Clan Vs Devils - 13 Nov 19 - League

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
I don't think we played badly last night other than pp and the pk not working !!
Did the refs influence the game- of course they did but I'm not going to blame them. There were calls that were a bit soft and there were calls missed on both sides. Goal mouth scrambles just didn't go our way. The lucky bounces did not go our way. I do not lay the blame on our defence alone. It is a team effort and a few top end forwards are not producing .
Give credit to their goalie, he had a very good night.
We were on our way back when we got landed with the 5 on 3 a few minutes from the end of the game.
With those two referees , had we been more physical we would have had more penalties. 6-3 scoreline does not reflect the nature of the game . Two e n g -- what a bummer!!
(as a side note let us not forget some of the team could be playing with an injury which is not going to get disclosed)
I'm not sure that the special teams were the only problem, though they were the most visible. Why, for instance, were the team suddenly so poor in face offs? Given that was the case, pulling bownsie was only going to end one way. If you're going to pull your goalie you have to win, and keep, possession. I'm at a loss to explain what's going on, but I hope that morissonn will be able to calm things down and get us playing to a plan again instead of having the game dictated to us.
 

terry hunt

Well-Known Member
Watching Lordo's interview last night was interesting maybe implying some players are underestimating our opponents?
Fitzie as usual he always gives the credit to his players but never underates the opponents They are most definitely playing for him.
You can say the same for Blaze and Flames.Have we got some divas in our team?
I have been annoyed by officials this season but being honest i dont think thats our problem.
Refs last night were Pavel Halas who is Czech and pretty experienced.The other Liam Sewell is a former Hull player who although not a star should have a fair understanding of things.He is reffing in the ECHL and has also been in the AHL as well as IIHF rated.
Why would he be biased against the Devils?
Paul Adey gave some of our statistics last night.Look at the scoring of our top line forwards,our PIMS per game for a start.
Yet he believes the Devils will get through this poor spell and be one of the teams to beat for the title.
I know it is hard but we may have to bite our tongues and trust our leaders to sort this out.
 

Gospel

Active Member
Looking at the game overall so much didn't work well.

The passing was pretty poor, either too far ahead or into feet. Nothing was smooth, some passing was done without even looking if a team mate was there, it was the expectation that they were. We get turned over and then concede. This isn't new to last night as its been happening a fair bit.

The transition between D & F is not fluid a lot of the time. We are trying to play our way every single time and teams can defend against it and have defended against it. The only time we dump the puck is on a line change.

Sticking with line changes, there have been a few howlers lately that have lead to the opposition being able to skate into our D zone and we are then stretched.

Some players aren't on the same wave length as others for whatever reason. Is that coaching? is it players not following a plan? Is it they are not capable or able to do whats needed? Ive no idea as I don't know what the game plan is from Lordo.

Last night we lost over two thirds of face offs which is very unusual for us, simply a bad day at the office?

Our D havent had that calming influence at the back, they are too gung-ho and want to go forward. That's great as long as someone is able to fill in and not leaves holes. They haven't and we've conceded. You can look at individual errors or team errors it doesn't really matter when mistakes are made. Is it a coaching issue whereby they are told to go forward so therefore they aren't mistakes at all?

Our F lines haven't clicked since the CHL games for some reason. Some guys are looking for that 'pretty' goal all too often when sometimes shooting the damn puck is good enough. If you look at the shot map from last night alone and where the goals were scored from shows we don't do enough to protect the shots getting to Bownsy or from clearing the puck/players from around our net.

We have run into a lot of PIMS to. We lead the league in PIMS but why? We have taken some stupid penalties. Last night one example is the hip check from McMonagle. Did he need to even attempt it? He had position on the F and had him on the outside. Yes you could say its clever play from the F but why oh why even try that hit?

We all know that the officiating is terrible this year, there is no consistency whatsoever, sometimes its hard to even see why a call has been made but its the same for all teams. One downside is that the refs hardly ever go to different arenas so the same teams get the same crap nearly every home game so why cant we adapt?

So far we are;

1st in PIMS
1st in goals against
1st in PP
4th in PK
4th in goals scored

I see no reason why we cant get back to how the team were before & during the CHL if everyone starts pulling in the same direction at the same time. A few wins on the bounce will get the confidence going and who knows where we can end up.

End of my rant.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
Does make me laugh ... all of the comments implying ‘it’s only the Clan and the Clan are a poor team’! The underlying assumption being we should easily beat them!

