Knob end away

[moonay]

Team selection? I'll give you that Gibson above Evans was a touch surprising, but surely no-one would argue for Grigg coming back in to replace Garner. The only other call was for Mcmanaman to be given a starting slot.

So, at the outset, it appeared he/they were trying to deliver on those promises........ and what followed that first goal was an awful day at the office from all concerned (bar James).

I recon we've more than our fair share of Chicken Licken fans on here.

 

[mightytics]

We were poor very poor , goals have dried up and some tough games on the horizon
For me not creating anything against a poor defence is the worst thing
We were out played in the middle which is were all the danger came from , Windass is lazy which is a crime as a pro footballer , i feel like we are playing with 10 men .

 

[C_Latic]

Since Windass came into the team (QPR) we’ve scored 4 goals in 8 games. Before then we’d scored 10 goals in four games! If that isn’t a damning statistic then I don’t know what is. To play him ahead of Callum and even Byrne is unfathomable! I actually understand why he started Gibson, he has bags of big game experience and should have provided a cool head. Fat lot of good that did!

 

[TRUE BELIEVER]

Sometimes you have to see the funny side, Moonay. What was promised and what was delivered were in no way compatible, both from team selection to performance on the pitch. About 4000 travelling fans were let down by manager and team, despite the pre match assurances.

Cant see the funny side of this Notts, whichever way I look at it.

I don't think Cooks initial team selection was that far off the mark, the only question mark would be relating to Gibsons inclusion ahead of Evans. Grigg for Garner was a positive step for me. The only other possible change would be McManaman for Windass, but that is dependant on his overall fitness and only Cook could tell you if he considers him fit enough.

As far as the promise to go for it, that was not down to management but a lacking from the players. As others have said, up until the goal we were well into the game and for me the turning point was the diabolical cynical foul by Pearson on Powell. That incident robbed us of our most creative player yet was punished very lightly in my opinion by a weak referee. After that we never looked like getting back into the game and heads went down. My first thoughts on the substitution was "what the hell" but after consideration it was in fact an attempt to be positive by switching to a back three to allow the full backs to get forward. So in my opinion Cook kept his word and tried to be positive and take the game to Preston.

 

[craig214]

You puzzle me with this one Craig. That was a statement of intent by Cook. As it happened, for the first quarter of an hour - up until their goal - we were well on top, bossing the game. Admittedly, after that, the wheels fell off.

So, "ha ha ha"?...... plus a like to boot. Nope. Still puzzled.

No boot just laughing at the headline, he was good t his word

 

[king_dezeeuw06]

My reading of the situation is that we started the season one way and we were very leaky and free scoring, i think we tried to adjust our play to tighten up at the back and have gone too far the other way and lost all of our attacking play. I believe some of that is tactical from Cook and some of it is down to the players losing confidence or becoming more cautious. In those games we were willing to take positive risks to attack and now we have lost that bravery. Add to that the general momentum from last season, a little bit of a suprise factor and it carried us. I suspect there was a real sense of fear of failing / desperation to prove ourselves that pushed us to up our game in the first few games. It felt like the fear lit a fire under us and gave us a fierce intensity, but after our early performances and points tally suggested we can more hold our own at this level it feels like the fear of relegation has faded and and with it our intensity has dropped. Add that to the momentum naturally tailing off and the suprise factor gone and it's gone from the perfect storm to a damp squib.

We had Jacobs, Massey and Robinson running at opponents at every given opporunity, with James was getting forward and Evans and Morsy dropping deep to pick up the ball. Since then we've lost Massey to injury and his replacement doesn't run at anyone, while Robinson and Jacobs have both stopped being so adventerous, Evans and Morsy both stopped coming as deep to pick up the ball to start the attacks and without that movement and penetration it's no wonder our form has dipped.

The frustrating thing is that we haven't really gained more than we've lost for the tactical switches. We need to readdress the balance tactically and the harder part is the lads need to rediscover that bravery and intensity.

