My view of last night

Soutra said:
I don't know whether Carrick was out-thought but it's undeniable that Coventry stifled Boro's game plan. It was the same game plan in the league game and the two play off games. Robins knew what was coming.

Coventry might have only had one shot, but they came far closer to scoring than Boro. It was far more likely they would have scored again than Boro score.

It's really disappointing, because that Boro team had the capability to win. But they didn't turn up, and Coventry deserved it in the end. They played to their capability, Boro didn't.

For Boro it's yet another 'what might have been', but there have been so many they are getting much easier to deal with.
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Coventry defended very well, I don't disagree, not withstanding that Akpom was kicked all over the pitch. We did fail to break them down, but let's not pretend that Coventry had chance after chance.

They didn't have better chances than us over the 2 games. That I disagree with. They won the tie by the skinniest of margins in goals and on overall play.
 
Laughing said:
Coventry defended very well, I don't disagree, not withstanding that Akpom was kicked all over the pitch. We did fail to break them down, but let's not pretend that Coventry had chance after chance.

They didn't have better chances than us over the 2 games. That I disagree with. They won the tie by the skinniest of margins in goals and on overall play.
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I didn't say Coventry had chance after chance.

BUT they did score, they did hit the bar, and Gyokeres should have done far better after the Smith backpass. Some other guy had a wild swing when he had time to control it and shoot.

There was more goal threat at the Boro end than at the Coventry end.
 
Soutra said:
I didn't say Coventry had chance after chance.

BUT they did score, they did hit the bar, and Gyokeres should have done far better after the Smith backpass. Some other guy had a wild swing when he had time to control it and shoot.

There was more goal threat at the Boro end than at the Coventry end.
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We hit the bar in the first game and a marginal offside that we scored from.

Over the 2 games, Coventry shaded it by the tinest margins. If we played those two games again, boro would be favourite, again. It was that narrow.

Let's not forget our club captain was out, nor tha akpom got no protection for the first 45 minutes.
 
gravy173 said:
The warning signs were there in games earlier in the season and in the two games we've just played against them that we can be outmuscled and put off our game by a high press, not having a back up plan (other than throwing a big man up front) is quite poor tbh.
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Coventry didn't play a high press?
 
gravy173 said:
We’ve seen before what can hurt us, a big man up top and a high press, it was foolish to think others wouldn’t notice this not have an alternative plan
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With injuries in mind reducing our ability to be flexible an alternative for of what exactly ?
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Looking at that list what surprises me most is that we're only 5 points better off than last season.

I thought we were good under Wilder before falling short but far better this season, way more than 5 points better.
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Carrick took over with us on 17 points.

Wilde took over with us on 22 points.
 
There’s was a lot of mind games going on well before the Coventry game. Take for instance the Rotherham match which in many respects was a dead rubber but I think when you lose it definitely has a negative effect on the squad and the management.

Personally I think the management took their pedal off gas due to a growing injury list and perhaps looking too far ahead.

Many of these playoff games are based on squad depth and confidence so to lose players and games so close to the playoffs was imo bad timing— karma in many respects.

Akpom had two decent chances at Coventry where in a regular league match he would have buried but for whatever reason he missed. There was other situations which went wayward in the home leg which went over the bar or just situations which weren’t executed correctly. Basically we just didn’t show up and consequently we lost a two legged affair that we should have won comfortably.
 
I think we blew up because the chase for 2nd was so intense maybe we overstreched fitness levels but once the chase was over we never played as well and injuries caught up with us.
 
It was a tight two games and we just lost (too many mistakes giving them half or relatively decent chances, one of which they would eventually score from. Maybe it was nerves (happens to the best of us). I'd say we would beat them 7 or 8 times out of 10 at home, but unfortunately, when it mattered, we came up short.
 
Laughing said:
I fundamentally disagree with a lot of this.

Firstly a few people have said Carrick had no plan b and robins outthought him.

I don't think this is true. One of the reasons we have been successful this season is because there are multiple approaches in every game. We go through the middle with intricate give and go's. Secondly we go out wide and get croses in. Thirdly we occasionally go long for archer to run onto balls over the top.

If you believe there should have been a plan b and we didn't already use that, what would your plan b have been?

Being Jones and dijksteel on earlier. Yeah cos that worked. They had plenty of time to effect the game 66 minutes on. They didn't.

It was like chess, really? Coventry in 180 minutes had one shot on target we had 4 in the same time.

They simply didn't out think Carrick. They got lucky and scored from their only shot on target.

Another day another result happens.

A little perspective is needed.
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That is an excellent summary, my only criticism would be that we defended badly for the goal, Harmer should never have got his shot in we should have had players busting a gut to block him rather than standing off him while he made space, at that moment of the match we just lacked that bit of extra desire which can make the difference.
 
