I have never been one to criticize the coach, but I have to wonder what Steve Nicol was trying to accomplish last night - and why he continues to play Shalrie as Striker - yes I know Shalrie scored a goal.... but that was practically a set piece (in fact it was the rebound from the set piece corner kick that led to the goal) and Shalrie always runs forward and scores most of his goals of the cross into the box - so you can't tell me that Shalrie as striker is working. Yes - It WAS a good idea when Ralston was still OUT - but now he's healthy and playing - so why continue?
Also with the lack of width on the pitch - Mansally and Nyassi were basically handcuffed from the get go. My preferred lineup would have been play a midfield of Tierney - Shalrie - Larentowicz - Thomson and clog up the middle. Play Dube or Mansally up top with Ralston and leave Shalrie in the midfield.
But After Osei went out with the red card, Nicol could have brought back Shalrie to the midfield and played Mansally up top with Ralston, and instead of using Dube - put on Tierney, Thompson, or even Videira, to keep the play clogged up the middle.
Instead he put on Dube for Phelan - when the game was already lost. A last gasp effort to manage some offense? Too little too late.
The game was not lost with the red card fellas... Nicol could have restructured the lineup to play for the draw.
No comments:
Post a Comment