Whilst I agree to extent, if the powderpuff, blind alley turning, head down, 75% of the time choosing the wrong option, forward line and set piece coach/taker did their jobs 50% better, we'd not be under pressure to defend for our lives / panic as often as we are.
I've said for years and I stand by this, we are a team full of fannies, we lack fight, discipline, belief, the 'shíthousėry' and dark arts to influence a referee, waste time, break up play etc. Until we have a few hardened pros who take conceding goals as personal insult, and drive their teammates to consistently deliver, put in the hard yards, pick up their man, bust a gut to get back etc. nothing will change.
We lack power, aggression and nastiness. I think a big reason we get nothing off referees is we don't appeal/moan/influence enough, especially from our captain. When the third went in today there was no geeing up, no annoyance it seemed, we looked like we expected it to happen from 35 minutes onwards and there was nothing we could really do to stop it, or then reverse it.
I'd also say whilst 80% of the time Carrick's unflustered and non-emotional / stoic touchline demeanour is an asset and preferable. I do think he should let the players know he's annoyed and they're not doing enough when things go against us at times, whether that's a boIIocking or an early sub etc I don't know. But I feel there's a fine line between stoic / indifferent confidence in your initial plan and then inaction in my eyes, and on occasion he lets things go too wrong, for too long.
It seems to be a repeating pattern where in game management starts going against us and nothing changes, almost ever. Like for like subs, the first 62-64 minutes, then the second 8-10 minutes later, followed by a last throw.
I obviously understand why currently, as we are fůckéd for options off the bench, but the players and set-up really worked for 20-30 minutes, and yet again we made poor choices in the final third and failed to get a 2 or even 3 goal cushion that we could have had.
The opposition make a few tweaks, or our players aren't as effective and he almost seems paralysed to make changes. Again as above with his demeanour on the touchline, for the majority of the time his patience is probably an asset, but every now and then it would be nice if he threw the odd surprise for the opposition manager to think about.
To sum up (frustratedly) we are just far too easy/nice to play against. Without our attacking all stars from last season, we need to be better, defensively, in organisation/shape (especially when we concede and are under the cosh a bit), the dark arts etc. But also game management and tweaks from the bench, as we can't assume an Archer / Akpom will pull us out of the shįt.
The harsh facts are, that in a big chunks of tight games that are defining our league position this season, we haven't been good enough. We play well in spells, some games a lot longer than others, but rarely seem to take our best chances, then when things are going against us, we seem to concede goals very easily, often a couple in succession and we have no plan B, whether that be in quality off the bench, or tactically to switch things up.
The better players will be back eventually, we may strengthen and get some of the quality we lost in Akpom/Archer/Ramsey replaced. But I just don't think our plan B / game management will be improved as easily. When the chips are down, we stutter and stumble, it seems to have been this way for years.
Not quite 'attitude over abbiliteh' but we need to be better.
Onwards and upwards, I believe in the manager and what the club are trying to achieve in squad development and sustainability.
I hope we can strengthen with a few permanents (maybe a loan or two to cover the long term injured) in this window. Building towards having an integrated squad by summer with minimal signings / rebuilds needed, and we can hit the ground running in August.
UTB
