AC Mack
Striker
It was great to see Jordan Jones straight back into the starting line up after the talk of him being involved again today. I don't really buy into this theory of bringing him on from the bench or 'easing him back in'; he's only been out for a couple of weeks and he's head and shoulders above most players in this league, so assuming he's fit, he plays. It was also encouraging to hear that Hume is back in the mix, and depending on how we line up, I'd expect to see him involved fairly soon. As for today, the line up suggested a 4-2-3-1, and in that regard it made sense to have two slightly more conservative full backs in McFadzean and McLaughlin, as they don't have as much freedom to get forward in that shape. If we revert back to a 4-3-3 at any point, it might be that we see more adventurous full backs such as Hume and Power come back in. Other than that, the only slight surprise was seeing Gooch in ahead of O'Brien, but the two games in three days might be a factor.
When you factor in the above and the return of one or two other important players, Lee Johnson will have a few decisions to make soon. O'Nien has done very well in the main at centre back, but it's not his natural position (though you wouldn't know it today). Do you keep it the same until we start conceding a few? Is that then too late? The same questions can be asked at left back; McFadzean is doing okay at the moment but he's unconvincing at times, so when do you bring Hume back in? For what it's worth, I think there's much more of a case of easing Hume and Wright back in given their lengthy lay-offs, but with so few games remaining, that might be tricky. I imagine the consensus would be to keep it as it is for now, and you can't really argue against that.
First half we started brightly for about five minutes. Good early understanding between McLaughlin and Jones down the, and Jones and McGeady across the front line. Jones looked lively straight away. They were happy enough for us to have the ball deep, and we became too stretched too quickly. There were big gaps in the midfield as our attack was miles away from the defence at times, and that led to an open game with lots of space for both teams to exploit. Either the defence need to push up or the attack drop back in, as firstly we don't really want to be affording the opposition that much space to play in, but secondly it isolates our main threats (McGeady, Jones, Gooch) from the rest of the team when we do have the ball. This stretching of the game meant both teams looked most threatening on the counter, and it was a pattern which remained most of the game. That said, we forced them back well at times with good pressing in certain areas of the pitch, particularly from Gooch and Power.
It was a cracking goal from them to take the lead, but we got caught on the counter far too easily (as above) - they countered our counter really. A couple of sloppy passes from Mcgeady and Jones and suddenly our midfielder were non-existent and they were away. Fair play for them showing the quality to take advantage. After that we struggled to get going for a while, and once again our one dimensional play - cross and hope - was proving quite fruitless. We were much, much better the last 5/10 minutes before the break, typified by Jones' exceptional feet to lay it on a plate for Gooch. It was a bit of a 'get out of jail' card as we weren't up to it in the first half.
Poor start second half again as we got pinned back early and they looked the most threatening, but thankfully that didn't last. McGeady started to pull the strings with his excellent through balls and that gave us a foothold back into the game. And then came the red card, which completely swung the game in our balance - not just because we had a man extra, but we played the game really well from then onwards. It was a good decision to sacrifice a defensive full back for an attacker without having to change our shape too much, and suddenly it was all us. With Gooch an attacking wing back and Stewart playing off/alongside Wyke, it really felt like we had an extra man in attack, almost notwithstanding their attacking midfielder going off. Time and again we threatened, especially down the right wing, putting cross after cross into the box and over-exerting our dominance until finally they cracked. All credit again to the players for keeping the tempo up, playing a quick free kick and hammering home our advantage.
Overall that's a massive win and probably the best I've felt after a victory since the Portsmouth game. I really want us to kick on from here now, and take that final half hour into the rest of the season and make sure we're playing aggressive, front foot pass and move football. If we do that we'll overpower enough teams to get over the line.
I've been saying for a while that our performances haven't been good enough and it'll come back to bite us, and that's what we saw today. That's why I got frustrated with the 'doesn't matter how we win' nonsense comments. People don't seem to be able to see the bigger picture sometimes.
Burge - solid again at the back and little chance with the goal.
McLaughlin - steady away and showed good feet at times and a cool head. We were better after he went off but that might have been down to the change in circumstance.
Sanderson - generally solid but a couple of shaky moments when he dallied a little bit. He and O'Nien kept their main striker very quiet.
O'Nien - tremendous when it really mattered. Composed on the ball throughout and played his part in the opening goal. As the game went on he threw his body on the line, absolute hero a couple of times today.
McFadzean - still a bit suspect defensively but he played his part and provided an option down the left when we had the ball.
Power - seemed to drift right quite a lot first half and he was the best deliverer of the ball first half. He helped drive us on and was clearly delighted with his goal at the end, showing a bit of desire. It must be said though, central midfield was an area we struggled to get a foothold at times.
