[Albion] Did Knockaert get anything right tonight?

Machiavelli · Feb 15, 2017

Bozza said:
Agreed. Murphy's return to form was one of the only bright spots last night.

(I said this in earlier posts but) it was his dribbling, far more than his crossing, that stood out last night. He was really brave in going for it, and his cameo was indicative of something [MENTION=33924]Nixonator[/MENTION] has rightly pointed out: Hughton really does throw things at trying to get three points. I was really pleased that we'd seemed to have forgotten how to draw a month or two back, but we seem to have rediscovered that tendency, which is disappointing. I'd much rather a win and a loss (3 points) than two draws (2 points), probably (but not in all cases) even when we're playing certain rivals.

Bozza · Feb 15, 2017

Machiavelli said:
I was really pleased that we'd seemed to have forgotten how to draw a month or two back, but we seem to have rediscovered that tendency, which is disappointing. I'd much rather a win and a loss (3 points) than two draws (2 points), probably (but not in all cases) even when we're playing certain rivals.

That's your memory playing tricks with you.

Last 12 league fixtures: P12 W8 D2 L2 (Draw percentage: 16.6%)
Previous 19 league fixtures: P19 W11 D4 L2 (Draw percentage: 21.0%)

Peter Grummit · Feb 15, 2017

Bozza said:
Not that I've noticed. He certainly doesn't take them all.

Nearly every (if not every) free kick we had last night in dangerous territory needed a right-footed in-swinger. Instead we had Knockaert's left-footed away-swingers.

I thought precisely this. We were crying out for a decent right-footed delivery. (Lawrence proved it for Ipswich's goal). Stephens should have had a go.

biddles911 · Feb 15, 2017

London Irish said:
I thought Ipswich doubled up on him really well and never allowed him to settle. He's been immense the past few games, the other players owed him something tonight and they didn't deliver

Good point! It's become the norm for teams to double up on him recently and he still manages to wriggle past them more often than not.

He also retrieves the ball far more often than other players due to his constant harrying and was quite unlucky tonight not to turn them into something more positive.

While the team is not playing as fluently as earlier in the season they're still getting results.

I also don't think we're getting the rub of the green at present. Lots of balls bouncing kindly for the opposition has been a bit of a theme for the past few matches.

Not to mention a rubbish ref last night that blew up every two minutes making fluent play difficult!

Problem at present is that several teams below us are on fire and putting together a string of wins, which makes our minor dip look a real problem.

I still think we'll do it and go up, maybe even as champions.......

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Stat Brother · Feb 15, 2017

I'm sure someone else has mentioned it, but just in case.

In a game where you're not playing at 100%
Your team is piling forward for one last attempt for a vital win.
You receive the ball on the wing, 30 yards out.

That point is most definitely NOT the time to attempt some noddy bloody back heel.

Pretty much summed up his evening.

Had the shot after AK's first run not been so poor we may well have been treated to a masterclass.
As it was though we ended up watching a player trying too hard, and being a little bolshie with it.

C'est la vie - onwards and upwards.

marshy68 · Feb 15, 2017

been saying for months he needs to the pass ball more, now I know why he doesn't.

Perry Milkins · Feb 15, 2017

Bozza said:
Not that I've noticed. He certainly doesn't take them all.

Nearly every (if not every) free kick we had last night in dangerous territory needed a right-footed in-swinger. Instead we had Knockaert's left-footed away-swingers.

Maybe it is just me and the group around me. When Skalak and Norwood are also on the pitch it seems to us that AK adopts the 'alpha male' approach and demands the ball for set pieces. Interested in the thoughts of others. Don't get me wrong I love the bloke but fell that we can be much more threatening from SPs with variety (and quality) in delivery

B52 · Feb 15, 2017

Ernest said:
Missed the link ups between him and BURNO, not one decent move tonight

That is because he didn't stay on his wing enough, he roamed about all over the pitch looking for the ball, which then meant Solly had to do the same and in my view upset the balance of the team,

MattBackHome · Feb 15, 2017

I was perplexed by his constant roaming inside, but then thinking about it afterwards I reckon it may have been a specific instruction from CH to find pockets of space in front of their back five, rather than getting pinned out on the right wing. I agree that it affected our shape and the consistency of our attacks.

Whatever he was asked to do, it just wasn't happening for him last night.

