Post
by Bluemike » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:42 pm
Gotta be honest I am finding it really hard to analyse what I actually saw yesterday, it was a game and performance that had me baffled in attempting to sum it up, were we dreadful ? No not really, were we good ? No most definitely not, Did we try to shut up shop and play for a point ? I actually don't believe for one second we did. I came to the conclusion that over the game Sheffield deserved the Three points despite not being anything special themselves, although it must be said I did wonder if they were playing within themselves and could step it up if required, of course we will never know that. The stats for what they are worth look as though it was a very even contest and in certain areas it was, but to be fair Sheffield played the better passing game and were on the offensive far more than Town were, they all seemed to know their jobs and stuck to it well where as the Town players at times looked all over the place. I cannot ever remember a game so obvious as this that I cannot even tell you what formation we played and who played where for much of the time, it was all over the place and swtiched and swapped around numerous times.
The opening twenty minutes consisted of Sheffield on the front foot and Town barely touching the ball, when we did it was put into touch or possession lost all too easily, we basically struggled to make a pass let alone string Two together, the only plesing thing was that despite looking anything but comfortable at the back Bart had not had a single thing to do as we had restricted them to one or Two hopeful balls into or across our box, at the other end waghorn had looked to get in once but was dealt with easily. Midway through the half Chambers was caught as he stumbled and Bart raced off his line to no avail, thankfully the ball into the box was dealt with by Webster and the danger was cleared. By this point Webster had been swithced to a more defensive Midfield role and was actually looking decent, picking up plenty of loose ball and trying to get Town moving forward, this coincided with what turned out to be our best spell of the game and we actually created the best three chances of the half as HT loomed. First Waghorn smashed a shot from distance which the keeper did well to turn behind with a save at full stretch, then Knudsen got his head to the resultant corner but put his header over, it was a decent chance but again it was squandered. The best chance of all fell to Didsy a few minutes later, following a blocked shot the ball arrived at Didsy's feet and with the goal gaping he fired inches wide of the far post, it looked for all the world that we had grabbed a fortuitous lead but it was not to be. Town continued to have a decent share of the play as the half ticked down, McGoldrick always in the thick of the action while at the other end Knudsen's excellent defending saw him cut out Sharps cross with a striker waiting for a simple tap in. The half mostly belonged to the home side and yet we created Three really good chances in the space of around Ten minutes and should really have taken One of them while at the other end Bart had not been called upon to make a proper save, however there had been a few scares in the Town rearguard whenever they came forward or delivered into our box. Time and time again they pulled us all over the place down our right and Iorfa was having a torrid time, in truth he looked all over the place and was very laboured and cumbersome throughout.
The second half was not very old before we found ourselves a goal down, a simple move down our right saw Webster fail to stop the cross coming in and Kenlock being slow to react let his man get in front of him for the simplest header, Bart had little chance of keepeing it out. A brilliant piece of skill from Waghorn almost saw us on level terms but his rasping drive following a great piece of skill to bring the ball down and under control crashed back off the bar with the keeper beaten all ends up. MM continued to keep switching the formation around and with Downes coming on for Kenlock he moved everyone around again, god knows where everyone was playing now, I really had no idea to be honest. It was Sheffields turn to smash one off the bar this time, Leon Clarke the unlucky man with a dipping shot whcih seemed to go through Barts outstretched arm, it was becoming an end to end game but Sheffield always looked the more purposeful and more likely to score although Waghorn who for me was our best player tried his luck again with a shot that failed to trouble the keeper. By now Sears & Celina were on but it really made little difference although Sears was running the channels well and trying to create something, Celina did little of note. As the game neared the end it was Sheffield who had one or two half chances which Bart dealt with easily enough. There was still time for Celina to put a couple of hopeful balls into their box but nothing fell for Town and the home side saw it through quite comfortably.
I think we missed Joe Garners physical presence big time yesterday, getting in the faces of defenders and putting himself about is something we lacked, I think we were wanting in Central Midfield too, Nydam & Ward just didnt work for me and created very little, Skuse had an ok first half but poor second half with too many misplaced passes. At the back we again seemed petrified every time the ball comes near our box, Iorfa had a bloody awful game, his control is dire, his passing woeful and at times he looked like he didn't want to run, when he did get forward he lost it or gave it away virtually every time and it was picked up on at the time that at least twice Sheffield broke forward and the last Two town players to get back into their own half were Iorfa and Knudsen, that is just not acceptable although for me Jonas did ok yesterday. I am very much of the opinion that Jordan Spence has to be one of the first defensive names on the team sheet, he leaves Iorfa standing, he is far more commanding in the air, is very comfortable with the ball at his feet and tries to at least make passes instead of hoofing the damn thing into no mans land as some of the others do, Adam Webster started off a little bit rusty but when moved to the position in front of the back Four did quite well and looked far more assured. Up front anything we did create came from Waghorn and Didsy working it between them, they looked the most likely but where the hell is the creativity from Midfield ? Ward, Nydam, Skuse, Iorfa, Kenlock, Downes, Sears, Celina cannot really remember anything being created from any of them and that has to change, we can blame the defence all we like but it is not all down to them, we missed Three good chances and the aforementioned players have to create stuff for the likes of Waghorn, they really didn't.
Next week is now massive, if it wasn't already, not just because it is the derby game but it has taken on even more significance because I actually think it could well be pivotal in how our season unfolds, a positive result and good performance will do wonders for morale again and hopefully keep the fans on board, after all a win would see us still around the top Six with a game in hand and that is ok but the performance needs to be there too, we have to show passion and desire, anything less and it could turn ugly. Clearly Five defeats in Seven is not good and it needs to be addressed. I am not of the opinion that Mick sets us up not to lose every game, I would however like to see us finally have our strongest team available and by that I mean a return of Huws, Adeyemi, Garner and Spence, that for me would make a massive difference, hopefully Three of them will be available Sunday
Bart (6) Iorfa (4) Chambers (6) Knudsen (6) Webster (6) Kenlock (5) Ward (5) Nydam (5) Skuse (6) Didsy (7) Waghorn (7)
SUBS :- Downes (5) Sears (6) Celina (5)