Match Report and MOM v Norwich

Does someone from our coaching staff sit high up in the stand to get a different perspective and angle on the game? I know we have an analyst who hares across the pitch at half time with a lap top but is that sufficient.
 
davygravy said:
" Very worrying." says Neil.

Just think you need to relax a bit more to be honest. When we lose or have a poor game, its like its the end of the world to you. Perhaps you should wait and write these reports the day after or something. Immediate reactions on social media are usually when people's feelings are still a bit raw after all.

Our situation right now is actually not too bad, its really down to fine lines. Clean sheet yesterday, only one slip on a set piece from a clean sheet last weekend, so defensively we are actually getting better [ and I think Ramsdale is the key to this as the defence know they can rely on him ]

While I think most fans would consider yesterday as a game to pick three points up in, I think Sheffield Utd is the only other game I 'expected' to win beforehand. We are still easing some players back from injury, obviously still missing a couple as well. We don't have Fraser doing what he used to this season too.

Whatever you can say about our squad [ 'best ever', which I agree with ]....two points. 1] every other PL squad will have spent decent money too, its not like we have strengthened and nobody else did. One example, West Ham, spent a fortune pre-season and have also been inconsistent, looking like world beaters one week and bang average the next. 2] aside from Liverpool this season, results for pretty much every team have been strange at some points. I bet forums of all clubs have fans saying pretty much the same as us. and a bonus point, 3] clubs like ours just cannot afford the very best, most consistent players for their squads. So we end up with what we have, tons of a potential, not the finished article, young players still striving to be the very best they can be. Again, some weeks they look great, the next it can look average. This isn't down to having League One coaches though. If they could do it every week, they wouldn't be with us.

Just think fans need more balance when discussing the team on a bad day.
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Give up on him mate.

He won’t be happy until Eddie & Max have gone.Pardew’s in charge & we’ve just lost 3-0 at Accrington and sit 19th in L2.

The players haven’t been paid for 2 months & the HMRC want their 100k off of us.

A 39 year old Pitman will probably be leading the line for us,but he’ll still be spouting stuff like he’s not playing to his potential & the coaches aren’t up to the required standard.
 
OLDSKOOL said:
He should have come on yesterday, pushing Lewis further up to give us the link needed from midfield to attack .
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Incredible to think thank after 60 + games for us that there are fans who still think that Lewis Cook is that type of player :slap:.....might as well push Surman up.
 
Topfarrier said:
Incredible to think thank after 60 + games for us that there are fans who still think that Lewis Cook is that type of player :slap:.....might as well push Surman up.
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Nope , it’s where we’ve been going wrong for the last 60+ games :grinning:
Just thought it yesterday watching that that surely it was worth a try ?
Glad to be admonished though ...
 
OLDSKOOL said:
Nope , it’s where we’ve been going wrong for the last 60+ games :grinning:
Just thought it yesterday watching that that surely it was worth a try ?
Glad to be admonished though ...
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If something talks like a duck and walks like a duck....the chances are it's a duck Oldsckool.....Lewis is a defensive midfielder in the Surman mould ....nothing wrong with that but there's no point in wishing he was something else.
 
Northbourne Reds said:
Give up on him mate.

He won’t be happy until Eddie & Max have gone.Pardew’s in charge & we’ve just lost 3-0 at Accrington and sit 19th in L2.

The players haven’t been paid for 2 months & the HMRC want their 100k off of us.

A 39 year old Pitman will probably be leading the line for us,but he’ll still be spouting stuff like he’s not playing to his potential & the coaches aren’t up to the required standard.
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I think where fans like Neil and the others similar on here, are more likely to be looking at the faults all the time.....others like me are half full types.

So where someone asks if its worrying if we've not been at full pelt for a certain period ......I will be thinking of all those times where we have been very good....when we've looked like a very decent PL team, even if its for just half of a match....and how we've never been close to being relegated from this level, despite having a squad of inconsistent players, a management team that can't see obvious problems and a League One coaching team ..... ;););)
 
It's a proper conundrum that shows no sign of a solution any time soon. How to turn this squad of very interesting and talented individual players, many useful components, into a functioning and fluid whole.

Create more chances against Arsenal than we do Norwich. Defend like a brick wall against Villa but capitulate at Burton. Have games where we look excellent one half and clueless the next.

