Too annoyed to write a rational post at the moment. We cannot, simply cannot, keep doing this. Might calm down after a curry.
too gutted to comment properly. we were well on top, just panicked at the end. not happy, cant do this every bloody week. we'd be 10th now if we won. we'd be even higher if we didnt drop points the last two weeks either
Cunning tactics. We scored late on so they didn't have time to score 2, which was just as well, because as soon as we scored we panicked. We really deserved the lead but then took of our 2 forwards who were causing all the problems. BWP was warming up before the goal and I expected Kermit to be replaced, as he wasn't causing any problems until then. It feels like a loss, we worked so hard for the lead and then threw it away.
Powell needs to do something, we have conceded 15 goals after the 75 minute this season and have dropped countless points because of it, I do not understand why our players seem incapable to hold onto leads.
Wonderful what a tandoori mix bhuna will do... Tremendous performance today against an awful Birmingham side - what the Hell were Zigic and Redmond doing on the bench? Oh yes, the manager has no flair and precious little clue. Talking of which, what exactly was The Good Doctor thinking of today? We've gone from subs not being used at all to subs being used unnecessarily in the blink of an eye. Waggy and Fuller were brilliant today but FFS you don't just take players off so they can get a round of applause - it upset the whole momentum and balance of the side. Apart from Wilson, who was slightly off his game today (but just in terms of the final ball or finish) and Stephens who was indescribably bad, I thought the team performance was first class and we should have won by a distance. Kermorgant looked gutted at the end, along with about 15,000 others. Referee pitiful. Not happy really.
I'm furious. Despite my new positive outlook on life. And I have resisted the temptation so far to say this, but the blame lies fairly and squarely at Chris Powell's door. I am a fan and will stand up for him, but he is not learning lessons. The team played well today despite a glue pot pitch. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever today after we took the lead to change anything. We simply had to see out two minutes playing well against a team that was offering almost nothing coming forward. So what did he do? Completely disrupted the flow of the team, introduced an extra centre half to confuse the two who had played well all day and tried to defend so deep that the entire team except Kermit was inside our own penalty box when we conceded. Stupid stupid stupid!!!! And it's not the first time so he should know. Now there is a damned if he does damned if he doesn't issue with substitutions and if Brum had scored a worldly some would have moaned that he didn't take steps to shore up. But get real folks, there were two minutes to go and one of those was because we made two substitutions!! Piss poor management and it is now costing us big time. No doubt I'll get pelters for saying so but we cannot go on throwing points away like this. There. It's off my chest now. As to the rest of the game, I thought we played well. Best game I've seen Jackson play this year. Solly and Evina were terrific. Morro very solid. Only disappointments were Stephens for whom nothing came off despite a lot of effort, and Wilson who has lost confidence and looked to me to be avoiding involvement. Worrying. Special mention to the ref who apart from a couple of very odd decisions in the second half allowed the game to flow on a horrendous pitch. I've seen refs ruin games on surfaces like this and he didn't. Not seen the pitch look so bad in recent memory. We may well have a relegation fight on our hands and scenarios like today will not help confidence. CP needs to get a grip and soon.
I think Stephens was our man of the match, played the ball spread the play, made plenty off class sliding tackles. Also did a world class back heel in the first half to set up Fuller's chance, it is funny how many different opinions we get on here from viewing the same match though. And yes the pitch was shocking and Hamer has been blaming the pitch for our recent run of results.
Waggy yet again was outstanding run and run and was creative Stephens went from sublime to crap at various points in the game. How I hate lee Clarke
I thought that Andy d'Ursole had been relegated to league 1 and league 2 matches so was surprised to see that he had been allowed to ref in the championship and particular one of our matches. He was particularly poor in the second half with some bizarre decisions which cost us opportunities and his booking of BWP suggested a degree of spite rather than honest refereeing. That said we cant hang on to lead to save our lives and shouldnt have tried to pack a defence in the last minutes when they each played in the others way. I am not so sure that Fuller did have as good a game as some on here suggest. when Kermo headed into space on several occasions Fuller was running into an area crowded in blue. He still doesnt read Kermo as well as BWP and Haynes do. Wilson had a poor second half and it was right that Green replaced him when he did, but overall our midfield was struggling. Stephens was not playinga true defensive role but didnt get far enough forward for his natural game. I think we missed BP but that would have meant sacrificing Jacko to the bench which is still a step to far for CP as yet.
Glad to read positive comments on Waggy,i thought he had a great game today,just a shame that he could not round it off with a goal.....think he has improved greatly since coming back into the side,as has Cedric Evina..............
Agree completely ceddy is deservedly keeping wiggins out of the team. Waggy is really playing for his place I'm well pleased as I'm a BIG Waggy fan
This is the first game I've seen with the revitalised Waggy and I have to say I was impressed, particularly with the 'turn on a sixpence' manoeuvre and the way he's cut out the theatrics and the whinging.
Shortly before he was taken off I remarked that he still looked hungry and full of running. I can't remember him playing a better 45 minutes than the second half today.
Can't comment on the game but with all the complaints with SCP's subs and other tactical nuances is anyone willing to start a CP out thread or would anyone be if not for his history as a player with us?
I think CPs history with us and the fact that he is an all round great guy is certainly deflecting some attention from his tactical weaknesses and buying him a lot of blind allegiance. I remain a huge fan but even I lost the plot with him yesterday. However, our club more than most should heed the "careful what you wish for" motto.
Most managers in yesterday's situation would of made substitutions at that time uses up seconds and Dervitte as another body to protect our lead . So easy to be wise after the event if we'd won 1 0 no one would be on here moaning in fact they'd probably be saying he got it spot on. It's bad luck nothing else CP is doing a good job we have a team of league 1 players and keeping our head above water in the championship
Agree that CP is still doing a good job on a shoe string. After all we may have given away a lead after 80 minutes in the last three but the good news is always that we have had the lead to lose. Just needs the extra 10% to get us to 95 minutes and i think we wouldnt have a single question. As i said earlier I dont think Andy d'Urso rather erratic and somewhat one sided refereeing yesteday helped. It didnt directly lead to the goal against us but was certainly not even handed.
The Massive game was poor by us, the Croydon Club game was us leading a Club who are 5th for 80 minutes (deservedly) and losing because we lost confidence, yesterday's game we generally outplayed Brum for 88 minutes and lost because we tried to defend a lead rather than continue the tactics that had worked for 88 minutes. We HAVE played well in 2013, we should have gained more points than we have BUT the main target for 2012-13 is to remain in the Championship and if we can cut out the silly late mistakes I see no reason why that can not be achieved.