Positives and negatives v Brentford

kirsikka

kirsikka

UTC Legend
Postivie pre-match: Neto back. Negative pre-match: Solanke out. I had a rant on here last season (or maybe the one before) about the amount of players we always have out. We went into the World Cup break with a slate of injuries, and somehow came back with more. Since then it's like it's one in, one out to the physio's room. Lewis Cook going off in the first half may mean we get another player back for Forest... If Foley wants to look at something that could do with immediate US expertise, perhaps it's our injuries as they've been an ongoing issue for many seasons now.

The Brentford bench were acting like a complete bunch of cocks again in the first half. Looks like it's standard behaviour when they play at home. Also, classy from the Brentford fans booing a player getting subbed off injured in the first half.

The good news is we didn't concede from a set piece. The bad news was that we reverted back to instead giving away a penalty. Most goals conceded from set pieces in the PL this season? Us with 11. The next worst team only has 7. Most penalties conceded in the PL this season? Us joint top on 6.

As for the award of then pen, Senesi was stupid. He made the first grab at Ivan Benjamin Elijah Toney (IBET)'s shirt, IBET then used his arm to keep it there and when Senesi was spun around instead of stumbling to the ground he reached out with his other arm so it looked like he had dragged IBET down. Slightly cheaty from IBET, but if Senesi wants to be a PL player he has to expect that. Throwing his other arm out was rank idiocy. It went from a free kick to us, to a pen to them.

I tried to think of a word to describe us. What single word sums up what we look like out there under GON. Drab. There is nothing exciting about us.

Trying to find some positive... we looked mildly more organised at the back.

Going forward though, we're offering nothing. There's no structure to try and overload or break things down. I looked at Anthony on the ball just past the halfway line in the first 45 mins and he had nobody around him, nothing to aim for. No runners. No support. At one point near the box in the second half he had to try and beat four defenders as there was nobody else near him, and when the ball fortuitously ricocheted to Moore in the box he fluffed his control. When a winger has to beat four men to try and get a cross in, the problem isn't the winger.

Having played almost exclusively down the left when we did venture forward, Dembele came on. Immediately he did two dangerous things and injected pace. We responded by switching to playing almost exclusively down the right. I'm going to glue a wig on this evening so I've got some hair to tear out.

Individually players are putting in effort but there's no group-think. No hunting in packs. One player will tear after the ball whilst those around him amble about. It's often mentioned the way to combat a disparity in quality is through hard work, but it isn't that alone. It needs intelligent hard work as part of structured teamwork. We'd be graded U in our GCSE Football Tactics the way we're going about it at the moment.

I looked at Brentford swinging in a cross with three or four men in the box. Then I saw us do it with one man in the box, against four defenders. Everyone seems to want to hover around the edge of the penalty area. There's nobody taking the chance, making that run, supporting the striker, pulling defenders out of position. Have they been told that they might leave a gap that exposes us to a breakaway and so not to do it? I've no idea, but I can't recall the last time I saw a team so full of players who seem so uneager to score themselves.

Brentford a decent side at the moment, in some very good form. They were **************** tonight by their standards. And they cruised to a 2-0 victory against us. Yet another team who we haven't given a game to when an opportunity arose.

Special mention to Kelly for one of the most random and pointless hoofed backpasses I can recall seeing. If anything tells the story of how much intent we have to get forward at the moment, it was that.

Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab.

--- Positive performances ---

Nobody stood out. I mean, it wasn't that they were all terrible but I can't say that anybody was good and worthy of a special mention.

--- Room for improvement ---

Stacey - Didn't look especially comfortable defending and times he did get forward the quality was poor.

Billing - He didn't have an anonymous night. He was actually pretty involved when we went forward. However, his touch and passing were so awry things usually came grinding to a halt when he got on the ball.

To be honest, there weren't any absolute howlers out there either. Pretty much everyone was just a bit below standard without being horrific individually. You can carry a few of those in a game, but when it's spread like norovirus across the whole team then you're in trouble. And it doesn't look or smell pretty.


