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Our old favourite. Looked to have a bit more coaching/development about it. Obviously playing Madsen as the 6 and keeping Field further away was a big move. But there were a couple of movement plans I hadn't seen before. One was Field's speedy dash out wide as the ball went to Morgan creating space in field for Morgan to drive into or play that crossfield ball that found Esquadinha in space to start an attack on the left.
Also a bit more dynamic movement from the wide players, sometimes cheating infield to create different angles as their 8's moved out wide. More give and goes from the full backs rather than remaining static. And earlier long balls.
All seemed to add up to less passages ending up playing back to the keeper without ever really having risked trying to progress the ball upfield. And the wide players not constantly receiving the ball charging back towards their own goal, with a defender right up their arse, with no other option than to play it straight back from where it came.
But a huge Preston shaped caveat with all that. That was the least Preston I've ever seen from Preston, especially in the 1st half. They were a team coming off a bad season, with four new players, still in pre season gear. No intensity at all, the contrast between that and the Rugby League game that was Birmingham v Ipswich on Friday was night and day.
There are plenty of teams in this league who won't let us get away with Madsen at 6, but good to see us using him deep when we can. Some lovely passes.
There's a plan, I like that, but we know what Mike Tyson said about plans.
2) Chair as an 8.
Much called for and good to see. Surely he can affect a game more not wedded to the sideline where obviously he was still good but his lack of pace to go outside made him very predictable. Has more freedom of movement and can pop up in different places. Could develop a very nice understanding with Dembele and the young LB. Loves a good press.
3) Field at 8.
We all (mostly) love Sammy and his defensive work/leadership is unmatched but his technical deficiencies may come nder more scrutiny under Stephanball.
Twice, close together, in the 1st half he received lovely little inside balls from the wide men that he arrived onto in really dangerous positions in the box . His 1st touch was so bad he didn't get a 2nd. Happened again in the 2nd half after a great Poku run. Never looked in control of the ball, never was. Got to make more of those.
I'm sure, like Marti, Stephan will come to realise that the reality of Championship football means there are games when you have to have Field in your team protecting the back 4, but maybe not ones where you are expecting more of the ball. We'll see.
4) Any other business.
M & M could be a mustard CB pairing. Good in the air, a speedy one, comfortable on the ball, good passers. Some firming up on marking on crosses needed but looking good.
Esquadinha was better than I expected. Faded, they all did. But doesn't mind a tackle, looked up for the physical part of the game and a lot of attacking potential. May still not be ready to be a season long 1st choice but fantastic potential.
Looking forward to a season of Poku and Dembele, get them a CF with a bit more about them than Celar and there is some real danger there.
Don't leave Madsen back to defend counter attacks when we have a corner. Not just his fault but bad choice.
Won't be the last time we see Morgan filling in at RB. Did a great job considering.
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 14:29 - Aug 10 with 2010 views
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 13:54 - Aug 10 by QPROslo
Good analysis there thanks. One point, Madsen was on the edge of their penalty area for our own corner we conceded from, not back covering. He and Chair did well to get back as much as they did. Was anyone kept back covering? Hard to see from replays, Esquerdinha maybe?
Unfortunately, it looked (at least to me) that we only had Esquerdinha back.
Normally, you'd keep your two full-backs as cover but we only seemed to keep one back.
Didn't help that he wasn't central, didn't drop ten yards to cover the long ball, stepped up for an imaginary offside and was then taken out of the game. Great ball, great finish.
Young player, one of those things.
"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 12:33 - Aug 10 by Spen
Definitely fell off a cliff fitness wise yesterday. Even someone like Morgan looked shattered very early in 2nd half. Appreciate the temperature didn’t help but that really did alter the course of the game.
Morgan starts blowing out of his arse 60 minutes into every game. Distinct lack of stamina. Will need pulling every game until he can build that further.
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 14:58 - Aug 10 with 1907 views
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 13:38 - Aug 10 by Wegerles_Stairs
That chance Field had in the second half. Touch like Mason Greenwood.
its been pretty consistant last 2 years the ball finds Field and he has rarely been able to get a strike off so multiple glorious chances wasted . He has scored a few but mostly blases wide or fails completly which is something he has to improve despite his excellent attitude and effort. Chair and Dembele appear to be pretty selfish in the attacking zone and you could see signs of frustration like arm waving etc when the open players were not found. We needed a second goal but like pretty much always we gave one up instead and without any real threat of goals for us a decent point I think
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 15:28 - Aug 10 with 1832 views
Regarding our attack: Celar should have been given a few more crosses to work on. That could be the reason why he looked disinterested throughout. Not saying he is very dynamic in his way of playing though..
