What happened to our passing tonight?

There were right on us and it disrupted our game, no Idea why Stoke are so far down the table, their midfield battered ours all game really, their balls pinged out wide were superb and they scored from
one of them. Showed everyone else how to nullify us very well.

Swansea tried too but without the players to do it and we rolled them over.
 
Stoke always seemed to step in front of our players, and more times than not, they managed to sneak the ball away, be it for obsession, or out of play. But certainly did well to disrupt our possesion and passes
 
Was poor tonight. Only person I had full trust he was going to find a team mate with his passing was Lenihan. Suppose we can’t be bang at it every game.
 
Diego said:
Was poor tonight. Only person I had full trust he was going to find a team mate with his passing was Lenihan. Suppose we can’t be bang at it every game.
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Interesting take
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To be fair everyone is way down on their accuracy tonight except maybe Chuba. We didn't all just play badly at the same time, I think we have to give Stoke credit for the way they were setup and pressed.
 
Diego said:
Was poor tonight. Only person I had full trust he was going to find a team mate with his passing was Lenihan. Suppose we can’t be bang at it every game.
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Tommy Smith did well, Riley McGree looked great, Chuba Akpom looked bright..

I think we could have done with Matt Crooks in the side and McNair being pushed forward into midfield. Barlaser struggled to plug up the Howson sized hole..

——————-Steffen———————
——Smith—Fry—Lenihan—Bola—-
Forss—McNair—Hackney—McGree
————Akpom—Crooks—————

Howson <> Fry
Giles <> Bola
Ramsey <> Forss
Archer <> Crooks

I think we needed a more direct plan in the 2nd half..Forss ran a lot but didn’t necessarily look effective. Bola is stronger defensively and harps a good shot on him, McNair had a good bolt forward that could them off guard. If Howson had to come off, why not bring Fry into defense and release McNair. This game was screaming out for Matt Crooks imo
 
gravy173 said:
Our press was non existent tonight, they had a very solid 5 on our goal kicks every time. We had 3 at best with out balls for their defenders everywhere
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One particular moment which frustrated me was during the 2nd half, McGree was closing down their defender and the defender was able to play it to a team-mate, because Archer didn't come across as he should have to mark him.

I thought Archer looked leggy to be honest, which is why we struggled to press high up the field. You could see by his body language just before he was substituted that he wanted to come off.
 
Agree they pressed, harried and closed us down with physicality for the full 95 mins and we looked a bit stumped & seemed to loose confidence in our normal game. I thought in the second half the game would open up for us but it just didn't. They played us well & agree they showed others how to do it...
 
gravy173 said:
Our press was non existent tonight, they had a very solid 5 on our goal kicks every time. We had 3 at best with out balls for their defenders everywhere
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agreed and their style isn't to play through the middle, it's pretty direct. If a player in the back 4 or CDM has the ball and isn't under pressure, he gets his head up and bangs a ball long wide left or right. They stretched the pitch and went for our FBs. Smith stood up to it better than Giles to be fair. But you can't let quality players have no pressure and allow them to spray 30-40 yard balls all night.
 
Boro said:
Agree they pressed, harried and closed us down with physicality for the full 95 mins and we looked a bit stumped & seemed to loose confidence in our normal game. I thought in the second half the game would open up for us but it just didn't. They played us well & agree they showed others how to do it...
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not sure many of the remaining teams will have the players to do that to us, or that our press will remain so insipid.
 
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