| Thoughts 18:10 - Jul 30 with 983 views | clive_baker |
Bit of a mixed bag I thought. Started slowly and took a while to get going, very lazy defending which resulted in the penalty and Bolton goal which woke us up a little. I think Davis looks neat & tidy technically, with the ball at his feet I’m not worried about him, he’s got a bit of the Cresswell’s about him and should do well at this level. Would question him mentally on that evidence though, he looked nervous (perhaps understandably) and his decision making at times was questionable, notably for the penalty where it looked naive on his part. I think that’ll come in time though and he’ll learn from days like today. He does lack experience and his route into the game isn’t typical, so perhaps that’s all contributed to his rawness. I think he has something about him and his use of the ball was reassuring at times.
Otherwise I thought we were pretty solid defensively, limited their chances and Walton didn’t have a huge amount to do. A couple of times we were caught overplaying, but I think that’s part and parcel of how we play, and it will happen.
Morsy is our best defender, midfielder and forward. We’re lucky to have him and for me he was the best player on the pitch. He’ll kick himself about that chance that Burns put on a plate towards the end though, I think it would’ve been a deserved winner for the team but also him personally.
John-Jules is an interesting one, he looks an athlete first and footballer second. Very much the modern day player isn’t he, he would’ve had a goal or 2 today if he had a first touch. He caused some problems though and made more of an impact in 5 minutes than Harness did in an hour. Could be a bit of a wildcard for us but I expect he will frustrate at times.
I still watch us and hope we’re going to score rather than truly believe we will, and personally I think it’s a bit of a myth that we’re blessed with an embarrassment of riches in the final 3rd, I think we’re a goal scorer short of winning games like that. As an aside on that, is Kayden Jackson having lightening pace the greatest ITFC myth? I don’t think we’ve seen it for 3 years but we all still sit there expectantly. He had his defender squared up in injury time in the right, had only been on 20 odd minutes and inexplicably played it 40 yards back to JD who was blowing out of his backside.
For periods I thought we controlled the game fairly well, especially 2nd half. We looked fitter and another 20 minutes we would’ve had them. A calmer head and better execution in the final 3rd at times and we would’ve won. Still, a decent start against strong opposition and thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. We’re a much more polished outfit than we were this time last year by some distance and that will show as the season goes on. We look fitter, better drilled, and right up for it. I think we’ll be up there.
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| Thoughts on 18:19 - Jul 30 with 899 views | Illinoisblue |
Good assessment and I’m glad you brought that up about Jackson making that long backwards pass late on. Annoyed and baffled me at the time. Very odd decision making. |  |
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| Thoughts on 19:04 - Jul 30 with 757 views | DarkHorse |
| Thoughts on 18:19 - Jul 30 by Illinoisblue |
Good assessment and I’m glad you brought that up about Jackson making that long backwards pass late on. Annoyed and baffled me at the time. Very odd decision making. |
Indeed. That was infuriating. Had plenty of energy to chase down lost causes against the keeper (one of which admittedly nearly came off), but turns down a great opportunity like that to open up his legs and take on a tired defence. Bizarre. |  | | |
| Thoughts on 21:45 - Jul 30 with 594 views | Steve_M |
After we behind we were a lot better but it at felt a little sloppy over all. It never really felt like we believed we were going to score at all, let alone a second.
The heat didn’t help and Bolton were pretty good, well organised and broke with purpose. Not much goal threat which made the penalty annoying. There wasn’t contact from my viewpoint but I can see why the ref gave it. Poor decision from McK that one, should have gone with Leigh today.
I still think we’re a striker down, a Norwood or Bonne would have been useful late on and given us a little more threat. |  |
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