BFTG - Cardiff

[Hound]

Christ I can’t wait until this season ends and Paul Ince and most of the other wasters fcuk off.

Incompetent tactics.

Expand on the tactics

Didn’t think we did a lot wrong tactically as such.

[Gunny Fishcake]

Good first half with Cardiff there for the taking, but when we had them on the ropes, instead of going for the kill, we inexplicably backed off and produced a woeful pathetic second half performance. This team really does not have a backbone and no desire for a fight, I think most of the players realise we'd almost certainly safe from relegation and as a consequence are just going through the motions and thinking of who they'll be playing for with their new clubs next season. We need a massive clear out this summer and get a bunch of players who want to play in a team, as a team, not a bunch of individual prima donnas

[Zip]

Don't think they give up. They just fall into bad habits and have low confidence and struggle to focus

I think they do. One example 10 minutes from the end Joao had his back to the goalie, head down walking away and it took one of this team mates (can’t remember who) to tell him to turn around and close down the goalie. There’s too much of that with this team. I never particularly liked McDermotts brand of football of non stop pressure and 100 miles per hour, but this team could definately do with some of that.

Yeah agree with this. The workrate dropped off alarmingly in the second half.
We pressed hard in the first half but sat off in the second.

[karbota]

Don't think they give up. They just fall into bad habits and have low confidence and struggle to focus

I think they do. One example 10 minutes from the end Joao had his back to the goalie, head down walking away and it took one of this team mates (can’t remember who) to tell him to turn around and close down the goalie. There’s too much of that with this team. I never particularly liked McDermotts brand of football of non stop pressure and 100 miles per hour, but this team could definately do with some of that.

Yep same every match.

[Needle]

Hoilett was excellent on the right against Stoke. Back on the left to accommodate Ince spelled trouble from the start. He's just not the same player.

TMac isn't a fullback. Rahman must really be pissing about in training for Ince not to have brought him back.

I reckon we need 3 more points to be safe - not sure where they're coming from without Swift

[Notts Royal]

Hoilett was excellent on the right against Stoke. Back on the left to accommodate Ince spelled trouble from the start. He's just not the same player.

TMac isn't a fullback. Rahman must really be pissing about in training for Ince not to have brought him back.

I reckon we need 3 more points to be safe - not sure where they're coming from without Swift

Remember when a left footed player played on the left wing & a right footer played on the right? I miss those days. Give me a player who can beat his man & either cross effectively or cut back from the byline, over 1 who occasionally cuts back & scores any day of the week. Why did it need to change?!

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Good first half with Cardiff there for the taking, but when we had them on the ropes, instead of going for the kill, we inexplicably backed off and produced a woeful pathetic second half performance. This team really does not have a backbone and no desire for a fight, I think most of the players realise we'd almost certainly safe from relegation and as a consequence are just going through the motions and thinking of who they'll be playing for with their new clubs next season. We need a massive clear out this summer and get a bunch of players who want to play in a team, as a team, not a bunch of individual prima donnas

A lot of words to say Ince out

[Snowflake Royal]

Don't think they give up. They just fall into bad habits and have low confidence and struggle to focus

I think they do. One example 10 minutes from the end Joao had his back to the goalie, head down walking away and it took one of this team mates (can’t remember who) to tell him to turn around and close down the goalie. There’s too much of that with this team. I never particularly liked McDermotts brand of football of non stop pressure and 100 miles per hour, but this team could definately do with some of that.

Yeah agree with this. The workrate dropped off alarmingly in the second half.
We pressed hard in the first half but sat off in the second.

See that as a loss of focus not giving up

[Zip]

I think they do. One example 10 minutes from the end Joao had his back to the goalie, head down walking away and it took one of this team mates (can’t remember who) to tell him to turn around and close down the goalie. There’s too much of that with this team. I never particularly liked McDermotts brand of football of non stop pressure and 100 miles per hour, but this team could definately do with some of that.

Yeah agree with this. The workrate dropped off alarmingly in the second half.
We pressed hard in the first half but sat off in the second.

See that as a loss of focus not giving up

Possibly fatigue.

