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Berwick v Forfar, Saturday 20th August


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Yesterday was a weird one. Forfar deserved it for me - they had more quality, certainly defensively, than us. The biggest disappointment had to be our inability to handle the basic long ball. By the end of the game, Forfar were effectively targeting our left flank with their hoofs, and it was little wonder. Time and again a Lister or Cox would just drift into the space out wide and McKinlay, out on his arse, would fail to track them, resulting in Martin being dragged out of position and even more spaces opening up. 

And how many times was Lister through on goal because the ball sailed over Martin/Wilson's head?! Basic stuff, drop the fucking line deeper if you're struggling - we're not blessed with pace as it is so to let powerful guys like Cox, Lister continue to run clean through is baffling.

Tactically, I actually thought we were very naive when we grabbed the goal back. Our frontline slowly inflated from 3, to 4, to 5 and eventually to 6 strikers. It was stupidity given our biggest struggles came in the centre of midfield. Sheerin barely won a header all day up against their imposing centre halfs, and whilst I appreciate we had to chase the game, sticking six men up top and still hoofing it up to him was always going to see us struggle.

For me we should have let Sheerin to continue to challenge and packed the centre of midfield a little more to start sweeping up the many loose balls resultant of his challenges - not stretch 6 men out along the forward line and allow Forfar the unchallenged 2nd ball. Mental. It also robbed us of any width whatsoever - by the end we had a right winger but left McKinlay, who was already looking shattered, to operate the whole left flank by himself. 

I was probably most disappointed by Notman. Dispossessed in the middle of the park for the first and spent the rest of the game going to ground needlessly. Walker might get stick for his size, but if you asked me who was out on their arse out of the pair of them, it's him. He looked absolutely knackered - I was shocked to see him get a couple of man of the match votes. The issue is that our lack of depth doesn't really allow for a rest, either.

All that being said, we created chances late on and despite the way we went about it being a bit 'football manager', we might have got something. It's good to see the team pushing as they did - it's clear they still wanted the result. There is a lot of character about the side - I just worry that the Notman example above is perfect example of why we're not yet in a position to nick a play-off spot. Last season, in the Tuesday/Saturdays especially, Cough was rotating regularly and keep things fresh. He doesn't even have the option to do that at the minute.

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10 minutes ago, berwick-the-unbeatable said:

Yesterday was a weird one. Forfar deserved it for me - they had more quality, certainly defensively, than us. The biggest disappointment had to be our inability to handle the basic long ball. By the end of the game, Forfar were effectively targeting our left flank with their hoofs, and it was little wonder. Time and again a Lister or Cox would just drift into the space out wide and McKinlay, out on his arse, would fail to track them, resulting in Martin being dragged out of position and even more spaces opening up. 

And how many times was Lister through on goal because the ball sailed over Martin/Wilson's head?! Basic stuff, drop the fucking line deeper if you're struggling - we're not blessed with pace as it is so to let powerful guys like Cox, Lister continue to run clean through is baffling.

Tactically, I actually thought we were very naive when we grabbed the goal back. Our frontline slowly inflated from 3, to 4, to 5 and eventually to 6 strikers. It was stupidity given our biggest struggles came in the centre of midfield. Sheerin barely won a header all day up against their imposing centre halfs, and whilst I appreciate we had to chase the game, sticking six men up top and still hoofing it up to him was always going to see us struggle.

For me we should have let Sheerin to continue to challenge and packed the centre of midfield a little more to start sweeping up the many loose balls resultant of his challenges - not stretch 6 men out along the forward line and allow Forfar the unchallenged 2nd ball. Mental. It also robbed us of any width whatsoever - by the end we had a right winger but left McKinlay, who was already looking shattered, to operate the whole left flank by himself. 

I was probably most disappointed by Notman. Dispossessed in the middle of the park for the first and spent the rest of the game going to ground needlessly. Walker might get stick for his size, but if you asked me who was out on their arse out of the pair of them, it's him. He looked absolutely knackered - I was shocked to see him get a couple of man of the match votes. The issue is that our lack of depth doesn't really allow for a rest, either.

All that being said, we created chances late on and despite the way we went about it being a bit 'football manager', we might have got something. It's good to see the team pushing as they did - it's clear they still wanted the result. There is a lot of character about the side - I just worry that the Notman example above is perfect example of why we're not yet in a position to nick a play-off spot. Last season, in the Tuesday/Saturdays especially, Cough was rotating regularly and keep things fresh. He doesn't even have the option to do that at the minute.

Although it would appear that we had the bulk of the play, Grant Adam seems to feature an awful lot in the highlights.

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4 hours ago, Loonytoons said:

Watching the highlights, that was surely a straight red.  

Looked like it could have deserved a straight red on the highlights,  but I definitely saw a yellow before the red. 

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My first sighting of Couglin's side and it's not too shabby to be fair. After a ropey start , they created a lot of chances in what was a fairly open game. Forfar looked dangerous on the break after Berwick had to chase the game in the first half. Sheerin looks a good addition, what a strike to hit the bar and I think the stick some of the players are getting is slightly unjustified. There's work to do of course and Berwick will never be the finished article but all in all, a good performance against a decent side. Still a fan of Lavery as he can turn a game , he created 3 good chances when he came on, plus, by the look of it, he doesn't live in the fridge like Walker. Not a fan of 3 at the back, never have been, unless you play man to man marking like the German system, there's always space on the flanks to exploit. My only complaint was the great kicking ability of goalie walker being used to pummel the head of Malcolm no5 , Why continue kicking it up the middle when he was winning everything? Nice to get back on the Ducket, dare i say the ground is looking a lot tidier than a few years back and the banter is still top class. In no other league does the opposing vertically challenged winger pull up his top to show his belly when accused of being without parentage and being ever so slightly rotund

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