Rían

Rewatching the match just now (I know) and I am genuinely staggered at how poorly we are set up. I’ll get some clips up tomorrow but some initial thoughts while it’s fresh in my mind: McGregor’s comments about passivity are accurate, but he was arguably the worst of the lot. Just jogging about. Our press/counter-press was nonexistent. When we lost the ball we just stood about waiting for them to do something. And the long balls to Hogh… deary, deary me. It’s as if we genuinely don’t want to play football. Any time there’s a slight bit of pressure on us, we just punt it long. Which is all the more baffling considering the only times we looked okay was when we persisted in trying to play our way up the park. Why is Baur the one sitting high up the pitch? Every clip I have seen of him at Paderborn and everything about his profile suggested that this is a player who is good at progressing the ball from deeper areas, but is less productive higher up and struggles physically. So why are we asking him to sit high up the park and play in congested areas with physical players? We’ve lost these qualifying games in the past due to just not having the right players. We’ve lost them due to bad luck or mentality. This feels different to me. This was sheer tactical ineptitude combined with a lack of desire and intensity. Seriously embarrassing stuff.