Focusing on this season (anything previous is irrelevant) they are stronger than us - top of the league! Digest and register that information!

Leicester City - they also had a crap football team once! Times change!
 

osh

Well-Known Member
Does make me laugh ... all of the comments implying ‘it’s only the Clan and the Clan are a poor team’! The underlying assumption being we should easily beat them!

Focusing on this season (anything previous is irrelevant) they are stronger than us - top of the league! Digest and register that information!

Leicester City - they also had a crap football team once! Times change!
Agree, a point well made.
I also think a lot of posters are making the point that we are not expecting to win every game - nice as that would be - it’s the lack of many things that are worrying, not least cohesion, passion, effort, body language etc combined with the many mistakes in games that is so frustrating and can only be rectified by the players themselves. let’s hope our new D man will start to inspire improved performances.
 

mjh

Well-Known Member
For me it's a motivation issue. We don't seem as hungry as opponents and we struggle when they defend the centre ice forcing us to the outside. Interestingly, Riley and McNamee both scored from right in front but most of the night Clan locked down that area well. Officials were not a problem for me as we got away with a number of calls which should have gone their way. Pk was very poor. At least we've found our consistency. We're consistently inconsistent.
 

doron

Active Member
at the end of the day, there's a lot of good teams this season, and they have showed that they can play a good game. as i see it.at the moment Cardiff could end up anywhere between 1st and 5th. as it stands up till today. a lot of teams want it more than us , let's see if Shoane Morrisonn can motivate the team.
 

Gazr76

Active Member
We didn’t play a physical game last night, end of - so let’s not blame excessive physical play on the loss. One or two questionable calls, but that’s all it was and you get that every game at every level. It’s too easy to blame the officiating. We should be looking at ourselves and only that. What’s more concerning for me is that there doesn’t seem to be desire to bust a gut to get something going, or the passion from anyone to do something to lift the team or the crowd. There’s just nothing there.
I didnt say Cardiff played a physical game!!

You are Andrew Lord and your coaching the Cardiff Devils.

1) One of your players legally hits a player into the boards
2) The referee calls a penalty
3) You have a fairly good idea that from this point forward the officials are going to call every thing they can. Even legal hits.

Choice (A) You play it safe and tell the team not to play physically.
Choice (B) You let the boys play the way they want to play and risk spending the night in the penalty box.

So what do you do?

That's the choice Lord had during the game in Glasgow. Now a number of people have been providing their opinions that the team are not physical enough. That is all I am saying.
 

Slartibartfast

Well-Known Member
Gospel summed up all the problems well. Particularly the D to forward passes which always seem to be slightly behind the player. We usually pick it up but it loses speed. Speaking of speed we seem to be slightly behind most teams in that area. Not sure if our players are slower or just not trying so hard.
The forwards are cycling reasonably well, though Linglet seems to lose the puck a lot.
Defensively the goals against show we are just not clearing the net. The Fife game was the same with 3 goals right in front of net.
The opposition are picking up the scraps in front of net. We are throwing the puck on net more but we don't seem to be so sharp.

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On a brighter note Joey Haddad is on fire this season and deserves that spot on the first line. If Linglet can refind the amazing form he had at the end of last season and the new guy can shore up the defence we still have a chance of trophies this season.
 

hip check

Well-Known Member
Gospel summed up all the problems well. Particularly the D to forward passes which always seem to be slightly behind the player. We usually pick it up but it loses speed. Speaking of speed we seem to be slightly behind most teams in that area. Not sure if our players are slower or just not trying so hard.
The forwards are cycling reasonably well, though Linglet seems to lose the puck a lot.
Defensively the goals against show we are just not clearing the net. The Fife game was the same with 3 goals right in front of net.
The opposition are picking up the scraps in front of net. We are throwing the puck on net more but we don't seem to be so sharp.

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On a brighter note Joey Haddad is on fire this season and deserves that spot on the first line. If Linglet can refind the amazing form he had at the end of last season and the new guy can shore up the defence we still have a chance of trophies this season.
It's a long season, remember last season and Belfast and 11points.
Plenty of time to remedy current problems and I've got enough faith in coaches/managers to get the job done, we'll be thereabouts come April.
 

