Are we back to long ball punts.

[stevotrueblue 382]

Now the dust has settled a bit from Sunday and we can start thinking more about moving on and the games ahead.  The one thing in all the games recently I think that has me the most concerned is that long punt up field we seem to have gone back to.  I know we lost the midfield battle and a lot of tiredness was clearly visible,, but how can you win a midfield battle or gain any possession or a  rest bite when you bypass then completely by knocking it over their heads?

We did it too in the game against the Russians.  Its no surprise then that the opposition will then just keep coming back at you.  Now we have defended for the most really well, but at times I think we are making it harder for ourselves than we need to.

I watched Shagger on Sunday and the Russian game and he was terrific,, dont get me wrong.  But I dont think I seen him roll a ball out to the defence once.  At every opportunity it was a long punt.

[Ryju84 3,170]

6 minutes ago, stevotrueblue said:

Now the dust has settled a bit from Sunday and we can start thinking more about moving on and the games ahead.  The one thing in all the games recently I think that has me the most concerned is that long punt up field we seem to have gone back to.  I know we lost the midfield battle and a lot of tiredness was clearly visible,, but how can you win a midfield battle or gain any possession or a  rest bite when you bypass then completely by knocking it over their heads?

We did it too in the game against the Russians.  Its no surprise then that the opposition will then just keep coming back at you.  Now we have defended for the most really well, but at times I think we are making it harder for ourselves than we need to.

I watched Shagger on Sunday and the Russian game and he was terrific,, dont get me wrong.  But I dont think I seen him roll a ball out to the defence once.  At every opportunity it was a long punt.

Not sure why we don't play it out to our defenders who are more assured on the ball than we have had for the last 8 years.

Half of McGregors punt outs go to opposition. The other half go out that right touchline.

(Im exaggerating slightly) When punt out goes to Morelos he holds up well but we need the midfield to boost forward more.

 

[big blue Fin 3,724]

The long punt has It's place in the game but it should not be the only option used.

[stevotrueblue 382]

4 minutes ago, big blue Fin said:

The long punt has It's place in the game but it should not be the only option used.

Exactly mate.  In the Russian game when we were leading I kept thinking,, just roll it out and pass around a bit and take the sting out the game.  We were in a comfortable position and had no reason to be punting it long.  I can only guess as he was constantly doing it that he has been instructed to do it. 

[markem 7,287]

We’ve tried to take the middle out by going straight over (stating the obvious) which had potential, big problems were our distribution was mince and it wasn’t sticking enough when it wasn’t. 

I suspect SG is about to learn that Kyles height isn’t as much of an asset as he may think, unless that part of his game has significantly developed. 

Im just a tad worried in our away games we are putting to much into how we stop the other team. Of course there is a time and place for those tactics but it’s been proven time and again that if you go for that lot (I know there’s an argument about fatigue, i,m not convinced we’d have set up different otherwise) you’ve every chance of taking something.  We certainly , shouldn’t be getting drawn into a scrap with Motherwell. 

I hope that stung for the squad as much as us as too many of them looked terrified, ball was a hot potato and individuals trying to do their bit rather than us looking like a unit with a few exceptions).  I personally believe whist it won’t fix everything (if much at all) the wrong guy has the armband.

Early days for us, 12 out of 12 from the next 4. 

[Bobby Hume 13,131]

4 minutes ago, stevotrueblue said:

Now the dust has settled a bit from Sunday and we can start thinking more about moving on and the games ahead.  The one thing in all the games recently I think that has me the most concerned is that long punt up field we seem to have gone back to.  I know we lost the midfield battle and a lot of tiredness was clearly visible,, but how can you win a midfield battle or gain any possession or a  rest bite when you bypass then completely by knocking it over their heads?

We did it too in the game against the Russians.  Its no surprise then that the opposition will then just keep coming back at you.  Now we have defended for the most really well, but at times I think we are making it harder for ourselves than we need to.

I watched Shagger on Sunday and the Russian game and he was terrific,, dont get me wrong.  But I dont think I seen him roll a ball out to the defence once.  At every opportunity it was a long punt.

?

Totally agree with the part about the midfield getting left out due to punting the ball in a hit and miss (majority of times) fashion.

Stifles creativity from the midfield making it easier for the opposition to retain possession and come at us again.

 

[Blue Avenger 22,567]

23 minutes ago, stevotrueblue said:

Now the dust has settled a bit from Sunday and we can start thinking more about moving on and the games ahead.  The one thing in all the games recently I think that has me the most concerned is that long punt up field we seem to have gone back to.  I know we lost the midfield battle and a lot of tiredness was clearly visible,, but how can you win a midfield battle or gain any possession or a  rest bite when you bypass then completely by knocking it over their heads?

We did it too in the game against the Russians.  Its no surprise then that the opposition will then just keep coming back at you.  Now we have defended for the most really well, but at times I think we are making it harder for ourselves than we need to.

I watched Shagger on Sunday and the Russian game and he was terrific,, dont get me wrong.  But I dont think I seen him roll a ball out to the defence once.  At every opportunity it was a long punt.

Yes, but what was he instructed to do?!

It works both ways. It is also for midfield to actually win a fucking ball and maybe making two consecutive passes would have been good.

