Messages

Lot of talk as usual about S&C on here.

Would the concerns here not originate at u17 and u20 level every bit as much as what is happening at senior level?

I don't think so personally. There is a huge difference in physicality at senior level compared to u20 level. So effectively players should be making great strides in terms of power, size, conditioning in the age bracket of 20-24. We are leading over the past 4 years at u20 level but they are not developing in step with other counties.

The likes of Daly, Cullen, SOD and a few others of those players who came into the squad at 19/20 etc just don't seem to have kicked on physically since they stepped up to senior football where they have been a few years there now.

You'd notice other counties where these guys are notably fitter, stronger, bigger year on year and are guys are still struggling to break tackles. I can remember Cassidy, McElholm, Cullen, Daly etc all struggling to break tackles at the weekend whereas none of the Derry players were having those problems throughout the game.

One thing I will say its not all about power/size in breaking a tackle, its about the willingness and desire to get through your man. If say mcelholm ran at a defender regardless of how big he was he would either get through, get stripped of the ball or get a free for being fouled. Now 2 out of those 3 cases could result in a score for us. I have no idea why players are running at full speed at the heart of the opposition defense.

Over the last 10 years or longer tyrone have failed to produce the "hard man" type player who takes no crap. Mattie Donnelly would be the only one that springs to mind. Kerry, Dublin, Armagh, Donegal etc all have lots of players who show their aggression. We seem to produce skillful pretty boys

Rooting for Meath,Derry,Cork to fight it out for the promotion spots as it would be hilarious if Tyrone had to stay in Division two for another year.

As long as we don't drift down to division 3 like some teams have in the recent past

Putting a big midfielder inside whilst we were getting cleaned out repeatedly at midfield was insane stuff. It smacked of desperation.
If we can't beat Derry we may forget about Division 1 or the all Ireland series for a few years.

Why should we forget about the All Ireland series? I've never heard such hysteria about an aul league game in January. Is likely Kerry will win the next two or three All Irelands as the new rules suit team with the best players and they have them. We don't at the moment but on any given Sunday in summer will give most top teams their fill of it, as Donegal and Dublin found out last year.

Kennedy inside was stupid especially when they didnt even play too many high balls into him. We gave derry the run of midfield as a result. Its clear we dont have a set system. No issue with Kennedy going inside for a few high balls during the game but he needs to be in midfield for kick outs.

Tyrone wont be anywhere near it this summer. All the top teams have already shown the work they put in over the winter. We look exactly the same. There has been zero progress over the last few years.

The getting to an AI semi last year seemed to have covered over most of this but in reality we had zero chance of winning that game.

Some catastrophizing going on with section of Tyrone supporters. Is no middle ground.. result to result, either we'll win Sam or it's the end of the world.
Will beat most of those Div 2 teams handy enough. The Leinster teams are very poor. Maybe Cork be better than them. Will easily make the Sam Maguire Cup competition. Let there be no panic 

Not sure about that. Could have easily lost to Kildare, should have been beaten by far more by derry. Meath or cork won't be easy either.

How did seanie oshea get away with a shoulder straight in the back.

Was disappointed last year with a lack of attacking plan from Malachy. Much was made of making it to a semi final but no one was expecting us to win it and we could have easily been beaten by far more.

Again this year we dont seem to have a style of play or an attacking strategy.

Looking at donegal or armagh those players would run through a wall for their jersey or manager. Over the last 10 years I have never gotten that feeling from Tyrone players bar maybe a select few.

We seem to produce lots of classy players given a bit of space but gone are the days the likes of dooher, hub etc who would fight for every inch.

I hope I am wrong but I can see a very short season ahead of us.

What is Malachy & Co actually coaching these players?

There is no attacking system whatsoever. And the midfield/kickout strategy is equally baffling.

Been wondering that for a long time.

That was a disgrace! Murray gets punched in the head and gets a black card for his trouble!
What did he do to deserve the punch. Hes hardly innocent

Attacking at speed yes but not labouring and endless slow recycling of the ball. Here's a stat for you: Derry got relegated playing that rubbish. Stats are a great thing when people are getting get well paid for producing them in county setups. Useless all the same. Armagh  won one all Ireland They were great at keeping the ball. Galway won none. They were great at keeping possession too. With excellent players on both teams what would they have one if only their managers had  allowed the players hem to kick more the ball more?   

I recall Derry getting relegated last year. I do not recall them playing in the same style as they did on Saturday against Meath.
And if they did endlessly recycle the ball, they still managed to outscore table toppers Mayo in the league.
If a style of play creates more chances, as in the game against Meath, and results in more points scored over 7 games than the top team in the country at that time, it can hardly be described as 'pointless'.
If you do not like the style of play, then simply say that. I for one don't see it going away as teams are reluctant to tackle close to the 2 point arc so attackers will move the ball around and recycle in the hope of creating space or a shooting opportunity.
With Galway and Armagh you can speculate that they may have done better by kicking the ball more but since no one can prove it, it is as valid an argument as saying they would have won more by kicking less.

