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Jack Deasley
@jldeasley.bsky.social

I'm still struggling to get my head around Saturday. It's a squad with plenty of talent, too, I just don't get what's not clicking. I think Luton were impressive to be fair, but we were just SO passive and lacked any form of edge

Richard Chapman
@chapmanio.dev

There is a lot of talent, but we can't ignore that we've struggled against every "better" side we've faced so far. I'm not sure how we bridge that gap! We've had a lot of time in training before this game but the Luton players knew and executed their jobs a lot better than ours did.

Richard Chapman
@chapmanio.dev

We did make it easy for them though. They seemed to block our route out of defence, and when we panicked about what to do they pressed us and won it back easily. The lack of professionalism was scary at times, even from players like Scowen and Cook. We need that dominant leader that Duff wanted!

Richard Chapman
@chapmanio.dev

We have a lot of technical talent, but we seem to have zero footballing-intelligence in our squad. It felt worryingly like Dodds-ball. The players are doing what they are told, but it clearly doesn't work and they aren't good enough to limit mistakes. There was at least effort on Saturday though

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Jack Deasley
@jldeasley.bsky.social

Blocking our route out of defence seems to be a consistent problem, eg the first half against Reading. Sat felt like an example of what happens when you are punished for being out-thought (which we weren't really vs Reading) & it was remarkable how little response we had after going in at 2-0 down

Jack Deasley
@jldeasley.bsky.social

Also, how many times this season have we demanded a reaction in the second-half and either underwhelmed or conceded almost immediately? Stockport, Reading, Luton off the top of my head (and even MK when we didn't need a reaction!)

Jack Deasley
@jldeasley.bsky.social

I'm also alarmed by the fact we struggle against the better sides in the league, and it's frustrating that we don't get any of those tests again until November. Without downplaying how difficult the next 4 will be (Cambridge are 5th!), it doesn't feel like it's possible to respond for a while

Richard Chapman
@chapmanio.dev

It's the lack of professionalism, I can't stand it! So many players switched off and not focused - and there's no accountability either, they just look sad and trudge back to the centre-circle. Henderson and Cook should've had their heads torn off for not playing to the whistle. It's basic stuff.

Richard Chapman
@chapmanio.dev

It's the Dodd/Russell Martin school of thought. When there is only one way of playing you're easy to plan for and nullify. We don't have the quality to command a game in that way and have no options to vary our tactics much. Going more direct to Fred against Reading helped, but it's hardly a plan B