Giggs' post match analysis.

[the other bob wilson]

Wales “were too hasty to get to the goal, too rushed” and “did not move the ball quick enough, weren’t patient”.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/06/wales-azerbaijan-euro-2020-qualifier-match-report

[Jordi Culé]

Wales “were too hasty to get to the goal, too rushed” and “did not move the ball quick enough, weren’t patient”.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/06/wales-azerbaijan-euro-2020-qualifier-match-report

Not a great performance, Wales had performed better in Hungary and Croatia but gained nothing. Interesting to see Bale hailed as the saviour when he missed an easy chance in Hungary he seemed absolved from any mistake.

The truth is the players performances throughout this campaign have been littered with mistakes. Notably Hennessy last night (he should've done better with their goal) and I think Harry Wilson had a little bit of a nightmare. The passing and tempo seemed 'off' and any momentum gained was out of urgency which was needed in the last twenty minutes.

Have Wales got any better players? Would playing a less controlled game more direct game improve results?

Perhaps Wales should call Warnock?:biggrin:

[dembethewarrior]

Not a great performance, Wales had performed better in Hungary and Croatia but gained nothing. Interesting to see Bale hailed as the saviour when he missed an easy chance in Hungary he seemed absolved from any mistake.

The truth is the players performances throughout this campaign have been littered with mistakes. Notably Hennessy last night (he should've done better with their goal) and I think Harry Wilson had a little bit of a nightmare. The passing and tempo seemed 'off' and any momentum gained was out of urgency which was needed in the last twenty minutes.

Have Wales got any better players? Would playing a less controlled game more direct game improve results?

Perhaps Wales should call Warnock?:biggrin:

Didn’t seem to be a lot of purpose to the passing. Seemed ponderous.

[J R Hartley]

Didn’t seem to be a lot of purpose to the passing. Seemed ponderous.
Allen and Ampadu were awful. They set the tempo in their positions and they didn’t move it quickly enough.

Harry Wilson continues to disappoint in a Welsh shirt.

We need Brookes and Ramsey back ASAP.

[Jordi Culé]

Didn’t seem to be a lot of purpose to the passing. Seemed ponderous.

It was. I'm pretty sure mind Giggs might have suggested speeding up the tempo and try making decisive passes which penetrate or cause their defence to move and work. I can't imagine him saying "Ponderous passing is the way to go lads, we'll lull them to sleep..."

Didn't think our midfield was any good last night until Williams came on and he gave away the ball needelessly in the last few minutes. Ampadu didn't look match fit and also was wasteful with the ball, Allen also.

I'll reiterate the whole campaign so far has been littered with mistakes where we've got punished by better players and teams. We were fortunate that Hennessy lapse of game management didn't cost us late on in the game and Harry Wilsons frustration and complete lack of brains didn't result in a red card. I've highlighted these two but the passing from the back was wayward and there were mistakes and sloppy passing all over.

The answer for midfield would be Ramsey and Brookes who can thread passes and are a lot quicker in thought and physically in playing passes that cause the opposition to move, think and turn. That didn't happen enough last night.

[LeningradCowboy]

Didn’t seem to be a lot of purpose to the passing. Seemed ponderous.

Our tactics in the first half seemed to be 'pass the ball around at the back until their defence is organised and then get one of our forwards to run at them in a straight line'. It was ****ing terrible.

[LeningradCowboy]

Allen and Ampadu were awful. They set the tempo in their positions and they didn’t move it quickly enough.

Harry Wilson continues to disappoint in a Welsh shirt.

We need Brookes and Ramsey back ASAP.

Wilson was a waste of a shirt last night. We should have played with Bale as the false 9 and put an extra man in midfield.

[Bobby Dandruff]

Wales “were too hasty to get to the goal, too rushed” and “did not move the ball quick enough, weren’t patient”.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/06/wales-azerbaijan-euro-2020-qualifier-match-report

That is odd as I thought that we were ponderous in possession and struggled to see any really pattern to our play.

Then again he does know a lot more about football than I do!

[life on mars]

Didn’t seem to be a lot of purpose to the passing. Seemed ponderous.

