Lost the Midfield, Another Hudson Error

As I predicted, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38365, we lost the midfield battle and were outmuscled. With McPhail in the middle we aren't good enough. Simple.

The first goal killed us. Hudson wins the ball but then lets Scotland get the ball back off him.

Depressing.

Missed opportunity to get back to second and I now believe it will be playoffs again. These games against mediocre opposition at home are MUST WINS if we wanna go up automatically.

What do you think? Playoffs or auto?

Agree with you about the midfield thought Hudson played well as for are finish it will be play offs and lose in the semi.

You cant blame that on Hudson, it was a good tackle but he was unlucky that it ran to Bullard. It aint his fault that he was left totally exposed

i thought hudson was excellent tonight,,,again

Sorry but we competed all game, and in my opinion had the better of the midfield in the first half, a goal then would have made the difference the back four were for the most part solid but i guess could have done better for the first goal but quite what you do to stop a strike like that i dont know.The problem tonight was at the top end of the pitch with Bellamy and Chopra performance at best being poor and Bothroyd was'nt even that good i'm afraid.Is the boy playing with an injury or hi's is mind somewhere else i'd love someone to ask him.

We saw the classic problem with Steve McPhail today (& also to a lesser extent Whittingham) in that he flatters to deceive in midfield. Yes in the first half he looked half decent as no-one was closing him down and he had time to think and act.

However, Paul Jewell must have given instructions for his players to close him down in the second half and as a result he faded without a trace.

The brutal truth is McPhail lacks some of the basic skills to be a top class player in that position in this league. He is slow in body and mind, he can't tackle, gives away too many free-kicks, he can't score and has absolutely no right foot.

I would finish by making a comparison between him and Jimmy Bullard, who when called upon produced the goods, even if up until then you hadn't really noticed him in the game.

Which would you prefer?

steve mcphail had a really good game hardly gave the ball away all game, we missed olifinjana big time today, especially after they scored and whittingham vanished

Last edited by streamfeeder on Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

We saw the classic problem with Steve McPhail today (& also to a lesser extent Whittingham) in that he flatters to deceive in midfield. Yes in the first half he looked half decent as no-one was closing him down and he had time to think and act.

However, Paul Jewell must have given instructions for his players to close him down in the second half and as a result he faded without a trace.

The brutal truth is McPhail lacks some of the basic skills to be a top class player in that position in this league. He is slow in body and mind, he can't tackle, gives away too many free-kicks, he can't score and has absolutely no right foot.

I would finish by making a comparison between him and Jimmy Bullard, who when called upon produced the goods, even if up until then you hadn't really noticed him in the game.

Which would you prefer?

McPhail was superb first half. He played one ball whcih was absolutely world class to put JET in.

Not his fault our much vaunted strike force couldnt put the ball away.

He tired in the last 20, but hardly suprising given he's not played much recently.

As for blaming Hudson for the goal, then I bet he's really sorry he didnt manage to put one of our strikers through on goal with his tackle.

Defense did well today, up until they scored they created next to nothing.

We were denied, by a good keeper, a close offside decision, poor finishing, and a huge dollop of bad luck.

Tactics can be criticised and so can the subs.

Mcphail and hudson had good games IMO,they 1st goal was lucky the way it fell to them,on another day we would've been out of site by HT

i am angry at dave jones more than anyone tonite, changes at 77 and 85? mins, make them at 60 something or straight after their goal, parkin should of replaced bothroyd, chopra should of went up front and burke brought on, not his fault we should of been 3-0 up when they scored though

We saw the classic problem with Steve McPhail today (& also to a lesser extent Whittingham) in that he flatters to deceive in midfield. Yes in the first half he looked half decent as no-one was closing him down and he had time to think and act.

However, Paul Jewell must have given instructions for his players to close him down in the second half and as a result he faded without a trace.

The brutal truth is McPhail lacks some of the basic skills to be a top class player in that position in this league. He is slow in body and mind, he can't tackle, gives away too many free-kicks, he can't score and has absolutely no right foot.

I would finish by making a comparison between him and Jimmy Bullard, who when called upon produced the goods, even if up until then you hadn't really noticed him in the game.

Which would you prefer?

McPhail was superb first half. He played one ball whcih was absolutely world class to put JET in.

Not his fault our much vaunted strike force couldnt put the ball away.

He tired in the last 20, but hardly suprising given he's not played much recently.

As for blaming Hudson for the goal, then I bet he's really sorry he didnt manage to put one of our strikers through on goal with his tackle.

Defense did well today, up until they scored they created next to nothing.

We were denied, by a good keeper, a close offside decision, poor finishing, and a huge dollop of bad luck.

