A gallant effort

[drfchound]

How can you say they didn’t lack spirit Gaz?
It was exactly what they lacked in the first half.

Individual mistakes cost us first half. It wasn’t a lack of effort.

100% right Gaz.
Also there was no doubting that Southamptons players generally were higher quality that ours which is to be expected given that they are still on the parachute money which gives them the opportunity to pay the higher wages that good players demand.
Strange to say really but at half time I wasn’t too down, even considering the score.

[Ian Nimmo]

Besides the 3rd goal Senior was very good
Gotts MOM by a mile
Bailey was that his last Rovers game ?

Could well be last game, I don’t think he’s been at his best in last couple of games, and he may be aware he is wanted elsewhere, which he will have to seriously consider.

A bit confused here, are you basing this on the so called Middlesbrough rumours that clearly was created by some random bloke on X?

No I don’t view any social media.
My view is based on his general performances which will be watched by many clubs and their representatives. You only have to listen to away commentaries where bails and mols are regularly identified as being the  two outstanding contributors within our teams performance.
Another key factor apart from his goal contribution, will be his ability to maintain his fitness and be available for every game over the last couple of seasons. Thus he could be a valuable squad player even if he was not able to be first choice in a starting eleven.

[BillyStubbsTears]

We had a devastating 10 minutes in the second half where we crucified them and that was when the two full backs joined in the punishment beating we were giving out, so there was a huge overload of 8 of our players all attacking.

Grand. Trouble is, the "you score 3 and we'll score 2" school of buccaneering football doesn't win you many matches.

Yes it was good to watch in the second half, but overall, over the full 90 minutes it was a poor performance against a side we could and probably should have beaten. Setting ourselves out with such an attacking line up from the start, but playing 45 minutes with so little organisation or intensity or basic work rate is absolutely unacceptable.

They played a starting outfield 10 with an average age of 22, and we showed in the second half that we could out-mester them. But for much of the first half, it felt like we were playing a training game where our players had been told to play at 75%.

It should also be said they were and and are a good championship level club, with aspirations of getting back in the Prem.

For reference, Bolton went off a shorter price to beat us than Saints did today.

I'm not surprised.

Southampton played nearly a full second XI.

In that context, the first half was an utterly shocking performance. Yes we gave them a game in the second half, but overall, that was a massive chance missed.

They had a striker who they paid 15 million for and a centre half who played for England last year.
And you’re mocking the level of opposition

Where am I "mocking the level of the opposition"?

I'm pointing out facts that it was a talented but very young side, few of whom have been regular starters in a side that has struggled in the Championship.

And we made it embarrassingly easy for them to put the game out of our reach.

If you have any counter comments to that, please do make them without making shit up.

By the way. The side that Macclesfield harried out of their stride today collectively cost about £150m and had just shy of 200 caps for England, Spain, Argentina, Croatia, USA and Nigeria.

And we demonstrated in the second half that we could put battle the young opposition we faced today, once we actually started to play with a bit of momentum and aggression.


As usual, I'm not entirely sure what your point is.

It&039;s probably the sentence about we should be beating the side they put out. We're in no position to be saying that since September 2025

I made that quote in the knowledge of how the game panned out. Yes, they had some extremely talented young players, but they looked rudderless when we upped the tempo, and the fact that we created more chances at set pieces than we have in half a season in L1 was telling. That part of the game really did look like men against boys, with them doing none of the grabbing and holding down you get as a routine in the league.

But we were miles off the standard in the first half and that cost us what was an eminently winnable game. We allowed them space and time for their ability to shine. We pressed in packs of one and we didn't impose ourselves on them. And when they broke for the first and third goals, we were ambling back. Absolutely no intensity.

The change of approach after half time showed how fragile they were as a unit and as some individuals. One moment stood out. Hanlan's first involvement was to flatten one of their defenders. The lad got up looking crestfallen. We did none of that at all in the first half.

