I'd argue that the reason they were resorting to 'longball aimless hoof' is that they didn't have the confidence to play it short into the midfield. Why is that? Perhaps because they don't trust the midfielders to keep possession. Perhaps because the midfielders don't want to show for the ball because when they get it there isn't enough movement ahead of them between the lines or on the overlap. We have an overly static and predictable system and there is a failure to rehearse patterns of play. Pumping it forward to Kabamba is the easy option for defenders to take because they know that a loss of possession in the opponents final third will be less catastrophic. The result: sterile risk adverse football.
You seem to echo Brady's claim that Sutton simply 'wanted it more', but I'm not really buying that. Tactical coherence breeds confidence at this level. Sutton have a very simple system and have the personnel (proper target man etc) to make it work. In contrast, we have no clear identity as an attacking force: we're neither a proper long ball team nor a possession-based passing team. We play 4-4-2 but with only one supposedly natural winger. No wonder the players are confused and lack confidence going forward. The one huge source of confidence which we do have is our excellent defence. However, the Rochdale and Sutton games suggest that when you take one of the first choice CBs out, then that confidence is threatened.
I didn't hear Bradys interview Bungle and if you're paraphrasing him it sounds like he's trying to defend his players to me (they had a day off but we'll put it right next week type comment?)
I'm saying we struggled against a better team but would have done better wi5hout necessarily matching them had we played with more confidence in ourselves and been less risk adverse and that doesn't have to come from Brady because the players should be able to change what they see is going wrong. However that said, ultimately if we aren't good enough we aren't good enough whatever our formation and game plans are.
That's the opposite of what Brady is saying I think when he says he's happy with his squad even though that's obviously another sound byte.
One thing I noticed which demonsrrates what I mean better than most was our best player Roberts pumping the ball long with every drop kick with haste even though it clearly wasn't working because we had nobody capable of winning the head or holding the ball up. Goalkeeping is quite an easy game, you just have to keep them out and distribute the ball, so I would have thought that after a while he would have thought about either delaying the kick or playing it short even if his remit was long quick ball everytime, but there was never a suggestion of that happening.