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
It's a long season, remember last season and Belfast and 11points.
Plenty of time to remedy current problems and I've got enough faith in coaches/managers to get the job done, we'll be thereabouts come April.
I guess the key question is whether we have the tools to turn things around. A few days ago I wasn't sure that we did. Now I feel that morissonn will be the catalyst for a lot of positive things. The space around our net will certainly become a far less pleasant workplace for opposition forwards. But we shouldn't forget the calming effect he will have on the team. The locker room leadership he will bring will be massive too, and there will be much less chance of anyone taking liberties with our forwards. I honestly think that had he been in the team the result at Glasgow would have been different.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
I didnt say Cardiff played a physical game!!

You are Andrew Lord and your coaching the Cardiff Devils.

1) One of your players legally hits a player into the boards
2) The referee calls a penalty
3) You have a fairly good idea that from this point forward the officials are going to call every thing they can. Even legal hits.

Choice (A) You play it safe and tell the team not to play physically.
Choice (B) You let the boys play the way they want to play and risk spending the night in the penalty box.

So what do you do?

That's the choice Lord had during the game in Glasgow. Now a number of people have been providing their opinions that the team are not physical enough. That is all I am saying.
It was an isolated incident and the check was questionable - so you could argue both ways whether it was a penalty or not (personally I thought it was and we’d certainly be calling for it if it was the other way around!), so how can Lord second guess what’s going to be called for the rest of the game based on that one hit?! Bar the call on Myers, I didn’t think the officials did too much wrong. Just more excuses for playing a passive game. And Lord will take far more heat from fans if he instructs his team to play like they did against Glasgow, than for example the loss to Guildford - where they gave it a real go and people who were there recognised that they played well and with intensity. There wasn’t too much negativity after the Flames game even though we lost.
 
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Imp

Active Member
There wasn’t too much negativity after the Flames game even though we lost.
Sadly, that is better explained by the fact people didn't see the game. Much harder to make events fit your narrative when you haven't seen them.

We lost 4:3 to Clan ... plus the 2 ENG conceded because they were trying/chasing.

Does anyone have stats for how much the Devils have been behind in games this season? It feels like a lot.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
Sadly, that is better explained by the fact people didn't see the game. Much harder to make events fit your narrative when you haven't seen them.

We lost 4:3 to Clan ... plus the 2 ENG conceded because they were trying/chasing.

Does anyone have stats for how much the Devils have been behind in games this season? It feels like a lot.
The negativity vs Flames was greatly reduced after people who were there started posting reports on how we actually played. When the team plays with intensity and passion and give everything - as they did/appeared to do, in both games last weekend - how can anyone complain, win or lose? You can’t. But if you don’t get that (and let’s be honest, we’ve seen so much inconsistency in performance levels, intensity, effort etc from this team), then people will. Pretty simple really.
 
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hip check

Well-Known Member
Personally speaking I would happily watch my team in a mid table position and see passion, effort and grit every game, seeing us knock around and shake up a few of the high riding teams with some big hits and no nonsense approach.
Lots will disagree but I put a lot of importance on being entertained.
Play passively and possibly win silverware, play with intensity and grit and maybe win no silverware. hmmmm.
 

Slartibartfast

Well-Known Member
It's a long season, remember last season and Belfast and 11points.
Plenty of time to remedy current problems and I've got enough faith in coaches/managers to get the job done, we'll be thereabouts come April.
Im sure we will. We have been through this a few times before. It is taking a bit longer to sort than last year and the situation is a bit worse but I also have faith that all will come good. They are improving gradually and despite the end scoreline, the Clan game was close.
The addition of Morrisonn is a bold statement on the clubs aspirations. This is a much more positive move than sacking players like some have suggested and other clubs do. There are no guarantees when it comes to trophies but I know this club will do everything to turn things around.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
I guess the key question is whether we have the tools to turn things around. A few days ago I wasn't sure that we did. Now I feel that morissonn will be the catalyst for a lot of positive things. The space around our net will certainly become a far less pleasant workplace for opposition forwards. But we shouldn't forget the calming effect he will have on the team. The locker room leadership he will bring will be massive too, and there will be much less chance of anyone taking liberties with our forwards. I honestly think that had he been in the team the result at Glasgow would have been different.
The effect may have a greater effect had a player been dismissed, that tends to focus minds more. One guy isn’t going to force the others into a sudden resurgence of energy, passion or skill and he can’t be on the ice every shift.
I’m not expecting a massive turn around in form long term, tomoz it’ll be a fan show with everyone on the team putting in more effort, a high energy game.
 
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