Personally, after how well our midfield played against Bolton, I was gobsmacked that we dropped Clifton and I think not having his energy and bite cost us dearly in the first half.

[Petche]

Besides the 3rd goal Senior was very good
Gotts MOM by a mile
Bailey was that his last Rovers game ?

Could well be last game, I don’t think he’s been at his best in last couple of games, and he may be aware he is wanted elsewhere, which he will have to seriously consider.

A bit confused here, are you basing this on the so called Middlesbrough rumours that clearly was created by some random bloke on X?

No I don’t view any social media.
My view is based on his general performances which will be watched by many clubs and their representatives. You only have to listen to away commentaries where bails and mols are regularly identified as being the  two outstanding contributors within our teams performance.
Another key factor apart from his goal contribution, will be his ability to maintain his fitness and be available for every game over the last couple of seasons. Thus he could be a valuable squad player even if he was not able to be first choice in a starting eleven.

I do like Bails and he's been quality for us during his time here but he's been off it in the last few games in my opinion. Still not convinced with him as captain either. Badly at fault for their 1st yesterday.

[grayx]

Fantastic second half, Gotts was excellent and Haks just makes things happen

I agree. Also think the lad from everton showed promise & never stopped running.
We do need to strengthen the defence tho, particulary centre half.
Billy offered nothing again im afraid.
Bailey had an off day by his standards

Billy offered nothing? he wasn't amazing by any stretch but he nearly scored twice at the end so think you're being a tad too harsh.

Totally agree, to say he offered nothing is a joke. He gave the centre backs more to deal with than in the first half.
Personally I would have started Billy.

Nice to see the appreciation from their fans when he came on.

Really?
Would love to know why you would have started Billy . Now that is a joke. Even his biggest fan must realise his playing days, at this level at least, are over. As good a servant he has been its one contract too many. I could see him leaving by mutual consent to pursue a coaching role somewhere and wish him all the success if he does. His experience/ knowledge is there, his legs are not now.

[jmt23]

My view is Grant and his analysis team got it wrong.
 I imagine we have had them watched a few times and the feedback was the big centre back ( so tall I imagine he has snow on top of his head all year round) was rubbish with the ball, so the tactic was to let him have it, wait for the poor ball  then pounce.
Unfortunately, I think the analysis team didn’t pick up that only when he was pressed is he so poor with the ball.
 We got right in his face in the second and he had either changed his boots for 50p pieces or he couldn’t handle the pressure and just crumbled.

It was worth noting the shear amount of tactical fouling they did off the ball too, blocking runs, holding players, tripping players up and the general sh?!housery of pretending to be injured.

The ref was fairly good with understanding their pretending to be injured and requesting fouls. BUT, only 7 mins injury time, one of their lads was sat down for 5 mins after he pretended to be hurt by that muscle man Gibbo, should have been well over 10 mins with the subs and goals.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I think it's fair to say Bailey isn't the best technically and perhaps, particularly of late, his hesitancy, ball control and passing ability is symptomatic of our frailties which are costing us dear. We've seen all our players be a little careless at times and the opposition have been quite ruthless in taking advantage of sloppiness.

With Bails scoring a few goals by getting into those advanced positions have glossed over the other weaknesses..

Fortunately, the emergence of Gotts gives us some hope and together with Robinson, the midfield will hopefully be stronger as a unit.

Where that leaves Bailey, I'm not sure as it'll be a big call to leave him out. Would he be better off competing with Clifton for that more advanced midfield role? With Haks and Gibson there's even more competition for those attacking positions.

I think we just need to hope Gotts stays fit over the next few weeks as it feels we can build a team around him.

Obviously still some question marks about the centre half slots and the keeper but who knows, Clark might bring a calming influence and a strong voice to our defensive organisation.

We just need to tip the balance so the goals for, exceed those against. We've succeeded in that two second half seasons running. I think we can do it. 

