You’d have to wonder how a team with three club captains starting can have so little leadership. It feels like they’re all captains because they’re “good pros” rather than traditional leaders.
I’d question the managers decisions in terms of the wider squad too. He’s left out Molumby who seems to be a character, loud a bit obnoxious on the pitch. He’s left out Festy, another lad who’s not afraid to fight his corner. I thought he was the type who’d go looking for those qualities, the bit of a ******* for want of a better term. But he’s gone the other way and picked the quiet and obedient types ahead of them.
I never thought I’d see the day I’d try to make a case to have James McLean recalled but at least he’d bring that bite. The same with Coleman, he might not be fit but he brings real leadership. As has been pointed out, he’s included players like Dunne and Kenny, who it seems he was never going to give any minutes to, so why not go with the experienced characters who bring urgency to the squad. I know it’s a hard sell and I’d have probably been moaning about it at the time, but it certainly looks like something that needs to considered for the next squad.
Just on taking Taylor off, I did say during the first half that he was bringing some much needed physicality in the middle, but was sloppy with it and giving away silly fouls. Taking him off just made it worse. It looked like there was a last minute decision to try something different with the shape of the team and they hadn’t trained it at all. I think it was a panic response to the awful start against Hungary rather than a considered tactical decision and it really showed in the complete lack of coherence.
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