RicoS321

Dorrington on his wrong foot. Definite pen.

Lazetic on now, and still Aouchiche is on, despite missing a really good chance and giving away one at the other end. Bilalovic can't be trusted it seems.

Dorrington terrible on the left, every touch is to get it on his right, and his body shape all wrong. Given the circumstances, I'm not blaming Thelin for playing him there, just making the point.

Interesting changes. Devlin into centre back? Probably fine. I'd have Aouchiche off.

Looks like a 5-2-3, or 3-4-3. Interesting.

Cheers. Fawa got it. Pish fae Nisbet there, should be playing in Karlsson.

Pretty much this. Forgot the game was on, off to find a stream.

I did quote internet rumours, which I thought was synonymous for "shite", but I'll be more careful in future. They were actually second hand internet rumours too.

He's just easy to get the run on. Over five yards, he's just too slow for this league. In open play, that's usually okay, because he's got good awareness and positioning, which buys him the yards. On the ball, he's got good feet and drops the shoulder well, which means he doesn't usually get caught either (no more than anyone else). It's just these standing starts he struggles with. Whilst he's got size, he's not a centre half size, and in a one-on-one there's usually only one winner. The answer is fairly straightforward though, the coaching staff just need to make sure he's not marking anyone that is good at attacking corners. There are a limited number in each side, and we have players that are quicker than Nilsen that will cause more hassle to put the attacker off (not necessarily winning the headers). Nilsen almost never wins a header in either box, but he does sometimes get a good block in, it just isn't consistent enough. It's a coaching issue in my opinion, it should be obvious the regularity with which he loses his man. It's easy for pundits to say "he's got to be stronger" or similar, but if we're continually blaming the player then it becomes a coaching issue where they recognise his weakness and ensure he's marking the correct "type" of player. As far as I can tell, the guy that scores lots from corners was being marked by the guy who lets people score from corners.

We should have learned our lesson last season and kept Nilsen forward at corners, given how very, very bad he is at marking his man.

Good luck. I've been to Prague a few times on stag doos. Fairly certain I'm on their system.

I certainly think that the stats hide a lot, because we look nowhere near fifth place, but do look good enough to finish eighth. The stats will be inflated by the chances we created last night after we'd already thrown the game away for example, which weren't testament to our ability really. One thing in our favour, though, is that our defence probably isn't as bad as it seems. They are being put under a lot of pressure because of our failure at the other end. It's relentless for them, and there's that inevitability that we'll concede simply because we haven't scored. It's a psychological issue, and one that can be targeted, especially at set pieces. There's zero breathing space for them.

I'm struggling to see why we bought Nisbet. He doesn't fit Thelin's system at all, until you add in the second striker. I knew that when we signed him, so why the fuck did nobody at the club not know that? A director of football would have known that. If we've got stats like "touches per game", and to the extent that you can use that to measure a player's performance, surely we're looking at those and seeing that he had lots more touches when Gueye was in the side than when he wasn't? Or do we only use stats when we're signing European duds? Cowan, as insufferable as he is, did make a good point about Nisbet's lack of running the channels. He does stay very central, and must be a dream to mark.

He was very slow on numerous occasions, and he regularly loses his man at set pieces, and did so a couple of times tonight before the goals.

There were certainly rumours that he'd had enough and wants away. Internet though.

Clarkson hasn't played well there since his first season though. He's better than Aouchiche, but neither are suited to playing that role alongside Nisbet. Much as I think Yengi is shite, we should have been keeping Nisbet on the park with him to see if they could do anything together. We will not get anywhere with Nisbet without a second striker. Armstrong could perhaps perform the McGrath role quite well.

Scandalously, I'd say. Four years of not learning our lesson on giving a manager carte blanche (after saying that we were doing the exact opposite). It's a serious lesson in shite squad building.

This squad isn't the best

That did look like a change in system tonight. Nilsen did appear to be deeper than Polvara and Armstrong. Could just have been the angle on the telly. It did look suspiciously like a 4-1-4-1 though. Clarkson would have been perfect for the role that Nilsen played, but it'll now be the last and only time he tries it.

Bilalovic looks like he might be worth a shot. Karlsson wasn't terrible. Knoester decent. I'm assuming Clarkson has just given up because he keeps getting dropped for players that are significantly shiter than him. We're basically ruining our best player so that we can remain faithful to Nilsen and bedding in crap new players.

Palaversa has been dogshite every time he's played this season. It's like he's pregnant or something, as he seems unable to run. The key there was Nisbet and Gueye. Nisbet can only play when someone is occupying the other defenders. Also, Morris, of course.

A vast improvement though

He's not. Dicks about in the wrong positions, offers nothing. Weak as pish Aouchiche isn't very good.

Milanovic isn't very good.

That's got to be a yellow for sapsford?