on yesterday rather than a more general perspective, albeit there are some longer term problems.
I'll admit I was in the crowd that wanted Muric back in as feel that he is the better overall keeper, despite some of his errors, but yesterday demonstrated that this is one of those things where a player gets better in their absence. If we'd had a premier league standard keeper all season I'm sure we'd be 5 or 6 points better off than we are.
Tuanzebe is usually Mr Reliable, but he seemed to really struggle at lots of the basics yesterday, and the winner came from his side with a player being allowed far too easily to cut across the box and shoot.
Davis seems to have really struggled to make a contribution in the final third in recent weeks, and that's played a part in our struggles in scoring goals.
I think Greaves and O'Shea mostly did OK in dealing with that unit up front. Odd game to judge them as they were asked to defend in a very different way to most weeks in this league.
Cajuste was one to come out with a bit of credit, and it was REALLY noticeable how much slower we played as he was tiring and then after he went off.
Morsy is a problem right now. He is the heartbeat of the team, and has been such an important part of our journey, but he plays too slowly for this league. Against teams that just set out to be organised and keep their shape we continually allow them to reset themselves.
Broadhead was decent, though probably should have scored.
Hutchinson's afternoon started with him trying (unsuccessfully) to run straight through their left back, and that set the tone. Nothing worked for him at all yesterday, despite getting into lots of good positions.
Enciso. What to make of him? I've seen quite a few comments on here praising him, and he clearly has a lot about him. Quick feet, direct, able to beat a man, but...... It was like watching a playground ball hog at times. Too many times he had a good pass option on, but tried to beat another man, or do another trick, and the moment was gone. He clearly has the tools to be a real star, and will probably create and score goals for us, but he's got to get so much better at releasing the ball at the right time.
Delap was Delap, well taken goal and was part of so much of the good things that we did.
None of the subs really made an impact when they came on. Philogene looks rusty/lacking in confidence, Taylor isn't a premier league level player.
I'm resigned to relegation now, and if I'm honest I won't miss much about this league, it was another game yesterday where the gamesmanship was off the charts - I was not entirely impressed to see some of it from Enciso either.
Despite our struggles this season, and none of us can be too surprised with how it has panned out (seeing Leicester and Southampton similarly struggle is telling), we'll be very well placed to have a strong season in the Championship. Obviously there are no guarantees, but I don't see us doing a Luton!
There will be no booing or jeering from me, no getting on McKenna's back, and it is easy to forget just how quickly we've gone from L1 to the Premier league, but it's OK to admit that we're falling short this season.
Never say never though, there are still 14 games left to give it a real go, but my years of watching football have taught me to believe what my eyes are showing me, and that's that a team who don't score enough and concede soft goals will struggle to string a run of wins together. |  |
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| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:20 - Feb 2 with 655 views | ITFCSG |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 13:20 - Feb 2 by LankHenners |
Thought we actually played better, or certainly had more control, this time than against them than last season (where, let’s be honest, for all the glory of that day we were a bit fortunate to come out with a win) and therefore like you struggling to believe we managed to throw it away.
I know McKenna (rightly) played down the ‘must win’ aspect but felt to me like the players knew the weight of the game and looked a bit nervy because of it. The space Southampton left all over the pitch should have meant lots of openings for us but we lacked a bit of purpose and quality. Too slow to release passes, not quite getting the balls right etc. In the 2nd half that ramped up and we had too many players trying to win it by themselves.
First time this season I’ve looked at Tuanzebe and thought he’s not quite on it. Always seems to want a bit too much time on the ball and as you say struggled to put up much resistance for their winner.
Think we’ve run Omari into the ground - he just looks so leggy to me. Seems to be coming in for some harsher criticism which is a bit unfair imo but he’s someone whose minutes we probably could have managed better this season.
Broadhead frustrated me - some nice movement but the speed of thought wasn’t there most of the time, several times had options to move the ball on but had his head down and wanted to dribble back into a defender again. Not alone in doing that but he also spurned our best chances to go into the break ahead. Didn’t really justify the slightly OTT clamour for him to start imo.
