Barely ok when to stay in this League, you'd expect 3 home to Burton. About time for us to pull 3 points away from home Tuesday.
Did anyone else see Steven Caulker wander onto the pitch in civvies after he realised he wasn't going to be called on as sub?
I didn’t follow either, but thought that given that this wasn’t a Cup game we were in with a shout of a win.
Well.......................Burton were ****, although well set up in a 5-4-1. They played for a draw with wizened old pros who threw their bodies on the line, whinged and moaned and wasted as much time as humanly possible. They got what they came for. The ref was also ****. We were **** too. The first half was one of the worst I can remember watching in many a year. For those in doubt, we started in a 3-5-2, with Furlong, Babtiste and Robinson as the three CBs, Wszolek at right wing back and the God awful Bidwell at (supposedly) left wing back. Scowan, who was excellent and is looking like our best player, anchored the midfield three, with Freeman and Yeni (being played horrendously out of position) in front of him. Mackie and Washington were up top. During that first half we struggled to put three passes together and moved the ball far too slowly. Luckily Burton weren't good enough to take advantage of how bad we were. Furlong looked lost at CB (not his fault), Babtiste looked good one minute and non-league the next while Robinson was probably the pick of a very dodgy back three unit. Bidwell is simply terrible. I'm sorry, i know people say we shouldn't have a go at our own players, but I've seen better U18 full backs than him. We shouldn't play with wing backs if he has to be one of them. Ollie shouldn't play him as such and as for playing Yeni as a central midfielder? No Ollie.........NO!!!! We were a bit better second half after changing to 4-4-2, with Smith and Samuel coming on for the poor Furlong and just as poor Yeni (both being played out of position mind). We huffed and puffed a bit, but never really looked like getting the goal. Ollie blows as hot and cold as the team imo. Oh and Freeman had what must have been his worst game for us............just my luck picking this game!!
You';re right there, Scowen had a very good game. No urgency first half from Rangers though, very pedestrian. Second half, we were much better but still didn't do enough. To be honest though, for me, compared to the performances we were putting in towards the end of last season, today was still an enormous improvement.
Awful game. We were out muscled in the first half and Burton seemed to run through us at will. They were unlucky not to score when we were saved by the upright and the rebound fell kindly for Smithies. There's not much else to add. We were too pedestrian and didn't move the ball effectively or quickly enough into the right areas. The second half was better and the subs made a difference, well they had to as Yeni and Darnell looked like they'd never played football before. I think I would've started Manning over Yeni for this game as he would've added some much more needed physicality. Lualua would've also been an option but he was dropped from the squad for turning up late for training yesterday. But for all our huff and puff we never had the quality to break Burton down. Our only clear shot on target was from Baptiste who struck his volley really well but a combination of defender and keeper managed to keep the ball out. With what looked like a 2-3-5 formation Burton sat deeper and made it really hard for us to find space. I can only recall one occasion in the second when they made any attempt to attack our goal. They had settled for a point by this stage. A game to forget this one and it will be as we have two games in the next six days. The only players to come out with any credit were Scowen, Baptiste and Robinson. Everyone else was poor. Smithies doesn't count as he could've sat in the lower school end to watch the second half.
I'm surprised that after Tweeting this yesterday ... That a bloke with a bag slung over his shoulder can stroll ( no pun intended ) onto the pitch unchallenged and stroll off again thirty seconds later as the stewards stood by and watched him from the paddock.
Only thing to add in a very very dreary match was that Bright-Samuel looked okay when he came on... He is bigger than I imagined and willing and able to take people on...think he will be an asset. Towards the end , after we had used our 3 subs, there were a number of bone crunching injuries...Freeman and particularly Wsyolek. Would expect to see a few missing on Tuesday
The SAR steward showed no interest in my bag whatsoever Could've done with smuggling in a couple of cans of Red Bull to keep me awake during the game
I pretty much got molested before being allowed in to the game I went to. I didn't even have to take the steward out for breakfast this morning.
Sounds like you had the better deal yesterday I think the club should be apologising to those American "football" fans that it enticed in with cheap tickets only to waste 90 minutes of their lives
I did intend to mention Bright Samuel and would've said exactly what you did Beth. As he's only nineteen years old he's certainly one for the future.
One for now I think. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone get down our left wing to such good effect. Only 19 isn't he? Big, strong, quick, able to get past Burton players anyway, and get crosses in.
A few? How many injuries do we have already? :/ Lord knows what the line-up could be on tuesday......
Should be beating Millwall and Burton at home. That's 3 without a win. Fortunately for 'Hollow' he won a couple of games at the beginning of the season I never expected. Long winter ahead