[Leedsrover]

It was great to see an inswinging corner right under the crossbar that resulted in a goal-still wondering why we took so many out swingers after that?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Watching their first goal again on the highlights really hits home how ridiculously we set up in the first half. Yes it was an error by Bailey, but the whole structure of our set up at that moment was insane and gave us no cover for a mistake.

When Bailey gets tackled in the centre circle, other that McGrath who played the pass, there's no Rovers player within 18-20 yards of Bailey. There are FIVE Southampton players closer to him than that. Even if he didn't make the mistake, he was under massive pressure and unlikely to do anything with the ball.

Meanwhile, in addition to a front line of 4 players, Sterrey is 10 yards inside their half and God alone knows where Senior is. Somewhere up near their box given where he is when he appears in the shot sprinting back.

Then when they break, they break much faster than our players respond. Gotts (who was generally very good) was 3 yards inside their half when Bailey was fouled. Fellows was 15 yards further into their half. Yet 7 seconds later, Fellows is in our box, 3-4 yards ahead of Gotts.

Ok.

Fellows cost £8m. Accepted. Maybe he's just a sharper, faster, quicker responder than our players. Accepted.

But then for f**ks sake, don't set us up with an approach that says to them "There you go. If we slip up once, you've got 75 yards of freedom."

Setting up like that meant that one slip turned comfortable possession into a 4-on-2 in our box in 9 seconds.

It's shit or bust football and we get picked off far too easily.

If you are going to play like that, you've GOT to have a Clifton in the middle, who will run his blood to water for an hour and give some coverage for mistakes. Madness to play Gibson instead of him yesterday.

[Filo]

Watching their first goal again on the highlights really hits home how ridiculously we set up in the first half. Yes it was an error by Bailey, but the whole structure of our set up at that moment was insane and gave us no cover for a mistake.

When Bailey gets tackled in the centre circle, other that McGrath who played the pass, there's no Rovers player within 18-20 yards of Bailey. There are FIVE Southampton players closer to him. Even if he didn't make the mistake, he was under massive pressure and unlikely to do anything with the ball.

Meanwhile, in addition to a front line of 4 players, Sterrey is 10 yards inside their half and God alone knows where Senior is. Somewhere up near their box given where he is when he appears in the shot sprinting back.

Then when they break, they break much faster than our players respond. Gotts (who was generally very good) was 3 yards inside their half when Bailey was fouled. Fellows was 15 yards further into their half. Yet 7 seconds later, Fellows is in our box, 3-4 yards ahead of Gotts.

Ok.

Fellows cost £8m. Accepted. Maybe he's just a sharper, faster, quicker responder than our players. Accepted.

But then for f**ks sake, don't set us up with an approach that says to them "There you go. If we slip up once, you've got 75 yards of freedom."

Setting up like that meant that one slip turned comfortable possession into a 4-on-2 in our box in 9 seconds.

It's shit or bust football and we get picked off far too easily.

If you are going to play like that, you've GOT to have a Clifton in the middle, who will run his blood to water for an hour and give some coverage for mistakes. Madness to play Gibson instead of him yesterday.

Agree with that, but have to say Bailey was fouled

[tommy toes]

How can you say they didn’t lack spirit Gaz?
It was exactly what they lacked in the first half.

Individual mistakes cost us first half. It wasn’t a lack of effort.

100% right Gaz.
Also there was no doubting that Southamptons players generally were higher quality that ours which is to be expected given that they are still on the parachute money which gives them the opportunity to pay the higher wages that good players demand.
Strange to say really but at half time I wasn’t too down, even considering the score.

If that’s the case hound then why didn’t their higher quality shine out when we changed our approach in the second half when we were all over them.
Or are you just being awkward coz its me.

[BillyStubbsTears]

By the way, I'm not picking on Gibson, but their third goal shows how stupid it was picking him in that position.

When Archer comes deep to receive the ball from their centre half with no Rovers player in the same postcode, Gibson doesn't move more than 2 yards in 5 seconds. He's static. He's actually, when Archer receives the ball, our furthest forward player. But has not been part of any pressure.

