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Are our players afraid?


Guest JonTheOwl66

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I'm sure most of you will accept that our team are doing the basics on the whole very well. But is that enough?

So far this season we've been solid defensively, with plenty of clean sheets (mainly thanks to westwoods heroics) but have one of the lowest goals scored tallies in the league.

Why? Is it because our players are afraid?

We seem to have a bunch of players - with one exception - who is afraid to make the killer pass, or take a chance to grab a goal.

The one exception is Maguire. Who in fairness has been wayward with his shooting at times this season but during his recent revival with us has popped up with important goals because he had the confidence to take a chance.

None of our other players seem capable of that going forward

Maghoma hides and shirks away from attacking responsibility - which is frustrating because he has the quality to score plenty and provide assists

Semedo doesn't have a clue in the final third

Same with Lee

Same with Hutch

Same with Coke largely

None of our players have the confidence, or ability, to try to make the difference when it counts

It's all well and good keeping clean sheets but if that means sacrificing pretty much all of our attacking intent and relying on physicality and set-pieces to score, then we're in a difficult position when we concede the first goal

It's something that needs sorting. We saw with Ross Barkley, Ben Marshall, Connor Wickham, Matty Fryatt that having the confidence to mix their game up and try different and ingenious things creates fantastic results

Were missing this desperately. No creativity, no imagination. So one dimensional.

Which of the 13 games did Barkley create a fabtastic result?.

Every one could see that he was a real talent for the future of Everton and England, but he did not help to improve the performances of our side while he was here.

The others I agree with you.

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I don't think its fear - its ability.  I'd like to see Helan given a run at left midfield. I know his final ball isn't always the best but at least he runs at defenders and cause a threat.  Against Watford there were too many side or back passes - easy to defend against. Until Drenthe came on we hardly posed a threat.

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I have always had my doubts about the fitness of our players, they always seem to give it all they have for about 75 mins and then fade, whoever the fitness coach is, he should go and watch what Rovrum do in their training sessions, they can keep going for 90mins+, and they are only jobbing players like ours.

I hope that next summer, instead of taking the players on a jolly boys outing some where nice and sunny, the coaches and trainers concentrate on stamina training in and around the South Yorkshire area.

Edited by adelphi1867
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Guest JonTheOwl66

Which of the 13 games did Barkley create a fabtastic result?.

Every one could see that he was a real talent for the future of Everton and England, but he did not help to improve the performances of our side while he was here.

The others I agree with you.

 

Really? I thought he was brilliant for us. 4 goals in 12 wasn't it? Won us the game at Ipswich. 

 

Superb for us IMO.

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Does anyone have any confidence that we have the ability to fight back and get a result once we've gone a goal behind? If the opponents score first, I often find myself thinking that the game is almost up already.

 

With that in mind, maybe Gray is trying to avoid that scenario in the first place by playing with a defensive mindset? It makes for close games that don't have many goals in them, but it does give us more chance of success than getting involved in open, end-to-end contests in which the opponents may be better equipped than us.

 

But as modest as the strike rate has been amongst the forwards (just 6 between them in 13 league games), the midfielders have to take their share of the blame too for not taking or creating enough chances.

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We're not blessed with an over abundance of individual talent. When we were doing well, it was based on the sum of the parts, we were turning out good team performances.

When a vital member of the setup becomes unavailable, we haven't the strength in depth to replace like with like, and the team suffers as a result. Since Antonio left, we have no individual capable of rescuing a failing team performance on his own.

Comes back to the same issue, always will. Strength, quality, size of the squad.

Go back to burying your heads in the sand and reminding us we have no money.

Resurrect on a weekly basis.

Snooze alarm on.......

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And that is probably the reason Stuart sets us up, first and foremost to defend and keep it tight. He doesn't have enough quality at his disposal to play it any other way.

^^^^ exactly this, Gray has shown when he's had the likes of Wickham, Fryatt ect at his disposal what we are capable of.

Hopefully the return of Lavery and a couple of loans could give us the attacking impetus we need as our defence has been fantastic on the whole

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Between all our wingers last season (Maguire, Helan, Maghoma and Antonio) they only created 9 assists too. We really seem to have a problem with creating opportunities for our strikers.

