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ABC (A Basingstoke Canary)

Late Goals

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Just an observation - but we seem to be very vulnerable to late goals - especially against Newcastle! But Leeds & PNE come to mind as well.

Is it a matter of the team being happy to maintain the status quo if we are 1 goal ahead or the scores are level? If that is the mentality, no wonder the last 15 mins or so are generally so nervy. I know that shutting up shop sometimes seems the wisest thing to do, however, if we were to bring on a couple of "speedy gonzaleses" in the latter stages, that would put the opposition under the same sort of pressure we seem to put ourselves under.

As I said, it''s just an observation - I don''t profess to be a football manager and my observation may be met with howls of derision - if so, please be gentle!

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[quote user="ABC A Basingstoke Canary"]Just an observation - but we seem to be very vulnerable to late goals - especially against Newcastle! But Leeds & PNE come to mind as well.

Is it a matter of the team being happy to maintain the status quo if we are 1 goal ahead or the scores are level? If that is the mentality, no wonder the last 15 mins or so are generally so nervy. I know that shutting up shop sometimes seems the wisest thing to do, however, if we were to bring on a couple of "speedy gonzaleses" in the latter stages, that would put the opposition under the same sort of pressure we seem to put ourselves under.

As I said, it''s just an observation - I don''t profess to be a football manager and my observation may be met with howls of derision - if so, please be gentle![/quote]I think one thing was obvious last night, in the fact that we had to work a lot harder than Newcastle, to even achieve equilibrium. You always have to work harder if the other team has more of the ball, and it really showed in our players, in the latter stages.They deserve credit for defending the draw at the death, though.

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We look far more knackered than any other side that I''ve seen this season once we hit the 70th minute.

Despite Neil''s insistence about fitness levels I''m not convinced.

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[quote user="Cantiaci Canary"]We look far more knackered than any other side that I''ve seen this season once we hit the 70th minute.

Despite Neil''s insistence about fitness levels I''m not convinced.[/quote]May i suggest this is also reflected in the number of injuries we pick up ?

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I don''t really buy into this theory.The level of sport the players are playing at, I refuse to believe that there would be a deliberate lack of fitness. They wear monitors every day in training, they are analysed on every run they make, and distance covered in every single game.Some players are naturally fit, some aren''t, and have to work harder.Generally players don''t hit full fitness in a season, after a full pre season, till 6(ish) games in. Then if a player is injured they lose a percentage of their match fitness depending on how long they are out. Howson will only just be getting back to full fitness now, after his spell out. You don''t really achieve full match fitness just by training either.

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VanWink wrote the following post at 15/02/2017 4:14 PM:

Do you think the squad isn''t fit enough Tilly?

Feel free to reply

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AN himself does mention in virtually all his press briefings about fitness, Mainly of course about individuals.

But there does seem to be some evidence that we either lose fitness or concentration late on in games.

It sounded like Newcastle pushed us back last night and that drains anyone''s legs and cardio just running around without the ball far more than running with it.

But AN has chosen to sit back in other games, and the same effect happens even though the players appear not to be making runs.

I believe we are not collectively as fit as other years although different personnel search as Gary Holt had/have different capacity.

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Are you considering your reply Tilly? It''s rude not to respond to a direct question about one of your posts ?

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[quote user="VanWink"]Are you considering your reply Tilly? It''s rude not to respond to a direct question about one of your posts ?[/quote]Phoning a friend maybe?

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I definitely think there is a fitness issue in the squad, perhaps not as bad as earlier in the season when our goals conceded in first halves compared to second was about 3 to 20 or something ridiculous!

We do seem to look visibly tired after 60-65 minutes and often I cannot say the same for the opposition. It does also tie in neatly with some of the other traits shown this season with sloppy mistakes and injuries being a regular occurrence.

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the number of goals conceded just after a sub is also quite stark.

but focus has been a recurring problem from the back 7 this season.

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[quote user="SwindonCanary"]nerves - we drop deeper and deeper as the clock counts down.[/quote]Agreed, its more been about mental strength, that physical fitness.I still refuse to believe that any football club would see a physical fitness problem with their players, and do nothing about it.

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Greg downs made an excellent point on the post match discussion.

There are two types of fitness, mental and physical.

If you fall short mentally, you have to make up for it physically and therefore tire quicker.

Makes sense to me.

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This match was another example of us lacking the quality to stay with the better teams. As Morty states we had to do a lot of hard work in the first half it really being a case of chasing and closing down rather than any control of the game. Yet again we started the second half in a rather negative mood and it became the usual scenario as to when the opponents would score. I would agree that towards the end we had nothing left in the tank and we hanging on for a point as evidenced by Ruddy taking his time over goal kicks. There was certainly no urgency to fight for a winner.

Clearly our biggest weakness is our centre backs who play too close together - is it because Martin is trying to give added cover to Klose who is again lacking aggression ?? Furthermore it was obvious that Tettey - who had a good game - was more or less told to operate as another centre back. At times they all got in the way of each other. With Tettey so defensive we were very lightweight in midfield hence the Geordies domination. Having said that we had at least four good breakaways which all came to nothing because of poor use of the final ball. For me the result confirmed that we are in about the right position in the league and in any event we lack the quality and potential to move up to the premiership. From the entertainment angle, a very enjoyable first half.

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Greg Downs did mention in his commentary that Norwich have been accused of over playing the ball. I took that to mean that, in an age of football when possession is seen as more important than position, we tend to play meaningless and unnecessary passes.

Obviously if Newcastle had more possession than us, in areas where it matters such as our last third, then we would tire much quicker than if Newcastle''s greater possession was because their back four kept knocking it back and forth.

While we were in the Prem we normally had less possession than teams like Man City et al. And invariably we crumbled now and again particularly second half.

Of course the same happens to Man City and Arsenal when they come up against teams like Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Only the Italian teams of a bygone era could enjoy sitting back and giving away possession as a tactic of choice.

Unfortunately we do not have the class of player to play the possession game as a tactic from the start of a game.

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We do have the Martin Ollssen comment when he joined Swansea about how knackered he was after his first training session, but there are of course many aspects to this, not least his desire to engratiat his new fan base, so it''s hard to put too much reliance on the remark.

I''m not a stats man but would be interested to know how far our guys run in a game, compared to other teams, but again I wouldn''t expect our stats to be any different to any other side,

I think it may be down to confidence and mental strength, maybe pressure and the fear of losing.

In any event it''s onward and upward from here😀

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The stats they put up when a player is replaced are very misleading.

They would have you believing that a player comes off after an hour having covered 10K.

My last competitive 10K run, at age 63 admittedly, took me 45 minutes. And that is constant running.

So I think the majority of these figures are supplied by Volkswagen Emmisions staff.

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The mentality argument is pretty relevant to me. I think AN is on record this season as saying he doesn''t believe in psychology, but in the run up to Wembley, a sports psychologist was an integral part of the group.

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Woodman wrote the following post at 17/02/2017 10:54 AM:

The mentality argument is pretty relevant to me. I think AN is on record this season as saying he doesn''t believe in psychology, but in the run up to Wembley, a sports psychologist was an integral part of the group.

Interesting point Woodman, I wasn''t aware of what had happened on the run up to Wembley.

Maybe a case of failing to learn a lesson that we don''t seem to have continued with a sports psychologist.

Crucial part of any coaching set up!

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