Ironbark
Well-Known Member
This.? This
Our attackers look ordinary due to our lack of ability to dominate the midfield battle, which was particularly disappointing in last night’s game given that Perf didn’t exactly field the strongest midfield in the league themselves.
I was hoping that O’Neil’s absence would allow our boys to assert themselves on the middle third and to support our strikers better but the truth is that Perf out pointed us there despite their lineup effectively being young and relatively inexperienced, so that’s a big worry.
I also got extremely cranky that Perf were repeatedly able to find space between our midfield and back line, when we failed comprehensively to do the same to them, so that needs to be fixed before any meaningful improvement in team performance is likely to happen.
We also can't discount the fact that we have a side made up of a lot of last years NPL2 players. Great prospects but still young, raw and developing. As a team - we came out of the blocks firing and ran over the top of teams. Think of the 2-0 wins over Syd and Mac or WSW early on (can't remember which now). We suppressed and dominated those teams.
Covid took some wind out of the sails and other teams got fitter and more cohesive. Our young squad with it's experienced spine is now being outplayed and out-thought by older, more experienced, and frankly more expensive teams.
How is clear - our midfield is as porous as a sponge. Puts pressure on the defence, and doesn't provide the springboard to attack that is required.
How do you solve this with inexperienced kids? I don't know, but think the playing style/structure needs to suit the cattle. Again, I have no idea what I'm really talking about at this level, but is what seems apparent.