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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Jan 13, 2018 23:15:12 GMT
good work from all involved in that goal, starting with ball's coolness just outside our area.
allowing teams back in really is becoming a major hallmark in our season. i can't be bothered to look, but just how many games have we let slip from winning positions? whether it's physical or mental toughness, or tactical discipline, i'm not sure...but we need to sort it out.
poor penalty, but ormson's second penalty save at aggborough. i would prefer him out again for the league - hinchliffe performs at a consistently high standard - but well done ian.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Jan 14, 2018 0:33:41 GMT
ok. so i did bother to look. these are the games this season in which we've had a lead and not won. we've nicked a few late equalisers here and there (i even jumped about a bit for the one at darlington), but that's nine where we've been pegged back from a winning position, and with a lot of very late goals conceded. from a performance perspective, it has felt like there have been too many occasions where we've started a match the stronger side and finished it the weaker, and a number of those have resulted in the draws and losses below.
tamworth (a) - lost
fc untied (h) - drew (from 3-0 up) (FA cup)
blythe spartans (h) - lost
kidderminster (h) - lost
southport (h) - drew (FA trophy)
brackley (a) - lost
curzon (a) - drew
salford (h) - drew
kidderminster (a) - drew (FA trophy)
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 14, 2018 14:30:18 GMT
Good analysis, exile. Looking at the league matches on that list - and assuming draws for the ones we ended up losing - there are at least eight points thrown away, which could have seen us comfortably in the middle of the play-offs mix. Time will tell just how costly this may prove to be.
One minor point about the Southport Trophy-tie. We (well, Stephenson) nicked a late equaliser to keep us in that one!
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Jan 14, 2018 14:51:17 GMT
he did indeed, maccy, so it's not quite the same...but we did take the lead in the game, they turned it around, and we only got a draw out of it. maybe that one was just bulking it out a bit i think it's entirely legitimate to assume that you're going to get pegged back a number of times during the course of a season, but it's been enough occasions for us that i've started to consider an inability to see out games as a bit of a characteristic.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 14, 2018 14:58:58 GMT
i think it's entirely legitimate to assume that you're going to get pegged back a number of times during the course of a season, but it's been enough occasions for us that i've started to consider an inability to see out games as a bit of a characteristic. Couldn't agree more, matey.
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Post by bringbacklenwhite on Jan 14, 2018 16:31:11 GMT
This , of course, could be down to be not being 90 minutes fit. The difference between full and part-time ?
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Post by ceefer on Jan 14, 2018 17:11:15 GMT
Ormson played a blinder and kept us in the game. He did however assume the Hinchliffe role kicking the ball out at least 3 times... I agree with ars that he should play in the reply. He must have an amazing penaty save/let in ratio.
Stephenson was a live wire and is earning his bread. Anyone know when Warburton will be back asI think we miss him.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 14, 2018 19:30:19 GMT
Warburton was being rested yesterday with a view to getting him fully over his recent injury. Possibly, bringing him back for the trip to Alfreton on New Year's Day was a tad too soon.
I think it likely that he might miss Tuesday's replay, but could well be back in contention for selection at Southport this coming weekend.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Jan 14, 2018 21:21:27 GMT
This , of course, could be down to be not being 90 minutes fit. The difference between full and part-time ? it certainly could, but haven't we stepped up our training this season so it's two nights plus (which i appreciate still isn't f/t, but it's closer)? also, as i've bemoaned on many occasions, i always expected us to outlast the part-timers in games when we were full time in the conference, and so many times you'd have had no idea which the part-time team was in the last ten minutes.
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Post by hermannsays on Jan 15, 2018 1:10:10 GMT
Concentration lapses have been a pretty noticeable trait I think. In 4 of the games listed, we conceded pens and others goals came from needless FKs, switching off (Brackley) etc. While it's let teams back, it's let them take leads too... Chorley scored from sleeping at a FK... though it was taken from the wrong place. Curzon, incidentally, conceded the same way against Chorley on Sat. - Chorley use that as a tactic.
While the odd player may tire more than others on any given day, fitness levels so far seem to have matched opponents. For example, I don't think anyone can say Salford scored as they had superior fitness. So, in the main, I think it's more to do with individuals needing support to manage their concentration across the game.
With no sports psych on board (I assume!), that's likely another role JG has to try to do. I imagine the meticulous tactical stuff is done during the week and then, pregame, instruction is limited to reminding the main points to avoid minds going fuzzy. Once in battle, if players are losing focus of what is needed of them, all the coach (or a key player) can do is trigger them to focus.