Imagine Clifton in that situation. He'd have been melting his boots to cover ground and deny space.

Again, this isn't Gibson's fault. He's just not that player. So why in God's name select him there?

We are not turning this season round by going balls out with 4 up front, and banking on scoring 5 if we concede 4. We've got to have a formation and a selection that at least makes teams work bloody hard to make chances.

We stumbled on that against Bolton. Then ripped it up and rolled the dice yesterday. I really don't get it.

The second half was great and I screamed my head off as much as anyone. But you don't save seasons (or many matches) like that.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Watching their first goal again on the highlights really hits home how ridiculously we set up in the first half. Yes it was an error by Bailey, but the whole structure of our set up at that moment was insane and gave us no cover for a mistake.

When Bailey gets tackled in the centre circle, other that McGrath who played the pass, there's no Rovers player within 18-20 yards of Bailey. There are FIVE Southampton players closer to him. Even if he didn't make the mistake, he was under massive pressure and unlikely to do anything with the ball.

Meanwhile, in addition to a front line of 4 players, Sterrey is 10 yards inside their half and God alone knows where Senior is. Somewhere up near their box given where he is when he appears in the shot sprinting back.

Then when they break, they break much faster than our players respond. Gotts (who was generally very good) was 3 yards inside their half when Bailey was fouled. Fellows was 15 yards further into their half. Yet 7 seconds later, Fellows is in our box, 3-4 yards ahead of Gotts.

Ok.

Fellows cost £8m. Accepted. Maybe he's just a sharper, faster, quicker responder than our players. Accepted.

But then for f**ks sake, don't set us up with an approach that says to them "There you go. If we slip up once, you've got 75 yards of freedom."

Setting up like that meant that one slip turned comfortable possession into a 4-on-2 in our box in 9 seconds.

It's shit or bust football and we get picked off far too easily.

If you are going to play like that, you've GOT to have a Clifton in the middle, who will run his blood to water for an hour and give some coverage for mistakes. Madness to play Gibson instead of him yesterday.

Agree with that, but have to say Bailey was fouled

I thought that at the time. Watching the video, I think their lad just got a toe on the ball. Whether than absolves you of going through someone's back I don't really know.

[ncRover]

Watching their first goal again on the highlights really hits home how ridiculously we set up in the first half. Yes it was an error by Bailey, but the whole structure of our set up at that moment was insane and gave us no cover for a mistake.

When Bailey gets tackled in the centre circle, other that McGrath who played the pass, there's no Rovers player within 18-20 yards of Bailey. There are FIVE Southampton players closer to him than that. Even if he didn't make the mistake, he was under massive pressure and unlikely to do anything with the ball.

Meanwhile, in addition to a front line of 4 players, Sterrey is 10 yards inside their half and God alone knows where Senior is. Somewhere up near their box given where he is when he appears in the shot sprinting back.

Then when they break, they break much faster than our players respond. Gotts (who was generally very good) was 3 yards inside their half when Bailey was fouled. Fellows was 15 yards further into their half. Yet 7 seconds later, Fellows is in our box, 3-4 yards ahead of Gotts.

Ok.

Fellows cost £8m. Accepted. Maybe he's just a sharper, faster, quicker responder than our players. Accepted.

But then for f**ks sake, don't set us up with an approach that says to them "There you go. If we slip up once, you've got 75 yards of freedom."

Setting up like that meant that one slip turned comfortable possession into a 4-on-2 in our box in 9 seconds.

It's shit or bust football and we get picked off far too easily.

If you are going to play like that, you've GOT to have a Clifton in the middle, who will run his blood to water for an hour and give some coverage for mistakes. Madness to play Gibson instead of him yesterday.

We miss Olowu’s recovery pace for McCann’s attacking style to not be so exposed.

[drfchound]

Watching their first goal again on the highlights really hits home how ridiculously we set up in the first half. Yes it was an error by Bailey, but the whole structure of our set up at that moment was insane and gave us no cover for a mistake.

