Thoughts on the match v Swansea

kirsikka

kirsikka

UTC Legend
A match that saw two Swansea teams show up. 15 minutes of neat pass and move play that pinned the Cherries back and had me worried followed by 75 minutes of diving, sly digs, off-the-ball antics and more. Probably the most unpleasant team I've see us play for many a year, and the ref let them get away with it.

Not sure what's going on with refs against us of late but it's getting a bit tiring. Today was an outrageous performance from the man in black.

Horrible to see Swansea escape censure but delighted we put them to the sword where it really mattered. 4-0 and comfortable after that initial flurry. In fact, it should have been even more such were the chances we created.

Onto us, and a great turnaround after the midweek showing. Davis struggled at the start but given his lack of football you'd give him the benefit of the doubt. The more the match went on the better he got.

Both wide players were totally on it this match, along with Solanke and Billing, and their defenders were completely unable to cope with the high press and work rate we showed.

A very satisfying performance. Genuinely excellent.

Positives:
Anthony was back to his early season form. Great creativity and frightened the life out of them. The only thing Christie is lacking is a goal. Solanke's finishing is the sign of a man in form. I could mention more but for his first start at LB since 2018 (according to KT) a big shout out to Leif Davis.

Negatives:
We have to be careful not to react to the provocation as it seems, when we get all over a team, it's a tactic being tried to disrupt us and we nearly fell for it today.

I'd also be asking questions of the refs as there have been a few matches of late where the other team is getting away with murder and we're being penalised for much lesser offences. Feels like a pattern of late and we shouldn't be afraid to address it otherwise it might not change.
 
Superb performance. Classic rope-a-dope start and then from the goal onwards we were as good as we've been all season.

Even in that first 20mins or so, apart from the penalty shout we were solid. Other seasons we would have conceded in that flurry.

Great to see JA get a couple and look more clinical. Solanke really should have had a hat trick today, and HOW has Christie still not scored?!

Most pleasing thing is our work rate off the ball. The midfield hunting in packs is a delight to watch.

Very little to complain about except the ref who lost the plot.

Great to hear a rousing Red Army rendition in the first half. A performance on and off the pitch to make Nonny proud.
 
kirsikka said:
I'd also be asking questions of the refs as there have been a few matches of late where the other team is getting away with murder and we're being penalised for much lesser offences. Feels like a pattern of late and we shouldn't be afraid to address it otherwise it might not change.
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I agree. It's starting to feel as though there is a concerted effort being made to stop us running away with the league. We should definitely be having a word with the powers that be, just to redress the balance for the next few games at least !
You make a valid point. No shame in mentioning our concerns and asking for improvement or clarification.
 
Silly Swansea tried to out-do us with their shithouserry. Now that was never ever going to work, because we are the kings of shithouserry. At least, that's what a lot of opposition fans seem to think!
Anyway, brilliant performances from everyone today have put the memories of Wednesday night's "off day" firmly in the bin. West Brom drop points again, let's keep a nice gap between ourselves and 3rd place, and not be too worried about top spot. UTC.
 
