Longman lost it 7 less times against QPR Honeyman 11 Guess having more of the ball means they lose it more. Just worrying how poor on the ball we are. Most teams seem capable of dominating a game we don’t currently. Was quietly impressed with Barnsley tonight, wouldn’t have thought they were a team in a relegation battle. A lot of fight and belief in that squad.
Cheers, was an honest question as I don't know what a bad number v a good number is, obviously the higher the number the worse.
Just got back. Bloody diversions on A63 then on M1 south. Plenty of time to reflect on that performance and give a considered critique. ****. See you all at Peterborough. Don't be late and lets get behind the lads. Got to dash. Up at 6 for work. Sweet dreams all.
Longman should have been hooked at half time just awful Bernard was fuxking **** Easily our two worst players followed by Forss Fleming Slater McLoughlin Greaves Smallwood Honeyman I know you telly watchers won’t have seen it but smallwood was going mental at the defence on a few occasions cos of how bad they were particularly Bernard manager was shocking not making any subs at half time and not changing the system They battered us If Fulham had been that good we’d be ****ing over then 28 for them was another level and a few others of theirs were too Shall we start telling the manager to play 3-5-2 again it just might work Cos That **** formation just doesn’t work I ****jng hate it
Well that was dreadful. Couldn’t think of any positives at all from that game - maybe on reflection that Cartwright did ok, looked assured for his first league start, he can hold his head up reasonably well. I’m not panicking yet, I thought from the last couple of matches that Shota had it in him to grind out some ugly but necessary single points that would keep us up. But on current table positions we should have been hammering Barnsley into the ground and yet we sat deep and the back four passed around the ball like they had no idea what to do with it. Totally mystifying. If the manager has been following the club for months before Acun bought us then surely he’d have seen that this squad can’t play a back four, it just doesn’t work. It’s so frustrating that we have no consistency, we’ve played some decent games (Everton) and then Stoke and tonight. the game and the crowd were crying out for Hudd, he was the only player we had on the bench capable of coming on and changing it. But perhaps by 2-0 Shota thought we had no realistic chance of coming back so conserving Hudd’s legs for another day. Which in itself is depressing - where’s the fight, we had 45 minutes to change things. Not easy but we’re at home playing a club that hasn’t won away all season. No change in tactics, no rockets up the arses in the changing room at half time. Blimey perhaps I’m talking myself into panicking after all.
Couldn’t agree more with that. I’ve seen some poor performances over the years but I’m lost for words at just how bad that was! Feel really angry with that and so frustrated. So many shocking performances out there. It was humiliating. That ‘pass’ by Docherty across the pitch and straight out of play just summed it up. To top it off a 2 hr journey home due to chuffing diversions. Don’t think I’d have bought my Posh ticket if I’d have seen that first! We’ve always known we’ve lacked quality at this level but we could have at least played to the strengths we’ve got and shown some desire. No doubt those who just went tonight on a £2 ticket won’t be returning anytime soon!
Getting up at 2.30 am and having to watch that felt like a punishment. However, my overriding feeling is sadness. The owner should be furious, having promoted the evening with cheap tickets, got the biggest crowd for a few years, and then for the team to dish up that, is enough to make your blood boil. A big opportunity to get supporters back and new ones wanting to come again lost. A performance like that, can only be put down to either fatigue, the players just looked leggy all night, and/or expectation. Probably a combination of both. They have played a lot of games one after another and maybe expected that it was going to be an easier game. There are no easy games in the Championship, and that should never be forgotten. Barnsley took full advantage of the above, they pressed us high and didn't allow us to settle on the ball, they won all the first balls and 2nd balls, so credit to them for their game plan which worked a treat. Slater and Cartwright can maybe feel they did okay, at least Slater, particularly in the 2nd half looked to get the ball forward. I can't understand why Tom H isn't being used, he is the only player we have that can settle on the ball, and get us passing forward accurately, rather than this aimless booting the ball up to Forss who just isn't the right type of player in this system. Let's not kid ourselves, even though this was one of the worst performances seen in many a long year, this team has had similar games under McCann. It is a young team, they will be inconsistent at times, and it just turned out they all had an off day together. We lack quality in midfield in particular, we need a couple of quality players that can hold the ball and pass forward. At the moment we have a lot of energy but little quality. IMO, we need to go back to a back 3, and 2 up front, as was proved under McCann this system suits these players.
Moncur is garbage! He has done absolutely nothing since he arrived. If he’d have left in the January window, I don’t think anyone would have noticed.
Something worth mentioning, after seeing the pictures on how the pitch looked after the Hull FC game, the ground staff performed miracles to have it in a reasonable condition.
It's quite funny that some people almost seem to think our troubles are down to a bloke on the radio.
The problems for me started at the back - Bernard, McLaughlin and Greaves constantly passed the ball between them side to side and Barnsley kept pressing them further back resulting in either a hoof or a pass to Fleming who was already marked and being pressed so it went back again to the trio- Barnsley didnt give our back line any chance of playing the ball and no one in midfield had the ability to create space to provide an outlet - any other team watching our inability to move the ball forward if pressed is bound to do the same thing - message, stop fancying about at the back, we're not good enough
The defence look shaky, that’s being kind, not sure why the constant changing players, yes, I’m aware of the close together games, but still. For me, at the back, the players seem a bit lost, at times they look great, passing it, running with it, but tonight, it was like the first time they’d even seen a football. Midfield was slow & ponderous, but that was across the pitch, when we had the ball, we let them get 11 behind the ball, no fast passing, no balls slipped behind or through whilst they were attacking & losing the ball, nope, just wait for them to get back, then either hoof it down field & expect one of our short strikers to win the header, or pass it round the back four & just lose possession. As for the front 3, just why are we playing a front 3? It’s not worked all season, for whatever reason. Final bit of rant is Docherty, he deserved to be dropped for his poor performances, but he’s still one of the first players brought on, yes he’s got lots of energy & can run all day, but he still struggles with the basics of a football & being able to control it, pass it & generally any thing else you can do with a football.
Another couple of performances along these lines could spell problems for Arveladze's as i get the impression that our new owner may not be as understanding as the Allam's were with McCann.
Some amusing wetting of the bed by the usual suspects on this thread. Turns out Grant McCann wasn’t the main problem after all. Barnsley played out of their skins, probably their stand-out performance all season. It happens. It surprised us and our performance suffered massively. Arveladze mustn’t panic and make wholesale changes, but we must bounce back now and give one of our best performances against Peterborough - we definitely know how their (probable) new manager likes to play.
Completely agree, you could have hooked any of them apart from slater, to a man awful. Didn't think I'd see a worse performance then I did against Derby, but last night dissapointingly surpassed that! Shotas got his work cut out, he got out thought in the tactics department big time.
A back four should and does work. However when the opposition play a lone striker, it generally gives them an extra player in midfield allowing them to press high and impose themselves.
Pass from Docherty was almost perfect!! Whisker more loft and a yard to the left and it would have landed perfectly for me to head from my seat in the third row of the west!!!
