sbnufc Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Huddersfield, Wolves, Blackburn and Sheffield Wed, its not a blip, persisting with just 1 up front against teams who are content to sit in is costing us. It's just not fucking good enough, didn't even work their keeper. Today was dreadful and it's happening far too often, especially at home. Something needs to change, that was fucking desperate. One up top isnt the problem, it's the 0 creativity in midfield/#10. Loads of teams play 4231/451 and are fine against teams who sit deep. Even with Shelvey, when teams sit deep he can't ping balls over their back 4 and into space. You need a de Jong (when he was good) type player to find the pockets. We have none Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deuce Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Darlow Lascelles Clark Yedlin Dummett Hayden Diame Ritchie Atsu Mitrovic Gayle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikon Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 It's as if the lack of belief without Shelvey was the bigger reason than Shelvey missing himself somehow. And if you don't compensate with a lot of running and hard work and urgency its only gonna go one way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsley Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 We're generally excellent at closing games down once we take the lead but our inability to chase games effectively - Norwich aside - is concerning. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattoon Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Most saw it, Rafa left it too long to bring on Atsu, who changed our directness immediately, then Mitro who gave us someone to make the ball stick and bring it down. We looked much more likely to get something, I love Rafa but he should have seen that and acted earlier. Can't even say Wednesday weren't good for the win. This is happening too much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElDiablo Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Would love to see the completed pass stats between Clark-Lascelles-Dummett. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Spaceman Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Argie bargey behind me in the gallowgate west corner, a sheff wed fan in a box threw a punch at one of our fans, i leapt over and held him back from climbing into the box, it was a proper weird situation. As for the game, why does Gayle spend so much time on the floor? Really frustrating today, we got it wrong and offered very little. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistle17 Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Never, ever play Colback again. For the love of fucking christ. Horrendous. Go 4-4-2 with Yedlin RB and Anita DM with Hayden. Tonight was without a doubt our worst performance under Benitez. So poor, but I think we'll bounce back vs Forest- they are utterly turgid, especially away from home. Lose that, however, and you have to wonder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistle17 Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Fucking hell, matches like those make me despise this league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wobblegob Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 That was fucking painful to watch, reminded me of last season, clueless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStar Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 They were the better team and deserved the win. Highlight of the match was the aggro next to me between someone old bloke and a younger lad behind him. Old fella had a go at Ritchie and the young lad behind him called him up on it, so they ended up having a strop at each other until the younger lad called him a helmet. "What was that mate" "I said shut up, you helmet." So they had a bit of a stand off, and sat down, fuming, until the board went up and Ritchie went over to the touchline, when the older bloke span round "SEE! Fucking telt ya!" and they had another row about if Ritchie should have been taken off or not, and if being taken off showed he'd had a bad game or of it was because he was being let down by the players around him. Then they sat down seething again until the ball came to Ritchie and they both realised he'd not been taken off at all, absolutely creased up at how daft they'd been, put their arms around each other and made up. Touching Christmas moment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimpy474 Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Not sure if we're overreacting a tad as well, we beat Birmingham 4-0 in our last home game with just one player different. The difference between Shelvey and Colback is immense but not to extent the whole teams play as bad as it did today. Bit of missing Shelvey, a poor performance, Sheff Weds being better than us on the day, poor subs timing all played their part. We need a plan B though when things aren't working for any reason, seems like Rafa thinks not mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Logic Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Any team that can effectively defend and counter, as Wednesday did, we don't seem to have any kind of answer to. Rafa could have changed things a lot earlier. Bit disturbing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collage Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Would love to see the completed pass stats between Clark-Lascelles-Dummett. Some tiki-taka shit right there. Like watching Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 That was f***ing painful to watch, reminded me of last season, clueless. It had the distinct feel of McClaren's early games last year (post-Southampton) where we tried a style of play with players who aren't suited to it. I know his philosophy is about players being able to drop in and know what they're doing but if they really don't have the quality for it then it's pointless. I mean, if you're going with flanks of Dummett, Gouffran, Anita and Ritchie, that's screaming