Matt Stevenson
First Team
Scott may just need to play more - he wasn't happy on the alternative angle when Christie shot instead of pulling the ball back from this position
AFC Bournemouth v Luton Town - Wednesday 7.30 pm
- Thread starter billythekid
- Start date
Scott may just need to play more - he wasn't happy on the alternative angle when Christie shot instead of pulling the ball back from this position
Topfarrier
UTC Legend
The ball to Meps came off one of their players who blocked Tav's shot/pass so it wouldn't have mattered would it?
adam0102
Fans' Favourite
CherriesOnTop
First Team
Outtara is ****************
He shouldn't ever be considered as a left back.
Aaron's was bloody good, and hopefully he is back soon, Hill also can help the back line.
Senesi has been great, and has great distribution.
Smith is really upping his game and busted a gut down the wing a few times against Luton, and probably got subbed because he was flat on his feet.
Adam's will protect the back 4 much better than Cook, who didn't track his man for Lutons first, and played Barkley onside for their third.
Kerkez will get better, but shoehorning Outtara in over him is a bit of an insult to Kerkez.
Kerkez has had a few shots on goal, and they've been on target, or at least close, and defends well imo.
Outtara is a an attacking substitute at this stage, not a starting left back.
But I'm not Andoni, who knows a whole lot more about football than I do, and his changes paved the way for one of the best comebacks of all time.
Outtara is not a long term left back for me, but we do have a number of defensive players injured.
Mepham has done well.
More about the defensive midfielder, Cook who cost us 2 goals and gave Luton the impetus.
Adam's will displace Cook.
Topfarrier
UTC Legend
Dango is our left back........he's a work in progress of course, i'm not sure why anyone expected him to be the finished article.
We're safe now so the remaining games gives us the perfect opportunity to teach him the role.
I'm quite excited by the prospect tbh.
We're safe now so the remaining games gives us the perfect opportunity to teach him the role.
I'm quite excited by the prospect tbh.
Druss_the_Legend
UTC Legend
Cook didn't cost us two goals. Your weird obsession with him (I admit mine) when he's consistently our best player is beyond a joke now. Whether you agree with his decisions or not, AI picks him to play ahead of almost any other defensive player on the pitch.
Cherry Warrior
Reserves
I agree. 1st goal us cos Scott let's the guy run past him who then crosses. No cross, no goal.
2nd goal Smith chases his man and gets pulled out of position leaving a big gap.
3rd goal can argue Cook plays Barkley on but not sure that was the most significant factor in that goal?!
darwinsdummy
Reserves
First thing first: WHAT. A. GAME. Well over 24 hours later and still riding that high.
Couple of thoughts on the first half. Some have called out Cook for losing his marker for the first goal, which isn't wrong but it's an individual mistake that happens and it seemed like he thought he'd passed the man to Smith. A poor mistake of an individual or communication, but nothing to be crucified over imo. Similarly, Ouattara fell behind his marker for Luton's second, despite having been the deepest man that kept them onside - you'd think that'd have given him the advantage to intercept the cross. Largely it just seemed that we were a step behind them when on defense, even if our offense was troubling them. Tactically, it seemed like our left flank of Ouattara and Sinisterra was successfully targeted by Luton, partly due to Ouattara's inexperience in the position and partly due to lacking defensive support of Sinisterra. My interpretation of this initial lineup is that Iraola went with the left flank that saw success against Sheffield United, reasoning that we'd often be on the front foot similarly to when they were a part of that comeback. However, Luton's ability to quickly get behind our left flank exposed that pairing's defensive frailty.
Halftime changes part 1, Sinisterra->Tavernier. The left flank clearly isn't working, so Iraola takes off Sinisterra for Tavernier. Seems to me that the idea is that Tavernier is better defensively than Sinisterra, so his support will solidify that flank and keep Ouattara's attacking FB contributions. The other option would have been Kerkez as a more natural FB for Ouattara, but we've seen him be exposed in the past as well, so I think he might also struggle if paired with Sinisterra not providing cover and Tavernier for Sinisterra was the better choice for defensive solidity. I also have a slight thought that, though Sinisterra got into good positions in the first half, quite a few times he was taking shots at poor angles when he should have been looking for a cross, so taking him off at the half might also have sent a bit of a message to keep your head up looking for teammates in those situations.