A few things were pretty obvious for me:
-Having a natural left footer with pace at left full back made an enormous difference, it can’t be understated just how better balanced the side looked today. For those of you who genuinely believe that playing a right footed centre half at left back didn’t have a huge influence on the result on Wednesday, give your heads a wobble right now. The first and second goals don’t happen today if Mepham is playing left back. The first because having a natural left footer there opened up the angle for the pass to Anthony, the second, well that’s pretty obvious. That’s two goals that don’t happen if Mepham is at left back, imagine the impact a left footer could have had on Wednesday.
-On Davis, he struggled massively in the first half from a defensive view point, grew into it a lot more in the second though and looked solid enough defensively. We’ll for give him a shaky opening after so long out. Attacking wise he was absolutely superb, the assist was magical but even putting that aside, his engine to get up and down the flank was phenomenal. He has a hell of a cross on him and must play from now on, it’s his place to lose because you can’t drop him after that.
-today showed how important Anthony is to this side, and bizarrely I’m not referring to his work on the ball despite the two goals. I’m talking about his work off of the ball. His ability to press and the intelligence of his positioning and body shape when doing so is absolute top notch. This is very important because when you’re a side like us who implements a high press, all you need is for one player not to be doing it correctly and the whole front five of the team can be bypassed. We saw this on Wednesday numerous times. I rate Lowe as a player, but his pressing on Wednesday was erratic and not to the required intensity, his body shape when doing so was also not correct on a number of occasions. We got played through a number of times because of this. So Anthony must start.
-we are a better team with Kilkenny in it. Even if he’s having an off day the speed he moves the ball at and his ability to take the ball on the half turn is essential to maintaining our tempo. I honestly think he should start every game. If we need to tighten things up towards the end of the game bring Pearson on. In all honesty though, I think Kilkenny does a very underrated job defensively. Personally am more interested in asserting our game on the opposition as opposed to trying to nullify their’s.
-very good to see Lewis Cook back and I believe he could also compete with Kilkenny for this role.
-Stacy is the best right back in the league.
-Swansea are the nastiest side I have ever seen us play. The moment things weren’t going their way they threw themselves on the floor at every opportunity, comically so at times. The ref seemingly being mentally challenged didn’t help matters either.
-Russel Martin should probably stop trying to play total football with a goal keeper who s**ts his pants every time the ball is at his feet hahahaha that’s 9-0 in total against his teams now lol
 
As I see it...SP probably knew what he was at on Wednesday...but it just didn't work out...a couple of players not obeying instructions maybe...these things happen.

Today ..the Swansea got their plan all te f√ck whereas the PNE had got theirs right.

Not a bad week in the end with Baggies dropping a point today.

For us, 1 Loss and 1 Win..better than 2 draws at home.
 
Fantastic response to Wednesday. Leif had a shaky start but felt that we grew into the game as he steadied himself and found his confidence. My brother showed me a heatmap at half time and there was an obvious imbalance with most of our play on the right, so it was great to see us start the 2nd half with Leif winning possession and providing an assist.
Solid as the defence was, I'm not sure why Kelly was given the motm. But hey ho!
 
king-bedwetter said:
Fantastic response to Wednesday. Leif had a shaky start but felt that we grew into the game as he steadied himself and found his confidence. My
Solid as the defence was, I'm not sure why Kelly was given the motm. But hey ho!
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It was an odd MOTM call. So many candidates to be fair. Personally I’d give it Anthony, Christie, Solanke in that order with Leif 4th and Stacey 5th. Not often the sponsors pick someone that wouldn’t be in my top 5.
 
Neil Dawson said:
It was an odd MOTM call. So many candidates to be fair. Personally I’d give it Anthony, Christie, Solanke in that order with Leif 4th and Stacey 5th. Not often the sponsors pick someone that wouldn’t be in my top 5.
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picked by the sponsors so Premier Sports - the car dealer on holdenhurst that they all buy lambos from. Maybe they’re trying to entice Lloyd as a new client??!!
 
Waz afcb said:
-On Davis, he struggled massively in the first half from a defensive view point, grew into it a lot more in the second though and looked solid enough defensively.
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was watching through my fingers for the first 20 minutes, their winger got past him three or four times and was very lucky not to give away a pen
credit to parker who dropped kelly in alongside him as he was struggling so much

he looks more of a wingback than a fullback
 
New Forest Cherry said:
was watching through my fingers for the first 20 minutes, their winger got past him three or four times and was very lucky not to give away a pen
credit to parker who dropped kelly in alongside him as he was struggling so much

he looks more of a wingback than a fullback
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Gary O’Neil walked around the the pitch to go and talk to him, whatever the instruction was he was immediately a better a player.

Until that point he was in Adam Green territory.
 
Re Davis I like to think his dodgy opening was just him adjusting to the pace of the game after a long absence from first team football. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. There were no such issues in the second half. I think he’ll be very good for us as a left full back.
 
Waz afcb said:
Re Davis I like to think his dodgy opening was just him adjusting to the pace of the game after a long absence from first team football. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. There were no such issues in the second half. I think he’ll be very good for us as a left full back.
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Couldn't agree more. Hopefully he'll continue to grow now zemura looks like being unavailable for a while. He certainly has the potential to be a very good left back at this level, if not more.
 
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