Tonights game, discipline and application

[su4eranio]

Anyone figure out what I was referring to straight away?

No, not on about team performance. On about Jeff Hendrick! He was George Thorne tonight. People say he cant play the holding midfield role. Some will say we were only playing Blackpool

watch the highlights again though. He did everything a CDM should do. He didnt play like "Jeff Hendrick", running into spaces ahead of the ball. He sat in front of the defence and broke up their midfield play. He protected our CHs. He dictated the tempo and drive from the back. He was always where he should be. He played for the team, not himself. Absolute masterclass in what we need in that role in absence of GT.

Shteeve must have been working overtime to get him to that level of discipline and application to his role for the benefit of the team. With his physique, strength and capability, he should be able to deliver that week in weeek out. He needs to deliver us the same till we have George back. He is a solution to a huge problem. For me,

[ellafella]

[quote="su4eranio"]Anyone figure out what I was referring to straight away?

No, not on about team performance. On about Jeff Hendrick! He was George Thorne tonight. People say he cant play the holding midfield role. Some will say we were only playing Blackpool
D
watch the highlights again though. He did everything a CDM should do. He didnt play like "Jeff Hendrick", running into spaces ahead of the ball. He sat in front of the defence and broke up their midfield play. He protected our CHs. He dictated the tempo and drive from the back. He was always where he should be. He played for the team, not himself. Absolute masterclass in what we need in that role in absence of GT.

Shteeve must have been working overtime to get him to that level of discipline and application to his role for the benefit of the team. With his physique, strength and capability, he should be able to deliver that week in weeek out. He needs to deliver us the same till we have George ba

[su4eranio]

Dawks did ok to be fair, but thats not been a problem position. Jeff put in the most complete, accomplished CDM performance of the season...since GT graced the role last season

On Dawks, I see Will coming straight back into that role on Saturday, nicely rested! Might seem harsh, but has to be done for me

[Rapid]

I love the positivity S4U but can't buy it mate.

jeff did well and was indeed disciplined but against a team that did so little in an attacking sense it's pretty much null and void.

lets not forget we've seen mascarell look like xavi against teams with no attacking threat.

not that I want to be too harsh on jeff but there was one occasion in the first half when they got in between our midfield and defence with acres of space. of course they didn't make the most of it but a good side might have. jeff caught out of position there.

Huddersfield have some good attacking players so if he manages to do it against them i'll be impressed.

[Ramondo]

I kind of hate to be a party pooper on any kind of positive vibe at the minute, but I side more with Rapid here.

I haven't seen many sides play with as little conviction and belief as Blackpool tonight. They were very poor indeed.

And they gifted us goals, their defending was a joke at times. And they offered very little as an attacking threat.

Now then, we needed to win tonight and we did and a clean sheet too, that's got to be a bonus. So all's good there. We created more chances and could, had our finishing been better, have had an even bigger win. But I really think that is as much down to the standard of the opposition than anything else. The stand-out observation for me tonight was why we dropped off the pace when Bent and Martin were both out injured. The moment Bent went off we seemed to lose any serious goal scoring threat we had.

Get a performance and a result at Huddersfield on Saturday, that will be more reason for optimism.

[Rattea]

"Standard of opposition" ramondo... How dare you all games are equal surely and tonight's win was equivalent to beating Bournemouth 4 nil when looking at form

[Ramondo]

[quote="Rattea" ramondo... How dare you all games are equal surely and tonight's win was equivalent to beating Bournemouth 4 nil when looking at form [/quote]

Thats a completely different argument, one that I'm not getting into.

I'm talking about the performance from the opposition that was on display during tonights game, not where they are in the league table or what prior form they have been in.

They could be top of the league for all it matters, but tonight (when it counted as far as we're concerned) Blackpool were bloody lousy.

We're away on Saturday and the odds are that Huddersfield will give us a tougher game on the day. They may not, but two gifts in a week would be too much to expect.

[ellafella]

[quote="Ramondo"]I kind of hate to be a party pooper on any kind of positive vibe at the minute, but I side more with Rapid here.

I haven't seen many sides play with as little conviction and belief as Blackpool tonight. They were very poor indeed.

And they gifted us goals, their defending was a joke at times. And they offered very little as an attacking threat.

Now then, we needed to win tonight and we did and a clean sheet too, that's got to be a bonus. So all's good there. We created more chances and could, had our finishing been better, have had an even bigger win. But I really think that is as much down to the standard of the opposition than anything else. The stand-out observation for me tonight was why we dropped off the pace when Bent and Martin were both out injured. The moment Bent went off we seemed to lose any serious goal scoring threat we had.

Get a performance and a result at Huddersfield on Saturday, that will be more reason for opt

[su4eranio]

Blackpool did gift us 3 goals, but they werent total mugs. As Ella says, they nearly took points off Ipswich on Saturday

My point about Jeff possibly gains significance based on responses. It would have been very easy and natural temptation for Jeff to start bombing into spaces akin to the style of play Bryson showed. Could have played very carefree if you subscribe that the opposition were showing no attacking tendancies

But he didnt. He sat between defence and midfield three. never going ahead of the play. The application that so far this season we have only seen from Eustace, and what we expect from a fit Thorne

I just believe that a team can become far more difficult to get at, and to break down when you have one (or even 2 midfielders who apply this discipline).

Look at Boro. They have their skipper in that holding midfield role and all he does it dictate play and protect his CHs. Very disciplined and they have a fantastic defensive record. If we had that, then winning

[vanderlaans_header]

[quote="su4eranio"]Blackpool did gift us 3 goals, but they werent total mugs. As Ella says, they nearly took points off Ipswich on Saturday

My point about Jeff possibly gains significance based on responses. It would have been very easy and natural temptation for Jeff to start bombing into spaces akin to the style of play Bryson showed. Could have played very carefree if you subscribe that the opposition were showing no attacking tendancies

But he didnt. He sat between defence and midfield three. never going ahead of the play. The application that so far this season we have only seen from Eustace, and what we expect from a fit Thorne

I just believe that a team can become far more difficult to get at, and to break down when you have one (or even 2 midfielders who apply this discipline).

Look at Boro. They have their skipper in that holding midfield role and all he does it dictate play and protect his CHs. Very disciplined and they have a fantastic