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Old 21-05-2011, 12:50   #73
shakermaker
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Re: Stevenage Thread (part two)

Over the two legs I think we failed in two key aspects. Firstly, our tactics. In the first leg we allowed Stevenage to isolate our key attacking players and give us no options through their high pressing. We should've been quicker on the ball and better in our movement off it. In the second leg we were too reliant on the hope that Terry could somehow outjump/outmuscle two goliath centre-halves and singlehandedly provide a second phase that our midfield could capitalise on. It didn't work. Obviously, the pitch halted our normal passing game, but we should've adapted and exploited the channels that Stevenage dominated in both legs. Granted, Coley tried to bring some width to our game in the likes of Chris Turner but it was too little too late (well done to Chris though, he did well with what he was given).

Secondly, our mentality was not strong. Perhaps it's down to the average age of the starting eleven being so young (apart from Grandad Hess), but we allowed Stevenage's bullying tactics to diminish our will to fight on. Stevenage had very, very simple tactics but were 100% concentrated on them over 180 minutes. We on the other hand often looked clueless. I do think that resting the majority of the first team at Burton was a massive mistake and only made the players lose their winning mentality by giving them more time off the pitch to get overwhelmed by the prospect of the play-offs.

Our weaknesses were exploited well and we got what we deserved out of the two legs: Nowt.
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