Sun Oct 31, 2010 6:42 pm
First chance i've had to give a report.
Pretty pathetic again, if marginally better. Yet again, Hutch's non existant tactical nous cost us a better attempt at getting something from the game. The second Huddersfield went down to 10 we should have taken Lescott off and stuck Reid up top with Macken who was incredibly isolated and wasn't having his best game. When we actually took Lescott off (he didn't have a bad game by the way) and stuck Nicholls up top, we did have a bit of a go. I've got to admit as soon as i saw Devaney missing aswell as Westlake AND Lescott in the team i though 5-4-1 and gave up any hope of even having a shot at our goal.
As for the actual game. Well, it was boring. Thought we had a good opening 10 minutes, Taundry shot over and Jones looked lively. Didn't see much of the red card but from what i can gather, it was a red. Then the goal, out of nowhere, no threat but typically poor organisation, not following the runner and then what looked in the ground to be poor goalkeeping all led to an un-deserved 1-0 lead. In fairness to Walker, it was a good strike and it did swerve a tad and went right in the corner, im not sure if his view was blocked, but if non of the above were present, then it was a slow poor piece of keeping. The rest of the half was boring keep ball from both sides in different periods. Still can't understand why Reid isn't on for a midfielder (huddersfield didn't look anything more than average)
Second half, we had a bit more of a crack at it to be fair. Lescott had a rasper tipped round the post and we broke away down the left a few times with Gray, who has the pace of a grandma. There was one point when he broke away, 4 on 3 and he and instead of going more direct his lack of pace showed and he dribbled it wide before putting a poor cross in. If that was Devaney, you can almost guarantee we'd have equalised. Smith had a ball fall to his feet in which he showed is pathetic footballing ability and dragged a terrible volley straight into the ground from about 6 yards, the keeper must have been laughing. Then, our tactical genuis finally opens his eyes and brings Reid on, FOR MACKEN! How deluded can you be? He then decides to bring Nicholls on and finally we go 4-4-2 and finally pen Huddersfield in for a period of time, again without really creating a thing. Richards put a couple of lovely crosses in that the defence dealt with excelently and Nicholls headed wide in the last seconds, if he was 2 inches taller he'd have buried it.
All in all, it just wasn't good enough. Poor tactically, poor technically and lacking pace (bar Jones) throughout. Reid was dreadful when he came on and looked more interested in pushing Peter Clarke during any aerial battle. Gray has the pace of an under nourished Elephant, despite working hard defensively for the side.
Of the few positives. Lescott was minorly better in the holding role. Jones got 90 minutes and looked good in the first half, before fading in the second and the defence looked a tiny bit more composed and organised under Walker.
Ratings
Walker 7 - Didn't really have much to do and looked a little suspect and slow for the goal, but his collection low down and organisation looked okay.
Westlake 6 - Did okay, tried to get forward as much as possible but he generally hoofs too much. Should of done better when he hesitated on a volley when in a good position.
Smith 6 - Still looks nothing like he can be. His lack of footballing skills is frightening. He can't pass, can't shoot and insists of aiming wasteful hoof balls at every opportunity from the defence.
McDonald 6 - Won a fair few headers in the air, but is still clumsy at times. His constant hoofing does nothing for the team either.
McGivern 8 - Man of the match for me. Worked hard, got forward well and has a decent left foot. If he can improve his defence he'l turn out to be a good player at this level.
Jones 7 - Had a good first half, linked up well with Macken and had a couple of shots that didn't go too far wide. Faded in the second half, think their manager told the winger and fullback to play close attention to him.
Lescott 6 - Was a bit better. Generally looked composed on the ball and linked together a few nice moves, but still looks lightweight to me. It's asif he could lose the ball at any second as well.
Taundry 6 - The game passed him completely by at times and at other time he got stuck in well. Had a couple of long distance efforts, the one in the second half annoying me as we had the chance to create a better opportunity.
Richards 6 - See above. Some nice crosses towards the end, although his lack of pace is incredibly frustrating.
Gray 6 - Looked a little more interested than in recent weeks and his defensive work was pretty good. His lack of pace again, is frustrating. He get's into good positions only to mess it up through a lack of pace.
Macken 6 - The ball didn't really stick to him, meaning we lacked an outlet to hold the ball in the same way Jabo etc would have. Did have a couple of decent efforts and he must wonder what the HELL he's doing surrounded by a brain dead moron of a manager and some inept clueless idiots. Given the service he'd score a ruck full.
Subs :
Nicholls - didn't do a lot. Missed a header that he was unlucky with late on.
Reid - Dreadful , it doesn't work for him back to goal. No spring, no pace and i think he could lose a stone.
I think he'l be gone when we get humiliated Tuesday and even more humiliated saturday.
:D