Darlo Uncovered

Perhaps we should go to the Arena & play in green so we think we are away from home? Seemed like it was never going to be our night once BPA scored & parked their bus. TBF their keeper made some great saves so they probably deserved it. Mind, Saltmer had his moments too and stopped them making it 0-2 with some great saves

Has AA not learned anything. Mirror image of first 3 games and still no plan B.
We all used to slag TW when he didn’t push Brown up front for last 5 mins. Well AA, it hadn’t worked all game so why doesn’t he just accept launching it and Laing up front. Surely nothing to lose.
Hugely frustrating but away teams have us sussed.

Charman the only positive. Maybe the fact we only seemed to pick up one injury rather than the usual 3 or 4.

No plan B whatsoever when teams get men behind the ball and press us.
Not good enough, some poor performances tonight, Reid at fault for their goal and my god did we miss Hatfield.

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Not convinced by the way we set up. Ended up being 1 CM (Wheatley) and 3 players (Reid, Campbell and O'Neill) who wanted to play in that hole behind the striker, which turned into 4 when Maguire was replaced by Charman. BPA sat deep and defended well to crowd us out, but we played our part in that crowding out too.

AndyPark wrote:That was awful, absolutely shite.

What the hell did Reid offer? Apart from bottling every challenge that come his way.

Fair enough they sat 10 men behind the ball after they scored, but we did fuck all to impact them after that.

Awful performance. Bristol Rovers will turn us over on Sunday on that performance.

This 100%

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My livestream thing isn't working I don't think. I keep paying £8 for homes games and watching the same god awful performance over and over and over.

Don’t understand the formation tonight. Why go 4-2-3-1? Just put Atkinson in midfield, bring Storey in at CH and not play maguire or O’neill. The two with Reid doesn’t work, he doesn’t have the legs. Hoping for Holness, Hatfield and Wheatley on Sunday.

It's all very well having 70% possession but we've got to find a way of picking a route through these gritty, dour, defensive sides full of gamesmanship. Clearly teams have looked at the vids to see how we can struggle to break down teams when we get no time or space to pass the ball around quickly.

Quakerlad wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:44 pm

Has AA not learned anything. Mirror image of first 3 games and still no plan B.
We all used to slag TW when he didn’t push Brown up front for last 5 mins. Well AA, it hadn’t worked all game so why doesn’t he just accept launching it and Laing up front. Surely nothing to lose.
Hugely frustrating but away teams have us sussed.

Yep, a recurring pattern and we had no plan B. We can't try and go through the mass ranks of defenders on the edge of the box time and time again. I thought Reid could have gone up front. Teams have us sussed at home, four defeats on the bounce, must we our worst home start ever.

al_quaker wrote:Not convinced by the way we set up. Ended up being 1 CM (Wheatley) and 3 players (Reid, Campbell and O'Neill) who wanted to play in that hole behind the striker, which turned into 4 when Maguire was replaced by Charman. BPA sat deep and defended well to crowd us out, but we played our part in that crowding out too.

What I couldn’t understand is how little width we had.

We could’ve predicted they would sit back, block out around the D and deny us space.

Yet the majority of the time we tried to go through the middle, or just humped it long.

We didn’t really see the full backs pushing forward. They doubled up on Sousa, but then you exploit that extra space. We just didn’t.

Stop panicking folks - that's Bristol rovers lulled into a false sense of security.

darlobaz791 wrote:Don’t understand the formation tonight. Why go 4-2-3-1? Just put Atkinson in midfield, bring Storey in at CH and not play maguire or O’neill. The two with Reid doesn’t work, he doesn’t have the legs. Hoping for Holness, Hatfield and Wheatley on Sunday.

Thought exactly the same when I saw the team sheet, far too attacking with one man light in midfield and don't get me going on Reid, it's a total mystery why AA continues to find a starting place for him.Really cheesed off after this defeat tonight and quite honestly AA cannot seriously consider this lot serious playoff contenders.

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Must be 4 times that Sousa took a few men with him and there was no-one in support as Gramps says. No speed tonight and players possibly saving themselves for Sunday subconsciously. The running off the ball was abysmal. When someone beat a player or two then no-one was running in support to exploit that space. Apart from Hudson ironically but by then it was too late.

It certainly feels like Groundhog Day every time we play at home. Surely we have to play at least 2 of the following in midfield.
Hatfield Wheatley Atkinson Holness.
Otherwise we don’t complete well enough for the ball. We have to win the ball in in order to win the right to play football. Still think Atkinson should have been in midfield and either Storey or Reid at centre half alongside Laing.

QUAKERMAN2 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:00 pm

darlobaz791 wrote:Don’t understand the formation tonight. Why go 4-2-3-1? Just put Atkinson in midfield, bring Storey in at CH and not play maguire or O’neill. The two with Reid doesn’t work, he doesn’t have the legs. Hoping for Holness, Hatfield and Wheatley on Sunday.

Thought exactly the same when I saw the team sheet, far too attacking with one man light in midfield and don't get me going on Reid, it's a total mystery why AA continues to find a starting place for him.Really cheesed off after this defeat tonight and quite honestly AA cannot seriously consider this lot serious playoff contenders.

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It was like the forward players were in each other’s way as there were too many of them occupying the same space. Even when Rivers came on he kept cutting inside. I thought generally we were solid enough at the back but the midfield area was clearly very weak. AA could have even made the switch at half time. Very naive tactically.

Not much positive about that tonight. Treated the ball like a hot potato in the face of a high press. Concede a really cheap goal from a freekick. Then couldn't summon the energy or urgency to put them under any pressure.

