Rotherham - The verdict.

AlGard

AlGard

UTC Legend
Back to slow starts.
Slowly improved.
Just about a penalty.
Very poor at the start of the 2nd half,
Defending not great for both their goals.
At least we stepped up to the plate after that.
Good substitutions with instant dividend.
Shocking time wasting by Rotherham.
Bego MOM for me.
Billing...what's he about?
A fair result in a bang average performance.
 
Yes agree, Kelly needs to improve, missed Lewis cook, gosling poor again.
Just glad we don't have to play them every week
 
Tough to play our football against teams like this. Weak defensively from a long ball threat. Dreadful goals to concede - minimal challenge for either goal.

It’s games like this hat show why we won’t rip up the league as some fans optimistically expect
 
AlGard said:
Back to slow starts.
Slowly improved.
Just about a penalty.
Very poor at the start of the 2nd half,
Defending not great for both their goals.
At least we stepped up to the plate after that.
Good substitutions with instant dividend.
Shocking time wasting by Rotherham.
Bego MOM for me.
Billing...what's he about?
A fair result in a bang average performance.
Click to expand...
Agree with most of this but I’d single out Kelly, Smith, Gosling, Lerma, Mepham and Cook before singling out Billing.
 
We seem to play well against the top teams but less so against lower sides.

Is that complacency or is it just that we have problems with more physical teams?
 
Great game for Begovic, my MoM. Otherwise we really struggled against the aerial ball.

Kelly and Mepham both seem to want too much time on the ball.

Think we missed Cook & Danjuma.

Well done JT for the change.
 
The verdict is that there were numerous occasions in the game where our back four/defensive players made criminal basic errors which held us back today. Against a direct side like this it’s pivotal that the basics are done right. A few instances:
-The marking for the first goal. Not at ANY level should a forward be in that much space six yards out in the centre of goal. I know it’s unfashionable to knock him but Steve Cook is our captain, he needs to be organising the back line so that doesn’t happen.
-Smiths ‘attempt’ to put in a block for the second was half arsed to say the least. Again not acceptable. If we want to get promoted we can’t be giving away goals like that on a regular basis.
-that not even to mention the time we allowed a Rotherham player to take down a long throw, flick it up and get a clean scissor kick in on goal. At this point we had three centre backs on the pitch, what on earth is the point if we’re going to let that happen?
very frustrating as all we had to do today was get the basics right and our quality would have shone through. It’s only due to the individual brilliance of Solanke and Begovic that we picked up an undeserved point.
 
Games against teams that play like that are very difficult. Throw in a referee who is inconsistent and indecisive and the challenges can get consistently niggly . They obviously favour the long high ball into the box and our boys at the back struggled with them the whole game. Their game plan was to stop us at all costs. Break the game up, start with the gamesmanship from the beginning. It gets very frustrating after awhile. They are at the bottom end of the table for a reason, poor quality football and they will take that point all day long. We were poor, didn't move the ball around quick enough, lacked inspiration and a cutting edge. We needed to roll out sleeves up and get dirty with them. Eventually Brooks did, probably because he got fed up with being constantly kicked.
We come away with a point, yes we probably should be beating teams like that but after today's performance a point is at least something from a poor performance.
MOM -Begovic. Outstanding save in the second half.
 
Yeah - a point OK but we looked floppy at the back, missed many high balls and tackles, and lacked leadership from Cook/Mepham. Midfield struggled without L Cook ... if JT won't play either Ofoborh or Kilkenny we need to buy in Jan, cos we won't maintain progress without a creative backup to Brooks and Lewis Cook.

65% possession but the opposition had more shots ... tells its own story ... we couldn't move the ball from midfield to the forwards. Gosling and Billing inadequate IMO.
 
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