08-25-2018, 11:07 PM
(08-25-2018, 10:54 PM)PaulP link Wrote:Barbs, I don't deny that there is a problem with our zone, and I'm not sure if the players are too young / too dumb to make adjustments when required, if the coaches aren't communicating properly etc. There are many reasons. Docherty is so far and away our best and smartest defender it's just not funny. We have the very experienced Daisy and Simmo acting as on field back line generals, and yet they cannot marshall the troops ? And for this Bolton should be sacked ? People seem to forget our zone was rock solid in 2016 and 2017 - people think Bolton is suffering amnesia ?The zone was pretty far from solid in 2016 and 2017. If one player, Docherty, missing is all it takes for your defensive structure to fall apart then its a fair indicator that the system isn't particularly robust.
I don't have any allegiance to Bolton, I just think laying it all at the coach's feet is a cop out answer to our current predicament.
For whatever reason, it doesn't work. The coaches (not just Bolton but all of them) should have seen this already and adapted. But they haven't. It isn't just the backline with Daisy and Simmo though, the zone is a team defence - which is failing because as a team the playing group isn't implementing it.
So yes, that is the job of the coaches (again, not just Bolton). When one of two players continually get things wrong you can blame them. But when an entire playing group isn't running hard you have to look at the coaches. When disposal and skills are woeful across the board, you have to ask what the coaches are doing at training to develop them properly. And finally, when the opposition works out your game plan and thrashes you like this on a number of occasions, you have to question why we stuck with the same game plan each time.