[Post edited 10 Aug 17:48]
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 15:35 - Aug 10 with 1812 views
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 15:00 - Aug 10 by CLAREMAN1995
its been pretty consistant last 2 years the ball finds Field and he has rarely been able to get a strike off so multiple glorious chances wasted . He has scored a few but mostly blases wide or fails completly which is something he has to improve despite his excellent attitude and effort. Chair and Dembele appear to be pretty selfish in the attacking zone and you could see signs of frustration like arm waving etc when the open players were not found. We needed a second goal but like pretty much always we gave one up instead and without any real threat of goals for us a decent point I think
Weird how Sam is so good at finding the right spot in the box to where the ball will land and then so poor at finding the net. He should coach our forwards on movement and anticipation! (joking)
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 15:53 - Aug 10 with 1724 views
Home game against a team who we'll be competing with in the bottom six and we could only put out a patch work team up to playing for 50 mins. That's poor preparation and planning and two points dropped.
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 15:53 - Aug 10 by EastR
Excellent summary and good points made.
Home game against a team who we'll be competing with in the bottom six and we could only put out a patch work team up to playing for 50 mins. That's poor preparation and planning and two points dropped.
The probable loss of Poku for weeks with a hammy is the big concern. Ironic that we bring in someone who has played as many games as he has in the lower leagues, to then pull his hamstring in the first game.
Typical QPR shit.
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 16:35 - Aug 10 with 1615 views
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 16:31 - Aug 10 by Burnleyhoop
The probable loss of Poku for weeks with a hammy is the big concern. Ironic that we bring in someone who has played as many games as he has in the lower leagues, to then pull his hamstring in the first game.
Typical QPR shit.
"To lose one player to a non-contact injury, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose many looks like carelessness"
"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 16:31 - Aug 10 by Burnleyhoop
The probable loss of Poku for weeks with a hammy is the big concern. Ironic that we bring in someone who has played as many games as he has in the lower leagues, to then pull his hamstring in the first game.
Typical QPR shit.
But why is this happening? I didn’t like the denial at the forum about what we can all clearly see. It is a problem and it needs sorting. We cannot afford (literally) to have our best players unavailable. Like you say one of the big pluses of Poku was how much football he’s played. One game for us - injury.
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 17:49 - Aug 10 with 1422 views
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 16:57 - Aug 10 by Northernr
But why is this happening? I didn’t like the denial at the forum about what we can all clearly see. It is a problem and it needs sorting. We cannot afford (literally) to have our best players unavailable. Like you say one of the big pluses of Poku was how much football he’s played. One game for us - injury.
Not saying you're wrong in general about our injury record, but in the specific case of Poku he had a recent lengthy layoff with a hamstring problem.
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 15:35 - Aug 10 by nix
Weird how Sam is so good at finding the right spot in the box to where the ball will land and then so poor at finding the net. He should coach our forwards on movement and anticipation! (joking)
If you look at Field and Celar and their positioning and movement in the box in the run up to our goal you’d think Field was the experienced striker out of the two of them. Celar finds space but is moving away from the ball and any pass would have to get passed a crowded area to reach him.
Further re Field, I did say early on in preseason that if everyone was fit he’d struggle to get into the team and I still stand by that. He’d be great coming on to protect a lead and stodging up the midfield but in JSs brave new world I don’t think Field starts. His ball progression and first touch are just not good enough.
[Post edited 10 Aug 22:15]
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 21:41 - Aug 10 with 1061 views
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 10:20 - Aug 10 by wortonr
Excellent stuff….very useful analysis. One thing I noticed was the clever move at the first kick off..better than the traditional big boot wide right. One thing..was the Preston goal a rehearsed routine? If so, genius in its simplicity and one to consider in future games….whoever has the corner!
We don't leave a player up when we are defending corners, do we ? So not going to happen.
For some reason we have our small attacking midfielders back in the box so the ball comes straight back when we get it clear.
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 21:53 - Aug 10 with 1002 views
Check the goal and it was Field on the line following it in - Celar had stepped back for the ball to be pulled back to him. Not sure how much more up the pitch Field might be!
Great constructive post Bob. The game gave us some positive changes and ongoing worries from the last few years. But you can’t fix everything on our budget. Main worry is our opponents, they’re not expected to stay in this league by May next year and we didn’t take the 3 pts we should have (so whichever way you look at it 2 pts dropped).
For all the stick Madsen & Celar get (and I’ve been in that kitchen party) they looked better than last season. That said, it’s a bloody low bar and still nowhere near enough from them. Also, Field getting a lot of stick. I seem to remember last season he was a really slow starter to the season, not sure why but definitely not something I expect of Sam. Still rather see him back in his old role. My big concern is our ongoing mental weakness at giving away a goal and dropping our heads and our performance - we take too long to pick back up, we have done it and recovered games, just weird we don’t believe in ourselves and get after it straight after.