Before this past week you'd say we had a great start to the season and if we'd have beaten Preston we'd probably have said that this week too - so we shouldn't let the diabolical display at Preston completely sour us on everything. That's not to excuse the Preston performance in anyway and it's also not to say that our performances haven't drfited in quality but if anyone would've offered us this position and set of results before the season kicked off i think most of us would've accepted them quite happily. The Preston result and performance was bubbling under and maybe it's a blesing in disguise that it came is such a dramatic horrible fashion. As if it was a narrow dour 1-0 loss maybe we would've been able to blame bad luck and lean on our overall season so far and keep slowly declining and the lesson not be so painfully obvious. I feat we'd slipped into a gentle decline and we needed something to act as a wake up call, this was an almighty kick up the arse, there is now no ignoring or denying the faults that have cropped up and we now need to respond.

We've all been very positive about Cooks management so far, but we've never seen him have to deal with this type of situation yet - this is a new challenge for him and it's where he will earn his stripes.

 

[Victor Moses ;)]

Personally i'm a massive Cook fan. Not so much his style of football but for the man himself. He's a class act, haven't seen another manager dominate the touchline in the manner that he does. That and his personality inside the dressing room must be a massive confidence booster to all of the players/staff at the club. He is a true competitor.

The Portsmouth fans were on the money when they described his style of play. I'm hoping he's the type to teak and make adjustments and not just keep playing in the same manner throughout the season when the performances are constantly poor.

Preston conceded 2 or more goals in their past 9 league games. At 0-0 we never looked like scoring, i can't remember us creating a single chance last week from open play.

I really don't care about results to be honest, i can go away happy if we lose and play well. If we were creating chances and playing in a way that was positive i'd have nothing to complain about.

After thinking about it, possibly what happened against us vs Norwich might of changed Cooks mind about the way we approached the following two. We had a very deep defensive line, high attacking four in a shape of 4-4-2, with two defensive midfielders in no mans land in between. When they attacked it was easy, every attack they played through the massive gap's in between our stretched system and then used the flanks with the fullbacks, wingers and outside central midfielders to attack our fullbacks 3vs1. We tried to use the offside trap only in that game. Although we attempted to play offside, with a deep defensive line with no pressure on the ball. As our attacking players had already committed to pressing their defenders, which gave them an easy free pass every time throughout their build up phase. We tried the offside trap 5-10 times and it worked against us every time. Not once did we do it successfully.

Regardless of who is or isn't in the line up the tactics chosen in the past three we're very defensive minded. It was far too easy for teams to play against us. From the deep position our midfielders were picking up the ball their front three were able to press them. When we advanced through that first line of the press than their midfield would advance and make the next press before we have any situations in the final third, completely nullifying our attack. Allowing them to have free players ahead of the ball whilst ours were pressed constantly. Whenever we turned it over they had the territory without having to do anything by being higher up the pitch when they received it.

 

[OnLoanfromEnfield]

The manager knows the players best as is often quoted on this forum ... quite rightly as he sees them on the training ground almost every day.
Perhaps too many playing on Grip's pool table (it does exist) and no-one had noticed ?

I was trying to work out which Wigan player was trying to hoof the ball out of the stadium first.
Christian Walton demonstrating his lack of confidence in his own right foot. The body movement to switch over to his left coupled with a high karate kick meant that the ball went out into touch almost parallel to the away supporters.

With regards to possession I tend to stop counting the number of goalkeeper kicks upfield. It is a safe bet to say that we tend to lose possession either straight away or the second ball is lost. It is becoming as stale as Scott Carson hoofing it to James Maclean under MM.
Nick Powell is the forward player with the best heading ability, but kicking it up to his general area doesn't always work.
As everyone will be aware Nick Powell is our corner spy when defending corners. He is the free man in the middle watching for the ball to head away. Craig Morgan performed the same role back in 2015-2016.
I will be shouting stick "Dan Burn up front" if it keeps happening.

So many of our supporters were still commenting on how well Swansea were moving the ball around at the DW ... (They did lose to lowly Ipswich mind you but scored two in the process).