Thought Cullen played some nice ball in and around the box in the second half. Have to say Smallbone has never done much for me. Also thought Knight was very good, a player I’ve always liked.Originally Posted by Jd2793
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
Parrot probably suits that type of game more than Obafemi? Or at least a half fit Obafemi. He only really got one chance to run at them but was otherwise completely surrounded. Parrot did a better job of passing around the corners. It didn't quite pan out but at least it caused them a different sort of problem.
21 leagues and 25 cups.
yeah definitely. was surprised at how rusty obafemi looked though his decision making and first touch were poor. badly need himself and parrott need to get game time next season
One thing to say about Parrott is that he got space in the box at one stage and the ball sat up for a left-foot shot - not ideally, but you'd still expect a player to get a shot away - but he dallied over it and the chance was gone. You can't really blame rust for him - he played 40+ games last season - so it's probably another sign that he's not really there in terms of goalscoring yet, which we kind of know from last season anyway.
I don’t think Parrott’s club goal scoring record merits a starting place for us, but his tendency to drift and ability to make a forward pass suits Ferguson’s positional play. I think Ferguson and Obafemi want to do the same thing and take the same positions and effectively get in each other way, Idah to a lesser extent but both he and Ferguson play as 9s. We don’t need to play a partner with Ferguson, but if we do, Parrott looks the best option. I think Johnston has made a strong claim for more playing time, and that opens the door to reverting to a front 3 which would also get the most out of Ogbene’s qualities.
I did miss that ….. makes sense and glad to hear it.. cheers
He improved in the second half, but the drop off in Cullen’s performances is a worry. Not sure what’s going on there – belief/ confidence seems gone. He had plenty of opportunities to take a shot, play a forward pass but seemed content to just recycle and play it square (and not always with success).
FWIW, I’d like to see the back of Kenny now, bring in a replacement now (surely it’s Carsley?) and just get going. A couple of big wins get us back into the mix (wishful thinking) but we should be aiming to be ready for a play-off via the NL - though it doesn’t look guaranteed right now.
But last night was a bit of a hiding to nothing. Flat , mono-paced first half with sloppy passing and no incision after the first 30 seconds. Accomplished without being penetrative.
Much better second half. Why Johnston didn’t start against this lot and why we needed 3 CBs is beyond me, but I guess it’s a 90 minute game. And overall, in my opinion it was a considerably better performance than the equivalent game under Mick.
Delighted for Idah.
And looking at Armenia, Kazakhstan etc. does prove that these teams are better than we give them credit for and Greece only losing 1-0 in France rubbishes the notion that they should have been an easy target last weekend. Ukraine beat Malta 1-0, Israel only beat Andorra 2-1. We don’t have a monopoly on underwhelming results against minnows!
Yeah I've given up on Kenny now as well - time for a change. On last night, didn’t think the 3 CBs was an issue – more the player selection. Both Knight and McClean did what could be expected of them and did it well but perhaps not at the pace desired, and not with the tricky of a Johnston. Neither Knight nor McClean could dribble past their opposite numbers – it was telegraphed every time they would look to get a cross in rather than try and beat their man. It was lined up for McClean to get his 100th cap, but O’Dowda has a bit more trickery about him which was needed to unlock their defence. In saying that, had Ferguson and Obafemi converted their first half chances, both sitters btw, it would have eased the tension and not necessitated positional/ personal changes at half time.
odowda didnt deserve a start after friday im afraid. i know its a completely different type of game but he was one of our worst players v greece. that kind of performance cant be rewarded. do agree we could have afforded to go with johnston aswell.
on parrott, hes not an out and out goalscorer. dont think we shoudl be looking at him like that now. hes very smart with his movement and hes good on the ball. he will create something for us when hes on the pitch. must have been 3 or 4 times last night where he was waving his arms around like a mad man after making a good run yet he wasnt given the ball. hes definitely more of a 10 than a 9.
ferguson gives us a lot of flexibility. he can be a lone man up top in a 4-3-3 or he can play in a 2 etc. kenny needs to be more flexible with his formations going forward.
I have to admit I had to watch the match on a recording as I had a commitment last night. I watched almost all of it as if it was live but put it on 2x normal speed from about 30-45 mins to try to get to bed before midnight. Was that when Ferguson missed his chance? I don’t remember it.
He had a header from a central position about 30 minutes in which he glanced a bit wide from a McClean cross.
