Saying ‘All teams waste time’ to excuse that blatant cheating is pathetic … … reminds me of when Palace fans defended how they’d attacked our disabled fans by saying ‘All clubs have a few idiots’. Thanks heavens we didn’t allow that manager near our club, his true colours came out last night … … a yellow streak on a yellow background.
Without having to trawl through the entire thread I’m guessing that PNE engaged in a bit of gamesmanship towards the end. Would that be right?
Understatement of the day mate! The worst I have ever seen for that 5 minute period - around the 80 minute mark. Started off by a Preston player pretending to have a head injury then jumping up when the ref stopped the game.
I'm not saying it didn't help, but for me we could have started in any formation and we'd still have sleepwalked to a 0-1 until Preston did us a favour and injected a bit of life into us. Mundle made a big difference too, he was lively and didn't waste the ball like almost everyone else was.
I know you can't make Saturdays because your usually gigging mate, but I thought the atmosphere on Saturday was spot on. We got behind the team from the word go and got them over the line. Last night was flat as a witches tit, both the crowd and the players. We won next to nothing in the air, and didn't win second or third phase balls. It was only when we were riled that we started putting the tackles in and playing without the lethargy. I think 4-3-3 is our best system, but we struggle to break teams down because none of our current midfield can play the killer pass. I include Neil in that, who I believe is perfect for the deep lying role. However, put Le Fee in the advanced role, in front of Neil and Jobe and I think we'll have a winning formula. Currently, teams double up on our wingers because that's where the threat comes from. Having ELF in the middle will give the opposition defences a lot more to worry about and will give a lot more freedom for our wingers. One last point. Currently I'd have Mayenda playing up top. He links the play better than Wilson, has a great burst of speed and can head a ball. Wilson has the attributes to be a top class striker, but needs to up his all round game and work on his heading.
Yeah, he's also basically saying we only score because of ten men, referees fault for keeping him off pitch (ref following rules on head injury). Well Hickingbottom , if you say wrong to keep himoff because no head injury, then come out and say your player cheated in a blatant and disgusting manner
Midweek games always are. Personally I hate them, I’ve probably missed 3 or 4 home games this season all of which have been midweek. Last night included. Lower bowl looks to be missing thousands normally. Think the atmosphere is ****e most home games in general to be honest, having the away fans up in the gods removes the back and forth singing.
I hate midweek games, I feel the cold too much. I also hate early kick offs, so the way this season has gone with kick offs has peed me off. They will always be in my heart, but thinking about packing it in next season, even if we do get promoted
Just watched the 10 minute stretch where it all happened. You’re absolutely correct. It was blatant cheating to try and run down the clock. The lad who went down in their 18 yard area wasn’t touched as far as I could see. The other two were knew exactly what they were doing. The referee had lost control. The thing I did like though was RLB not rising to any of it.
Marcus mate, how did the officials let the sub on, when the rules are quite clear that he doesn’t enter the field of play until the other guy has left. I wasn’t looking but did he come back on? And a really trivial point but from my view way over the other side, he didn’t drop the ball he rolled it backwards
The referee allowed himself to be made to look a fool and a coward. We've had this half a dozen times this season but this was the worst by quite stretch.
Mate it wasn’t just about running down the clock. They had their 3 stoppages and had no more left when Potts was injured during the stoppage. Their sub wasn’t ready and the ref shouldn’t wait for him according to the rules. If he plays on PNE are down to 10 men for the rest of the game.
All refs are so weak about this issue. You can throw yourself down under a tackle and get booked but throw yourself down randomly and not get booked. They miss the point on adding time. It’s the disruption of play that’s the issue. Whack a card out the first time it happens and it’ll stop happening. Mind i’d even card those with genuine minor injuries for rolling around like they’ve had a limb removed.
Think it ends up being a bit of a waste imo. He’s best up top, he will gravitate towards up top. I think the end result is that it’ll look like last night anyway. And to be fair a better performance from the strike partner and left winger would have seen us overwhelm Preston and win fairly comfortably imo. I think we shouldn’t avoid confronting the hard decision. It’s either/or for me, with a slight preference for Mayenda due to all round game and involvement. We should make two subs on 60 mins every game. Striker and left winger swap. Let one pair empty the tank and run them ragged for two thirds and the other pair make hay against a tiring defence.
I don’t know the rule in regards to stoppages and the amount a team is allowed to have in the game. I could see our players trying to get him off the ground and move him off, so I suppose they knew what was happening or what should happen. Still, embarrassing for PNE to employ tactics like that but clearly at the direction of Heckinbottam.
No idea why people were against the extra time all being added on a few seasons ago when we were seeing double figure injury time most games in the Prem. I’ve always thought it’s made far too easy and “worth it” to time waste because most of the time the intensity seems to die off in injury time and that also, is easily wasted. 5 minutes go up and the ball is in play for 90 seconds.
The worst I've seen tbh. It backfired for them as it kicked us into gear. Yes it happens and it's called gamesmanship. What they done last night went above that to absolute cheating. What they are doing is robbing the paying public.
