Before the game, I have a feeling that Steve 'giant football brain' Bruce would use his giant football brain to work out that the League Cup isn't very important. If Richard Keogh was still the manager, you'd suspect that he'd be bouncing up and down on the spot talking to himself in the third person trying to work out how we can not only beat Sheffield Wednesday (all out chaotic attack) but actually win the bloody thing (all out chaotic attack again)
Steve 'football, eh, jumpers for goalposts etc, wonderful. how lucky am I?' Bruce is a bit older and wiser than that. I had a feeling he might bung out the sort of side he did (a half baked selection of random players in need of a game) and treat it as an opportunity for the preseason he was denied by the fact he had his feat up reading a catalogue of cruise holidays and wondering where he'd put his reading glasses, before remembering they were on a string round his neck. At the point we were 5-3-2ing our way to Spain and Crewe, he was probably considering whether or not to try the new carvery place down the road next week or not as the biggest decision of the next few weeks.
Like Nostradamus (though, as far as I'm aware, yer man never had a go at predicting the starting line ups of League 1 sides in the early rounds of lesser cup competitions) I was right.
Still. It was a nice evening. Lovely light. It's better than sitting inside and thinking about tomorrow. That's what football is.
---
From the off, we huff and we puff (words Steve 'did I tell you Fergie rang?' Bruce himself would use post match) but we don't really get close to blowing anyone's house down. Neil 'unemployed' Critchley wouldn't have been able to cite 'good areas' unless 'mostly twatting it forward hopefully from somewhere around full back' constituted a 'good area' which I don't think it did in Critchley's head.
I can't actually remember anything we did from the first half other than Rhodes catching the defender in possession and trying a weird effort when it was clearly (obviously, I know more about being a footballer than him) the right option to try and put Beesley in.
I don't think we had a shot at any point. Hey ho.
Sheffield Wednesday are reasonably proficient. They're not noticeably 'good' - just a bit bigger and a bit quicker than us. They have a spell where they score two shady goals that are chalked off (offside and a really mad handball when it looked like it might go in anyway) and then score a real goal (that was a bit like the shady goals but just not shady) and then basically keep us at bay for the rest of it without any real effort over and above the generally quite acceptable running about in an organised way that they do.
---
We lack pace upfront. We lack pace wide. We lack pace and presence in midfield and essentially, I don't think we've got a hope in hell unless we address the above. We haven't really got any presence on the bench, but we do have some pace.
---
The second half is the same. Nothing happens. Wednesday look boringly competent again and indulge in some falling over antics that don't seem really in keeping with the lack of tension in the game. We look as toothless as the victim of a sadistic dentist who fucking loves removing teeth.
The main highlight is some immensely loud whistling, most obviously from a fella in the crowd but also from someone on the bench. I've never mastered that 'putting yer fingers in yer mouth to increase the volume by a factor of 10' thing and have nothing but admiration for anyone who has.
I'm musing on the way the North is considerably steeper than the south and the spruce appearance of the flags behind when...
THOMMO HAS A SHOT! AN ACTUAL REAL LIFE SHOT!
It's straight at the keeper but still...
Thommo goes off. We put some faster players on to replace some of the slower players as well.
We are better with the faster player but we still can't really create anything. It's one them Chizz. Everything we do breaks down. CJ actually does a great job of pressuring their full back and nabs it a few times. We get the ball to the Rapter who does some running and some tricky things but the final ball or shot isn't there. We steal the ball in midfield really well and then hit a shit pass. We chase them down and put some pressure on but the cross is over everyone's heads.
Sonny hits a really nice first time pass. Gabriel does a tremendous tackle and run forward. Kyle Joseph goes hunting and wins the ball and then dribbles round 3. None of it does any good. It's just one of those nights where we don't make more than three passes in a row without something going wrong. Finnegan does a sensational little shimmy. Finnigan also looks like he's never seen a football before.
Gary Goalie makes a good save towards the end. No one's that arsed when the final whistle goes. Everyone it seems, is a pragmatist now.
It happened - but as we're filing out, it's almost like it's being forgotten already. Maybe after 5 thrillers in a row, this was something we needed to remind us that not every game is an end to end chaotic classic.
---
I'm not sure we learned anything other than 'if you take away all the quick players and all the strong players and play all the slower players and all the flimsy players at once in a system which fundamentally requires strength and pace to function, it's probably not going to work'
Morgan did pretty well for a comeback game and lasted a decent time. Casey had a really good night and I think deserved the man of the match. Rhodes worries me because I think Bruce likes him but I just don't see how he's going to be able to create the kind of pressing menace that Ballard and Joseph do and if either of those are injured I'm not sure where the energy comes from.