Who'd be a football manager hey.

Watford up next becomes a big match. Eddie will have expected a win from one of these two games. Of course they go and turn a corner the week before we play them, having looked a shambles all season so far.

Time for us to actually turn up, and focus!
 
Topfarrier said:
If something talks like a duck and walks like a duck....the chances are it's a duck Oldsckool.....Lewis is a defensive midfielder in the Surman mould ....nothing wrong with that but there's no point in wishing he was something else.
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Well quite , but yesterday I’d have taken anything other than a duck !
Though perhaps not a goose ...
 
davygravy said:
Yes indeed and you can say the same about Eddie and JT....still learning. That is why they are not ready for a 'big club' job just yet.

However much it can be banged on about how we are not playing Exeter anymore and how much money has been invested in the PL era....it doesn't change the fact that other clubs are all doing the same [ and often is much larger amounts ] and that pretty much all our players, management and coaching staff are inconsistent at times, which is why they are all at AFCB and not Man City or Liverpool.

And its not a crime or a massive deficiency to be this way....because probably 15/16 other PL clubs could be saying the same thing.
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Absolutely agree with this, Davy. Wolves and Villa both spent more in their first season than we managed in our first 3 and mostly on PL experienced players, and Wolves have spent even more this year. Also EH and JT are definitely still learning the job now that they're facing better managers with better squads. Having said that we still don't seem to have worked out a way to score against teams that just sit in, like Norwich did in the first half yesterday, or teams that press high. For me, Bournemouth always look at their best when playing teams like Bournemouth who want to play.

Yesterday, Norwich had several first team players out and ended the game with 4 strikers and 4 midfielders in defence and yet they were the ones attacking and looking the more likely to score, partly because our players seemed knackered after the first half. Everyone has off days, but there are times when as a team we look completely impotent and there are games when I'd honestly be amazed if we did score. Last season we beat Chelsea with a makeshift 11 and the following week lost with a first 11 who looked like they'd never played together before, so I don't know what the answer is. I don't think it's just down to individuals, but I do think Neil has a point about not playing the right players the right way, (although I do think he's too critical of certain players) for example I don't think it's Mepham's fault if he's too slow when he's been told to play a high line against Vardy - imo either don't play a high line or if you do don't play Mepham and Cook together. To me, that's EH trying to force something to work rather than really believing it will.

As for Solanke, I'd say Rico is the best answer for giving him some time to settle in.
 
Johnny Comelately said:
Absolutely agree with this, Davy. Wolves and Villa both spent more in their first season than we managed in our first 3 and mostly on PL experienced players, and Wolves have spent even more this year. Also EH and JT are definitely still learning the job now that they're facing better managers with better squads. Having said that we still don't seem to have worked out a way to score against teams that just sit in, like Norwich did in the first half yesterday, or teams that press high. For me, Bournemouth always look at their best when playing teams like Bournemouth who want to play.

Yesterday, Norwich had several first team players out and ended the game with 4 strikers and 4 midfielders in defence and yet they were the ones attacking and looking the more likely to score, partly because our players seemed knackered after the first half. Everyone has off days, but there are times when as a team we look completely impotent and there are games when I'd honestly be amazed if we did score. Last season we beat Chelsea with a makeshift 11 and the following week lost with a first 11 who looked like they'd never played together before, so I don't know what the answer is. I don't think it's just down to individuals, but I do think Neil has a point about not playing the right players the right way, (although I do think he's too critical of certain players) for example I don't think it's Mepham's fault if he's too slow when he's been told to play a high line against Vardy - imo either don't play a high line or if you do don't play Mepham and Cook together. To me, that's EH trying to force something to work rather than really believing it will.

