Big one this  

First home game since the Doom 

5-0  is worth a £1

7 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

I’m not sure

 

7 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

whatever the reason

The one thing you haven’t considered is the opposition.

And the fact that there’s 2 sides out there trying to nullify each other. Not every game plays out the way you want/intend even with the best managers/players in the world. That’s football. 

Not even Man City start every game on fire, despite Pep wanting them too. Didn’t work out too well for them either in the first 30 mins this weekend.

Doesn’t make their players or our players complacent, dismissive, over-hyped.

7 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

Biggest takeaway from this game for me was that the second half proved that there is nothing wrong with the manager, the system or the tactics.

What is a problem is complacent players starting games at half speed.

As soon as they picked up the pace of movement and passing we became dominant.

I’m not sure if it’s because they believe their own hype or they are dismissive of fellow professionals they play against for example but whatever the reason they need to wise up.

We have plenty of talent on the bench to bring on if they tire themselves out so they should be starting every game in top gear and not slowing down until they drop dead or the game ends.

I’d say that the good managers this club has had wouldn’t let that first half happen very often. And the problem is not our ability but the fact that first half performance is always just around the corner with this group. 

8 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

We have plenty of talent on the bench to bring on if they tire themselves out so they should be starting every game in top gear and not slowing down until they drop dead or the game ends.

That really won't help our season! 😀

14 hours ago, Mounts Kipper said:

I’m reasonably confident we will go up…. Better chance if we don’t change manager mid season, fails this season and he’ll deserve to be sacked. 

I hope you're right mate

1 hour ago, bwfcfan5 said:

I’d say that the good managers this club has had wouldn’t let that first half happen very often. And the problem is not our ability but the fact that first half performance is always just around the corner with this group. 

As Desperado said, there are 2 teams in a football match. I can recall plenty of Big Sam, Bruce, etc games where we didn't start well, went on long runs without a win, and so on.

Birmingham are hailed as the best team in this division by a distance, yet still lost at Charlton on Saturday. 

We finished 3rd last season. Not quite enough, but better than 21 other teams. We weren't and aren't far off. We have taken 10 points from 12 after a very poor start, and the second half was outstanding. I'm ok with that.

Can Evatt get us up? I don't know. But we'll finish top 3 or 4 again this season if we stick with him.

As I have said before, my personal concerns aren't the football, but the behaviour. Iles gets his Monday interview today, so let's see what comes out of that. 

Anyway, it's only a game.... 🙂

Shrewsbury came with exactly the same tactic as their last game here, the players and staff should have been all over it like a rash, but I agree, player complacency and piss poor coaching 😦.

12 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

Biggest takeaway from this game for me was that the second half proved that there is nothing wrong with the manager, the system or the tactics.

What is a problem is complacent players starting games at half speed.

As soon as they picked up the pace of movement and passing we became dominant.

I’m not sure if it’s because they believe their own hype or they are dismissive of fellow professionals they play against for example but whatever the reason they need to wise up.

We have plenty of talent on the bench to bring on if they tire themselves out so they should be starting every game in top gear and not slowing down until they drop dead or the game ends.

I'm unsure how you reach that conclusion based on half a game.  Its a bit like saying the first half "proved there is a lot wrong with the system & tactics".  That's also untrue, because as @desperado says, there are 2 teams in every game.  (Although I'd say the corner-defending tactics were proved to be "wrong" again, but we knew that before Saturday). 

And the 2nd half showed we have some good footballers and we can be great going forward against that standard of opposition, its a home game v Shrewsbury, we are 2 down, its a reasonable assumption those circumstances won't be repeated very often (hopefully!).  Whether for or against IE or undecided, nothing was proved in the 2nd half v Shrewsbury IMO.

12 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

Biggest takeaway from this game for me was that the second half proved that there is nothing wrong with the manager, the system or the tactics.

What is a problem is complacent players starting games at half speed.

As soon as they picked up the pace of movement and passing we became dominant.

I’m not sure if it’s because they believe their own hype or they are dismissive of fellow professionals they play against for example but whatever the reason they need to wise up.

We have plenty of talent on the bench to bring on if they tire themselves out so they should be starting every game in top gear and not slowing down until they drop dead or the game ends.

Are you certain "players starting games at half speed" isn't just a feature of the system or the tactics?

24 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

nothing was proved in the 2nd half v Shrewsbury IMO.

Largely agree with what you said above.

I think what it does prove is that we haven’t lost that ability to come back at sides when conceding first.

After Exeter and Huddersfield I seriously questioned the mentality of staff/players and didn’t think that would be in our locker, we were too fragile and lacking in confidence. 

Going behind Saturday by 2 did concern me and I wasn’t sure what we would see in the 2nd half. 

