Poor choices and strange tweaks

That second half summed up a lot that feels wrong right now. Two players out of position, passes that retreat instead of hurt opposing teams, and a series of decisions from Rohl that didn’t help. To be fair, there were bright moments, but the overall picture was frustrating.

Defending and that second goal

Both Manny and Soapy were well off the pace. You could see it in the way Soapy followed Maeda to the front post then just let him drift behind while ball-watching. That kind of lack of awareness is basic and it gives the opposition easy openings. When you combine it with a tendency to go backwards and play safe under pressure, you invite trouble. The team looked short on urgency in the second half and it showed.

Attackers who don’t take the game by the scruff

Chermiti did what he could with the chances he got, and his finishing was tidy, but a sudden formation tweak left him isolated. Olsen worried me — he had one bursting run that paid off, yet otherwise he favours the safe pass and rarely looks to run at defenders. That eagerness to keep things tidy removes a weapon we desperately need: unpredictability and directness.

Midfield tempo and puzzling substitutions

Raskin impressed when the team played direct and fast, but once the tempo dropped he was exposed for his lack of progressive passing. Naderi is raw at 22 — he had an okay game, but I still can’t see why so much was spent when he looks liable to clumsy moments and needs time to learn. And then there are the subs and tweaks from Rohl. I was happy with his general approach at times, but the timing and nature of the changes this time were baffling and ended up costing us momentum rather than changing the game for the better.

We’re not beyond fixing this, but it needs clearer ideas on how we want to play, who does what in that shape, and less retreating when the game is asking us to push on.

Written by bigbluejim: 14 March 2026