What a disjointed effort. Ayling looks ordinary. Williams passing was 5hite. Why do we play Little WB and then ignore him. Long ball to Wilbraham - Dark Ages. Steve, if you wanted to play a back 4 tonight - read and learn : Ayling off, Jet on. Little,Flint Williams,Bryan. FFS, moving Williams to LB makes him worse and bringing on ElAbd was utterly stupid, absolute wast of a substitution and Steve, I thought you were going for it tonight. I give up with Fielding. Garbage.
El abd must get some appearance money.. he keeps putting him on for no reason.. we could really went for this game, set up well in the last 20 minutes to really go for it but SC completely ****ed it up.. Williams distribution has got worse since last season.. Flints turned into shaun taylor and I thought Bryan had an improved game And bringing on JET with 30 seconds to go.. SC has had a complete mare.
Didn't enjoy it then Victor? I thought Flint was fantastic tonight. We kept a clean sheet and played a team who had eight players behind the ball hoofing it to the donkeys up front for them, they came to nullify us and counter all the time. But I suppose we all see games differently.
I thought Williams was solid tonight. Didn't give McAnuff a sniff, toss up between him and Flint for Mom imo
I listened to the match tonight and my first thought was that I had heard it all before and that in reality not much has changed over so many years. Yes I know we are undefeated, and all that nonsense, but there just doesn't seem to be any zest in our performances which is yet another thing that hasn't changed, and the thought of us playing exciting football seems further away than most of us expected. We just seem to go through the motions and if a win comes our way then so much the better, and the performances, except for the odd player or two, seem to change each and every game and the boss just does not know what to expect with a lineup that should get the job done with very little fuss. I had this feeling that the win at Bramall Lane would not be the portent of good things to come and that we would switch back to our normal sloppy version of how the game should be played. Sure we have 7 points from seven and on the surface nobody should be complaining and yet I get a distinct impression that things are not quite what they should be. It's still early days yet and let's hope that SC can put some polish on a very dull team and make them shine brightly some time soon.
Williams needs to work on distribution but he's young so that will come, didn't think Ayling had a bad game looks good coming out of defence. Flints tackle in the penalty area was fantastic. The last few corners he attacked every ball like his life depended on it. I agree with the subs, but sometimes it's better to settle for the draw rather than lose the game in the dying minutes. The one player that disappointed me was Pack and I'm one of his fans I felt he took too much time on the ball and played us into trouble a few times.
I thought the Os were a well organised team,second half i thought they were the better team. We will not play many better in this division SC messed up tonight with his substitutions. A perfectly good goal disallowed,i thought the ref was watching a different game to the rest of us. Rochdale won 5-2 away tonight,that is going to be tough,but promotion teams must bring something back from places like this. The game was played so so slow,and the sooner SC gets a replacement keeper the better.
I would not describe it as garbage as elements of the performance defensively were good, but it disappointing with all the riches at Mr Cotterill see his team set out to avoid defeat instead of "really" attempting to win. The lack of movement in midfield saw City reverting to whacking it. Baldock disappeared due to the paucity of service. It was dull, dull and for most of it, two of the divisions most talented players sat on the bench while players with less skill struggled to complete a ten yard pass, or slowed the football down to walking pace. Attack at home with what you have ...
Ironic to say this after a nil-nil, but we look better with the ball than without - but as players get to know each other that will sort itself out. Orient are a good side, and to quote GJ in our promotion year "it's another point closer to our goal". As for what the side needs I think its still the same - a keeper, a left sided defender and a pacy forward
Spot on. A lot of people will be watching Saturdays performance and result a lot closer now. It will be a test of our ability to go and get three points from one of the relegation favourites. Yes they won well last night but at another relegation favourite. Peterborough have already won there and you'd lay odds on the likes of PNE, Sheff Utd, and any other serious top 6 contenders coming away with all three points from Spotland. A draw would be ok...just....but defeat is almost unthinkable for any serious teams. The same will go for places like Scunthorpe, Crewe, Oldham, etc
Teams will set themselves up different against us each week, so you have to adapt- We will not play brilliant every week. No one does. Difficult to comment on last nights performance as I only had the commentary on, but I did go Saturday and saw the Sheff U game live. In that game, if I am honest, I thought that our goal led a charmed life and that Flint won us the match with his defending. He seemed to have dealt with one of our nemesis' in Henderson last night effectively too. Colchester played it different. Got a goal and sat on it well. We did well to come from behind to win. I think last season we would have lost 0-1 or at best got a point. Other than what appeared to be a perfectly good goal ruled out, we didn't seem to threaten Orients goal last night, a necessary aspect to win games. I too was puzzled with the substitutions and I really wonder what JETs purpose is. He has played about 10 minutes in 3 games this season. Its still a learning process and Saturdays game will be another test on how we approach a promoted side that appeared there for the taking prior to their 5-2 win last night. I am sure and trust that we will not under estimate them. Previously we have had a habit of losing that type of game. If we can win, a good foundation will be being built
Speaking as someone who played football for many years in a position that stopped players scoring goals rather than setting the world alight by creating a hatful of chances for the forward line, I thought it was a solid defensive performance from the team. Taking the positives from the games Orient has quite a potent strike force, which IMO we nullified pretty well. When was the last time Henderson didn't score against us? In recent years that would have been a 1-0 defeat with Henderson getting the goal. Any promotion challange needs to start from the back, I love scrappy 1-0 wins, and hard fought 0-0 draws. I know I will be in the minority but that's what my game was built on
Well that's it then...3 games in and we draw against one I of last seasons top teams and we are obviously going down. Ffs...chill out...is it just city fans or are all fans this impatient?... Real Madrid we are not!
Well i must say, 7points from three games, after playing the likes of Sheff utd and Orient to me is a great start, i think everyone, after seeing the fixtures, would have been over the moon with that outcome, so lets not be to critical, SC, you and the team has done a great job so far, keep up the good work.
Orient were a much better side last night than the one we drew with last season. I was happy with the defensive performance but up front we did not, in general, put enough bodies forward to trouble them. Plus a significant reluctance to shoot from around 20 yards, going sideways or aimless crosses instead. But as a team we look tons better than this time last year. 7 from 9 is OK with me.
I can't understand why we left Freeman on the bench, and didn't bring JET on until it was just to waste some time. This game was crying out for a match-winner. However against a side that, pre Cotterill, would almost certainly have turned us over good and proper, City stood toe to toe and matched them, and on another day with another ref would have claimed the spoils. Looking at Orient's tactics I got the feeling they were just as worried about us.
It was boring. Play the wages. There was talent on the bench earning a wedge by doing nothing. Negative tactics last night cost points, and an opportunity to gain ground on a rival. City looked happy to draw 0 -0 all night.