But yes it’s against Shrewsbury and that should be expected. So more we’re able to come back against poor sides and a status quo rather than we’ve gained/improved at the moment.

But still, it proves they’ve got a bit of  mental toughness and confidence back which was definitely missing at the start of the season. 

We all keep saying it, but we need to see that more consistently and against better sides to be convinced we are improving. 

Not even sure the 1st half was 'a bad performance' just 2 very predictable and preventable goals given away.

That's my biggest frustration of the whole thing, I understand the tactics of tiring the opposition out with passing it about and moving the ball side to side to keep the defence moving as much as possible.

It all goes to pot far too often when we give away stupid goals as happened yet again on Saturday.

26 minutes ago, frank_spencer said:

Not even sure the 1st half was 'a bad performance' just 2 very predictable and preventable goals given away.

That's my biggest frustration of the whole thing, I understand the tactics of tiring the opposition out with passing it about and moving the ball side to side to keep the defence moving as much as possible.

It all goes to pot far too often when we give away stupid goals as happened yet again on Saturday.

League 1 football innit.

Apart for the marking for their goals which was abysmal, the start wasn't that bad, after the first 15 mins or so what was awful was the long passing from Johnstone and Toal, they didn't give our forwards a chance of possession, and the frequent turnover gave Shrewsbury the momentum.

A player positioned on the D has been discussed as least once on here, these are the basics.

Having said that we came out the second half and upped our game in all departments. We are playing the ball quicker and longer which mixes up play nicely and makes us less predictable.

36 minutes ago, Cheese said:

League 1 football innit.

To be fair I’d be disappointed if an U12s team allowed the opposition that much time and space in their box. It’s been said before but for 2 such accomplished defenders as Evatt and Atherton to not be able to set us up to defend better is mind boggling and for me was a major factor in us not going up last season 

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I'm unsure how you reach that conclusion based on half a game.  Its a bit like saying the first half "proved there is a lot wrong with the system & tactics". 

It's a bit like that famous remark from Dennis Skinner in the Commons, where he'd been reprimanded by the Speaker for saying 'half the MPs opposite are crooks', so reworded it to say 'ok, half the MPs opposite aren't crooks' 🤣

2 hours ago, Cheese said:

League 1 football innit.

The 2 goals conceded were nothing to do with L1 football, they could have been conceded in any division with those tactics (accepting the 2nd goal was a fantastic shot, uncommon in L1).  We didn't play like L1 standard footballers to concede those goals, we didn't play at all.  We literally stood around and allowed them to do what they wanted especially for the 2nd goal, it could have been any of us stood in the 6 yard box, the shots would have been as likely to hit us as hit Santos or Johnston.

2 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

The 2 goals conceded were nothing to do with L1 football, they could have been conceded in any division with those tactics (accepting the 2nd goal was a fantastic shot, uncommon in L1).  We didn't play like L1 standard footballers to concede those goals, we didn't play at all.  We literally stood around and allowed them to do what they wanted especially for the 2nd goal, it could have been any of us stood in the 6 yard box, the shots would have been as likely to hit us as hit Santos or Johnston.

League 1 footballers innit.

4 hours ago, Zog1 said:

Are you certain "players starting games at half speed" isn't just a feature of the system or the tactics?

Are YOU CERTAIN "players starting games at half speed" isn't just a feature of the system or the tactics?

Do folk reckon Evatt orders his players to start games really slow and pedestrian and not mark players on corners?

 

2 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Do folk reckon Evatt orders his players to start games really slow and pedestrian and not mark players on corners?

 

I’m not sure he tells them the opposite though😂

3 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Do folk reckon Evatt orders his players to start games really slow and pedestrian and not mark players on corners?

 

IM CERTAIN ITS A FEATURE OF HIS TACTICS

5 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Do folk reckon Evatt orders his players to start games really slow and pedestrian and not mark players on corners?

 

Play slow and pedestrian - no.

Not marking men on the edge of the box for corners - yes. That is tactically how we set up to defend them. Has been this way for a long time

20 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Do folk reckon Evatt orders his players to start games really slow and pedestrian and not mark players on corners?

A few moonmen seem to reckon so.

2 hours ago, Cheese said:

League 1 footballers innit.

If you want to get out of league 1 you need to be far better than those standard league 1 traits. We want to get out of league 1.

Just now, paulhanley said:

If you want to get out of league 1 you need to be far better than those standard league 1 traits. We want to get out of league 1.

No shit. Currently we're a top end League 1 club, with top end League 1 players.

3 minutes ago, Cheese said:

No shit. Currently we're a top end League 1 club, with top end League 1 players.

About time we started showing it consistently then.