When will Beesley bag one for City?

City legend

 

He had an opportunity to run at the defender in the second half yesterday but he never even turned his head towards the goal. He was looking right and his only intention was to play it wide to Neufville. That said he's not the only one. We are obsessed with getting the ball wide and never run at the defence from a central position

 

Trouble is G A signs identikit players who are very much the same and not much between them in style or substance. No matter in midfield or at the bsck they are pick and mix

 

We put in the most crosses in league one last year and I'd wsger a very that we're right up there again with crossed balls.

We also lump it at nearly every given opportunity.

 

Exactly, and without going over old ground it's something he is levels behind Cook on.

Put him there yesterday and even if he didn't score, Cook would have been either screaming in the refs face highlighting every foul, or being cute enough to actually buy more fouls than Beasley did.

I suppose it's harder given cook had Mark Hughes to learn from in some respect where as Beasley isn't likely to be able to get similar know how from Alexander but he is going to have to wise up a bit and learn how to "old man" the referee a bit more rather than just plodding on like he did yesterday

 

On Tuesday

 

Top o't table.

Unfortunately our xG and assist count is pretty bad implying those crosses aren't much good.

 

This run your socks off business puzzles me

Any fan from the stand can do that

Never get this, that players that run round and do nothing get so much praise.
We can all be triers.

 

Yep, i believe we on average put the most crosses into the box in the EFL? Or we were before the weekend anyway, and our balls into the box are up a third on last seasons average....... but the average shots per game is actually down. Plenty of balls are going in, but they arent meeting anyone suggesting the balls in arent that great.

Reminds me of when we had Connor Wood, and there was a stat saying he put more crosses into the box than anyone in the professional leagues by Christmas and it wasn't even close to second place. Everyone started losing their minds for a minute at how he gets balls in, but you scratched under the surface and he had 1 assist by that time and if i remember rightly he had one of the lowest pass completions in L2 at the time. All well and good us now putting balls into the mixer, but if the attackers dont have a chance at getting on the end of it, it needs a re-think?

 

Fundamentally I think we rely too much on crosses into the box, why can’t we keep it down and work ourselves into the box, that way we have a better chance of accuracy.

 

This was absolutely doing my head in on Saturday.

 

Stats can be used to suit whatever narrative the user desires but theres only a few stats that means anything without those narratives, points on the board goals scored and goal conceded. The rest is just waffle

 

Pretty much, they can be taken in whatever way the person sees them.

One person can see "Bradford City have the most crosses in the EFL" and think bloody hell they'll be a danger when things click. Another see it and thinks bloody hell, we put how many balls into the box and cant score from any?

They are a good display of how a team plays for certain stats, like i think last week we were one of if not the worst team in L1 for pass completion and short pass completion, but we put the most crosses in and i think we were only second placed to Cambridge for long balls per game. Which suggests we have no faith in our midfield to play the ball on the deck and instead want to lump it forward as it will be our best way of getting the ball to the danger areas. And that's fairly accurate i'd say so far?

 

Plenty of balls are going in but they aren't meeting anyone, suggesting that the balls in aren't that great can be looked at from another point of view Jordan.

No-one breaks a gut to attempt to get in on them, either by head or foot.
Not wanting to bang the Cook drum but he would be getting in on those crosses one way or another and making a right nuisance of himself in the process. We don't seem to have that in the penalty box at the moment.

 

It's an instinct thing for strikers. Cook has scored goals virtually everywhere he has been and at times looked like he'd die to go that extra inch to get on the end of a ball, but someone like Beesley hasn't got that instinct in my eyes, however it's only a short spell we've seen him play so far.

He did well for BPA in the National League North, and then since that spell he hasn't really been that prolific wherever he has been. He did well last season for Burton, but they play a completely different style.to us and he had a partner alongside him there, here his support is maybe 15 yards further back and wider. Expecting a guy who is mainly a supporting role type striker to come in and bag 15+ i think is pie in the sky thinking, he just isn't a natural finisher.

Our style at the minute to be is very much like watching the old Parkinson teams, lump it to Hanson and build from the knock down, cycle it wide to a winger to cross it in. Parkys midfield didnt get on the ball that much but they knew to keep the play ticking along and get it wide to a danger player, with someone like a Jones getting in the box as much as they can. This team has similar traits, it's get it high and long to Beesley and hope he can win it, then get it out to Neufville or Touray and hope they can create with whichever attacking mids in and around the box too, it's just not coming in with quality or if it is, we have nobody there with the right positional sense. It might come good and might take time, but it's looking so hit and miss so far.

 

I've only seen the last two games but there are a couple of issues with our crossing - there are some aimless ones from deep where nobody is anywhere near it, or likely to be - which should mean the crosser sees that and doesn't put it in.

Then there's the case of nobody being in the box when (usually) Neufville is beating his man and putting some reasonable balls in - I have more sympathy with him as he has little option when he's right on the byline - but nobody seems to be anticipating this even though he does it regularly (I recall this happening at least 4 times against Cambridge). That's not just on Beesley, the two wider forwards and central midfield need to be alert to this too.

 

If we did that I am sure if we did that we would see a much improved Adam Phillips

 

Its so true what you say about the midfield, but I don't know if its a chicken and egg situation. They get the ball played into feet so rarely that they are unaware what is happening around them and often just play the safe ball back, or the CBs know if they play to the midfielders feet so are going to get it straight back so don't bother! Smallwood used to be the biggest culprit for this, whereas Power and Metcalfe always looked to turn and get on the front foot. I think someone mentioned earlier that Pratt was always looking to play it into feet rather than hoof it, but its on the midfield to get on the same wavelength and sharpen up.

 

0 in 7 for Beesley, add to that no goals in pre season. Patience will wear thin after a few more losses.

And the crossing stat, 160....we are putting then on a plate for him and playing to his strengths.

 

I missed the game vs Mansfield. But in the game against Cambridge pretty much every cross, especially first half were driven low. And often found the defender. So these stats will be bumped and then xG toppled by that.

It must have been a tactic too, Ibby did it, but so did Neufville. Every time....