Halftime changes part 2, Scott->Unal. I was perplexed by Scott's first half. Other than one moment where he drove toward the box before laying it off to Sinisterra in space (reminiscent of his scintillating run that led to assisting Kluivert earlier in the season), he was largely invisible. Didn't see him high up in the press as much as Kluivert or Billing, so it didn't seem to be our normal pressing number 10 role. But also didn't seem to provide much defensively either where the likes of Cook or Christie usually show up. Not sure whether this was a Scott issue or a tactics issue, maybe even unclear instructions. He clearly has something special that I look forward to seeing in the future more, but a poor day at the office. Unal was clearly given a more forward directive, pairing with Solanke up top, and he did so excellently. Made a nuisance of himself, attempted creative link ups (even if some ended up missing due to a player note making a run he expected or the like, that's something that will come with more time together), and assisted the winning goal: can't ask for much more. Looks a brilliant buy, great to have him bed into the team before any chance of Solanke leaving in the summer (hope he stays though!).
MOTM is deservedly Semenyo, his first goal for the equalizer was emblematic of the shift the team had taken in the second half: Solanke dropped a bit deeper and held up the ball well before passing it off to Christie, who played a direct and aggressive ball by using his first touch to spray it into space for Semenyo to run onto against an isolated defender, followed by a class finish. Second and winning goal looked like a training ground routine, he and Unal linked up well to get him into position, at which point he used my tried-and-true goal scoring technique: blast it at the keeper's face. Even the sternest of keepers will move their head out of harm's way and try to palm it aside, but from close range they don't get their hands up in time. Works in the park and the premier league all the same. Also noted that Semenyo and Tavernier celebrate together when either score, which is always nice to see and a sign of a closeness in the squad that can help to pick up the squad from poor performances and individuals from poor form (like Tav looking better today after a poor stretch).
Watched Semenyo and Iraola's post-match interviews. One thing that popped out to me was that both called out Solanke's goal as the moment that really gave the team the belief that the comeback was possible. For all the **************** he got in the past, the last 3 years Solanke has really proven himself as a top-class striker. Has the hold up and link up play, like in the equalizer and an earlier passage that got Sinisterra into shooting position, has out-of-this-world finishes like the hat trick that dragged us into the win over Forest, and then today has the moment of genius to score a solo goal and give the team belief. A true talisman of a player.
Already essentially safe from relegation and with a top half finish within reach, let's hope to get some more performances like that second half! UTC!
Couple of thoughts on the first half. Some have called out Cook for losing his marker for the first goal, which isn't wrong but it's an individual mistake that happens and it seemed like he thought he'd passed the man to Smith. A poor mistake of an individual or communication, but nothing to be crucified over imo. Similarly, Ouattara fell behind his marker for Luton's second, despite having been the deepest man that kept them onside - you'd think that'd have given him the advantage to intercept the cross. Largely it just seemed that we were a step behind them when on defense, even if our offense was troubling them. Tactically, it seemed like our left flank of Ouattara and Sinisterra was successfully targeted by Luton, partly due to Ouattara's inexperience in the position and partly due to lacking defensive support of Sinisterra. My interpretation of this initial lineup is that Iraola went with the left flank that saw success against Sheffield United, reasoning that we'd often be on the front foot similarly to when they were a part of that comeback. However, Luton's ability to quickly get behind our left flank exposed that pairing's defensive frailty.
Halftime changes part 1, Sinisterra->Tavernier. The left flank clearly isn't working, so Iraola takes off Sinisterra for Tavernier. Seems to me that the idea is that Tavernier is better defensively than Sinisterra, so his support will solidify that flank and keep Ouattara's attacking FB contributions. The other option would have been Kerkez as a more natural FB for Ouattara, but we've seen him be exposed in the past as well, so I think he might also struggle if paired with Sinisterra not providing cover and Tavernier for Sinisterra was the better choice for defensive solidity. I also have a slight thought that, though Sinisterra got into good positions in the first half, quite a few times he was taking shots at poor angles when he should have been looking for a cross, so taking him off at the half might also have sent a bit of a message to keep your head up looking for teammates in those situations.
