Match Thread City vs Harrogate | League 2 | 12/10/20

I thought the passing was terrible but not sure French was the worst. Also, wrt French, a few times he got the ball wide 30 - 40 yards from goal and hit a ball into the middle. Not the worst but given the crosses we know he can put in from the byeline, I wonder why he didn't use his pace, get to the byeline and cross from there. By the way, I thought spotty put a brilliant cross in for their goal, a bit like French's at Bolton.
If you want to have a go at French for being the worst, focus on that thing on his head, worse than Novak's basin cut.

 

Be rude not to

 

I was more laughing at the arabic script on the back of his neck. Aren't these outdated now, as normally the guy doing the translation takes the piss and writes something funny

 

French wasn't that bad last night, hampered more than anything by McCalls constant tinkering than anything else.

 

Wood was worse, so like you I’m unsure why he doesn’t get a mention while French has been slated by some. That said I don’t think either deserve to be hung out to dry, McCalls formation left them both isolated and exposed.

 

I though French was the better of the two, worst game for a while from Woods but his team mates not doing their jobs didnt help our two wing backs.

 

You mean Weaver did his homework, they certainly did a job on us right from the kick off they looked the better side.

 

McCall quoted in T&A this morning as at least thinking about whether he went with the right formation or not (you didn't Stuart). He also says we were beaten by a good, well organised side and a team that know the way they play and every player knows their role. Come on Stuart, if you can see this, learn from it, it's not rocket science.

 

So if the formation was wrong in the first half, what is half time for? Surely he should have got them in, said "right we are going to change this, they have worked us out let's give them something else to think about". Instead we just carried on with the same formation just changed the participants.

 

I noticed French seemed to be holding back
instead of getting to the by line and getting
some crosses in.Almost as though he'd been
told to keep back despite success from his
crosses.I would of thought if something works,
use it!

 

You would think praising the opposition
would be best served after you've beaten
them and add "we won,we were better"!

 

O D for me.

 

If you are thinking of an overdose-don't. It's not worth it. Call the samaritans.

 

Exactly this.

Me and my old man said the same thing at HT. How can we all see the obvious but SM can’t? It’s really worrying.

 

I noted Elliot Watt's views about the Harrogate game in the T&A this morning.

One alarming comment from him was that Harrogate 'wanted it more' than the City players. He didnt explain why though. It is a startling confession to make 4 games into a new season and protecting a 12 month unbeaten home league run in front of the tv cameras

 

Add it to my list of worries.

I know city's place in the grand scheme of things. I can do with us being beaten by a better team who are more talented, etc.

What I can't abide is being beaten by a team who are better organised, motivated, spirited and disciplined. There's no reason for it. Weirdly though these are exactly the sort of things that our manager and players are using as reasons for our loss seemingly without even a hint of concern, They need to give themselves a shake and quickly because if you're coming off second best in those sorts of areas then league two is going to eat you.

 

I always worry about McCall on that side of things. His teams always seem to foster a good “team spirit” from the outside, they all speak of a good atmosphere under him and always have done. Look at when he went and the players went for a meal to say goodbye. That’s a good sign but on the flip side it’s a weakness he has and why he doesn’t suit being a manager for me.
It’s good the players get on but you need that edge and that hunger to win that McCall never seems to create. I don’t care if they are mates but when they cross that white line we need the team to dig each other out if it’s gone wrong and be pally all the time with each other. They don’t seem to be demanding of each other when you watch the games. It’s ah well we lost we will try again.
Think it’s one of the reasons if his teams go on a bad run he can’t stop the slump. He doesn’t have that other side to him. That mean streak you need over a long 46 game season. And it shows in his teams

 

Yeah but Kenny looks a right miserable so and so. He should not be afraid to play the Bad Cop when needed.