Why we're not winning

[robswfc]

Very angry tonight- it is becoming clear that Alan Irvine has not got a clue how to win games at this level- playing defensive football for 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws might have been an acceptable tactic in the lower reaches of the championship (although it still got us relegated), but ffs- we are trying to get automatic promotion. Has anyone mentioned this to our manager?

Teams are going to come to Hillsborough and play exactly the way Oldham did tonight all season long- get 10 men behind the ball, press us when we have possession upfront or on the wings, and have bug centre backs who win lots of headers- we MUST be able to score against and beat these teams. Alan Irvine seems to pay a huge amount of attention to how other teams might attack us, and what we should do to stop them. That's all very well, but it wasn't exactly difficult to defend V Oldham today was it- they were dogshite going forward. What AI needs to pay attention to is how teams will defend against us, and what we can do to make this as difficult as possible for them.

Despite some individual mistakes tonight, and what AI likes to focus on in his post-match analysis (fu cking pathetic btw)- he talked about how we need to play smarter (wtf does that mean?- maybe you should tell them how to play smarter?!) and that our quality on the ball wasn't always great (this ignores WHY the quality on the ball was poor- because we never had any time on the ball) as individuals I didn't actually think most of the players played at all badly. What I mean by this is that their control, touch, passing, tackling, work-rate, crossing etc. was mostly ok. BUT...... as a team, they did not look like they had a clue how to break down the opposition. This is not because they are new players getting used to playing with each other (they've been training together for months now), I believe it is because they are being taught completely the wrong approach to how to win these sorts of games by our manager.

The facts are clear for us all to see- fewer shots on target this season than any of the bottom three in our division. This is why we're drawing 0-0 and getting sucker-punched 0-1.

It simply must change- so (finally) here is what I think we need to do to:

1. Be more attacking- midfielders/full backs need to run forward quickly and in numbers in support of attacks when we get the ball. Too often our strikers are trying to win the ball against two opponents each- this will stop them being so isolated.

2. More urgency/be faster- every time we have a goalkick, freekick or throw in we take our time, wait for everyone on the pitch to get in position, and then do something entirely predictable. How easy is that to defend against?!! We should be looking to catch our opponents off guard by rushing them- FFS what is the point of the multiball system when we take 30 seconds to decide where to throw the ****** ball?!

3. Mix up tactics/be less predictable- I can't emphasize this enough. Hoofing it up sometimes is fine- AS LONG AS THE OTHER TEAM ISN'T EXPECTING IT!!!- we need to mix up whether we pass it out of defence, play it direct into the striker's feet, look for flick ons, play the ball into the channels, switch the play from side to side etc etc. That will stop other teams setting up in one way and comfortably stopping us from playing. Likewise kicking every freekick to Tudgay's head is not gonna work once the other team is expecting it.

4. Keep moving into space/give the guy with the ball options- this is just basically how to play football- have we forgotten that in order to complete a pass it needs not to be intercepted?

There are loads more things we are doing wrong (will to win, fear in possession, lack of aggression/fight) that should be instilled into players by managers, but AI is clearly not the type of motivational manager to sort these things out. He is, however, supposed to be an excellent coach- but for the life of me, in light of the above, I cannot understand what he is doing on the training ground. I mean, are the players just watching video after video of opposition teams, practicing marking from corners, and shooting unchallenged from layoffs on the edge of the area. Cos to be honest, that's the impression I'm getting from watching them.

We have been distracted for too long by minor issues such as which players to pick where, Potter's sideways passing, Tudgay's dropped head, Spurr's positioning etc. But these pale in comparison to having the correct team ethos and approach to winning games. If this does not change then we will continue to struggle. It must change, or the manager must change, not soon, NOW. Alan, if you're by any chance reading- get it sorted. Or fu ck off.

[the gaffer]

Its plain for everyone to see bar him it would seem.

Is he going to resign? NO

Can we afford ( as in money pay-off) to sack him? NO

Are we stuck with him? damn right.

We are void of ideas, have no plan B, so if plan A (hoofball) doesnt work (clealry isnt) then were fubar.

JJ will/should make a big difference, as he gives a variety of options with his pace, which adds a different dimension to our attacks.

[Tea Baggins]

All this talk of JJ this and JJ that.

All this expectation isn't good.

All that is going to happen is every team will man mark him, have a player up his arse everytime he gets possession. This will lead to him getting riled, thus going something stupid and getting sent off etc...

