A sensible match report

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jul 28, 2013

Well, even if I say so myself . . . after reading the nonsense by NSD may I offer this:

A very familiar starting eleven. Lots of nice passing, but the leisurely keep ball seems to have gone. Much more aggressive. Is that the Jones influence already?

Our Idiot scored a nice goal after 2 minutes. He was bright and strong all game. And didn't go mad or fall asleep.

McCaptain moved around twice as fast as last year. I hope, what with his International Call Up, this wasn't too soon (premature ejockulation). Sorry about that

Crofts wanted to show a bit. Got booked for it, but better.

Leo looked big and strong. Bucko also looks more muscular. Upson has lost weight. All good signs.

The youngsters came on second half, and looked interesting. I liked it all. We look fit already and very tuned in. Let's see how it polishes over the next few weeks.

Anyway, that's enough positivity and balance to counter the twit.

Nighty night.

Blackadder · Jul 28, 2013

Good call Harry. I will go along with that.

Good friendly.

Eksman · Jul 28, 2013

Even the warm up along the sidelines was more regimental. The coaches wont be mucking about this season you can just tell.

Completelt agree about ulloa he seems as though he will be our main man, give him the ball and he will ne dangerous.

Its a shame we lost but you gotta accept it when after half time it was pretty much our dev squad and villareal are completely different with their style of play, all in all not a bad game

TSB · Jul 28, 2013

The ref was far too picky. I assume he was foreign, as most of the free-kicks would have gone unpunished in an English league match.
Terrific for the first ten minutes and could have been 3-0 up. Then Villareal started to dominate possession and 1-1 was a fair half-time score.
Second half and, chasing shadows, we tired.
Reckon our biggest problem is still that we have no plan to deal with teams that press us high up the pitch, but I expect the signings to make a big difference to that.

Leo looked excellent. Barnes, Will and Orlandi were switching positions all over the place (presumably to test out what worked best?). Impressed by Jake and Solly second half, but our defending...
Left back definitely required.

They were technically excellent, though. I doubt we'll play a team that good this year bar, possibly, Reading.
Not worried.

Pinkie Brown · Jul 28, 2013

Russting said:
Even the warm up along the sidelines was more regimental. The coaches wont be mucking about this season you can just tell.

Completelt agree about ulloa he seems as though he will be our main man, give him the ball and he will ne dangerous.

Its a shame we lost but you gotta accept it when after half time it was pretty much our dev squad and villareal are completely different with their style of play, all in all not a bad game

I picked up on that too. Seemed VERY structured. No casual ambling up the sideline.

Good analysis by the OP. Can't argue with any of that.

The big difference I picked up on compared to last season, was the urgency in the build up play and the speed the ball was played forward. Not long hoofball, but a quicker rapidfire version of the slow and sometimes predictable keep-ball buildup we were used to under Gus. That style of play served us well, but in time it was often sussed by opposition coaches who knew how to close us down.

Forget the result. That display, especially in the first half was impressive. Only when we started making wholesale changes, we lost our way a bit, but were far from disgraced against a classy looking Villarreal side.

imissworthing2 · Jul 28, 2013

So any idea what formation we played before all the 2nd half changes: Ulloa up front with AB,AO and WB playing just behind him?

And how did our style of play differ from last year?

Cheers

Driver8 · Jul 28, 2013

TSB said:
The ref was far too picky. I assume he was foreign, as most of the free-kicks would have gone unpunished in an English league match.

Ref was Keith Stroud from Gillingham. .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Zebedee · Jul 28, 2013

TSB said:
The ref was far too picky. I assume he was foreign, as most of the free-kicks would have gone unpunished in an English league match.
Terrific for the first ten minutes and could have been 3-0 up. Then Villareal started to dominate possession and 1-1 was a fair half-time score.
Second half and, chasing shadows, we tired.
Reckon our biggest problem is still that we have no plan to deal with teams that press us high up the pitch, but I expect the signings to make a big difference to that.

Leo looked excellent. Barnes, Will and Orlandi were switching positions all over the place (presumably to test out what worked best?). Impressed by Jake and Solly second half, but our defending...
Left back definitely required.

They were technically excellent, though. I doubt we'll play a team that good this year bar, possibly, Reading.
Not worried.

Reading will never be as good as Villareal were last night.

Silverfox · Jul 28, 2013

imissworthing2 said:
So any idea what formation we played before all the 2nd half changes: Ulloa up front with AB,AO and WB playing just behind him?

And how did our style of play differ from last year?

Cheers

The big difference for me as said elsewhere was the speed of the break, as soon as we gained possession two of the back four broke quickly to midfield with Bridcutt dropping back into the middle to form a back line of three. I think this helped us break quickly but gave us the numbers in midfield to be able to keep the passing game going

Goldstone1976 · Jul 28, 2013

Silverfox said:
The big difference for me as said elsewhere was the speed of the break, as soon as we gained possession two of the back four broke quickly to midfield with Bridcutt dropping back into the middle to form a back line of three. I think this helped us break quickly but gave us the numbers in midfield to be able to keep the passing game going

Well, yes. But, the two main things I noticed are that the break rarely got more than 10 yards beyond the half way line before the ball being turned back to defenders and, secondly, Leo kept possession well and laid off to advancing players. Their subsequent passes though were again more often than not backwards, rather than sideways to another advancing player. I would have thought that Leo would have been frustrated - "Guys, I've kept the ball from a 40 yard forward pass and laid it off. two passes later it's back with Inigo. WTF?"