Our passing out around the back gives me the jitters but we did look more like we had more of an idea how to use it - way more than last year with MartĂ. Agree with seeing Ilias being used in the middle more, can be seen to be effective with Dembele & Poku out wide; also a little rotation on the left.
Liked M&M at the back, feels like that’s a pairing that can develop well - time will make them better and better together; Mbengue has a cracking cross-field pass on him. Expecting to see Burrell start Tuesday so we can see what he can do - feels he has to be an upgrade on our striker position.
Esquerdinha Looked a positive, still young but showed he could be physical despite his frame and he definitely has some skills about him -looking forward to seeing him develop. I quite liked the look of Adamson, need to see more but he was an unexpected positive for me.
Happy to take the chinks of positive light. Wasn’t too sure about JS but feeling a tad more positive that he can coach these players. Just needs a little time to adjust to the Championship - it’s tough out there.
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 09:59 - Aug 11 with 302 views
Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 11:03 - Aug 10 by Northernr
The big thing in that game yesterday for me was we were pretty gassed by half time and totally out on our feet after an hour. Looks like another hamstring injury for Poku (crossing my fingers it's cramp or a twinge but it didn't look it) and players cramping up again as they were in the Brentford game.
It meant that having played really quite well in the first half, some lovely football, nice goal (well, the Dembele bit of it), and deservedly gone in at half time in front with the crowd in a good mood we weren't able to repeat that in the second, or recover from what was a bit of a freaky goal against us.
I recall this happened a couple of years ago as well and Williams was talking about a slow burn to make sure we're fit at the back end of the season. It worked that time, but we have an inordinate amount of injuries for this time of the season and it means we missed a good opportunity for a win yesterday against what I think was a pretty ropey side.
Poku injured? Sorry you can't always see your favourite players
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Couple of early StephanBall observations/musings/kneejerks on 10:12 - Aug 11 with 280 views
1. Esquerdinha, not a bad footballer, but has someway to go to be a defender in this league. Much more comfortable on the ball than without it. In the first half, this seemed pretty good, as he was constantly on the ball. Second half, not so much. When anyone was running at him, he wasn't so hot. A few rash tackles (I don't mind this, shows he's got it in him) and he needs a lot of help to know where to stand - I am not a fan of him as last man from corners. On the ball, liked him. Seemed up for it. Few times where Chair makes a run off, then runs in behind where the channel ball didn't come from him and Chair let him know. Definitely seemed a pattern that they'd been working on - and you can see some of that on the 'Inside Training' Youtube stuff.
2. Madsen as the deep lying ball player was pretty good I thought. Reminded me a fair bit of Faurlin. He knows how to open his body up to take his first touch to a place where he can play the ball on, or he knows where someone will be so can play a nice looking sweeping pass. One of the few people we have who can do that. But, I think when we play him there, we obviously lose some defensive solidity, as like Faurlin, people just run off the back of him, as they're both more the sort of player to block a passing lane than be able to spring out and make the tackle. And we lose the bits that Field is good at. I actually thought that maybe we were playing Field centre back and Mbengue right back when I saw the lineup. But, that brings me to
3. Morgan at right back - thought this was really good actually. They'd clearly wanted him to step into midfield and he's almost perfectly suited to that. With the starting positions of everyone essentially a 4-2-4 with the wingers and Chair pushed really high, it gave the full backs loads of room to step up. He's technically strong, and thought it could well be an interesting position for him going forward. Absolutely no idea how that works with Jimmy Dunne in the same position, but variety is the spice of life.
4. Celar - didn't hate him as much as others around me. I thought he was willing, made good runs to create space for others, and he even had a really good little moment in the first half when he received the ball in their box, kept it under really tight control, but couldn't twist himself to get a shot away, and then had to set it back to someone else who didn't get a shot away either. He won a few flicks first half, but after the nadir where instead of running onto a ball where I think he was clean through but he headed it straight up in the air. Thought he tired more than most, which is maybe the only one that would make sense given his lack of pre-season minutes.
5. Fitness - are we either loading them too much so they're already wiped out and don't have the legs, or we're under loading them so they're not yet ready for 90 minutes but means 'less' injuries long term. Either way, it doesn't seem to be right? The legs were so heavy so quickly in the second half - that's either due to the conditioning or are we saying they got super nervous after we conceded that goal? There was a few moments early on in the second half when they got Morgan running back towards our goal and he was running in slow motion. Nervous energy? Heat? New system? Dunno - needs work though, Poku looked done to me based on his reaction and the fact that he could walk off the way he did. That's a hamstring. Dembele will need some rest after that cramp. Chair and Madsen seemed the only ones moving about okay throughout the whole match. Chair in particular seemed very fit.
Most of this is coloured from sitting in Ellerslie closer to their fans so think I probably play closer attention to the side of the pitch closest to me
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