Scowen - the first half bypassed him a bit, and second half he got a bit more involved, but I would again argue that we lacked a body in there today.
Jones - very inconsistent with his crossing and his dribbling at times, but when he got it right he was absolutely unplayable. He plays with real fire in his belly and he was instrumental in the victory. Occasionally he tries to take on one too many, and I'd like to see us get bodies in the box quicker as he often has to take an extra few seconds when he gets the ball and you can see he's looking to get it in quickly.
Gooch - really influential today when it mattered with his goal and assist for the winner. He seemed pumped and sharp, which is the Gooch we need to see. Towards the end of the second half he was bombing on down the right and causing no end of problems.
McGeady - drifted in and out of the game but it was he who got us going in the second half prior to the red card, and he who drove in the winner. Him and Jones are huge players for us, which goes without saying really.
Wyke - pretty ineffectual in the main again. He won a few free kicks but never looked like getting on the end of anything today. Kept going and showed good composure to assist Power at the end.
Subs
Lee Johnson deserves credit for his well timed subs today, as Stewart's introduction gave us an added threat, and Maguire was influential from the bench yet again. It was a really important cameo from Maguire again and coming on late really seems to suit him at the moment.
Oxford - they looked decent at times, sitting deep and then breaking into the space when they got the chance. Their goal was tremendous and Barker was a constant threat. They were niggly as you'd expect, and there often seems to be a bit of needle when we play Oxford. Their number 10 was brainless and a red card waiting to happen, and their manager is a gobshite as we all know.
Ref - a really good performance (cue the abuse). A bit generous towards us, if anything. One thing that is irritating me more and more is the opposition's insistence on kicking the ball away without repercussion (and then Stewart apparently got booked for it at the end); was that the reason three minutes were added on at the end of the first half (which of course allowed us to score)? That shouldn't be the way it's dealt with really. Then again, what happened to all the balls on cones around the ground? The ref did really well to give fouls when players didn't go down, and didn't give things simply when players fell over. He let us take free kicks quickly too, and wasn't going to take any stick from the side-lines. He generally saw most of the fouls committed, and wasn't afraid of using his cards.
So how do we line up against Peterborough? Do we keep the same shape as today, do we add a defensive midfielder for a bit more stability in the middle and allow our full backs more freedom? Maybe we even revert to a back three/five. They have a dangerous attack so I wouldn't be averse to seeing us line up 4-3-3. The one slight concern for me with today's 4-2-3-1 shape was that we looked too open in midfield at times. People talk about playing too many defensive midfielders but for me that was a good example of why they're important. Winchester and Leadbitter both come into contention for Monday.
#askdanny 4-3-3 against Peterborough and a bit more stability in the middle?
When you factor in the above and the return of one or two other important players, Lee Johnson will have a few decisions to make soon. O'Nien has done very well in the main at centre back, but it's not his natural position (though you wouldn't know it today). Do you keep it the same until we start conceding a few? Is that then too late? The same questions can be asked at left back; McFadzean is doing okay at the moment but he's unconvincing at times, so when do you bring Hume back in? For what it's worth, I think there's much more of a case of easing Hume and Wright back in given their lengthy lay-offs, but with so few games remaining, that might be tricky. I imagine the consensus would be to keep it as it is for now, and you can't really argue against that.
First half we started brightly for about five minutes. Good early understanding between McLaughlin and Jones down the, and Jones and McGeady across the front line. Jones looked lively straight away. They were happy enough for us to have the ball deep, and we became too stretched too quickly. There were big gaps in the midfield as our attack was miles away from the defence at times, and that led to an open game with lots of space for both teams to exploit. Either the defence need to push up or the attack drop back in, as firstly we don't really want to be affording the opposition that much space to play in, but secondly it isolates our main threats (McGeady, Jones, Gooch) from the rest of the team when we do have the ball. This stretching of the game meant both teams looked most threatening on the counter, and it was a pattern which remained most of the game. That said, we forced them back well at times with good pressing in certain areas of the pitch, particularly from Gooch and Power.
It was a cracking goal from them to take the lead, but we got caught on the counter far too easily (as above) - they countered our counter really. A couple of sloppy passes from Mcgeady and Jones and suddenly our midfielder were non-existent and they were away. Fair play for them showing the quality to take advantage. After that we struggled to get going for a while, and once again our one dimensional play - cross and hope - was proving quite fruitless. We were much, much better the last 5/10 minutes before the break, typified by Jones' exceptional feet to lay it on a plate for Gooch. It was a bit of a 'get out of jail' card as we weren't up to it in the first half.