out as a counter team. I think he attempted to trust a few today and he'll have seen they're short of what's needed; ergo, a reshuffle of everything for the next one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 We did work their keeper like. Obviously not nearly enough, but the save from Gayle was excellent. Mitro should have done better with a header, too. You can let him off though. If he's having that chance in the 5th minute - rather than the 85th - you'd put money on him getting his head on a couple more. Like I keep saying - I don't even know if I rate the lad yet - but ffs, give him half a chance Rafa man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElDiablo Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Mitrovic would get a hatful in this league if we set up with two wingers getting balls into him. I don't even rate him that highly either. It's strange not to utilise him more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Logic Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Out of the 11 on the pitch, if you had to call someone a cart horse, it would be Dummett. Colback is the Shetland pony. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1pe Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 I don't get this clamour for 442? How many teams play like that now and more importantly how many successful teams play like that? I don't even think we've got the personel to be able to pull off a formation like that since we still lack real creativity in the wide positions despite the signings. Poor performance today but the over reaction is just as bad by some. The season will continue to be a grind at times. I do find it interesting how we'll operate in the transfer window given Shelvey's suspension and losing the afcon players. A new face or two would be welcome. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Done like a kipper. Was like watching a non-entity English team get outfoxed by a streetwise European team. Ref didn't help but it's no excuse. Should've been more than 1 if not for Darlow. All 5 of the midfield were absolutely horrific. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Not sure if we're overreacting a tad as well, we beat Birmingham 4-0 in our last home game with just one player different. The difference between Shelvey and Colback is immense but not to extent the whole teams play as bad as it did today. Bit of missing Shelvey, a poor performance, Sheff Weds being better than us on the day, poor subs timing all played their part. We need a plan B though when things aren't working for any reason, seems like Rafa thinks not mind. This is probably a fair assessment. Easy to forget that Rafa is also planning for the long-term with this side and that'll be starting with shape and defensive work, first and foremost. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Spaceman Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 I don't get this clamour for 442? How many teams play like that now and more importantly how many successful teams play like that? I don't even think we've got the personel to be able to pull off a formation like that since we still lack real creativity in the wide positions despite the signings. Poor performance today but the over reaction is just as bad by some. The season will continue to be a grind at times. I do find it interesting how we'll operate in the transfer window given Shelvey's suspension and losing the afcon players. A new face or two would be welcome. We looked weak as piss going forward, we need an extra body up there, not a Colback type sitting next to Hayden. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimpy474 Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Not sure if we're overreacting a tad as well, we beat Birmingham 4-0 in our last home game with just one player different. The difference between Shelvey and Colback is immense but not to extent the whole teams play as bad as it did today. Bit of missing Shelvey, a poor performance, Sheff Weds being better than us on the day, poor subs timing all played their part. We need a plan B though when things aren't working for any reason, seems like Rafa thinks not mind. This is probably a fair assessment. Easy to forget that Rafa is also planning for the long-term with this side and that'll be starting with shape and defensive work, first and foremost. True, but he needs to be a little bit more, well less rigid imo. Especially when it's not going so well. But you are right, he thinks long term. I reckon this performance might just advance a few buys this window, with ACON on as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattoon Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 It's less a desperation for 4-4-2 and more a request for a bit of flexibility, had we gone 4-4-2 earlier in this match we probably would have got something. This over-reliance on 4-2-3-1 even when it's not working is killing us in games like today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordie_b Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 We looked like the team who started the season and had no idea how to get the ball from defence to the attacking players. They looked like two separate teams at times today. Shelvey taking the ball from the defenders and starting attack is so key to the way we play. I lost count of the times we just passed it round at the back and they just waited till we gave it back. As a result Anita, Hayden and Dummett looked terrible when they aren't ball players and shouldn't be asked to start attack. It's not like we haven't known the ban was coming and plan Bs and Cs should have been worked on for months. It's going to be a long month if we suddenly have to find a new way to play or change the way certain players play That al said Richie has been appalling for over a month now and needs to look at what he is contributing. Pointing at things, appealing for everything and whinging like a bitch isn't enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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