Ball retention

[Deleted member 31333]

To be fair I agree we need someone to win the ball but Cattermole was as guilty as any at not passing along the floor and trying the spray the ball 50 or 60 yards. I believe that’s why Dobson was in the team to win the ball.

There’s a lot of comments on here about keeping possession but I suspect when a player does they will be berated for just passing the ball swideways and backwards.

Unfortunately with the three of four players we play in attacking positions it is difficult to retain the ball. Once McNulty had come off we lost any movement up top as both McGeady and Gooch rarely offered themselves for the ball and when they did they ultimately lost it. It could be argued that Gooch and McGeady are being asked to defend too much and thus can’t get up and down the pitch to offer much as an attacking threat. Unfortunately with Wyke he struggles to dominate balls in the air and lacks movement to retain possession and when he does there is often no one around him. McGuire came on last night and offered nothing and the least said about grigg the better, albeit he did only get 12 mins or so. They attaching options all lack pace and movement

Cattermole would at least play a long pass though, big difference from that to now where we are basically punting it to nobody.

 

[Osklen]

Cattermole would at least play a long pass though, big difference from that to now where we are basically punting it to nobody.

I guess that’s my point he was as guilty as anyone. In fairness whilst he was arguably our best midfielder last season he still rarely dominated games even though he was a so called premier league footballer. The only real difference in his game last season to many other was the fact he scored a few more goals, other than that I thought he struggled as much as anyone.

 

[hudson88]

I know some won’t like to admit it but we’re massively missing Cattermole. Someone who’d win the ball, get on the ball and pass it along the floor.

We had this issue last season WITH Cattermole though.

 

[Grammar Police]

No composure on the ball. Literally a Sunday league game.

Lost count of the amount of times McLaughlin launches it to nobody & how many times did Denver Hume play a blind pass round the corner in the air to nobody.

Like.
Akin.
Similar to.

 

[David M]

A big contributing factor as to why we allow teams to get a foothold in the game but I suggest a number of our players just lack the composure of other players we've seen here recently. Not sure it's something that can be coached in to a player's game.