Tired?

[redrobo]

Whatever happens from here on in till the end of the a season our lads have been brilliant BUT I wonder if tiredness is beginning to show with today's performance an example where we seemed second to almost everything and just didn't have the energy to make forward runs with the ball which left us with the only option of the long ball out of defence.

Our midfield players looked particularly static and what is worrying that we don't have ready made and match fit players to replace them.

The next two home games could be a deciding moment in our season but we need to recreate that passing game that we know we are capable of BUT will the number of games that our small squad has had to play be a deciding factor on our season....and in particular the availability or lack of midfield players which is the engine room of any team.

[Andy D]

Our midfield players looked particularly static and what is worrying that we don't have ready made and match fit players to replace them.

with 4-2-3-1 meant today we'd an attacking 3 in Sullivan, CMG, Wildig who did try to get forward with Stockton on own for most of the game.


I'd like to see us go 3-5-2 and get Cole Stockton a strike partner.


I'm still very happy this season, and think our squad is the best we've ever had.

[tim-sanchez]

I agree, Derek seems strongly against rotation unless it's forced on him or a player performs badly. If a player is playing well, they seem to start every match. Looking at our 5 "attacking" players, here's how many minutes they've played in the past 5 matches:

• Stockton: 433
• CMG: 450
• O'Sullivan: 429
• Toums: 426
• Wildig: 427

So they've started each match, and all played nearly every single minute. Even with the incredible fitness we've shown this season, that's going to start showing eventually. Especially when you've got two matches a week.

[Joel Ninety]

Felt like the ball was in the air a lot from our clearances, not the usual short passing game. Mansfield were always hassling us. Pitch looked terrible too.

[Little Shrimp]

We're not really a short passing team, but at our best we're not afraid to play a bit if it's the best way of getting up the pitch - I remember against Walsall almost everything was on the deck as they were winning a lot in the air.

All our passing was sloppy yesterday, be it on the deck or direct to Stockton. Think the pitch was crap in a particularly difficult way - it had obviously been chopped up in rain etc recently but was a bit drier recently so a bit more firm which brought out a lot of bobbling. Our average pass completion rate is pretty low (58.8%) due to our direct style, but yesterday it was 45%.

Think we did look sluggish yesterday although I wouldn't be ringing alarm bells just yet about tiredness, especially after we were all gushing about fitness etc on Tuesday. That probably took quite a lot out of the side both physically and emotionally.

And it's worth mentioning what Mansfield did well too. They weren't particularly stunning in attack, but they were organised defensively and shut off our counter-attacks (our biggest threat) incredibly well. I remember we played a particularly slick few first time passes on the counter and I thought we finally might get a good break with Wildig down the wing, but a second later he suddenly had about 3/4 players on him. Excellent defending.

[BerlinWaller]

We're not really a short passing team, but at our best we're not afraid to play a bit if it's the best way of getting up the pitch - I remember against Walsall almost everything was on the deck as they were winning a lot in the air.

All our passing was sloppy yesterday, be it on the deck or direct to Stockton. Think the pitch was crap in a particularly difficult way - it had obviously been chopped up in rain etc recently but was a bit drier recently so a bit more firm which brought out a lot of bobbling. Our average pass completion rate is pretty low (58.8%) due to our direct style, but yesterday it was 45%.

Think we did look sluggish yesterday although I wouldn't be ringing alarm bells just yet about tiredness, especially after we were all gushing about fitness etc on Tuesday. That probably took quite a lot out of the side both physically and emotionally.

And it's worth mentioning what Mansfield did well too. They weren't particularly stunning in attack, but they were organised defensively and shut off our counter-attacks (our biggest threat) incredibly well. I remember we played a particularly slick few first time passes on the counter and I thought we finally might get a good break with Wildig down the wing, but a second later he suddenly had about 3/4 players on him. Excellent defending.

Nail. Head.
Other teams are allowed to play well against us. Clough is no mug and will have come up with a game plan to stop one of the form teams in the league. They will know that we like to get it to Cole and then get players in around him. If they cut it off at source then we do tend to struggle to break teams down.