Great thoughts Azza, as you said it was not our first choice eleven, the defence will be significantly stiffened once the injured players return, hopefully soon.
I would imagine several teams will adopt the same tactics as Accrington did yesterday so let's hope that Fergie will have taken note.
I like the idea of an attacking 4/4/2 formation with pacy wingers feeding a front two.The fans would love it.
I was speaking to some Leyton Orient fans at the railway station yesterday who were lamenting the loss of their captain to us.They reckon we will be there a bouts at the end of the season.
Not the best of opening starts but things can only get better.
An excellent report Azza; thank you.
I am not a psychologist, but perhaps if you are going to get a severe jolt it is better to get it now when there are still 45 games to go.
We might well have got a better result yesterday even playing as we did and whatever the manager might tell the players, some might go into the next game feeling things were going OK.
As it is, they are all going to be severely embarrassed and we hope determined to put matters right at the next opportunity.
Once we get the injured players back, I believe Copps will only be a bench player. Yesterday we had 4/5 breaks on the counter but each time Copps got hold of it we stopped or went backwards. On the other side was Matty, the new Maca. He ran his trollies off up n down the pitch, best of all he wasn't afraid to take them on. Got some great crosses in but poor finishing let us down.
We should of and could of, had 5 or 6 yesterday as I believe I've just watched one of the worst keepers in living memory. Think on Weavers next door neighbour from 98, only worse. A ref who was good at his job would of given us 2 penalties in first 10 minutes and sent their keeper off.
Yet in the second half with the wind behind us I cannot think of one shot from distance.
Two things that stick out from yesterdays game was for me, even though we lost, is that once our first team is fit and sorted we are going to take some beating
PROVIDED WE STOP PLAYING 3 AT THE BACK.
I was away at the weekend with no TV and no internet.
I didn't even know our result until 10pm last night.
By reading on VSC and here it appears to me that the only person who thinks 3-5-2 works for us is Ferguson.
Don't hold your breath on him changing to 4-4-2.
It was him persisting with the wing back style that took us down.
He is a stubborn sod and I think he will be responsible for us not going up.
Not like me to be downbeat but I have said all summer that I don't think he is the man to get us promoted.
When sod changed his plans 2 352 he had a change of Fortune.
O.conner our prob worse player became our best and roberts similar.
But it not all about the full baks or centre baks its about how the WHOLE team adapts
Adaptability seems the key. If a team is known to play with a particular formation the opposition may well successfully counter it. Ferguson used to talk about players needing to be able to fit into more than one set-up.
Based on the highlights you could conclude that Accrington had players who were capable of getting the better of ours, irrespective of how we set up.
Williams missed a penalty and Etheridge let a soft goal in and their third goal came because the scorer was given a big space in which to gather the ball and to shoot, untroubled.
It was player error that was the difference between a 3-1 win and a 2-3 defeat.
Having said this I don't discount the value of a good system and one which may best utilise the skills of the individuals in the team at the time.
Hound, I have no issue with Fergie being a stubborn sod as long as he is stubborn in being demanding of his players and stubborn in driving the club forward to win the league. However, stubbornly insisting that something is working when it is plainly not and stubbornly refusing to change is something else completely. That's stupidity. Let's hope that he proves to be stubborn and not stupid. We have to adapt to this league and we also need to adapt our approach to play to the strengths of the players we have on the pitch.
Just in case we get another pen .
We need to get a pen taker who can do the job.
I would give Tommy Rowe the job Lanza.
Donaldo, it can be argued that ALL goals are preventable.
If you are saying that a 2-3 defeat could have been a 3-1 win look at how soft our goals were.
Rowe took the ball into their box and went through a few defenders without any attempt to tackle him.
We would have been annoyed to have let a player go through our defence like that.
The second goal only came about because of an incredibly bad fumble by the Accy keeper.
Any other day any keeper would have saved it easily.
As for the system not working, well it doesnt work with the players available.
As Lanza says, O'Connor and Roberts were good in that system but Lund (particularly) isn't.
The people who were at the game have said that we were constantly caught out by balls over the top.
In a standard back four set up the opposite side full back covers that situation but it cant work with a three.
Any fan at our games can see that 3-5-2 isnt working for us.
Lanza, Williams shouldnt be taking penalties as you say.
As for who should take them, well that is down to a player being brave enough and good enough to step up.
It is often a pressure situation and it needs to be someone who can put their foot through the ball rather than trying to roll the ball into the corner a la AW.
Exactly hound.
I think i remember last season say that Lund actually gets in the way at wing back.
A good analysis Hound. Agreed we focus on OUR side's mistakes and ignore the opposition's and I suppose only blatant incompetence, like penalties missed and recklessness can really be counted specifically against players.
I was also making the point that we might have got away with a point or three and not learned a lesson. Painful as it seems to even write it though, Saturday's opposition are probably amongst the better sides in L2, and the hard lesson has been learned early.
Spot on donaldo, i think Accrington will be up there again this season.
I suppose we will know in about another six weeks or so whether we have a realistic chance of being in the top six or so.
I hope Ferguson sees that the 3 at the back isnt good with the players we have because last season the bad run was only arrested after he went with a flat back four.
As i said at the time, if he had done it three or four games earlier we would have stayed up.
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Accrington v ROVERS
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posted on 7/8/16
Thanks azza
posted on 7/8/16
Great thoughts Azza, as you said it was not our first choice eleven, the defence will be significantly stiffened once the injured players return, hopefully soon.