Poor start second half again as we got pinned back early and they looked the most threatening, but thankfully that didn't last. McGeady started to pull the strings with his excellent through balls and that gave us a foothold back into the game. And then came the red card, which completely swung the game in our balance - not just because we had a man extra, but we played the game really well from then onwards. It was a good decision to sacrifice a defensive full back for an attacker without having to change our shape too much, and suddenly it was all us. With Gooch an attacking wing back and Stewart playing off/alongside Wyke, it really felt like we had an extra man in attack, almost notwithstanding their attacking midfielder going off. Time and again we threatened, especially down the right wing, putting cross after cross into the box and over-exerting our dominance until finally they cracked. All credit again to the players for keeping the tempo up, playing a quick free kick and hammering home our advantage.
Overall that's a massive win and probably the best I've felt after a victory since the Portsmouth game. I really want us to kick on from here now, and take that final half hour into the rest of the season and make sure we're playing aggressive, front foot pass and move football. If we do that we'll overpower enough teams to get over the line.
I've been saying for a while that our performances haven't been good enough and it'll come back to bite us, and that's what we saw today. That's why I got frustrated with the 'doesn't matter how we win' nonsense comments. People don't seem to be able to see the bigger picture sometimes.
Burge - solid again at the back and little chance with the goal.
McLaughlin - steady away and showed good feet at times and a cool head. We were better after he went off but that might have been down to the change in circumstance.
Sanderson - generally solid but a couple of shaky moments when he dallied a little bit. He and O'Nien kept their main striker very quiet.
O'Nien - tremendous when it really mattered. Composed on the ball throughout and played his part in the opening goal. As the game went on he threw his body on the line, absolute hero a couple of times today.
McFadzean - still a bit suspect defensively but he played his part and provided an option down the left when we had the ball.
Power - seemed to drift right quite a lot first half and he was the best deliverer of the ball first half. He helped drive us on and was clearly delighted with his goal at the end, showing a bit of desire. It must be said though, central midfield was an area we struggled to get a foothold at times.
Scowen - the first half bypassed him a bit, and second half he got a bit more involved, but I would again argue that we lacked a body in there today.
Jones - very inconsistent with his crossing and his dribbling at times, but when he got it right he was absolutely unplayable. He plays with real fire in his belly and he was instrumental in the victory. Occasionally he tries to take on one too many, and I'd like to see us get bodies in the box quicker as he often has to take an extra few seconds when he gets the ball and you can see he's looking to get it in quickly.
Gooch - really influential today when it mattered with his goal and assist for the winner. He seemed pumped and sharp, which is the Gooch we need to see. Towards the end of the second half he was bombing on down the right and causing no end of problems.
McGeady - drifted in and out of the game but it was he who got us going in the second half prior to the red card, and he who drove in the winner. Him and Jones are huge players for us, which goes without saying really.
Wyke - pretty ineffectual in the main again. He won a few free kicks but never looked like getting on the end of anything today. Kept going and showed good composure to assist Power at the end.
Subs
Lee Johnson deserves credit for his well timed subs today, as Stewart's introduction gave us an added threat, and Maguire was influential from the bench yet again. It was a really important cameo from Maguire again and coming on late really seems to suit him at the moment.
Oxford - they looked decent at times, sitting deep and then breaking into the space when they got the chance. Their goal was tremendous and Barker was a constant threat. They were niggly as you'd expect, and there often seems to be a bit of needle when we play Oxford. Their number 10 was brainless and a red card waiting to happen, and their manager is a gobshite as we all know.
Ref - a really good performance (cue the abuse). A bit generous towards us, if anything. One thing that is irritating me more and more is the opposition's insistence on kicking the ball away without repercussion (and then Stewart apparently got booked for it at the end); was that the reason three minutes were added on at the end of the first half (which of course allowed us to score)? That shouldn't be the way it's dealt with really. Then again, what happened to all the balls on cones around the ground? The ref did really well to give fouls when players didn't go down, and didn't give things simply when players fell over. He let us take free kicks quickly too, and wasn't going to take any stick from the side-lines. He generally saw most of the fouls committed, and wasn't afraid of using his cards.
So how do we line up against Peterborough? Do we keep the same shape as today, do we add a defensive midfielder for a bit more stability in the middle and allow our full backs more freedom? Maybe we even revert to a back three/five. They have a dangerous attack so I wouldn't be averse to seeing us line up 4-3-3. The one slight concern for me with today's 4-2-3-1 shape was that we looked too open in midfield at times. People talk about playing too many defensive midfielders but for me that was a good example of why they're important. Winchester and Leadbitter both come into contention for Monday.
#askdanny 4-3-3 against Peterborough and a bit more stability in the middle?
