Managers hesitation at using substitutions

Thought that game was crying out for Jones. I'm not a fan of Ojo at all and an out-ball at 70 mins would have been good with Jones pace.
 
Math1eson said:
He is obviously very hesitant to break the shape in a tight game. It can be very frustrating when you are hoping for a swap that will change the game and drive us on to a win.
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Or loose us the game by sticking someone on that takes 10 mins to get up to speed. Its away from home in Europe against a good level of opposition. Can't be too critical we came away with 0-0. Your talking like a sub guarantees we win the game.
 
Substitutions can upset the rythmn, when you're defending and defending well then the status quo wins every time. Should we be chasing goals next week then you will see activity on the bench. If you think there won't be or don't trust the manager to be making changes in that scenario, then football is the wrong sport for folk
 
I'd trust the decision-making of Gerrard, McAllister and Beale over the frustrated fans.

Fans are always desperate for subs at a certain stage, myself included, as they think something will change. I suspect it rarely actually does for the better.

I do agree on Ojo for Jones but the management team obviously never.
 
Strongest bench we have had in years and we dont utilise it. Why? That's why you have a strong bench. It's an area I feel Gerrard could improve. Ojo was dead on his feet. Jones would have got at that defender who was on a booking. Hope not getting an away goal tonight doesn't come back to bite us
 
I thought the same get Jones on and then had a rethink as “what the %^*& do I know”
 
I think Jones might have some better against their RB bit we just drew away against a decent side. I'll take that tbh
 
The players managed this game well, but if we had brought on Jones we would have been far more dangerous on the counter.

It’s not just this game though, Gerrard has always been reluctant to make changes and it’s probably the biggest criticism I could make of him. I see no benefit in bringing on players for the last five minutes and he does that a lot. They could go on and make an impact, but most of the time it’s just a waste and should have been done 15-20 mins before.
 
Think people are conditioned to think that subs should be made in every game around the 60 minute regardless of score and game plan.

That simply isnt the case and tonight wasnt a night for changing for changes sake.

For all the chat of Ojo being dead on his feet he was able to run in to the corner in injury time and win a throw that took the pressure off.
 
Not that I know anything, but I looked at Ojo after about 60 mins and he offered next to nothing up front and did not really help Flanagan either. Jones`s speed and combat spirit would have helped, IMHO.
 
A fine line between changing it for the sake of it and maybe changing it and we get done.Thought he did it at the right times.
 
Jones should have been on at 75 mins.

I don’t buy the Gerrard knows all mantra. It’s O.K to have an opinion.

Jones would have provided an outball. Similarly when Legia changed their shape and went man for man in midfield Ojo should have gone to the right and Arfield to the left to allow Tavernier to overlap and Arfield to show for Flanagan.
 
Could see that for the last europa league home game and even hibs at home to a point that we dropped out of the game after the substitutions has been made.

Made sense to me that he didn’t change anything too dramatically tonight. Something to work on but just not tonight
 
i dont get his reluctance, ojo could have came off at any point for jones. I thought the game would've suited jones better.
 
MTP said:
Could see that for the last europa league home game and even hibs at home to a point that we dropped out of the game after the substitutions has been made.

Made sense to me that he didn’t change anything too dramatically tonight. Something to work on but just not tonight
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Aye but imo, we dropped out of the game at HT. We could barely string three passes together in the second half and were just constantly inviting pressure. We were lucky they were shite going forward.
 
Some games you can makes subs without hesitation and Gerrard often does, it really didn’t feel like tonight was one of those nights.

This team will sit deep and defend all day, it would have been a massive struggle going to Ibrox needing a clean sheet and 2 goals.

This is only halftime, the next half will be at a rocking Ibrox
 
BertyYarder said:
Or loose us the game by sticking someone on that takes 10 mins to get up to speed. Its away from home in Europe against a good level of opposition. Can't be too critical we came away with 0-0. Your talking like a sub guarantees we win the game.
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No I’m not talking like that at all. I understand totally why he didn’t make the change and agree with it. Gerrard clearly doesn’t like to break the shape when it’s tight.

However it can be frustrating when you are hoping for a swap to change the game and grab a winner. Which is what you saw in the match thread. Lots of people frustrated because they want us to twist rather than stick.
 
Oduwa said:
Think people are conditioned to think that subs should be made in every game around the 60 minute regardless of score and game plan.
.
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Mind that useless bread bastard made a change on 60 minutes, regardless of the game's situation? Every fucking week. Then another at 75. Clown.
 
