Subs made a huge difference tonight

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

I think it's a stretch to call it an assist; it was a pass, Bagan did all the work.

It looked like a total solo effort to me and I had a very good view from behind him. As soon as he struck it I knew it was going to be in the back of the onion. Great strike.

[Optimistic Nick]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

He was asked how the game went. He said something like "pretty well from the 37th minute". He couldn't even wait for the inevitable question about the substitution before sticking the boot in.

Edit: my mistake. He said 25th minute, so not a dig at Watters. My error.

I didn't recognise the qotes from the WOL article. Presumably from the press conference. Here is what he said in the post match interview.

"he wasn't doing good enough. Wasn't winning first contact, wasn't being physical enough. The ball just kept coming back every time it went forward so I needed to make a change, I couldn't wait, I didn't want to wait. I'm quite a black and white guy, if I decide something in my head that I need to do, uh, so yeah. I made the call and it had an instant impact I felt. [goes on to praise Hugill].

He was then told Watters was clearly upset and was asked how he is going to ensure it doesn't affect his confidence:
"It will affect his confidence. It's my job now and my staff, we are a close-knit group [goes on to say the staff work hard] we will all sit down and we will go through it with Max. And we will show what we mean. And waht it looks like to be a top drawer championship striker. It's something he wants to be, he's got a price tag on his head coming to us, and,uh, he was unlucky because he could have scored in the first minute of the game and if he'd done that his performance might have changed a little bit." [goes on to say he didn't want to take him off, but he did and it worked]

All of this, by the way, before going on to say some really positive things about Bagan.

[Optimistic Nick]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

They gave Bagan MOM; Vaulks presented him with the trophy.

Ah thanks - only caught it out of the corner of my eye! Still think he had a decent game tho.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

Ah thanks - only caught it out of the corner of my eye! Still think he had a decent game tho.

He did. I've seen him play well in the past, this season he's been abject but tonight there was a more composed player out there. He seemed happier to me too and his body language was good.

[Dorcus]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

He did. I've seen him play well in the past, this season he's been abject but tonight there was a more composed player out there. He seemed happier to me too and his body language was good.

I suppose it's weird how we all see different things in games. I'm not disagreeing with how you two saw the play but for me Vaulks was ok(ish) and didn't have a bad game. For me he doesn't contribute much and all the time I was thinking how much we missed Ralls.

He's a defensive midfielder and to my mind Wintle does what he does so much better so Vaulks for me is taking the place of a better, more creative midfielder. I'd like to see him moved on in the summer and I hope we recruit better. However, I appreciate we all see things differently and that's what makes these posts interesting.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

The thing is Morison isn't wrong. To be a centre forward at this level you need to be physical and you need to be able to look after the ball. I'm not saying you need to be a target man, but he's knocked off the ball so easily. There's no fight with him. Davies isn't a big lad either but he competes physically.

So Watters has a choice. He can stew over this, and end up in league 1 for the rest of his career. Or he can add that side to his game and be a success here, because he has a lot of other good attributes.

I don't buy into the "poor man management" thing either. If you're going to be successful you need players who are mentally strong, regardless of their age. Look at Bagan and Davies. Bagan taken out of the team, but he's taken on board what's being asked of him and he's improved massively. Since he got dug out at Bournemouth, Davies has been superb.

These guys are being thrown in at the deep end and being asked to get results. Coddling them isn't going to help anyone. Morison works with these players every day and knows their personalities far better than any of us.

But, unless I’ve missed something, all of the evidence of the past four months or so says that Morison only has a go at a certain group of players in public - those qualified by age to play for our under 23 team. Yet, for me, it is an experienced group of players who have let us down more this season - presumably, the thinking at he start of the season was that we would be able to bed in the number of young players we’ve used this season because there was an experienced nucleus to the team capable of doing enough to prevent the very type of season we’ve had. Clearly, they haven’t been able to that, yet Morison stays silent about that week after week.

[UNDERHILL1927]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

I remember the days when we used to moan about the manager because we were losing all the time, playing appalling "football" and sliding towards relegation...

100%, convinced that some on here thrive off doom and gloom. Ridiculous mardy bastards

[City123]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

Would he have done it to a more senior player? I don't think so

I agree with some that some criticism of SM is OTT, but equally some of the praise is and almost amounts to hero worship! I don't think this tough guy act will work for him long term, would it have been so hard to hold his hands up and say he got the starting XI wrong? (Which he had). He has a tendency to deflect any blame which some bafflingly think is him being honest!

[LeningradCowboy]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

I remember that Warnock substituted Bacuna in the first-half of a game on a Friday evening against Sheffield Wednesday. Bacuna was playing like shit, but Warnock blamed himself after the match for picking him after he'd flown halfway around the world a couple of days earlier on his way back from international duty.

[WJ99mobile]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

A classic 'rope a dope' game. Sit back, take all they have, then score on the break. And a masterclass in substitutions. Who's complaining what the starting line was? It worked.

Is this sarcasm? We didn’t intentionally play crap I’m sure of that

[Nobody's Rep]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

100%, convinced that some on here thrive off doom and gloom. Ridiculous mardy bastards

That's CCMB for you - Curmudgeon Central Message Board

Difference of opinion is what makes this board interesting but a few posters obviously can't stand Morison that's okay but some do and that's okay

I've listened to the full press conference on City TV and don't see anything wrong with what he said - he didn't bring it up the Media did and he gave an honest answer - let's see what happens next

For me watters does need to add physicality to his game - I said recently at a home game I was surprised how strong and combative Davies is for quite a small guy but if even if he isn't going to win the ball he makes a nuisance of himself but watters doesn't compete and he doesn't press when he could and he has to for this style of play to work

Hopefully this works as like others I think there's a real goal scorer in there but he needs a wider game than just that

[WJ99mobile]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

Watters wasn't working for the team, he makes good runs and looked quite lively but out of possession is lazy (or maybe not fit enough).

Same as my thoughts.

He was far better than Davies offensively and his runs off the ball often not spotted.

It seems he was hooked for his defensive and off the ball work which wasn’t up to scratch. Was it he the worst player on the pitch. Probably not.

Maybe a bit of humiliation will make him listen to SM tactics and instructions more but it’s a very very risky strategy.

[Optimistic Nick]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

I've listened to the full press conference on City TV and don't see anything wrong with what he said - he didn't bring it up the Media did and he gave an honest answer - let's see what happens next
t

It's the post match interview, not the press conference. His comments were s lightly better measured in the press conference, if that is the one that is being quoted in the media. But still amounted to kicking a man when he's down, needlessly.

[BLUEAWAY]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

I've just got back and the general consensus from those I was with, and around at the game was Morison got it absolutely right. On Saturday we were leggy and looked a yard off the pace having had only 2 days between games, so it wasn't a surprise that he rested players with 10 games in 30 days ahead. It made sense to bring on Hugill for 40 minutes rather than have to bring him off after 50, and giving Ralls a rest was a bonus. King didn't do much, but didn't prove a disaster, and gave Doyle a breather too.

I thought Morison played the game very well. God knows why this guy gets so much stick on here..

I wonder what the view would have been had we gone behind in the first thirty minutes and ended up chasing the game against a team who could keep hold of the ball.

[BLUEAWAY]

Re: Subs made a huge difference tonight

He defended Bacuna after a shocker