Stags 2002 wrote:Sedgwick wrote:Watched a bit of the game back and its embarrassing watching bishop chase players down... by the time hes at his man the balls been passed on twice...
And another thing you really notice from the Iplayer camera... The midfield just doesn't exist. When Charsley came on, theres a few times where he has the ball an the only option he has is lump it forward or pass it backwards to the defence... Macca is a million miles the other side of the pitch and I honestly couldn't work out who the other midfielder was at this point, there was no one within 10 yards of the new lad when he was on the ball. Absolutely shocking.
Our Achilles heel - its the main reason for our demise on the pitch last season and never addressed in the summer. It's then further diminished the year.
People then question why our defence hasn't been as solid this season. Bishop dropped a level in the new year of 2019 prior to that had been fantastic. His sending off at Carlisle changed him maybe old age simply caught up (39 this year), he had a suspension hanging over him too should he have picked up another yellow card up until roughly March which equally prevented him going full throttle. The deterioration has further intensified this season with Bishop probably 3 or 4 levels below the player we initially signed. Not his fault simply life.
Bobby's injury earlier in the year didn't help either, we had a settled back line and conrad came in. Not a dig at Conrad but the relationship with Pearce has always been questionable as there never seemed any confidence from Pearce.
The lack of protection in the midfield, combined with a lack of confidence in the goal keeper simply means the pressure intensifies on the defence, the loss of Hayden White against Colchester compounded matters and we lost our pace down the right. Someone will point out we played CJ right back but that only removed our pace from the left.
Bobby's come back after a year out and still making progress. White may never be the same player as he can't get fit. Gordon (also injured) and Clarke (good player) don't have the same pace.
We need not one but two strong signings in the middle of the park this may then go some way to providing relief on our defence.
Good post.