Lack of energy and aggression

[wilts rover]

I see in Grant McCanns post match comments he is putting the poor performance today down to a lack of energy and aggression from the players.

Looking at the match 'highlights' I would agree with him but add organisation to that.

I remember thinking last week at Newport watching the pre-match warm up how lethargic the players seemed - and it showed as soon as the match started.

But surely these are things that should be in the manager's control? Has he not picked the right players? Or is he just preparing them badly?

[GazLaz]

We were passive today in the first half. We need to be five yards higher up the pitch and more front foot. The fullbacks are generally too deep as well.

[BillyStubbsTears]

We were passive today in the first half. We need to be five yards higher up the pitch and more front foot. The fullbacks are generally too deep as well.

We've been passive for nearly every moment of the past 30 months.

It screams out as Problem Number One. But a succession of managers has ignored it.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

We were passive today in the first half. We need to be five yards higher up the pitch and more front foot. The fullbacks are generally too deep as well.

And that's why I feel wood doesn't fit. We want to play front foot aggressive foot all, you can't do that with someone of his speed. He must be the slowest player I've seen play for us.  Perhaps fine if you sit deep but we don't.  He doesn't fit the team at all.

I think McCann is right though, players were jogging at times not putting a full sprint in.  The two youngsters came on and did do that as did Ironside who again put a shift in despite two poor finishes.

Both full backs seem like defensive full backs and didn't influence enough doing forwards. Maxwell has been hard done by for sure.

[GazLaz]

Too early to judge but there’s a chance we’ve signed 12 players who are generally duds. Based on recent history what makes us all of a sudden capable of identifying good players? Nothings really changed has it. I’m led to believe that GM only identified a couple.

[Pliskin]

We don't seem to have any way of imposing ourselves on the game, or even stopping our opponents from imposing themselves on us. We just turn up and wait for things to happen to us and hoping we can sneak a goal from somewhere.

This has consistently been the case for over two years and depressingly looks set to continue.

[GazLaz]

We don't seem to have any way of imposing ourselves on the game, or even stopping our opponents from imposing themselves on us. We just turn up and wait for things to happen to us and hoping we can sneak a goal from somewhere.

This has consistently been the case for over two years and depressingly looks set to continue.

That’s a really good point. If we play a possession team they have more possession than us. I’d we play a counter attacking team, say Sutton, we fall into the trap of having 60% of the ball so they can nab us on the counter. We never dictate anything.

[BillyStubbsTears]

That third goal is a contender for THE most embarrassingly gutless goal I've ever seen us concede.

Their midfielder picked up the ball 20 yards inside their half and ran totally unopposed to the corner of our box. The nearest we got to a challenge was Broadbent waving his foot in the general direction of the postcode their lad was in.

Then there's a cross that we never look like dealing with. And that breaks to a lad with 15 yards of space at the back stick.

We truly look like a team playing 2 levels above its station. Utterly humiliating.

[GazLaz]

Bailey looks decent. He does his job. The other two midfield spots are up for grabs though. I think Biggins is the best of the others, he’s not a ball player though. As for the filler of the third spot… who knows.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bailey's passing looks like something from 1975.

[StocksArmy]

Lets all cut this bull about what we might be in the future and speak about what is now..... why are we not aggressive? Why do we play with no energy? This isnt down to the system we play its down to players and the manager. Bare minimum you should be both. So why arent we? This is why i feel we wont improve. You either really want it or you dont. Passion isnt something that happens on the training pitch and if they dont have it now they wont have it all season

[Cramby10]

Too early to judge but there’s a chance we’ve signed 12 players who are generally duds. Based on recent history what makes us all of a sudden capable of identifying good players? Nothings really changed has it. I’m led to believe that GM only identified a couple.

this is my biggest fear. There were hints early doors that most players had been identified before GM arrived. And let’s be right the previous regimes record on identifying players has been bloody awful. I had hoped he would put his foot down and insist on better. Maybe he didn’t?

[GazLaz]

Bailey's passing looks like something from 1975.

85% accuracy today. Head and shoulders above anyone else.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Bailey's passing looks like something from 1975.

85% accuracy today. Head and shoulders above anyone else.

I like him, he fits that role well, the issues for me are the runners not getting forwards.

The one criticism of him is those passes are often quite safe passes.  The only real cutting edge pass we saw today was from faal.

[Chris Black come back]

I said this in summer - there is not really a progressive pass in that midfield unless it is from Close of Westbrooke. Problem is that those two are either injured or unless we are playing vs an under 21 side in EFL Cup, outmuscled in each and every game bar none.

[Colin C No.3]

Bailey's passing looks like something from 1975.

That has to be ‘The Golden Globe’ of your negative posts……to date.

[Sammy Chung was King]

He gets paid to make sure these players have the right aggression and and effort. Any blame lays with him, he brought the players in and he has to get the best from them. Really disappointed in how he has gone about things so far, I expected better from him.

[scunny rover]

Is there a case to play faulkner just in front of a back four ,you would get your energy and aggression  then.

[GazLaz]

Is there a case to play faulkner just in front of a back four ,you would get your energy and aggression  then.

There certainly isn’t a case for that.

[Lytham Rover]

The disparity between both Mansfield and Notts County and ourselves was vast

They seemed to have a system and players able to implement that system

We seemed to lack any cohesion or even a hint of a pattern of play
It was all huff and puff and achieving nothing

Why sign all these players if you didn't have a structure that they were going to fit into?

There is also a complete lack of leadership on the pitch?
Wood was supposed to provide that but seems to lose any authority due to his performances being below par

We need to sign a couple of midfield players to provide some backbone to the side
If we don't .......

[Avsuptem]

I can't help thinking that Mc Cann's repeating claims that the players were lacking agression and implying that they are capable of better is wearing a bit thin. It is starting to look like we just have a crap team for this league.

[scunny rover]

Is there a case to play faulkner just in front of a back four ,you would get your energy and aggression  then.

There certainly isn’t a case for that.

Go on then why not

[Rovers91]

Is there a case to play faulkner just in front of a back four ,you would get your energy and aggression  then.

There certainly isn’t a case for that.

Go on then why not

It doesn't really need explaining as to why we shouldn't put Faulkner in midfield.

[scunny rover]

Does to me pls explain, im not atop manager like most on here.

[Lytham Rover]

If you are advocating playing Faulkner why not play him in a 3 at the back in a 3-4-3?
Can't be any worse than we are?

[scunny rover]

I know at this present  time he's not a out and out midfielder ,but tobe in there a protection to whatever formation , a blocker ,disruptive  pain in the arse player
 

[Rovers91]

It's not just a case of having someone in there that's a pain in arse and rough it up in midfield. It will be his positioning in there and Faulkners weak point is his distribution, we give the ball away enough in midfield as it is.
I would be happy for him to get his chance in defence and like someone has said maybe putting him in a 3 at the back could be an option.

[scunny rover]

OK then we keep plodding away as we are,

[dickos1]

OK then we keep plodding away as we are,

That won’t happen, but Faulkner in midfield wouldn’t work.
Bailey is perfect for that role but he needs other player around him to do better.
Close might be suited and I imagine he’ll start the next game

[drfchound]

OK then we keep plodding away as we are,

That won’t happen, but Faulkner in midfield wouldn’t work.
Bailey is perfect for that role but he needs other player around him to do better.
Close might be suited and I imagine he’ll start the next game

I thought that Bailey was our best player yesterday.
His 1975 (  ) passing kept us in the game in the first half.