Rough and smooth

[Salopian]

We bemoaned our luck against Charlton - so much possession (-the BBC reckoned 61%), conceded a lucky goal from a deflection, were denied one goal and had a penalty rejected by a short sighted referee. Lady luck can be cruel, and we feel a sense of injustice.

It was only three days before, however, when we got back into a game and ultimately won 3-1, by means of a headed mistake and also deflection.

Does luck even itself up over a season, as we like to think, or can you make your own luck? There were some good things to come out of Tuesday evening;

- we suffered no new yellow cards - perhaps because we were pressing so much.

- we had nearly four times as many goal attempts as Charlton. They had four and managed to get 2 on target, we had 15, and managed to get 4 on target.

We can learn two things from this:

- good attacking football lifts the pressure from defenders. Perhaps attack is the best form of defence!

- If you can't get attempts at goal on target, you won't score goals. Grabban, in particular, wastes so many chances, but they are all guilty. Even top class strikers miss a proportion of chances, but we have to improve this area, otherwise we can get no return from dominating a game. There are no points for attacking, only for scoring goals.

 

[eatonparkboy]

Well put sir

 

[morty]

Another positive is that this can now become the catalyst for change.

While we were still getting results, despite not being happy with other aspects of the general play, it was very difficult to change a winning (or unbeaten) team.

Neil now has the perfect opportunity to make a few changes.

 

[Canaryboy]

Neil now has the perfect opportunity to make a few changes.

Exactly. He can now proceed to drop one of Grabban or Jerome, and potentially play Wes through the middle again. Howson may get a start. I'd like to see Elliott Bennett brought back into the fold.

Perhaps even Olsson left wing and Garrido left back.

This is the green light for him to start using his squad. 

 

[morty]

Exactly. He can now proceed to drop one of Grabban or Jerome, and potentially play Wes through the middle again. Howson may get a start. I'd like to see Elliott Bennett brought back into the fold.

Perhaps even Olsson left wing and Garrido left back.

This is the green light for him to start using his squad. 

4-2-3-1 gets my vote. I think Jerome looked a bit "off" last night, but we do value his size up front. Will be interesting to see what Neil does on Saturday!

 

[Canaryboy]

I'll be disappointed if he doesn't make several changes for Saturday, he has a big squad at his disposal and we've been fortunate with injuries. 

 

[Matt Hopkins]

Only 2 penalties?

I was sitting 1 row back behind the goal (river end) and Jerome got taken out twice by their CB (middle of Jeromes back).

Totally poleaxed, that's when he started getting tetchy!!

Our head of steam, valved, by some clever Charlton injuries.

Very proffesional job by them, disciplined to a plan with great assistance from the man in GREY, who forgot to go to specsavers.

The only clear chance I saw at that end was a great cross from Redmond that Jerome should have buried but it skimmed his forehead.

It must be said that it is very difficult to get a clear shot on goal with at least nine defenders between the edge of the area and the goal.

Many times one of our players ran across the edge of the box but could find no way through, when we did it was usually from a very tight angle and the keeper covered it.

Our football, was slick (2nd half better than first) and an understanding between the players is developing, so change.........a difficult one.....perhaps needed....but who out or in, there is a good case for any of the ten, for and against(I will leave Ruddy where he is)

 

[morty]

I'll be disappointed if he doesn't make several changes for Saturday, he has a big squad at his disposal and we've been fortunate with injuries. 

Not so sure about several, but the system, at home, certainly needs looking at. Rotherham will be watching the video from last night and planning a similar approach. That said, I don't think they will be as good at it as Charlton. But definitely a good game to have a wee tinker with things.

 

[ZLF]

4231 for me too - with jerome leading the line as grabban is simply missing too many chances.

I am not so keen on the starting Elliot B option - we have not seen much of him but unlike murphy he has yet to have a positive impact in any of his appearances so far this season,  he is yet to capture his pre injury sparkle.  Fingers crossed it does return but at the mo he does not seem to offer more than the alternatives

 

[Ricardo]

You will see a game like this every season that's why you can never be sure of any result.

Football is like life, we think it should be fair but wanting it to be doesn't make it so.

Swallow the pain and move on.

 

[Din]

The fact of the matter is we failed to take our chances yesterday. You can say all you like about the referee (who was an absolute ****) but if you don't take your chances at any level then you're not going to win. And even though the way Charlton scored the winning goal was somewhat lucky (a deflected shot with just a few minutes left of the game), that was their game plan. Sit back and defend well to try and keep a clean sheet, and then if they can nick a goal on the break.

As people have said though, this is now the perfect opportunity for Adams to change it round a bit. I would like to see us switch back to 4-2-3-1, dropping Grabban and bringing in Elliott Bennett on the left wing, moving Hoolahan into the middle. I'd also wouldn't mind seeing Howson come in for Johnson.

However, I don't think it will happen. With the exception of take our chances when they came we did everything right yesterday. I think Adams will keep exactly the same team and formation, unfortunately.

 

[eatonparkboy]

Does anybody envisage that Wes will be top scorer this season? I very much doubt it. And as has been mentioned, we did miss a lot of chances on Tuesday. And do we think it will be between Grabban and Jerome for leading scorer? Probably so. So in terms of scoring, it has to be one or both of those two playing.

Wes has many fans and on his day can be devastating.

But, and particularly at home, I believe the word has got round about what his role is. Our central midfield is dependent on him at the moment as BJ and Tettey do prefer to start from deep. But to see Wes dropping back into the last third to pick up balls one of the other two should be playing is not his role. I believe he is our Silva, our Nasri, where his close control and ability to run across defenders should be utilised in and around the opposition penalty area. But at home, he isn't getting in there as 4 or 5 in front of a back four is too much to draw out. Width will draw them out and I believe we have to have a proper wide man not stick a striker out there just to get him in the team, on the left hand side. 

Personally, I would start with Murphy and tell him to hug that touchline for the first twenty minutes or so and Redmond to do the same. I would drop Wes and would be thinking about Tettey being replaced by Howson. Or even BJ if thats what it takes. Jerome is big and ugly enough to keep two CB's busy and I think Grabban can play the deeper lying striker. But I also think the two wide men must be prepared to come inside and let the full backs run from deep as and when the attack allows.

 

[Watling the Gnome]

My team would be:

Ruddy

Martin Hooiveld Turner Olson

Tettey BJ

Redmond Howson Grabban

Jerome

 

[It's Character Forming]

I think what people call luck in football is only partly luck

For example the headed OG vs Blackpool was the result of a well placed corner and a defensive mistake - the defender not directing his header where he wanted. Or as I would say, a piece of good play by us followed by an error by the defender, which is what football is about - playing better than the other side. So, where is the luck? If a tennis player makes an error to lose a point, you don't hear people say his opponent was lucky. It's odd that people view it differently in football,

Genuine good and bad luck in football is fairly rare and IMO is only things outside the control of the players. For example mistakes by the official.

I'd accept Grabban's goal vs Blackpool had an element of luck because the deflection could easily have taken it wide. But only partly because when you put shots on target you make it possible for that sort of thing to happen, so by shooting more you improve the chances of that sort of luck.