MTFCMusings wrote:NorthLondonStag wrote:Tippy Tappy Football wrote:I agree with Nigel. I thought James Perch was our MOM followed by Kellan Gordon and Mal Benning. Kellan played well going forward and made two or three good blocks including blocking a couple of crosses which is an improvement for him. He was our main offender though for giving the ball away and losing possession on around ten occasions. Ollie Clarke was the main offender in the first half. I'm sure Ollie will improve as he plays more regularly.
We gave the ball away far too much as a team. We only had a couple of decent patches of passing football. There was one really good move in the first half (16th minute) which resulted in the Kellan Gordon cross where Warren Burrell made a good block; and then we had a good move in the 79th minute which resulted in McLoughlin having his cross blocked, Benning having his shot blocked and Ollie Clarke blasting over the bar. Ollie Clarke did play a great ball to Jamie Reid on the right but Reid could not control it.
It was a bad mistake by Stephen McLaughlin to get muscled off the ball by Jack Muldoon which allowed Muldoon to put the cross in for the goal. Neither side really deserved to win it. It should have been a draw.
I was surprised by Harrogate. They clearly made a tactical decision to go more direct including the long throws from Dan Jones. They also pressed very well and gave us no time on the ball which forced us into errors. I thought Warren Burrell played well for them.
I take your point on Gordon giving the ball away but sometimes that happens when you are trying to do something and create an opportunity. The alternative is the player passes it square or back and someone has to have a go and try and unlock the defence or you’ll get nowhere. It felt to me tonight that Gordon was the only one likely to do that and so he lost the ball a few times as a result.
I’d agree with your assessment of the two best players, but for me Benning doesn’t offer enough going forward these days. Most of his crosses or passes seem to hit the defenders or go out.
Mal Benning’s pass completion was 71.3%, Gordon’s 51.3% from the early numbers, the lowest of any starting player. A big difference.
Both had two key passes, Gordon 8 crosses, 2 accurate. Benning 4 crosses, 0 accurate.
Interesting stats, thanks for letting me know. Still felt for me though that Gordon was more in the game and likely to make something happen. Benning’s cross accuracy is poor (obviously - 0 per cent) but doesn’t surprise me.