--- GON watch --
He's got to go. Sorry but I didn't want him appointed and he's managed to undershoot even my worst fears. We look clueless going forward. There's no identifiable plan. No team ethic. No belief. Nobody wanting to take risks. No intent. Nothing I can point to and say "He's improved that", but a lot I can point to and say "We've gone backwards there". I look at us and I see a bunch of players who think they're already down, and that they're being led by a manager who doesn't know what he is doing.

Our worst run of results since pre-Redknapp. The lowest average number of shots on goal per game since the PL started recording that stat in 1997. And the problem is I don't see any green shoots that tell me things will change. There's nothing to build on. It's looks like Parker left after the last game and we're still trying to work out what we should be doing.

If GON is still going to be in charge next week, any chance someone could nip down the stadium on Friday and knock off a few of the signs so we can get it called off again?
 
So, my fall-back position is "are we in the relegation zone"?

While the answer is no, we have reached desperate times. In the week, probably 5 players have gone out - the three on loans, and quite possibly L. Cook and Dom. Only 1 back in, the extremely valuable Neto, but that still leaves some huge gaps.

At the half, on my stream anyway, they showed the highlights of Afcb 4 - Chelsea 0, January 2019. Featured in the highlights .........
* Josh King
* Ryan Fraser
* Stan
* A. Smith
* S. Cook
* C. Daniels (came on as a sub)
* NATHAN AKE!!
* and Howe holding the reigns.

Need we say more? We have to have some top quality signings asap. Ready starters if we mean to stay up, which given the current state of the table, is in our own hands.
 
Did anyone notice the players slumped and totally disengaged when they showed the inside of our dressing room just prior to start of 2nd half? Crikey where was the energy, the passion, the let's get up and at them tempo. This for me spoke volumes. Players are not being inspired by our management team and that apathy now flowing back.
 
Positives: Did not concede from a set piece. A couple of flashes from Dembele.

Negatives: Bad defensive errors leading to goals. Chronic failure to cross the ball in for Moore. No ability to create scoring chances.

One last positive: there are still only three relegation spots, and at least six very suspect teams.
 
Put it in the mixer said:
Did anyone notice the players slumped and totally disengaged when they showed the inside of our dressing room just prior to start of 2nd half? Crikey where was the energy, the passion, the let's get up and at them tempo. This for me spoke volumes. Players are not being inspired by our management team and that apathy now flowing back.
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Commentator suggested that maybe we were chilling because we were only 1 down. But I saw what you did.
 
Had really high hopes for Rothwell but he is almost completely anonymous every time he gets on the pitch.

Dembele looked like he might inject some venom into our attack in his first 5 minutes then we didn't bother giving him the ball again.

No urgency whatsoever.

Moore had a stinker of a game.
 
Toronto John said:
So, my fall-back position is "are we in the relegation zone"?

While the answer is no, we have reached desperate times. In the week, probably 5 players have gone out - the three on loans, and quite possibly L. Cook and Dom. Only 1 back in, the extremely valuable Neto, but that still leaves some huge gaps.

At the half, on my stream anyway, they showed the highlights of Afcb 4 - Chelsea 0, January 2019. Featured in the highlights .........
* Josh King
* Ryan Fraser
* Stan
* A. Smith
* S. Cook
* C. Daniels (came on as a sub)
* NATHAN AKE!!
* and Howe holding the reigns.

Need we say more? We have to have some top quality signings asap. Ready starters if we mean to stay up, which given the current state of the table, is in our own hands.
Click to expand...

We aren't, but other teams around us are picking up their form. Meanwhile we have one win and eight defeats in our last nine league games. Under EH we had losing runs, but you stuck it out because you could see what he was trying to do and believed if you kept doing the same thing the tide of results would turn. I have no such thoughts at the moment. As I said, no green shoots of hope in how we're approaching the game.

Yes, we need players. However I'll repeat what I said last week. Add in three £30m players to that team and do we suddenly look good? No. We still look disjointed and likely to go down.
 
Kicks_On_66 said:
Positives: Did not concede from a set piece. A couple of flashes from Dembele.