Tactics can be criticised and so can the subs.

Odd I don't remember blaming Hudson for the goal

Sorry Tim but you are viewing McPhail through rose tinted glasses, we have been here before season after season in that once he is closed down he doesn't have the basic tools to get the job done. That is the reason for the difference between the first and second half performances, not tiredness.

You can bet every scouting report for every team we play between now and the end of the season will say the same.

the only one to blame is jones for not having the balls to take off bothroyd with him playing tonight it was like having only 10 men .he must be droped needs a good sharp kick kick up the arse and told not stay down moaning all the time refs dont change there mind over decisions he definatly not up for the fight also bellamy had his worst game for us and i agree there goalie was man of the match

Jay has been talkin the talk of late but hasn't delivered anywher near wot he is near capable of on the pitch unfortunately,but he will never be dropped,nor will he be subbed IMO

We saw the classic problem with Steve McPhail today (& also to a lesser extent Whittingham) in that he flatters to deceive in midfield. Yes in the first half he looked half decent as no-one was closing him down and he had time to think and act.

However, Paul Jewell must have given instructions for his players to close him down in the second half and as a result he faded without a trace.

The brutal truth is McPhail lacks some of the basic skills to be a top class player in that position in this league. He is slow in body and mind, he can't tackle, gives away too many free-kicks, he can't score and has absolutely no right foot.

I would finish by making a comparison between him and Jimmy Bullard, who when called upon produced the goods, even if up until then you hadn't really noticed him in the game.

Which would you prefer?

McPhail was superb first half. He played one ball whcih was absolutely world class to put JET in.

Not his fault our much vaunted strike force couldnt put the ball away.

He tired in the last 20, but hardly suprising given he's not played much recently.

As for blaming Hudson for the goal, then I bet he's really sorry he didnt manage to put one of our strikers through on goal with his tackle.

Defense did well today, up until they scored they created next to nothing.

We were denied, by a good keeper, a close offside decision, poor finishing, and a huge dollop of bad luck.

Tactics can be criticised and so can the subs.

Odd I don't remember blaming Hudson for the goal

Sorry Tim but you are viewing McPhail through rose tinted glasses, we have been here before season after season in that once he is closed down he doesn't have the basic tools to get the job done. That is the reason for the difference between the first and second half performances, not tiredness.

You can bet every scouting report for every team we play between now and the end of the season will say the same.

No you didnt, the OP did and that was what i was posting about.

As for McPhail, no, I dont agree, I could see him tiring. First 60 minutes he was class. they TRIED to close him down, but failed, he ran out of steam and Jones should have changed tack.

No you didnt, the OP did and that was what i was posting about.

As for McPhail, no, I dont agree, I could see him tiring. First 60 minutes he was class. they TRIED to close him down, but failed, he ran out of steam and Jones should have changed tack.

Well I certainly viewed it differently and I also remember the last 2 seasons where he has returned to the side late in the season after being out for various reasons only to completely screw things up (i.e. we are still a Championship side)

So we will have to agree to disagree, but I hope to heavens another option can be found and quick.

As I predicted, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38365, we lost the midfield battle and were outmuscled. With McPhail in the middle we aren't good enough. Simple.

The first goal killed us. Hudson wins the ball but then lets Scotland get the ball back off him.

Depressing.

Missed opportunity to get back to second and I now believe it will be playoffs again. These games against mediocre opposition at home are MUST WINS if we wanna go up automatically.

What do you think? Playoffs or auto?

If it's depressing, why do you need the ayatollah ?!

Hudson was left basically alone ! Look at it again and you won't see Keinan and McNaughton, just Hudson and Quinn. And despite Hudson losing out to Scotland, Quinn nails Scotland with a great challenge which unfortunately carries it into space for Bullard to strike. The story of our night - unlucky !

McPhail is a class player. End of. I agree to the extent that he needs protection, but unfortunately we didn't have Olofinjana available to us.

No you didnt, the OP did and that was what i was posting about.

As for McPhail, no, I dont agree, I could see him tiring. First 60 minutes he was class. they TRIED to close him down, but failed, he ran out of steam and Jones should have changed tack.

Well I certainly viewed it differently and I also remember the last 2 seasons where he has returned to the side late in the season after being out for various reasons only to completely screw things up (i.e. we are still a Championship side)

So we will have to agree to disagree, but I hope to heavens another option can be found and quick.

So what, when we had two from Blake, Wildig and Rae in centre midfield at the end of last season, you weren't crying out for McPhail ? Yeah right !

And when you say "another option", we sure as hell won't get it. Not at this late stage in the season. And face it, we won't get Ramsey back.