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ricardo

Ricardo's Report v Southend

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I walked home in a bit of a daze tonight because that final 13 minutes didn''t seem real and surely came straight out of Roy of The Rovers. How we got 3 points out of a game where we looked like getting nothing certainly beats me but it''s these are the kind of results that make you believe that our name is on the Trophy.Lambert changed it as many had been hoping with MacNamee playing wide right and Hughes coming into the midfield. We started fairly well again and Southend sat very deep so we had plenty of the ball. MacNamee regularly danced past defenders and slung some really good balls into the box but somehow no yellow shirt was able to get on the end of it. Holt and Martin were linking up well with Hoolahan but on too many occassions they ran down blind alleys or into brick walls. We had all the pressureand Southend carried very little credible threat but it took 37 minutes before we tested their keeper when Lappin drilled in a powerful 20 yarder. Hughes and Rose were both bloody awful in the first half, misplaced passes and missed tackles, neither seemed able to get anything positive going. On the stroke of half time we fell for a sucker punch. Aimless passing broke down and Southend finally got a ball into the box that pinged around off defenders before falling kindly for Vernon to clip in at close range.No changes at halftime and City tried to step up the tempo. Martin almost got on the end of a cross and Holt gok free long enough to graze a low shot off the foot of a post but in truth we were getting more and more ragged. It was crying out for a bit of grit and composure in midfield and finally Lambert brought on Smith and Johnson for Lappin and Hughes. City were still making hard work of it and found it difficult to work an opening but final Holt connected with a cross and brought a good save out of the keeper only for Johnson to react first and slip in the equaliser.The crowd finally got into the game and roared forward every attack but both Martin and Holt were guilty of poor touches when in good positions. As 90 minutes approached Southend were getting more room in our half and Doc had to be alert with a couple of timely interceptions as City seemed to run out of ideas and frustration set in. In injury time we finally worked a corner which Nelson got a foot to before being deflected for a second corner. MacNamee slung a last gasp near post ball in and Johnson glanced the winner past the keeper as Carrow Road errupted. How did we win that? God knows but I''m sure that I don''t.MacNamee was the MOM for me with Johnson running him close. Holt and Martin gave 100% effort but both were off form tonight. Doc held us together at rocky times and Nelson was 110% guts and endeavour. Hoolahan,Lappin and Russell Martin were average but Rose and Hughes had very poor games. How Smith was dropped from Saturday is a mystery to me and I don''t think Lambert will make the same mistake at Oldham.We need to snap out of this poor period quickly and stop conceeding the first goal because its always hard to keep coming from behind.

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Good report. But that last second goal, well it was better than sex! [:D] Still on a high!But it is still a concern that we played poorly again. I wonder if it is the heavy pitches caused by all the bad weather which is the reason why ourselves, Leeds and Charlton are having such difficulties at the moment?

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Great report Ricardo!!Yeah even though we were only playing Southend tonight,alot of these struggling teams will now start playing out of there skins to try and avoid relegation!Would much rather play middle of the tables sides with nothing to fight for!!

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Great report Ricardo.  I would take issue with Lappin and Russell Martin being average - that is doing both a disservice for rather different reasons!  But that''s a matter of opinion - a pleasure to read as ever.

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 ''How we got 3 points out of a game where we looked like getting nothing certainly beats me but it''s these are the kind of results that make you believe that our name is on the Trophy.''

Always good to get your report you fellow old timer!

I wasn''t there, but how does this fit Ricardo?

The game was 95+ mins long.

They got a lucky goal.

We had 57% possession, they had 43%.

We had 18 goal attempts, they had 6.

We had 10 corners, they had 3. 

Lambert made good and timely substitutions without going overboard and putting on all 3 for the sake of it.

Maybe in the cold light of day - when you''ve come down from that delightful last gasp high? I mean night games at Carrow Road are often very sexy affairs..........

OTBC

P.S. We only fouled them 5 times for the whole match. That can be  good - or is it that we could do with a bit more steel? What do you think?

 

 

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442 sucked. We mugged SOuthend. But god it feels good and its crucial to our chances.

 An appalling performance,  with no shape in midfield or bite,  with Holt the worst player on the pitch only marginally bettered by the continuing appallingness of Rose and Nelson.  McNamee shows he can cross to no one or the keeper spectacularly well.  But if having him in ruins our cohesion as a team (and our success IS built on team effort,  it is the team that counts after all) then we need to keep him as a sub.  For all his crosses he offered no defensive contribution and was incredibly lazy when goig forward unless the ball was played to feet.  I could forgive that of a 20 year old player,  but he is 26 and should be at his peak.

The desparation showed when smith was left as the only recognised midfielder and we resorted to purely long ball tactics from a 4-1-5 formation,  It was that bad.

Johnson or RMartin,  who covered McNamees gaps and across the back 4 superbly,  were the best players on the pitch,  but no one came out of this well.

A confidence booster and time to regroup and think properly come Sat and Oldham 

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As bad as we were I still thought we deserved to win the game, more chances than them, more corners than them and more posession than them tells it''s own story. Had Hughes scored with that chance he had in the first minute we would have won comfortably and from posing practically no threat for 45 minutes they somehow managed to score that goal on the stroke of half time due to our shambolic defending. Second half was always going to be more difficult after they scored that goal but as bad as we were we stuck at it and for that reason I thought we deserved that late goal. Our front pairs loss of form is most concerning for me, both Holt and Martin looked poor last night and were missing chances and opportunities to shoot that they would have taken a month ago.

