For the little it’s worth we’re now fairly clear fourth-favourites to go down (Rotherham not in the betting). Had a few quid on Blackburn.
Was out by the river in Hammersmith for a surprise 60th birthday so I couldn't really follow the game. Doesn't seem that I missed too much. I think I'm correct in saying that none of the bottom eight teams scored today. If only we could've put away one of those five efforts on target away.
Terrible miss from Andersen in first 10 minutes with the keeper well out of his goal, If we’d scored early, they would have collapsed. Willock’s miss at the end was equally dire. Armstrong isn’t the finished article but he sure as hell makes things happen.
This was just another Tinkerman **** up, I'm afraid. Start your best eleven against a team begging to be beaten and get the game won. 'In Marti we trust'. Bollocks.
He's made improvements, but this unquestioning devotion is ridiculous in my opinion. Today should have been a gimme win but he ****ed it up.
Stroller, I think that's a tad harsh though it is hard to explain why he started with Dykes. Even if there is some strange contractual reason that Dykes has to start, surely he an be subbed earlier?! We had two guilt edged chances and both Anderson and Willock might have done better. Yet another would have/could have/should have/if only game. Way too many of those this season, even under Marti's reign.
There's no such thing as a gimme in this ****ed up league....ask Leicester - sure they thought beating us was a matter of just turning up
Dykes isnt and never has been a striker. When he played in Scotland he played off a main striker or out wide.
You think you’re playing well, then suddenly it’s only two points from the last nine. You have to say that six was eminently doable.
Yesterday was a case of two bad teams aiming not to lose,and bringing each other down. Really poor from both sides. As others have said, I couldn't understand Dykes coming out for the second half, albeit only for the first 19 minutes...and the game was crying out for Smyth and some pace way before 84 minutes. A frustrating watch, feel for those who made the trip, but that said...a few months ago we'd have lost this, so progress.
I disagree. I read at the time that people were describing Andersen's attempt as 'a sitter' and it really wasn't. It would have been a brilliant finish if he'd pulled it off, but never a sitter imo. Equally Willock's chance imo. The ball was slightly behind him, meaning that he couldn't just pick his spot. A good save too. I would suggest that Armstrong's finishing was the weakest, whilst I agree that he made a huge impact.
Did I? I don't remember saying that, although most players deserve some praise from time to time. I've definitely praised Dykes previously. As for Frey, I obviously have seen him play and in my opinion, he's better than Dykes. A low bar for sure, but he looks far more likely to get on the end of chances than Dykes, who appears to have no striker's instinct at all.
You stated recently that you were wrong about Marti and now you flip flop. We'd already be relegated if Ainsworth was still in charge and Marti should have been brought in sooner. He doesn't have top class players at his disposal and has done brilliantly to get us towards the top of the form table. He does change certain players, but never the defence unless necessary, thus we are much, much harder to beat. He doesn't have a good striker, which means we'll continue to draw games we could have won. The players definitely seem to like him and are playing for him. He may not keep us up, but that won't be his fault.
My opinion changes as the performances change. A great win at Leicester and a thrilling draw against West Brom, followed by utter dross against Middlesbrough and a 0-0 yesterday in a game against a side that had lost six on the spin and was missing half its players. Of course we're better than under Ainsworth, but for me that doesn't mean that Cifuentes is absolved of any criticism when he gets it wrong.
