Positives and negatives against Southampton

Written by kirsikka

I hoped Gary O’Neil would take the more attacking option against this lot, on our patch, unable to keep a clean sheet and are massively out of form. Unfortunately, he kept the same lineup rather than trying the Zemura / Anthony / Billing combination. I’m starting to wonder if the contract situation is affecting the decision not to play them. If not, it’s really poor decision-making. Still, there was hope we’d play with the attacking intent of the first half v Fulham. We didn’t.

Words almost fail me to describe that first half. Insipid. Formations chopping and changing. Players appearing all over the pitch in different positions. Tactical flexibility is a good thing. A manager changing things that aren’t working is a good thing. Yet, there to see so much of it in the first period smacks of flailing. Rather than it being a plan, it was more just switching and hoping to land by chance on a formula that would come off. Not impressive.

Going in behind at the break, the course of the second half was obvious. They’d sit in and hope to catch us on the break. After the flapping in the first 45, this was a genuine chance to make alterations to personnel and tactics with time to ensure they were properly briefed. For example, against a packed defence, Rothwell (if he’s the player we’re led to believe he is) on for L Cook or Lerma would seem a tailor-made sub to try and pick the lock. Yet the XI stayed the same.

The set piece issue I highlighted on the Rothwell thread was in evidence again. Not sure why their players were annoyed when we were given free kicks or corners. They should have celebrated them as there was no danger coming (apart from when their keeper dropped it). I did think it seemed a positive move to bring on Junior as maybe he could take one, only to see him take the worst corner of the absolute lot. This is not sustainable in this league for a club like us. We need someone take a mean dead ball and corner. Unless he finds a pair of Billy’s Boots in the club lost property box this week, it certainly isn’t Tavernier.

Against a team that hadn’t, until tonight, kept a clean sheet all season their keeper had to make one mediocre save from a Billing long shot. Shocking attacking play. We created next to nothing.

Positive performances:

The corner flags. On-screen a lot and didn’t do anything wrong.

Room for improvement:

All of them, although a special mention for Tavernier. Not just for the dead balls, but for the way he unerringly managed to miss every AFCB player in the box every time he broke with the ball and crossed. The one he dragged along the floor behind three AFCB players was abysmal.

GO watch: In all his matches his ability to marshall an attacking team have been suspect but today was the pièce de résistance. When a whole team underperforms you need to look at the sideline rather than on the pitch. This one is on him, in an extremely unflattering way.

For me, the needle on whether he should get the permanent job has tilted either side of the middle over the past few weeks. This evening was his chance to show there is more to him than an organised defence. There isn’t. Time to start interviewing other people as he isn’t the man for the job.

Football is a brutal game, and sometimes you only get one shot to make your mark. In being cautious with his team selection tonight, I think he’s let it pass him by. You should have twisted Gary. I’d have been happy to see an attacking display with chances created even if we lost. We lost, but against a terrible team that was able to defend as comfortably as it gets. Sorry, but I hope he’ll be happy to stay on and carry on working with the defence.

Also, the penalty appeal and VAR.

If the penalty given against Forest was a penalty, and lets not forget the ref spent several minutes reviewing it on the monitor to be sure of his decision before giving it, then that has to be a penalty as well.

I said after the weekend that we’ve not has a single VAR decision all season. We’re the only club to have the ref go to the monitor twice and stick with his decision, both to our detriment. I’m losing count, but I think it’s eight or nine on the trot now that haven’t gone our way. Fulham made a big media hullabaloo about it when VAR went against them. Low and behold, they got a decision. Once again we were timid mice about it after the weekend. Once again no decision for us.

You don’t need to rant and rave. EH would make a point forcefully enough to get the message across and to get good coverage of it without going full Keegan.

Maybe GO doesn’t have the strength of character for it or maybe he wants to keep a low profile whilst only a caretaker but it’s costing us.

I’m not a fan of giving penalties for things like that BUT if the rule is that it was a penalty to Forest v us then it absolutely 100% has to be a penalty to us tonight.

VAR continues to be a disgrace.

Your say…

Red_till_im_ded wrote…

Positives- the weather. A nice and mild evening meaning just a light jumper is required under the shirt.

Negatives- everything else including the absolute shocking first two substitution choices of Stanislas and Rothwell. Obviously, both mentality and physically match fit and the obvious choices to bring on when 1-0 and chasing a game.
Answers on a postcard as to the formation and player positions as the first half wore on. I was totally lost.
Special mention to Fredericks who offered the sum total of sod all.
Yet again the slippery Scummers turn us over when they are dreadful

Neil Dawson said…

I will take to my grave the continual frustration that we can rarely get arsed about the one game the fans are most arsed about.

The only good news is hopefully it’s put to bed the thought that Gaz is a premier league manager. He is a coach and a decent bloke and we should find space for him on the coaching staff but no more. I realise this is a dilemma for Blake and Hughes who will be planning to appoint him then sack him at some point in April and appoint Elphick.

His output today was an early Halloween horror show of tactical ineptitude. We had so many changes of direction in the first half it made the Liz Truss government look the model of stability. Whoever concocted inverse wing backs needs to be forbidden from anything in a changing room other than sweeping it. I assumed there must have been a Perspex tactics board and everyone looked at it from behind. You could understand it if we had been on a shocking defensive run but why unsettle a team that while not doing much going forwards had looked solid at the back.

So we confused the players with a new system and the horrendous five at the back with no players up the pitch when we broke. All against a team in turmoil. Changed our way of playing. Defeatist. I’m fed up with defeatist managers at this football club. We need to find a manager that wants to win a game from the off, not Parker in a tracksuit giving the subliminal message to the players they aren’t good enough to do this.

We then swapped the wing-backs, gave that ten minutes before we realised we still didn’t have any more than Solanke up the pitch then changed to a back four with Smith on his wrong foot to accommodate Fredericks who was utter garbage. Meanwhile, zero attacking on the left. Remember Zemura, Anthony and Billing triangles our most potent threat? Gone forever apparently while we watch Tavernier and his league 2 final balls.

Don’t get me started on Christie. A man who couldn’t finish his dinner. So Stan, Dembele, Anthony, Moore all goalscorers on the bench while we play Christie and Tavernier with one goal between them all season because they work hard.

The second half was better but too many forward players on meant no structure, everyone getting in each other’s way and no meaningful shots as a
result.

Once again we have to leave the ground listening to ecstatic Saints fans. Seven different formations all causing chaos and no attempt to create our own identity or go at a team until behind. Let this be the end of all doubt and let’s go get a manager.

thegazzyb wrote…

Positives :
We do have some very skilful players and we seem to be playing with a lot of confidence. Some of the play to get out of incredibly tight situations with the ball at our feet was amazing to watch. Never thought I’d see an AFCB side of this quality at this level, so for me these things never get old.

Negatives :
We need more coaching for the sharp end of the pitch.
Once we arrive at the edge of the box unless it is a quick counter-attack, too much standing around, too little movement, too many near sideways passes.
It just gives the opposition so much time to set their defence.
We need to move the ball quicker, run into spaces and pull defenders about a bit.
Once we get to the edge of the opposition’s penalty area and stop, I almost switch off for a moment because to me it seems inevitable that we’ll just play 100 passes until we lose the ball or it goes out of play. I’m sure there is a lot of coaching to be done in this area, players need to take on more responsibility for creating something instead of passing it to somebody else to do it for them.
A bit more selfishness and a bit more bravery in the opposition penalty area is required IMO. We need to make sure that the players know that they are allowed to be selfish from time to time. We still have a tendency to always look for the pass. – Join the conversation, click here.