Swindon v Plymouth pre match chat and matchday thread

[pauld]

Watching the game last night, Plymouth weren't great, but they were what we should have been - a decent enough side that earned promotion from League 2 and is now finding it's feet as an average League 1 side. They'll finish comfortably midtable and can then have a look at whether they want to kick on next season and push for the top end of the division or stick with what they've got, most of that dependent on finance and the COVID situation I'd guess. Why can't we ever just do things the boring way, why do we seem to have to follow every success by imploding?

[ronnie21]

Spot on. For personal pride if nothing else, even if the team is a shambles, you can still put in a shift and leave the pitch with your head held high

Exactly

[Abrahammer]

So players at this level can't pass or cross a ball without detailed instruction, they're professional so should be able to do the basics.

To be honest If i was a team mate and some one was downing tools I'd think that was pretty shit.

He may not be showing much nouse with the set up or tactics but to down tools and not do the basics like passing and crossing, taking free kicks and defending solidly from your own corners is pretty shit.

Yep, bang on

It’s 90% Sheridan’s fault not 100%

[pauld]

Yep, bang on

It’s 90% Sheridan’s fault not 100%

But it is mainly down to the way the players are being used. The manager being shit isn't an excuse for not doing the basics, but Panda Paws is right, they could have all worked their bollocks off last night and we'd still have got nothing.

[Shrivvy Road]

Again I disagree, Sheridan has seemingly told the players not to 'overcomplicate things' and when they do something he doesn't like he just bollocks them from the side lines.  He's pretty much told them to just lump the ball out from the back so the players are just interpreting his instructions to avoid getting moaned at.
Other than the fraud that was brought on as a sub none of these players are designed for long ball football so its hardly surprising they look lost and devoid of any ability to do it!

You disagree they should be able to run back and tackle?

[theakston2k]

You disagree they should be able to run back and tackle?

If your brain is scrambled you make bad decisions. 90% of football is repeatable movements and doing things without needing to think about it. At the moment it is clear what they are doing isn't coming naturally to a lot of the players, the moment they start having to think is where mistakes start happening and puts them a yard off the pace. Being a yard off the pace is a mile in football and puts you out of position and unable to tackle. As I said before confused minds lead to confused decisions.

[DiV]

But again if you don't know where you are playing your positional sense is going to be all over the place. If you don't know what the tactics are for build up play are then you are going to have players with completely different ideas, I mean we had a striker playing last night who none of the players had ever trained with yet alone seen play.

Also I can't imagine they ever envisaged a situation where they had a ball boy playing in the centre of a back 3.

I get your point but defending in its simplest form is still just stop the other team from scoring. Even if you pick a man and stick him and kick the ball into row z any time you get it.

[pauld]

If your brain is scrambled you make bad decisions. 90% of football is repeatable movements and doing things without needing to think about it. At the moment it is clear what they are doing isn't coming naturally to a lot of the players, the moment they start having to think is where mistakes start happening and puts them a yard off the pace. Being a yard off the pace is a mile in football and puts you out of position and unable to tackle. As I said before confused minds lead to confused decisions.

That's a fair point. But I think what we saw last night from some, not all, was more in the Charlie Austin* downing tools camp


* as in what SR described Charlie Austin talking about on the radio, not saying he actually did that himself

[Shrivvy Road]

If your brain is scrambled you make bad decisions. 90% of football is repeatable movements and doing things without needing to think about it. At the moment it is clear what they are doing isn't coming naturally to a lot of the players, the moment they start having to think is where mistakes start happening and puts them a yard off the pace. Being a yard off the pace is a mile in football and puts you out of position and unable to tackle. As I said before confused minds lead to confused decisions.

We will agree to disagree on that buddy . If an instruction you don't understand as simple as kick it up field confuses you enough to be able to scramble your mind and make it impossible to track back and put a foot in i question their ability to be playing football at any level

[theakston2k]

That's a fair point. But I think what we saw last night from some, not all, was more in the Charlie Austin* downing tools camp


* as in what SR described Charlie Austin talking about on the radio, not saying he actually did that himself

I'm still not sure, I think all the leaders or vocal players have been ripped out of that team (for reasons we can just guess) and as a result we are left with a complete lack of experience and leadership on that pitch. The players just seem to be wondering around in a daze looking completely lost to me which is hardly surprising when the 'tactics' and 'formation' (I use those words loosely) are unfathomable and change from week to week.

Ultimately it's a job to the players, I know that if I had no clear instructions and didn't know what I was doing in my job my 'performance' wouldn't be great.

[Red Frog]

Meanwhile, courtesy of the EFL on my timeline this morning, a reminder of what a manager with a consistent style of play looks like. Thanks for that. Good timing.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=858544298318979

[theakston2k]

Meanwhile, courtesy of the EFL on my timeline this morning, a reminder of what a manager with a consistent style of play looks like. Thanks for that. Good timing.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=858544298318979

His 'style' doesn't seem to be working overly well either, only 1 win in their last 5 games.

[Peter Venkman]

His 'style' doesn't seem to be working overly well either, only 1 win in their last 5 games.

The last unbeaten side at home in the top 5 divisions though.

[theakston2k]

The last unbeaten side at home in the top 5 divisions though.

Home/away completely irrelevant this season IMO. Their form has dropped off since Wellens started being able to sign players....

[Red Frog]

Home/away completely irrelevant this season IMO. Their form has dropped off since Wellens started being able to sign players....

He always emphasised that it takes a while to coach a team into playing a particular way.

We may have to disagree about his qualities as a manager, but I was reminded of what it felt like to have a boss who had a clear plan, and was able to articulate it.

Listening to Sheridan's aimless drivel after every game, I miss that. And I expect the players do too.