AC Mack
Striker
That has to be one of the worst games I've ever sat through. I know we've got injuries but deary me, abysmal.
I didn't think there was too much wrong with our shape as such. We progressed fairly naturally from a back three with the ball to a back four without, which made sense considering the personnel. Mundle and Styles played as wingers in possession, with Styles dropping to full back without the ball and Hume shifting back out wide. We then had a box midfield with Neil, Bellingham, Aouchiche and Ba.
The problem, as usual, was how passive we were with the ball, never looking to take the initiative and get is moving forward quickly, with the exception of Aouchiche and Mundle at times first half. It was a plodding performance. There was one moment in particular when Ba had the ball with a clear counter attacking opportunity - it was begging for us to move quickly, however Ba, Hemir and a couple of others never got beyond a jog, and the attack just fizzled out.
Our passing was shite, decision making awful, and the whole team just look bereft of confidence and creativity, with the possible exception of Neil.
Second half was no better. We shifted things straight away with Bellingham playing higher alongside Aouchiche, and we attacked in more of a 3-1-6, with Neil on his own in defensive midfield. But we didn't really give this chance, as Dodds hooked both Ba and Hemir. I can't blame him as they both dire, but we didn't give the new shape any chance to see if it was working. He might as well have made the changes at half time.
Despite keeping a clean sheet I thought we were nervy and indecisive at the back throughout, particularly in possession where nobody had the confidence to get us up the field. Far too many chuckle brothers 'to me, to you' followed by a panic and hoof upfield.
The saving grace for today is it ends our losing streak, and we're a game closer to the end of the season. But overall we're weak as piss at the moment and going nowhere fast.
Patterson - made about four saves, two of which were very good in either half. A bit shaky with his distribution. 7
Hume - gets plaudits as he's one of the few who looks like he wants to be in a battle, and puts himself about. 6
Ballard - some sloppy moments in possession but generally okay. 6
Hjelde - a bomb scare in possession. He dallies, turns back inside, goes back on the outside, all whilst his options are running out. Then just hoofs it anywhere. Or to be more exact, straight to the opposition. Their big lad that came on caused our centre backs all sorts of problems. But you know, clean sheet so every cloud. 4
Styles - I thought he was meant to be good on the ball? Looked almost as bad as Hjelde at times and like a fish out of water. Made a few off the ball runs I suppose. 4
Neil - kept things ticking over well, and got us up the pitch with some lovely vision and passing at times. 7
Bellingham - same old story, why go forward when you can go back? All afternoon it happened. Just spin, man. 5
Mundle - looked okay first half on the right. He managed to get on the outside of the full back and put a couple of balls in from the byline. Pretty anonymous after the break when he moved to the left. We can't be having a goal threat now, can we? 6
Aouchiche - lively first half in particular and was positive on the ball. Didn't get everything right and is as soft as the others but worth persevering with from the start at the moment. 6
Ba - awful. Never looked like a footballer all afternoon. 2
Hemir - see above. At least Ba has shown flashes. This lad doesn't look like a professional footballer, and his attitude doesn't seem much better. Complete waster. 2
Subs - it's hard to tell with Rigg being over the end of the pitch to me, but he put himself about a bit despite being out of position. Ekwah showed a bit of urgency at times.
QPR - as poor as we were in terms of quality (ie very little) but you could probably put their performance down as gritty, and they could have scored two or three, unlike us. Armstrong caused us plenty of problems by repeating the same run about four times.
Hope that doesn't come across overly harsh.
I didn't think there was too much wrong with our shape as such. We progressed fairly naturally from a back three with the ball to a back four without, which made sense considering the personnel. Mundle and Styles played as wingers in possession, with Styles dropping to full back without the ball and Hume shifting back out wide. We then had a box midfield with Neil, Bellingham, Aouchiche and Ba.
The problem, as usual, was how passive we were with the ball, never looking to take the initiative and get is moving forward quickly, with the exception of Aouchiche and Mundle at times first half. It was a plodding performance. There was one moment in particular when Ba had the ball with a clear counter attacking opportunity - it was begging for us to move quickly, however Ba, Hemir and a couple of others never got beyond a jog, and the attack just fizzled out.
Our passing was shite, decision making awful, and the whole team just look bereft of confidence and creativity, with the possible exception of Neil.
Second half was no better. We shifted things straight away with Bellingham playing higher alongside Aouchiche, and we attacked in more of a 3-1-6, with Neil on his own in defensive midfield. But we didn't really give this chance, as Dodds hooked both Ba and Hemir. I can't blame him as they both dire, but we didn't give the new shape any chance to see if it was working. He might as well have made the changes at half time.
Despite keeping a clean sheet I thought we were nervy and indecisive at the back throughout, particularly in possession where nobody had the confidence to get us up the field. Far too many chuckle brothers 'to me, to you' followed by a panic and hoof upfield.
The saving grace for today is it ends our losing streak, and we're a game closer to the end of the season. But overall we're weak as piss at the moment and going nowhere fast.
Patterson - made about four saves, two of which were very good in either half. A bit shaky with his distribution. 7
Hume - gets plaudits as he's one of the few who looks like he wants to be in a battle, and puts himself about. 6
Ballard - some sloppy moments in possession but generally okay. 6
Hjelde - a bomb scare in possession. He dallies, turns back inside, goes back on the outside, all whilst his options are running out. Then just hoofs it anywhere. Or to be more exact, straight to the opposition. Their big lad that came on caused our centre backs all sorts of problems. But you know, clean sheet so every cloud. 4
Styles - I thought he was meant to be good on the ball? Looked almost as bad as Hjelde at times and like a fish out of water. Made a few off the ball runs I suppose. 4
Neil - kept things ticking over well, and got us up the pitch with some lovely vision and passing at times. 7
Bellingham - same old story, why go forward when you can go back? All afternoon it happened. Just spin, man. 5
Mundle - looked okay first half on the right. He managed to get on the outside of the full back and put a couple of balls in from the byline. Pretty anonymous after the break when he moved to the left. We can't be having a goal threat now, can we? 6
Aouchiche - lively first half in particular and was positive on the ball. Didn't get everything right and is as soft as the others but worth persevering with from the start at the moment. 6
Ba - awful. Never looked like a footballer all afternoon. 2
Hemir - see above. At least Ba has shown flashes. This lad doesn't look like a professional footballer, and his attitude doesn't seem much better. Complete waster. 2
Subs - it's hard to tell with Rigg being over the end of the pitch to me, but he put himself about a bit despite being out of position. Ekwah showed a bit of urgency at times.
QPR - as poor as we were in terms of quality (ie very little) but you could probably put their performance down as gritty, and they could have scored two or three, unlike us. Armstrong caused us plenty of problems by repeating the same run about four times.
Hope that doesn't come across overly harsh.
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