Azaz was no doubt a huge loss and Hardie/Whittakers dip in form is because he left. But not replacing him is on Foster/the board. They knew they were losing him in January.
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Not harsh at all. Was his man. Harsh on Sorinola as it looks like Cooper flicks the ball away from him.
I agree (although not sure Azaz caused the drop of form of Hardie and Whittaker as the timings dont fit) but my post was in response to the suggestion that we could have avoided the relegation dog-fight if Foster had been sacked a couple of weeks earlier.
You could also add, as Simon did in his Herald interview this week, that we were always in a false position - by the time Foster had been appointed, we had already played our home games against every side currently in the bottom half of the table bar QPR.
Those games were always going to be where we got the bulk of our points and frankly we got more of them than we deserved - Birmingham, Stoke, Rotherham where we were life and death to get points from the game very late on... Watford, Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Blackburn scoring goals from out of nothing in games where we were dominated for long spells
When Foster was appointed our points per game record equated to 51 over the season. With our most winnable games already banked, it was obvious that would drop off. In points terms we're about where I expected to be, even while Schumacher was in post. The disappointment, as you say, is that a couple of teams who looked like they were going to get cut adrift have now revived.
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Looking at the highlights it seems Sorinola's clearance hits Cooper and drops for Field to give him a chance he cannot miss unfortunately!
A few weeks ago the crux of the issue was how defensive we have become. This isn't like the football under Schumacher people cried.
Last night however, reminded me of a Schumacher game in the Championship.
Firstly, the sideways, backwards passing once we get to the half way line. As our wing backs are often pinned by the oppostion we simply have no where to go when passing the ball out wide.
Sideways, backwards, sideways it went last night once we get near the halfway line. Eventually it gets back to Cooper, who at times had to deal with some terrible messy pass backs to him. This was the pattern for alot of the night. In its extreme worse moment, a CB like Phillips has no forward passing option, hesitates & slips. Or Whittaker (in the first half) comes so deep looking for the ball then when he gets it he decides to play a mis-hit Crossfield pass.
Yet we get fed the notion this build up play leads to good football. What actually leads to good football is the speed of transtion when Argyle hit teams on the break. Im not sure now they have those players to consistently do this.
Tell me a season under Schumacher or Lowe where you haven't seen Argyle try to play it out the back in similar fashion to last night but often the build up play results in us losing the ball, in stupid areas. Go back to league Two in Lowe's first season & watch the first half of Mansfield Town. You will see similar type of mistakes to yesterday. And similar build up issues.
Then we saw what we did earlier in the season. QPR exploiting the space in behind our wing backs. The wing backs aren't deep enough to stop the ball in behind. They aren't forward enough to impact creating chances for the team. Time & time again, QPR were getting in behind & looking to get to our box & get a decent ball in the box.
I looked at last night & wondered how the hell does poor team like Millwall, who go to Rotherham & lose, beat Leicester. Number one they have a threat when they put crosses in the box. Yet secondly, in the heat of the moment they choose the right option when defending. Last night Leciester should have equalised at the end of the match. Yet Milliwall got bodies into their box & defended that goal. There are times when you see some great individual defending from us. Yet other times lm watching Scarr turn like a oil tanker after one of the barrels has fallen off the ship (the ball in this case) & he has to retrieve it. Next thing your watching is a player like Lyndon Dykes out pace him with ease. It's just too easy to create a chance out of nothing against us.
If we can get a draw against Leceister l feel that might help us massively. Yet in all honesty, we need some massive individuals performances before the end of the season. As a team we will try our best, but you have to wonder under the current system where the attacking quality is coming from. Hardie does look knackered. So would l, if l had to deal with the type of service he gets for 90 mins.
Last night however, reminded me of a Schumacher game in the Championship.
Firstly, the sideways, backwards passing once we get to the half way line. As our wing backs are often pinned by the oppostion we simply have no where to go when passing the ball out wide.
Sideways, backwards, sideways it went last night once we get near the halfway line. Eventually it gets back to Cooper, who at times had to deal with some terrible messy pass backs to him. This was the pattern for alot of the night. In its extreme worse moment, a CB like Phillips has no forward passing option, hesitates & slips. Or Whittaker (in the first half) comes so deep looking for the ball then when he gets it he decides to play a mis-hit Crossfield pass.