I can see it coming.

[baggymandan]

The head tennis just isn't working and teams can read Wednesday like a book. What's the point of hoofing it up front when 9 out 10 teams in the league have got a big stopper at the back-just like last night.

Tudgay doesn't stand a chance and it seems Morrison wants it on a plate-I never once saw him attack the ball last night. The only thing he did attack was the ground when decisions didn't go his way.

The only time we really threatened last night was when we crossed it in from the wing-how can he not see that?

[robswfc]

Very angry tonight- it is becoming clear that Alan Irvine has not got a clue how to win games at this level- playing defensive football for 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws might have been an acceptable tactic in the lower reaches of the championship (although it still got us relegated), but ffs- we are trying to get automatic promotion. Has anyone mentioned this to our manager?

Teams are going to come to Hillsborough and play exactly the way Oldham did tonight all season long- get 10 men behind the ball, press us when we have possession upfront or on the wings, and have bug centre backs who win lots of headers- we MUST be able to score against and beat these teams. Alan Irvine seems to pay a huge amount of attention to how other teams might attack us, and what we should do to stop them. That's all very well, but it wasn't exactly difficult to defend V Oldham today was it- they were dogshite going forward. What AI needs to pay attention to is how teams will defend against us, and what we can do to make this as difficult as possible for them.

Despite some individual mistakes tonight, and what AI likes to focus on in his post-match analysis (fu cking pathetic btw)- he talked about how we need to play smarter (wtf does that mean?- maybe you should tell them how to play smarter?!) and that our quality on the ball wasn't always great (this ignores WHY the quality on the ball was poor- because we never had any time on the ball) as individuals I didn't actually think most of the players played at all badly. What I mean by this is that their control, touch, passing, tackling, work-rate, crossing etc. was mostly ok. BUT...... as a team, they did not look like they had a clue how to break down the opposition. This is not because they are new players getting used to playing with each other (they've been training together for months now), I believe it is because they are being taught completely the wrong approach to how to win these sorts of games by our manager.

The facts are clear for us all to see- fewer shots on target this season than any of the bottom three in our division. This is why we're drawing 0-0 and getting sucker-punched 0-1.

It simply must change- so (finally) here is what I think we need to do to:

1. Be more attacking- midfielders/full backs need to run forward quickly and in numbers in support of attacks when we get the ball. Too often our strikers are trying to win the ball against two opponents each- this will stop them being so isolated.

2. More urgency/be faster- every time we have a goalkick, freekick or throw in we take our time, wait for everyone on the pitch to get in position, and then do something entirely predictable. How easy is that to defend against?!! We should be looking to catch our opponents off guard by rushing them- FFS what is the point of the multiball system when we take 30 seconds to decide where to throw the ****** ball?!

3. Mix up tactics/be less predictable- I can't emphasize this enough. Hoofing it up sometimes is fine- AS LONG AS THE OTHER TEAM ISN'T EXPECTING IT!!!- we need to mix up whether we pass it out of defence, play it direct into the striker's feet, look for flick ons, play the ball into the channels, switch the play from side to side etc etc. That will stop other teams setting up in one way and comfortably stopping us from playing. Likewise kicking every freekick to Tudgay's head is not gonna work once the other team is expecting it.

4. Keep moving into space/give the guy with the ball options- this is just basically how to play football- have we forgotten that in order to complete a pass it needs not to be intercepted?

There are loads more things we are doing wrong (will to win, fear in possession, lack of aggression/fight) that should be instilled into players by managers, but AI is clearly not the type of motivational manager to sort these things out. He is, however, supposed to be an excellent coach- but for the life of me, in light of the above, I cannot understand what he is doing on the training ground. I mean, are the players just watching video after video of opposition teams, practicing marking from corners, and shooting unchallenged from layoffs on the edge of the area. Cos to be honest, that's the impression I'm getting from watching them.

We have been distracted for too long by minor issues such as which players to pick where, Potter's sideways passing, Tudgay's dropped head, Spurr's positioning etc. But these pale in comparison to having the correct team ethos and approach to winning games. If this does not change then we will continue to struggle. It must change, or the manager must change, not soon, NOW. Alan, if you're by any chance reading- get it sorted. Or fu ck off.

Anyone care to comment on the points in bold?

[DJMortimer]

Anyone care to comment on the points in bold?