When Bailey gets tackled in the centre circle, other that McGrath who played the pass, there's no Rovers player within 18-20 yards of Bailey. There are FIVE Southampton players closer to him. Even if he didn't make the mistake, he was under massive pressure and unlikely to do anything with the ball.

Meanwhile, in addition to a front line of 4 players, Sterrey is 10 yards inside their half and God alone knows where Senior is. Somewhere up near their box given where he is when he appears in the shot sprinting back.

Then when they break, they break much faster than our players respond. Gotts (who was generally very good) was 3 yards inside their half when Bailey was fouled. Fellows was 15 yards further into their half. Yet 7 seconds later, Fellows is in our box, 3-4 yards ahead of Gotts.

Ok.

Fellows cost £8m. Accepted. Maybe he's just a sharper, faster, quicker responder than our players. Accepted.

But then for f**ks sake, don't set us up with an approach that says to them "There you go. If we slip up once, you've got 75 yards of freedom."

Setting up like that meant that one slip turned comfortable possession into a 4-on-2 in our box in 9 seconds.

It's shit or bust football and we get picked off far too easily.

If you are going to play like that, you've GOT to have a Clifton in the middle, who will run his blood to water for an hour and give some coverage for mistakes. Madness to play Gibson instead of him yesterday.

Agree with that, but have to say Bailey was fouled

I thought at the time that Bailey was found and after watching the highlights I still think he was fouled.

[drfchound]

How can you say they didn’t lack spirit Gaz?
It was exactly what they lacked in the first half.

Individual mistakes cost us first half. It wasn’t a lack of effort.

100% right Gaz.
Also there was no doubting that Southamptons players generally were higher quality that ours which is to be expected given that they are still on the parachute money which gives them the opportunity to pay the higher wages that good players demand.
Strange to say really but at half time I wasn’t too down, even considering the score.

If that’s the case hound then why didn’t their higher quality shine out when we changed our approach in the second half when we were all over them.
Or are you just being awkward coz its me.

Don’t big yourself up Tommy, I don’t really care what you think.
But to answer your question, we didn’t make as many mistakes in the second half as we did in the first half, plus we upped the tempo.
By the same token, the Southampton players DID still show their superior quality.

[BillyStubbsTears]

How can you say they didn’t lack spirit Gaz?
It was exactly what they lacked in the first half.

Individual mistakes cost us first half. It wasn’t a lack of effort.

You really think the third goal was due to an individual mistake rather than a poor structure and a total lack of intensity in our midfield?

Or that a slip 8 yards inside their half must result in a 4-on-2 in our box?

[GazLaz]

Watching their first goal again on the highlights really hits home how ridiculously we set up in the first half. Yes it was an error by Bailey, but the whole structure of our set up at that moment was insane and gave us no cover for a mistake.

When Bailey gets tackled in the centre circle, other that McGrath who played the pass, there's no Rovers player within 18-20 yards of Bailey. There are FIVE Southampton players closer to him. Even if he didn't make the mistake, he was under massive pressure and unlikely to do anything with the ball.

Meanwhile, in addition to a front line of 4 players, Sterrey is 10 yards inside their half and God alone knows where Senior is. Somewhere up near their box given where he is when he appears in the shot sprinting back.

Then when they break, they break much faster than our players respond. Gotts (who was generally very good) was 3 yards inside their half when Bailey was fouled. Fellows was 15 yards further into their half. Yet 7 seconds later, Fellows is in our box, 3-4 yards ahead of Gotts.

Ok.

Fellows cost £8m. Accepted. Maybe he's just a sharper, faster, quicker responder than our players. Accepted.

But then for f**ks sake, don't set us up with an approach that says to them "There you go. If we slip up once, you've got 75 yards of freedom."

Setting up like that meant that one slip turned comfortable possession into a 4-on-2 in our box in 9 seconds.

It's shit or bust football and we get picked off far too easily.

