Well what do you say about yesterday, at one point we were bottom of the table, and now we are somehow out of the relegation zone
Anyway onto the match.
Well first of all for the first 45 minutes we played dire and I mean dire. We had no idea and all we did was hoof the ball up to the other end of the pitch that the fans got so annoyed they started either shouting "hoof" or "we are Nottingham forest and we play on the floor". I mean i can't even tell you about anything in that half except a half chance by tudders which went to the left hand side of the goal.
Needless to say the players were booed off, and chants for cotterill to resign and out started to gain momentum in the main stand even at this early stage, with talking at half time consisting mainly of that this would be Cots last game in charge and I had to fully agree.
2nd half and we finally decided to play 4-4-2 at home, and to be fair we started well and looked like we had some passion to win the game. Chances such as Blackstock hitting the post and Reidy having a top save stopped by murphy looked like it was going to be one of those days today, and i did think that Coventry would make us pay for it and from about the 55 minute mark to the 70th, i was expecting that to happen as we slowed down. However McCleary then decided to produce a good goal from dribbling from the edge of our half to the goal to beat Murphy, and it finally felt like the team gained a bit of confidence. Subbing mcCleary straight away left me a bit bemused and some fans did chant "you don't know what your doing to cots" as Gareth came off for greening. Then had some minutes of Coventry attack, until a break led to Reid producing a good cross for findley for a shot he couldn't miss, and for once he didn't which meant game won and we now find ourselves out of the relegation zone.
My Thoughts?
Well first of all I think Cotterill was lucky, whether he would have gone or not if we had loss, one thing is for sure the fans would have vented their frustration at him for him to go, even if we had drew the game. Coventry though should have finished us off in the first and mid way through the second half, and i can see why they are in the relegation zone, as they couldn't finish anything off. However on the other side 2 pieces of good work by McCleary and Reidy setting up Findley won us the game. However I cannot say that i felt overly confident coming out of the ground that now we are out of the relegation zone, we will stay out of it, as Coventry if they were a bit more clinical, would have kept us in the bottom 3.
What now?
Well i'm obviously glad we are out of the relegation zone, but I think most fans even though we won were worried with Cotterill's tactics, and that now worries me for the rest of the season, as even though we won, i would not be surprised to see ourselves back in the relegation zone again in the near future, as it was only because Coventry could not finish anything in front of goal and we picked our performance up a bit in the second half that we now find ourselves out of the relegation zone, however my confidence as i think most fans confidence in Cotterill has not grown since yesterday, and i think that even though we won most people would be happy to see him go, especially if County come calling for him to go back!
Thought's?
Match Report and thoughts
posted on 19/2/12
Based on what you saw yesterday does anyone think that Cov are good enough to catch us or even win more than a couple of games the rest of the season? I don't
posted on 19/2/12
very poor but 3 points is 3 points
they have to take some confidence from that and win a few more though.
posted on 19/2/12
I agree with everything Philo has said
and Redfor50 makes a very good point.
Until his goal, McCleary wasn't adding anything might I add. Gunter was the player making runs and offering himself as an outlet for camp, not Gareth.
posted on 19/2/12
I say we won. I've only seen a video of the second half but we looked good on that. Gareth's goal was stunningly good and would have been raved about if Man United had scored it. We seem to be getting over our fear of scoring and don't hold up the ball outside the penalty area so much which prevented our players from making a run-in and gave the other team time to re-group.
I also say that we deserved points from each of the three games before and we should be looking to win our next few games.
No despondency here.
posted on 19/2/12
Well said Mouse
posted on 19/2/12
Mouse if you had gone to the match though, you might have saw different.
Yes we picked it up in the 2nd half but the 1st half was one of worse performances ever seen, all we did was hoof the ball.
However i will give Cotterill the benefit of the doubt, and now we will have to see what happens on Saturday, and can make a judgement for that then.
posted on 19/2/12
we play well, lose, then people complain that how we play doesnt matter, its the points.
We play shocking for half a game, win, then how we played is a massive issue.
Cant say why we went 4-5-1 at home, but the fact is he changed it and it won us the game.
We've scored 4 goals in 3 games home and away so we can atleast say the goal droughts over.
We're creating chances, and not just by walking the ball in past the goal line.
We're out of the relegation zone... for now atleast.
The bottom six teams dropped points, only millwall got a point and they were winning.
Camp wasnt fishing out of his net this week.
We've got games in hand compared with coventry and bristol.
And SC is learning you dont have to wait till 10 mins before time to sub players on and that reid is key in a starting 11.
It might be blind optimism but surely it cant be that bad of a weekend.
posted on 20/2/12
I'd love to see Reid play more although his lack of fitness leaves us exposed, I pity whoever plays left back when Reid is playing. I think against better opposition, like Brum, we'll be punished,
I expect we'll see 4-5-1 v Brum, Blackstock up front and a packed midfield and we'll be delighted to draw.
posted on 21/2/12
Reidy isn't a winger, he needs to play central.
posted on 22/2/12
Let's face it this was a great 3 points but doesn't really do anything in the grand scheme. McCleary did well to score from where he picked it up but Coventry's defending was criminally bad. They didn't challenge him for about half a pitch!
It was and is ugly football but remember when BD arrived we were niggly, horrible, grim games, we'd time waste, make players go to the opposite side of the pitch then sub them, etc. It was dire but what we needed to do. A good manager will adapt to suit his squad, I hate this type of football but can see why we're playing it.