Has he ever really been the type to play an incisive forward pass in the final third? For me he does his best work on the half turn in our half to get us moving but I've never thought of him as a creative spark. I'm not sure we really needed him yesterday. Hendrick, for all his faults, might have been the way to go as he does play a nice ball through the lines. Cliche city here.
Or Cullen might just be shattered after a pretty long season. He was so poor against Greece and that's the game we really needed him for. We couldn't control the game at all and a lot of that was down to his decision making. He wasn't alone but he stood out more because of his role.
21 leagues and 25 cups.
In fairness to the Kazakhs they can only beat what's in front of them and although it was only a win by 1 goal they had a long journey etc.
More interesting results today from this perspective... Luxembourg beat BiH 2-0 away from home, Moldova beat Poland at home, Portugal needed a last minute winner in Iceland, Slovakia edged by Faroe 1-0 at home. Given where we are, there is no divine right to win anymore. Very few gimmes left in European international football.
Lots of bad managers in international football these days
This has been the way for a long time imo and the gap between easy-beat minnows and the middle-class of European teams is only getting tighter, bar a few unfortunate exceptions (hello San Marino).
Pundit class do my head in when they talk about games like this, like Ireland should be honking Gibraltar 7-0. One look at any European window tells you what's happening in international football, but why do that when there's a tub to be thumped.
Anyhoo - Monday was irrelevant, nice to win by three but it was Friday that mattered and we blew it.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
The Senior National Team Manager role isn't about "development" or a "project". It's about results and qualification. Development and projects need to start at the bottom and build to the top, not the other way around.
If we had a functional organisation I'd agree, but we don't
Post might be more appropriate elsewhere but I'll let mods decide that.
First half vs Gibraltar was too pedestrian. Too many short passes, when the longer wider pass was on in the first place - just like Greece executed against us on Friday. There was no real tempo to the play. Of course it doesn't help when your top two play ****e, don't really move and have the touches of rapists in the build-up play. This wasn't helped by similar inadequacies from the players behind, Cullen in particular.
Willy Smallbone was poor. Showed no great link-up with Knight in general and rarely provided a good outlet for balls, for overlapping or for pushing inside.
Jamie Knight was far more productive and thought he contributed very well throughout both halves.
I was surprised Parrot was brought on vs Greece but didn't start vs Gibraltar. I was very surprised that 3 cbs started - if he wanted that protection, and didn't want to drop any of them, then he could have gone with the two cbs and played one of them in front (Collins perhaps the obvious one).
However, if OShea was fit enough to play vs Gib (and I thought he played very positively - with the one brainfart exception) then he should have started in Greece. He's astute, tactically aware and an absolute dog of a defender.
I was impressed with the change of tempo, tactics and personnel in the 2nd half. It looked to me like someone bollicked the players at ht. The Johnston change had to happen, and to be honest Obafemi should have been hooked at ht too - he was awful for the time he was on the pitch. What I liked about Parrot and Johnston is that they both went for the jugular every possible time - either by attacking their peripherary or through the gaps that were appearing, and had the ability to exploit them. Parrots movement throughout the second half was superb - he looked on it from the moment he stepped onto the pitch.
First competitive goals for 3 players, three young players, in the same game must be some sort of record. and whatever about the simplicity of Johnston's finish for the first - that goal came about because the time attacked that central core of the Gibraltar defence, which we hadn't done sufficiently in the first half. we got the reward for being brave by their defender havign to improvise to prevent a good opportunity in the centre of their box - the goal is deserved.
and finally we started trying some shots from distance; we didn't score, but it forced them to not just drop and drop and drop, it forced one out each time and we had personnel to play those tricky but executionable passes in the danger areas into space and then putting in decent balls that are an attackers dream.
As others have said, this window wasn't good for a few players, but it was good for some others.
Cullen, Smallbone, Doc, Obafemi, Egan all saw performances drop off the required level - you could possibly put Nathy Collins in there too, while Parrot, Johnson, Knight and Ferguson all stepped up a gear again (on Monday's pf, rather than Friday).
I thought Ferguson looked a far superior player with Parrot, McGrath and Johnston around him and was much more involved in link-up play and taking the ball on. He was constantly talking to Parrot on and off the ball in the 2nd half, while didn't seem to be doing much in the first.
Where that leaves the side come September god knows...
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
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