UnionCruiser72 said:
Was pretty obvious that arfield, Ojo and Davis were absolutely shattered around 70 minutes.

Still a great result nonetheless but playing for a draw like that might not work out against a better team.
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Tell me how it was obvious? I seen a team a being pegged back a bit from the home team finally pressing but looking very comfortable with this. Still moving and passing the ball
I never spotted many missed tackles due to fatigue, runs not being made etc.
Players and game looking like they should at that time-same as the other team.

Just my opinion though.
 
Tpol_rfc said:
I don't understand it at all. Maybe last season when the bench wasn't so strong it could have been the reason. However this season he's said we need two players for every position and we now have that.

Surely a fresh player who we are told he trusts could be given at least 20 minutes in place of someone who had been giving it everything for over an hour.

*not having a go at Gerrard or anything but think it's worth discussing.
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Indeed :rolleyes:, let's discuss..............

Seriously?

We now need to win a 1 off game, at home, to qualify for the group stages.
 
Tpol_rfc said:
I don't understand it at all. Maybe last season when the bench wasn't so strong it could have been the reason. However this season he's said we need two players for every position and we now have that.

Surely a fresh player who we are told he trusts could be given at least 20 minutes in place of someone who had been gSteven Gerrardiving it everything for over an hour.

*not having a go at Gerrard or anything but think it's worth discussing.
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'Missed the point in that one'

But sorry mate but you 'are' having a go at Steven Gerrard ! Tonight was a clasic case where, yes, we would have loved an away goal BUT, second to that, we got home with a clean sheet which means they will have to attack us next Thursday.

Surely you didn't 'expect' the famous to win that extremely difficult tie tonight ?

Hopefully the lads will deliver next week at Ibrox and Job Done !
 
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I don’t think Ojo had his best game tonight, Jones off the bench around ~60mins wouldn’t have done us any harm. Rest of the team looked ok to me, though.
 
If he did change it, you'd have people complaining that the substitutes ruined the game and we were clearly capable of keeping it at 0-0 if we didn't make them. You can't win either way. Unless you make a substitution and you still come away with a good result I guess.
 
Didn't want to change things as we were relatively comfortable. A new man could forget to track a runner or not pick up at a corner. Yes Ojo was feeling it a bit though.
 
Must be worried we’ll lose our shape. I used to complain that Walter Smith always left it late to make subs and he did ok.
 
I think the thread sums up everyone's opinion more or less that at about the 70-minute mark, fresh legs looked appealing and an obvious move from the sidelines.
Personally, I would have replaced Ojo with Jones and Arfield with Kamara and moved Aribo forward.
But I am not EC winner Steven Gerrard.

So Stevie made his judgement calls, and quite honestly I am more than happy that Stevie knows what he is doing.

0-0,...maybe Stevie just wants to fill Ibrox for the return.
Time for the Support to show what they can do.
Get Ibrox rocking for a big one and let the Bears give it the sort of laldy that only hungry Bears can.
 
arnietac1 said:
Tell me how it was obvious? I seen a team a being pegged back a bit from the home team finally pressing but looking very comfortable with this. Still moving and passing the ball
I never spotted many missed tackles due to fatigue, runs not being made etc.
Players and game looking like they should at that time-same as the other team.

Just my opinion though.
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It was obvious if your eyes were on the telly.
 
I was another wanting Jones on but I'll trust the managers opinion here over mine(a man sitting on my couch watching the game eating cold alphabetti spaghetti out a tin).
 
Personally I think tonight is a good result...I also would have like to have seen a substitution earlier,but what do I know.
It's also ok to question decisions made by management team imo.
There seems to be a hardcore of posters seeking out any criticism no matter how mild and making a big deal of it.
 
Tpol_rfc said:
I don't understand it at all. Maybe last season when the bench wasn't so strong it could have been the reason. However this season he's said we need two players for every position and we now have that.

Surely a fresh player who we are told he trusts could be given at least 20 minutes in place of someone who had been giving it everything for over an hour.

*not having a go at Gerrard or anything but think it's worth discussing.
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100% agree
 
Jjbscotty said:
Very frustrating to watch and when the subs did come it was the wrong ones.
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Agreed.I couldn't understand the Defoe one at all .We were tired and everyone was behind the ball except Alfredo,who is our only outball and he puts on Defoe who requires players around him to be effective.Really stupid substitutions.
 
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