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Thanks Ricardo. Seems chirlish when I agree with 95% of what you said, but I have to relegate Lapin into the same catagory as Hughes and Rose.

The system appeared to be a derived 442 BUT we still had this interchangeable front triangle with Holt, Martin and Hula. The whole thing exposed the left back position as Lapin sat further inside , and with Maca looking to keep the width this meant the spaces between the players was greater and it seemed to lead them to panic.

What it said to me was just how much we miss Juke Box. He reads the game so well that he is able to be in the right place at the right time, notice how Lappin has apparently deteriorated since Drury''s injury .

That holding role that Rusty plays was missing. It wasn''t until Smith came on that we played from midfield without passing the ball to Saarfend.

The diamond is there to protect third division players, everyone gets carried away with the attacking elements of the shape but it has it''s roots in defence. Rusty protects the back four, you play narrow unless the full backs get forward and take the space out of of midfield when you lose the ball.

Those wanting to see us play a 442 need to remember that it does expose players more and it should be no surprise when some of them (Rose, Lappin, Hughes last night) struggle.

By the wya it was the worst I''ve seen of Holt. He seemed to get frusterated and follwed the ball around into deeper postions.

Apart from that....!

(Once again great report Ricardo)

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[quote user="Graham Paddons Beard"]Thanks Ricardo. Seems chirlish when I agree with 95% of what you said, but I have to relegate Lapin into the same catagory as Hughes and Rose.

The system appeared to be a derived 442 BUT we still had this interchangeable front triangle with Holt, Martin and Hula. The whole thing exposed the left back position as Lapin sat further inside , and with Maca looking to keep the width this meant the spaces between the players was greater and it seemed to lead them to panic.

What it said to me was just how much we miss Juke Box. He reads the game so well that he is able to be in the right place at the right time, notice how Lappin has apparently deteriorated since Drury''s injury .

That holding role that Rusty plays was missing. It wasn''t until Smith came on that we played from midfield without passing the ball to Saarfend.

The diamond is there to protect third division players, everyone gets carried away with the attacking elements of the shape but it has it''s roots in defence. Rusty protects the back four, you play narrow unless the full backs get forward and take the space out of of midfield when you lose the ball.

Those wanting to see us play a 442 need to remember that it does expose players more and it should be no surprise when some of them (Rose, Lappin, Hughes last night) struggle.

By the wya it was the worst I''ve seen of Holt. He seemed to get frusterated and follwed the ball around into deeper postions.

Apart from that....!

(Once again great report Ricardo)[/quote]I very much agree withat analysis GPB. I personally feel we play better with a diamond formation but that will always present difficulties in finding a place for MacNamee. I felt Lappin was a bit better than Hughes if only for the 20 yarder on target and a few accurate passes were as Hughes couldn''t buy a pass all night and was consistantly giving the ball away in our half. Perhaps Gill in for Rusty would have been a more solid change.

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[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

 ''How we got 3 points out of a game where we looked like getting nothing certainly beats me but it''s these are the kind of results that make you believe that our name is on the Trophy.''

Always good to get your report you fellow old timer!

I wasn''t there, but how does this fit Ricardo?

The game was 95+ mins long.

They got a lucky goal.

We had 57% possession, they had 43%.

We had 18 goal attempts, they had 6.

We had 10 corners, they had 3. 

Lambert made good and timely substitutions without going overboard and putting on all 3 for the sake of it.

Maybe in the cold light of day - when you''ve come down from that delightful last gasp high? I mean night games at Carrow Road are often very sexy affairs..........

OTBC

P.S. We only fouled them 5 times for the whole match. That can be  good - or is it that we could do with a bit more steel? What do you think?

 

 

[/quote]Yes BBB the statistics make it look better than it was.The free flowing football of pre Christmas has dried up and its all become a bit nervy. In any event with 13 games left all that really matters is the result and if we can still get 3 points when things are not going well then thats all we can ask for.The key thing in recent games is that we are losing the first goal. This has to stop because you can''t always pull the irons out of the fire.

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Being an exile there''s only 3 things to keep yerself positive:1. You know you''ll always be treated to a fine report by Ricardo2. Every you can make becomes even more exciting3. You can really tell the difference over the larger period of time between performancesWell, 3 wasn''t such a positive last night. My last match I saw was our win against Millwall boxing day, and that performance last night was a million miles away. We just seem a lot slower and it was noticeable second half that we controlled the game once we had stepped up the tempo, back to the pre-christmas levels. I found slow, inaccurate passing, poor movement and the large time it took to cross to be key factors of why we struggled first half. Lappin, Hughes off, Johnson, Korey on. Big difference. The passing was quicker, better. We were making southend run. And McNamee started getting the ball straight in. Cue pandemonium in the box, Johnson nips in and makes it one nil. We gave it our all for 15 minutes, and the players looked drained towards the death. But from somewhere we managed 2 corners. McNamee finally got the corner perfect, Nelson wins it, we get another one. Again perfect, this time Oli puts in the top corner. Excellent report Ricardo. Sometimes you are too graceful perhaps, but I find it hard to lay into the players, when they pulled it back like they did.

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