Sturrock in denial?

[dannypav]

He could(and would)always play a short ball to feet though,which Prosser seems unable(or unwilling) to do.

Whilst not disagreeing with that claim , it is also partly down to the ability and willingness of the ball receiver.
i.e. Wide men lacking ability or confidence tend to 'hide' and not make themselves available for the simple / short pass , leaving the full back with no option but to hit it long.
As I say , I'm not totally absolving Prosser , but it's not always quite what it seems IMO.

 

[Jim Stannard]

I am so tired of the Barcelona references or cracks about Messi. Believe it or not there are varying levels of footballing ability. The anti-hoofball brigade, and I guess I am one, just want to see what we know the players can do, to their level.

I don't think anyone is in the 'pro-hoofball brigade', are they? Those with a different opinion to you are just putting more faith in the manager's ability to know 'what the players can do'. Lots of whom he knows from previous clubs.

As Beefy and others rightly observe, Sturrock is more an advocate of playing long balls into areas of the final third of the pitch, then playing (and having witnessed the passing of Phillips, Barker, Gilbert, etc, I can completely understand why). He doesn't encourage aimless hoofball. Misdirected long balls from the back are very different to aimless ones, and less likely to create a goal scoring opportunity for the opposition than a misdirected short pass.

 

[Beefy]

He could(and would)always play a short ball to feet though,which Prosser seems unable(or unwilling) to do.

It helped that he had one of the best players we've ever had in front of him as a passing option.

 

[kentblues]

PS can't win.
Classic example witness myself vereses Wycome- long ball down channel to Assombalonga then Tomlin, beuatifully brough under control in both cases and all around shoutoning great ball, great play et al

Same ball to someone else not controlled- hoofball, hoofball etc.

Its not about the tactic, its about execution of the tactic as much as anything else.

We seemto be combining the long ball down the channel with working it thru the midfields and that is more than fine by me.

 

[united we stand]

He could(and would)always play a short ball to feet though,which Prosser seems unable(or unwilling) to do.

We need someone to be sad enough on Saturday to count his passes, long/ short, result of pass. and very importatntly if he played it long was there an option open------and then do the same for Sean

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

Id be hard pressed to choose between him and Prosser though. Seeing Prosser launch a ball up the wing (ie no where near a forward) does get tiresome.

I wouldnt. Che had a very good season in a league 1 champion winning side. Prosser will only ever dream of that.

 

[onceknownasrab]

PS can't win.
Classic example witness myself vereses Wycome- long ball down channel to Assombalonga then Tomlin, beuatifully brough under control in both cases and all around shoutoning great ball, great play et al

Same ball to someone else not controlled- hoofball, hoofball etc.

Its not about the tactic, its about execution of the tactic as much as anything else.

We seemto be combining the long ball down the channel with working it thru the midfields and that is more than fine by me.

I agree with you on this one. I am anti-hoofball but as I keep saying I do not believe we have played much of it this season and an occasional long ball will be seen in the game whatever league you are in. I personally feel the blend of tactics executed at the moment are about right and entertaining. I know others keep saying it does not matter how we play as long as we get success but I genuinely believe we can achieve success and play an acceptable/palatable brand of football. I am not knocking PS, on the contrary, I feel he boobed last season but think he has got it nearer the mark this time round.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

 

[southendwill]

not really sure what sturrock is trying to prove a goal is a goal at the end of the day

 

[southchurch]

''Get him out of Denial and throw him in the Thames.''
Some one had to say it. :smile:

Some great points on this thread.
''Prosser can only pass it short if some one shows for it.''
This is very true. Watching Pros latley it does seem he is looking for this simple pass and long may it last.
As a defender in the air and trying his hardest I don't have a problem with him.
I also agree with the point that 4th tier players don't have to be incapable of pass and move football.
Even at this level they are still very good footballers by your average park standards. Take any player in the 2nd division and they would be an absolute star in a sunday league team.
This Barcelona stuff is really annoying as pointed out. No one's that naive to expect to see that style down the Hall but we sure can do a bit better than a long punt.
If PS thinks these players are not up to playing a bit of football ( I said a bit notice NOT BARCELONA) then he is at fault for employing them. And if its true that the players do think they CAN play it round a bit.Then good luck to them.
Are we saying that the only time PS let them had their heads was against Spurs. Then he says ''see , told you it wouldn't work''. Against Spurs even a weakened team it was never going to work. Would humping it long have worked against Spurs?
PS did a fantastic job at his first spell at Plymouth Argyle and is legend there. Problem was , when he finally went back there.....they sacked him because of a long run of poor results.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

He could(and would)always play a short ball to feet though,which Prosser seems unable(or unwilling) to do.

Prosser passed to feet at every opportunity on Tuesday because he was given an option. It's ok you giving it the big'un about Prosser this and Prosser that but you don't even go to games so no idea where you draw your conclusions from.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Prosser passed to feet at every opportunity on Tuesday because he was given an option. It's ok you giving it the big'un about Prosser this and Prosser that but you don't even go to games so no idea where you draw your conclusions from.

To be fair though, there are plenty on here that DO go and they also frequently fail to see how much he has improved. Pross made some great challenges on Tuesday and was fairly invincible in the air, yet, for some, that's still not enough. FWIW, I thought Phillips was more guilty of hoofing on Tuesday than Prosser was.

Anyway, to go back to the point of this thread, and as others have said, I think Sturrock is quite entitled to have his say, especially in response to some on here that seem to have a very blinkered view of his management skills.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

To be fair though, there are plenty on here that DO go and they also frequently fail to see how much he has improved. Pross made some great challenges on Tuesday and was fairly invincible in the air, yet, for some, that's still not enough. FWIW, I thought Phillips was more guilty of hoofing on Tuesday than Prosser was.

I noticed this also but I think people let Phillips off as he is defensively better than Pross

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Prosser passed to feet at every opportunity on Tuesday because he was given an option. It's ok you giving it the big'un about Prosser this and Prosser that but you don't even go to games so no idea where you draw your conclusions from.

I doubt if he's changed his playing style much from the three games I saw him play last season.The evidence from Blues Player and what critics of his say on here would also suggest that's the case.

 

[Pubey]

Plus Phillips will hoof under pressure, and Prosser tends to lump it forward even when he has time and space.

 

[Greebosan]

Plus Phillips will hoof under pressure, and Prosser tends to lump it forward even when he has time and space.

This is right.

I'm not particularly knocking Prosser, and I do think that he has improved (made some great tackles against Wycombe), but on balance he is far more likely to lump one up the field than our other defenders.

However, having said that - this may well be under instructions from PS, as part of a strategy to mix it up - others play out when they can, Prosser always to look for the long ball to catch the defence out. The reason I think this is that Gilbert was pilloried for being a hoofball merchant all through last season - PS went on record saying that any player who didnt follow instructions would be left out. During the last few games of last season GC was on the sideline shouting at Gilbert to play it on the floor and from that point on that is exactly what he did - he stopped constant hoofing immediately on instruction. If PS didnt want Prosser to hoof, I'm fairly sure he'd tell him :-)

Anyway, as has already been said, every team lumps the ball out at times during a game, and we seem to be doing far far less of it than we were before the last few weeks of last season.

 

[EastStandBlue]

so no idea where you draw your conclusions from.

The Grauniad.