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Watched the second half of the game to keep an eye on Galbraith but it became clear after Germany made their substitutions to press on that NI lost any threat up front with their defensive set up, yes they did get a number of set piece and the gulf in quality of individual players but NI forwards were feeding on scraps. It was very reminiscent of our performance at times last season even under Sheehan in the later stages and with a lot of possession at times with forwards players being mostly starved of quality possession while our defensive tried to stay solid similar to NI under sustained pressure. It does look as if we have enough players with the ability to pose a threat uptop, players both uptop and in the middle of the park to relieve the pressure brought to bare with a viable threat and turn opposition's forward play into more cautious defensive play which NI were unable to do. Bit early to see if things go to plan but quietly optimistic.
.....you in to just keep listening to the whole album and beyond? "Dance On A Volcano" from A Trick of the Tail by Genesis. "Sail On Sailor" from Holland by The Beach Boys "Circles" from Watch by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. "Once We Begin(intro)" leading into "Outta Of My Mind" from Yours Dreamily by the The Arcs featuring Dan Auerbach(Black keys)
Any good bands seen recently that people would recommend to go and see, local or any other bands? Level 42 seen last year and they well exceeded my lower expectations, highly recommend. Saw Joe Kelly & The Royal Pharmacy at the Brecon Jazz festival, not really jazz but enjoyed them live. Blues/ Country rock didn't know anything about them.
Rushworth and Lowe were obviously a help to the first team squad and at one point Ashby and Humphreys were needed because of injuries, Platino had a number of good games for us with positive results early on but later used sparingly, they were all here to gain experience, but were their inclusion a hindrances to our Academy players or weren't ours ready to step up and were the loanees?
Given Tymon, Key,Lowe, Placeta and Ronald are some our best assets are they being used effectively in attack and defence, given our midfield is dropping deep. we seem now stuck trying to use the flanks which are effectively being stifled? We seem to have gone to two at the back not four, and yet again our midfield is dropping too often too deep leaving us, one, unable to win the ball in the midfield, two, limited in our ability to swap play across the pitch in midfield, three, unable to press opposition to stop their progression up the pitch, and four, unable to get on the front foot in games. If the full backs drop deep then the midfield can push on to link play in the middle of the park and then one full back at a time can then move forward to support the forward play and the other can drop to ensure the much needed defensive cover.
The last week or two got some old cassettes out Black Sabbath album Mob Rules with Ronnie James Dio singing. Barely James Harvest, Eyes of the Universe and a bit of Led Zeppelin 2. Quite enjoyable all round.
Patino or is it both? I thought we started to look a lot better shape wise when Key went to the right hand side, we looked to have a threat down both sides of the park and our defence looked happier and stronger. Also think we are missing Patino in the middle, up to the Leicester game with both in the team in positions you would expect them to be in we looked better but against Leicester our tactic to drop deep didn't work. Would be nice to see both of them back in the team.
The other player I would like to see in the team is Pederson, is he injured as he seems to have dropped out of reckoning although I thought he made the left hand side stronger defensively and offensively, think he reads the game better and gives us a better shape than Tymon who for me seems to be struggling.
We have seen Duff pick different formations this season because things having been quite right and made changes because of injuries and all the ins and outs but has he found the right formation? With Mowbray's astute press we were pushed back with Grimes trying to step up in the middle but of Saturday he dropped back deep early as the high press didn't allow us to play the ball out easily and yet we didn't play the longer goal kicks which has been used to better effect this year and rarely used last year which many of us complained about to same effect we got pushed deeper and deeper making the gulf between forwards and defence immense. Mowbray's formation was set up to counter the new goal kick rules which has made the playing out from the back the number one priority by most teams but now teams are getting wise to it ask Man U's Ten Hag about it. But we couldn't use the long ball last year because we didn't have the right style of forwards I hear and yet a change of shape help us go on two acceptable runs of games last year and one this year. This year we seem to get things right defensively with both Pederson and Key and while learning the Championship adding their experience to make the difference not allowing tricky wingers time to have the ball to their feet being in a good position to counter the threaded ball in behind them look at the impressive Humpreys and the number of balls he cuts out by luck? But Key is small and didn't look comfortable under the cross field high ball and Pederson looks a little slow and yet both had gain in confidence and with experience looked comfortable in the championship and added to our defensive stability. Ashby and Tymon worked really hard and really put a admiral shift in on Saturday but it didn't hide the fact that they didn't get to grips with the wingers in that first 30 minutes allowing us to be pushed back, did it allow us to get pushed back against Watford?Against Leicester we ourselves dropped back to try and counter the threat while being so deep offered little going forward maybe enough to go ahead but not enough to relieve the pressure built. So if fit do Key and Pederson come back in the teams as both have nullified tricky wingers when the players around them have done their jobs properly which I don't think they did against Leicester, Watford and Sunderland but if you make the wingers job easy then you get presses back as a team making the midfield and if playing 4-3-3 the forwards job that much harder as trying to get forward as a threat and back to cover means they have to become box to box players let's be fair the likes of Cullen is never that previous seasons the likes of Laird, Christie and Wolf the endless need to try and push forward and drop so deep took their toll. Do we adopt the Cooper defensive setup protecting the full backs with other fullbacks possibly playing Ashby and Tymon in front of Key and Pederson or vice-versa but that would mean other players being utilised differently even dropped to the bench.
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