I would imagine several teams will adopt the same tactics as Accrington did yesterday so let's hope that Fergie will have taken note.
I like the idea of an attacking 4/4/2 formation with pacy wingers feeding a front two.The fans would love it.
I was speaking to some Leyton Orient fans at the railway station yesterday who were lamenting the loss of their captain to us.They reckon we will be there a bouts at the end of the season.
Not the best of opening starts but things can only get better.
posted on 7/8/16
An excellent report Azza; thank you.
I am not a psychologist, but perhaps if you are going to get a severe jolt it is better to get it now when there are still 45 games to go.
We might well have got a better result yesterday even playing as we did and whatever the manager might tell the players, some might go into the next game feeling things were going OK.
As it is, they are all going to be severely embarrassed and we hope determined to put matters right at the next opportunity.
posted on 7/8/16
Once we get the injured players back, I believe Copps will only be a bench player. Yesterday we had 4/5 breaks on the counter but each time Copps got hold of it we stopped or went backwards. On the other side was Matty, the new Maca. He ran his trollies off up n down the pitch, best of all he wasn't afraid to take them on. Got some great crosses in but poor finishing let us down.
We should of and could of, had 5 or 6 yesterday as I believe I've just watched one of the worst keepers in living memory. Think on Weavers next door neighbour from 98, only worse. A ref who was good at his job would of given us 2 penalties in first 10 minutes and sent their keeper off.
Yet in the second half with the wind behind us I cannot think of one shot from distance.
Two things that stick out from yesterdays game was for me, even though we lost, is that once our first team is fit and sorted we are going to take some beating
PROVIDED WE STOP PLAYING 3 AT THE BACK.
posted on 8/8/16
I was away at the weekend with no TV and no internet.
I didn't even know our result until 10pm last night.
By reading on VSC and here it appears to me that the only person who thinks 3-5-2 works for us is Ferguson.
Don't hold your breath on him changing to 4-4-2.
It was him persisting with the wing back style that took us down.
He is a stubborn sod and I think he will be responsible for us not going up.
Not like me to be downbeat but I have said all summer that I don't think he is the man to get us promoted.
posted on 8/8/16
When sod changed his plans 2 352 he had a change of Fortune.
O.conner our prob worse player became our best and roberts similar.
But it not all about the full baks or centre baks its about how the WHOLE team adapts
posted on 8/8/16
Adaptability seems the key. If a team is known to play with a particular formation the opposition may well successfully counter it. Ferguson used to talk about players needing to be able to fit into more than one set-up.
Based on the highlights you could conclude that Accrington had players who were capable of getting the better of ours, irrespective of how we set up.
Williams missed a penalty and Etheridge let a soft goal in and their third goal came because the scorer was given a big space in which to gather the ball and to shoot, untroubled.
It was player error that was the difference between a 3-1 win and a 2-3 defeat.
Having said this I don't discount the value of a good system and one which may best utilise the skills of the individuals in the team at the time.
posted on 8/8/16
Hound, I have no issue with Fergie being a stubborn sod as long as he is stubborn in being demanding of his players and stubborn in driving the club forward to win the league. However, stubbornly insisting that something is working when it is plainly not and stubbornly refusing to change is something else completely. That's stupidity. Let's hope that he proves to be stubborn and not stupid. We have to adapt to this league and we also need to adapt our approach to play to the strengths of the players we have on the pitch.
posted on 8/8/16
Just in case we get another pen .
We need to get a pen taker who can do the job.
posted on 9/8/16
I would give Tommy Rowe the job Lanza.
posted on 9/8/16
Donaldo, it can be argued that ALL goals are preventable.
If you are saying that a 2-3 defeat could have been a 3-1 win look at how soft our goals were.
Rowe took the ball into their box and went through a few defenders without any attempt to tackle him.
We would have been annoyed to have let a player go through our defence like that.
The second goal only came about because of an incredibly bad fumble by the Accy keeper.
Any other day any keeper would have saved it easily.
As for the system not working, well it doesnt work with the players available.
As Lanza says, O'Connor and Roberts were good in that system but Lund (particularly) isn't.
The people who were at the game have said that we were constantly caught out by balls over the top.
In a standard back four set up the opposite side full back covers that situation but it cant work with a three.
Any fan at our games can see that 3-5-2 isnt working for us.
Lanza, Williams shouldnt be taking penalties as you say.
As for who should take them, well that is down to a player being brave enough and good enough to step up.
It is often a pressure situation and it needs to be someone who can put their foot through the ball rather than trying to roll the ball into the corner a la AW.
posted on 9/8/16
Exactly hound.
I think i remember last season say that Lund actually gets in the way at wing back.
posted on 9/8/16
A good analysis Hound. Agreed we focus on OUR side's mistakes and ignore the opposition's and I suppose only blatant incompetence, like penalties missed and recklessness can really be counted specifically against players.
I was also making the point that we might have got away with a point or three and not learned a lesson. Painful as it seems to even write it though, Saturday's opposition are probably amongst the better sides in L2, and the hard lesson has been learned early.
posted on 9/8/16
Spot on donaldo, i think Accrington will be up there again this season.
I suppose we will know in about another six weeks or so whether we have a realistic chance of being in the top six or so.
I hope Ferguson sees that the 3 at the back isnt good with the players we have because last season the bad run was only arrested after he went with a flat back four.
As i said at the time, if he had done it three or four games earlier we would have stayed up.
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