Impressed with Ronan yesterday, especially after his performance on Tuesday night, good to see Keates stick with him and show some faith - must have done the lad the world of good. Kudos for Keates.
We still need to work on our quality in the final third - we’re so frustrating to watch at times, but I guess it is still a very young side without a load of experience at this level.
Having Martin at the back helped I think, he settled us down…still need Keates to make changes to help us kill a game off. At 2-0, we were on top, but Ferrier was nackered, as was Morris…we should have brought on Zeli maybe to help us kill the game.
Not sure about Wilson, think I still prefer Devlin.
Agree regarding substitutions. Another issue, which is perhaps a hangover from the Whitney era, is that we insist on dropping 10 yards when we take the lead at home, inviting pressure rather than looking to put the game to bed.
I think some of the criticisms of Cook have been fair. Yesterday proves he has something at this level though. I thought he was ■■■■■■■ phenomenal yesterday. Everything I expected to see. It’s taken him time to adjust but hopefully this gives him that confidence boost. He just needs to reach that level of performance consistently now. I want to see it at least 3 every 5 games.
Devlin’s had a good season for me. Him and Leahy are easy targets.
Osborne seems a much better player when hes in a midfield 3 and has more freedom to get forward. Ronan was a very good deep playmaker.
I was suprised Devlin didnt come on after Wilson was booked. They clearly targeted him afterwards and i believe we payed the price a little. I dont get keates unwillingness to make subs. Waiting till the 80th min for our first sub isnt the greatest tactical move imho. I felt Ginnelly or Ismail could have done some damage after about the 60th min
Although we conceded 2 goals in the second half we seemed to be more organised than in the first half hour. Both goals were daft mistakes rather than disorganised defence or good forward play.
I would like to think that Martin’s influence was instrumental in the improvement as the game went on.
Agree with a couple of earlier posts re: Ferrier. I thought he was our MOM for the first hour but then he lost it a bit. Some showboating, poor decision making or as someone wrote earlier just knackeredness? Maybe Deano should have reeled him in for Ismail or Ginnelly.
The full backs are massive work in progress. They have improved but still not up to this level. Leahy had a ‘mare yesterday. It happens and maybe it was Ferrier being in front of him who contributed to that. Good football teams have great little teams within the team. Ginnelly and Leahy seem to work well together to the point where Leahy has looked nearly competent this season whereas maybe yesterday he just didn’t feel as good/confident with Ferrier as his left sided partner.
Devlin has at least two big mistakes in him every game. Often he gets away with them but sometimes he doesn’t. Can’t knock his heart or workrate and based upon what I’ve seen of Wilson I would still have Devlin in the side. I wonder whether Keates is considering a conversation with Kinsella about back tracking on the stated intent of him concentrating on being a midfielder.
You could argue that some of the criticism for each of those players is fair, Cook no more than any other. The full backs definitely cop for it worse though.
I feel like they are your typical Whitney signings and as a result are seen as a symptom of the teams struggles. That won’t change for some people even if it is subconscious.
But the irony is, just like the team as a whole, they have improved from the Whitney era and are trying to kick on and have shown signs of adapting to a better way of playing.
MOTM against Burton in the cup too. Also not bad against Barnsley. So in his 4 starts that’s one poor game, one average game and two MOTM performances.
But even so, you can’t judge a player off four games and a few subs.