Watson and Hedley too slow in possession. No support for their wide players ahead of them. Sat deep and invited the press. Laing and Atkinson to passive and willing to drop against a long ball, trying to meet the ball going backwards, against a not particularly physical forward. We need Hunt back in and one of McMahon or Liddle. At least they push on and give opposition full backs and wide players something else to think about.

Nothing in midfield. Reid isn't the right player to play in a two man midfield, wandered into advanced positions too often and gave them an easy out by just dribbling into space as Wheatley tried to cover the whole midfield. Hopefully Holness and Hatfield are both fit for Sunday. If we lose the midfield battle against a league 1 team we're in for a very tough afternoon. They doubled up on Sousa but we never seemed to have a spare man anywhere, to exploit the fact that sometimes he had 3 men around him.

Upfront we didn't really create anything, too much through the middle, trying to thread the eye of a needle. Nice to see Charman seemingly fit and ready to play on Sunday. Shame to see Maguire pick up an injury. But nothing particularly good to say about any of them tonight.

Reid at centre half ?!
Never in a month of Saturdays. His mistake gave BPA their goal tonight & never incisive with passes, only side to side.

Losing first four (including Boston) at home in the League is certainly not promotion form. Most worrying is that we seemed to have learned nothing from these defeats and are just doing the same thing every game.
Our tactics away work well but need a complete rethink for home games.

Vodka_Vic wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:00 pm

Must be 4 times that Sousa took a few men with him and there was no-one in support as Gramps says. No speed tonight and players possibly saving themselves for Sunday subconsciously. The running off the ball was abysmal. When someone beat a player or two then no-one was running in support to exploit that space. Apart from Hudson ironically but by then it was too late.

Sousa had some good dribbles only problem was a few times he had already lost the ball! First time I have seen O'Neill since he returned. I was surprised how he lost possession sometimes whereas in his first spell with us he seemed stronger in similar situations. Maybe ring rusty?

jjljks wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:09 pm

Reid at centre half ?!
Never in a month of Saturdays. His mistake gave BPA their goal tonight & never incisive with passes, only side to side.

Forgot that incisive passing was the primary attribute of a CB.

I don't think it's a solution, but not for that reason.

No idea what we were trying to do tonight. O'Neill playing deep was bizarre and should have been canned not persisted with. Reid offers precisely nothing and our midfield had no energy again.

Unfortunately this is now 4 identical home performances which is a worrying trend.

I would love our wingers to chuck in the occasional cross

darlobaz791 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:04 pm

QUAKERMAN2 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:00 pm

darlobaz791 wrote:Don’t understand the formation tonight. Why go 4-2-3-1? Just put Atkinson in midfield, bring Storey in at CH and not play maguire or O’neill. The two with Reid doesn’t work, he doesn’t have the legs. Hoping for Holness, Hatfield and Wheatley on Sunday.

Thought exactly the same when I saw the team sheet, far too attacking with one man light in midfield and don't get me going on Reid, it's a total mystery why AA continues to find a starting place for him.Really cheesed off after this defeat tonight and quite honestly AA cannot seriously consider this lot serious playoff contenders.

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It was like the forward players were in each other’s way as there were too many of them occupying the same space. Even when Rivers came on he kept cutting inside. I thought generally we were solid enough at the back but the midfield area was clearly very weak. AA could have even made the switch at half time. Very naive tactically.

This really. We brought Campbell off again, just like Telford, and didn't change our shape which makes little sense personally. How can we leave it until the 85th minute to bring Hudson on too? What's the point of having him if he's only going to get 5 mins when we're chasing the game.

darlo_baron wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:16 pm

No idea what we were trying to do tonight. O'Neill playing deep was bizarre and should have been canned not persisted with. Reid offers precisely nothing and our midfield had no energy again.

Unfortunately this is now 4 identical home performances which is a worrying trend.

Yep that was the one big mistake for me, I looked at the team sheet and wondered if we were playing 4-4-2 but knew we couldn't with that line up. So 4-3-3 with Reid and O'Neill playing midfield three and I didn't think that would work.

Injuries, wrong selection and some average to poor performances. Wheatley had it all to do and we didn't have enough creativity in the middle or at least it seemed.

Very frustrating that everytime we start rolling forward positively we are brought back down to earth.

In all my years watching Darlo I can never remember us missing a player like we miss Hatfield when he is not there. Wheatley was good again today but he was on his own.

You can have as many plans as you like but when a team scores a goal then parks the bus its very hard to break them down.
Reid should have done better for their goal without a doubt.
Looked to me like some were saving themselves for sunday on that performance.

Surely the message about Reid has to get through to AA sooner or later......

darlo2001uk wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:50 pm

Surely the message about Reid has to get through to AA sooner or later......

What's the message?

AA rates him as a squad player, for the money he is on probably not a bad shout.

Whilst he wouldn't be first on the teamsheet I can understand with Holness and Hatfield injured why he was selected. Just not sure why he was selected in a kind of three with Wheatley and O'Neill.

darlobaz791 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:47 pm

Don’t understand the formation tonight. Why go 4-2-3-1? Just put Atkinson in midfield, bring Storey in at CH and not play maguire or O’neill. The two with Reid doesn’t work, he doesn’t have the legs. Hoping for Holness, Hatfield and Wheatley on Sunday.

I can see why AA stuck with Atkinson in centre defence and he hasn't put a foot in those last 3 matches.

When Laing and Storey were paired together that one match after Hunt's injury, they were all over the shop.

Yet Storey was blossoming next to Hunt, but Laing has never looked more solid than since he's partnered Atkinson. Laing and Atkinson look a good pair. Hunt and Storey look a good pair. Maybe both Laing or Atkinson could pair well with Hunt. But maybe, just maybe, Laing and Storey is not a good pair.