[Bacuna] also managed to take a throw-in and throw it directly out of play, down the line.
That was *quite* special.
Anyway, vague thoughts in no order.
1. The main things wrong with our approach appear to be (a) we're slightly too slow at it (b) no-one drops in to help out when a player gets stuck and (c) the plan B of hoofing it is completely nonsensical - Barrow was never going to beat King in the air. McCleary was broadly anonymous. When Kermogant came on, he pushed right up against the Stevenage line, giving Barrow a bit more space. It was no surprise we created one or two chances after that switch. The formation had ended up 5-5-0, with Barrow/McClearly typically looking to go wide.
2. Going back to (b) and (a), this is roughly where Jaakola comes in - Stevenage's two forwards were clearly aware of our 'play it from the back' approach and quite rightly gave him very little time. The obvious passes were sideways, and without a midfielder dropping in to give wing backs/centre backs and option, it would go back to Jaakola and he'd be chased down rapidly. He got rattled early on by one that went across the Stevenage forward with an open goal. To his credit, when tested with shots, Jaakola looked completely safe.
3. Throw ins. We're really bad at them. Not just the comedy Bacuna one but in general they were a series of gifts of possession back to Stevenage. It is a bit depressing as they're common set pieces and certain drills should be easy to practise. Getting 20 odd throw ins a game and wasting the majority is grade-A special sauce.
4. The fans - loud, kept singing. OK, gallows humour in parts but there was one point where Ilori looked to play it back as the 'pass it back' song was singing and clearly had a second or third thought about things. So, yeah, not helpful. Booing? The only point where fans started to boo loudly and clearly was when the players began to walk off without acknowledging them. McShane made a shrugging gesture ('what do you lot want us to do' seemed to be the gist of it) but to their credit, him and Stam got the team to applaud and were then applauded.
5. The slightly perplexed bloke who moved so I could stand with my pal - if you're on here - cheers. Obviously, you're not going to a game expecting to be asked if you've come here on your own. We typically save that for the Turkish bath after the game.
6. They had some OK players, the difference in quality was far lower than I'd have expected - rather liked King, probably my man of the match.