Yes we do. Its all about the structure they are set up in and the way they are asked or

more accurately forced to play.

Mclean, Nunez, Sara, Gibbs, Sainz (even Forshaw) - these are all footballers who are perfectly capable of passing the ball and retaining possession if there are options available to them.

The problem has been (and still is at times) that the way the team is set up, the slow moving of the ball at the back and the lack of movement makes it hard.

We saw that in the first half on Wednesday. Kenny kept dropping incredibly deep into the back line and the centre backs moved the ball very slowly. As a result, Bristol Rovers were able to pin our full backs in when we had the ball at the back, Sorensen was outnumbered and crowded out in the middle and we were basically forced into lumping the ball long into the channels because there were no options available to the player with the ball at the back.

In the second half, Kenny stopped doing that so much and he and Nunez got a bit more of a grip of the midfield. They were then able to get Sara (and later Sainz) on the ball more and the full backs also started overlapping to give more options both for the midfielders and the centre backs to pick out.

These are (in many cases) international footballers or players worth millions. The notion they can't pass or retain possession is just wrong in my view.

Posted By: Jim on January 19th 2024 at 13:13:40

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