Player ratings vs. Salford City 14.12.24

[jackal2]

I mentioned this in the match thread. Maynard seemed pretty annoyed that he had done all the preparation for the game on the basis that it was a tight bobbly pitch and we should go long instead of passing out. He was right about that, but that invites questions about why the players did exactly the opposite of what they were told to do until it had effectively lost us the game, then started following instructions.

Yesterday had an unusual feel about it. I don't know what to make of it.

Yeah I'm the same. Prior to yesterday I thought we'd had a difficult run but the reasons were understandable i.e. some tough fixtures against good teams and a huge number of injuries to key players.

Yesterday did have a more worrying feel about it, because it seemed as though the players were communicating something through their performance and body language, whether it was a loss of confidence in what they were being asked to do on the day, or a deeper loss of confidence in the management team.

On the flip side, it could just have been a very bad day at the office, which all teams have. It would be bad timing, because yesterday was crying out for a win, but either way, the Bradford game will probably tell us a lot about whether this was just the darkest hour before dawn on the recent difficult run, or an indication of a more fundamental loss of belief.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I mentioned this in the match thread. Maynard seemed pretty annoyed that he had done all the preparation for the game on the basis that it was a tight bobbly pitch and we should go long instead of passing out. He was right about that, but that invites questions about why the players did exactly the opposite of what they were told to do until it had effectively lost us the game, then started following instructions.

Yesterday had an unusual feel about it. I don't know what to make of it.

This is the thing in the post match interview SM acknowledged the preparation and what they were expecting, and the fact the performance was not good enough. We can only hope it was a one off really bad day and it being essentially the darkest hour before the dawn and not the start of a repeat of the decline from this time last season. We can't blame pitches away from home either they won't get any better until the back end of the season if anything they will get worse over Winter especially if we have a wet winter like previous years. So we have to adapt our game accordingly.

The surprising thing for me is defensively in the past two league games we have conceded six goals. If we want to make it sound worse then add in the Peterborough cup game it's ten goals, but they are a level above. If we had scored twice yesterday it would have made no difference to the result like it didn't scoring two against Walsall and three against Peterborough. We won neither of those games.

Yet before those three games defensively we had been solid as a rock all season that's regardless of the loss of creativity in JJ and Crowley. So the first job is to get back to being solid defensively against what now look tough games coming up over Christmas and New Year against Bradford, MK Dons, Cheltenham and Walsall. Results in these four games will have a big impact on our season as three of those four teams are within two points of us either way as it stands.

[durhampie]

Not defending the performance for one moment but FYI the "idiot" did not "drop" Macari, he was left out purely because he was one yellow card away from a suspension, and because this was the 19th game of the season, he can now get another five cards before a suspension.

The truth is always there if only you take the trouble to look for it.

Those stats are easy to look up when you are sat at home....

[durhampie]

He didn't blame the pitch as such. He basically said it was not a good pitch but Salford dealt with it and we didn't. Macari being benched was strategic rather than a dropping as it means he doesn't get suspended for totting up cards.

By the way, I'm not trying to defend the team performance today, that was utter pants all round.

They played some nice intricate football on that pitch, and were able to pass the ball around without any problems.. If the state of the pitch had nothing to do with outcome, then he shouldn't have mentioned it..

[Little15]

Not defending the performance for one moment but FYI the "idiot" did not "drop" Macari, he was left out purely because he was one yellow card away from a suspension, and because this was the 19th game of the season, he can now get another five cards before a suspension.

The truth is always there if only you take the trouble to look for it.

So he missed a game to not miss a game?

[SwalePie]

So he missed a game to not miss a game?

Good point!

[SmiffyPie]

So he missed a game to not miss a game?

My thought entirely, the resoning just didn't make sense.

[drillerpie]

The first goal was probably conceded because Dan demands the ball wherever he is on the pitch
People find it hard to refuse to give it to him when he's the most talented in the side
But he was a liability yesterday
He completely stopped running for their third
Embarrassing
He wasn't on his own though
It was a capitulation

Can't remember what he was doing for the third, but I thought he was OK overall. Certainly no worse than anyone else and almost got a nice assist at 0-0. The problem for the goal was Bass not putting enough on the pass, apart from the wider problem of playing out when the manager had told them not to.

[i961pie]

If it was Palmer receiving the pass he would have been first to it and played it first touch out left to Ness, Crowley wanted more time.

[since41]

Platt I believe was also on the same if he'd been booked but he wasn't rested.