Well, I would love to act surprised about yesterday, but the phrase ‘that is so Sunderland’ comes straight to mind. However, although we were very poor, we got back ahead. Yet again though the topic of game management has to be brought up and this lies with the manager.
To be 2-1 up against bottom of the league, the crowd up for it, the momentum in our hands, why on earth are we subbing on two centre backs and taking off our only goal threat. When I saw Isidor’s number come up I knew exactly what would happen and it did. I cannot hide how frustrating it was to see our manager be so negative against a side that have not won away from home all season and watch them celebrate the draw like they’d won the league. This is far from new either, we have done it consistently all season. I understand some games it is needed, and you require that extra defender to shut out the game and I completely get that. However, 1-0 up against a struggling Derby side, 1-0 up against 10-man Portsmouth at home and then yesterday are all scenarios where it was just completely unnecessary to suddenly sit back and invite pressure onto us. Of course, in two of those games we got away with it, but you cannot deny that Derby especially we rode our luck at times.
In our last ten league games, going back to the Bristol City game, 13 of our 28 subs have been defenders, which works out to about 46%. In fact, we have brought a defender on in nine of those ten games. When the key thing being spoken about lately is the need to increase our goal difference, it will not happen if you get a goal advantage week in week out and just sit on it.
For me it is more frustrating as we have seen how well we can play under Le Bris in the early stages of the campaign and that his football can be very attractive, but I have to be honest we have been poor to watch since the Sheffield United game.
The big question I ask is would Burnley, Sheffield United or Leeds be bringing on defenders at 2-1 against a side that have as bad as a record as Plymouth do? The answer is pretty simple, no. It is a habit that has cost us points already and if Le Bris is going to continue with this tactic, it absolutely will cost us more down the line.
Yes we are the underdogs in this promotion race, but let’s not act as if RLB is working with poor players here, he has a very good group of players and we have shown that we are one of the best teams in this league, and I do worry that if we mess this up, we will look back on this season with regrets as you will not get a Championship with as poor quality as this one on a regular basis.
Le Bris has done a lot of good, he just needs to learn from this, we cannot continue to invite pressure in the closing stages of games, it will cost us points and it will cost us any hope of pushing for top two.
The defending against Argyle simply was not good enough. Hopefully this was a learning curve for both the players and the manager that no game in this league should be taken lightly and if we are to actually go up this season, you cannot expect to do it by sitting so deep on one goal leads.
