I know there are more important things in life than football, but that was the most wound-up and angry I have felt walking out of DC for a long time.
After 70 mins and leading 2-0 we had complete control over a team that has spent most of the season in the play-off positions and were touted as promotion rivals. Then we had yet another second half collapse, this time following a red card, and ended up throwing away all the hard work. Id like to see a replay, but from where I was sat, Stacey has another mind melt and plays a kamikaze pass back to Lerma that is intercepted by the Cov player. Jeff has a decision to make and it is a red card all day long. Even then, we had a period down to 10 men where we looked quite comfortable until Parker started to panic. Upto then I think Stacey was having a decent game, albeit with an unusual position in front of Christie. However, his errors have cost us in recent games. I can't help feeling that between him and Mepham, they can both put in a really decent performance but at some point you just know they will do something that will cost us.
So far, i'm quite impressed with what SP is trying to do with our team, however trying to hold out for 20 mins whilst changing the set-up to what felt like 6-3-1 at the end is just asking for trouble. He has got to quickly learn to be more positive to trust his players and show more courage to enable them to front up and deliver. It feels like he is almost encouraging them to panic as his positional set-up allows for no outlet whilst we are letting the opposition to have a go.
It has been a frustrating few weeks. WBA are pony and have been giving us numerous opportunities to put in such a massive gap that promotion would be hard to throw away, and yet at every chance we seem to be handing it back to them. I think our team showed today that even with a number of absentees due to injury, when we are on our game we are some distance ahead of our rivals. However, the fragile mindset that affected us last season is creeping in again. Derby second half was poor, Millwall second half was dreadful, Coventry second half was on cruise control until the panic set in after the red card. Just to make it worse, there was absolutely no way that cov equaliser was a shot, it was a misplaced cross all day long. A very frustrating afternoon at DC.
Best to end on the positives:
Lewis Cook - so good to see someone receive a ball and then head towards the opposition goal instead of the default pass back
Jeff Lerma - I thought he was immense at the back today until Stacey left him up sh*t creek. Some recent forum posts indicate some people would be happy to see him go for a decent fee, I think it would be a massive loss to what we are trying to achieve.
S Cook - I have never bought into the sentimental idea he must play because of his history at our club. However, on todays performance I would have him ahead of Mepham every time.
After 70 mins and leading 2-0 we had complete control over a team that has spent most of the season in the play-off positions and were touted as promotion rivals. Then we had yet another second half collapse, this time following a red card, and ended up throwing away all the hard work. Id like to see a replay, but from where I was sat, Stacey has another mind melt and plays a kamikaze pass back to Lerma that is intercepted by the Cov player. Jeff has a decision to make and it is a red card all day long. Even then, we had a period down to 10 men where we looked quite comfortable until Parker started to panic. Upto then I think Stacey was having a decent game, albeit with an unusual position in front of Christie. However, his errors have cost us in recent games. I can't help feeling that between him and Mepham, they can both put in a really decent performance but at some point you just know they will do something that will cost us.
So far, i'm quite impressed with what SP is trying to do with our team, however trying to hold out for 20 mins whilst changing the set-up to what felt like 6-3-1 at the end is just asking for trouble. He has got to quickly learn to be more positive to trust his players and show more courage to enable them to front up and deliver. It feels like he is almost encouraging them to panic as his positional set-up allows for no outlet whilst we are letting the opposition to have a go.
It has been a frustrating few weeks. WBA are pony and have been giving us numerous opportunities to put in such a massive gap that promotion would be hard to throw away, and yet at every chance we seem to be handing it back to them. I think our team showed today that even with a number of absentees due to injury, when we are on our game we are some distance ahead of our rivals. However, the fragile mindset that affected us last season is creeping in again. Derby second half was poor, Millwall second half was dreadful, Coventry second half was on cruise control until the panic set in after the red card. Just to make it worse, there was absolutely no way that cov equaliser was a shot, it was a misplaced cross all day long. A very frustrating afternoon at DC.
Best to end on the positives:
Lewis Cook - so good to see someone receive a ball and then head towards the opposition goal instead of the default pass back
Jeff Lerma - I thought he was immense at the back today until Stacey left him up sh*t creek. Some recent forum posts indicate some people would be happy to see him go for a decent fee, I think it would be a massive loss to what we are trying to achieve.
S Cook - I have never bought into the sentimental idea he must play because of his history at our club. However, on todays performance I would have him ahead of Mepham every time.
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