i wrote that Alioski needed to be subbed at HT as I thought he was crap in the first half. I'm glad I'm not the manager. I posted after the game that he was brilliant in the second half, I have no problem eating humble pie. Maybe a forum isn't the best place to let off steam but I doubt the players are reading the match thread. Oh, and thanks for the streams Ell. I have to say I ended up listening to the Millwall commentary, those other two idiots (JohnDavid?) just do my head in. They haven't got a farking clue about football.
If you are referring to the situation just before the penalty, then the second ball from the right is pretty close to what it was, in my opinion: Goal kick after the Dallas shot was saved was abysmal!!!
It still wasn't clearly in play and 95% of the time, does get given as out.Can't say I've never seen it before, but not very often. The TV view was from the stand which would make it appear more in, but it still looked out.
I think most stuff directed at bamford has been factual. People recognise his value to the team but are frustrated at his conversion rate in front of goal. I imagine he is too. Most of the frustration of late has been that we have had no option to replace/rest/compete with him. Some of the criticism of him is over the top. My view is simple... as long as he is trying his best and putting the effort in, which he does, I'm fine with him... nobody wants to miss goals. But I reserve the right to get frustrated if my team drops points because of missed chances. Chris Wood showed the boo boys how to handle the criticsim by banging goals in and cupping his ears. Let's hope this kickstarts a run for Paddy. No-one likes getting criticised but ultimately I don't think players lose too muich sleep over what the fans think. They know we're fickle. They say what they say when they have a microphone in front of them. 'Fans are great, best coach in the world, chairman's been brilliant.' All platitudes... it's a job to them, they think fans generally know nothing about football and what they're watching... and it might be annoying but they couldn't care less about us. They love playing football, but most of them don't care where as long as it pays. I feel your lour love letters are unrequited Jammy. You're just a stalker to the team or at best a sugar daddy figure they tolerate for your money.
My half time comments were; 1) Horrendous first 5 mins of bad passing by the defence set the tone and meant we gave Millwall the initiative. 2) After that we played really well, creating 3 excellent chances all of which were straight at the keeper. 3) Never seen a referee as incompetent in my life, some get the big decisions wrong but this guy can't can't even do the simple stuff. 4) If we get one back them we could steam roller these as they've shown nothing. These comments were made to my son who agreed if we could get one back then 3-2 was definitely on.
Oddly enough. Close to my half time comments on another forum. Felt wed win after the early second half goal. Maybe Im a genius after all
we played well for 20 minutes between their goals... my comment in the thread was wondering how we managed to be losing. After that we looked pedestrian and short of ideas I felt. Second half we played some great stuff.
I think my half time comments were along the lines of... Our front 3 haven't scored enough this season. We can't defend set pieces so why did we sell our best striker and best defender and expect it to get better? If we lose this game and the Wigan game we may as well pack up for the season. Then I calmed down a bit and added...... On amore positive note, if we get an early goal it could get interesting..... Today's thinking is still along the same lines regarding the front three. Conversion rates need to improve. We still can't defend set pieces. Alioski has to start every game because he crosses at every opportunity and shoots at every opportunity. We need to score more goals and this helps us do that. Might concede one or two more...... Bamford needs his arse kicking for him to score. His only purple patch this season was when Nketiah was breathing down his neck and Bielsa basically dropped him (Nketiah got injured). Now Augustin is here he bags another 2.
Obviously as a fan you're hoping to get one back before the break but in those final few minutes I agree it didn't look likely. So yes your assessment is correct and we needed half time to regroup. We'd shown enough though, particulary down the flanks to believe a comeback was possible. Sometimes you get the feeling we could play until midnight and never score but last night we looked good even though we were 0-2 down. Cooper was uncomfortable at the back, jittery for no apparent reason and Costa whilst doing little wrong was too ineffectual to provide the attacking threat he's selected for. Second half and those weaknesses were no longer evident and all 11 players were fully on their game. Kiko was a worry as it's the first time I've seen his condidence slip a little, hopefully that's just temporary but his decision making suffered as a consequence. May I suggest he deserves our support rather than throwing out with the rubbish, there is a good keeper in there and we need him to get back to commanding his box. Personally I'd much rather he come for everything and be accused of a flapping rather than staying on his line, we'll still concede but nothing worse than seeing a keeper rooted to the spot as a cross is headed in from 4/5 yards. Actually just remembered Cooper swung and missed at an easy clearance in added time, he really needs to work on his composure and confidence. Hopefully some shades of grey there for you to ponder.
Slate and charcoal jammy. kiko was much improved first part of the season, since then we’ve seen form closer to last term. Hopefully he gets his mojo back.
I was singing the Kiko Pablo song at home. Sorry but best I could manage. The camera shot for first goal was miles away. Looked like he was rooted to the goal line but like I said, TV was unclear
I saw some highlights with Millwall commentators and they said that Kiko was blocked for their first goal.
Which makes me wonder, where's the difference in blocking a keeper and fouling them. Surely if someone stands in front of a keeper preventing him moving, it should be a free. After all, if a forward jumps with a keeper, refs always seem to give a free out even with minimal contact
I think it's another example of some poor refereeing in the match unfortunately. It's amazing how some of these small judgement calls can affect the outcome of a teams season quite profoundly. Not so much at the beginning, as there is time to make up ground, but towards the pointy end of the season these small decisions against you can do disproportionate damage. Thankfully this wasn't the case yesterday, but it so nearly was.
it’s fair to note that keepers get extra protection, it’s just part of the culture of the game. That said, any player is entitled to occupy any space on the field, other than is prescribed in the Laws of the Game, at restarts. Im amazed that professional keepers don’t seem to know the simple technique of screaming instructions at teammates right next to the ears of opponents to get them to move away!
there's some good angles on it on the sky highlights. There were millwall players in his path looking to block him though the Leeds guys blocking the blockers were more in the way! There generally are players deliberately or by sheer numbers in the way of keepers at corners - its why they often only to come for the high hangers where they have a bit more time to make a call. This one was obviously was hung up at the back post and well inside the box, so caveated by the player traffic around him, fits into the question mark against him rather than outright blame for me. Ayling lost his man and then ball watched and the guy ran past him to score without having to get in the air to head it. My amateur assessment is schoolboy defending but were i the type to criticise, the milkyboy finger of blame would point more firmly at Ayling... who like alioski for the penalty was otherwise really good.
“Ayling lost his man and then ball watched and the guy ran past him to score without having to get in the air to head it. My amateur assessment is schoolboy defending but were i the type to criticise, the milkyboyfinger of blame would point more firmly at Ayling... who like alioski for the penalty was otherwise really good.” Agree with all of that but blame Ayling for both events, Alioski was doing his normal best to irritate the attacker, with trifling fouls, but it was Ayling who clattered him, in my opinion! He could have just stood him up thereby blocking his path to goal.
like the trifling fouls comment! He is like an irritant, too lightweight to actually knock anyone over. Watched it a few times and it's hard to see where the contact was, i see your point but think Alioski shouldn't have gone to ground and just left ayling to deal with it.
Do you honestly think Chris Wood would have scored as many playing Bamford's role in this system? Indeed, it's a reasonable question to ask if he was capable of playing Bamford's role. I'm not convinced.
