by Brum Royal »
14 Sep 2016 11:54
5th game of the season for me (Plymouth, Wolves, MK, Ipswich and last night) and probably the best performance of the five and most fluid up to the edge of their 18 yard box, after that we struggled to fashion a really clear cut opportunity. The Stam style is improving game by game in my eyes, the passing was more mobile and with a more obvious intention against Blues than it was against Ipswich - when we shuffled it across the back, it was a) quicker and b) with the idea to either switch wings or wait for an option to open up in the midfield. This is what we want to see, and to be fair, the crowd went with it last night.
The final third was a little disappointing, and as others have said for all the dominance we had in terms of territory (for long periods of the second half there were 21 players in the Blues half) we should have created/scored more than we did. However, we looked much more solid and less nervy on the ball at the back and as mentioned above we showed an idea of what we were trying to achieve. This is progress in my opinion. If we keep doing that the goals will come, but the fact we're not giving away as much in dangerous positions (like at the Molineux) gives us a more stable foundation to build from going forwards in the season.
That said, some of the less positive notes from last night:
Williams - not one of his better evenings I didn't think, a very slow start, lost possession quite frequently, and although he grew into the game I think he should have gone off at half time for Swift, but with an improved second half performance admittedly.
G Mac - lots of ball and link up play with Gunter, didn't get the job done with his crosses despite creating some good positions for himself with some good skill
Crossing generally - we put only one really good cross in last night, a first half effort from Obita whipped in along the 6 yard line crying out to have someone flying in on it
Corners - similar to the crossing comment, for all the corners we had I thought we only really put one really decent on in - a second half one with some real pace. The floaty corners for the other 11 or so we had were more easily dealt with and didn't really threaten.
Numbers in the box - linked to the crossing is the number of players we get into the box. 433 is fine, but it needs more support from the wingers or centre mids to get more bodies in the box for the crosses to be aimed at - we were putting crosses in last night with only Kermit or Kermit + 1 to aim for, up against at least 3 if not 4 Blues defenders. An extra man or two makes the defenders jobs that much more difficult.
Overall I'm pretty happy with how we're developing, and if we continue to progress I think we can become a decent team in this division. We've had a tough start, and 11 points and 10th place from our opening 7 games is a decent return and probably a bit better than we expected at this stage given the complete change of style and personnel over the summer. Barnsley, Brighton and Huddersfield is another strong set of fixtures next week so hopefully we can continue our progress through them ahead of what looks to be a slightly more favourable set of fixtures in October and November.
Last edited by
Brum Royal on 14 Sep 2016 11:57, edited 1 time in total.