MATCHWATCH : Coventry City (a)

[Stranded]

You can accept losing three out of four and a bad start to the season;however at this stage there seems to be nothing coming down the pipeline to give one hope that we can turn it round.Meite is out for the season,and Joao is out until the New Year.The Ejaria Covid situation is a bit bizarre.First we are told he has a slight injury and is all but ready,and then we are suddenly told he has/had Covid.If he has long Covid he could be out for ages.The worst moment on Tuesday and today,was the requirement to bring on a 17 year old striker in an attempt to impact events.We really are scraping the barrel.
Short of Moore and Puscas suddenly finding form,and we get in an outstanding LB and striker next week we are basically screwed.
But it’s the hope that kills you.

Reported by one of the Chronicle bods that the club expect 3 signings before Saturday. Imagine Halilovic will be one, other 2 maybe a LB and striker.

[URZZZZ]

It doesn't matter whether there was one minute of added time or ten, they are supposed to be professional footballers and should play and as on this occasion defend till the final whistle. They deserve fcuk all, shambolic.

Yiadom too deep, played Godden onside (possibly Moore too). For what was the last attack of the game, that defensive line is truly shambolic collectively. But then that’s what you get when you play a CB at RB and a RB at LB

[Hound]

It doesn't matter whether there was one minute of added time or ten, they are supposed to be professional footballers and should play and as on this occasion defend till the final whistle. They deserve fcuk all, shambolic.

Yiadom too deep, played Godden onside (possibly Moore too). For what was the last attack of the game, that defensive line is truly shambolic collectively. But then that’s what you get when you play a CB at RB and a RB at LB

What is this awful sliding in uncontrollably nonsense that we’re seeing from Morrison on that attack, and quite regularly from Moore and MM at the moment? Hate that kind of defending - just going to injure someone, get a red card or just not defend the ball properly

[URZZZZ]

It doesn't matter whether there was one minute of added time or ten, they are supposed to be professional footballers and should play and as on this occasion defend till the final whistle. They deserve fcuk all, shambolic.

Yiadom too deep, played Godden onside (possibly Moore too). For what was the last attack of the game, that defensive line is truly shambolic collectively. But then that’s what you get when you play a CB at RB and a RB at LB

What is this awful sliding in uncontrollably nonsense that we’re seeing from Morrison on that attack, and quite regularly from Moore and MM at the moment? Hate that kind of defending - just going to injure someone, get a red card or just not defend the ball properly

All a bit strange

Same duo that conceded 1 goal in 7 games last season at the start have now conceded 9 in 4

Don’t think Moore warrants the barrage of criticism he receives, have mentioned the unnecessary need for scapegoats before, but am struggling with him at the moment. We didn’t improve on his return last season from injury and he’s looked incredibly suspect so far this season. The two goals he’s scored so far this season is an added bonus but ultimately futile if he can’t do his job at the other end

Struggling though if McIntyre is out for a while because a Moore and Holmes partnership isn’t the answer

[Zip]

Yiadom too deep, played Godden onside (possibly Moore too). For what was the last attack of the game, that defensive line is truly shambolic collectively. But then that’s what you get when you play a CB at RB and a RB at LB

What is this awful sliding in uncontrollably nonsense that we’re seeing from Morrison on that attack, and quite regularly from Moore and MM at the moment? Hate that kind of defending - just going to injure someone, get a red card or just not defend the ball properly

All a bit strange

Same duo that conceded 1 goal in 7 games last season at the start have now conceded 9 in 4

Don’t think Moore warrants the barrage of criticism he receives, have mentioned the unnecessary need for scapegoats before, but am struggling with him at the moment. We didn’t improve on his return last season from injury and he’s looked incredibly suspect so far this season. The two goals he’s scored so far this season is an added bonus but ultimately futile if he can’t do his job at the other end

Struggling though if McIntyre is out for a while because a Moore and Holmes partnership isn’t the answer

It's just feeling like a very bad season. Our leading scorers from last season both out with serious injuries inside two League games, Ovie getting covid and now TMac injured.

[The Faith Healer]

I haven't been to a game yet, so admittedly not that well informed, but I can't help thinking that when opposing teams don't have Olise, Ejaria, Meite or Joao to think about they can commit more to attacking our frailties, of which there have been a few for a while! Our apparent poorer defensive performance has something to do with our inability to impose with our attack and create problems for the opposition too. Theyre not necessarily separate problems- they're all linked and the solution need not lie in the personnel or formation of the defence.



Yiadom too deep, played Godden onside (possibly Moore too). For what was the last attack of the game, that defensive line is truly shambolic collectively. But then that’s what you get when you play a CB at RB and a RB at LB

What is this awful sliding in uncontrollably nonsense that we’re seeing from Morrison on that attack, and quite regularly from Moore and MM at the moment? Hate that kind of defending - just going to injure someone, get a red card or just not defend the ball properly

All a bit strange

Same duo that conceded 1 goal in 7 games last season at the start have now conceded 9 in 4

on’t think Moore warrants the barrage of criticism he receives, have mentioned the unnecessary need for scapegoats before, but am struggling with him at the moment. We didn’t improve on his return last season from injury and he’s looked incredibly suspect so far this season. The two goals he’s scored so far this season is an added bonus but ultimately futile if he can’t do his job at the other end

Struggling though if McIntyre is out for a while because a Moore and Holmes partnership isn’t the answer

[Snowflake Royal]

Holmes is the only one who hasn't done a lot wrong. Morrison has usually been reliable, I think a better set up around him should see him improve - really need to re-write Rino and in particular Laurent's orders though. They are playing too aggressively and leaving us exposed, especially when the fullbacks also play quite high.

