Big Dave is learning as he goes but there are some quite obvious flaws which need to be rectified.
At the moment Johnstone makes the defence nervous and vice versa, the players make the fans nervous and vice versa.
I want us to continue with the passing approach and it will take time to fully function but we have a problem when 2 of the 3 centre backs cant pass a ball well and based on last night, make that all 3 centre backs as Dawson was terrible.
It is a worry that players in the 2nd highest level of british football struggle to pass a ball forwards, the Stoke game suited us as they didnt really pressure our defence, they sat in their own half which meant when we had the ball at the back it didnt really matter if we made any mistakes. Last night Blues played a bit quicker and forced us into mistakes, i expect Bristol City to play a bit quicker than the Blues too, force us into even more mistakes, Bristol City also pass the ball well and have more quality than the Blues and i expect them to beat us quite comfortable which may in the long run be a good thing.
Our possession stats up but its passing it for the sake of it, teams are quite happy to sit deeper because we arent doing anything with the ball, you need at least one of your centre backs to be comfortable in carrying the ball forward, bringing it out of defence, that way it eventually forces the opposition to break ranks a bit, start closing down the centre back higher up the pitch which then leaves space, which then falls on our midfield and attacking players to exploit that space by moving and creating space elsewhere too.
Also when we are passing it, the most basic passing drill you are taught is playing in triangles, ie - everytime you have the ball you should have 2 options, one diagonally to your left, one diagonally to your right, we just seem to have one option which is sideways.
Ideally you need all 3 of your centre backs being able to do it, certainly 2, i think Tosin on paper would be the obvious one, after spending all your development years at Man City you would hope he is comfortable on the ball something which none of our current ones are, Bartley is about a typical championship centre half as you get - cumbersome, Hegazi is inconsistent, Dawson i find it hard to believe he can be as bad again as he was last night, but whether he is still playing catchup due to preseason but he is struggling, he was partly at fault for the Boro goal, nearly gifted Mansfield a goal and was terrible in general last night.
The midfield combo isnt working, i can understand Big Dave persisting with the same team as Stoke to give them another chance, but it was clear early doors it wasnt working, we scraped in drawing at half time and thats where changes should of been made, Jones is the more experienced one and maybe thats where Mooro needs his help. Livermore and Brunt were awful, the advantage Livermore has over Brunt is that he has played good a couple of times this season, Brunt hasnt even done that, so hopefully last night was the turning point.
Its not even just legs in there, at least Barry will keep the ball and hold his natural position, it isnt Brunts position and at least when dropped he can go back to competing for a place on the left where he is at his best and we can play a centre midfield in centre midfield, arguably the most important position on the pitch, sadly i dont think it will happen and i expect Brunt / Livermore to start Tuesday.
I can see why we have signed Hoolahan as another option for that attacking midfield role, Barnes came into the game the last 15 minutes but until then Blues swamped him and also he got fouled a lot which is probably a sign of things to come, Morrison hasnt made the bench last two games (not sure if thats because of injury or just not included) but a Morrison or Hoolahan would of been ideal last night, the two up top wasnt working, Blues dealt with it comfortable, however having two natural attacking midfielders would cause a bit of confusion and again create that elusive thing - space!
JRod was poor the last two games, you can never fault his effort, but again i would imagine he will start Tuesday but unless he starts to contribute to the game then his place should be in doubt, i think he has only scored one goal from outfield play this season which will no doubt bug him, he is a quality player but hasnt had a particularly good season yet overall.
The 4 away games have all been poor and i dont think its unfair to say that the approach we are going with isnt working, i dont like it anyway but its ok hanging in there and then going for it the last 15-20 minutes if your defence is rock solid and keeps you in it, however ours isnt, we always concede and on all our away games we have been lucky to not be out of sight by the 70th minute, eventually that will come unstuck.
Last night was the first time i saw Big Dave look agitated, he wasnt happy, i dont think he is a soft touch, i think he is a fair loyal person but i think he hopefully will see now that although we are on the right path, there are some tweaks and changes need to be made, including probably leaving out some of the bigger names.