DFL JCL · Feb 15, 2017

i love watching Knocky, and there isn't a player in the team that gets you off your seat like he does. Having said that sometimes i wish he would just deliver the ball a bit quicker. It must be pretty tricky for the forwards to time their runs as they can't be sure when he is actually going to deliver it.

Kalimantan Gull · Feb 15, 2017

Braggfan said:
I don't think it helped last night that him and March kept swapping wings. I thought Knockeart looked most dangerous when he was on the right, and was that he a lot less effective when he was on the left. When he did do something good on the right wing, suddenly swapping to the left wing didn't allow him or the team to build on that momentum. Maybe it works sometimes, but it didn't tonight in my opinion.

MattBackHome said:
I was perplexed by his constant roaming inside, but then thinking about it afterwards I reckon it may have been a specific instruction from CH to find pockets of space in front of their back five, rather than getting pinned out on the right wing. I agree that it affected our shape and the consistency of our attacks.

Whatever he was asked to do, it just wasn't happening for him last night.

Yeah the roaming and wing-switching was over the top imo, plus Bruno and Pocognoli spending the whole game in the oppositions half meaning we were caught on the break a couple of times - Hughton was really going for the jugular last night and it didn't work. To be honest the only person I'm blaming for last night is Hughton, I think he got the team wrong, the tactics wrong, and despite the players giving it their all there were a lot of little errors all over the place - just one of those nights

Betfair Bozo · Feb 15, 2017

dwayne said:
Was he playing for Leicester consistently.....No

Great player but not as good as we hype him up to be

Would do well to displace Mahrez to be fair! To put it in some context a sensible Leicester fan I know rates AK's contribution higher than Demarai Gray who is probably now in the £20m category. He is a winger, he will have poor games. Twas ever thus.

Betfair Bozo · Feb 15, 2017

I will agree with others though regarding the coming inside. AK's best work is always out wide and he has that ability to beat his man at the byline when there doesn't appear to be the space to do so. It's a rare talent. You'd have thought with the early bookings last night that it was set up for AK and SM to be the decisive influence. Onwards and upwards though.

Bigtomfu · Feb 15, 2017

Bozza said:
That's your memory playing tricks with you.

Last 12 league fixtures: P12 W8 D2 L2 (Draw percentage: 16.6%)
Previous 19 league fixtures: P19 W11 D4 L2 (Draw percentage: 21.0%)

Love it when stats belie the perception of a thought process. (I'm as guilty as the next man with this.)

Re AK I thought the switching of wings, especially when their full backs went to yellows, was inspired.

It wasn't our day yesterday but not certain we got anything wrong per se. If I was being overly critical I'd say we should have taken Hemed off earlier - it just wasn't his day and he faded - and left Baldock on for longer as he worried them.

We'll play so much worse than that and win.

BensGrandad · Feb 15, 2017

My frustration with both AK and March is that with 3 of the back four on early yellow cards why didnt they attack them rather trhan stand off them. This seems to happen more and more as if a yellow card means they must be left to play the game out without any problems.

DJ NOBO · Feb 15, 2017

Having almost single-handedly kept us in contention for much of the last year, knockaert doesn't deserve this thread however he played last night

Nixonator · Feb 15, 2017

The last person who should be blamed.

We have no creativity through the middle, no box-to-box play, nobody running at them.

Other than one decent long shot from Stephens and one through ball by Sidwell, we rely way too much on our wide players and they can't always be on song.

Bozza · Feb 15, 2017

Nixonator said:
The last person who should be blamed.

I'm not blaming him for anything. Simply an observation that he can scarcely have had a game in his whole life where almost everything he did went wrong.

Jeep · Feb 15, 2017

The only way for the opposition to stop Knocky and March is to hit them early. On Saturday it was knocky who took the whack and was below par for the match. Last night was March who get the early wallop, before being ineffectual.

Maybe they were both carrying bruises or minor injuries last night.

Thunder Bolt · Feb 15, 2017

BensGrandad said:
My frustration with both AK and March is that with 3 of the back four on early yellow cards why didnt they attack them rather trhan stand off them. This seems to happen more and more as if a yellow card means they must be left to play the game out without any problems.

The ref didn't want to hand out second yellow cards. Emmanuel was already on a yellow card but committed as bad a foul in the second half conceding a free kick, but the ref bottled it.

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[Albion] Did Knockaert get anything right tonight?

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