Now that I have time to think about it...

[mccscratch]

I gave myself 48 hours before I would post on the board about our match on Sunday.... I have watched the match 3 times now in its entirety and here is what I saw...

1. Ruiz will need to learn to be quicker on the ball unless he is on the wing in the attacking 3rd... He was out of his element for sure... I still think he will be a major player for us soon.

2. Dembele will beat the same man 3 or 4 times without doing anything productive. He is very easy on the eye but in the end what does it get us? Pass or shoot Moose...

3. Danny Murphy can be brilliant and infuriating all in a 5 min span... He simply has to go back to some of the simple things that make him a wonderful holding and attacking MFer all in one... I think Sidwell is very tired of cleaning up his dispossession messes all the time.

4. Our free kicks need to be better.... I am talking all of them...crosses, direct shots, lay-offs for shots... we had no less than 12 chances to create a scoring chance and none of them resulted in a shot on target.. Zamora needs to stop insisting on taking the curlers too... I know he has scored 2 of them in the past but my god he hits the wall the other 95% of the time... Let Danny or Clint have a crack... I am fine with a Riise long range blast too but he simply refuses to shoot without an angle changing lay-off and it normally results in a blocked or misfired shot...

5. If anybody still thinks Clint Dempsey has a poor first touch then they simply are not wanting to give him credit out of spite... My god he received some very difficult passes with glorious first touches on so many occasions... He was fantastic all day for me, he just only got 2 real shooting chances and Robinson made a fine save to keep us from the 3 pts.

6. We need Baird back in at RB... I like Senderos, I really do but there is something missing for me and Kelly (or AH) adds nothing for me... even though he had a decent match... Baird adds to our attack down the right and if we need to resort to a long ball to Bobby, Bairdinho hits them the best right at his target.

7. Anybody that actually thinks we are not playing decent football is not watching the same match I am... We should have been able to break them down in the final third, I will agree but the quality and flow of play in the final 25 was brilliant... we looked like 2004 Arsenal.... If we can just add a cutting edge in the final 3rd as Jol has said... we will be a very tough side to beat.

[FC Silver Fox]

You watched the game 3 times, McScratch?  you're either a masochist or Maarten Jol's right hand man/woman.

Good comments though

[VicHalomsLovechild]

So agree with point 2. Wish he would go directly for goal instead of sideways. Just gives them time to pack the defence.

[Burt]

A good analysis Mr Mccscratch sir, well done for waiting until the "emotions" had died down a bit, and special kudos for volunteering to put yourself through the pain of watching the match again, and again. And again.

Your last point is critical. In the second half in particular we camped out in their half and played some decent approach play, but we are just lacking poke in the final third and to succeed we need to develop a more ruthless streak up front. This covers off the other points you make re improving the delivery of our crosses, corners etc. and having people not afraid to take a shot at goal.

[mccscratch]

You watched the game 3 times, McScratch?  you're either a masochist or Maarten Jol's right hand man/woman.

Good comments though

I just kept seeing so many negative comments on here so I kept wanting to go back and look for all the things people were saying... I came out of it not worried at all... outside of a few counters we bossed the game... we could have won that game 3-4 to 1 had we actually figured out a way to score..... Here is hoping that Jol will be doing a little 6 v 9 attackers vs defenders training all week and working on set pieces too... I think we might trash Twente on Thursday...

[zzamora]

This, alongside the view from south texas, is the best balanced round up of the week so far.

065.gif

[elgreenio]

Some good points there.

1. Totally agree, Ruiz will need time to adapt. Think it was a bit of a shock for him, as it is for many, just how fast the English game is.

2. Spot on

3. same again, think he looks to be trying too hard sometimes and you can see it when he screwed up a simple pass out left to Riise.

4. Zamora taking corners is ridiculous, he'd be a major nuissance in the box. Don't mind Riise or baird having the long straight ones but anything with a reasonable chance should be passed on.

5. Cant say I was watching his first touch, but yes his build up was fantastic but maybe a couple of wrong decisions (shooting from the corner of the box in the first half)

6. Would like to see Grygera have a go and see what he's like. But yes Baird seems to be most consistent with his passes into Bobby.

7. We look decent up to a point, unfortunately that point is the one that matters, in and around the box.


God knows how you put yourself through that 3 times though  :025:

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

 :54:

[richie17]

1. Ruiz will need to learn to be quicker on the ball unless he is on the wing in the attacking 3rd... He was out of his element for sure... I still think he will be a major player for us soon.

