Travesty or Incompetence?

[Phil Anderer]

Bloody difficult with all the buffering, but having watched the highlights I think the liner may actually have got it right. The guy who took the ball first in the area was running from well back, so could easily have beaten the offside trap (the footage doesn't pan across till after the kick's taken), and it looks like a square pass to the guy who tapped in. What's inexcusable is that we didn't play to the whistle and just let them do it.

[Gone_Shrimping]

Bloody difficult with all the buffering, but having watched the highlights I think the liner may actually have got it right. The guy who took the ball first in the area was running from well back, so could easily have beaten the offside trap (the footage doesn't pan across till after the kick's taken), and it looks like a square pass to the guy who tapped in. What's inexcusable is that we didn't play to the whistle and just let them do it.

I can't think of another team in the 92 who play this particular system.

It may work 9 times out of 10 but when it doesn't it looks awful and is costly like against Port Vale and now Grimsby.

Surely our centre backs and defence could have marked up in a conventional manner and been able to cope with a very poor Grimsby forward line.

[BerlinWaller]

I think the free kick was taken too deep in our half for it to work like it should. The ball doesn't have too far to travel which makes a late run in to the box easier to time. It is just a mess and hopefully it has been shelved by the tactians at the club.

[tim-sanchez]

I think without VAR, we're risking too much using that tactic. Even so, it's not hard for any of our opponents to watch one of our matches and realise what we're going to do, and then it's very easy to beat. Looks like Grimsby were prepared for it.

I think we'd have just as much success if we actually defended properly, how often do teams score from a free kick crossed in? You'd back your defenders in that scenario, no need to take risks as though we can't play properly.

[marky No.1]

Surely our centre backs and defence could have marked up in a conventional manner and been able to cope with a very poor Grimsby forward line.

They are simply working to instructions, I too think the free kick was too high up the field to play this malarkey. eye off the ball in more ways than one, we spend a lot of our time worrying about and working out the oppositions weaknesses, we maybe don't take into account that other teams are now looking at our frailties.
In the early League days we had the upper hand of frightening and surprising other teams and let the opposition worry about us. Wycombe away last season was the last time i remember it happening, even if it was all hands to the pumps in the last 10 minutes

[Keith]

... and it looks like a square pass to the guy who tapped in.

But if the goalscorer was off side in the first phase, then he's still off side when he becomes active (same as a player can now be flagged for off side even after returning to his own half).

[RedRedWine]

For me, we have to stop this carry on conference routine. I don't really care if the officials are wrong, at the end of the day its always going to be a marginal call and the risk and reward of the ploy makes no logical sense to me: At best we win a cheap freekick, at worst we concede a soft goal.

Cost us the game and at least a point on Saturday. Absolute madness, as was the cheap freekick that lead to it conceded by Miller(?). You would only use this tactic IMO if you had no faith in your CB to clear the ball, so its a bit of a slight on Old and Lavelle also because they both played well against a strong physical team, but were let down by a tactical decision.

As BerlinWaller says - as soon as it didn't work vs. Port Vale last season (where we also lost points), it should've been confined to the dustbin. We are a professional football league club now - not a full-time team in a predominantly part-time league (which is where this tactic emanates from under Jim Harvey). Every club will know that we have this up our sleeve, and plan for it. Lets devote the time and energy currently employed on this routine in training, into something more worthwhile.

[BerlinWaller]

And to do it in the first game of the season with numerous new faces in the line up makes it a bigger cock up. Totally agree with the posts saying put your faith in the defenders.

[Phil Anderer]

... and it looks like a square pass to the guy who tapped in.

But if the goalscorer was off side in the first phase, then he's still off side when he becomes active (same as a player can now be flagged for off side even after returning to his own half).

Watched it again. The goalscorer clearly started from an onside position, more so than the player who passed to him. Just boils down to incompetence, not travesty.

[redrobo]

To his credit JB has accepted responsibility for operating such a ploy but this is the second time it's back fired on us. Just hope that we don't use it again.