[Wullies_bowly_legs 3,825]

Trouble is both the scum and Ufa had a high press going at us. The back 4 were getting harried straight away when/if the ball was played out to them

[Brackley Bluenose 4,479]

20 minutes ago, Ryju84 said:

Not sure why we don't play it out to our defenders who are more assured on the ball than we have had for the last 8 years.

Half of McGregors punt outs go to opposition. The other half go out that right touchline.

(Im exaggerating slightly) When punt out goes to Morelos he holds up well but we need the midfield to boost forward more.

 

This. Such a decent keeper but his distribution is horrendous at times. Lost count in the Motherwell game the amount of times he kicked the ball out of play - their throw in, another attack, repeat. 

[big blue Fin 3,724]

45 minutes ago, stevotrueblue said:

Exactly mate.  In the Russian game when we were leading I kept thinking,, opposition roll it out and pass around a bit and take the sting out the game.  We were in a comfortable position and had no reason to be punting it long.  I can only guess as he was constantly doing it that he has been instructed to do it. 

I bloody hope not.

We need to mix things up play out from the back, long throws towards the middle and if the opposition get wise and start to press then you put the long punt up for players running through.

[Malkytfp1 18,618]

Hearts have layed the blueprint down on how to beat them... twice! Problem is no one is listening to them.

Hearts pressed high and didnt allow their midfield to control the game. If their midfield cant get control then their fullbacks are ineffective. We simply didnt compete with them in the centre of the park. Our midfielders were 20 metres too far back. Hearts continuosly forced them to go long which doesnt suit them. We also had a bried spell of joy doing this under Murty in theb1-1 game.

[backup 4,724]

in a word,...yes.

[bluenoz 30,956]

Our style of play has changed since the arrival of Lafferty.

[Bigsasasfloppyhair 13,310]

[Amac9 2,060]

Because our midfield is shite. No one good enough on the ball to create anything or dictate play.

[MrMckee 3,424]

I think we didn't have the energy in the middle of the park to play our usual pressing game due to the ufa game. Let's see how we set up after the international break with a well rested squad and injuries coming back we should be in a better place.

[Skyson1872 2,923]

38 minutes ago, Malkytfp1 said:

Hearts have layed the blueprint down on how to beat them... twice! Problem is no one is listening to them.

Hearts pressed high and didnt allow their midfield to control the game. If their midfield cant get control then their fullbacks are ineffective. We simply didnt compete with them in the centre of the park. Our midfielders were 20 metres too far back. Hearts continuosly forced them to go long which doesnt suit them. We also had a bried spell of joy doing this under Murty in theb1-1 game.

Have you even looked at Hearts record at Parkhead? It is just as bad as ours, so stop peddling this 'Hearts can do it' shite. Hearts also never played 8 european qualifiers before their game either.

[RJMcGregor 741]

40 minutes ago, Malkytfp1 said:

Hearts have layed the blueprint down on how to beat them... twice! Problem is no one is listening to them.

Hearts pressed high and didnt allow their midfield to control the game. If their midfield cant get control then their fullbacks are ineffective. We simply didnt compete with them in the centre of the park. Our midfielders were 20 metres too far back. Hearts continuosly forced them to go long which doesnt suit them. We also had a bried spell of joy doing this under Murty in theb1-1 game.

bear in mind how much easier it is to play a high pressing game when your pitch is rather small like hearts is, we have a larger pitch and so alot harder to play pressing football

[Bearsden bear 2,376]

I think we have kinda got into a defensive mode. Playing games with 10 men and euro away games defending a narrow lead may be impacting how we play.

Got to hope we will start pressing again and playing the ball from the back. A couple of home games with rested players (& no sending offs) will get us back Into the groove.

[NeoGeo7 10,560]

1 hour ago, Amac9 said:

Because our midfield is shite. No one good enough on the ball to create anything or dictate play.

It was particularly bad on Sunday. No composure, slack passes and poor touches so it really doesn’t surprise me that we bypassed them.

[Bertent 2,081]

53 minutes ago, RJMcGregor said:

bear in mind how much easier it is to play a high pressing game when your pitch is rather small like hearts is, we have a larger pitch and so alot harder to play pressing football

Do a Souness and change the pitch dims right before we play them. 

[RJMcGregor 741]

6 minutes ago, Bertent said:

Do a Souness and change the pitch dims right before we play them. 

Haha possibly, but I just hate this mantra that Hearts has them worked out, aye they do at home, where they have a small as fuck pitch. Frankly for me i see an improvement in defence which is good, but i think our attacking force is weak, Morelos gets injured or stabs some cunt on the pitch and we are fucked

[Tom0411 1,226]

Another thing that got me was everyone back at corners. What good is the wee lad Middleton in the penalty box. Stick him on the half way line and they have to put 2 players back. Also half decent ball over the top and with his pace it immediately gives them problems.

 

[Zulu 981]

Route one football is this what SG wants is this why he brought in Lafferty its going to be fukin back to McCoist  type football fuck that perish the thought

[loyalfollower 1,543]

When we lose the midfield battle which is every game vs Them then we have to go long.

what I noticed most though in other games is that we can be too predictable by constantly going down the wings. We lack the intelligence in the middle to play those through balls. Mind you we slso lack a striker that can stay onside!!

in any case I just want 3 points every game