Why would Armagh/Galway have kicked the ball in 2024 unless it was on? Galway were a very good defensive side, kicking the ball would have been suicidal, unless it was on. If I remember rightly the difference  making score that day game from a kick pass to Soupy who passed the ball across for McKay's goal, probably the score of the day came from a kickpass to Grimley.

If it's on Armagh will definitely try to kick the ball, but kicking into a packed defence is idiotic.

Could be the chicken and the egg situation. Is the kick not on or is no one running to show for the kick. Comes down to what the team system is. Players wont make a run for a kick in if its not their gameplan.

I have never seen Conn shoot before so dont think its anything to do with mgmt. thats always been his game, burst through and lay off to mccurry canavan etc on the loop. dont get me wrong hes great at it when at full flow cant be stopped

Biggest thing conn can work on is his temper. Always get the feeling he is a red card waiting to happen in every game

For all our success at underage we do produce the same type of player. We'd need the odd big 6.5ft lump coming through.

I don't really agree, you play to your strengths and from what I see very few teams rely on size to win matches under the new rules. Galway are a classic example of a very big physical team who could not get to grips with the new rules last year and never really preformed.

I mean if we are blessed with a lot of small skilful players why do we not play to those strengths by playing a faster, less structured game? I actually believe pace and stamina are more important than ever in football as guys like Roarty, Ciaran Moore, o begley, P Clifford and Mick McKernan have shown.

This place is mad. You say we need to be less structured, others say we have no structure.
You say very few teams rely on size, I'd say Joe O Connor was massively influential last year.
David Clifford is the player he is, due partly to his size and power.

We need to stop twisting facts to suit our agenda

It makes sense to me. You play to the strengths you have in your team. We dont have big strong full forwards so we shouldnt play like we do. We have very skillful quick forwards who need fast early ball in. We dont play either style which is the problem. We dont lump high balls in to a target man as we havent got one, we dont play quick ball in either.

The game plan this last 2 years seems to be slowly transition into in opposition half, hand pass the ball around and hope one of our skillful forwards can produce some magic to work a score.

There is too much talent in this tyrone team to be playing like this. If we dont get an ulster title or an ai semi final i would say its a failure.

Obviously its early days but Malachy needs to massively step it up.

Malachy all talk and emotion no tactics no plan.

After 21 years of tactics we are back to 1985. Clueless and crap backroom with the best underage players in Ireland and can't beat Kildare with 14 losing one of their best for half the match. Shambolic  farce.

Given that Malachy helped design the new rules i had hoped that he would take the regins and develop a fast attacking game plan. He was given a pass last year as he it was his first year but he needs to step it up asap.

If tyrone have a poor year i would be in favour of getting rid of him. Too much talent to be wasting another year of the players career's.

I know its only the firsr proper day out but other teams have hit the ground running and we have already stalled.

Who would you be replacing him with out of interest? MOR has a great track record as a manager who's careers is he wastin? It's the first round of the league and up to ten players not playing for one reason or another alot of overeaction on here.

Paul devlin would be an obvious candidate. Not saying to panic yet but its Malachy 2nd year in charge, hes been around tyrone football for over 20 years, he was a key figure in bringing the new rules in and he has a fantastic crop to pick from. I just believe he should be doing better given those points.

Can anyone actually see what he is trying to achieve ? I don't see any type of game plan or philosophy other than hope for a few moments of genius that a player may come up with 

There is too much talent in this tyrone team to be playing like this. If we dont get an ulster title or an ai semi final i would say its a failure.

Obviously its early days but Malachy needs to massively step it up.

Malachy all talk and emotion no tactics no plan.

After 21 years of tactics we are back to 1985. Clueless and crap backroom with the best underage players in Ireland and can't beat Kildare with 14 losing one of their best for half the match. Shambolic  farce.

Given that Malachy helped design the new rules i had hoped that he would take the regins and develop a fast attacking game plan. He was given a pass last year as he it was his first year but he needs to step it up asap.

If tyrone have a poor year i would be in favour of getting rid of him. Too much talent to be wasting another year of the players career's.

I know its only the firsr proper day out but other teams have hit the ground running and we have already stalled.

There is too much talent in this tyrone team to be playing like this. If we dont get an ulster title or an ai semi final i would say its a failure.

Obviously its early days but Malachy needs to massively step it up.

Absolutely piss poor. If tyrone were in division 1 we would have been destroyed