Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
ricardo

Ricardo's report v Burton Albion

Recommended Posts

I noticed that Burton had been whacked 5-0 at the weekend and when my son came round forecasting a three niller I knew I should have sounded a note of caution. Anyway, the first thing that went wrong was the Tombola machine which obviously blew a fuse after only spouting out one number signalling the return of Wes in place of Maddison.After ten minutes play there was so much chatter around me that I began to wonder if the game had actually kicked off. Indeed it had but apart from a ton of aimless passing across the back four there was absolutely no event worth recording. The game had the feel of a pre season friendly and the longer the turgid nothingness continued the more the enthusiasm drained out of the crowd.Burton only came forward reluctantly but fashioned the games first chance when Angus Gunn had to be quick off his line to deflect Mason''s touch for a corner. At the Barclay End, Murphy pinged a 20 yard cross shot miles over but goalmouth excitement was as rare as hens teeth. City could not a find either a sense of urgency nor a modicum of accuracy as attacks continued to founder on Burtons strong rearguard.Finally in a two minute period as the half drew to a close there was some action to rouse the faithful. Vrancic found Murphy in space but a desperate block deflected the ball as the trigger was pulled. Oliviera had a shot blocked for a corner and the Wes wriggled along the byline only to pull his cross behind Vrancic.At the half there was a lot of talk as to what Farke would do to stir things up. My suggestion was to bring on Grant Holt, Martin Peters and Ian Crook, but that was met with a blank look.Thankfully it did look a bit better as we resumed but not before Pinto cleared a golden Burton chance from near the line. It looked like a tap in but the City full back appeared from nowhere and even set off on a counter attack.City were starting to look more balanced with Murphy and Stieperman getting more joy down the left. Bywater was tested at last when after a long period of City probing, he tipped Wes''s rising shot over for another corner. It seemed a goal was certain to come when Wes slipped Murphy clear with just the keeper to beat but he delayed the shot and Bywater blocked it away. Whats happened to dropping a shoulder and rounding the keeper? In my mind I pictured Ted McDougal shaking his head and smiling.From then on I was pretty much convinced this would end goaless. Widshut came on for Trybul, who had again looked good. It almost did the trick as the Dutchman caused mayhem with a couple of runs but somehow nothing ever fell quite right for the home side. Murphy couldn''t quite bundle in then Oliviera shot over and sent into the side netting, Steiperman had a run and a shot and Vrancic had a blaster deflected but it was never quite enough.Maddison and Jerome were thrown on with ten minutes left (Wes and Olly off). The corner count mounted and  ref Davies failed to endear himself to the home fans with a series of contentious decisions in favour of the away side. With time ticking down Maddison and Wildshut both had shots blocked by desperate defending and in a final burst Murphy hammered a 25 yarder that held more threat to the Man in the Moon than Bywaters goal. The keeper dawdled an entire minute taking the goal kick and Davies booked the protesting Klose seconds after blowing time. Says it all really.[:(]Good points. A minature bottle of Jamesons at halftime[:D]Bad points. I walked home in the rain.[st]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Fair report as always Ricardo. That was the game I watched.

There might have been a bit of wrong game at the wrong time about this fixture. They were always going to park the bus after Saturday''s hammering and we of course are concentrating on defensive behaviours at the moment. So a goal less game was always a likely outcome.

It looked as though we were concentrating on defensive behaviours so much that no plan had been set on how to break down a mass defence. What though was really disappointing was a lack of pro active substitutions early enough in the game to try to give the opposition something different to think about.

Still as Paul Lambert used to say, if you can not win the game make sure you don''t lose it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The aimless sideways passing you mention ricardo had me at times thinking we were playing with four Jordan Henderson''s in the team and in my book one of them is bad enough but it does however make the possession stats look tremendous.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
This has proved to me that we have to expect midtable mediocrity with this manager. Didn''t make substitutions on time and our set up was wrong against a weak side

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Great report as always. The phrase "turgid nothingness" made me chuckle.

