I thought the atmosphere started out quite good, but faded as the realisation dawned that we really are as **** as we appeared under Critchley. The place was empty at the end. Endless choruses of 'You're ****ing ****' from the away fans didn't help.
We have to believe in this. From earlier threads best 1st half seen in a long time. 2nd half back to usual ****, so something to go on. Injuries are dire, however good to see Amos and Richards back. Hopefully a CB will be back shortly or go U23s as Dickie totally gone as a player this season which is a massive shame. Looking forward to Rotherham game with a full week of GA getting used to the squad.
Back home now. Struggling to understand what happened there. The first half was quite promising, the ball was moved quickly and positively, plenty of movement, Kakay gave their right back twisted blood. Usual crap defending of course, and it seems Dieng only makes routine saves now. But we were unlucky to go in a goal down I thought, and I was looking forward to them coming out after a chat with Ainsworth. I don’t know what happened at half time, if anything, but the second half was an epically bad performance. Jaw droppingly awful. Dieng’s distribution collapsed, Dickie and Dunne resumed this passing the ball square bullshit, no shape or purpose anywhere else on the pitch. A better team than Blackburn would have scored half a dozen. They seemed to lack not only focus and concentration, but also motivation, which is baffling. Enjoy the challenge Gareth.
Wanted to get there early today. Soak in the atmosphere, welcome GA etc. Got on the train at Hanger Lane after waiting only a minute for it to arrive, to be told there would be a short delay. Waited for 10 mins then they said rail failure and they'd switched off the current and men working on the track. Frantic dash to the 95 bus. Traffic thankfully light so only arrived 20 mins late with scores of others in the same ...train! I did wonder if this was a bad omen though I do not believe in those. I missed their first which I was not unhappy with. The atmosphere from our fans was good but as others have written did diminish. I though the team were playing with more energy, determination to win the ball and some grit. I'd chosen for a draw in our prediction league as I felt that would be reasonable progress. Obviously I wanted to see what GA could achieve in just a few days I think there were encouraging signs. Chair, Kakay, Johanson and Martin did well. Field too. The defence, however, were slow and clumsy. Ainsworth now has a full week to further instill his ideas and methods. We are indeed in a relegation scrap but we have an 8 point advantage which drops to 5 if the bottom teams win their game in hand. Our away games are huge six pointers. A couple of wins and a couple of draws will probably suffice at 47 points. Yes, we lost but let's hope GA can turn this lot into a band of brothers and quickly! To cap it all, the bus journey home took over 90 mins 60 of which were to get from the White City stop to Savoy Circus! Another omen? Nah! The Rss are staying up!!
Best first half an hour since Sheffield Utd game. Kakay stood out. Stef showed plenty of energy but consistently gave the ball away. We deserved to be ahead at half time. Chair pulled up and we reverted to form.
It’s a long haul … but we’ll battle it through with the gaffers leadership. Get through this campaign and take stock for next season in the Championship. A win is just around the bend
Never, ever thought I would be saying this at the beginning of the season but next week's game against Rotherham is a must win!
I am genuinely distraught that decent pros such as Dickie and Dunne have been coached into their current state. We can only hope that Ainsworth and Co can turn their careers around. No such hope for Dozy - whoever told him he was a footballer was mistaken. I'm also seriously beginning to wonder if keeping Deing in the team is a good idea - he hasn't been the same since the World Cup, doesn't seem committed enough to take the risks good keepers need to, and is guaranteed to make mistakes in every game.
Only my third visit this season. I could see this result coming at 1-1. Awful.The crowd knew it too, subdued, demoralized, pissed off and rightly concerned
To be fair, I thought Dunne was a lot better than Dickie yesterday but I agree about Dozzell and, largely, about Dieng. Buying the former was worth a punt and he has had many opportunities to prove himself but he consistently appears to be no better than League 1 standard, at best. As for Dieng, as well as seeming a little more accident prone, he is not making as many of the outstanding saves which made him a genuine Premier League prospect and his distribution yesterday was often poor. However, in my opinion, he remains streets ahead of, say, Lumley and some of our other recent No.1's. I am sure he will come good again.
Championship form table tells all we already know. We are bottom in last 4,6,8,10 and 12 games. With Ily out, I think we may need someone to suffer a late season points deduction to keep us up. I think early this season I’ve witnessed some of the best football for years at LR but I’ve seen a lot more of the worst, particularly since Beale disrupted the place with his unsettling hunt for another job.
Having been at the game yesterday, two things strike me: 1. We're nowhere near good enough to play out from the back. The confidence of Dunne, and particularly Dickie, is shot to pieces. Blackburn knew it and swarmed all over them, forcing numerous mistakes. For the remainder of this season we're going to have to play long to Chris Martin. He's all we've got upfront and is Ainsworth's Akinfenwa. Immobile but a target man, holding the ball up well and allowing others to run off him. It's not going to be pretty but we simply don't have the quality or confidence to play out from the back any more. Keep doing that and we're going to come unstuck time and again. For our survival, it's got to go long and early. Ugly and nasty but it's our only hope of staying up. 2 As much as I now hate the bloke, and it pains me to say this, but how good a coach must Beale be to have got this lot to the top of the table?
I was actually disappointed with the pre match atmosphere. It was too low key. GARETH should have been on the halfway line\ done a mini lap of of honour. South Africa Rd where I was were clapping like they were at Wimbledon watching tennis.I was pleasantly surprised Ellerslie started GABWA 5 mins before the end that was a v good sign that we're sticking by him. We have no choice! Joking aside, we could do worse than have Ade Akinfenwa as part of the backroom staff it would liven a few up