If you are going to play like that, you've GOT to have a Clifton in the middle, who will run his blood to water for an hour and give some coverage for mistakes. Madness to play Gibson instead of him yesterday.

Agree with that, but have to say Bailey was fouled

I don’t think it was a foul. Didn’t even contemplate it being one watching live either.

[mpc123]

Here we go all the well known premiership managers telling us exactly what happened and what we are doing wrong.

We lost 3 nil in the first half to a championship team and won 2 nil and could have even won it in the 2nd half.

Simples!

A signing or 2 to sure up the defense and I think we will have a very good 2nd half of the season.

Lets all go and enjoy it. Come on rovers!

[GazLaz]

How can you say they didn’t lack spirit Gaz?
It was exactly what they lacked in the first half.

Individual mistakes cost us first half. It wasn’t a lack of effort.

You really think the third goal was due to an individual mistake rather than a poor structure and a total lack of intensity in our midfield?

Or that a slip 8 yards inside their half must result in a 4-on-2 in our box?

Giving the ball away so weakly in that situation, against a good team, is going to leave you very open. We had controlled possession, you need to have players in advance of the ball. We had two centre halves playing that struggle to defence counter attacks against poor teams so it will be tough for them against decent ones.

[GazLaz]

Here we go all the well known premiership managers telling us exactly what happened and what we are doing wrong.

We lost 3 nil in the first half to a championship team and won 2 nil and could have even won it in the 2nd half.

Simples!

A signing or 2 to sure up the defense and I think we will have a very good 2nd half of the season.

Lets all go and enjoy it. Come on rovers!

People having an opinion on football on football forum shocker.

[mpc123]

Not saying you can't or its a shock, its definiately not a shock. Pointless conversations, that I cant stop reading as the thread title is gallant effort. Of which it was a very positive view, which actually I think you have.

The top prem team players make mistakes, it isnt going to change with a league one side against a championship side especially.

Great effort Rovers, lets take that positivity of the 2nd half into our next game.

Lets get behind them!

[selby]

  The ball played to Bailey was stupid and the reason the full backs Billy were out of position especially the left side who was wanting the ball down the line in the channel, where we got some joy all the game.
  Not only that , When McGrath passed that ball into danger he was 10 to twenty yards wide left of his central position leaving space straight down the middle which their player ran straight into, and he hasn't the pace to cover. His out ball had to be wide or over the top into the channel.
  Poor decisions that put the onus on other players, a Hollywood ball that has danger all over it that got punished.
  Other teams have seen it and intercept it on a regular basis and have done when he is in possession in not just yesterdays game, it cost us a goal and the game yesterday.
  The answer don't over complicate defending, look for the out ball wide out of danger and just watched Brighton do exactly that v Manchester United, it's not showy but works and don't try and do what you can't do.

[Spud]

Watching their first goal again on the highlights really hits home how ridiculously we set up in the first half. Yes it was an error by Bailey, but the whole structure of our set up at that moment was insane and gave us no cover for a mistake.

When Bailey gets tackled in the centre circle, other that McGrath who played the pass, there's no Rovers player within 18-20 yards of Bailey. There are FIVE Southampton players closer to him. Even if he didn't make the mistake, he was under massive pressure and unlikely to do anything with the ball.

Meanwhile, in addition to a front line of 4 players, Sterrey is 10 yards inside their half and God alone knows where Senior is. Somewhere up near their box given where he is when he appears in the shot sprinting back.

Then when they break, they break much faster than our players respond. Gotts (who was generally very good) was 3 yards inside their half when Bailey was fouled. Fellows was 15 yards further into their half. Yet 7 seconds later, Fellows is in our box, 3-4 yards ahead of Gotts.

Ok.

Fellows cost £8m. Accepted. Maybe he's just a sharper, faster, quicker responder than our players. Accepted.

But then for f**ks sake, don't set us up with an approach that says to them "There you go. If we slip up once, you've got 75 yards of freedom."

