derry

Its the way we play. Any more than about 45% and we are playing the ball across our own box. The higher the number the more aimless slow passing in the back four. If the possession was increased by incisive forward movement there would be a point in it. We, with the players we have and the style we play are only productive when we strike quickly. The fewer passes we make the higher the tempo. Which is what we are trying to achieve. Our best results have been with lower possession. It is only against the best teams that play attacking possession football that we usually don't get our best results. Against Spurs we had a good result with more possession but scored with a long pass from Stephens to Ings.

He made 48 passes, about 43 short, sideways or backwards. He was a major problem along with Stephens who also made 48 passes, it was that which slowed us down and played into Burnley's hands and many other matches at home this season. If Vestergaard was brought in to play forward passes he failed miserably. If he can play the sort of long ball he did a couple of times he could have played about 40 more and we would have been far better for it. He is also a poor defender, so all in all Ralph made a really stupid decision to play him.

It's all very well criticising the forwards but if the back four pass it around they end up with nothing to press for, outnumbered and feeding off scraps. Djenepo needs a kick up the backside, the number of times he was fed the ball wide with space behind the defender and not yet double banked turned back and played a nothing ball inside closing the attack off. He needs to take the full back on and go for it. Instead of us pressing under pressure defenders we were outnumbered and pressed, that has to stop. Ralph has to step in and stop it the second we start to pass it around at the back.

1-2 to Spurs. Vestergaard needs to be left out. The back 4 plus McCarthy need a rocket from Ralph to cut out the sideways and backwards. We need to play high tempo as away and no way diverge from that.

No, but don't worry if we do as long as we are pressing the recipient hard. Just don't pass it around allowing the opposition to form up goalside. pass it forward like Ings goal v Burnley or play it into the channel like Stephens quick ball for Ings goal against Spurs.

Ralph needs to up his game because whilst his basic method high pressing, quick attacking makes sense his passive acceptance of the back four passing and slowing the game makes no sense at all. Yesterday we had 64% possession/passes and managed two shots out of nine on target. In comparison against Leicester a much better team, we had 43% possession, twenty shots, most on target, Schmeicle saved seven, Leicester had five shots. It is almost that he is unaware what he has to do at home. Playing Vestergaard because he allegedly is better on the ball because he is expecting us to be allowed more possession is an indictment on his judgement. We have won three games at home all season, the worst home record in the division. Most against teams that played on our inbuilt weakness at home. Burnley is only the latest debacle. Ralph looks like he has no idea how to convert our high energy, highly successful away performances into success at home. We are best with about 40% possession. Picking Vestergaard was compounding the problem. It put a centre back in who sees his answer to his unsuitability to pass it around at the back where most of the passes he made and received were to and from Stephens who also easily reverts to this time wasting possession. Three players had the most passes in the match, JWP, Vestergaard with 48 and surprise, surprise Stephens with 48. Of course they were becausing they were passing to each other. Ralph needs to put a rocket under the centre backs because they are directly losing us games. Not as you would think their sometimes poor marking like letting Vydra getting in between the two centre backs without a direct challenge on the cross. The reason they are losing us games, they are effectively destroying our high energy, high pressing, harrassing game centred around four quick mobile aggressive forwards. The ball has to be delivered quickly, directly from the keeper, back four into the channels or quickly through the midfield as for Ings goal yesterday. If the full backs support then the midfield has to hold as they do away. Defence is important to keep enough players to stifle attacks. The quick delivery is paramount. Against Leicester we had 43% possession but we lost the ball 49% of those passes. Possession statistcs are based purely on the number of passes each team makes. We don't need lots of possession if our game is based on recovering the ball in ten seconds with heavy pressing. Therefore the defenders have to pass the ball forward short or long but always forward. Up to the forwards as quickly as possible. Increasing our possession at the back by 25% guarantees the the opposition have a complete team in position to outnumber our press. Furthermore because working the ball around short and sideways sucks our players forward and isolates the defence leaving space for the opposition to put the ball into attackers with space to manoeuvre as per Vydera yesterday. The back four have to stop using each other as comfort blankets, if there isnt an immediate forward pass available to a forward hit it straightaway into the channels and we can press it or win it. Just cut out the sideways and backwards and McCarthy passing it out short. We then are not playing the way the opposition have planned for and they are going to make mistakes under the high pressing, quick delivery. We may then win a few home games.

He isn't. I played with much better players than him, coached much better players than him, who could have easily played league football but were in good jobs and chose not to.It's our scouting and management that should be under the mcroscope for their appalling judgement with a whole series of misfits.

