Wood

I think Hopkin went for height on this occasion, though I doubt he’d be in the side even if we were playing an @Fordy117 select midget 11.

 

He's still a bit green for 22 but he'd be my option to start.

Oh for the days of Greg Leigh, running down the wing.

 

Square pegs for square holes for me.

Play people in the positions they know.

 

It wasn't a huge issue for me, far more crucial tactical errors imo.

Playing Ball in a right-sided defensive midfield role or whatever you call the Mellor position was criminal.

 

Yeah, don't mind tweaking to suit the opposition; got no idea how we were supposed to have tweaked to suit Southend though.

By leaving our best attackers further back and the pair of ponces up front?

 

With carthorse Akpan pondering about in midfield and a slow right back in NKP wandering out of position is it any wonder that we looked so vulnerable and slow? They had a little bit of pace and we could not cope with it

 

Does anybody seriously think playing Wood instead of NKP would have changed yesterday's game. I agree that Wood has the potential to improve and develop as a player but he was not the answer to yesterday's drubbing

 

Wood at least would have stayed in his position instead of wandering in to the middle leaving space behind us, The other thing playing NKP is he never got forward on the wing like Wood or Chickson does so we had no width when going forward. was a dreadful mistake playing NKP there

 

Why play a lad at left back who has improved his form lately at centre back, eapecially when you have a left back on the bench? HopkinS reason of wanting experience over position worries me somewhat, it probably wouldn’t have changed what was an abysmal performance but it certainly wouldn’t have made it any worse.

 

I agree Wood gets forward. I actually think he is more a wing back than a full back. But I didn't see any massive defensive mistakes from NKP. Notice we weren't a massive attacking threat down the right either. I've said it before but our problem is when our full backs have the ball our forwards, or midfielders even, hardly ever come wide to give us the option of the ball down the line, leaving the hoof as the only alternative

 

I was as surprised as anyone not to see Wood starting . I think I even remember Hopkin saying after the Barnsley match that he would get his chance with Chicksen out. For whatever reason it appears Hopkin just does not trust his defensive capabilities

 

Who knows whether it would have changed anything over the course of the game. But I’d argue that the first goal wouldn’t have happened. Perhaps Wood wouldn’t have been caught out of position like NKP was, and if NKP had been where O’ Connor was, clearing on his left foot (as opposed to OC trying to clear it with his weaker foot as a result of playing on the left) then we probably clear out lines. And maybe the whole tone of the game is different.

We’re a fair weather team. Score first and we fly. Concede first and we crumble. That early goal set the tone for us, and for them.

 

We’d have lost yesterday whether wood started or not. We were garbage from the kick off. Not one player can come out of the match with an ounce of credibility

 

Well lets hope he's learnt from yesterdays debarcle, because if we turn up at Burton with that sort of team selection/formation we could see another 3/4 goal defeat.

 

For the first goal NKP had been fouled by a strong push in the back right in front of the assistant referee. NKP then was more forward than he should have been and then attempted to win back the ball with a poor tackle - from there their player was given the space and we know the result.

 

Exactly! Made no sense, same with playing a player that is clearly not 100% fit (Akpan). He could have played A O'Connor in place of Akpan, had NKP at CB and Wood at LB and whilst we still may not have won the game, we would have had a better chance of getting something from the game.

 

Sorry, but I disagree. I don’t think NKP was fouled, the other lad was just stronger. Similar to their 3rd(?), when O’Connor was easily brushed off the ball and they scored.