Frustrating game today. I have just been watching the post match interview with Brendan. He keeps talking about the importance of getting the " early goal" which I agree with. I for 1 would like to see that expressed on the field by his team & tactics. However today we really struggled to get going. For some reason we were flat,sloppy, lacked intensity, and didn't press high enough for most of the 1st half - which I think was key to us struggling to really sustain any early intense waves of pressure.
I'm even more frustrated as with only a top 5 or 6 place to fight for, it would have been nice to see us treating these final games as cup finals in their own right. Yet it was Westham (with nothing really to fight for) who seemed to treat today more like a cup final. But fair play to them imo well deserved of a point, just wish we had worked them harder for all 3.
Early Goal...
posted on 7/4/13
Whenever we don't score in the first 20 mins at home then I always fear it's going to be a 0-0 draw, as was the case today.
We don't have enough to break these teams down who sit in, and we haven't done for quite a few years now.
posted on 7/4/13
It either seems to be a 5-0 win or a 0-0/0-1 draw with us, nowhere in between.
The first goal is a massive mental hurdle for us, and opposition teams use this as their game plan Park the bus and frustrate for 60 minutes, this leads to nervousness in the team and crowd, which the opposition then exploits.
posted on 7/4/13
Exactly hence why I have no idea why we wernt aggressively pressing westham in their own area and really taking some early risks to get that goal. I also think had Suarez been given a free a deeper role off Sturridge his movement from deep would have been way too much for Collins who I thought was MOM. (not sure who got the official nod).
posted on 7/4/13
Going on our history in cup finals, had we treated it like a cup final, we would have played awful for most of the game and either nicked a late goal or got a draw (without the benefit if penalties).
So we probably did treat it like a cup final
posted on 7/4/13
If we don't score in the first half, or early in the second we will not win.
I guarantee there's a stat that pretty much says that too.
It's no coincidence that last week was the first time we'd won after conceding the first goal.