Halftime changes part 2, Scott->Unal. I was perplexed by Scott's first half. Other than one moment where he drove toward the box before laying it off to Sinisterra in space (reminiscent of his scintillating run that led to assisting Kluivert earlier in the season), he was largely invisible. Didn't see him high up in the press as much as Kluivert or Billing, so it didn't seem to be our normal pressing number 10 role. But also didn't seem to provide much defensively either where the likes of Cook or Christie usually show up. Not sure whether this was a Scott issue or a tactics issue, maybe even unclear instructions. He clearly has something special that I look forward to seeing in the future more, but a poor day at the office. Unal was clearly given a more forward directive, pairing with Solanke up top, and he did so excellently. Made a nuisance of himself, attempted creative link ups (even if some ended up missing due to a player note making a run he expected or the like, that's something that will come with more time together), and assisted the winning goal: can't ask for much more. Looks a brilliant buy, great to have him bed into the team before any chance of Solanke leaving in the summer (hope he stays though!).
MOTM is deservedly Semenyo, his first goal for the equalizer was emblematic of the shift the team had taken in the second half: Solanke dropped a bit deeper and held up the ball well before passing it off to Christie, who played a direct and aggressive ball by using his first touch to spray it into space for Semenyo to run onto against an isolated defender, followed by a class finish. Second and winning goal looked like a training ground routine, he and Unal linked up well to get him into position, at which point he used my tried-and-true goal scoring technique: blast it at the keeper's face. Even the sternest of keepers will move their head out of harm's way and try to palm it aside, but from close range they don't get their hands up in time. Works in the park and the premier league all the same. Also noted that Semenyo and Tavernier celebrate together when either score, which is always nice to see and a sign of a closeness in the squad that can help to pick up the squad from poor performances and individuals from poor form (like Tav looking better today after a poor stretch).
Watched Semenyo and Iraola's post-match interviews. One thing that popped out to me was that both called out Solanke's goal as the moment that really gave the team the belief that the comeback was possible. For all the **************** he got in the past, the last 3 years Solanke has really proven himself as a top-class striker. Has the hold up and link up play, like in the equalizer and an earlier passage that got Sinisterra into shooting position, has out-of-this-world finishes like the hat trick that dragged us into the win over Forest, and then today has the moment of genius to score a solo goal and give the team belief. A true talisman of a player.
Already essentially safe from relegation and with a top half finish within reach, let's hope to get some more performances like that second half! UTC!
DJ
Moderator
We were constantly ripped open down our left side with either Dango backing off and never challenging his man and Sinisterra never covering the double up or tracking back. It was shambolic.
Sure Iraola wanted both to attack so there should have been cover from elsewhere, probably Cook dropping deep and Zabarnyi pulling across. But it didn’t work.
For the third Barkley had already scored before Sinisterra had even made it back to our half of the pitch.
Rob151060
First Team
Great analysis. Won’t try to gild the Lilly on those aspects of the game, but from an emotional standpoint can I just say it’s now two days later and I still can’t believe we did that. Fantastic night.
Bourne Mouthy
First Team
I felt Zab had to take some responsibility for the 3rd. He's chasing down Barkley when the danger becomes apparent, but then checked his run, leaving Barkley to carry on unchallenged.
DJ
Moderator
Is that not just because he’s trying to cover two positions due to the absent left flank?
We’ve been playing a virtual man for man system across the whole pitch and then a hybrid version since. Barkley wouldn’t have been Zabarnyi’s man, so he’s in two minds to cover the space or go for the immediate danger.
Either way, any support was lacking. We already had Mepham over on the flank, so if Zabarnyi moves over too early then that leaves Luton more space to dominate and score regardless.
CherriesOnTop
First Team
I think he was OK under GON. He has ability and athleticism, he is just far too inconsistent for the level we aspire to be. He is direct and good in the air so is useful when chasing a game, but like you said, should not be starting on either the wing or full back positions. Just my opinion of course.
fritter
UTC Legend
Look at the first goal again. Cook looks at the scorer just before the cross and then looks away. Running with him may well have prevented the goal. All Three goals were a combination of errors so it's pointless to apportion blame to individuals.
The whole shape was wrong in the first half.
fritter
UTC Legend
Just seen the 442 video. The whole shape was wrong first half, just couldn't see why
SlowDownDerek
UTC Legend