That is unadulterated ****ing rubbish. Apart from about five forward passes he got us in a tangle on loads of occasions with little short square or backward passes. My missus can jump higher than him he is an appalling defender. He is so ponderous it's untrue. Ralph got some decent results with a settled back four. Bringing in a debutant and leaving the rest of the four unchanged made sense but bringing in Vestergaard had consequences. it's not his job in a lower table side to be good on the ball. Our defenders need to be less of footballers and more of tough defenders. Win it and play it up to Ings and Long. Cut out the possession because we are hopeless at it and it destroys our tempo.

The manager went back to his early season tinkering broke up the centre back pairing and brought in the nearly mobile lighthouse, FFS why did he think that would work. it's not just his immobility it's his passing 5 forward and 43 sideways. McCarthy must take some of the blame his distribution is hopeless. We had 64% possession and lost again. In the second half we were awful, negative and even in the last five minutes chasing the game we were passing sideways and backwards and still giving the ball away. Most of these players and the manager/coaches are thick, thick overpaid multi millionaires but thick. What the hell was Ings thinking when he ducked out of the way. McCarthy totally unready for that. Great equaliser. We have only managed 11 points at home all season. The problem is the back four and midfield trying to slowly work the ball upfield or worse make ten passes to get it back to McCarthy. Especially today we need to get the ball into the last third quickly, sod the accuracy, win the ball and pressurise the defenders. We were mugged by a really poor team because of our attempts at slow possession football which has punished us all season. FFS even our goal we lost the ball, Ings won it back and shot. Burnley had 6 shots on target, we had 2. Djenepo had no idea, receive the ball, byeline clear, turn away inside and go backwards. It's no good having quick forwards if the defenders are going to monopolise the ball. The players with the most passes from both sides were JWP, Vestergaard FFS and I think Stephens enough said. Until we cut out this stupid slow play at the back and put it into the forwards we are going to keep getting results like this. Unless it was a joke Leicester dodged a bullet with Vestergaard. That didn't mean Ralph had to pick him.

This ****ing short passing at the back is rediculous. McCarthy needs a lobotomy and Vestergaard is so stupid it's unbelievable we signed him.

We need to be a lot smarter at the back against teams like Burnley. Cut out the possession based passing. Up against Spurs we suddenly went into our shell and slowed the game down rather than play the quick ball forward and pulled ourselves out of shape and paid the price exposed to Spurs breaking quickly. Against teams like that we have to play like we did at Leicester, over the top or through the defence. Let our quick forwards attack their big defenders and hold a defensive line and dominate the couple of attackers left up. Goalkeeper launch the ball into the channels to be hunted down and pressed, centre backs probe the channels then keep a defensive line. Leicester managed five shots. We don't have to commit defenders and defensive midfielders in kamikaze numbers. If the full backs commit then the midfield cover the centre backs and vice versa. We can get goals against any team but we have to be a lot smarter, it is the back four that gets us into trouble. We don't need lots of slow possession because it doesn't work for most teams. Even Liverpool play a high number of long passes or long diagonal passes to expose defenders to their quick forwards. That is the way for us to play not like a poor man's Manchester City. The way we play away is the way to play at home and when we get ahead don't to try and keep the ball with no attacking ambition.

Armstrong training with the squad today

There was no review because the goal was given and there was no delay or VAR opinion given. Penalty appraisals usually take a while.

Friend started off the game favouring Liverpool, giving us the odd free kick and penalising us everywhere else. Ings was tripped as he was going through, ignored, Liverpool break and score. The back pass was no accident, Friend ignored it. We did well. 17 shots, 11 corners. The result was really a travesty. JWP had a good game. Hojbjerg and Romeo went missing at vital times. Just before Boufal selfishly lost the ball, Hoibjerg gave it away under no pressure. A regular occurrence. It looks like he just doesn't look. When he broke through and shot too early he'd clearly panicked. The back four were quite good. Redmond, who wasn't as effective today and Djenepo were lively whilst Ings and Long caused Liverpool trouble all afternoon. Adams and Obefemi don't seem to get it, neither do they bust a gut during their twenty minutes. Obefemi with his pace does a lot of spectating and loping rather than making the effort to close down. Adams looks more like a midfielder looking to pass rather than a striker. It looks a league to high for him at the moment. For me, get Valery in at right back and JWP back into midfield, we missed him there the way he is playing now.

Maybe we should go in for Celtic's player recruitment people who spotted Frimpong for £350,000 from City. They seem a hell of a lot smarter than anyone we've either had or have at present.

Thanks for the link. Not covered in UK. Should have been obligatory viewing. A real soul searching program. I watched it all the way through.

Lifelong Saint ? Still on here under another name. Weston Saint reads on here but rarely posts. Watching now most games from corporate.

