There wasn’t enough steel in the team yesterday according to Mike Dodds, and he intends to add some to the squad. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with before next weekend’s visit of Stockport County, and until the transfer window closes on September 1st.
Our last defeat in the opening competitive fixture of the season under Gareth Ainsworth came nine years ago (a 1-0 loss at Crawley Town in August 2016).
we need a proper CDM in the mould of scowen / Connell (yes i know Connell not an option now)
Boyd-Munce may well be that player. I agree we need more than just him though.
I think it could be a Sunderland related phenomenon. I remember suggestions being made by one or two “experts” last season, following a temporary loss of form by Sunderland, that lack of physicality (aka steel) was the main reason. That suggestion was reinforced and commented upon in the post match tv studio discussion after Sunderland had succumbed to a heavy defeat by a very physical Watford side at Vicarage Road.
Mike Dodds will have been very much aware of that situation.
Just some idle musings (recognising that there are exceptions) but I wonder whether a coach who has never played professional football has sufficient understanding of HOW the professional game at League 1 level is actually played as opposed to understanding how they WANT it to be played.
If that was true that Harvie was telling the team at half time that was what they should expect every week I do have to question why on earth MD hadn’t thought to tell them before kick off!
MD may want us to play, nice, pretty passing football but there’s a fair to middling chance that the team we are playing against might not want us to - at least when (or more accurately if) we get anywhere near their goal.
I’m pretty sure I remember a quote from some manager or other a few years back that you have to earn the right to play football. We are certainly missing that at the moment.
@glasshalfempty I remember at the beginning of the 22/23 season travelling all the way to Exeter to see steel in Ainsworth’s team (Scowen, Mawson and Forino, for example) and the less formidable Tyla Dickinson in goal. We lost 3 - 1. It wasn’t until the Barnsley game on 20th August that Max Stryjek made his debut - 5 games into the season.
@micra The Sunderland team that so lacked steel it got promoted to the Premier League?
Yes indeed. There weren’t as many Watfords in the Championship as there are Stockports and Bradfords in League One. and there was a lot of season left if I remember correctly. We will be up against an early aerial onslaught next Saturday but at least we now know what to expect.
Fact check - we lost to Rotherham at the beginning of the championship season - that’s more recent
Is that the same season that started with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Burton Albion at Adams Park with pace, power and no little skill from the likes of David Wheeler, Anis Mehmeti and Josh Scowen?
Our opening competitive fixture in the 2020/21 season was a 1-1 draw with Brentford in the League Cup at Lionel Road.
Since Dodds apparently needs time to get over his football philosophy, wouldn’t it have made sense to get all of the players that he requires by now?
I’m not sure this place is ready for the creator supremes.
It’s actually poetry that wins matches.
TBF I’m not sure you’re helping your argument about being prepared for the start of a season by using an example of a season where we’d literally failed to sign a goalkeeper!
That was truly shambolic in hindsight. Dickinson was a rabbit in headlights. Totally negligent to start the season with him as our only goalkeeper.
The circumstances surrounding Nathan Bishop’s loan move from Manchester United are well documented. He was photographed in the new kit before being pulled last minute. Not only did Tyla Dickinson keep a clean sheet on his debut, as part of a team that was full of steel, but a replacement was clearly identified and signed soon afterwards. Did Dickinson drop a howler comparable with Mikki van Sas’s yesterday?
Best example being the championship season.
We started that first game with a centre midfield combo of Bloomfield and Pattison, and seemed to have written the first month off as a “learning” time, before recruiting exceptionally well with loanees etc
I imagine CBM was planned to be the CDM but he got injured. It happens. We do still have Butcher but he doesn’t seem to be in the plans and we probably don’t want him to get injured prior to a possible move.
There is no long term benefit. We were screwed the day the majority voted.
Fast forward a few years we will be walking round with buckets asking to save our club.
(Well you won’t but you get the point)
Tyranasauris Eric rex ,
Has Dickinson ever made two saves of the same quality as Van Sas yesterday?