I watched the game on iFollow on my laptop on my coffee table, while I had glimpses of Barca''s parallel encounter against Juve in the CL on the telly in the background - just to get a look of the shape of things to come (and to keep me awake at times). Without trying to take too cheap shots, I must conclude that although our possession rate again exceeded that of the Catalan giants, (speaking with Alice Cooper) we still got a long way to go.

Btw. , I wonder what a half-time motivational speech by Farke sounds like. I think by now even the non-German-speaking players should know what ''scheisse'' means.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Turgid nothingless - love it!

Trying to be positive, that''s 2 games undefeated and 2 clean sheets. How we play away will be key as I expect we will do ok at home this season

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Canary Jedi"]Turgid nothingless - love it!

Trying to be positive, that''s 2 games undefeated and 2 clean sheets. How we play away will be key as I expect we will do ok at home this season[/quote]IMO if we play that like that at home we will get beaten by the good sides and  most of the crowd will have fell asleep or started chatting to their neighbours like last night, guy behind me was on the phone and i could hear what both were saying it was that quiet in the Barclay

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The next Neil Adams/Brian Gunn????

Lose on Saturday and the call for heads to roll will start

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Canary Jedi"]Turgid nothingless - love it!

Trying to be positive, that''s 2 games undefeated and 2 clean sheets. How we play away will be key as I expect we will do ok at home this season[/quote] In all, that''s 3 clean sheets in 7 league games. Wild shooting, by Oliveira in particular, and Josh''s opting for power when one on one, cost us the extra points.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I fear your comment from a previous game rings true.

We look like a mid table team.

I''m not a negative poster but very little I could see as a plus last night . A clean sheet only counts if the opposition really wants to score but I guess it is something.

As for putting Holt on ? I would have liked to see Fleck back giving it a go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="westcoastcanary"]18 shots, 9 off target, 7 blocked, only 2 on target. [/quote]Which suggests that if we''d been more focused near goal instead of the likes of Murphy taking wild shots into the stand, we''d have won by 2 or 3.Doesn''t change the actual result or the way we played though, but it does make you wonder how many games that will happen in or if it was just an off day for our more attacking players?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest
Yes Ricardo, walking home in the rain at least gave you something to remember as the football was pretty easy to forget.

Tettey and Trybull looked OK because every Burton player was in front of them and why we they had to be picking up balls 70 yards from their opponents goal when we have a CB capable of bringing the ball out puzzles me.

No variation at all and highly predictable, in fact passing for passing sake.

Surely we can spare Wes, the man who can beat players in tight areas, to play further up the pitch.

And I think your analogy with Holt is correct. Someone with a bit of devil in him is needed in this team.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Slipping deeper into the relegation mire. Our jaunt on Saturday should be viewed with considerable trepidation. At least we can benchmark ourselves against another newly promoted former league one side.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Highland Canary"]Slipping deeper into the relegation mire. Our jaunt on Saturday should be viewed with considerable trepidation. At least we can benchmark ourselves against another newly promoted former league one side.[/quote]

That''s the spirit; such excellent support.

Fancy a wager on the relegation issue? £100 says we won''t go down.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It''s still very early days yet and I''m not forecasting relegation but I think I''ve seen enough already to suggest mid table mediocrity. To expect more this after a downgrade in quality is probably futile.

On the positive side at least the defense no longer looks like a barn with the doors wide open.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yes an awful game. The one consolation is that I was convinced that it was going to be one of those games when we conceded a soft goal, late on. At least this didn''t happen, somewhat to my surprise.Defence did look more solid - but that may be at least partly due to a much more solid system in front of it. I hope that they keep this type of formation away from home but perhaps slightly more attacking formation at home, but still retaining a truly defensive midielder (like Tettey) rather than just a deep-lying playmaker like Reid, which saw us caught out vs Sunderland.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
A good report as usual. Thanks Ricardo.

I''m still hopeful of a complete transformation and a heady return to the big time.

We are only 10 points away from the top of the table.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Many thanks ricardo.

Let''s not forget this is how Accrington Stanley beat Arsenal, it''s how giant killers succeed. Defend with ten men in the box & try to score on the break. It''s always very difficult to play against & occasionally it even works.