The combination of possession football combined with fast, incisive attacking is really tricky and will take at least half a season to adopt effectively. What I saw last night was that we were good at doing it until 10 yards past the half way line. We'll need to get better at keeping it flowing to their box if we're going to win games with the system, like teams such as, errr, Villarreal did last night.

A promising start, but work needed.

trueblue · Jul 28, 2013

imissworthing2 said:
So any idea what formation we played before all the 2nd half changes: Ulloa up front with AB,AO and WB playing just behind him?

And how did our style of play differ from last year?

Cheers

Started with Orlandi behind Ulloa and the others wide (Barnes on the left). Barnes and Buckley switched wings for a while and in the second half Barnes was in the centre behind Ulloa.

Main difference I thought was that the team looked less compact, which meant more space for the opposition to exploit when we're defending. It also meant we got caught in possession a couple times with fewer close passing options for the man on the ball. When Villarreal had the ball near their own goal we chased them down high up the pitch so were vulnerable to the counter-attack (but also caught them out a couple of times).

Still playing keep ball sometimes but much quicker, looking for forward passes and it was noticeable that around the edge of the box we were crossing and shooting first time, rather than looking to score the 'perfect' goal.

Overall, a lot more open. At 1-0 we were looking for a 2nd rather than trying to slow things down. I think there'll be a lot fewer draws.

Spun Cuppa · Jul 28, 2013

Some good positive thoughts there on last night's game. I think the fact we are playing a new system, after over three seasons of playing the same way, means the players are getting used to it, and it will take time for them to nail it down. Patience will be needed from everyone, including us fans, so let's get behind the team from the off, and not whinge at every missed pass etc.

Pavilionaire · Jul 28, 2013

To play a higher tempo game successfully we need at least two new players who can play that way with the skill and speed to make it work. Hammond didn't have it, neither does Crofts, hopefully Agustien will.

Goldstone1976 · Jul 28, 2013

BTW, I note that the club lists VR's formation as 4-4-2. I thought they were much more flexible than that, with wing-backs (mostly on their right) powering forwards and quite often a diamond in midfield. I was really impressed with them and wonder if how they played matches OG's aspirations about how he'd like us to play. If so, I wouldn't complain!

Hungry Joe · Jul 28, 2013

Pavilionaire said:
To play a higher tempo game successfully we need at least two new players who can play that way with the skill and speed to make it work. Hammond didn't have it, neither does Crofts, hopefully Agustien will.

Nail on the head. The Agustien signing, plus hopefully another similar pacey string puller, will be key to the new system's success. If we hadn't landed Kemmy I'd be a lot more nervous than I am.

Bladders · Jul 28, 2013

I enjoyed the first half, thought we were pretty good, a bit exposed on the right though, their number 11 was finding some good room to work out there. There was certainly more purpose in our passing and the tempo of the our play was a lot better, (not much passing it across the back 4 repeatedly) only concern was that we looked a little more fragile at the back than last season when we lost the ball, think we might concede a few more goals this year.

Second half was pretty woeful though, our tempo dropped right off and we seem to run out of any idea on how to get forward with any purpose. Villareal though must be applauded for playing their part in that, they pressed really well and won the ball back quickly when they lost it. Also they are a technically better team than us and as are their players individually.

I doubt we'll see a team with that talent at the AMEX this year in a league game, so sometimes you just have shrug your shoulders and admit that Villareal are a much slicker outfit than us at the moment.

As for the warm up, I agree that had much more purpose about it, especially the Goalkeepers work out. Was a very interesting watch.

And for those wetting their pants over this loss, remember we got outplayed and beating at Swindon this time last year.

TSB · Jul 28, 2013

Driver8 said:
Ref was Keith Stroud from Gillingham. .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Well, there goes my theory. Hope we don't get him in a league game! Far too stop-start for my liking.

Oh and one further thought: Casper's kicking :wozza:

Bladders · Jul 28, 2013

TSB said:
Well, there goes my theory. Hope we don't get him in a league game! Far too stop-start for my liking.

Oh and one further thought: Caspar's kicking

Officials were crap .

Casper = :facepalm:

Eksman · Jul 28, 2013

Lol caspers kicking was a right joke

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jul 28, 2013

There was a moment yesterday when I was watching Upson. He started on the half way line, with Villa on the attack. He anticipated (and therefore prevented) 2 or 3 passes to their players down their left. Then he anticipated and intercepted their killer pass. I have to say it was one of the most amazing bits of defensive play I can recall ever seeing. He was switched on, fast and totally brilliant.

He looks slim and fit and will make a massive contribution this term if he repeats that on a weekly basis.

BTW I expect I was the only person who saw that sequence, as it was an interesting sequence of play and it was a bit counterintuitive to be glued to one player throughout. That, I guess, is why we have preseason friendlies.

All the best, O sensible correspondents

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