Last night looked like a bunch of fringe players playing an unfamiliar system. I don't particularly object to us not prioritising the League Cup. Swindon won it, and when I think about it, Luton won it and Birmingham too and probably some other ridiculous teams. I'm not fussed about winning anything that any of them won unless it's the Anglo Italian cup which counts because we've won it.
The bigger questions are for the weekend and the biggest question is - how do we function without either Evans or Norburn. I've no issue at all with either Carey or Morgan (in fact, I think they both have their distinct qualities) but it's not a pair that I'd imagine at the heart of a rugged and aggressive 442 approach. Either one would work with one of the missing players alongside them but those two (or indeed Finnigan) as the foundation of how we played last Saturday doesn't seem a realistic prospect.
Maybe Steve Bruce and his giant football brain has the answer. Setbacks on the road to glory are inevitable but it does seem particularly 'Blackpool' to both discover that we've got a brilliant midfield and then to lose it on the same day. The last fella had no plan B.
Maybe this fella has?
We lack pace upfront. We lack pace wide. We lack pace and presence in midfield and essentially, I don't think we've got a hope in hell unless we address the above. We haven't really got any presence on the bench, but we do have some pace.
---
The second half is the same. Nothing happens. Wednesday look boringly competent again and indulge in some falling over antics that don't seem really in keeping with the lack of tension in the game. We look as toothless as the victim of a sadistic dentist who fucking loves removing teeth.
The main highlight is some immensely loud whistling, most obviously from a fella in the crowd but also from someone on the bench. I've never mastered that 'putting yer fingers in yer mouth to increase the volume by a factor of 10' thing and have nothing but admiration for anyone who has.
I'm musing on the way the North is considerably steeper than the south and the spruce appearance of the flags behind when...
THOMMO HAS A SHOT! AN ACTUAL REAL LIFE SHOT!
It's straight at the keeper but still...
Thommo goes off. We put some faster players on to replace some of the slower players as well.
We are better with the faster player but we still can't really create anything. It's one them Chizz. Everything we do breaks down. CJ actually does a great job of pressuring their full back and nabs it a few times. We get the ball to the Rapter who does some running and some tricky things but the final ball or shot isn't there. We steal the ball in midfield really well and then hit a shit pass. We chase them down and put some pressure on but the cross is over everyone's heads.
Sonny hits a really nice first time pass. Gabriel does a tremendous tackle and run forward. Kyle Joseph goes hunting and wins the ball and then dribbles round 3. None of it does any good. It's just one of those nights where we don't make more than three passes in a row without something going wrong. Finnegan does a sensational little shimmy. Finnigan also looks like he's never seen a football before.
Gary Goalie makes a good save towards the end. No one's that arsed when the final whistle goes. Everyone it seems, is a pragmatist now.
It happened - but as we're filing out, it's almost like it's being forgotten already. Maybe after 5 thrillers in a row, this was something we needed to remind us that not every game is an end to end chaotic classic.
---
I'm not sure we learned anything other than 'if you take away all the quick players and all the strong players and play all the slower players and all the flimsy players at once in a system which fundamentally requires strength and pace to function, it's probably not going to work'
Morgan did pretty well for a comeback game and lasted a decent time. Casey had a really good night and I think deserved the man of the match. Rhodes worries me because I think Bruce likes him but I just don't see how he's going to be able to create the kind of pressing menace that Ballard and Joseph do and if either of those are injured I'm not sure where the energy comes from.
Last night looked like a bunch of fringe players playing an unfamiliar system. I don't particularly object to us not prioritising the League Cup. Swindon won it, and when I think about it, Luton won it and Birmingham too and probably some other ridiculous teams. I'm not fussed about winning anything that any of them won unless it's the Anglo Italian cup which counts because we've won it.
The bigger questions are for the weekend and the biggest question is - how do we function without either Evans or Norburn. I've no issue at all with either Carey or Morgan (in fact, I think they both have their distinct qualities) but it's not a pair that I'd imagine at the heart of a rugged and aggressive 442 approach. Either one would work with one of the missing players alongside them but those two (or indeed Finnigan) as the foundation of how we played last Saturday doesn't seem a realistic prospect.
Maybe Steve Bruce and his giant football brain has the answer. Setbacks on the road to glory are inevitable but it does seem particularly 'Blackpool' to both discover that we've got a brilliant midfield and then to lose it on the same day. The last fella had no plan B.
Maybe this fella has?
Onward
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