We're like Jekyll and Hyde. We play away, high tempo, fierce pressing, get the ball forward quickly and use our pace to pull opponents apart. At home, we had 59% possession for the God knows how many times achieved by passing sideways and backwards, worse once Armstrong went off. The two centre backs plus JWP and PEH were the culprits yet again. That allowed us to slowly work our way into Spurs half pull ourselves out of shape then expose ourselves to quick counters. It was obvious the Spurs by dropping off was sucking us in. We have to stop falling for it and just quickly pass the ball up to the forwards as we do away, cut out the false possession which only succeeds in eventually leaving ourselves short at the back. midfield out of position and the full backs pushed up. We have to set the agenda by playing at home the same way we play away. Just cut out the possession at the back and we are half way there.

That was a cracking result. Lovely to see shots either going in or having to be saved rather than going over the top. We need that regularly as it will probably be noted and teams will be more wary of backing off leaving space behind to exploit. That was the way to increase possession statistic by playing in the opponents half, quick passing, decisive running, high tempo and pressing in numbers. Only Vestergaard was still playing square balls to Stephens in our half. Old habits etc. Stephens was hopeless defending in the second half against Wolves but stepped it up last night and led the way with his penetrating through balls to the front runners. Passing around our own half is a waste of time. I have come to the concusion that possession/passes should only be measured into the opponents half and in the opponents half. that would be a much better reflection on the game. We could play that game against any sitting side at SMS, Palace were quite defensive and we pulled them apart because of the speed of our play. Dispensing with the passing around the back five often instigated by little pass outs from Macarthy has paid dividends. The keeper kicking often puts the ball into danger areas that troubles defenders and eliminates defensive problems for us.

I'd noticed previously that we got our best results with our possession in the forties because we played less passes and more direct. In the first half we had 49% possession/passes and two goals up. In the second half we played more passing, slowed our game down and were fairly easily held by Wolves. The interesting thing to me was that in the second half we had 57% of the possession and conceded three goals. Wolves played more direct pulled us onto them as we passed our way forward and hit their frontmen missing out our midfield and exposed our centre backs and the full backs struggling to get back. We were playing short and relatively short from the back and lost to the Wolves press up front. In the second half we were back into the old problems playing at home. We paid the price of a high line and Kamikaze defending. Just before Wolves goal Stephens pretty much summed it up, under no pressure he had the ball, instead of hitting deep into the Wolves back line he chipped it into midfield where it was gobbled up by Wolves, a quick counter attack and it's in our net completely changing the game. There was no leadership or awareness on the field and none from the management. We don't need possession to win matches. the more we have the more vulnerable we are. Wolves held tight and hit us directly. If we had continued to put the ball up front quickly the defence wouldn't have been exposed. It was trying to play passing football that exposed us. We have to cut this out and stay direct.

The optimum possession is around 40%, more than that and we are just shovelling the ball around our own half in slow motion, neutralising our attackers and leaving ourselves wide open to making mistakes and being counter attacked. At home at times we have been up close to 70% possession with the predictable lack of shots, attacks and penetration. When we get the ball forward quickly it doesn't matter if we lose it as we press hard to get it back. We had double the shots of Leicester and could have had half a dozen goals with 42% possession. Leicester managed 58% and had five shots and two corners. I rest my case. We now have to cut our possession at home even against sides just defending. That means constant attacking just putting the ball down the channels or breaking the lines by Armstrong, Hojbjerg, Redmond etc as we did against Leicester and exposing the back four quickly. Definitely no interplay amongst the back five. When they get the ball it is probably in that instant that the opponents aren't consolidated so it is vital not to delay stick it into the channels for our pressers to get it or win it.

This is the problem. Players, Ex players/pundits, Managers, Officials have been indoctrinated with the unwillingness of top managers, sides etc to accept correct decisions and constantly bleating aided and abetted by the media. I personally like the discipline in Rugby. We need a season of draconian punishments and long suspensions for dissent and questioning decisions to be stamped out. Never mind VAR, how much time is used up by players arguing with officials. The pillocks even wear Respect labels on their shirts. The game in a lot of senses is a disgrace if one adds obvious cheating and feigning injury to the above. As it stands with VAR the Doucoure goal for Watford wouln't have happened and Austins disallowed goal the following season would have counted. Both bad decisions cost us a win.

60 years ago players knew that running in allowed the highest jump. Nowadays players just stand in the goal area and never get off the ground. The odd one moves and invariably wins the ball.

I saw that, Spurs first goal last night, Gunn a couple of times dithering, Bertrand against Everton, quite a few other occasions, backpasses without looking, dithering in possession, trying to play or dribble out of trouble. Firstly stop the mentality of playing in own defensive zone. Secondly under pressure don't just kick it out, stick it as far up the stand as possible. Thirdly under pressure don't hesitate smash it up the field out of danger. We need all the players to grow a calculating, ruthless mentality.

In the picture hovering on the edge of the 6yd line, Derek Reeves and George O'Brien, no wonder they scored about 60 goals between them. Well over 100 overall for the team. Regularly scored over a hundred goals in those halcyon days.