Yet we get fed the notion this build up play leads to good football. What actually leads to good football is the speed of transtion when Argyle hit teams on the break. Im not sure now they have those players to consistently do this.
Tell me a season under Schumacher or Lowe where you haven't seen Argyle try to play it out the back in similar fashion to last night but often the build up play results in us losing the ball, in stupid areas. Go back to league Two in Lowe's first season & watch the first half of Mansfield Town. You will see similar type of mistakes to yesterday. And similar build up issues.
Then we saw what we did earlier in the season. QPR exploiting the space in behind our wing backs. The wing backs aren't deep enough to stop the ball in behind. They aren't forward enough to impact creating chances for the team. Time & time again, QPR were getting in behind & looking to get to our box & get a decent ball in the box.
I looked at last night & wondered how the hell does poor team like Millwall, who go to Rotherham & lose, beat Leicester. Number one they have a threat when they put crosses in the box. Yet secondly, in the heat of the moment they choose the right option when defending. Last night Leciester should have equalised at the end of the match. Yet Milliwall got bodies into their box & defended that goal. There are times when you see some great individual defending from us. Yet other times lm watching Scarr turn like a oil tanker after one of the barrels has fallen off the ship (the ball in this case) & he has to retrieve it. Next thing your watching is a player like Lyndon Dykes out pace him with ease. It's just too easy to create a chance out of nothing against us.
If we can get a draw against Leceister l feel that might help us massively. Yet in all honesty, we need some massive individuals performances before the end of the season. As a team we will try our best, but you have to wonder under the current system where the attacking quality is coming from. Hardie does look knackered. So would l, if l had to deal with the type of service he gets for 90 mins.
Was thinking last night how utterly ridiculous Luke Cundle's January move was for everyone.
He could have thrived here post Azaz, in the creative role. Instead he's gone to a team where the supporters hate him and he rarely plays, Wolves must be peeved as whilst I'm sure they got a higher loan fee or percentage of his wage their asset has depreciated so no-one has benefitted from that switch.
He could have thrived here post Azaz, in the creative role. Instead he's gone to a team where the supporters hate him and he rarely plays, Wolves must be peeved as whilst I'm sure they got a higher loan fee or percentage of his wage their asset has depreciated so no-one has benefitted from that switch.
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For me we seem to have Whittaker and Hardie trying to win the game on their own. Many times this season a simple look up and pass would have created a goal for those two but no shooting when a pass is on is criminal. Enough said.
That has been the type of roller coaster football we been watching.
Higher up the leagues though they far to clinical to allow your mistakes to go unpunished.
The much maligned Mayor would have been an absolute godsend last night
Yes, indeed.
For Argyle, Cundle impressively
scored 5 goals and gave 6 assists
in all competitions in just half a season.
I don't want to tempt fate (as he's playing against his former club Swansea tonight and he scored against them for us !) but I believe that at Stoke, Cundle has chipped in with
no goals nor assists in the 11 games
up to now.
As we all know, we really miss Cundle and Azaz , like last night.
From now on, hopefully in more central roles, Mumba, Miller , Devine,
Randell further forward, Wright,
Bundu or Issaka can help fill the void and link the midfield with the forwards Hardie, Whittaker and/or Waine , to support
them much more , get shots
from a wider range of players
and get more bodies into the opposing penalty box !
The speed and trickery of Mumba, Miller,
Bundu, and Issaka in the 10 position will frighten any central defenders, possibly win us some penalties etc. and greatly help Hardie and Whittaker.
Or sometimes put Whittaker in the role of Azaz, as he also puts through lovely weighted passes , and then
move Bundu up with Hardie and/or Waine.
We lost Azaz at a very important time, just after Shuey left us in the lurch, and he was very important in getting the ball to Whittaker and Hardie. Without him we have been fairly toothless up front.
I was thinking the same, any team deprived of those players is going to suffer. Then add Cundle, KKH and to a lesser extent, Cosgrove plus no Earley, Gillesphey even Butcher...
The upper Grandstand rarely gets as vocal as last night, HP was rocking at times!