by Nuremberg Royal »
19 Aug 2017 07:01
"We ought to have really scored with the Green chance and after that, stopped pressing.
Reading have a way of playing, they’re nowhere near good enough to execute it the way Stam would like and that is by and large due to their personnel. Chief weakness is their back 5, none of whom are comfortable on the ball under pressure, as nobody in this league is good enough to beat the press.
Instead of playing three up top we adopted a 4411, which soon became 10 players in our own half and poor old Hogan somewhere doing an impression of Tom Hanks on a desert island. The least we could do is get him a volley ball and some paint so he can draw himself a face and a friend for company.
Green became an auxiliary full back, as did Thor. De Laet and Taylor tucked in, to the point they became very narrow and in fairness, the gap for Reading was none existent. I presume there was a fear of Barrow, but fear gripped the way the side retreated full stop first half.
You must, categorically must, play a three or a two up top and have your front 3 or 4 press their back four, as McShane and co. are not Man bloody City or Barca, they’re jobbing 2nd division muck who will, if under no pressure, be capable of switching a ball side to side. You must have your midfield push onto their deep lying midfielder and make them do what they did not want to last season, which is look for the long diagonal. Make it a percentage ball.
We did not do any of that, we let them have it, get comfortable, build confidence. Yes they only had two chances, one of which was from a blatant foul on Hourihane, but momentum in sport is key. They had it, as ineffectual as they were and we had the wrong kind.
Second half was worse. The first goal De Laet gets caught out, as he presses on his own into the wing position and they’re in behind. The goal was hugely unfortunate, the Reading player is crossing the ball back towards the edge of the box. The second however is criminal.
We’ve adopted a quasi zonal/ man marking system and to have a player unmarked 8 yards out, pass it to a player3 yards out is shocking.
A good goal from us, but you sensed it was that false hope we sometimes like to provide. Green went close mind. But 5 minutes of a game, although enough to win you a European Cup, is not usually enough time to do anything at all.
Hourihane should be in and around the opposition box. He can and will score goals. Its no use being deeper than the Mariana Trench.
It’s a confidence thing with Green, he’s powerful and direct. When picking the ball up somewhere close to the box, where he should, he has an effect. Hacking the ball to nobody 20 yards from our goal and he looks poor.
Whelan looks off since his ill fated dummy at Hull.
Hogan, we may as well not bother if we’re not getting close.
Terry isn’t doing all the snidey parts of the game that I thought he would. There’s nothing wrong defensively, but its not clear whether this is impacting Chester whose form the past two games has been rank. That can happen I suppose.
The biggest worry is that we lack a template or an identity as to how we’re going to go about winning this game. Its hard to see that changing away from home."
Fair enough assessment and interesting observations of our weaknesses.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2017, 10:07:53 AM by Ads »
Logged
darren woolleyplayer managerPosts: 19953Location: London