I don’t think there’s any doubt we play the better football to watch than Coventry, who are basically a hard working scraping team that get everyone bar Gyokeres behind the ball when they don’t have it then hoof it forward to him to hold it up while they get forward. It’s worked for them but it’s not great to watch. We needed a plan B to beat them, something different because our slow build up possession play just wasn’t going to work. We really just played into their hands and set the game up for them to pick us off when the opportunity arose.
Anyway it’s in the past now and we have to make sure we are stronger next season whatever happens. The club is in a good position to challenge strongly again. We have a promising young manager and the recruitment team finally look like they’re getting their act together. Off the field we are in much better shape financially and with FFP. If Chuba leaves (obviously we’d love to keep him) there will also be a large sum coming into the club from his sale, along with several million from those players deemed surplus to requirements. It’ll be up to Carrick and the recruitment team to bring in the right players to make us into side that’s even stronger than this season. Personally i can’t wait to see what next season brings UTB !!!
 
Whilst it is a fair point that we don't really have a plan B if the intricate passing football isn't quite coming off, I wouldn't criticise Carrick for that.
I just think that most Champo clubs simply don't have the resources to give them the luxury.
Having watched all the playoff semifinal games, I don't think Luton have the option of switching to fluid pass and move if their physical long-ball approach isn't working. Likewise, Coventry never looked like they could change from playing on the break to dominating possession if they wanted to.
I'd argue that to succeed at this level, the lesson from watching the best teams this season is that you need to decide the way you want to play and commit to it 100%, dedicating all your recruitment to bringing in the best players to suit that system.
Otherwise you just end up doing a few different things all of them not very well, which is where Boro were prior to Carrick (and, to be fair, Wilder to an extent) coming in with a clear identity and way of playing.
Against Coventry we needed to do what we do, but better on the night.
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
Coventry didn't play a high press?
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Yes, from what I saw they played a low block, squeezed the space in their defensive third and let us play in front of them. Classic tactics against a 'better' side, and better 'better sides' than us have failed against those sorts of tactics.
I think Carrick should have sacrificed a defender, probably McNair, and added Crooks much earlier.
 
equaliser said:
Yes, from what I saw they played a low block, squeezed the space in their defensive third and let us play in front of them. Classic tactics against a 'better' side, and better 'better sides' than us have failed against those sorts of tactics.
I think Carrick should have sacrificed a defender, probably McNair, and added Crooks much earlier.
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Yes, we were never really pinned in our own third of the pitch, we had loads of the ball, we just couldn't play the ball quickly enough to get through their block.

An example of us being pressed would be stoke at home, they did run over us a bit in midfield and pinned us in our own third for long spells.

Gyokeres was the difference, if cov had a regular champo striker in their system then we could have sacrificed a defender to play at extra midfielder but we were too concerned about gyokeres chasing and winning long balls.
 
Laughing said:
I fundamentally disagree with a lot of this.

Firstly a few people have said Carrick had no plan b and robins outthought him.

I don't think this is true. One of the reasons we have been successful this season is because there are multiple approaches in every game. We go through the middle with intricate give and go's. Secondly we go out wide and get croses in. Thirdly we occasionally go long for archer to run onto balls over the top.

If you believe there should have been a plan b and we didn't already use that, what would your plan b have been?

Being Jones and dijksteel on earlier. Yeah cos that worked. They had plenty of time to effect the game 66 minutes on. They didn't.

It was like chess, really? Coventry in 180 minutes had one shot on target we had 4 in the same time.

They simply didn't out think Carrick. They got lucky and scored from their only shot on target.

Another day another result happens.

A little perspective is needed.
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I didn’t see the game of chess to be honest. We stuck to our game plan and it wasn’t working and it didn’t work. Nobody is perfect, but I do think that Carrick has a blind spot when it comes to shythoussery and anti football. Aka Old School Championship Football

The first half that extra man in midfield nullified our beautiful concertina press, with Karanka like confidence/stubbornness we stuck to plan a.. if they had gotten a goal in the first half we would have had a better chance of winning.

We needed to change from the tikka taka final third passing that ramps up our xGs and move away from the delicately floated crosses that normally bring so many assists to Giles and Barlaser.

The Plan B should have been blunt force trauma, driving the ball in on the deck, winning those free kicks and taking instantaneous unpredictable shots at goal around in and around the box.. that goal area should have been peppered. Crooks and Dijksteel should have been on a lot sooner and Marc Bola should have been on the pitch.

We were not tough enough, a highly talented and technical team worthy of lower premier league status.. out shythoused by the supporting cast. A sticks and stones may brake my bones to an absolute mugging. Our faces were pressed into the toilet bowl and our underpants pulled way up over our heads.

——————Crooks——————- ‘the battering ram’
———Giles—Akpom—Jones——- ‘the divers’
—-——McGree—Hackney————
Bola—Lenihan—McNair—Dijksteel ‘the drivers’
—————-—-Steffen————-—-

We took a knife and fork to a fast food burger joint.
 
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