Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:40 pm
Well that was a disappointment!
Sounds silly becuase we scored 3, but we never looked like scoring all game. Cant remember us having any shots on target other than those that went it, infact, can't remember many more shots off target either. Centre Backs looked solid until they scored their first, then our defence seemed to be ripped apart whenever rochdale went foward. Centre Midfield didnt seem to be there in the second half, Wingers werent there at all. Only player who I could say played well was Ledesma. Always went foward, a few cracking balls across the pitch. Took his goal well too.
Grof - Didnt have many saves to make, caught a few good crosses.
Westlake - poor. reluctant to tackle until he's backed off into our box, then lets Smith tackle them for him. Didnt get foward at all either.
Smith - Solid first hour, won everything, then seemed to disappear.
Butler - Same as Smith. Great header for the goal though! What a legend!
Sadler - Poor game by his standards. Same as Westlake; just not as bad.
Nicholls - Saw him win his first ever header yesterday, and it went straight to their player. Seriously though, how many times did Grof kick it wide right from a Goal kick, for it to go straight to their left back with AN barely jumping up for it. Not a wide player.
Mantom - annonymous all game. Was expecting more, as I hadnt seen him playing yet.
Cuvelier - Poor compared to when I saw him v's Preston. Rarely got on the ball and took it foward, but made a few good passes.
Hurst - Reluctant to put a cross in, always stopped and tried to take it inside and get tackled.
Ledesma - Great! Nearly always had something to do with the ball. He moans just as much as Macken though, every 10 bloodyseconds! :D
Bowerman - Wasnt making a lot of runs through when Ledesma had the ball, but apart from EL, he was getting no service.
Paterson - Wasnt on for long, but kept losing the ball. He always cuts inside too, and runs along the edge of the box instead of going on the outside and putting a cross in.
Taundry - Not on for long either, looked a bit better than Westlake did.
Grigg - Ended up chasing defenders as he never got the ball. Seems very weak and not able to get the ball when it's passed to him.
Notes to Smith. 1) Dont take your best player off. Ledesma was running all game long, but didnt appear to be that tired. In my eyes, we always need at least either him or Macken (when fit) on the pitch to hold the ball up in the opposition half. Macken is strong and will keep the ball until he has someone to pass to, and Ledesma has enough skill to keep it off the defenders.
2) Can we try 4-3-3 in the next game. The wide players still look poor, and Mantom and Cuvelier got ripped apart by their CM's the last half hour. Flo - Chambers - Mantom/Peterlin in Midfield. And Ledesma - Macken - Paterson/Nicholls up top. Worth a try?
Great support yesterday though, 500 of us maybe. And inly 2,900 there very poor considering we look quite a lot.