Post by irishrover on Aug 21, 2017 13:04:11 GMT
With apologies for tardiness (yesterday was a hangover day) here is my take on Saturday's game. As ever I have tried to avoid other interpretation on here so I can see just how wrong I am.
Brief Summary: We dealt out Bury a thoroughly deserved whupping and really should have won 4/5-0. We were dominant for about 80 of the 90 minutes - crisis averted! Read on for gubbins.
Background - This was a major break for me on a number of levels. I was due to play a cricket match at Radcliffe CC - a very famous old club that counts Gary Sobers and Frank Worrell among its past pros. It was an amazing place with a separate tea room for players and 4 entry points which were used for charging paying spectators back in its heyday. It even had a bank of terracing at one end. Sadly they have come on hard times though and only have 1XI and very rudimentary covers. When my side turned up to play it was pretty clear that the square was a mudpatch and there was no way play was possible. They were working hard to get the game on but the persistent Manchester showers meant it was 2 steps forward one step back. Both our teams have a chance of promotion and they wanted to stick around till 4 to get the game on even though most of us could see the hopelessness of it. So I managed to talk the umpire into calling it off and getting everyone their afternoon back. It was only then that I looked at the football fixtures to see if I could get to a game and realised that we were playing in Bury - I don't know why that slipped me by previously. But that was a fantastic break as Radcliffe is about 2 minutes drive from Gigg Lane. It all seemed like fate - although at the back of my mind I did wonder if it was a cruel joke after last week's performance. Anyway, despite our generally abysmal record there, I love Gigg Lane. Probably my favourite ground in the Greater Manchester area. So many original and eccentric features - like the fact that the stands are at an angle to the pitch, that ridiculously large run off area between the seats and the pitch and the fact that they have what appears to be a bar/coffee shop that runs along one touchline. The Staff of Life is also a proper old fashioned football pub. What better way to spend an afternoon of Manchester showers.
First Half - The first half was the better of the two from the point of view of a contest because both sides came out to play and it was quite end to end. We were definitely the better team and, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen us have so many shots on goal in the first 15 minutes of any game. However, they looked quite bright and threatening on the counter attack. So while I felt that we were clearly in control of the game I couldn't shake the feeling that they looked more dangerous than us when they did get into attacking positioning. Generally speaking though it was an attractive half of football played between two sides whose midfields seemed much comfortable attacking than they did defending. I was impressed with how well out forward players linked together in midfield and around the box. Sercombe (first time I've seen him and he impressed) and Lines both seemed to take turns pulling the strings and did so effectively. Harrison worked extremely hard and was better supported than he normally is when up front on his own. There definitely seemed like a conscious desire for Bodin and Nichols to get up quickly to support him but I still felt we were playing a 4-5-1 formation. But we just seemed to really click as an attacking unit. However, it was the story of late - really nice play in midfield but lack of a cutting edge. Given the dominance we had of the play we really should have created a couple of guilt edge chances. The best one fell to Bodin who badly mis-controlled it. I wasn't as happy with us at the back. It was just all a little hesitant and at times disorganised. Partington (who I liked when I saw him previously) did not look like a right back to me. His basic ball control got him into trouble a few times and there was a general lack of composure. We defended quite narrowly as a result because he seemed to prefer tucking in - a better side would have exploited that I think. But we also seemed a bit unsure when dealing with set pieces etc. Having said that Lockyer did a terrific job on their centre forwards. Overall I was pretty pleased with what I saw though.
Second Half - We just absolutely bossed them. I was a bit worried that we had missed our chance at half-time. I wondered if all those tame shots on goal might come back to haunt us. Instead we took it up a level and they just melted completely. Essentially they just couldn't get through our midfield and constantly coughed up the ball to us in dangerous situations. Our interchangeable 5 man midfield was just too much for them. Nichols impressed me particularly as a pest who drew a load of mistakes through pressing their defenders. Never seen a team give up possession as often as they did in the second half. We just had them totally pinned down. You could see Beckford getting frustrated at his side's total inability to get him the ball. So, yes, they were awful and showed a total lack of composure but part of that was down to the effectiveness of our pressing game. It just had them totally baffled. From the moment that Lockyer scored I didn't really have any doubts that we would win. It was very comfortable stuff. Bodin's second was probably the pick of the goals but I felt we could have had 4/5/6 the way we were playing. All of our attacking players looked threatening and they were totally rattled. That's what makes it a bit annoying that gave up 2 soft goals at the end because that flattered them in the extreme - we deserved a clean sheet for work rate, tactics and quality. We looked a league better than them really and I think it may play out that way come the end of the season.
