Another difficult game for us but I think most games will come under that category this season. A bit worrying that I read the Ref for this one has issued 29 yellows in 5 games so far this season. However he did preside over our opening fixture at home versus Huddersfield so fingers crossed he is our lucky Ref. Of course I'm going to say we can win this one. We are definately due an away win having been so close in every one so far. COYG
Evening guys great following coming up and will be a great atmosphere -we have only lost once this season and I finally think this will be our first home win of the season. We are playing some great attacking football but not quite hitting the onion bag on a regular basis.However our defence is the second best in the division so far. Have a great trip and I’m sure it is going to be a great game.All the best for the rest of the season.
Just watched the pre-match press conference, recorded yesterday (Monday) I think. Finn Azaz was the player involved. Interestingly, he was a bit coy on why he didn't get any pre-season game time at Villa. He merely says that football is complicated behind the scenes: he'd like to have played but doesn't think it affected him too badly. He pointed out that one of the obvious reasons is that clubs don't want players they expect to be moving elsewhere to get injured but he wouldn't be drawn if that was the case with him. He likes living and playing down here, especially when the sun shines! Not the last few days then. Schumacher says the players had Sunday off bearing in mind they didn't get back until midnight on Saturday. Everyone trained well on Monday and he'd spoken to several who did a full shift against Preston. They all declared themselves ready and willing to go again but the coaching staff were to discuss team selection and possible rotation. He says Mustapha Bundu looks sharp in training and it sounds as though he's ready to go.
Blimey half the first team on the bench....including all the goal scorers.....are we going for a 0-0.
pasoti going into meltdown. Not a good evening for the greens is it now 4 - 1. Think the boys heads have gone down and they are looking poor.
I missed the10 minutes trying to connect to ArgyleTV: first time this season I think. What I did see was abysmal: there’s no pretending we’re doing OK apart from results when we’re throwing games away early or late. It’s about tactics and attitude. We have good players but not so good that we’re going to steamroller teams like we did last season. We need discipline and to keep a shape especially in the first however many minutes and the last. . We certainly don’t want to see a CB pursuing the ball nearly to the edge of their penalty box in open play like Gibson did in the second half. Maybe we can’t play Whittaker. Azaz and Mumba all at the same time. Surely it’s obvious we’re being too ambitious and if we go on like this we’ll go down for certain.
I will start panicking when the right time comes and it isn't now. They are pretty much all new to this standard and it is going to take a bit of time to get up and running. I think we will be ok when the season unfolds but if we aren't, well we aren't. I am getting too old now to get over excited by pretty much anything. People need to take a chill pill and consider there are many other things to life than just a game.
I'm not sure if Schumacher got his starting eleven right tonight.....to leave so many of his first choice players on the bench.... and playing so many players without any league experience at the same time seemed rather extreme rotation policy. Yet at the end of the day his more experienced defenders started and got blown away......we seem unable all of a sudden to defend our goal in the first five minutes.....and tonight we where two down in eight minutes......that needs to change quickly. And Saturday gets no easier....home to 4th placed Norwich.
I understand he needs to rest players - and keep the others happy and fit by giving them game time. Seven changes among 10 outfielders is a lot in one go though. I don’t think the changes were the key issue. We have a good squad and all of them have something to offer. We’ve seen the same problems match after match. Even when we haven’t ended up losing, we’re far too open to attack. We’ve got three up front, we’ve only got one DM and the full backs bomb on. It doesn’t leave much to stop counter attacks does it? I’m sorry to go on about it but the 4:3:3 is riskier played this way than last year’s 3:4:2:1. Three dedicated defenders not 2: 2 wide players not 4: 2 DMs not 1….. and you wouldn’t say we were boring last year would you? I am not saying we need to abandon the entertaining football philosophy but it needs reining in at key moments: the first 10 mins in away games: the last 10 when winning by a single goal or drawing. How many points have we dropped early or late?
To be fair you played some nice football quick passing -however this championship is a different level to league one and some very good teams -you will get better as you adjust to the pace of the games. Great support on a Tuesday night. Keep believing.
Just watched the video.....their third goal....the player had time to make a cup of tea before scoring....a total defender free zone.
And where precisely was the left of our defence? See what I mean? To be fair, we were chasing an equaliser so risks needed to be taken…. But we do that all the time!
Julio Pleguezuelo had complained on the way back from Preston that he didn't feel great and was diagnosed with mild concussion....so was not available for the Bristol game. Mickel Miller was left out because of his recent injury problems and avoiding playing Saturday and a following Tuesday. So two forced changes that we didn't know about.
