cheers again RTB... good performance that, makes you wonder if there was a little bit of truth in the rumours. roberts was not a penalty, lost control of the ball and went down too easy imo, good game from him otherwise. not much about the officials, guess they tried to 'even it up' at some points but not a great game from them. had to keep off this thread through the game as my stream was a few minutes behind (ifollow) so just sat and watched, apologies if i repeat anything. we looked more of a unit and i think their goal was the only attempt they had on target so we kept them out until the last few minutes and we played as if we had a striker getting the ball into the box quicker, think ekwah started really slow but made a great tackle in the box and seemed to lift from there. my MotM...giving it to the back four, ballard and onien handled the center well, hume and hugiins with some good tackles and runs, was good to see them doing 'wing work' today, worked well as a unit, have to mention there were a couple of dodgy moments in there but this was against a team that has been on very good form lately.
Only watched the last half hour so my thoughts are limited. Dan Neil very very good Hume must have made about 10 tackles in this 30 mins alone. Beast. Ballard also stood out for me Pritchard is our most effective player. It’s madness he hasn’t started a game this season. Madness. Clarke looked just dead easy to defend against. Our build up play is soooooo slow. Which makes it even harder for Clarke as it allows them to get their double marking up Jobe looked slightly lost. Their goal actually came about because we had no right winger and it gave their left back lots of time to set up a cross for their left winger. Just so pleased for Doddsy Overall cracking. Great effort and managed the last 6 mins really well
I know therell always be folk wanting him to start but i just love him coming off the bench. Such a clever footballer when the game is opening up, that assist for neil was just different class - i was screaming at the tv telling him to release earlier but he drew the defenders in then played an unreal pass
Full backs were a lot wider and it made a huge difference, Clarke and Roberts were much more effective because of it. Also we moved the ball much quicker, mostly in the first half and then again for the second goal. Night and day from what we have been seeing the last 2 months against mostly much weaker opposition than today.
I’m only commenting on the pen. For their goal he was possibly ball watching but wouldn’t necesarily say it was his fault. Ballard possibly should have got round as he had nobody to mark behind.
Commentators said quite a few times that it was basically the same as under Mowbray but I don't agree, we were a lot more of a threat from out wide and not just from Clarke.
We looked like we were passing the ball with so much more purpose than recently, looked dangerous at times going forward and seemed to mix it up with tidy possession and long balls. They didn't seem to be able to handle the wide lads. Roberts looked seriously threatening going forward and Clarke was dangerous as usual, just wish he looks up more often but that's nit picking
Yeah i like him, think when he starts he doesnt have the samr impact but he would also be my 1st sub to.come on to change a game
I was actually really pleased that Hinchcliffe offered the balanced opinion about our tactics not creating chances for strikers
