l want to expand on yesterday with what l said about control. So that if l mention it over the coming months, people won’t get annoyed thinking it’s only because we lost a game.
I still think the best teams in the leagues control a football match.
That’s doesn’t mean dominate matches, it just means that the opposition aren’t hurting them for large spells.
There is no doubt we are better at best at both ends.
However, there is a glaringly obvious issue with this team. We lack an inability to control the tempo of a game. We seem to play well, like yesterday, but then go off the boil in such a manner that teams create and should score. Meanwhile Argyle become frantic in their thought process.
We played ever so well against Burton at HP in first half. Yet we gave away possession so easily that we lost the foot hold in the game second half.
Personally, l think we will start to get punished soon by teams if this pattern keeps repeating itself.
It’s a puzzle to me. We have good players on the ball, like Houghton, but for some reason we go from this calm team to a frantic side who look to boot clear with hurried abandonment.
With Sturrock‘s team we got promotion by being drilled and well organised. With Lowe’s team we always going to be more open so it means we can’t be as sloppy because a mistake leads more easily to a good chance.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we are playing badly. We have made huge improvements following last season. Yet that next step has to be us looking after the ball a bit better, when we aren’t on top in a game. Slowing the tempo down. Making the opposition have to work hard to regain the ball. If you have chance to watch the game from yesterday look at the first 25 mins of second half. Look at the chances Oxford created. A number were from us being very sloppy. Bad decisions, in bad areas of the pitch. Your winning the match and we tried to force situations for openings that were not a possibility. That allowed Oxford, just like Burton the previous week, to gain momentum.
l think this is the area that unfortunately will cause us the greatest issue for the rest of this season in terms of maintaining this terrific start.
I still think the best teams in the leagues control a football match.
That’s doesn’t mean dominate matches, it just means that the opposition aren’t hurting them for large spells.
There is no doubt we are better at best at both ends.
However, there is a glaringly obvious issue with this team. We lack an inability to control the tempo of a game. We seem to play well, like yesterday, but then go off the boil in such a manner that teams create and should score. Meanwhile Argyle become frantic in their thought process.
We played ever so well against Burton at HP in first half. Yet we gave away possession so easily that we lost the foot hold in the game second half.
Personally, l think we will start to get punished soon by teams if this pattern keeps repeating itself.
It’s a puzzle to me. We have good players on the ball, like Houghton, but for some reason we go from this calm team to a frantic side who look to boot clear with hurried abandonment.
With Sturrock‘s team we got promotion by being drilled and well organised. With Lowe’s team we always going to be more open so it means we can’t be as sloppy because a mistake leads more easily to a good chance.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we are playing badly. We have made huge improvements following last season. Yet that next step has to be us looking after the ball a bit better, when we aren’t on top in a game. Slowing the tempo down. Making the opposition have to work hard to regain the ball. If you have chance to watch the game from yesterday look at the first 25 mins of second half. Look at the chances Oxford created. A number were from us being very sloppy. Bad decisions, in bad areas of the pitch. Your winning the match and we tried to force situations for openings that were not a possibility. That allowed Oxford, just like Burton the previous week, to gain momentum.
l think this is the area that unfortunately will cause us the greatest issue for the rest of this season in terms of maintaining this terrific start.