Match Report and moM v Newcastle

Good report as ever. Kingy was excellent but again he doesn't like tracking back. He failed to track Ritchie, or crowd him out. He should have been alongside him. He seems to lose hear in his own box : remember Everton's first goal at Goodison. The great PL strikers are eager in their own penalty areas as well - watch Salah or Firminio - both would have crowded out Ritchie.
 
Fraser and King aren’t the wide players you want when hanging on in the latter stages. Especially when the opposition is playing with a lot of width and pushed their wing backs high.

Rico could have come on to play in front of Daniels. I also think we could have brought Simpson on. That would have shifted Mepham’s position further to the right where he might have been in a position to challenge Ritchie rather than King.

Of course it’s easy to say all this in hindsight but our game management was poor all round. Surely any manager makes a sub in the 93rd minute. Even if it doesn’t necessarily waste any time, it gives everyone a chance to regain their shape
 
Our added time game management definitely needs work
too often opponents find it easy to waste 3 or 4 minutes and never give us a kick, yet we always seem to give teams at least one chance
yesterday king had a chance to win a throw-in in front of the east stand but gave the ball away, then from their goal kick callum let their fullback pick the ball up from the keeper and launch a ball forward without a challenge
small details but against decent opposition you need to be far smarter to see games out
 
..draw a fair result, the windy conditions made it difficult....our play looked sluggish and lacking real threat throughout the game. Brooks and Fraser look like they are being targeted for heavy tackling. Personally without a central midfielder to partner Lerma I would have played Ake in midfield and put Simpson in CD who has had to cope with the best Man City had so would have done a job. Ibe did trip up the Newcastle player and cost us a goal. We battled back in the second half with King almost a lone threat.Clyne had a really poor game and his passing was woeful....Daniels got skinned by Atsu evrytime.When we in front Howe should have got Simpson on to do what we did v Man City. Loose marking allowed Matty to crash the ball home
 
Sorry to bore everyone ... BUT we are chronically short in midfield, with Lerma relied upon to do the heavy lifting. He'll go on getting the yellows and we'll go on conceding in the middle third as long as there's no ball-holding/tackling player alongside.

No sign of Taylor or Ofoborh, so surely we must recruit. The obvious targets of the past couple of years have all been ignored (or maybe rejected us) ... Hughes, Allen, Pritchard etc. So where next? Has Eddie got a surprise (cf Lerma) up his sleeve??
 
Thanks for the good report! Maybe a draw was a fair result really even though I personally think we shaded it.

Best performances for me were from Mepham, King, Ake, Ibe and Fraser. Good to see Ibe tracking back, even if one instance led to the first goal.

I thought the windy conditions and some awful raking and kicking of Brooks and Fraser made it much harder for us, and especially for Brooks to get into his natural flow. These are key players who, when performing to their best ability (or allowed to perform to the best of their ability), get us over the line. You could see by the look on their faces after those foul challenges how badly it affected them. It's clear that other teams in the Premier League now target those two. I really didn't think they would appear in the second half. I just hope they are ok for the run-in.
 
I think a lot of people didn’t realise how much the wind affected the play yesterday. Those sat near me were frustrated we weren’t playing fast enough, but it’s tricky to play slick one touch football when the ball is moving all over the place in the wind.
 
Redpost said:
Thanks for the report Neil very much appreciated.

In no particular order from where I was sitting; it took us ages to to come to terms with the wind in the first half, the number of passes(?) that were overhit was frightening.

I was concerned about Charlie he doesn't seem any longer to have the speed of thought that is needed in this division, indeed I thought on occasions he was slow and he has started to wiggle his hands a la Francis which I find frustrating. Regrettably I think his time with us will not be that much longer.

Thought Ibe had a goodish game and his decision making has improved - except for the back heeled flicks those didn't work – can't say the same for Clyne, if he is going to play the half back his passing has to improve.

King was immense, so much admiration for him and I was impressed with Solanke, really good feet and one of the high balls he took and controlled instantly was a pleasure to watch. His work in the penalty area prior to King's second goal was really impressive.

With the nature of the match today, in midfield we so needed the likes of a Cook the younger or a Wilshere. Low centre of gravity and difficult to move off the ball rather than the willowy Brooks. Both Brooks and the Wee Man were targeted and taken out and if someone like Lerma is a marked man for a yellow then equally refs should look after creative players.

Call me a lunatic but I think we are within a hair's breadth of being a really good team. We have the attack and with the likes of Mepham who is growing into this league by the minute, we potentially have the defence. Our midfield is the conundrum that hasn't been solved yet, we need a general.
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We need a general and a couple of tough NCOs in the midfield ...
Full back situation needs looking at both sides and a replacement for Mousset/Defoe .
 
[Of course but QUOTE="DJ, post: 257705, member: 11"but in the not so immediate future it is an area in which we need to strengthen.[/QUOTE]
Fair enough but with Lerma, Cook and Brooks with Gosling andSurman as back up we have a midfield to match most in the PL.
 
DJ said:
That’s as maybe, but in the not so immediate future it is an area in which we need to strengthen.
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Fair enough but with Lerma Cook and Brooks with Gosling andSurman as back up we have a midfield to match most in the PL.
 
redharry said:
Fair enough but with Lerma Cook and Brooks with Gosling andSurman as back up we have a midfield to match most in the PL.
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Brooks is not a central midfielder. If we want to progress we need better than Gosling and Surman to compete with Lerma and Cook. Both have been fantastic servants and think Gosling in particular has been pivotal to retaining our pl status over our first three seasons at this level, however times have moved on and we now require an upgrade in this position.
 
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