Man of the match -Luton (H)

[prowl]

3 hours ago, The Night-Owl said:

He did well no doubt aboubt it.

 

I hate statistical analysis like that, too much like American 'football'.

 

Interceptions, fine, an imprtant part of the game.

 

Short pass success? Who cares, sometimes you get the ball under pressure and have to hurry, sometimes you have loads of time and you pass to someone in space. The %age becomes meaning less unless you look at the situation of the passes. Something English watchers would do instinctively but septics need statistics for.

 

Long pass success %age, same as above. Bannan sending a long crossfield pass to the winger just over the head of a fullback gives a low success rate but can lead to a goal. Pass from one side of the pitch across the back line under no pressure,relatively easy but of little vale.

 

Defensive DUALS won. Horrible terminology, give them a couple of pistols at dawn. Why not tackles won or headers won if you insist on statistics.

 

Sorry to rant but I'm of an age when we watched a game and formed our own opinions now everyone wants statistics. I know I'm old fashioned and it's the way football is going but I don't have to like it.

 

(Night Owl, this isn't a dig at you)

Edited August 22, 2019 by prowl

[Ante's Bubbly]

23 hours ago, HOOTIE AND THE poo TU said:

The thing that winds me up most is, Bannan and Hutchinson dropping deep and taking the ball off the centre halves, it's no wonder we get overrun in midfield when our two central midfielders are holding hands with our centre halves, Bannan especially should be further up the pitch collecting lay offs from Fletcher

 

There was an instance in the first half, we had a free kick inside our half towards the Cantilever, Hutchinson decided to take it, Odubajo was in touching distance of him, Lees and Borner within spitting distance, and Bannan close by too, if you add our keeper, that's 6 players Hutchinson has taken out of the game. 

 

A manager worth his salt would be insisting Hutchinson leaves the ball for Lees to take, he would also ask Odubajo to offer an option on the touchline taking a defender with him, Bannan would be facing the opposition looking for the second ball again taking a defender with him, Hutchinson would pull another defender away, all of a sudden we have options, and Luton have more of our players to watch

 

We are so easy to defend against

 

And I don't know what it is with Forestieri, he is the one player in our squad with that bit of magic, but it seems he's behind Winnall now.

 

For me, we can't find a manager quick enough

 

Oh for a Big Ron

 

I completely agree with the point about Hutch and Bannan spending too much time just in front of the centre halves, if we are playing 3 at the back then fine, let Hutch play back there if he is the man chosen for the job, but Bannan should be playing more in midfield. This is where the arguments about dropping Adam Reach fall down, because, so far he has been asked to do the donkey work in midfield, especially when Kieren Lee is not playing and Reach does all the hard work there chasing players down, dragging players out of position, linking up play etc which does not get him much attention, but makes everybody else look better and able to play more in the spotlight. OK all three midfielders need to get back and cover from time to time, but Hutchinson and Bannan getting back there to play the ball up-field for others to chase means that there are too many ball players and not enough runners. The statistics from the Luton game showed that Fox and Hutch played the same number of accurate long balls each, just ahead of Tom Lees and Bannan, with Bannan having more inaccurate long passes than Lees and Borner making only one long pass which was accurate, so three out of our four defenders and our CDM (Hutch) are capable of providing the long balls forward and Bannan can concentrate more on playing in midfield, switching play from wing to wing and putting in the through balls for players running through on goal.

 

I also agree with your point about a manager and I have said as much ever since Bruce left. If DC and the majority of the fanbase are expecting us to finish in the top 6 this season, we cannot go from having a manager who is a proven promotion expert, with loads of experience at the top level, to a manager that is just starting out from being a coach and expect it all just to work out. Especially as Bullen admitted not so long ago that he was not ready for the manager's job at Hillsborough. OK the squad is a lot better prepared now than it was then, but that does not instantly qualify Bullen as the man to do the business this season. DC came and took over the club then sacked Gray, who had been given the full time job by MM after turning our season around as caretaker manager after Jones had been sacked. What was the point of any of that if after wasting loads of money on bad signings (while lining Paixo's pockets) and a couple of dodgy (Paixo) foreign managers, which put us back into crippling amounts of debt, he then goes and gives the job to a coach who has even less experience than Stuart Gray? We have played the same fairly negative formation so far while our half a dozen attacking players wait for Fletcher to break a leg, before one of them gets the chance to replace him as the lone man up front. OK yes a nice and solid way to set up and play, but there needs to be a bit more variation and experimentation if Bullen is to get the best out of the squad and keep everybody match fit for when we need that bit extra against the big boys in this division.

 

Your point about Forestieri is also a good one and I thought that after the shockingly poor finishing at Millwall, we would at least have a couple of players up front who actually know where the goal is! I really thought that Rhodes, Winall or Forestieri would get a start alongside Fletch or Nuhiu, perhaps with Massimo or Lee alongside Reach or Bannan in midfield in a 4-4-2, to try and get the goals going against a team that should have really been beaten convincingly. Instead we played a more defensive shape again at home with a formation that made it look as though we are short in attacking options! We really need to get our strikers firing on all cylinders and our defensive players having to earn their places in the team. With Hutch and Bannan sat just in front of the centre halves we invite the opposition to play in two thirds to three quarters of the pitch and the centre halves to have a more relaxing time picking up the scraps. To play a tight formation against top quality sides may be excusable, but to surrender such large periods of possession, at home against teams expected to finish in the bottom third is asking for trouble. I think that our 4-3-3 formation suited Luton's style of play and only ended up working for us because we scored a very fortunate goal on the back of their goalie's mistake.

[frastheowl]

4 hours ago, HOOTIE AND THE poo TU said:

I get all that

 

But Barnsley and Luton at home, come on, we're admitting we aren't good enough to have a right go at Barnsley and Luton at home

 

I want a manager who has no fear of playing teams like Barnsley and Luton at home

 

I'm old enough to remember the days of Howard Wilkinson when we tore teams a new one

 

Oh for a Howard Wilkinson

 

 

 

Having possession doesn't mean "having a go". Some of the most defensive sides in recent years have enjoyed huge margins of possession in games. It was a constant talking point re. West Brom last season, that their results when dominating possession were greatly inferior to those when they ceded possession.

 

Nobody who went to the Barnsley game can dispute that Wednesday didn't "have a go" at them. They were positive, on the front foot and played open, attacking football. Despite having hugely inferior possession statistics. 

 

We didn't play well in the 1st half against Luton, but, again, in the 2nd half, the team cannot be accused of not having a go. 

 

Genuine question, would be prefer us to sacrifice our strengths within the squad, just so we can come out of the game with higher possession stats?