It needs a quick direct approach , to utalise James ,Bale pace , step up Dai Warnock

[life on mars]

Our tactics in the first half seemed to be 'pass the ball around at the back until their defence is organised and then get one of our forwards to run at them in a straight line'. It was ****ing terrible.

That's Warnock's hate tactic, sounds like Fulham ?

[dembethewarrior]

It needs a quick direct approach , to utalise James ,Bale pace , step up Dai Warnock

Warnock and his direct approach works, but it needs tweaking. You can’t just lump the ball up and haul long throws all game.
I’d rather get the ball into the final third quicker, and a counter attacking approach would suit some of our faster players with wales.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Without ignoring the shortfalls in the Wales team last night I thought that Azerbaijan were very crisp passers of the ball and well organised defensively.

[the other bob wilson]

That is odd as I thought that we were ponderous in possession and struggled to see any really pattern to our play.

Then again he does know a lot more about football than I do!

I have a problem figuring how we were both too hasty and not moving the ball quickly enough - if the instructions were that we should take things more slowly while quickening up our passing perhaps the sort of performance we saw last night becomes more understandable :hehe:.

Although Joe Allen put in his usual wholly committed performance, he has been on the bench for a Stoke side struggling at the bottom of the Championship this season and I thought he was that little bit later closing down opponents last night.

[Harry Monk]

Giggs is clueless. He's taking us backwards. Bring back Osian and give him the job.

[J R Hartley]

I have a problem figuring how we were both too hasty and not moving the ball quickly enough - if the instructions were that we should take things more slowly while quickening up our passing perhaps the sort of performance we saw last night becomes more understandable :hehe:.

Although Joe Allen put in his usual wholly committed performance, he has been on the bench for a Stoke side struggling at the bottom of the Championship this season and I thought he was that little bit later closing down opponents last night.

I think perhaps some players were too ponderous ie Joe Allen and Ampadu who weren’t moving the ball quick enough to our front 4 and there were others, certainly Neil Taylor, who was trying to force passes through to the front men, James in particular, that just weren’t there.

[J R Hartley]

Without ignoring the shortfalls in the Wales team last night I thought that Azerbaijan were very crisp passers of the ball and well organised defensively.

They were and it’s difficult to play quick, counter attacking ball against a team that sits deep and are organised.

A frustrating night and one which just needs to be chalked off as much needed result rather than performance.

I think people forget we are Wales not Spain and Azerbaijan are certainly no Gibraltar or Andorra.

[J R Hartley]

It shouldn’t be forgotten we were missing 2 key players in Rambo and Brookes.

The defence is rebuilding itself after the loss of its leader, and our other key players from the past - Allen and Bale - are struggling for form. Certainly not the players they were in the last Euro campaign. This is particularly worrying in Bales case as he is our one world class player and talisman. We need him firing on all cylinders if we are to have any chance of success.

Wales are in transition but it’s all too easy to blame everything on Giggs.

[StraightOuttaCanton]

It shouldn’t be forgotten we were missing 2 key players in Rambo and Brookes.

The defence is rebuilding itself after the loss of its leader, and our other key players from the past - Allen and Bale - are struggling for form. Certainly not the players they were in the last Euro campaign. This is particularly worrying in Bales case as he is our one world class player and talisman. We need him firing on all cylinders if we are to have any chance of success.

Wales are in transition but it’s all too easy to blame everything on Giggs.

Agree. We are in transition even though we probably have the deepest squad we’ve ever had although the talent is unfortunately unbalanced across the pitch. Because of the obvious talent my expectation rises but the truth is that every nation appears to be going younger and the big guys have much more depth in youth than we do - England are sadly a great example.

I don’t blame Giggs either - my only beefs with him is that he’s utterly lacking in charisma and doesn’t seem to me to have the passion I want from a Welsh manager. (Southgate by the way is similarly lacking in charisma, but they’re turning out result after result... which gets him a pass)

[Zenith]

We ended last night with this, desperate measures. Imagine Bale wasn't playing.


Hennessey

Roberts Mepham Rodon Davies

Allen Williams

James Lawrence Vokes Bale

Sorry Ryan, maybe you were the one rushing things.

