Nearly There But, No Room for Sentiment....

Well, so far this year we have certainly got what we have been starved of for so long at The Gate. Plenty of goals, entertainment and today, despite the result, the crowd were buzzing coming away from the game and wow, what a cracking game it was. Obviously I am not happy about the final score however I am FAR from disappointed with our overall performance today and so far at home.

McDel has transformed us from a desperately dull, unattractive and clueless team into an extremely potent attacking force and despite today's scoreline, I am still very encouraged PROVIDED we now sort out the last part of the transformation from poorly managed team ruled by the players to brilliantly run, PROFESSIONAL football club.

As DM said on the radio afterwards, we should not have to be scoring 6 to win at home. The game was a massive pointer to both how much we have progressed and also, what still is still left to be addressed.

To me, our movement with Steve Davies and Sam Baldock up front is exceptional. SB is ALWAYS on the shoulder of the last man, making runs and looking for the ball whereas SD seems to have that speed of thought and ability to make space plus, he is big, strong and aggressive. I am not the manager but if I were, these 2 are my automatic starters (which is tough on Ryan Taylor as he has been excellent but these 2 are better, Steady's been a bit off the boil for me).

The movement up front with these 2 puts the spotlight on our midfield with varying results, Albert today, was brilliant and for me showed the first signs that he is learning and becoming more of a team player. Today, he looked to play in team mates whilst still offering a threat and halallujah, after some tremendous wing play, he looked up and intelligently pulled the ball back to a team mate to slot home the second, excellently worked goal. More of the same and Albert will become an invaluable member of the team.

CS was his usual self whereas Woolly and Pearson were a bit in and out today but for me, the improved movement up front just highlights the need for that clever midfield who can play killer balls for our forwards to thrive on and I honestly don't see any of these 3 as this sort of player. To be fair, I thought that this is why Jody Morris came, to be that player with a bit of extra guile but whoever it is, we still definitely need someone in that role.

Most pointedly though, the improved forward play shows us how much we are lacking at the back. It is clear that we are trying to play passing football from the back, Heaton mostly rolled the ball out rather than kick it long. However, whilst our 2 fullbacks are solid (and in GC's case, excellent), 2 of the last few remaining connections to the previous regime and how we USED to play our football are in danger of de-railing the transformation to a team of DM's making and the improvement elsewhere on the pitch just goes to highlight our soft underbelly which is now even more plain for all to see.

Louis is without question a club legend and Liam has given us many years of good service however, I do not consider either to be FOOTBALLING centre halfs. It is evident that neither are very comfortable on the ball and consequently, whenever the centre of our defence is pressurised, the ball is treated like a hot potato and possession is often surrendered by hoofing the ball back to the opposition (as has been the case for a while). In addition, if we are trying to adapt our game to play out from the back more, you cannot have 2 centre half who are clearly don't know what to do with the ball.

The final part of the transition therefore has to be 2 quality centre halfs, both of whom are good stoppers but more than that, who can play a bit. I can therefore see why DM would want Monk as the Swansea style would be exactly what would compliment playing from the back. James Wilson looked pretty confident on the ball the few times I have seen him but if not him, then DM needs to find one more.

So, to Sir Lansdown, I would say kudos in supporting DM to build a better future for the club but if you want the transformation to be complete, as we have all known for some time, WE NEED THOSE 2 CENTRAL DEFENDERS AND, THE SOONER THE BETTER to avoid a promising start to the season from stalling....

 

Well said Prem but you know we will get the anti Del squad back on here soon.

I agree watching James Wilson he is controlled on the ball, just feel he needs experience alongside him to mature him.

Hopefully go back for a McManus styled defender to play alongside him.

Ideally would love us to find a Tony Adams somewhere but they are rare

 

EXACTLY what I said to my mate on the way out Wiz, I didn't like the result but I was still encouraged by what I saw....

 

How many teams do you expect to come to the gate like Blackburn?

They still have barring one player all premiership players and that one is detained to play there. And we held our own against them.

 

"whereas SD seems to have that speed of thought"

Speed of thought.. that was exactly the ingredient that was missing from our play compared to Blackburn, we matched them for endeavour and general football ability, but their 'speed of thought' out did us.

Fontaine is the worst example of this, sometimes when he is on the ball I could finish a crossword before he has decided what to do with the ball..

 

As I said in reply to an earlier post, let's not judge the season by this game alone. We all knew that Blackburn would provide tough opposition and that came to pass at Ashton Gate today so let's move on to the next match and get our first 3 points away from home at Peterborough.

Let the negative people stay away from this site because we are generally happy with our more upbeat standard of play, if not the result. Trust Derek to know what, and who, is needed to shore up what is clearly a suspect defence and if you look back over our previous problems then today could have been an absolutely embarrasing mauling. We are but a minor adjustment away from being the team that we have all wanted to see for many seasons and I just hoped we could have done that prior to the season's start.

Derek is our man to get the job finished.

 

With the quality of player that Del has already attracted to AG (like Baldock) let's hope it's sooner rather than later that he is able to complete the squad.
It would be easy to go backwards from here and for some confidence to be lost after the excellent results against Cardiff and Palace.

Without wishing to pressurise the players at this early stage, next weeks game at Peterborough is one we should be looking to win from the first whistle, and if we do then we will have learned lessons from previous failures. Then it's on to inconsistent Watford before we host Colin's 'Dirty Leeds'

These are 3 games which may well shape our season and dictate whether it will be one of joy, comfort or struggle

There will be lots of twists and turns through the Championship this year as there are only a couple of really stand out sides, and we played one of those yesterday.

 

Blackburn are a good side and have players with quality we can't afford but we gifted them goals that they didn't create.

1st half - did they trouble Heaton ? It was only Fontaine's cock up that levelled the game.

2nd half - we miss from a yard out in the 46th minute.

And then their system got on top of ours - JUST, and aided by basic individual error.
Our width came from 2 wingers, their's came from LB which gave them an extra body in midfield. As the game wore on Skuse, and Pearson in particular ran out of legs allowing Blackburn's quality into the game. The game was on a knife edge and individual error - Woolford, and they get a 3rd. Baldock was excellent for our 3rd but it showed then how we need that 'Shaun Taylor' defending set pieces.

Our present midfielders, other than maybe Skuse, just can't defend.
McInnes has a dilemma.
Go with the beautiful - without Elliot or go with the ugly - with Elliot.
Even when we get that CH I wouldn't be surprised to see Elliot recalled to help defend - set pieces in particular.

I'm not saying I want 'the ugly' but McInnes has to find that balance.

 

I agree with almost all comments above. The progress we have made since last October is very encouraging and I personally believe that while we were all disappointed with the result, at least 95% of the performance was a good standard for this league. We should not have too many problems at keeping ourselves in mid table security this year.

It is still the same old problem of a weak middle of defence and in midfield, a lack of invention and some understanding of how to hold what one has.

This game certainly emphasised to me the truth the old question "What is the difference between a Premiership player and one from the leagues below?"
Answer - The top two inches!!!!!!!!!!!

 

there were chances to push on up the wings in both halfs and the ball ended up going backwards, frustrating when you can see those real chances from the stands and it not happening.................
Patient play, keeping hold of the ball great way to build up the play but happened a lil to often and more of a balance is needed from the start rather than waiting til our backs against the wall to change it

There wont be any more difficult team to play this season at the Gate so bring on the Dirty L***s