Well that was ****e. Sixty minutes against ten men and their keeper barely made a save. Plymouth defended well but our build up is so slow we made it easy for them. A bid of comedy refereeing at the end just about capped it off. A thoroughly frustrating evening.
Didn't see the game, but this will happen often throughout the season. We haven't suddenly become Citeh. Often difficult against 10 men too. Another point. Onwards to Saturday.
Tactics second half were odd. Kelman was neither wide or up front so we had no outlet on the right nor support for Dykes. Better when Smyth came on then he also drifted in for much of the time he was on towards the end. Richards was a strange choice we hoped would be another Cifuentes sub masterstroke but turns out he’s just ****.
It's really difficult to break down ten men who are well drilled and organised as Plymouth were. There's no space to get in behind and turn their defence. You get the feeling that if Chair and Willock are not on their game we haven't got anyone else to do it. I thought the starting line up was incorrect. Other than injuries the old adage rings true ... Never change a winning team. I thought Cifuentes got that wrong tonight and also kept Kelman on too long and should've got the pace of Armstrong or Smyth on earlier. Taylor Richards will never be the answer, waste of space. It was an opportunity missed, but even after the sending off I knew this would be the outcome. It just didn't feel like it was going to be our night.
Can't be happy with 1 point at home to a team who hasn't won away and who had 10 men for 60 minutes ! They were there for the taking and we were ****ing awful. Do we actually practice crosses ? No composure at all in final 3rd and despite all the keepers saves, I don't recall 1 being outstanding. The selection and subs were bizarre tonight, how can Richards come on before Smyth or Armstrong ? If we're decent ill say we are, if we're pony I'm not gonna gloss over it !
Think Plymouth deserve a bit of credit 2nd half.... we needed to score before half time and before they had a chance to reorganise.... You could see 2nd half that they effectively played 540 formation all sat 30 yards from their goal.... they blocked off a lot of the angles between Chair & Willock so they couldn't play quick passing, Chair was forced deeper and deeper to try and start something.... they also doubled up on both of them so although we had free bodies it was usually Cook and Dunne as the spare men.... They were compact and we only really got behind them a couple of times when Smyth came on, but didn't take advantage.... Positive is that we didn't lose and as Sinton said on commentary, 6 weeks ago we would have lost that..... Onwards to Saturday and another 6 pointer, unbeaten in 4 and 3 clean sheets on the bounce.... we're heading in the right direction....
Putting things in perspective, it's four clean sheets under Cifuentes seven games in charge as opposed to four under Ainsworth in the twenty eight games of his tenure. Also ten points out of twelve under Cifuentes as opposed to **** all out of Ainsworth's last eighteen possible points.
Once again we have gained points on a few teams above us - so we are on the up despite not getting above ‘the line’. Not a disaster tonight. Only Brum won out of the bottom half of the table. Five teams drew. Six teams lost (including two below us and two above us - so a points advantage to us there). We didn’t lose any points gap to the teams in 17th, 18th & 19th either as they all drew. Looked like Sheffield Weds had a tough night, though they did still have 21 shots (only 4 on target) in their 3-1 loss. Will still be a tough game for us after tonight, hopefully we can field a strong team and we’ll still have some freshness in our legs after tonight. Really could do with that win now.
I haven’t seen QPR win in, 2023, in fact I can’t remember the last time I’ve saw them win. I think Don Givens scored….
If you and Boreham could just go to the pub together and read my live reports on the games, and stay well away from the stadium, I think we'll be mid table come May !
