Following today's defeat at Boreham Wood, we spoke to Georgie Kelly.
After the game, Kelly reflected on a difficult afternoon, the challenges of facing a possession-based side and the current league position.
Here is everything we learnt:
1. A tough afternoon against an organised side
“They’re very well organised, well set up and well drilled. The initial plan wasn’t to press them extremely high but when you go 2-0 down you’re forced to change that. It was a tough day overall.”
2. Chasing the game changed the dynamic
“We got a bit more joy in the second-half but that’s easy when you’re already 2-0 down. They go away from what they were doing and become a bit more conservative, which makes things slightly easier [for them].”
3. The difficulty of facing possession-heavy teams
“It makes it very difficult. Everyone needs to be very switched on and clued on in every moment because there are so many moving parts. They rotated a lot with wingers dropping in and full-backs pushing on and that caused us a lot of problems.”
4. Costly lapses punished ruthlessly
“There were a couple of key moments when we switched off and suddenly we were 2-0 down. They were really ruthless when they got chances and you can’t concede goals like that. We were right in the game but those moments hurt us.”
5. Missed chances and fine margins
“They missed a couple of great chances as well and we had a couple of half-chances in the first-half. In games like this if you can get in at half-time level, legs start to go and the game can open up in the second-half but unfortunately it was too much for us by then.”
6. Feeling isolated at times up front
“At times I felt isolated but that’s just the way the game pans out. Sometimes we’re a bit rushed and not as controlled as we need to be. They’re very comfortable retaining possession and building slowly and we struggled with that.”
7. First-half struggles decisive
“Especially in the first-half they cut us open quite a lot. That was probably where the game was lost. We need to be a little bit more solid.”
8. Assessing the season so far
“It’s hard. The squad we have and the depth we have is incredible. We should be doing much better. We should be right at the top of this league and we’re not. It’s not good enough at the moment.”
9. Appreciation for the travelling supporters
“The 641 fans who travelled were brilliant. They deserve much more. The lads are hurting and we don’t take this lightly. It can look like we’re not trying at times but it’s more complexed than that. We struggled today and we need to be better.”
