First 25 minutes of the second half

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

11 hours ago, sgncfc said:

I guess it's all about expectation. Moaning about 25 minutes in a 3-0 win when the other 65 were pretty good shows where we are. 

I do agree with this, and the rest of your post. Drop offs in performance can be expected and they happen in the majority of games.

However I do think it was strange that, after such a strong first half, we came out THAT poorly in the second half. It wasn't a normal drop-off in performance; the crowd fell deathly silent for large periods (really odd at 2-0 up) and even started booing at one point at a stray Omobamidele pass (never heard that in my life in a comfortable winning position). Again I didn't agree with the booing at all but surely it shows how weird that period in the game was - did anyone else hear the boos?

We will never batter every team below us for 90 minutes straight, but when we drop down a gear or two during the game, or the other team has a spell of the ball, I don't expect us to lose all direction and desire in our performance and end up with fans disinterested and on the players' backs! There is a middle ground and we need to find a better one for when we play the stronger sides in this league IMO.

[Petriix 2,853]

21 hours ago, Canary Jedi said:

Good comments and I agree there were some good positives. 

Here’s the BUT … To answer earlier points, I don’t think the negative comments are satire, certainly not from me. The majority of people I spoke to after the game shared the same view. Despite a 3-0 win and being top of the league, our performance in parts of the game particularly 2nd half was not good enough for when we come up against better teams.

We seemed genuinely clueless at times in terms of how to get down the wings. That nice triangular football we used to play where we would skin teams down the wings and make glorious crosses … instead we kept having to check back and when we were in crossing positions we often didn’t cross the ball. What’s the strategy here, walk the ball into the net?

Is it because we are missing a Hoolihan / Maddison creative person to get the ball to? Is it players not getting in position?

Homework for the team - wing play

If we wanted to continue playing aimless crosses into the box for the opposition goalkeeper to catch then we could have simply persisted with Rashica (and likely stayed towards the bottom of the league).

You're right to say that the possession in wide areas became stagnant in that period, and that it's about getting support from the rest of the team. But then you go on to criticise Cantwell despite his 'wing play' starting the move for our second goal. 

The biggest issue in that 20 minute spell was that our central midfielders drifted from the game. Ramsey was awesome in the first half and Coventry clearly woke up to that and nullified him by packing the central areas. That also gave Nunez less time on the ball and he consequently lost possession a number of times. 

All this is pretty understandable. Ramsey is young and inexperienced, Nunez is adapting to a totally different footballing culture. Coventry upped their intensity; probably too much because they didn't retain much in the tank for the final quarter. 

I do think people are overreacting. I've been fairly firmly in the 'unconvinced by Smith' camp but this was the best I've seen us play under him and our biggest margin of victory in his tenure.

Some of the 'analysis' on here is, let's call it 'imaginative'. 

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

27 minutes ago, Petriix said:

I do think people are overreacting. I've been fairly firmly in the 'unconvinced by Smith' camp but this was the best I've seen us play under him and our biggest margin of victory in his tenure.

I know people on here like to overreact in the match threads etc, but it was very bizarre to see the crowd react the way that it did during the game as well - I think that is what was most strange to me!

So is the crowd getting more impatient than ever before, or was that period in the game really THAT bad?

Although the booing could never be justified at 2-0 up of course, it does surely give an indication for just how big a drop-off in the game we saw.

I don't want to come across as complaining but that period in the game was concerning - in fairness not really any more so than the Huddersfield drop-off where we looked pretty frightened against 10 men. But I think that one could be put down to the hangover from the PL and our awful start to this season as well.

However the period from Saturday has piqued my interest more so given it led to such an extreme reaction from the crowd. 

And FWIW I thought we had our most complete game against Millwall.

[Jim Smith 2,339]

I think the reason that people are picking up on it is that despite an "on the face of it" convincing win, many of us came away feling we hadn't played particularly well, especially in that second half. The subs and a late bit of momentum made it feel more positive though.

My worry remains, as i think is the case with many of us, that we won't get away with being that sloppy and that open against the better teams in this league. Thankfully, there are only about 3 or 4 other teams in this league that are any good and where I think it could be an issue but we won't get away with letting the likes of Watford, Burnley, WBA or Shef U stroll through our midfield or run at our defence in the way we let Cov do at times on Saturday. I slightly fear what might happen if we line up at Burnley with Kenny alongside Nunez. Both good players but they give the ball away a lot and whilst he does a lot of good defensive work chasing back and in the air, Kenny as a screen in front of the defence is still far too easily byepassed by one simple pass. I don't know when Hayden might be fit but it cannot come soon enough.

Against most of the league though we will have too much quality going forward for them so it won't matter.  

 

[daly 507]

On 03/09/2022 at 22:35, Google Bot said:

On the right side I saw lots of interchange and short overlapping runs between Aarons, Ramsey and Nunez with Sarge floating around.  Thought we were excellent in those area first half.

Wasn't until Onel come on that we looked to exploit an out and out winger, So not sure if you're misinterpreting our gameplan as a failure to deliver on another, perhaps?

As Farke done before, Smith clearly knows we have a vast ability to tire opponents at this level and will exploit it.

Oh for a Huckerby or Errol Crossan for the oldies

[Google Bot 3,300]

23 minutes ago, daly said:

Oh for a Huckerby or Errol Crossan for the oldies

I was partial to a bit of Mark Rivers, personally.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

1 hour ago, daly said:

Oh for a Huckerby or Errol Crossan for the oldies

Gerry Mannion

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,383]

2 hours ago, Google Bot said:

I was partial to a bit of Mark Rivers, personally.

Same here, was a favourite of mine in those years. 

[Thumbbass 322]

To me it looked like they had been given the instruction to only press in our half second half, possibly because of the heat. It looked like Ramsey took the instruction to the letter and I actually watched him begin to close down one of their players only to stop dead on the halfway line. Whatever they'd been told the players either took too literally or it was poorly communicated because we invited the pressure on ourselves in that period. That then began the wobbles and poor passes, the crowd turning was a weird one.

That said, and with the subs that we brought on, conserving energy in that opening period meant we did go at them for the final 15 whent hey had nothing left and could have easily had a couple more if Hernandez and Hugill were a little more clinical.

I'd take their right back and the lad Gyokeres. Two decent players in an average team. Hamer pretty anonymous and at fault for one of the goals - I know he's had admirers on here.

[Canary Jedi 590]

12 hours ago, Petriix said:

If we wanted to continue playing aimless crosses into the box for the opposition goalkeeper to catch then we could have simply persisted with Rashica (and likely stayed towards the bottom of the league).'. 

I’m thinking more the last two times we were in the Championship. Agree that aimless crosses would be no good.

Maybe it’s the positioning of the moon but since the weekend I’ve heard from lots of people at the game who walked away unimpressed. Mass delusion maybe or might there be something in it?

[Petriix 2,853]

40 minutes ago, Canary Jedi said:

I’m thinking more the last two times we were in the Championship. Agree that aimless crosses would be no good.

Maybe it’s the positioning of the moon but since the weekend I’ve heard from lots of people at the game who walked away unimpressed. Mass delusion maybe or might there be something in it?

Honestly I think it's ignorance. Coventry only had 2 chances and the biggest was a simple missed kick by Hanley. We played really good football for two thirds of the match and, crucially, were able to achieve real penetration in the final third.

It was a massive improvement on the recent trend of either playing well but not creating quality chances or playing poorly but finding a way to win.