[leon]

I think they do. One example 10 minutes from the end Joao had his back to the goalie, head down walking away and it took one of this team mates (can’t remember who) to tell him to turn around and close down the goalie. There’s too much of that with this team. I never particularly liked McDermotts brand of football of non stop pressure and 100 miles per hour, but this team could definately do with some of that.

Yeah agree with this. The workrate dropped off alarmingly in the second half.
We pressed hard in the first half but sat off in the second.

See that as a loss of focus not giving up

[Zip]

Who was marking Vaulks? They didn’t track back for his winner. Our midfield really were very poor in the second half.

Has Swift played his last game for us. Out for “a few weeks” when there are only four weeks left.......

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Quote from Ince post match "Second half for some reason we decided to drop deep, no idea why but we did the same against Stoke".

Why did he not make it clear to the team to press up the pitch at half time and even if they were dropping deeper and deeper as the game progressed second half sort it out from the touchline after all that's the manager job

[Snowflake Royal]

Quote from Ince post match "Second half for some reason we decided to drop deep, no idea why but we did the same against Stoke".

Why did he not make it clear to the team to press up the pitch at half time and even if they were dropping deeper and deeper as the game progressed second half sort it out from the touchline after all that's the manager job

All he can do from the touchline is shout and make subs. Which he did.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Quote from Ince post match "Second half for some reason we decided to drop deep, no idea why but we did the same against Stoke".

Why did he not make it clear to the team to press up the pitch at half time and even if they were dropping deeper and deeper as the game progressed second half sort it out from the touchline after all that's the manager job

kind’ve sounded like he said that he did all that, but the players ignored him regardless

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Snowflake Royal wrote:

All he can do from the touchline is shout and make subs. Which he did.

Utter rubbish, if the system it is not working change it Pardew was a great example of making such decisions

[Snowflake Royal]

Snowflake Royal wrote:

All he can do from the touchline is shout and make subs. Which he did.

Utter rubbish, if the system it is not working change it Pardew was a great example of making such decisions

It wasn't the system that wasn't working, it was what the players were doing in it.

He can't walk on the pitch and physically drag them forward.

[Zip]

The players pressed hard in the first half and just didn’t have the same energy levels in the second half.

[Snowflake Royal]

The players pressed hard in the first half and just didn’t have the same energy levels in the second half.

Yeah, the dropping deep thing is a natural reaction to losing confidence and tiring.

You're scared of leaving space in behind and get caught out. Especially with our lack of pace at the back.

And each time it's harder to get back up the pitch as you're tired. And because everyone is coming back, there's no out ball to hold it up, so you're caught playing in little space in your own packed third or sending it forward and watching it come straight back.

Once you've let yourself slip into that it's incredibly hard to get out of it. I think you very rarely see teams succeed at it without some sort of big motivational event, like a goal against the run of play, or a particularly big challenge or unjust decision.

[Millsy]

While we are calling this Pauno-like in that we went 1 up then lost I think that unfair on Ince.

First half we constantly looked for the second and had Cardiff on the ropes. Second half Cardiff did well, we tired. Pince didn’t do enough to spot the problem and fix it although he tried with attacking subs.

Overall good close game, win some lose some. No biggie. Not much to dissect.

Biggest thing for me is this wasn’t a typical relegation side getting battered. It was a good game of decent teams.

Barnsley v Millwall on the other hand

[Hound]

The players pressed hard in the first half and just didn’t have the same energy levels in the second half.

Yeah, the dropping deep thing is a natural reaction to losing confidence and tiring.

You're scared of leaving space in behind and get caught out. Especially with our lack of pace at the back.

And each time it's harder to get back up the pitch as you're tired. And because everyone is coming back, there's no out ball to hold it up, so you're caught playing in little space in your own packed third or sending it forward and watching it come straight back.

Once you've let yourself slip into that it's incredibly hard to get out of it. I think you very rarely see teams succeed at it without some sort of big motivational event, like a goal against the run of play, or a particularly big challenge or unjust decision.

Agreed - I thought TDB was the right sub at the time but in retrospect he is a bit of a headless chicken at times which summed up much of our midfield second half. Ejaria would have been a better option, granted i didn’t see his performance on Tuesday so maybe that was bad enough to not want to bring him on

It has been a huge feature of our poorer performances this year though - the lack of control and ball retention in midfield