Negatives: Bad defensive errors leading to goals. Chronic failure to cross the ball in for Moore. No ability to create scoring chances.

One last positive: there are still only three relegation spots, and at least six very suspect teams.
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Not sure if you had the same feed (probably?) but Matt Holland kept pointing out how we always took the ball into traffic when we pressed forward ........ "1 against 5" at one point.
 
positives Neto and Dembele
We look so much safer with Neto at the back
negatives - Stacey was awful and should have been sent off,
Moore looked off the pace as did Phil Bill
 
kirsikka said:
We aren't, but other teams around us are picking up their form. Meanwhile we have one win and eight defeats in our last nine league games. Under EH we had losing runs, but you stuck it out because you could see what he was trying to do and believed if you kept doing the same thing the tide of results would turn. I have no such thoughts at the moment. As I said, no green shoots of hope in how we're approaching the game.

Yes, we need players. However I'll repeat what I said last week. Add in three £30m players to that team and do we suddenly look good? No. We still look disjointed and likely to go down.
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It’s about building for the future now and hoping that in doing that we might just somehow avoid relegation this season. But we have to build for the future now, not just for the next few months. Time to get the big broom out in all departments I feel ! Over to you Bill.
 
Negatives: woeful, haven't scored since November 12th, feels like the last relegation season.

Positives: I turned off at 70mins
 
kirsikka said:
Yes, we need players. However I'll repeat what I said last week. Add in three £30m players to that team and do we suddenly look good? No. We still look disjointed and likely to go down.
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Maybe, but not so certain.

What's our best 8 players .... In my view:

Neto, A. Smith, Meps, Phil, Lerma, Tavs, Dom (if not badly injured :sick:), Brooks.

Surely if we add 3 x 30M to that group we are better than at least 3 other sides?

I know, you are talking about tactics over talent. Agree. Just noting that at our best, we wouldn't be bad. But those additions are crucial. And still so thin that any injuries jeopardize the opportunity.
 
That's the thing, and why I use the hyperbolic example of 3x£30m players. We aren't going to spend that but the point is yes, we need some extra quality on the pitch but that isn't the thing we're lacking most of all. It's tactical nous and leadership from the bench.

If you put Howe in charge of this lot, do you think we would look so clueless out there? No.
 
kirsikka said:
I look at us and I see a bunch of players who think they're already down, and that they're being led by a manager who doesn't know what he is doing.
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This sums it up - depressing - i don't enjoy watching football anymore. I've stopped looking forwards to games, it almost feels like I am going to work when I watch Bournemouth play since the Southampton game - with the exception of the 2 toffees
 
kirsikka said:
If you put Howe in charge of this lot, do you think we would look so clueless out there? No.
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Maybe with the Howe of the final season. But the prior Howe .... probably not. It would take him a bit, as it did with Newcastle, but it would have to be better than this.
What happened to the way we played after GON first took office? We were steady and assured at the back. Is it a matter of losing the room? I remember some saying that it was imperative that we put the big losses behind us, and we did. But it quickly went pfft after that, what changed?
 
We looked very mildly better and more organised than vs Burnley and Palace. An incredibly low bar. Neto much more solid than Travers and a couple of bright moments from Dembele. There was a 10 minute spell in the 2nd half when it looked like we might get back in to it but we get the ball 30 yards out and have no idea what to do.

The tactics were bizarre, trying through balls to Moore or having him drop to the halfway line with nobody overlapping.

The players confidence looks shot, much like the last relegation season. There is absolutely no talking or leadership on the pitch. Brentford were nothing special but really didn't have to do a lot to beat us, just wait for our customary defensive errors and be relatively solid at the back. GON on the touchline just looks a bit lost and his interviews pre and post match are starting to sound a bit defeatist.

Stacey has no end product despite getting in good positions a few times, everyone else was just slightly below par but the issue was the system/style as opposed to individual shocking performances.

The whole running of this club over the last 6 months has been appalling and heads must roll. Time for Bill to prove himself and act swiftly. We've not scored since 12th November so things could hardly get much worse.

Away support was excellent today I thought. Good to meet @afcdibby and son.
 
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