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Susceptibility to the counter attack

Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
13,485
Location
Preston
A lot of poor individual performances today. But how open we are to the counter attack when we are in possession in nothing new and it's something Alex Neil needs to address urgently.

Potts will probably be scapegoated for giving the ball away for their winner. And yes it was a really poor pass, but why does it only take one bad pass, which can easily happen, in the middle of the pitch for the opposition to be able to completely cut through us and get 1 v 1 ?

It happened at the start of the Birmingham game too. Harrop gives it away, again these things happen and we won't get every pass right, but then one ball through and Birmingham are in. The Cardiff goal was also a similar story.

There was a massive gap where our right back should've been today when Crooks scored, and Rafferty was half way up the pitch with a pathetic attempt to take our their man. Why is it that our full back simultaneously offer nothing going forward but also are nowhere to be seen when we're counter attacked ?

The defensive balance still isn't right at all, and as I said earlier in the post this has to be addressed very quickly by the manager or it could become a very long season.
 
The almost total eradication of pace from the squad - Barkhuizen and Riis aside - surely doesn't help.

We are overall a painfully slow side, and I think that's part of the reason our style of play is so cautious, especially at home.
 
The almost total eradication of pace from the squad - Barkhuizen and Riis aside - surely doesn't help.

We are overall a painfully slow side, and I think that's part of the reason our style of play is so cautious, especially at h
Agreed it's like keep ball but without any end product most of the time especially at home.

Better side away when teams come on to us when we can open up, get the ball forward into the space and counter.
 
A lot of poor individual performances today. But how open we are to the counter attack when we are in possession in nothing new and it's something Alex Neil needs to address urgently.

Potts will probably be scapegoated for giving the ball away for their winner. And yes it was a really poor pass, but why does it only take one bad pass, which can easily happen, in the middle of the pitch for the opposition to be able to completely cut through us and get 1 v 1 ?

It happened at the start of the Birmingham game too. Harrop gives it away, again these things happen and we won't get every pass right, but then one ball through and Birmingham are in. The Cardiff goal was also a similar story.

There was a massive gap where our right back should've been today when Crooks scored, and Rafferty was half way up the pitch with a pathetic attempt to take our their man. Why is it that our full back simultaneously offer nothing going forward but also are nowhere to be seen when we're counter attacked ?

The defensive balance still isn't right at all, and as I said earlier in the post this has to be addressed very quickly by the manager or it could become a very long season.
This has been a problem for a while, and despite people claiming we have the best defensive midfielder in the division. I’d be curious if anyone has analysis about the type of goals scored off counter attacking goals are the biggest issue
 
At least twice this season we've had a throw in, nobody's shown for it and the opposition have come in, broke and scored.

Movement has been a previously aforementioned issue, once today Browne had a good chance to win the ball and didn't jump, and too often nobody will show for the ball; every outfield player except the centre backs are all frequently at fault.
 
A lot of poor individual performances today. But how open we are to the counter attack when we are in possession in nothing new and it's something Alex Neil needs to address urgently.

Potts will probably be scapegoated for giving the ball away for their winner. And yes it was a really poor pass, but why does it only take one bad pass, which can easily happen, in the middle of the pitch for the opposition to be able to completely cut through us and get 1 v 1 ?

It happened at the start of the Birmingham game too. Harrop gives it away, again these things happen and we won't get every pass right, but then one ball through and Birmingham are in. The Cardiff goal was also a similar story.

There was a massive gap where our right back should've been today when Crooks scored, and Rafferty was half way up the pitch with a pathetic attempt to take our their man. Why is it that our full back simultaneously offer nothing going forward but also are nowhere to be seen when we're counter attacked ?

The defensive balance still isn't right at all, and as I said earlier in the post this has to be addressed very quickly by the manager or it could become a very long season.

It wasn’t just a bad pass, it was an atrocious pass that was played way too slowly giving them the impetus immediately. However, the biggest issue is the lack of Pearson providing some discipline, at least positionally, whereas the midfield players today were committed way beyond the ball.
 
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A lot of poor individual performances today. But how open we are to the counter attack when we are in possession in nothing new and it's something Alex Neil needs to address urgently.

Potts will probably be scapegoated for giving the ball away for their winner. And yes it was a really poor pass, but why does it only take one bad pass, which can easily happen, in the middle of the pitch for the opposition to be able to completely cut through us and get 1 v 1 ?

It happened at the start of the Birmingham game too. Harrop gives it away, again these things happen and we won't get every pass right, but then one ball through and Birmingham are in. The Cardiff goal was also a similar story.

There was a massive gap where our right back should've been today when Crooks scored, and Rafferty was half way up the pitch with a pathetic attempt to take our their man. Why is it that our full back simultaneously offer nothing going forward but also are nowhere to be seen when we're counter attacked ?

The defensive balance still isn't right at all, and as I said earlier in the post this has to be addressed very quickly by the manager or it could become a very long season.

Missing a fit and in form Ben Pearson. Also, we’re just too nice at times, Rafferty has to foul him and even when Potts gets to the edge of the box he has to foul him too. Happened a few times and needs addressing.
 
As stated we are worryingly very prone to the counter attack and unfortunately Jordan Storey has at least one awful lapse in a game which often gets punished.
 
As stated we are worryingly very prone to the counter attack and unfortunately Jordan Storey has at least one awful lapse in a game which often gets punished.
20 minutes into the game, the Rotherham commentators identified Storey as a weak link. They clearly saw things in his movement or positioning that stand out like a sore thumb. I'm not clever enough to see them, but it's clearly an issue.
 
Storey is a young lad ,learning his trade. He’s going to make mistakes but he has to learn from them. Reading had a young center back playing on Wednesday who brought down Riis for the penalty and got outmuscled for the Riis goal. Injuries and multiple games means squad depth gets tested. Usually Bauer and Davies would be our first pick.
 
Bauer and Davies are the preferred pairing by AN but there was still mistakes and poor performances with these 2 in the side
 
Missing a fit and in form Ben Pearson. Also, we’re just too nice at times, Rafferty has to foul him and even when Potts gets to the edge of the box he has to foul him too. Happened a few times and needs addressing.

completely agree with this!!! Foul him, take a yellow card and we come away with a point at least yesterday!! Just got to have a bit of footballing nouce and commit a foul and then they cannot break on us at pace!
 
Hmmmm not convinced. I’d like someone to show me the analysis but I think we still concede goals on the counter even with Pearo in the side.
We do but he is by far and away the best "spoiler" we have.

What we have seen from some of the away performances is that there are games where we don't necessarily need him, we have also seen there are times he is essential.

Still the first name on the team sheet when fit for me.
 
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