No cohesion whatsoever.

[WJ99mobile]

I honestly couldn’t work us out

[Stavross1927]

I honestly couldn’t work us out

Azerbaijan did with some ease.

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

I have a problem figuring how we were both too hasty and not moving the ball quickly enough.

I think the answer is that he doesn't really know what he's talking about.

[City123]

One team had a clear plan and executed it almost perfectly. When you take into account all three goals, we weren't only lucky to win, we were lucky not to lose. The other team had no plan, no cohesion and no idea, all that stems from the manager

For all the stick Coleman took on here, at least he had a clear plan

[Trigger]

Thought we improved when Vokes came on. Not many teams can get away without playing a recognised no.9 and we aren't one of them. As well as the ball just not sticking to anyone upfront I thought we were extremely weak in the tackle. As a team it looks the exact opposite of what we have at City and it wasn't pretty to watch. More balance needed.

[J R Hartley]

Turkey top their group after already beating World Cup holders France 2-0. Yet tonight it took a last minute winner to beat Andorra 1-0 at home.

Just goes to show football is a funny old game and we shouldn’t take anything for granted.

A country our size has no divine right to be thrashing anyone.

[Stavross1927]

Turkey top their group after already beating World Cup holders France 2-0. Yet tonight it took a last minute winner to beat Andorra 1-0 at home.

Just goes to show football is a funny old game and we shouldn’t take anything for granted.

A country our size has no divine right to be thrashing anyone.

Absolutely we don’t and I don’t think we ever find it easy being the favourites going into a game and struggle to break teams down - Moldova of late aside.

I do think yesterday was the tip of the iceberg as it follows on from 2 games where we have been really poor and again against Azerbaijan appeared to lack a plan or or identity. I think we have a much better squad in terms of quality than the one that went to Euro 2016, but at least that team had a plan and style of play that everyone bought into. Here’s hoping with maybe Ramsey back things will improve this time around.

[Zenith]

Turkey top their group after already beating World Cup holders France 2-0. Yet tonight it took a last minute winner to beat Andorra 1-0 at home.

According to the BBC it's because Andorra played with 24! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49621775

[the other bob wilson]

Absolutely we don’t and I don’t think we ever find it easy being the favourites going into a game and struggle to break teams down - Moldova of late aside.

I do think yesterday was the tip of the iceberg as it follows on from 2 games where we have been really poor and again against Azerbaijan appeared to lack a plan or or identity. I think we have a much better squad in terms of quality than the one that went to Euro 2016, but at least that team had a plan and style of play that everyone bought into. Here’s hoping with maybe Ramsey back things will improve this time around.

The concerning thing for me is that our level of performance is getting progressively worse with each match we play in this qualifying group. You say that we have a much better squad in terms of quality than we did in 2016 and I tend to agree with you, however, the proven international high quality we had in 2016 have all declined (Bale, Allen, Williams) or, in the case of Ramsey and Ben Davies, been sidelined through injury and the quality coming through to replace them is still unproven in lots of ways at this level.

A year ago when we stuffed Ireland, our attacking potential looked frightening even before Dan James really began his emergence as player who can contribute at the highest levels of domestic club football, but Friday confirmed what has been clear for a while - the likes of James, Wilson, Lawrence and Brooks are still individual talents who cannot yet combine seamlessly for the benefit of the team.

The best thing about Friday for me was the way young defenders like Roberts, Rodon and Mepham came through what was not the greatest of tests granted. I thought Ampadu was a little disappointing on the night, but I think we've seen enough already from him to realise that he is going to be an integral part of our defence and/or midfield in the next decade or more providing he doesn't let all of the money and fame go to his head.

It's still early days yet, but Giggs has made a pig's ear so far of converting all of that individual attacking talent into anything approaching a cohesive unit - four goals in four games (one of which was a comical own goal) is just not good enough from this group of forwards and I've little confidence that we'll have any chance of qualifying from this group by the time the next international break ends.

[dembethewarrior]

According to the BBC it's because Andorra played with 24! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49621775

Amazing how they both had 84 percent possession as well