| The lack of attacking patterns and routines 23:11 - Aug 12 with 829 views | Dubtractor |
Now, before I start, it's obviously still very early doors and we still have some transfer business to do, so probably too early to reach any conclusions but something has really stuck out for me in the first 2 games.
In our 2 promotion seasons (less so last season!) we had a number of routines and patterns that we executed brilliantly week after week, whether it was the Davis overlap and cutback to the penalty spot, the Chaplin ball round the corner for Burns to run on to, Morsy taking the ball under pressure and breaking the press, Hutchinson cutting inside from the touchline and dragging the defence out of their shape etc etc. We all recognised those routines and they were very effective at creating chances.
We seem to have lost that ability, seem quite laboured in how we move the ball around, and as a result quite easy to defend against. Birmingham completely and utterly stifled us, and tbh Bromley largely dealt with us quite easily tonight too.
Really hoping that there is a lot of work going on both on the training ground, but also on the transfer front, as we need both the tactical approach to unpick teams as well as a bit of x factor on the ball to replace Hutchinson and Broadhead.
As I say, it's early doors and I'm certain things will improve, but I've honestly found these 2 performances a little alarming as we've offered very little quality in the final third at all. |  |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 06:27 - Aug 13 with 588 views | RIPbobby |
We were so good at our model that everyone else tried it. There are now many teams who do our model better than we do it. I said before the Brum game that this cup game comes at the wrong time. Players we have recently bought will train for a good 3 weeks before being put in the team. That must be frustrating for them too. |  | | |
| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 06:41 - Aug 13 with 543 views | PioneerBlue |
Either there isn’t and KMck and coaches have lost their mojo or there is and it all takes time!!
I opt for the latter. We know how meticulous KMck is and whilst the squad / team is still being built there will be a plan for this period of games. It won’t be about pretty football day 1, it will be more pragmatic than that, build into the season, establish a way of playing and collect a base of points, early season you can afford to be a bit less defensively rigid but it’s more important to start building fitness and form as lots of draws kill a promotion challenging team. Winning eventually is the only way therefore for me it is way too early to worry.
We’ve not seen our full midfield
We’ve not seen Hirst’s finisher
We’ve not seen how to plan solve the OH gap
We’ve not seen Broadhead’s replacement |  |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 06:57 - Aug 13 with 495 views | textbackup |
| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 06:41 - Aug 13 by PioneerBlue |
Either there isn’t and KMck and coaches have lost their mojo or there is and it all takes time!!
I opt for the latter. We know how meticulous KMck is and whilst the squad / team is still being built there will be a plan for this period of games. It won’t be about pretty football day 1, it will be more pragmatic than that, build into the season, establish a way of playing and collect a base of points, early season you can afford to be a bit less defensively rigid but it’s more important to start building fitness and form as lots of draws kill a promotion challenging team. Winning eventually is the only way therefore for me it is way too early to worry.
We’ve not seen our full midfield
We’ve not seen Hirst’s finisher
We’ve not seen how to plan solve the OH gap
We’ve not seen Broadhead’s replacement |
I doubt there will be a NB replacement, as we have JC. |  |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 06:59 - Aug 13 with 484 views | PioneerBlue |
| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 06:57 - Aug 13 by textbackup |
I doubt there will be a NB replacement, as we have JC. |
I assumed Akpom is in part that guy | |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 07:03 - Aug 13 with 466 views | chicoazul |
First round of the league cup is the last pre season game. |  |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 07:46 - Aug 13 with 343 views | azuremerlangus |
| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 07:03 - Aug 13 by chicoazul |
First round of the league cup is the last pre season game. |
And as such your first XI should be starting then. |  |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 07:51 - Aug 13 with 309 views | Dubtractor |
| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 07:03 - Aug 13 by chicoazul |
First round of the league cup is the last pre season game. |
You're right tbh, and i really should know better than to get too excited by our annual sh1t efforts in the league cup, but bloody hell 2025 has been bleak for ITFC. Just want to see us play some decent football again! | |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 08:45 - Aug 13 with 204 views | tonybied |
| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 07:51 - Aug 13 by Dubtractor |
You're right tbh, and i really should know better than to get too excited by our annual sh1t efforts in the league cup, but bloody hell 2025 has been bleak for ITFC. Just want to see us play some decent football again! |
2025 has been horrendous, after the 2 years previous to that, it kind of feels like everything positive is falling away.
We did show a couple of glimpses of the play from our last promotion season, but not nearly enough, and the passing/ball retention was abysmal. I worry how toxic things are going to get if we don't show any signs of a real positive performance against Southampton. If we have 3 poor performances at the start of our campaign its going to be wild on here! Expectation will be being tempered to hope for quite a few then, which is painful even for those who have cool heads.
The next 6 months is the real test of McKenna's mettle. He has to get the group to react to the disappointing end of or PL adventure, and instill the confidence that we are better than 90% of the other teams in the league. He was superb at keeping the confidence going, and bringing it back after our winter wobbles in both promotion seasons, but he needs to prove he can keep a sinking ship afloat and get it back to shore for repairs. At the moment, it feels like there's still plenty of the ship above the water, but there's more water coming in than going out! |  | | |
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| The lack of attacking patterns and routines on 08:52 - Aug 13 with 170 views | noubledooble |
Maybe losing Lee Grant ? Could be he was a bigger influence than we maybe thought? |  | | |
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