I'll be watching the full 90 tomorrow to see how he (and the other lads did). It's so hard to work out who played well when the ****ing radio commentator's are so inept. They were ammeturish today. Absolutely horrible. Could have grabbed a couple of people off the street and they would have done a better job. (I know I rant about Barnes, but he is awful, absolutely awful)
Don't think I ever saw Sir Alex sit back and defend a single goal lead and I'm certainly influenced by Shankley in saying (bar injuries) why would you put an extra defender on? If you are ahead then you want to increase your lead and if you are behind then you need to score goals! I'm an old fart and remember England getting turned over by West Germany when we were leading in the 1970 World Cup because Sir Alf took Bobby Charlton off for the last 20 minutes or so to rest him for the final - freeing Beckenbauer to rampage forward and tear us a new asshole. I thought we were supposed to be developing a team that was exciting to watch - not one that was going to sit back and defend for the last 20 minutes or so. It is a simple lesson - you are tasked with scoring goals to win a game. A one goal lead is never enough as you are always no more secure than the risk of conceding a daft penalty - then your lead is gone. Back in the 1980s they changed to give 3 points for a win because they wanted to encourage teams to attack and so make games rewarding for the fans.
To be fair to Johnson he is only having to try to see the game out because we arent scoring enough. We are going to need to find more goals in my opinion. At 2-0 the game is done but we dont defend properly for their first. After that it is always going to be the alamo from them. Teams in this division arent just going to roll over for us. For me it isnt a terrible point. At 2-0 you should win, but overall it is an away point against a team in decent form. We are still averaging more than 2 points a game. I am not sure at all moaning about Johnsons tactics is justified on balance. Still plenty to be hopeful about in my opinion.
So the defending wasn't good enough? We haven't kept a clean sheet yet I think so does that mean the defence isn't good enough? It's a fine line, we're playing with young lads who come with a good reputation but are they ready to play week in week out? That's the big question. Doyle has shown he's got great attributes but is it time to give him a bit of a break? The same might be said of Neil. Good player but both him, Doyle and Cirkin are playing in their first season and they are not going to be at the top of their game every time. McGeady is another, he's 36 now - yes he can change a game but it's age catching up with him? Is he fit enough with the problem of his knee at the start of the season? Is Gooch doing enough as part of a front three? Is O'Nein's shoulder causing him problems during the match? It's still early in the season with a big change from the last one with players still getting used to each other's games. I've got faith in LJ but for me these questions need to be answered before they may become a problem. And for me he has to stop with the 3 at the back, strengthen the midfield yes, put 2 quick lads up front to stretch the game but sitting back is just inviting trouble
I didn't see today's game (I was watching a game that Carlos Edwards playing in!) so I was going to ask about this. Criticism of LJ's changes has to be seen with the context of the whole game and if they had that many up front towards the end, then putting an extra centre back on is a sensible option to take. That's a very different thing to just going ultra negative for the last 15 minutes if the opposition haven't changed anything.
Kick in the teeth and maybe a wake up lesson, can't complain with are start though Hoffman looked More like a keeper
From what he said in his interview after the game, he wants 3 goals rather than a clean sheet. It's different to Ross and Parky looking for a clean sheet, he is going for goals.
After going 2 up that feels like a bad defeat, even tho i predicted a draw pre-match. As we're a young side it's harsh to be too critical but hopefully they'll learn it's still a tough league, regardless. I recall one of the Aussie cricket captains attitude, "when you've got an opponents head under water with your foot...do not take it off, in fact you push it further under"!! A harsh analogy but i got what he meant. We'd do well to remember it.
He's perfection compared to Simon Pryde and Steve Howey, on the station that has no name, broadcasting at its worst, unbearable nonsense.
Keeganesque then? For me keeping clean sheets would be preferential. It's exciting football but it can bite you in the arse at times
It seems like that's his preference. He said something like 'the opposition could score a one off chance, the ref will gift them a goal so we need to score 3'. He never really commented on being disappointed at not keeping a clean sheet.
Mate, you're entitled to your opinion and I respect it. That being said, if you've been watching football since the 70s then surely you've noticed that it's human nature, when you're winning in the latter stages of a game, to not commit too many men forwards. You try to retain what you have. I'm not saying it's always the best strategy, but it's absolutely understandable.
Great to see him saying what he feels about the ref, we all know how **** they are down here but I think he might get a fine for his remarks on this although we know he's telling the truth. On the other hand though you never know we might get another apology off the idiots
I seem to remember teams defending 1 goal leads lots back in the day. They did it by passing back to the keeper. Liverpool did that until I fell asleep at times. Some of the European games were examples of game mgt - going away for a 0-0 eg. When Denmark won the Euros they backpassed us into submission. It is harder to do now but I think it had always been something that happened.
Flanagan was a miss today. I did not think Neil was up to the standards of previous weeks but he still shows for the ball and tries to keep the ball moving, I would have left him on and had Evans play alongside him to try and control possession. Thought we were naive once they got the first we should have playing more balls down the touchlines for the runners to be able to squeeze them in their own half.
I didn't listen to their commentary of the mags match as I watched it on Sky, but wouldn't be suprised if it was crap. Barnes is one of the worst I've ever had to endure. He will bang on about anything but the match. We don't care about Carlisle, Boro or some ****ers birthday for a shout-out when SAFC have a corner FFS.
I agree players should be killing games off we have missed some decent chances. Feel the manager also needs to be braver and use his attacking players who he has on the bench more and possibly earlier in games to help that. Going 5 at the back just invites pressure and changes the way we play and I don’t think it makes us better.
Maybe. But I've seen many players time managing a game by taking the ball into the opposition's corners. I've never seen anyone try it by doing the same thing in their own corners or passing the ball about their own penalty box. Ergo every player knows it is better to defend in your opponent's part of the pitch.
It happened in the last England matches too, but everyone moaned like hell when we kept giving the ball away in midfield and inviting pressure on us. It isn't pretty to watch and, especially with only a one goal lead, it is a risky strategy with no option for getting any more reward. Two reasons why I hate to see any team go down that route.