Thommo's perm wrote:Benny The Noon wrote:bigmick wrote:I agree and disagree. We obviously sat off them too much, nobody with a brain would dispute that, but I disagree with the notion that it was managerial input which made us so circumspect. I don't think it was. After the match Roy talked about us sitting off too much, not continuing to press forward and said he was disappointed in the performance, so I think to imply it was his doing is incorrect.
Sometimes football matches take their course and there is little a manager can do to influence events. That's why managers talk about starting brightly, because if you get onto the back foot it is often difficult to get off it. We went to Hull last season and didn't have a shot, but obviously that wasn't because the manager said "don't have any shots", it was the way the game panned out. Had we sat off from the start I would be more inclined to accept the "it's the set up" argument, but we didn't, we started well. For a number of reasons Wigan wrestled the initiative away from us, and it wasn't until the last 10 minutes (after we moved Gerrard forward in a move many are criticising) that we got it back.
We didn't play well, and too many of our players had off nights compared to the Chelsea game. Konchesky, Kelly, Lucas and Maxi were at least 30% down on their Chelsea endeavours, and given everything it's one of them where you stick the away point in your back pocket and move on. We'll have other games where we play really well and lose, so I take this draw and don't worry too much about it.
The problem is the way we played the last 75 mins last night is a mirror image of the way we have played during 95% of our games so far - so if the manager isnt setting them up that way why are the players playing that way ?
On the positive side Gerrard had two clear goal scoring opportunities and should have scored twice. We started lively and could have won the game.
On the negative I am TOTALLY pi'ssed off with the slack and disgraceful passing that gifted wigan the ball so many times. This then forces us further back which results in hoofing to try and clear. This obviously puts us under more pressure as the ball goes to the opposition time after time. It is horrible to watch and I felt sorry for Roy (as I would for any manager in that position) when the players go into this mind set.
Nobody can seriously say that Hodgson wanted this to happen or preffered this style. Can they?
If so, can someone explain why he would want us to play well for 20 minutes and shi'te for the other 73?
Serious answers please
How many players are capable of passing the ball effectivly and quickly in this squad? try naming a few ,and i'm not talking of a 5 feet pass back to defence i'm talking passing the ball to places in the field where it counts ,I can only think of Gerrard. Maybe Maxi/Meireless sometime and that if they get some time to think (which you usually don't get in the PremierLeague). Are defenders can't pass for $hit ,except long balls with no direction ,our CM can only pass backwards and to minimal distance. So what is left? Gerrard to Torres was enough to score but as soon as Wigan and for that matter any team started applying pressure on us we just gave the ball away...
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