Two home games at Christmas gave us the opportunity to arrest the recent slide; instead we gained a solitary point, had yet another player sent off and then fell to a miserable defeat to Brighton.
Against Leeds, there were some positives as we matched a side in good form, came from behind and then looked the most likely to score. Once again, we were stopped in our tracks by a reckless challenge that saw Broadfoot sent off, disrupting the back four once again with ongoing disruption for four games. Our disciplinary record has been shocking ever since the Bournemouth tunnel incident.
Whether referees are harsher on us or whether we are simply not learning lessons is open to debate.
For the Brighton game, at face value it looked like we were going for a more attacking formation with Broadfoot replaced by Dobbie, but that didn’t pan out. We seem to stick rigidly with the same formation with personnel changing but always one up front with an expectation that the lone striker will then be supported by the midfield.
What we end up with is an isolated striker as neither Chopra nor Davies are suited to the lone stiker role, but there is a reluctance to play the two together which would seem to be the obvious solution.
Once Brighton scored through a poorly defended goal, we were unable to create one decent opportunity until five minutes remained. To stop this slump we need to consider how best to set up the side for the players we have rather than persist with the same shape that just isn’t working.
STARMAN: Barry Ferguson (Lededs); Mackenzie (Brighton)
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