Hampton
Vital Football Hero
Spot on and pretty much everyone could / can see the clanging errors made and simple solutions available to fix.First things first, the tactics were abysmal and PC needs to be man enough to take responsibility for that.
I praised him for the decisions in the last two games which led to us accumulating 6 points but the decision to play five across the back at home, against a team with a record almost as poor as our own in away games was exceptionally poor.
I am not going to go into detail about the game because I think it has been covered in most of the previous posts. I had hoped that the boost in confidence that the players would have got from the last two performances would have meant that we went into the game looking for three points. Wrong. The set up was for containment and not for the expansive attacking football that two wins on the bounce would see most managers choose.
What is most concerning is that it was obvious to all and sundry that Preston had not come to throw the ball into the box but were looking to expose our weakness on the deck. Their pass and move tactics had our defence chasing shadows and the overload in midfield meant that balls played through were being chased down and won in the danger area. A simple change of formation could and should have nulled them. It was obvious from the off that Dunkley had been left in to stop the aerial threat that did not happen and should have been withdrawn, or Naismith, who incidentally had the worst game he has had since moving to CB, should have been moved forward. We were getting under one another's feet and because the aerial threat didn't materialise the three centre backs looked confused.
Why Lowe was left on is anyone's guess. He is too lightweight for this division and once he is tackled hard loses interest/confidence and will be targeted by every other manager in the division as a weak link. He came into the club and was touted as a fast paced tricky player, none of which he has shown in over half a season. The experiment is a failure and needs to be wound up.
We go again on Tuesday against a side that pushed Brentford hard and will be looking to make up for a disappointing loss. If we fail to get our tactics right again we will lose the opportunity to close the gap again.
If we decide to play a defensive game we will lose.
If we get back to the way we have played in recent weeks and stop worrying about what the opposition can do and play our own game we have a chance.
My final point is simple, "Joffy" needs to start, he is the spark that ignites our best play.
Everyone that is except , his coaching staff and Daz who's too busy pkaying video games to understand what's going on.
Shame on the feckin lot of em