Spot on. Watching the midfield last night the quality of crosses was shocking yet again. There's also no incisive passing through the middle. Everything is out to the wings who then give the ball away. We're so predictable and just don't give the opposition amything to worry about. The whole midfield needs addressing, getting a new striker in is merely shuffling the deckchairs.
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If Gray's concerned about Drenthe's contribution to the defensive side of the game then fine, but then he has to find a formation or way of playing that can get Drenthe in the team but also minimize the need for him to track back so much, because the potential for him to contribute in the attacking third was there for everyone to see on Saturday, and right now we're crying out for precisely that type of attacking impetus.

 

There's no point waiting until we're 2 nil down and chasing the game before giving him anything longer than 45 minutes. He must be starting games. He can't be far off it fitness side now.

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Guest JonTheOwl66

It does take weeks and weeks for players to get fully fit if they haven't had a pre-season, but this guy has hasn't he?

Doesn't make any sense to me.

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Gray was saying he didn't have much of a pre-season because he didn't play in any friendlies for Reading and he was training with their kids.

 

It's believable that he wasn't putting it in and that he's not as fit as he should be, but he's been with us 7 weeks now, and pre-season's not much more than 5 weeks anyway.

 

He does look sharper now than when he first came - that much can hardly be disputed, so his fitness has no doubt improved greatly, so much so that he must surely be very close to being fully fit.

 

I'll be disappointed if he doesn't start on Saturday anyway. If he can only last for 60 to 70 minutes, then I say he should definitely be starting - after all, it's not as though Gray never sends out players that aren't entirely fit and then says in the post-match that they were expecting said player to tire after about an hour - so if it's okay to start those players, then why not Drenthe (if his fitness is the concern here).

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I agree with most of the comments about Maghoma, it's not just that he usually makes the wrong decision after getting into a good position, often he seems incapable of making a decision at all and then just runs into opposing defenders.  Maybe this is an aspect of his game that will improve with time, but it needs to improve fast.

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Exactly. There's absolutely zero imagination in our side. No vision. No confidence to pick their head up. No idea of what runs to make to split the defence open.

Semedo or Lee pass to Loovens

Semedo and Lee both then stop and put their feet up because their job is apparently done

Loovens bangs the ball long towards the strikers

Nothing happens

Repeat

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Really? I thought he was brilliant for us. 4 goals in 12 wasn't it? Won us the game at Ipswich. 

 

Superb for us IMO.

 

I don't think he was brilliant every game but I also don't think he was helped by Bothroyd seeming to take him under his wing and the fact that Bothroyd was in the same side as him.

 

You could clearly tell even then though that he was a cut above what we had and still have. He always wanted the ball, got his head up and looked for movement in front of him and wasn't afraid to make a run or have a go. He got caught in possession a bit and made a few bad decisions but we could do with someone with his ability as it was back then, never mind now.

 

Our team is organised and regimented. A good base to start from but far from inspiring, especially at home when the onus is on to be positive. Maguire can provide a spark but is clearly restricted by the role he is asked to play.

Drenthe has the spark and a touch of the unknown - a break from the norm which can make a difference - but is deemed to much of a liability to risk from the start and so is asked to win a game in a 5 minute cameo or comes on earlier when plan A has failed and the game has already more or less gone. 

 

The keeper and the defence have been excellent in most games this season but that doesn't excite people or get the crowds in. A poor finish to last season and a lack of any significant summer investment in the team has seen lower crowds at the start of this season and the way we play is not going to bring people back in any great numbers. Unfortunately by and large we are predictable and boring to watch.

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If Gray's concerned about Drenthe's contribution to the defensive side of the game then fine, but then he has to find a formation or way of playing that can get Drenthe in the team but also minimize the need for him to track back so much, because the potential for him to contribute in the attacking third was there for everyone to see on Saturday, and right now we're crying out for precisely that type of attacking impetus.

 

There's no point waiting until we're 2 nil down and chasing the game before giving him anything longer than 45 minutes. He must be starting games. He can't be far off it fitness side now.

He needs to decide why the flip he brought him and Hope in to be fair, if they're not to be used that often. Could've spent the wages on alternatives who may have been more effective for us.

Yes, Drenthe is ineffective (if he's not playing). Thought that bit would need explaining for the trigger fingered and before Vulva casts his usual baited hook

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