I went to Hull, and then watched the oxford game on TV on friday, and a couple of things caught my eye.
1. transitions... we knock it about at the back, in the hope that the oppo come on to us, which in theory creates space, and if we can play through the front line of the press, we can transition quickly into attacking areas and utilise that space. Oxford actually pressed us, which should have yielded opportunities, as we did play round or through them numerous times, but then the transition upfield stalled, every time.... if we're not going to transition quickly once through the press, there is literally no point in inviting them onto us. I'm not sure if its confidence, lack of clarity/understanding of what the patterns should be, but its obvious that its missing. Both Hull and Oxford were much quicker in transition than we are.
2. lack of identity: going back to the back to back promotion seasons, you could see patterns all over the park. Each game, it was really clear what we were trying to do, and players were just doing it. I don't know if its been "found out" and now that our patterns are being stifled, we're struggling, or if the players just aren't able to build them due to the previous mentioned issues, but we really need to find some of that structure and pace that we used to have.
3. soft goals... this is the thing that has been driving me mad for actually most of the past 3 seasons... the goals we concede are dreadful.... we work so hard for our opportunities, but multiple times per game, we gift a golden chance to our opponents. I don't know if its concentration, or just overcommitment to our attacking principles, but we have to find a way to stop this.... we're awful at coming from behind, but if we actually stopped donating leads, i believe things would improve much quicker on all fronts. |  |
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