Having watched today's game,summing up we are not a million miles away from giving it a right good go. if Newcastle are supposedly favourites then we have nothing to fear in this division. A couple of tweaks and we can be right up there come the end. Little was poor at Burton,poor today. Looks like Mathews has done his hamstring so will be out for a while. The position needs addressing now. When Tammy was taken of for WIlbs we looked powder puff up front. We need a top striker in and now.Get these positions sorted with Korey alongside O'neil and we would be improving the side big time. Two one nil defeats shows how far we have come in 12 months. If Norwich and Newcastle are the best we have nothing to fear. We are still not firing on all cylinders which is a good sign. Bring on the Villa we need three points from this game.
Wish someone will tell Tomlin to shut the **** up, yes it might be valid points but the new rules state no talking back to refs etc. That's two or three times so far this season he's been booked for complaining to the ref. If he's pissed off, do what he's best at and make the opposition look cocks by taking the piss. Also loved the way Magnasson floored Dwight Gale.
We looked good I thought today and cant be unhappy- Johnsons assessment of the game did sum it up accurately- enforced sub, but Little is League 1 as is Freeman who lacked confidence in front of goal- One thing hasn't changed- The ref- Pretty awful today
We need to get on our toes a bit more as we looked a bit slow going forward. Quality of delivery in the final third not good enough. We need to learn how to break down teams who bank up against us. Overall I thought we are getting there, just need a bit more self belief and a bit of added quality.
I've watched Freeman closely a few times now, and can see he can't cross the ball on the run. That is my opinion why he stops does all the step overs all the time, but loads better performance from him on last season.
I think he tends to over play it when all that is needed is to get a clean delivery into the box. Our strikers need to get into the danger areas quicker.
We did give Newcastle to much respect early doors,however as the game went on we got at them. The Geordies fan certainly back their team.
I thought Kodjia and Abraham needed to put their back four under more pressure, when we were not in possession. I think we look better with Kodjia central and Tomlin wide left. I think we have found it difficult accomodating Abraham with Kodjia as a partnership.
Well, after the exploits at the back end of last season when we fought hard to survive together as a unit, I came away a bit disappointed today... Like a few have already said, we were far too respectful 1st half and didn't get in their faces at all and overall, there was little movement off the ball. Tomlin and Kodjia played well but there didn't appear to be a game plan of any sort and players were waiting for team mates to move before playing a pass. We will never get the best out of Tammy this way and today, it meant that we offered little threat on their goal. The number of times we got into a position to cross and then didn't was pretty frustrating as well. In direct contrast, from my glorious view from the top tier, I was able to see that Gayle was on the move the moment they gained possession for their goal and that's how he got clear to score, that's what you pay £10m for, clever players (in a football sense)... Also, I could not believe the number of times Newcastle played the long, cross field pass to no 20 Gouffran on the left (easily in double figures) and he was ALWAYS in acres of space. Surely the manager or even the players should have picked up on it and shut it down but he basically had the freedom of the park.. I do appreciate that it is early days we have newbies to settle in but, I thought that we looked pretty uncoordinated today. There was no pattern of play and we appeared to be just hoping that something would come off. We gave the ball away far too many times and I also noticed a fair number of sideways and backwards play which hopefully was due to the opposition and will be a one-off This is not designed to be a pop but an objective view, we will need a bit more than what we offered today to do well in this division...
A fair assessment from a Geordie at the game Was at the game. We weren't that great, struggled to hold on to the ball and Bristol pretty much out muscled us but then offered very little as a goal threat. Defence never looked that worried but against a better front line we definitely would have conceded. Reckon we were edged it first half, they were definitely better team in the second half. Mitro would have made a big difference as we were unable to pick out a long ball and hold it up. In all fairness a draw would have been a justified result...but **** it, we won!
I agree pretty much with Prem. Have to say I've seen Wagstaff have better games than Freeman. Gary O'Oneil was tremendous and far and away our best player. A mention for Bobby Reid who I thought did well. I hope he's given more chances, he's always the fall guy and 'easiest' to drop.
I thought Reid was poor initially but as the game wore on, and particularly the 2nd half, he was outstanding, linking up really well with Tomlin and O'Neill who stood out by a country mile. Yes, Reid will drop once Smith returns I would expect, Pack would appear to be the one left out but for the first time in a long long time, we have a quality midfield with a good back up-
Once you look beyond the engine room of O'Neil and Smith, you must ask yourself where the creative genius is coming from. Tommo doesn't yet look quite as sharp and witty as last season, but maybe he is a slow starter or perhaps he needs a different approach (I don't know). I like O'Dowda, who shows pace and directness, but he needs to channel that into the final third and running at defences to commit defenders. Bryan has looked probably our most creative player from what the cameras tell me, whereas Freeman doesn't seem to be happy the way he was a couple of seasons ago. I think Freeman is very much a confidence player, and its difficult for him being in and out of the side. Also he is now facing much harder asks than he did in League 1, which maybe leads him to question his own ability to step up a league. The shortfall so far seems to be in the side's ability for creative destruction from midfield, and that is maybe where we need to concentrate our efforts. We have the players, so maybe its something which will evolve as we move on. But the gauntlet for those creative midfield players has been thrown down in the games thus far
Wilbraham coming off the bench provides something entirely different. His movement east to west and short is superior. He underlined quickly that the formation was powder puff - little movement or coming short for the ball. Wilbraham took one ball under pressure, back to goal and played in with pace like it had Velcro on it.
We need a top striker in and now. Didn't take long. So you will be playing a 4-2-4 formation to include we need a top striker in and now ?
