Stuart W
A word to the wise is enough
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 1,891
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.Cast your mind back four months to the League 2 play offs. Cheltenham defeated Northampton 2-0 in the first leg with a performance and style very similar to today. Northampton looked very similar to us yesterday.
BUT four days later in the second leg Northampton blew Cheltenham away 3-0 and went on to demolish Exeter 4-0 in the final. How? By changing their style and formation and battering both their opponents with fast wingers and generally playing further forward, snapping at every ball.
This is Cheltenham manager Duff's explanation of why they lost:
"We got beaten up, no doubt about that. We didn't compete with them physically and that's the first time that's happened this season. When you don't do the basics and they do it very well.
The first 10-15 minutes I don't think we won a second ball. They scored a goal and we took a backwards step. We didn't do any part of what got us in this position and it's unfortunate we've turned that performance in on the night tonight."
We need to follow Northampton's example. Don't let the opposition settle, hustle them, out pace them. We have the fast wingers, we have a great lump of a centre forward, we have hard tackling defenders but yesterday only Demetriou and Egbri showed any toughness. Acquah needs to use his height and strength to bully defenders, Goodship needs to get in closer, Elvis also needs to use his strength more. I think MM is trying to be too clever in his tactics. Look again at what Duff said in June: "We got beaten up, no doubt about that. We didn't compete with them physically.....The first 10-15 minutes I don't think we won a second ball." It ain't subtle, it ain't pretty but it is exciting to watch (I really enjoyed watching those play offs on TV) and at League 2 level it works......we are battling for survival and we need to toughen up and steamroller opponents like Northampton did back in June after being shown up by Cheltenham in the first leg.