Absolutely - time will tell though

2. Dembele will beat the same man 3 or 4 times without doing anything productive. He is very easy on the eye but in the end what does it get us? Pass or shoot Moose...

to a point, but I still think we're being absolutely awful off the ball at the moment and generally there's no obvious pass on.

3. Danny Murphy can be brilliant and infuriating all in a 5 min span... He simply has to go back to some of the simple things that make him a wonderful holding and attacking MFer all in one... I think Sidwell is very tired of cleaning up his dispossession messes all the time.

Still think this is wrong.  He gives the ball away 5-10 times out of 70 passes and they stick in the mind.

4. Our free kicks need to be better.... I am talking all of them...crosses, direct shots, lay-offs for shots... we had no less than 12 chances to create a scoring chance and none of them resulted in a shot on target.. Zamora needs to stop insisting on taking the curlers too... I know he has scored 2 of them in the past but my god he hits the wall the other 95% of the time... Let Danny or Clint have a crack... I am fine with a Riise long range blast too but he simply refuses to shoot without an angle changing lay-off and it normally results in a blocked or misfired shot...

Yep, we're rubbish at set pieces at the moment.

5. If anybody still thinks Clint Dempsey has a poor first touch then they simply are not wanting to give him credit out of spite... My god he received some very difficult passes with glorious first touches on so many occasions... He was fantastic all day for me, he just only got 2 real shooting chances and Robinson made a fine save to keep us from the 3 pts.

Much improved element of his game I agree


6. We need Baird back in at RB... I like Senderos, I really do but there is something missing for me and Kelly (or AH) adds nothing for me... even though he had a decent match... Baird adds to our attack down the right and if we need to resort to a long ball to Bobby, Bairdinho hits them the best right at his target.

Kelly didn't do anything wrong.  Very impressed, in fact.


7. Anybody that actually thinks we are not playing decent football is not watching the same match I am... We should have been able to break them down in the final third, I will agree but the quality and flow of play in the final 25 was brilliant... we looked like 2004 Arsenal.... If we can just add a cutting edge in the final 3rd as Jol has said... we will be a very tough side to beat.


Yes but we were at home to the league's bottom side.  If you don't look good then, when will you?  This is what's so frustrating.

[HatterDon]

This, alongside the view from south texas, is the best balanced round up of the week so far.

065.gif

thanks, I know this is my countryman's thread, but I NEVER pass up a chance to take a bow.  :HD:

[NorthernWhite]

3. Danny Murphy can be brilliant and infuriating all in a 5 min span... He simply has to go back to some of the simple things that make him a wonderful holding and attacking MFer all in one... I think Sidwell is very tired of cleaning up his dispossession messes all the time.

Still think this is wrong.  He gives the ball away 5-10 times out of 70 passes and they stick in the mind.

He completed 49/60 (or 82%) passes to be precise so pretty much spot on Richie.

Half of his passes were in the attacking 3rd, with most being forward passes and also creating the assist for Bobby.

We all know that he will need replacing and maybe Donegan or Kasami can be that man but Danny's stats still hold up that he's contributing well to the team....

[mccscratch]

3. Danny Murphy can be brilliant and infuriating all in a 5 min span... He simply has to go back to some of the simple things that make him a wonderful holding and attacking MFer all in one... I think Sidwell is very tired of cleaning up his dispossession messes all the time.

Still think this is wrong.  He gives the ball away 5-10 times out of 70 passes and they stick in the mind.

He completed 49/60 (or 82%) passes to be precise so pretty much spot on Richie.

Half of his passes were in the attacking 3rd, with most being forward passes and also creating the assist for Bobby.

We all know that he will need replacing and maybe Donegan or Kasami can be that man but Danny's stats still hold up that he's contributing well to the team....

Yes... I do agree that it is probably unfair to call him out... it just seemed in the matches that his give-aways... not even passes but just getting tackled on the ball seemed to put us in dangerous spots... his passing is still far better than most....

[NorthernWhite]

Agreed Mcscratch, he's still contrbuting but just not quite as effective as he once was and when he does lose it, because he plays in the centre, it can be damaging.

I'm hoping to see encouraging signs of things beginning to click on Thursday night. As was the case with Hughes, sometimes you need to make changes gradually rather than all in one go.

Pretty much agree with most of your piece, the set plays were bugging the hell out of me on Sunday, if it doesn't work the 1st 5 or 6 times, try something else!

[RidgeRider]

Excellent report McScratch. Keep them coming.  :54:

[NogoodBoyo]

Thoughtful, provoking and nearly all right.  On that showing, I think  kelly should continue at RB though.
Nogood "mcscratching at the surface, isit" boyo