As for Solanke, I'd say Rico is the best answer for giving him some time to settle in.
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I think the issue a lot of fans have is not so much that we consistently struggle to break sides down that sit back, it’s that Eddie never even tries to change things up tactically to counteract this. He keeps approaching these type of games in the same way and expecting the outcome to be different. You can guarantee next week will be pretty much the same, a 4411 with Fraser on the wing and King at number ten probably. A lot of pace but no creativity or guile (bar perhaps H Wilson who is clearly not suited to playing out wide in a flat 4) will again result in a lot of sideways passing and possession but very little openings. Most of us can see this, but for some reason Eddie never (rarely) tries to do anything tactically differently to counteract the oppositions approach or to keep opposing teams guessing. We are very predictable, I’d love to see us mix it up sometimes and play two technically minded number tens (Danjuma and H Wilson/Brooks when fit) in behind Callum and give them license to roam between the lines, similar to how Norwich set up yesterday. We have the players to be adaptable it’s just Eddie chooses not to. I think we could become so much more of a force if he was willing to introduce some flexibility into his approach... but it would mean dropping out golden boys like Fraser and King which he will vary rarely do unless they are carrying knocks. There are times where we crave more guile and less pace!
 
+ forgot to say spot on report. Don’t see how anyone can argue with that analysis (bar the individual castigation of Solanke)
 
Waz afcb said:
Haha slightly tongue in cheek I imagine but putting aside whatever you may or may not think of him I really don’t think you can disagree with what he’s written about this performance if you’re being subjective ;-)
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Think you mean objective but that was pretty much my thoughts when I read it yesterday. Apart from the anti- Solanke rant I agreed with most of it and thought for the most part that it was a decent report.
 
davygravy said:
I think where fans like Neil and the others similar on here, are more likely to be looking at the faults all the time.....others like me are half full types.

So where someone asks if its worrying if we've not been at full pelt for a certain period ......I will be thinking of all those times where we have been very good....when we've looked like a very decent PL team, even if its for just half of a match....and how we've never been close to being relegated from this level, despite having a squad of inconsistent players, a management team that can't see obvious problems and a League One coaching team ..... ;););)
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And all that’s fine if what you want is just to stay in this division, something in itself which is a massive credit worthy achievement.

I just look at our side and think they are better than Norwich, Sheff U, Fulham, Burnley, Newcastle Etc who we haven’t beaten at home on this run we are on. I want to get back to a system and philosophy of play where we look compact and energetic and dominate possession at home. Not concede it to the other side and try and play on the break.. we have become poorer to watch as the games above demonstrate.

People used to come here to defend... now they push on high against us as they know we will be sitting back. We look half the team we have in previous years but with better players. Go figure!

Personally I don’t think it’s half empty to look at the games above and think we should be doing better. Yes there are bad days at the office but this is becoming a bad year at the office statistically.
 
Neil Dawson said:
And all that’s fine if what you want is just to stay in this division, something in itself which is a massive credit worthy achievement.

I just look at our side and think they are better than Norwich, Sheff U, Fulham, Burnley, Newcastle Etc who we haven’t beaten at home on this run we are on. I want to get back to a system and philosophy of play where we look compact and energetic and dominate possession at home. Not concede it to the other side and try and play on the break.. we have become poorer to watch as the games above demonstrate.

People used to come here to defend... now they push on high against us as they know we will be sitting back. We look half the team we have in previous years but with better players. Go figure!

Personally I don’t think it’s half empty to look at the games above and think we should be doing better. Yes there are bad days at the office but this is becoming a bad year at the office statistically.
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See, this is a far more reasoned post than what you normally do after a poor game, where its all about singling out players who were no worse than many around them....or saying our coaching isn't good enough....or the transfer policy is useless ;).

At the same time....I don't believe things are as bad you are trying to suggest, just because we are not really blasting out at teams like we used to. Its all about balance - we used fly at teams and then be left exposed at the back, everyone saying we need to defend better. This season, we are defending better but that has meant playing in a different way at times, so its very tricky to know which way to go. Ideally we could be great at both ends all the time but not many PL actually are.

As I said before, however much we spend on players [ when all other clubs do the same of course ], we can't still attract the finished article, most of the time. Even the likes of Ake were not that level when we signed them. We have a mostly young squad and they are all still learning. You single Solanke out all the time now, well, this is the first time in his career he has had a run of games, he's done well in most of them but not so good in a couple. This is probably the standard for most younger players.

The inconsistency of our team shows up in performances. Eddie said on Saturday, how they stopped doing things after a good starting twenty minutes. We have looked both very good and very poor in the same match a few times. But again, most PL teams this season could say the same thing, if you look at results elsewhere. Liverpool are the only side to be consistent this season and even they have looked dodgy in a couple of games.
 
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