Enciso reminded me of how McGoldrick played sometimes - knew he was probably the most technically skilled player on the pitch so ended up trying to do too much and pick the ball up in areas he didn’t need to. Very lively and positive though.
Said the same about Cajuste yesterday - really helped us keep the tempo up and move the ball forwards quickly in the first half but once he tires the whole system slows down. Not good that that’s how our midfield functions.
Morsy’s done I’m afraid and has been for a while. Physicality of the league has caught up with him.
Was in the same camp as you re: Muric but we’ve got a major issue there haven’t we? One keeper who isn’t up to it really and also now injured and another who seems to have lost all confidence and makes too many howlers. Have to say though the crowd getting on his back because he didn’t release the ball in under 2 seconds was really poor although I guess it shows the trust just isn’t there for him.
Lots of talk about poor recruitment but we were always likely to put together a bit of a Championship super team as that’s the best we could have done. Not saying every signing’s worked out obviously but think the suggestion in some quarters that we should have stuck with more of the same team from last term is silly.
Strange that only a few weeks ago we were praising the Chelsea and Fulham performances where we looked more resolute and showed a clinical edge but we’ve regressed right back and look like a team that struggles to score and concedes a bit too easily. Don’t want to ever give up or give in and you never k ow what might happen but hard not to feel a bit flat about the rest of the season now. |
Re recruitment I have commented a lot and will say it again. The lack of direct recruitment from foreign clubs in Europe, S America, Asia etc. is hurting us. If we don't get our overseas network up and running we will never be competitive in the PL. Even many Championship clubs like Blackburn, Coventry, Hull etc with no recent Prem history recruit better from overseas. Just look at how the starting line-ups of all other PL teams, how many are from the home nations?
Thus this season we are forced to pay over the top for "potential" homegrown talent (Delap, Philogene, J Clarke, Hutchinson etc.) as we will never be able to afford the Declan Rices and Phil Fodens. BUT these players are a player in the making and are hardly suited to "plug and play" in the PL now. Just look at how much Enciso cost Brighton and compare it with what we paid for J Clarke and Philogene.
Brighton sold Moder for just £1.2 million last week and he'd be a definite upgrade on Morsy, Luongo, Taylor and I daresay Phillips. Why weren't we even looking at him when our MF is desperately lacking?
It seems the club is acting as an incubator for future England talent and future sale profits at the cost of our current Prem status BUT fail to realise most of the "talents", if good, will eventually leave when we go down. So what's the point sacrificing so much to train a player for another club higher up in the pecking order? |  | | |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:32 - Feb 2 with 617 views | ITFCBlues |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:20 - Feb 2 by ITFCSG |
Re recruitment I have commented a lot and will say it again. The lack of direct recruitment from foreign clubs in Europe, S America, Asia etc. is hurting us. If we don't get our overseas network up and running we will never be competitive in the PL. Even many Championship clubs like Blackburn, Coventry, Hull etc with no recent Prem history recruit better from overseas. Just look at how the starting line-ups of all other PL teams, how many are from the home nations?
Thus this season we are forced to pay over the top for "potential" homegrown talent (Delap, Philogene, J Clarke, Hutchinson etc.) as we will never be able to afford the Declan Rices and Phil Fodens. BUT these players are a player in the making and are hardly suited to "plug and play" in the PL now. Just look at how much Enciso cost Brighton and compare it with what we paid for J Clarke and Philogene.
Brighton sold Moder for just £1.2 million last week and he'd be a definite upgrade on Morsy, Luongo, Taylor and I daresay Phillips. Why weren't we even looking at him when our MF is desperately lacking?
It seems the club is acting as an incubator for future England talent and future sale profits at the cost of our current Prem status BUT fail to realise most of the "talents", if good, will eventually leave when we go down. So what's the point sacrificing so much to train a player for another club higher up in the pecking order? |
I think the recruitment model for this season was fine. We've built from a bed of overachieving L1/Championship players, it was never going to be easy. We've now got a squad of top end Championship players of which to build on if we are to be relegated.
