Thetownend.com

Was that... comfortable?

RHM, closely followed by McGurk and UGM.

This.

Those are definitely the candidates, I'd put McGurk first just because I think he did the things nobody else on the pitch could have done.

RHM edging out McGurk.

RHM needed those two goals.

McGurk was instrumental in midfield tonight.  RHM & Glatz get a shout too

McGurk, just from RHM. All 4 starting defenders played well. Impressed with Drinan again . UGM was superb 1st half

RHM by a good gap to mcgurk

McGurk then RHM

Rush from McGurk for me.

But who cares, they were both great.

No idea how the sponsors picked Dokes, not that he was bad but clearly the best two players were McGurk & RHM.

Thoroughly impressed by a few players last night. UGM, Glatzel and McGurk in particular. At the opposite end, I was disappointed in Aguiar and Devoy. FBT generally controlled things at the back, his usual steady eddy self.

But my vote goes to the enigmatic RHM. His touch, pace, finishing and decision making was miles better last night, unlucky not to have been walking off with the match ball. Deserved a rest and a chance to take the applause but bizarrely Gunning never left that substitution option.

RHM just from McGurk followed by Dokes. Talking to my grandson prior to the game we could not see how RHM was still in the frame for a starting place but then he comes out and puts on a performance that knocked spots off his previous ones. I really want to see him come good and repeat that kind of game week in week out as there is a player in there somewhere.

After about 15/20 mins I was hoping we could hang on til half time so Gav could take RHM off as it was like we were playing with 10 men, then something just clicked & he started to play like Ronaldo. Just goes to show what a bit of confidence can do to a player like him. Just hope he can keep his confidence up & perform somewhere near that level consistently

I got the impression we intentionally ignored midfield and had two bodies in there. The space was either behind (RHM) or the half space between their defence and midfield (Glatzel, McGurk or Austin) and they moved the ball on quickly.
It worked so well I have to assume it was a game plan as opposed to just lady luck

you'd hope it was a game plan! Some of the ball movement between the thirds was pretty good last night.

It was definitely tweaked from previous games and more extreme, but a lot of Gavball has used the wide forwards as the main outlets rather than the central midfielders. I can see it working in L2, but we have totally the wrong kind of midfielders for it right now - if we're going to do that, play two destroyer type midfielders who can just break up opposition play. There really is no point having a Devoy/McEachran/Cain/Aguiar type passing midfielder in this style of play - or certainly not two of them!

Like just from the players we have had this season, you could see a team that was:

              Bycroft
Kokolo FBT McCarthy UGM
         Khan Kinsella
RHM Glatzel Austin McGurk

I can see how that works, it's very much attacking down the wings but that's fine - that's all Paul Sturrock ever did and he did okay.

I compared Gav's approach to Flitcrofts, it's very similar but we probably have slightly better players up top right now, but too many ball players elsewhere.  Flitcroft used been there and done it L2 plodders to fill out the other positions.  With the slightly better ball players it's easier on the eye, and Flitcroft showed you can get results with limited talent playing that way.  I'd never want a Flitcroft style team ever again, but a better version of it could probably work.  In fact, Wellens was similar in that it was a fairly direct style of play, just not long ball.

I'll suffer any style if we go up.

I was worried before kick off that midfield would be underpowered / exposed without either Khan or McEachran to fill the defensive part of the role. Hence I thought Devoy’s performance in a different role from what we’ve seen previously was influential in the game - less eye catching than McGurk but important nevertheless. I also like the way Glatzel uses the ball / moves it on quickly. RHM took his goals well.

Agreed

I sent "What fresh hell is that midfield?!" to a groupchat before kickoff :D

Tbf, it did look piss weak. But if we are going to bypass it I suppose having a bit of beef doesn’t really matter. Still need a real nasty bastard in there, though.

 :toocool:

https://youtu.be/uOivzoRc0I8?si=5-3yPwZRPk5k69_G