Why have we stopped passing the ball?

N

Nano

Well-known member
This isn't intended to be negative, just wondering what other people have noticed. Tonight we seemed to look for long balls instead of playing the ball out of defence and through the midfield. Under Wilder I would say that our style is very much lots of build up, plenty of passes, move the ball from side to side and look for openings but tonight almost every time we got the ball we looked long. Some times directly to Muniz and others wide to Jones.

We won so it's not a negative. Was this something we did just tonight or is it something we've been doing recently and I haven't noticed? I think, especially in the 2nd half, we invited a lot of pressure by giving the ball away long instead of winding the clock down and keeping the ball. Is Muniz's presence encouraging it because he's a target? The strange thing is that with McGree playing you'd think we'd want to play the ball through midfield more than if we were playing 2 up top.
 
Roberts + Fry = More solid at the back

Steffen + Lenihan = Better getting forward moves going

Tricky bit is working out priorities right now. Think it was right tonight, but that won't always be what we want. Not sure the idea of a stable starting 11 is something we should expect or even want this year.
 
Chutney said:
Roberts + Fry = More solid at the back

Steffen + Lenihan = Better getting forward moves going

Tricky bit is working out priorities right now. Think it was right tonight, but that won't always be what we want. Not sure the idea of a stable starting 11 is something we should expect or even want this year.
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Would agree with this.

Fry defended very well tonight, and I don't think he can be dropped after our first clean sheet, but you can tell that he's not comfortable passing the ball.

Kicked it out for a Sunderland goal kick twice from our half and often hesitated on the ball, no doubt aware of the criticism he's got from it.

I also don't think it helped that Clarke struggled at times tonight.

Our failure to sign another midfielder won't have helped us either.
 
It's been noticeable in second halves of games and when we go into a lead. I think it's a mentality issue but it concerns as I think we've invited pressure on ourselves in some of these games we've let leads slip.
 
I thought we were ok in the first half but second half continually just hoofing the ball forward and losing possession. It made much harder work of it than it should have been. Ought to have won more comfortably really but at least we got the 3 points in the end.
 
It’s still fair to say there’s a lot of players still finding their fitness — the international break can’t come quick enough for a few of them like Howson, Mowatt, Clarke, and maybe one or two others.

We definitely need to work on passing and decision making. Compared to other games we were probably more compact but lost too many second balls.
 
Our midfield were shagged after an hour so we had no choice but to hoof it. I also (begrudgingly) thought they played quite well in the second half, without any real bite, but they put us under a bit of pressure. Sometimes you just need to hoof it.
 
Got to give the opposition credit for some of this, they pressed us high after an hour and we didn’t have any fresh legs to bring on in midfield
 
Air Resistance said:
Got to give the opposition credit for some of this, they pressed us high after an hour and we didn’t have any fresh legs to bring on in midfield
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I agree, but we did seem to chuck the ball up more than normal. Playing to goalie strengths maybe?
 
Sometimes when you’re not winning, despite playing well, you just need to find a way to win a game - hopefully we go on a long winning run now
 
I noticed this too. I thought Warnock was back. What has happened to all our enterprise and interplay from last year?
 
I don't think it's just a 2nd half issue because we were winning. We started off that way as well. Quick look back at other games as a comparison:
Successful passes
WBA 406
QPR 413
SHU 322
STO 422
REA 523
SWA 257
WAT 268
SUN 207

That's a big drop in passes and it can only be deliberate. I wouldn't say we were playing better since the number of passes dropped, despite the results improving. Will be interesting to see whether we continue this way. I don't mind us mixing things up and giving defenders something to think about but I do prefer us playing the style from the earlier games of the season (but winning is definitely better either way).
 
TeaCider said:
Fry defended very well tonight, and I don't think he can be dropped after our first clean sheet, but you can tell that he's not comfortable passing the ball.
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Do you think Fry is less comfortable on the ball because he’s lost his place because he’s been told publicly and privately he’s not comfortable on the ball, and now it’s in his head so now that he gets a start he’s trying too hard to compensate?

I’m not sure of the answer.

Can’t say I’ve ever noticed his possession being that useless, but also defenders are like every other player, maybe more so. They like to play every minute of every game and the more comfortable and confident they are in their place and the unit around them, the better they play.
 
Nottyboy said:
I thought we were ok in the first half but second half continually just hoofing the ball forward and losing possession. It made much harder work of it than it should have been. Ought to have won more comfortably really but at least we got the 3 points in the end.
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I thought we got as many first touches to Roberts’ long hoofs as Sunderland did and Jones was a definite threat with the one on ones which went toward space.
 
No option to rotate or tweek the CM is definitely an issue. We run out of steam after 70mins.

That's not a pop. It's just a fact that we basically have 3 CMs and one of them is 34. It's going to be an issue going up to January.

I also think that we've gone a bit more direct with Akpom and now Muniz. I guess it's because both are pretty physical and give us that option.
 
S7DiscoDown said:
No option to rotate or tweek the CM is definitely an issue. We run out of steam after 70mins.

That's not a pop. It's just a fact that we basically have 3 CMs and one of them is 34. It's going to be an issue going up to January.

I also think that we've gone a bit more direct with Akpom and now Muniz. I guess it's because both are pretty physical and give us that option.
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Another thing I don't like about McGree as a 10 (and McNair at RCB) is that our midfield cover are playing and will be just as tired and likely to get injured. Such an avoidable situation to be in. An injury in midfield means having to change our formation which is bonkers.
 
I think going long is also a testament to the belief the lads have in Muniz to win headers and be able to hold the ball up.

I agree with the Fry/Roberts playing instead of Lenihan/Steffen means we have less confident players with the ball at their feet, but also having that 9 up front who can get himself about, run the channels etc helps too.
 
Agree about Muniz being able to hold the ball up.

Equally although the long ball out may forfeit possession at times it has the advantage that all our players are behind the ball able to defend if possession is lost.
Being turned over in mid field when we aren't too mobile could be more dangerous.
 
I wonder if there is a play for a Fry Lenihan Clarke back 3, which leaves the issue of what to do with McNair.
 
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