JG is often shouting 'travel' while the player has the ball, so, as an example, if Stephenson starts passing instead of running it, 'Dazz, travel' and a point to JGs head may be a great help to the player's concentration levels. If Oswell is getting into too many battles and using his effort to to no avail, a simple trigger 'Jase, retain' can refocus him to hold the ball, ask for it into feet or whatever. Maybe a key aspect is to avoid the shout immediately after the player has made the error though or they might think they're being tild off rather than kept focused. Hinchliffe kicked out of play? Wait for the ball out next time to trigger! That kind of thing.
Anyway, that's my sports psych stuff over with and you'll not get those minutes of your lives back! It's just something I know was used in my sport (although I had to trigger myself and my partners as no coaches could say anything!) and believe it's quite widely used in other sports from hearing taekwondo coaches and so on.
Could there be a tactical reason for late goals or conceding leads? Given JG has been excellent now he knows his squad more, with the shapes and subs, the only game management I do hesitate to believe works for us is the whole not running down the clock. We had the opportunity to do it v Salford with our corner in the dying minutes and didn't... yet we ran the clock down against them in Oct 2016 to secure the result. With most teams running a clock down in the last few minutes not suffering last minute equalisers, the stats must surely support the approach.. albeit not to the selfharming levels of the Bostons of this world!
Anyway, that's one element of our game I think I would drop while the concentration is my best guess for why we're letting teams back in (and much of the time why we go behind).
And sleep. *clicks fingers*
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 15, 2018 10:50:32 GMT
With no sports psych on board (I assume!), that's likely another role JG has to try to do. I imagine the meticulous tactical stuff is done during the week and then, pregame, instruction is limited to reminding the main points to avoid minds going fuzzy. Once in battle, if players are losing focus of what is needed of them, all the coach (or a key player) can do is trigger them to focus. I think, H, that County's 'Fitness and Conditioning' man, Nick Donnelly, has a sports-psych role of sorts. Not sure how that works in practice (and with JG in charge!), though...
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Post by hermannsays on Jan 15, 2018 15:57:40 GMT
Aha, that's good to know. Certainly the work on the physical conditioning is more than apparent with a lot of players longer stronger. Ball's summer transformation was quite something just as one example!
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Post by gazz on Jan 15, 2018 17:32:33 GMT
Ball's summer transformation was quite something just as one example! Not to mention a vindication of Jim's persistence with the lad, in the face of some pretty venomous criticism from some 'supporters'.
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Post by hermannsays on Jan 15, 2018 23:46:14 GMT
Ball's summer transformation was quite something just as one example! Not to mention a vindication of Jim's persistence with the lad, in the face of some pretty venomous criticism from some 'supporters'. The continuous groans last season never reflected that he tallied nicely with assists and goals when thrown in to replace Marsden or that he had an absolute stormer when dropped away from the#10 and into a midfield 3 with freedom to attack. No, whatever he did he was always going to be the guy who was pulling out of tackles... and anyone doing that must have no good attributes, right? Cue: "Awful, useless, never a player!" I think a fairer summary was this comment: "When Ball's focused he certainly looks a good player that can do damage in the attacking 3rd. His headed goal from the cross from Ross (Alty game) was a joy to watch! Hopefully the consistency from game to game improves" (Hermannsays, February - happy to be quoting myself like a weirdo a year on). There was something there but there was a feeling of him being a 'big game player' (ie turning up sometimes) and it was mentioned more than a few times on commentary. I've no idea what he ate and lifted in the off-season, but he came back a completely different shape so that was a good indicator of him putting the effort in to improve the physical weakness. After some pre-season on the right (which, quite honestly, didn't look good), JG tried him in that '#4 but sometimes the 3rd CB' role where he looked confused, along with his teammates. He was however going in for plenty of tackles and mobility was strong. As the season's progressed, he's become more used to the deeper midfield role JG suggested he could do (potential YPOTY comment). So yes, great persistence/belief from JG as you rightly highlighted, gazz. With such belief in Ball, it must be tempting to also want to show those moaning fans behind him that: 'Ball can be a great #4... and I will play him there until you agree!" But no. Rather than get caught up by fighting the noise, he's adapting things further to secure the midfield with an 'anchor' during some parts of games to allow Ball to show his attacking influence. Obviously, like anyone, he might have an off day. But really, if people can't be impressed by him when he's 'off leash' then I think we could get to 2025 and still hear groans because he didn't go in for some tackles in the 2016-17 season!
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