Back from the game; Tricky Trees not felled

Any 0-0 home draw is going to be disappointing and a second consecutive one wasn’t an easy watch but some of the vitriol on CanaryCall, Twitter, FaceBook and even on here were pretty downbeat. For me, those who were using the “boring” tag weren’t really giving the chances we made and some strong performances enough weight. Frustrating, sure, and the second half didn’t set many pulses racing but there were plenty of positives for me.

We again controlled and contained the game even if Forest looked lively on the break. Apart from an early chance and another late on the City defence looked solid with Hanley justifiably getting MOTM for a really dominant display; Breton was so deep in his pocket it was laughable. Reed is looking more comfortable at RB with every game he plays ther and got forward plenty too.

Leitner wasn’t on it and apart from a few quality balls was a little wasteful in possession. Here’s the controversy... I thought Maddison stunk the place up, losing possession and trying to be too tricky. His ability to do the turn out with back to goal can be really effective but really stalled our progress and perhaps he needs something else in his locker?

Hernandez looked really good with great strength, great tenacity and some good technical ability which saw him get round the back a number of times... if only there was a stiker to take advantage! On that front Srbeny didn’t really do much but didn’t get that much service and as for the whole Nelson business, I love Farke’s approach in calling him out and dropping him. Get yourself into training and get your attitude right or we’ll cash in whilst he still has saleable value.

The near constant calls from the crowd (and those on all the media’s) to “get it forward” and “attack” seem to be well off the pace with our philosophy and style. Ain’t gonna happen people so get used to it and get with the plan as those contributions aren’t helping. Farke’s post match was insightful when he said that his strikers (collectively) didn’t have enough quality, didn’t react quickly enough and didn’t anticipate well. For me this suggests that this will be addressed in the Summer and any sales prifit will be invested in getting the next piece of the jigsaw.

Once we have someone who can put goals away and take chances we will probably see more balls into the box from sidemen like Hernandez and Murphy and we won’t have to rely solely on finding intricate openings on the edge of the box.

Other pleasing gems were; a lovely little cameo from Wes which lit things up for us in the last 15 mins, Angus using his head to clear balls though to the edge of our box and a sumptuous volleyed pass out to the feet of Murphy on the left wing by Klose. This was almost Crook-like in its accuracy and technique... and I don’t compare to Chippy very often as most wouldn’t be fit to lace his boots.

Once again patience, trust and belief. We have come a long way this season but there is plenty more to do. We have rebuilt this club virtually from top to bottom on a relative shoestring. No point having another inquest about the past failings which brought us to the paupers table, let’s focus on going forward, even if it is slower than some appear to demand. Realism with a dash of optimism and a liberal application of patience.

On The Ball City 💛💚

Posted By: Worthing Yellow, Mar 7, 02:42:36