Setting up like that meant that one slip turned comfortable possession into a 4-on-2 in our box in 9 seconds.

It's shit or bust football and we get picked off far too easily.

If you are going to play like that, you've GOT to have a Clifton in the middle, who will run his blood to water for an hour and give some coverage for mistakes. Madness to play Gibson instead of him yesterday.

Agree with that, but have to say Bailey was fouled

I don’t think it was a foul. Didn’t even contemplate it being one watching live either.

I've not seen the replay but thought at the time he took a bad touch then was simply muscled off it.

[GazLaz]

It wasn’t the greatest ball of all time but Bailey is good enough to deal with it. Poor technique taking it square on and lack of scanning to know where the danger was coming from cost him. 

[DonnyBazR0ver]

It wasn’t the greatest ball of all time but Bailey is good enough to deal with it. Poor technique taking it square on and lack of scanning to know where the danger was coming from cost him. 

Agree. It was a standard pass and one which any of the deepest midfielders should cope with easily. There was an easy return pass on and at that point, we'd sucked them out into pressing us. Our next pass would have been a more probing pass to take advantage of the overload we'd created, with our two full backs pushed up. We play like this alot and is one of the reasons we're successful on the break.

Of course, it falls down with individual errors but that doesn't mean we should resort to being too safe. We've been there and that's why McCann wants them to be brave.

In this instance, we were slow to react , as we were for their second goal too, but it was the turnover which was the root cause. It wasn't a foul either.

[BillyStubbsTears]

It wasn’t the greatest ball of all time but Bailey is good enough to deal with it. Poor technique taking it square on and lack of scanning to know where the danger was coming from cost him. 

Agree. It was a standard pass and one which any of the deepest midfielders should cope with easily. There was an easy return pass on and at that point, we'd sucked them out into pressing us. Our next pass would have been a more probing pass to take advantage of the overload we'd created, with our two full backs pushed up. We play like this alot and is one of the reasons we're successful on the break.

Of course, it falls down with individual errors but that doesn't mean we should resort to being too safe. We've been there and that's why McCann wants them to be brave.

In this instance, we were slow to react , as we were for their second goal too, but it was the turnover which was the root cause. It wasn't a foul either.

Being brave is one thing.

Setting yourself up so that a bobble or a poor touch leaves you facing a 4-on-2 attack is mad.

[GazLaz]

It wasn’t the greatest ball of all time but Bailey is good enough to deal with it. Poor technique taking it square on and lack of scanning to know where the danger was coming from cost him. 

Agree. It was a standard pass and one which any of the deepest midfielders should cope with easily. There was an easy return pass on and at that point, we'd sucked them out into pressing us. Our next pass would have been a more probing pass to take advantage of the overload we'd created, with our two full backs pushed up. We play like this alot and is one of the reasons we're successful on the break.

Of course, it falls down with individual errors but that doesn't mean we should resort to being too safe. We've been there and that's why McCann wants them to be brave.

In this instance, we were slow to react , as we were for their second goal too, but it was the turnover which was the root cause. It wasn't a foul either.

Being brave is one thing.

Setting yourself up so that a bobble or a poor touch leaves you facing a 4-on-2 attack is mad.

We should know that if a mistake is made like that the next action has to be foul!

[grayx]

It wasn’t the greatest ball of all time but Bailey is good enough to deal with it. Poor technique taking it square on and lack of scanning to know where the danger was coming from cost him. 

I just dont see why mcgrath made that pass in the first place. Put Bailey under instant pressure, wasnt fouled in my opinion.

[GazLaz]

It wasn’t the greatest ball of all time but Bailey is good enough to deal with it. Poor technique taking it square on and lack of scanning to know where the danger was coming from cost him. 

I just dont see why mcgrath made that pass in the first place. Put Bailey under instant pressure, wasnt fouled in my opinion.

Not sure it was the best option but passing to players that have pressure on them happens at times. Bailey is usually pretty good at taking balls in that situation, he made a mistake playing a level up, it can happen.