That’s twice now, that for no apparent reason, we’ve decided to wind up an opposition striker who later had the last laugh. We did it to Andy Cole back when he played for Burnley and despite leading 2-0 in that game, he hit three in a 4-2 win at Loftus Road. This wasn’t quite the same, but it felt similar and we got beaten up by Leroy Lita and his Boro team-mates.
I thought we actually played pretty well in the opening half hour and we defended okay too. Fitz Hall won a lot of good headers in that time, but defensively we’re just not at the races and it’s not just the way we’re defending, it’s the lack of quality with our passing from the back that’s hurting us.
I thought Jay Simpson did great up top in that period too and his hold up play and lay offs were slick, but as the match wore on, we found him less and less and therefore his impact became minimal.
Their first goal was littered with basic mistakes. Mikele Leigertwood gave the ball away needlessly and it came straight back in and down the throat of Hall who mistimed his tackle and took out Mark Yeates. From here on it, it was the same old of not being able to defend well enough from set-pieces. Great finish from Kitson though. Hall did try to organise the defence before the kick was taken, but unfortunately it was his man who lost him for the goal.
Adel Taarabt had one of those games that showed he still needs maturity. You can’t argue when a lad with his talent tries things, but when the first nut meg doesn’t come off, it’s silly to then try it almost every time until you get it. And that’s what he did. He broke down so many good moments for the rest of the team, or even himself, because he was so intent on trying to nut meg his marker. It smacks of a lack of intelligence and playground football and it made his decision making for the most part that of a player with far inferior skill than he actually has. There were many occasions where he shot wildly rather than squaring the ball and had he done in the first half, which may have created an opportunity for us to take the lead, it may have helped us not be on the receiving end of this tonking.
I said in the last game that we lacked a little bit of maturity and leadership on the pitch and we were well outclassed in the end by a side that had plenty and knew how to use it to their advantage.
I hope that it doesn’t start a bad run of form for us, because we’re still very capable of turning it on and winning games, but we need to learn quickly and ensure we continue picking up points whenever and wherever we can.
What we’ve got to understand is when team’s put nine or 10 players behind the ball, it’s going to clog up that midfield area and mess up our team shape and limit our passing angles. It’s that problem that we’re not dealing with too well at the moment, but it’s not too difficult to come up with an alternative with the players we have.
Lastly we need to show a bit more desire and roll up our sleeves. Legs gave the ball away for the third goal and then just strolled backwards and didn’t give Fitz Hall any sort of help. It’s that lack of determination when it really matters that’s costly and Lita really made us pay.
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