by Clyde1998 »
25 Aug 2024 17:54
Like some others, I don't think we were particularly bad yesterday.
Looking at their goals:
- Their first goal was far too simple. The right winger had two or three seconds to get the ball in and their attacker was easily able to head home by drifting into the space between Craig and Mbengue (the latter of whom didn't appear to know there was a player there). Supposedly the scorer is 6ft 5, so even if either Craig or Mbengue stayed with him and jumped he probably would've scored.
- The second goal came after two shouts for a penalty; IIRC, the goal came from the break from the second appeal. The ball again ended up out on the right wing, crossed in and the initial header came off the post. The ball rebounded off the post and the header, before Perreira made a fantastic close-range block and the next rebound was turned home. It felt like a case of the Wrexham players having better anticipation than ours, who seemed overly static in that situation.
- In the build up to the third goal, it appeared Ehibhatiomhan was pushed over. The ball made its way out to their number eight, who, under no pressure, was able to fire well in to the bottom corner from twenty yards to kill the game. The lack of pressure on the player shooting was very reminiscent of last season, where we seemed to concede a lot from range.
- Looking at the xG from their goals: goal one had an xG of 0.12; goal two had 0.12 + 0.41 + 0.51 from the three efforts which ended up with the ball in the net and goal three had 0.05; totalling to 1.21. Not quite sure how their total across the game of 1.23 has been arrived at (perhaps using the probability of of the initial chances of the second goals being missed), as FotMob shows their chances individually as adding to 1.53. Either way, using that larger number of 1.53, it implies they created an xG of 0.32 outside their goals or 0.49 outside their second goal; compared to a 0.71 for us.
Our two best efforts of goal came from the Bindon header directly after the second, clipping the top of the bar, and Rushesha's effort which cannoned off the bottom of the bar (and looked to have gone over the line). We had a lot of opportunities where the cross into the box was poor, either being over hit or failing to get past the first man. The were also a lot of opportunities where we spent too long playing short passes around the penalty area, when a much more direct strategy would've created a serious scoring chance. We ultimately didn't really test their keeper at all.
Again, as I mentioned at half-time, the referee was poor. All the 50-50 decisions went Wrexham's way, including the push on Ehibhatiomhan before the third goal. When a similar situation occurred with a Wrexham player, they got a free-kick. The penalty appeal directly before their second (on Bindon), it seemed like he was being held and certainly would've been a free-kick if it wasn't in the penalty area. I can't specifically remember what happened with the first incident with everything that happened to say whether it was a penalty or not.
I did criticise Akande in the first half, but I think he grew into the game. His crossing wasn't good and he had a lot of issues with his first touch in the first half. I'd still have Camara starting if he was fit, but he's certainly an option from the bench. By the end of the game, Akande was certainly no worse than any of our other attacking players yesterday.
Our biggest issue yesterday was (again) the lack of depth to allow us to make meaningful changes. I think of the subs Rushesha had the most impact (notwithstanding him hitting the bar) and was good to see Tuma come on.
I'm most concerned that most of our better players didn't really do much in that game. Smith and Ehibhatiomhan didn't get involved in the right places; Elliott was probably our worst starter; the full backs seemed to struggle. Bindon was probably the only player out there who had a good game. Ultimately, very few players had a bad game though: we controlled the ball for much of the game and limited them to the chances that led to their goals and one(?) other at 3-0. Just felt like one of those days, as opposed to the start of a serious issue.
In terms of the facilities, that away end is probably one of the worst I've been to at this level:
- The roof stanchion blocks the back three-ish rows from being able to see the whole pitch when standing, which you have to as everyone around you is standing, and you could barely see the whole pitch when seated from the back row (my biggest gripe and absolutely something to remember if we play there again);
- The back wall had a lot of rust, especially around where there was cabling;
- There wasn't really a concourse to speak of, just a corridor between the turnstiles with the catering being awkwardly placed in that area and a turn off for the toilets;
- I'm fairly certain the queue for the catering could easily block entry into the stand depending on how busy it got;
- The toilets could only house about fifteen people at a time (if you ram people in), where using the two sinks blocks two of the urinal spaces and there was one hand dryer;
- I don't drink, but apparently no alcohol was served in the away end (probably due to the lack of concourse area); found that ironic given the stand is sponsored by Wrexham Larger;
- Something I've not come across before: the seats were completely mismatched - not just in terms of colours, but types of plastic. The back of my seat was a smooth, soft plastic, whilst the front was a hard, coarse plastic (that's more of a comment than a problem);
- Calling the ground an 'international stadium' when it doesn't meet the requirements for international football is a bold move (I don't think international grounds are allowed to have temporary stands and have to have electronic ticket entry); I know they've got ambitions to get that ground hosting international games again, but I think that stand will have to be bulldozed to achieve that (or at the very least, it requires extensive improvements).
