. i'm not trying to disagree with what you're saying but you haven't mentioned it was not a regular league game
. couple all those ifs/buts/maybes with 'if we hold on ... we head to extra-time & penalties' ... and the opportunity to re-strategise clearly to the team as a whole. it adds a complicating dimensions regardless of faith in the bench
. of course if (and despite the ridiculousness of it as pointed out be AM) Simon was substituted after his first yellow - which most of the crowd seems to have wanted - everything would have been different
. Simon takes more blame than Staj in my book ... he essentially ruined the team strategy ... more than once
Agree on Matty. I think he should have been hauled but it shouldn’t be unreasonable for a coach to think a striker can avoid getting himself a second yellow. It’s just that with Matty he was fired up, stakes were high, he’s at home, and he’s already been in several scraps... if you know him well you hook him I think. I bet Staj in a similar situation in the future, would now at the very least give him an earful about being very careful. He shouldn’t have to do it for the experienced captain... but there it is.
Re cup game etc. I don’t want to sound like I’m doubling down, because Im really not attached. But I think the parameters of the game all point towards making subs myself. Not a bad idea to hold one till full time if you want to make sure you can cover someone who says I’ve got to come off. But you’ve got to get there first. And you’re down to ten with still 20 mins (with ET) to play. And look at that lineup...
Murray, De Silva, Oar, Silvera...
you’ve got a very attacking geared midfield on the park who are nearly all looking cooked. And only Duric to screen, but he’s already put in a monster shift and is looking pretty clearly much more of an 8 than a 6.
Two defensive subs have to come in for mine. See if you can hold them at 1 nil, maybe jag one at a set piece, otherwise hold out as long as you can and get to penalties and roll the dice there.
Keeping 3 subs held so you can then respond once you go into extra time is at best a pretty optimistic / high risk proposition. At worst very naive.
But I don’t think Staj is naive, I think he’s a great coach. However I do think he got that one wrong and may well agree. He did say in the press soon after he’s learning a lot.