Slocome - 7. Very good. Composed, handled the ball well and made a couple of smart saves in the first half when they were looking dangerous and good value for a sucker punch goal. It was a cool debut albeit he had little to do in 2nd half. Neither goal seemed like his error but its a shame we didn't end up with a clean sheet.
Partington - 6. The one player I felt the jury was still out on. Delivered a good cross for a goal but didn't look the most assured in the position. Seemed like a centre back playing out of position Natural instinct was to tuck inside and concede the space to the winger. Clearly isn't going to offer much going forward but it was defensively that I was more concerned. Made an awful lot of basic mistakes on controlling the ball and giving it away etc. Wasn't terrible but wasn't convincing either.
Sweeney - 7. Commanding at times but perhaps still has a step or 2 to go to fully get up to match speed. The problem wasn't so much his individual performance so much as the defence as a unit looked a bit vulnerable in the 1st half. Just weren't quite on each other's wavelengths.
Lockyer - 9. MOM. It's ironic considering my relatively criticism of the defence but I thought Lockyer was our best player. Put their strikers out of the game, snuffed out danger and took his goal very well. It was a top performance.
Brown - 7. Standard kind of Lee Brown performance except that he provided additional width going forward in the second half which he doesn't always do and that caused them problems.
Lines - 9. Superb performance from Lines. Pulled the strings in midfield and consistently made darting midfield runs. They didn't look like they had anyone who could handle him.
Sercombe - 8. Was excellent in the first half and was probably our main attacking threat. I felt he went missing a little bit in the second half - may have been a bit puffed. Didn't quite seem to have the same impact to me. But overall looked like the attacking goal threat presence from midfield that we were missing last season. There is some genuine quality on the ball and I really liked the way he linked with pretty much all of our other forward players.
Clarke - 7. Did all the donkey work in midfield and did it very well. For me he is a key player in this formation because he can cover in behind and that allows Sercombe, Lines, Nichols etc the freedom to push on.
Nichols - 7. 'Busy' would be the word I'd use to describe him. Snapped at the heals of their players all afternoon. I thought there was an intelligent edge to his play. He seemed to find gaps and play neat through balls very well. I also thought he seemed like a player who knew what he was about in the last 3rd in front of goal. There was a composure about the way he played. I was impressed.
Bodin - 8. Can't really argue with the 2 goals. Linked well with Harrison and Nichols. Seemed to be all over the pitch in the attacking end at times. One of the most complete and engaged performance I've seen from him - my complaint with him at away games is normally that he does little until he scores. Not today - he was our main attacking threat for the whole time he was on the pitch.
Harrison - 8. I think he deserves enormous credit for the amount of ground he covered and the pressure he put them under. Contributed to our pressing game enormously and caused a lot of problems for them in the channels and wide areas without really getting a genuine sniff at goal. Clearly had them worried and on the back foot. Watching that I've come to the conclusion that if we have one up front it should be Harrison and not Gaffney. Gaffney may win more in the air but Harrison can just cover so much more ground and put the defence under a lot more pressure.
Sinclair - 6. He didn't get sent off for 2 dives this time!
Gaffney - 7. Looked dangerous coming on against a knackered and demoralised defence.
Overall, very much crisis averted. I think we have to keep in mind that in Peterborough and Charlton we played 2 sides who you would expect to be in the top half come the end of the season. I'm not saying that losing 4-1 at home is acceptable but they are 2 sides you would expect to be decent. Bury are a side you'd expect to struggle and we made them look like that. If we can put in performances like that then I have no doubt we will be at the right end of the table this year.