In no particular order.... Austin looked to be still carrying an injury, no where as mobile as pre season, but probably had to play due to Lyndon's injury......... still managed to score....... third time lucky!!!!! Uncs was just Uncs, always has been a fabulous footballer and his enthusiasm for the R's rubs off on others.....shame we got him 10 years too late..... I wouldn't be too harsh on Dozzell & Thomas, they were square pegs in round holes today and hamstrung by what Warbles was trying to do......see below I think that Warbles tried to over compensate for Wallace's absence, it would hev been far simpler to play Barbet in the LWB role and Kakay on the right with Dunne slotting into the back 3........At least he recongnised this error and acted upon it to initially limit the damage and then give us a base to have a right good go at them 2nd half........ he didn't wait until half time to do something about it........ that took balls...... I quite like Barnsley as a side but their cynical hacking of both Uncs and Johansen in the 2nd half had the desired effect to get our gander up and worked in our favour....... Ref...... quite lenient with only giving Chair a yellow card, could quite easily been red........ Rest of points are hard to argue with........
Warburton got the starting line-up horribly wrong - if you don't have any wing-backs you can't play 3 CBs. Even then, making Kakay play on the left to accommodate Thomas on the right meant two players out of position. At least he had the balls to admit the mistake and change to a four after half-an-hour. Each of the subs improved the side, with Ball taking charge of the midfield - where Dozzell and an off-colour Johansen were struggling - Adomah adding threat on the wing and Dunne looking very assured at CB. Austin was awful for 90 minutes, but popped up for the equaliser, so no real quarrel with him on the day, but I don't think he can be a regular starter. To quote the great Tommy Doc, he has deceptive pace - he's actually slower than he looks. A rousing finale meant the fans went home happy, but we badly need another striker. This was a wake-up call, but a game we would have lost in other seasons. There's a lot of spirit in the club, which bodes very well. It's still on.
Not much good news. De Vijs needs a scan on his ankle, Wallace out for weeks with a pulled hamstring, Dykes doubtful for Cov with a heavy cold, McCallum maybe ready for Oxford, all according to WLS.
The ref was terribly weak with their keeper. Kept having words with him, but no action. One day a ref will book a keeper for timewasting and follow up with a red when he continues. Dancing in the streets.
It was awful, and I think cost them 3 points because they lost all momentum when they started buggering around wasting time, but there seem quite a few fans who don’t understand that when the ball is ‘live’ the keeper and anyone else can dick around as long as they like, which is a long time if they are not under pressure. However, having a drink, and sometimes a full wet shave, before taking a goal kick is ****ing irritating. Mind you I’m told we were doing it at Boro, after they started in the first half…..great to entertain the punters. Home now, still can’t believe that we scammed a point out of that performance. We don’t like losing. Great stuff.
They would also wait until just before the keeper was about to kick it before getting the 4th official to put up the sign for a substitution. The last attempt failed though, because the ref waved it away. We scored soon after, I think. The one other thing the ref got right was to make another substituted player go off on the far side of the pitch. He was right in front of us in SAR as their bench told him to go over to Ellerslie before making the regulation slow trudge off the pitch. Foiled.
Criticism of Austin is a little harsh imo. He was playing with an injury and undoubtedly wouldn't have started had Dykes been fit. He was unlucky with the glancing header, a little lower and the keeper wouldn't of seen it. Certainly misqueued a couple of half chances. The header at the far post he would normally have hit the target with, but was offside in any case. Kept going, whilst clearly carrying an injury and produced a typical goal scorers finish to grab a point. Warbs probably didn't pick Ball because he needed a rest (too much reliance on the computerised stats imo). However, he certainly compounded things by playing Thomas as a wing back and Kakay completely out of position. Dunne looks good to me and should of started with Barbet as left wing back and Kakay on the right. Also, the midfield pairing of Johansen, who is apparently struggling to get match fit and Dozzell was far too open and lightweight. At least he corrected things early. Ball was superb, as was Albert. All in all a deserved point, showing great character to fight back and hopefully some lessons learned.
I was very impressed with him, not only a proper CB, also very vocal and in no way a stand in. As you said the original line up was a disaster but all the subs made a real, positive, difference. Adomah led by attitude and it was a joy to see some old fashioned wing play. Ball, until now a mystery to me, shows we still need a holding midfield player. Have to say when Dunne came on at half time I was sure that we would lose someone to injury and be down to ten.
He looks it, but we are down to 3 recognised CB's, with Masterson gone to Oldham on loan, and Barbet maybe needed at LWB like today. We are looking thin at CB, LWB and defensive midfield.
Re. Ilias Chair: I was quite frustrated watching him for most of last season. There’s a very good player in there, but he seemed reluctant to take players on, beat them and then make the incisive pass or take the shot. All too often, there was that great first touch, then a pass, typically sideways or backwards. Whether it was a confidence thing or instructions I can’t say. Certainly today, particularly as we grew into the game, he was taking the opposition on far more. He got his reward with a wonderful solo effort. More of that, please.
Not completely tinted specs, we came back into it, but perhaps a classic case of the stats not really representing what we saw with our own eyes and football not being played on paper. Can't see many on here saying we deserved a win.
Kakay can play CB, as can Ball and Field (when fit) - I don't think we're short there. If we don't have a LWB available, we can play a back four and Amos will return soon to bolster the midfield options. I really think the only place we're light is up top. I'd love to see us get Nakhi Wells back.
That felt like a win. Great character from the team. Not going to moan about certain players or individual performances but wonder why we let Battache go on loan and didn’t keep Carroll. Hopefully Amos back soon.
Yeah, I saw that. Watford fans hate him though, and his wages would be prohibitive. Wells was good for us and doesn't seems to be getting much of a go at Bristol City.
I think what spiked the stats there was the amount of passing across the back line and back to Dieng as Barnsley's high press and midfield domination forced us backwards for much of the first hour or so. They certainly made far better use of the ball in that period. We dominated the last half hour and their time wasting tactics backfired in the end...
Be careful and consistent in what you wish for. I remember a time under the mighty Schteve when Lumley was very much guilty of just that. Take your point though and so simple to correct. Edict at the start of the season. Every player gets one warning. Next occasion they waste time, it's yellow.and then red. That would soon cut it out. Same for diving. Referees get judged at the end of the season for their consistency and can be struck off the list after a due warning to buck up their ideas