We of course need to add the ability to recruit from abroad and that will come. The rise has been rapid. It's just over 3 years since gamechanger arrived to a club on its absolute knees with everything needed rebuilding from top to bottom, including the scouting network.
Rome wasn't built in a day. |  |
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| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:37 - Feb 2 with 593 views | LankHenners |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:20 - Feb 2 by ITFCSG |
Re recruitment I have commented a lot and will say it again. The lack of direct recruitment from foreign clubs in Europe, S America, Asia etc. is hurting us. If we don't get our overseas network up and running we will never be competitive in the PL. Even many Championship clubs like Blackburn, Coventry, Hull etc with no recent Prem history recruit better from overseas. Just look at how the starting line-ups of all other PL teams, how many are from the home nations?
Thus this season we are forced to pay over the top for "potential" homegrown talent (Delap, Philogene, J Clarke, Hutchinson etc.) as we will never be able to afford the Declan Rices and Phil Fodens. BUT these players are a player in the making and are hardly suited to "plug and play" in the PL now. Just look at how much Enciso cost Brighton and compare it with what we paid for J Clarke and Philogene.
Brighton sold Moder for just £1.2 million last week and he'd be a definite upgrade on Morsy, Luongo, Taylor and I daresay Phillips. Why weren't we even looking at him when our MF is desperately lacking?
It seems the club is acting as an incubator for future England talent and future sale profits at the cost of our current Prem status BUT fail to realise most of the "talents", if good, will eventually leave when we go down. So what's the point sacrificing so much to train a player for another club higher up in the pecking order? |
When Gamechanger took over pretty much every bit of on and off pitch infrastructure had to be rebuilt and recovered such was the state of the club. You can't just flick switch and suddenly have a well-oiled global scouting network. McKenna's said when asked about this that it's something he wants the club to reach at some point but the reality is it's no quick fix and recruiting within the English League system has served us very well on the whole.
If foreign-based players came in and performed then were sold would we make a loss then? Brighton get held up as a shining example of good overseas recruitment but they're not all hits and they take their time to get acclimatised to the league. They're not 'plug in and play' PL players when they first arrive. Even better ones who get bought by the bigger clubs can take a season to properly bed in but they can afford to take that development time.
IMO it's a misguided line of thought that signing a load of foreign players would have seen us perform better this season. If we had the means to sign players like that and thought they'd improve us then we would have done. |  |
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| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:42 - Feb 2 with 557 views | Dubtractor |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:37 - Feb 2 by LankHenners |
When Gamechanger took over pretty much every bit of on and off pitch infrastructure had to be rebuilt and recovered such was the state of the club. You can't just flick switch and suddenly have a well-oiled global scouting network. McKenna's said when asked about this that it's something he wants the club to reach at some point but the reality is it's no quick fix and recruiting within the English League system has served us very well on the whole.
If foreign-based players came in and performed then were sold would we make a loss then? Brighton get held up as a shining example of good overseas recruitment but they're not all hits and they take their time to get acclimatised to the league. They're not 'plug in and play' PL players when they first arrive. Even better ones who get bought by the bigger clubs can take a season to properly bed in but they can afford to take that development time.
IMO it's a misguided line of thought that signing a load of foreign players would have seen us perform better this season. If we had the means to sign players like that and thought they'd improve us then we would have done. |
"If foreign-based players came in and performed then were sold would we make a loss then? Brighton get held up as a shining example of good overseas recruitment but they're not all hits and they take their time to get acclimatised to the league. They're not 'plug in and play' PL players when they first arrive. Even better ones who get bought by the bigger clubs can take a season to properly bed in but they can afford to take that development time."
I was going to reply to that post along these lines - that allowance for foreign players to have a settling in period is key. In the case of Enciso, Brighton signed him in June 2022, and he's still going through his settling in period and not quite able to apply his skills in the way he needs to in this league.
