Match Day Thread Barnsley vs Norwich City, Sat 23rd Jan -15:00

Should have been 2 -1 up

 

You cannot be serious

 

Are we expecting too much?

 

I am neither surprised nor disappointed with the result, only disappointed in the manner in which they lost.

 

Zero shots on target.
Disgraceful performance

 

Yes, perhaps. Several players who have been out for a long time got a chance to acclimatise back. And we were never going to win the Cup.

The injury to Hugill is worrying, though, if Pukki isn't fit by next week.

 

That's the cup double gone then?

 

As always with the cup how badly teams want it shows. Barnsley have dropped away in the league and the cup thus becomes important and it showed as they raised their game where our much changed side struggled. They fully deserved it in every way.

 

Exactly. At least some of our players returning from injury got a run-out; some looked pretty rusty (e.g. Rupp, Dowell, Onel). Barnsley pressed like a lot of Prem teams do (sometimes 3 onto 1) so that was the one sobering prospect in my mind.

 

A disjointed performance from a midfield five who were either recovering from injury or second choice. Not too surprising I guess, and we improved when players came on. Nevertheless, disappointed we failed to deal with the Barnsley press. They executed it very well as a team, with an energy few teams in the Championship can match - but teams in the Premier League will. It's a shame we coudn't adapt tactically to deal with it though. We were lucky to get to half time at 0-0, we could and should have made changes to cope.

When in possession, we could only pass between the defence and Krul. Rupp and Tettey rarely managed to get on the ball and turn to play a forward pass from deep, and when Sorensen/Aarons played passes forward to Hernandez/Placheta, they were both isolated, under pressure, and rarely managed to move the ball on.

For me, Dowell was the main culprit. He stayed upfield close to Hugill, and never dropped into areas where he could receive the ball more easily from CBs or DMs. When being pressed we needed that man deeper, 4-3-3 more than 4-2-4. His influence on the game was negligible really.

I don't think any of the backup brigade made a strong case for a first team spot. Tettey was his usual self, Rupp neat and tidy but too many of his forward passes missed the mark. Hugill's hold-up play was far more often the way we managed to progress the ball to midfield. He didn't contribute a great deal, but I suspect Pukki would have struggled more. Hernandez was bright in his limited moments on the ball. Dowell was anonymous,Placheta probably the biggest disappointment. Placheta missed passes, shots, made poor decisions, etc. I guess it's good that he got into the positions to do so, and he did manage a couple of decent crosses, but it's a shame he couldn't do more.

 

I had huge hopes for Dowell, but if I’m honest I don’t think he’s really living up to expectations. He might still come good. And I genuinely think there’s a very good player in there, but we really don’t click with him on the pitch IMO.

Its a shame because I want him to be a good fit for us. A bit like Duda last season - undoubtedly extremely talented I think, but just doesn’t feel like it’s working out.

 

Well, my unbeaten run was never going to last forever.
Good luck to whoever assumes the mantle next

 

I don't think Cup games count Cromer.
I lost at Luton in the Carabou, but continued on in the league
Anyone else agree?

 

Placheta's first touch.... I'm not sure it exists

 

Agree with most of this, but I think we're being too hard on the players coming back from injuries. I agree that Dowell should have dropped back more and we did better on the occasions he did, but the main problem was not varying our play. With the pacey Placheta and Hernandez both on, we rarely got the ball forward to them before the defence was set. In Placheta's defence he did come the closest to scoring when he hit the bar.

I'm sure Onel can get back to his best and the others need more game time before we judge them. Dowell's record on previous loans suggests there's a very good player in there and we saw that in the pre-season when he had a run of games. The game time gained could be very important for our promotion run. The cup is far less important.

 

Stay on Cromer I'm in no hurry to do one .

 

OK - but if anyone else wants a crack I'll happily step aside.
In the meantime, I'm on your case, Jonny Howson.

 

There was another poster that wanted to do one , username escapes me sorry.

Try and carry your league run going and I'll take over after the next guy, hopefully around April time


On yesterday's game Barnsley deserved the win , Placheta could of sent us to extra time with that bar smacker but going by Farke's body language I have a suspicion that he was relieved to focus on just the 3 games a week.

Without fans the cups have very little magic now , used to be a good away day or a cheap £10 easy to obtain ticket.

We haven't had the luxury of players sitting around bored injury has meant everyone has been needed so I'm not too disappointed to be focused on the league now.

 

I said I would have a go if nobody else wanted to because I haven't done it before, so if we are agreed that we wait until Cromer losing in the league I will take over after that?

 

We'll have to make up a rule for cup games next season .

@Bure budgie stepped down after the League Cup so maybe we should treat cups separately from League games.


Unless anyone else wants a go it should be .

@zogean_king up next then after @Cromercanary
@DUNCAN DONUTS
@Bure budgie
@bengalurucanary
@Cromercanary

I'm liking this winner stays on format and the more posters doing the threads the better .

Get the Middlesbrough thread up Skipper