Ted Hughes wrote:brite blu sky wrote:We have taken our foot off the gas in every game so far including the comm shield. I'm putting it down to early season getting into the swing of it syndrome, because otherwise it is a concern. Nearly every goal we have conceeded has come from this easing off higher up the pitch and nearly all the goals could have been prevented before they got going imo. It is perhaps also a symptom of no Nige to mop up too. So far teams have broken against us after us losing possession from complacency in the final 2/3rds, us not ready for that and reacting slow. It will get better no doubt about it, but teams so far have had too many break outs and too many corners as a result.
Tighten the concentration higher up the pitch and a lot of chances against us will never see the light of day.
tbh though i really think this will eradicate itself as the squad gets up to speed.
We're doing a lot of running early on, closing down in the oppo's half ala Barca. If we wanted to keep that up at 0-0 & were struggling to do it, we could change 3 players in attack midf, as we now have the options.
I take your point and it probs backs up missing Nige slightly too. Either way though i would think it will resolve itself with fitness and sharpness. Bearing in mind that the extra sharpness would also mean getting more control of games earlier on and so less running to break up play, so it all goes to help towards the 90 mins stint.
The point i was making was more about loss of concentration than pure running. Silva and others let themselves get caught or made just a bit too much of a complacent pass allowing the oppo to pressure a mistake. At 4-1 it is kind of excusable to ease up physically but not mentally. It is just stuff to learn and be wary about.. otherwise they will end up learning the hard way and that will cost us 2 or 3 pts.
Bob could have changed a couple of players but he also probs wants teams to see things out themselves at this stage and players to gain that extra fitness.
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