I think you've broadly got it right. Slow attacks are particularly a feature of Potter's play and one that has frustrated the hell out of me. A quick break comes to a crashing halt when the ball comes to him to ponce about with. Invariably he'll end up rolling it back to a defender who aimlessly launches it up the field to start another attack... by the opponent.

I would also add crosses being too lofted. This gives the defenders a half second more time to respond and also means the forward has to generate more power for himself, reducing the chances his effort will be accurate.

If we must insist on playing the long ball then there are two 'qualities' in particular needed to make it work - either a big lump of a forward who can scrap, hold the ball up and be a target in the box or plain old speed to get behind them. And with Johnson out we currently have neither, although Tudgay has a game old go at being the former. But even if he wins it, the support is normally miles behind him, still worrying about all the defensive instructions the manager gave them.

Our wingers are too unadventurous too; esepcially Sedgwick Against Carlisle I lost count of the number of times they would take the ball only as far forward as the defence would allow. As soon as they threatened to make a challenge, they put the breaks on and went backwards. The full backs, especially Spurr, were overworked trying to do what the winger should have been doing and this threatened to leave us exposed if our 'attack' broke down. To be fair though, often a ball into the box would only have one or two players to aim for.

The statistics (see the 'defensive football' thread) don't lie. We aren't generating enough chances. A defensive approach is all very well (Arsenal made it work in the early 90s) but it's like cutting one leg of a snooker table shorter than the rest. Inevitably, the opponent will have the advantage in terms of territory and possession, and therefore pressure, chances and subsequently goals. We've been proving over and over again for the last twelve months that we can't make it work for us.

[HOOTIE AND THE SHIT TU]

Football's simple really, you can have all the possession in the world, but if you don't shoot, you don't score.

[Guest Sheff Owl]

Football's simple really, you can have all the possession in the world, but if you don't shoot, you don't score.

We seem to have had all the creativity and pace kicked out of us. It's shocking.

[Sonny]

I wish we'd just do stuff a little bit better than the other team do stuff, it's so frustrating.

[DJMortimer]

I still haven't forgotten the trauma of watching us against Palace in the second half of last season's final game. We absolutely had to score so we had Varney (the closest thing we had to a goal threat at the time) out on the wing, Esajas (occasionally the most incisive and dangerous runner we had) utterly lost in the scrum in the middle and the ball being mindlessly and relentlessly lobbed to the edge of the Palace box where it was equally relentlessly headed away whilst the keeper daydreamed about having to work for a living.

[mattitheowl]

I would honestly tell Purse that for every ball he launches up field that isn't a direct clearence I will fine him £100. He would soon get the idea. The midfield need to be instructed to be in midfield and not auxilary defenders who sit 10 yards in front of the back 4, leaving a 40 yard gap to the forwards. If you want a defensive midfield then deploy a defensive midfielder and play a diamond or something but don't just stick 4 in front of the current defence. Coke and Miller both looked so frustrated at the lack of options every time they got the ball. We need players to be moving when a team mate gets the ball (and not just running away from them). When we have the ball it is like netball, everyone stands still in their position and wants it to their feet even though they have a defender on their arse. It is so worrying that a manager can't see that we aren't doing the basics correctly and how to rectify the promble!

[Guest ka58]

We seem to have had all the creativity and pace kicked out of us. It's shocking.

When did we have this creativity and pace? I can't remember it?

[HOOTIE AND THE SHIT TU]

When did we have this creativity and pace? I can't remember it?

JJ and Varney provided pace, and as for creativity, we had 25 attempts at goal in the home game V Preston last year. If it wasn't for the fact Purse spent the first 5 months of his Wednesday career being absolute garbage, we might still be in the Championship with a manager that likes to go forward.

Laws worked with half the budget of Irvine and still produced attacking football. Irvine is so defensive it is unbelievable, just look at Tudgay's stats. Under Laws, Tudgay regularly got into double figures, under Irvine, Tudgay has yet to find the net in open play this season, he's far too busy helping our back four out.

[g-owls]

Football's simple really, you can have all the possession in the world, but if you don't shoot, you don't score.

IF YOU DON'T BUY A TICKET YOU CAN'T WIN THE RAFFLE

[Pulixifer]

We seem to have had all the creativity and pace kicked out of us. It's shocking.

Are the lads being over trained?

[wednesdaywizard]

That's a very in depth post.

After reading the threat title i thought it was gonna be as simple as "because we aren't scoring one more goal than the other team".