Reply With QuoteWe appear to have stood still
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We appear to have stood still
The list of issues yesterday would take hours to type out Paul. It looked like no pre-season had taken place & it was the first time some of the players had met. The back four were appalling & each ripped to shreds by pace & desire. Morrison was poor but has relied on cover from Manga or Bamba in past seasons. Yesterday he was the cover, as Flint is not that type of centre half & was constantly 10m+ away from Morrison.Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Another criticism is our decision making & checking back when going forward. When Wigan broke then went direct without hesitation. Murphy in particular had 3 golden chances & fluffed it each time.
I thought the only positive yesterday was the performance of Bacuna (I'm not a fan normally ) with Ralls. He worked hard & provided a level of time on the ball & organised passing that we haven't seen for a while.
Anyway in summary we were extremely poor and we have to learn quickly.
Bacuna and Bogle were positives, but otherwise that was grim watching.
For players like Bennett and Reid and NML I think that was just a bad day at the office - but the general immobility of the defence is a major problem. I can see Curtis Nelson coming in for Mozzer or Flint if we get a repeat of the performance from the DW - and why wouldn't we, as both CBs are big and slow and unable to do what Bruno did so well.
Smithies and Cunningham may be turning back from the exit door.
Definitely, we have not changed and make average teams look like barce whilst we run around like headless chickens. 2017/18 we got up by grit, determination and hard work..not sure a team that cannot seem to string more than 4 passes together is going to do it this season.
Just watched the extended highlights and they got me thinking that the pitch looked too big for us.
I have read elsewhere people hoping Bamba gets back ASAP .....he is 35 and recovering from major knee injury but in my opinion the player we missed at centre half was Manga who had the pace to mark Windass !
Also yesterday they said on Radio Wales that Morrison was playing on left of centre half pairing when he is normally on the right so I suppose that wouldn’t have helped.
Warnock's a dinosaur, our football in just hoof and hope up to a big man with the odd set piece goal thrown in. That's my initial thoughts on yesterday as well as having watched 4 other Championship sides in the TV. Thenyou begin to think that dinosaurs are extinct and 2 yrs ago he led us to the Premiership and within a couple of points of staying there, so I'm going to reserve judgement till I've see us play at home.
However, there's always a suspicion that this City squad could finish absolutely anywhere, depending how 'up for it' the original Championship players are, and also if the squad and manager maintains belief. I read somewhere that Warnock has suggested he may not even stay until the end of the season depending on how things pan out. Here's hoping we can get a decent 1st dozen of games under our belt..
Sol was looking pretty fit around 9.45am today in Tesco's Western Avenue ..
Of course the Championship has moved on - no debate on that. I watched several games last season thinking, how did we finish second in this league.
It should also be obvious that as most of our squad played in our last season of Championship football, they are two years older - and already they seem to have been found out!
If this is clear to we fans, surely Warnock and his team would have seen this - and taken remedial action.
We need pace in defence and a couple of decent, combatitive mid-fielders at the very least.
Were any of the sides last season really playing better football than Wolves and Fulham the season we were promoted?
No.
I deliberately didn't say there was "better football" being played because, in terms of it "being played the right way", I'm not sure there was. What struck me more was that there were quite a few teams who were prepared to use smaller, more mobile, strikers and that, as they are the sort of players that the likes of Sean Morrison and Aiden Flint are not best equipped physically to deal with, there was always a chance that life might not be as comfortable for our defenders as they found it in 17/18.
There were 134 more goals scored in the division than in 17/18 last season and in the years since we gained our first promotion in 2013, there have only been more goals scored in 14/15 when there were three more. It could be argued of course that the increase in goals was down to poorer defending (no side conceded as few goals last season as we did in 17/18) and maybe it was, but I would say that, if that was true, then it was more to do with defences not finding a way best suited to cope with a different type of threat - looking at the age and type of defenders available to us this season, the only match we have played so far suggests that we could be caught on the hop like so many others were last year.
Sorry TOBW I haven’t had time to read your article so I was responding to a post on this thread.
My overall feeling is it will be harder this time around. 17/18 was an extraordinary season for us and I think it will difficult to recreate.
Once again great piece Paul
It doesn’t seem to matter who we buy the style of play that is Warnocks default will not reward flair players
It seems Warnock is comfortable with scrapping wins with a low percentage possession.... and who can blame it as it’s a proven approach in the championship for him, or at least has been... however I agree Paul, the championship has evolved significantly over the last few years and the Warnock way, in my opinion, won’t work.
Also, we seem to have learned little from our promotion year and year in the premier league... slow movement and slow reactions in defence... limited flair in midfield and no proven striker... although the latter is a little unfair on Bobby Reid who IS proven at this level when played in the right place... but not for us
Maybe the Wigan defeat is a kick up Warnocks backside that he needs to make significant moves in the transfer window this week... sadly though I don’t think it matters who he buys if the approach remains the same
I spent the first thirty years of Neil Warnock's management career criticising him for a one dimensional approach which was inflicted on any club he took over whether it suited the players he inherited or not, However, then he went to QPR and won the Championship with a team built around the talents of Adel Taarabt who must be one of the least Warnock type players you could imagine, This led to a reassessment of my opinion of him, but, now I see he is saying "never again" when the way he went about things that season is mentioned to him.
I've got really mixed feelings about our manager, he's been great for us and promotion in 17/18 was a brilliant achievement, but I'm 99% sure that he's going to keep on playing "Warnockball" no matter what and thereby make life more difficult for the man who takes over from him than it could have been - I'd love to be proved wrong, but I think it would have been best for all concerned if he had left at the end of last season.
It is going to take whoever takes over a long while and several transfer windows to change the playing style so we may have to get used to Warnockball being around for a while even once he finally retires.
No it won’t, dont you think bobby Reid or Murphy can play actual football? Vaulks? So can flint and Morison, so can junior and nml. You just need a few play makers with a tough defence and we arguably have that already.....chill out
Reid definitely, Murphy and Junior probably but I am not sure of the others. In all the years I have watched Morrison I haven't seen anything to suggest he can be a footballing centreback.
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