Phil Brown put out the same side that beat Wolves except with Bridges in for the injured Folan/Windass. I would've gone for McPhee up front. I can understand why Bridges was in, after two decent sub appearances, but McPhee is stronger, has more pace and wins more in the air. He's much better suited to the lone forward role. In hindsight, I think Phil Brown would agree, but at 14:30, he probably didn't envisage his Tigers playing the sort of football they fell into.
We had the better first half. We created a few good openings and had a spell of pressure that might have brought 2 goals, from a wicked Okocha shot and a Turner header. However, we didn't really enjoy a lot of possession because we were wasteful with the ball and took the easy option to hit it forward too often. Wednesday hit a lot of high balls and most ran through to Boaz. He booted it long too often. We weren't winning everything. Bridges is rotten in the air and Hughes and Okocha are no great shakes. That meant everything being directed at Garcia, who won about 10% of the balls aimed his way. When we got the ball down and pushed the full back's forward, we looked superb. The first attack of the game was a sweeping five man move that included an incredible reverse pass from Ashbee and forced a corner. At that point, we looked like we'd run them ragged. It happened far too infrequently after that. Wednesday did a good job of closing us down from the front, they have bags of pace and Jeffers, Burton and, later, Tudgay defended well from the front but we were too slow to launch attacks.
When we did push forward, we were guilty of trying to play the killer ball too early, instead of holding on to the ball and committing players. Okocha in particular tries to play the more difficult pass when there is a simple ball on. It's obviously effective if it comes off because it's unexpected but when you're playing against 8 defenders, you're 1-0 down and struggling to have an impact on the game, you have to play more simply, ensure you get the ball into good positions to deliver and ensure you keep possession because if you do, even if you don't deliver, you'll press them back and force corners and throw-ins. I was disappointed in Okocha, he didn't have a great impact on the game, his pass choice was questionable and he held onto the ball too long and then left us looking static because our runs had then been covered. His set piece delivery was exquisite and he played 2 or 3 passes that made the mouth water, but generally, he should have done a lot better.
Because a lot of our approach play was 'direct', we alienated Bridges a bit, he didn't have a great deal to work with. That doesn't excuse him though. When he did have the ball, he often gave it away, twice trying cross field passes that launched Wednesday attacks and he was caught offside too often. A couple of the decisions were questionable but after that he should have made sure he was onside. His running off the ball was quite good when balls were played longer, but when we attacked he didn't do enough to make opportunities and never looked likely to get on the end of anything. Bridges has a good following amongst the City following but at some point, he's got to deliver. I'd still rather have Folan, Windass, McPhee or Barmby and probably Pedersen too. Bridges constantly fails to impress and still has people claiming he "deserves a chance". He's running out of chances. With every start, he shows less and less potential. Very disappointing.
There were some positives. Defensively, we were OK. Wednesday scored a very good long range goal. We could have stopped the threat on the left wing before the ball went to Jeffers and put more pressure on the shot. That and a late break away aside, Wednesday didn't create much. We closed them down in midfield and Brown and Turner gave their front two little space to work in. Any threat came down the wings. The Dutch man at #11 gave Ricketts a hard time. Ricketts let him run at him and backed off too much. On the other side, Delaney was OK against their threat, but terrible in possession. I don't think Andy Dawson offers a much better option really, we need another full-back or two. In the centre, Turner was a colossus again. We had a tough second half because Wednesday started hitting balls in a lot lower, which gave their forwards a much better chance to cause trouble and meant Turner couldn't use his height. He dealt with the threat very well, kept tight on his oppo and nicked the ball early when he could. We defended in a perfect line, not so high that they'd get in behind, and not so deep that their midfield could push on us. Wayne Brown deserves a lot of credit for our organisation. He did a decent job in defense too, but is guilty of not closing down quickly enough. We saw that for the winning goal at Blackpool and several times today. That must improve. We also need to be more disciplined around the box, we gave away far too many free-kicks in dangerous areas, a lot that were unnecessary.
Ash was the pick of the midfield, he was excellent. He holds a good position, uses the ball sensibly, makes himself available for a pass and wins the ball in the air. He has nothing left to prove to anyone, he's obviously good enough for this level. Alongside him, Marney covered a lot of ground and made a couple of good breaks, but generally failed to impact the game again, he needs to do more to justify a place in the middle of the park. Hughes did as well as a central midfielder playing wide left will and got on the end of 2 or 3 great crosses but finished poorly. On the other side, Garcia wasn't clever or quick enough to trouble the full-back. He was ignored on occassion when he should have been used, but generally didn't do enough. Pedersen and McPhee came off the bench, Henrik initially up front on his own and then McPhee made a 4-4-2. They looked more of a threat and made more of the poor service but by the time they came on, the midfield had ran themselves ragged and we couldn't get anyone close enough to support them.
Phil Dowd was the referee. He had a tough day. Wednesday were dirty, plenty of cynical fouls and one from Kavanagh that bordered on assault. The referee kept control in the first half, but in the second, he gave us nothing. Marney was barged in the back on the edge of the area and Garcia the victim of a hideous lunge from Steve Watson, neither of which the referee gave. Schoolboy decisions. We also suffered from having a frustrated referee wannabe running the line who gave Wednesday 3 free-kicks for 50/50 challenges, while of course, the lino in our (defensive) half didn't want to give anything against Wednesday. A very, very poor second half from the officials, compounded by the 3 minutes added time. There were 6 substitutions, 2 injuries and a host of instances of time wasting that the ref kept assuring our players he was stopping the watch for, so 3 minutes was disgusting. In truth, it could've been 15 minutes and we still wouldn't have scored.
I had a chat with a Wednesday fan at the Burger, er, Salad bar before the game. I assured him that when you're on the bones of your bottom, the fixture you want is Hull City at home. How many times have we donated 3 points to those in desperate need over the years? We could be called Dove House FC. If we'd won today when we surely should have, I'd be convinced that this really is a new dawn and all those old, bad City habits have been dismissed, but it was not to be. In terms of progress on last season, we have twice as many points after seven games. In terms of progress in taking what you should from games, we're still very poor, because this is the 3rd game already this season that we've ended up with zero points when we should have earned one at a minimum. I'm going to say we deserved something today, because our attacking display was too poor to give us any right to complain, but Wednesday were very poor, there for the taking and didn't do anything to justify three points. Same old City?
Ratings: Myhill 6, Ricketts 6, Delaney 5, Turner 7, Brown 6, Garcia 6, Hughes 6 (Livermore), Ashbee 8, Marney 6 (McPhee), Okocha 6, Bridges 5 (Pedersen).