I'd take a Holmes and Morrison partnership in the absence of McIntyre... but Yiadom could do with a dropping as well and we can't play Holmes at RB and RCB. And we still need a LB.

I'm not too fussed about going forward. We'll lose a little bit pulling back Rino and Laurent more, but as long as we stop conceding so many goals, we'll at least have a fight chance. It's the sheer panic and disorganisation when we come under pressure that's a killer.

It's really obvious how often teams can make a simple pass into space around our box, we're never tight, always yards away so by the time we close they've already done something with the ball. And we're increasingly bad with the simple passes and find an out ball.

[morganb]

What is this awful sliding in uncontrollably nonsense that we’re seeing from Morrison on that attack, and quite regularly from Moore and MM at the moment? Hate that kind of defending - just going to injure someone, get a red card or just not defend the ball properly

Totally agree about the sliding, it's all very last ditch and can lead to penalties (Morrison hand ball), random deflections (goals at Stoke) or takes players out of the game as they're lying around like skittles (3rd Bristol goal).

[Snowflake Royal]

What is this awful sliding in uncontrollably nonsense that we’re seeing from Morrison on that attack, and quite regularly from Moore and MM at the moment? Hate that kind of defending - just going to injure someone, get a red card or just not defend the ball properly

Totally agree about the sliding, it's all very last ditch and can lead to penalties (Morrison hand ball), random deflections (goals at Stoke) or takes players out of the game as they're lying around like skittles (3rd Bristol goal).

Defence has no organisation, so they're constantly out of position or exposed and last gasp desperate recovery is all they've got. Moore's made a career out of last ditch blocks because he wasn't in the right place.

[Westwood52]

You can accept losing three out of four and a bad start to the season;however at this stage there seems to be nothing coming down the pipeline to give one hope that we can turn it round.Meite is out for the season,and Joao is out until the New Year.The Ejaria Covid situation is a bit bizarre.First we are told he has a slight injury and is all but ready,and then we are suddenly told he has/had Covid.If he has long Covid he could be out for ages.The worst moment on Tuesday and today,was the requirement to bring on a 17 year old striker in an attempt to impact events.We really are scraping the barrel.
Short of Moore and Puscas suddenly finding form,and we get in an outstanding LB and striker next week we are basically screwed.
But it’s the hope that kills you.

Reported by one of the Chronicle bods that the club expect 3 signings before Saturday. Imagine Halilovic will be one, other 2 maybe a LB and striker.

I hope you are right;except delete the “maybe”.

[yuomi]

Same as everyone else. It's still early, so not the time to panic, but yesterday was concerning. We're only losing by the odd goal, but the manner in which we're conceding that odd goal, and the number of chances we're giving opponents to score them, has to change.

It's hard to believe that this is pretty much the same backline we had at our disposal for most of last year. The disorganisation, the lack of focus, the space (oh my god, the space). The transformation of Morro is just sad. Is Moore tired after his Jamaican excursion, or is he back in one of his "I'm too good for this place" sulks? Can it really be that O'Shea was all that stood between us and a basket case defence?

We've been here before. Poncing about at the back, stupidly under/over passing and getting undone by energetic teams playing a high press and forcing us to give the ball away. We then seemingly commit to social distancing as they play through us. We're listless, disengaged and really a bit sad to watch. I don't know what our conditioning team do, but that's the third team in a row who have been demonstrably fitter than us all afternoon long. Deeper squads, maybe, but running for 90 minutes shouldn't be a challenge for these guys.

[Hound]

We’ve undoubtedly tired at the end of each game so far - cost us a couple of points away and almost 2 vs PNE

[NathStPaul]

We’ve undoubtedly tired at the end of each game so far - cost us a couple of points away and almost 2 vs PNE

The result of having a paper thin squad.

As much as Swift has been excellent this season I really do not want to see him playing Saturday - Wednesday - Saturday week in and week out. If it continues we will see him injured before long and it won't be Swifts fault either. Really hope Paunovic is managing Swift appropriately in training.

[Hound]

We’ve undoubtedly tired at the end of each game so far - cost us a couple of points away and almost 2 vs PNE

The result of having a paper thin squad.

As much as Swift has been excellent this season I really do not want to see him playing Saturday - Wednesday - Saturday week in and week out. If it continues we will see him injured before long and it won't be Swifts fault either. Really hope Paunovic is managing Swift appropriately in training.

Guessing that’s where Halilovic will come in if he is on the cards as suggested

[Snowflake Royal]

If we're going to push Rino and Laurent forward, we need someone sitting behind them rather than another attacking midfielder.

We've utterly abandoned the solid defence we started last season with to try to score more goals, and we're just leaking instead.