At one point I counted 6 players in their box with only 1 of ours. We''re still overly cautious after our catastrophic defeats & terrified of over-committing; hopefully we''ll get a better balance as confidence returns.

Having said all that we had a collective off day. Josh, Nelson, Vrancic were all pretty poor. It needed someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck - Wes at his best for example. But he wasn''t.

Ponderous & pretty awful to watch. But we looked the team most likely to score - & we didn''t lose.

We go again.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Indy_Bones"][quote user="westcoastcanary"]18 shots, 9 off target, 7 blocked, only 2 on target. [/quote]Which suggests that if we''d been more focused near goal instead of the likes of Murphy taking wild shots into the stand, we''d have won by 2 or 3.Doesn''t change the actual result or the way we played though, but it does make you wonder how many games that will happen in or if it was just an off day for our more attacking players?[/quote]
Murphy taking wild shots?! He had one or two. Nelson must have had 6 or 7!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="yellowandgreen"]A good report as usual. Thanks Ricardo.

I''m still hopeful of a complete transformation and a heady return to the big time.

We are only 10 points away from the top of the table.[/quote]After sitting through many years monotonous meanderings I think we can both see what is staring us in the face. I''m afraid its a multi-season yawn where the high-points are watching murmurations of starlings circling over the rail-yard and police and ground stewards spontaneously forming into a giant question mark.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think it''s important to remember that we have an entirely new defence and largely new team. At Champ level it will take some time to gel. The signs have not been good so far, but it is encouraging that Farke and Webber have tried to move to address things. I think a few games where we seek to consolidate aren''t too bad to be honest. I was hoping for a win also last night but longer term it is much more important to try to get this defence working properly and some understanding throughout the team. We''ve had three horrible results already this season, so important not to do anything stupid last night to further build pressure and erode confidence. The fancy stuff can wait for a bit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Im quite a positive person about but that was painful last night. Turned my little radio on at halftime to see what Cedric was saying and he was screaming for one of the defensive midfielders to be taken off and be replaced by an attacking player.

I know it''s a work in progress but we have to be beating sides like Burton don''t we?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
A fair assessment really, we''ve done nothing to suggest we''ll have a go at the play-offs unless we start winning convincingly soon. A downgrade in players and complete change in system was always going to leave us finishing lower than last year in my mind.

As for Farke, god knows why we didn''t switch one of Tettey or Trybull for Madders, Wildschut or Jerome at HT. Burton had made it very clear that they weren''t going to do anything other than park the bus there was virtually no risk of conceding a goal. Not that Tettey or Trybull had done anything wrong, just made sense to just go for it. As a result, all those crosses/forward passes to no-one in particular wasted when we could have had another attacker on the end of it. As a plus, we didn''t concede, I suppose...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Also, we''d clearly given up on playing football gone the hour mark as it just turned into long rage shots going about 3 miles wild. Hugely frustrating and disappointing that the tactics weren''t changed sooner as I certainly feel we could have won it had we changed things up

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I''m afraid that this was a worrying show by Farke of being scared and that he is losing confidence (just as happened to Alex Neil).

He was clearly more worried about what would happen if the team lost to Burton than taking the risk of making attacking changes to win the game.

I would really expect him to be stronger than that BUT we impatient and moaning fans have to take some responsibility for it as well...

Just think what this place would have been like if he had replaced Tetty with Wildschut and then Burton had got even a against the run of play/lucky winning goal. Most would be demanding his immediate sacking.

We have high expectations and managers are clearly finding it hard to maintain their own styles and views in the face of that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Diane"]Im quite a positive person about but that was painful last night. Turned my little radio on at halftime to see what Cedric was saying and he was screaming for one of the defensive midfielders to be taken off and be replaced by an attacking player.

I know it''s a work in progress but we have to be beating sides like Burton don''t we?[/quote]Diane, we are at the start of one of those periods where patience is a virtue and we both know that it could last for a very long time. The constant ups and downs of the last decade are likely to be remembered fondly before we ever threaten the doorstep of the Premiership again. I''d like to be wrong but last night signaled to me the beginning of an all too familiar story.[:(]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...