New Signing - Nathan McGinley
After an understandably nervous start - unlike Tafari Moore he’d not trained with the squad during the week - Nathan McGinley had a most impressive debut.
Attacking players (and Moore is certainly that) always tend to steal the limelight and I agree with those on the Moore thread who have said that it is a shame that McGinley’s own contribution to a superb defensive effort has been somewhat overshadowed.
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Two defenders - of all people surely the hardest position to slot into - both playing immediately on their debut in a team they hardly knew? Really good strong confident performances from both...which has got to bode well for our run in. Scarr continues to improve as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative of McGinley's first game, from the unsteady start, through his being knocked over in challenges with their massive centre forwards a few times early on, his gutsy and committed blocks and some nice little touches to pass the ball out of defence. I was very happy for him that the result in his first pro game was such a positive one.
But I have to be honest and say I thought we dodged a bullet. We barely won a defensive header all match and there were some unsure touches by both central defenders (I am not as sold on Scarr as was Wendoverman). On another day, the amount of ball that knocked around the edge of the area might easily have cost us a couple more goals than it did.
Saturday was easily my favourite game of the season and I think it was almost certainly our best performance. The commitment of every player was obvious and there was some really excellent attacking and wholehearted defending. I am just not sure I could go so far as to say I thought the defensive effort was a superb one beyond a literal interpretation of the word "effort".
Superb or not @HCblue All things considered it only requires our attack to be better than theirs and their defence to be poorer than ours and we are going to win more than we lose!
I pretty much agree with what @HCblue has written, McGinleys first 20 minutes were as unconvincing a debut than i can care to remember. Then a couple of great blocks seemed to steady him on the ground. But he won very little in the air all game, partly due to the height of the Col Utd strikers, and perhaps his weaker upper body strength.
And like Mr HCblue im not convinced by Dan Scarr either.
Couldn’t disagree more. He’s a kid who’d never played a single game in senior football and hadn’t even trained with his teammates. I thought McGinley was excellent and won a lot of his heading duels and made several crucial blocks. I also believe that Scarr has improved with every game. You’ve obviously been spoilt by watching Stewart, Mawson and Pierre in recent years.
Give these lads a bit of slack, please.
He was very lucky not to get sent off and he barely won a header (even unchallenged) in the first half, but after the instinctive blocks he settled down and looked more assured.
A lot of people are getting very carried away about both signings. They're both off to a decent start, and hopefully should only get better from here. It's certainly nicer than relying on Bean or Gape at right-back and WDH at centre-back!
@glasshalffull I think you are confusing an attempt at an objective appraisal of the game, and the performance of the defence in particular, with negative criticism of a debutant. McGinley was many things on Saturday - you saw my upbeat observations about his debut earlier - but excellent was not one of them. Watching Mawson, Pierre and Stewart in recent years helps inform that judgement considerably.
No harm in getting a little carried away occasionally. With all the injuries to our defenders this season (I have puzzled people recently by telling them that five of our back four are injured) it was delightful to see three novice defenders, all under 24, performing so well. I’ll acknowledge their shortcomings if and when they manifest themselves. In the meantime I shall savour what seems to have been inspired recruitment through sheer hard work by two dedicated men at a time when we had become very dispirited and, to be honest, not unduly optimistic about our promotion prospects.
Wholly in step with your sentiment, @micra.
@chapmanio, I thought Moore was terrific, so i'm definitely in the carried away boat there.
Thought McGinley after the shaky start and red card let off, made some terrific blocks, and fitted in nicely.
Another thing about McGinley is I thought he looked good with the ball at his feet, not something we're necessarily used to at this level. Looked to have a good touch and was comfortable playing the ball out from the back, only launching it when necessary.
True, Jonny. And the fact El Abd and Stewart are better on the ball than AP is one of the reasons we've been better to watch this season, right? If it's a string to McGinley's bow then that would be a plus (and maybe represent an upgrade over Scarr).
Not sure anyone's made any wild statements. Not negative ones anyway.
I found it interesting when McGinley was against an opponent with the ball that, on a number of occasions, he followed that opponent well into the other half of the pitch. This left a hole in central defence that others had to fill in case the ball was laid off and played forward again before he could get back in position. I'm not used to Wycombe defenders playing like that and do wonder if, after a week of training with Wycombe, we'll now see him give up the chase at the half-way line instead.
Are you saying, @Uncle_T , that he pursued a player who was running towards his own goal? That sounds a little odd.
I never saw that uncle T.
I enjoyed watching McGinley tracking their centre forward as he moved back in to midfield to get the ball. It was great to watch O'Nien and sometimes Saunders drift back in to the gap to cover too. Might not have been classic centre half play but it certainly stuffed their attacking options as that movement seemed to be a key part of their plans.
@micra "pursued" doesn't describe it correctly, but there was more than one occasion when McGinley came to press an opposition player who had the ball in the Wycombe defensive half of the pitch and, when that player opted to keep the ball and track back into his own half, McGinley followed him until he played the ball to someone else; sometimes several yards into the other half. I am not saying I saw anything wrong in that; merely that it seemed unusual for a Wycombe defender. I assume it is how he has been coached to play for Middlesbrough U23s.
On the day it was an approach that actually worked well, with the opponent obviously feeling under pressure not to squander possession and, due to a combination of McGinley's presence and the lack of options being offered by his team mates, wasn't able to get the ball away and create anything. As with any tactic, sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't: a more clever or simply more confident opponent may have got the ball away more quickly, or if one of his team mates had given him the option by coming from deep to receive the ball it could have been laid off and the player receiving the ball would have been past and into the hole that (if nobody has moved to cover defensively) has been left behind.
Regarding McGinley, After about 10 minutes, I will admit, I thought oh my god this lad is so far out of his depth. Then after missing the ball in the air for the 3rd or 4th time and being beaten to it by the Col U strikers I noticed Bayo go over to him, say quite a few words and give the lad an arm around the shoulder. From that point on his whole demeanor and game changed. He had more presence and put in a very good solid display making some great tackles and blocks. I came away thinking we may actually have something here. Moore was definitely outstanding throughout. I look forward to seeing them both push on in confidence and hope they cement themselves in the first team and lead us to promotion.
@Uncle_T . Superb description. I can see just what you were referring to. Could become a regular ploy. As you imply, it needs other players to have an understanding with him and a readiness to cover.