I agree with the general point that we would greatly benefit from the technical ability that comes with foreign players, but we don't have the luxury of allowing them a season or 2 to just be on the fringes. | |
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| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:45 - Feb 2 with 537 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 09:12 - Feb 2 by Herbivore |
Yeah, that's a fair summary. Saints were by an absolute mile the worst team we've played this season and we gifted them two goals in very poor fashion. The defending in the build up could have been better but your keeper is there to make routine saves and the first one goes in the middle of the sodding goal, how he fails to get anything on that I have no idea. The second one he should be pushing away from goal, not straight out. It's basic stuff.
But given how rubbish Saints were, there's no excuse for losing that and only scoring once. The poor goals conceded wouldn't have mattered if we'd smashed a few on, which we should have done. Broadhead should have scored really and we got in so many good positions but the decision making from the attacking players was horrendous. Too many holding on to the ball for too long, failing to beat a man repeatedly, not passing to players in space. Really poor stuff.
Midfield is a worry too, Morsy starting to look a bit out of his depth now which was always a risk but neither Cajuste or Phillips seem able to give us 90 minutes every week so we're a bit stuck there.
I do worry that we've changed a bit too much too soon. Of course we needed to add quality and depth to the squad but many of our signings don't look big upgrades on what we already had here. The large squad has contributed to quite a lot of chopping and changing so we've rarely looked anywhere near as fluid as we did last season. Of course the opposition makes that harder but you can tell that there's not that understanding between the players that we've benefited from in the past.
I am struggling to see any way we pick up enough points to stay up now. We need to keep fighting as we don't want to go down with a whimper but it feels like the game is close to being up. We aren't adrift but at some point we need to string 2 or 3 wins together and we don't look capable of that because we concede soft goals and don't score enough. |
Who says Phillips can't give us 90 minutes every week? The only thing seemingly stopping him is KM's blind loyalty in picking the captain every week. |  |
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| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 18:07 - Feb 2 with 461 views | reusersfreekicks |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 09:43 - Feb 2 by ITFCBlues |
Agree with everything you've said, bit which of the players that have departed would you have kept?
Maybe Hladky? But it's clear the likes of Ball, Jackson, Harness, Edmondson & Ladapo would never have cut it. There's Aluko as well who's retired. Ali needed this loan and Clarke hadn't cut it either so you're always looking at a big turnaround of players.
Issue we've had is that the players that had stayed haven't really stepped up, other than Burgess, Broady, Wolfy, Axel and Davis perhaps? Even that's questionable as Davis hasn't been able to deliver what he did last season. Morsy looking old now, Chappers done OK but not realistically got the quality and Burns was getting better but then got the injury.
Reality is, the gulf is huge and we've had back to back promotions meaning we've had a lot of work to do in the transfer market to make us even semi competitive |
Think when he has played I.e.v Brentford and Bournemouth Chappers has played well and you can see him advising the likes of Hutchinson. He has a very good football brain. He suffered when we switched to just 2 no 10s for a while [Post edited 2 Feb 18:27]
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| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 18:24 - Feb 2 with 428 views | Herbivore |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 17:45 - Feb 2 by GlasgowBlue |
Who says Phillips can't give us 90 minutes every week? The only thing seemingly stopping him is KM's blind loyalty in picking the captain every week. |
How many times has he completed 90 minutes? How many games back in November/December was he not fit enough to start? I don't think it's as straightforward as McKenna just favouring Morsy. |  |
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| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 18:26 - Feb 2 with 425 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Far too many individual players had poor games yesterday on 18:24 - Feb 2 by Herbivore |
How many times has he completed 90 minutes? How many games back in November/December was he not fit enough to start? I don't think it's as straightforward as McKenna just favouring Morsy. |
He had an injury after the Leicester game but he's been fit for a few weeks now. KM has picked Morsy ahead of him and that has had nothing to do with his fitness.Probably based on his leadership skills. Was it fitness issues that meant he didn't play a single minute yesterday?
KP will probably start against Coventry, play well and be back on the bench the following week. [Post edited 2 Feb 18:28]
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