A rmatch report, after due consideration

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Lots of bizarre ranting on here tonight, a lot of it started by people who weren't there, or whipped up by the same. Here's my take, after the drive home, dinner, some nice wine, and a chance to reflect.

1. Early days. No need to wet the bed just yet.

2. Yes, completely new approach. Considering the nervousness first half, it wasn't unpromising.

3. Kemy lookes like something we did not have last season (a smaller slower Steven Gerrard) but he hasn't got his eye in yet, and is not fit. The long passes often went astray (as do SG's). But we had a liveliness in midfield that we saw only infrequently last season (when Vicente made his rare appearances). It was a bit unstructured, but . . . encouraging. Our midfield was mostly Bridcutt last season - and he's a sweeper really.

4. Last season we looked frail when a plan B was needed. Today we looked more positive all game, but the players have not yet learned where each other are (sorry for grammar meltdown there). So it was sometimes a bit Fred Karno.

5. Rohan looked robust. A bit raw yet, but promising. I like a bit of robust.

6. We seem to have ditched the wing play as first option (at least till Kaz came on). Bucko did a bit, but he kept going outside and it was rather deja vu all over again and again. Ancestral memory or something. That will soon change, hopefully. At least he looks more muscular and robust.

7. We seem to have lost all notion of formation. The disciplined two lines of 4 was absent. This cost us dear for the winner - we looked amateurish. That has to be sorted.

8. That said, there was more movement off the ball today, for 90 minutes. It wasn't all good, but it sure beats the 'lets play statues' of 80% of all gussie gametime.

9. Overall, we have changed from a unique, if annoying possession side, to a more exciting, but presently flawed team. We look much more English, and for some reason that saddened me. I'd be surprised if we end up looking like Big Sam's West Ham, but if we looked like anyone today, it was a sort of alcohol free, diet version of West Ham of 2 years ago. That also surprises me, and I expect this to just be a stage in the metamorphosis.

Enjoy Sunday, one and all.

 

[ROSM]

Agree with most of this although I thought Kemy looked a bit like a slightly faster dean Hammond.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

I'm not bothered by the 2 games or the points lost yet , its early days and OG has to have time to work with the squad.

I am concerned about the lack of fire and passion and the fragility of our defence. I hope the team is being set up to play to our strikers strengths and guess that CMS will be expected to make full use of the slightly different style.

But I was also worried to see that Clough and Derby seemed to know exactly how to beat us and took full advantage straight after the break.Thats the problem with playing with one game plan.

 

[Scoffers]

Agreed with the OP. I would only add that I feel like Kuszczak has spent way too much time with Ankergren, what with his poor distribution, not coming out to claim and flapping when he does

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Agreed with the OP. I would only add that I feel like Kuszczak has spent way too much time with Ankergren, what with his poor distribution, not coming out to claim and flapping when he does

You noticed it too....a usually Mr Reliable went missing....

 

[Notters]

Probably the most intelligent and reasoned post I've ever seen on nsc.

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

Great post OP. Think some of the on the ground 'intuitive' passing was poor as well esp from Dave and Kemy but i think the later will be a good addition and the former is a good play builder. Agree with all of your points.

 

[fruitnveg]

You noticed it too....a usually Mr Reliable went missing....

Also noticed this. A little concerning but I expect just a bad day in the office for PIG.

 

[Icy Gull]

You noticed it too....a usually Mr Reliable went missing....

I noticed it too, he didn't inspire any confidence today.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I noticed it too, he didn't inspire any confidence today.

I always watch the warm-up and interestingly he was mis-punching in the warm up and only cleared the ball satisfactorily a few times. Everyone has off-days, probably Tomasz is just having a dodgy spell, he'll come back to classy not to.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

hopefully HWT this will become a regular slot on here from you

only manage a couple of games a season these days

point 7, a little worrying,but i'm sure that will be resolved quickly

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Great post. Voice of reason.

Lots to admire amongst the rustiness and debuts yesterday. I was particularly pleased to see us starting our attacks from midfield rather than passing the ball repeatedly sideways just outside our penalty box. Once the midfielders gel (and we get Liam back) this should make for some very exciting and offensive football.

I'm much more optimistic than I ought to be after two defeats.

 

[timseagull]

A reasonable, and balanced view: what hasn't been mentioned here is the new shoot on sight policy. No more tippytappy around the box. Nearly worked for ince, caldaron's effort less good. Might see some more screamers this season....

 

[Glawstergull]

This is the sort of thread I joined NSC for.
I agree with the OP, much to look forward to but some concerns too.

 

[trueblue]

I think everyone has that nagging worry that if may not work out and only an idiot would not be sorry that Gus pretty much gave up on continuing the steady progression.

But there are new bits I like. We've scored 3 goals from great moves this season. It's annoying when we give the ball away but that's what happens more frequently when a team is constantly looking for the killer pass. Our target man has people playing off of him at last. We play with energy and are prepared to gamble, which meant Derby were actually under sustained pressure for a while yesterday. After a few wins, when that's backed by a belief we WILL score, teams will have a really rough time against us.

It did get too disorganised in the end yesterday I thought but at 2-1 down, at least we didn't lose half of our time for our attempted recovery passing the ball square in the centre of the pitch. Quite a lot of those long balls were also won back in the second or third phase, which meant we had possession in Derby's half rather than on the edge of our own box.

What really needs sorting is the defending and the quality of the finishing. If either of those had been spot on, we'd have won all 3 so far because we created more than enough chances to offset the soft goals.

 

[Bwian]

Just bouncing this post to dilute some of the bed wetting, hand wringing threads that are doing my head in.

It is early days with a new manager/head coach who is 3 or 4 weeks behind other clubs because of the Saint Poyet bollox that massively screwed up this club's pre-season.

If things don't improve by the end of October then start whining by all means but remember-this time last season some idiots were posting Palace's countdown to relegation threads. More so when Duggie left them. I don't need to remind most of you where Palace play their games this season. A lot of you need to grow some bollox and stop whining like schoolgirls because we haven't won every game so far.

 

[Bladders]

Always enjoy your post match reports HWT, especially as I was not there as I'm on holiday and the bedwetting threads straight after the game told me **** all. Watford were not that great at the start of last season with a new manager and philosophy. This team will come good unnder Oscar, I just have a good feeling about it.