I know SE16 - nowhere to be seen while they sulked losing both opening games and loads demonstrating about Bates who called them 'morons' so he does have some good judgement We played a poor Reading and Forest side but the fear factor will be hard to shrug off as they know that a two goal lead isn't enough. We should be able to hold that sort of lead at home but looks like 3 or 4 will be needed unless some changes are made. As for 4-5-1 - it shows a lack of attacking options and weakness at the back or fear of it when it becomes the norm at home.
Did anyone else catch one of the london live commentators saying last night that were getting Rhodes in the next two weeks but I don't know if its reliable info?
would be nice if we did also i think we should bid for lefondre (& yes i know i sound like a stuck record on the lefondre bit!!!)
Would prefer Le Fondre as he's a natural born finisher but if its right about him not wanting to move south then **** him and happy to get Rhodes if its true - in Kenny we trust
It is worrying that a 2-0 lead is no longer game over 3pts to wall, but hardly fair to blame Forde for it . Their 1st goal was a good move and cracking goal imo but for the second the defense just sat back and let him shoot. Odd as our defense has been the most solid part of the team in recent season while we have struggled on the scoring front, yet last night we can manage 19 on target and 9 off. WTF was craig doing near the end when he dummied a clearance, which worked, then suddenly decided to hook the ball up over his head into the middle of the pitch without knowing who the **** was there!!?? ****ing madness. Need to get back to having a solid defense that doesn't concede as one of the main reasons we kept a clean sheet against forest was them failing to have a shot on target, not our amazing defending. The positives to take from the games i've seen so far are that as an attacking force we actually look decent despite the loss of Morison. I agree we could do with one more proven striker as I can't say I rate Marquis that highly. Henderson however looks a great signing as he wins every ball played up to him and more often than not finds a team mate, even managed this last night when unaware where the ball was it hit him on the head and went straight to one of our players wish KJ would stop subbing him as no one else will win the ball if it's played up to Marquis or Mcquoid. Trotter has looked strong and already got himself 2 goals while bouazza will be immense for us this season if he can keep playing the way he did last night. Disappointed to only have 5 pts from 9 as we really should have all 9 and be sitting in an auto spot but still unbeaten and look like scoring a lot of goals
Yep Forest weren't great but Reading weren't either so if we meet a good side then how many goals we will need would be much greater in theory. Don't think KJ should just accept our CB partnership as the best we should be looking for - pace is one drawback of them. Last season we were lucky to get some wins and draws even on account of the opposition's lack of goal taking opportunities so no surprise when people are taking chances they can go in. We backed off against Reading too and dropped points there too. I would have liked to have seen a couple of defenders but last season's record would be referred to when we need to improve everything if we want to be a serious threat and promotion of course. Agree with Henderson being a good signing but no one else is proven at this level with Marquis and McQuoid still learning imo and need another decent striker in. The bench is smaller now but doesn't look great even being small. Batt is an option eventually but with such a long-term layoff he could get injured again if back too soon so can't rely on him for a good part of this season I reckon.
To be fair the goals weren't Forde's fault. But his behaviour at crosses remains bizarre plus he made a couple of other ricks and generally failed to command the area. What made it look worse was that the other bloke was outstanding. But let's not forget the number of times his shot-stopping has saved us. I'm not totally happy with him and never bought into the million pound hype but he hasn't become a bad keeper overnight.
