We didn't really play great football before...

...we had glimpses of class, granted - but a lot of our wins were gained by taking early goals, sitting on a lead with players camped in our half and perhaps nicking another at the end of the game as the opposition tired whilst our fitness proved better.

This worked to start with - very well, admittedly, but it's not a firm foundation to take with you into the upper echelon of English football. The majority of Premiership sides are too good to even contemplate trying to defend a one goal lead against - even against the poor ones it's suicidal (Blackburn at home, for example).

Set pieces are criminally woeful for a side that is managed by a man with the highest coaching accolade he could achieve in Europe. We look clueless at throw-ins, let alone corners or free-kicks in the final third. Why?!

Are tactics researched, investigated, taught or discussed on this A-Licence? If so...why do we so often appear to have a lack of a Plan B (and a Plan A in some cases?!). We looked superb at Burnley for the first fifteen minutes, but offered absolutely nothing for the last seventy five - this isn't good enough and makes no sense at all.

There are other things I could go into now - why play relentless long balls to short strikers, why play Charlton when you've said just twenty four hours before that they have no future at the club, why release players without giving them a chance, why have four goalkeepers in a squad yet no recognised right-sided midfielder...etc. etc. - but think I've posted enough already and don't want to start ranting!

Posted By: Declan on April 10th 2006 at 23:00:34

Message Thread

Reply to Message

In order to add a post to the WotB Message Board you must be a registered WotB user.

If you are not yet registered then please visit the registration page. You should ensure that their browser is setup to accept cookies.

Log in