You're right Sparks and there is such a fine line between success and failure. He did get stuck in and put physical pressure on their defence which we hadn't done before. If he had scored one or even 2 of his 4 chances, the game would have been wrapped up and we would all be on here either eating a small portion of humble pie or strongly singing his praises. Varying the topic with strikers, what is it with us about our strikers doing well the first half of seasons in recent years, e.g. Chopra, Bothroyd, Millar and now HH (and there are probably more), and then getting bugger all the rest of the season? Something of a recuring theme.
All I can say is it's a good job they scored in the last minute, because they could have equalised anytime after we scored, we invited them to do so, and then we would have been looking at a possible loss. Kimbo is an absolute menace and should play the 90 if he can , teams have trouble with him and he is likely to make something when we need it. I don't know how Malky is seeing it, but one thing is for sure, we shouldn't see HH again this season(unless we're 2 up with minutes to go) after those precious chances he missed.
Total misunderstanding of what's being said here. No one has taken away any credit from a good team performance. Read the article title (Tactics From The Stands) and what's been said on the thread. The issue was one of substitution decisions, and the debate about them in the stands - nothing to do with team performance. Helguson on for Mason was not seen as the right thing to do around me (in our opinions). Some view his failure to covert several good chances in that last half hour when he should have killed the game off as reasonable evidence. Malky puts the players on the pitch not us, and it's only fair to conjecture about what might have been if we'd had our choices out there - it's what this forum is about. No one is denying we are where we are because of Malky, but yet again we failed to kill a game off when our superiority warranted it - and paid the price this time. Was it wrong to put the warhorse Helguson and the ambling Whitts on, rather than add to the pace of Kimbo with the likes of Noone? We'll never know, but we should always be able talk on here about it.
With you on the HH debate Sparkey, as soon as he came on it seemed to give Barnsley that bit of hope and we had to go deep as there was no pace upfront. I hasten to add if Rudy had been the replacement, I would like to think he would have buried the header and the one on one, plus he has pace and wins everything in the air. When we go up MM will point out that it was the old guard that got us there which in my humble opinion is bollox.
Helgusson is past it. A He tried but missed sitters and failed to hold the ball. Please Malky leave him out. Kim and Gunnarrsson were both knackered. Kim needed to be subbed. However in hindsight Whitts was so bad we would have done better with him on. We could have done with Cowie for those last 20 minutes. Mason shouldnt have been taken off. Leave Helgusson out and Cowie back on the bench or Joe Ralls.
I noticed Kim was wearing a knee strap, is there an underlying problem? We all know why Bellamy has his knee strapped.
Don't know about Kimbo but sitting close to the pitch it is surprising how many players I see wearing that black, tape like strapping to give support. I think Kimbo was simply knackered as Hilts says as he sat on the bench when he came off and didn't go down the tunnel as an injured player would. I don't think it was so much HH coming on for Mason as Whitts for Kimbo that inspired Barnsley. Immediately we fell back and gave them space and time in the middle of the park which Whitt's lack of any energy only encouraged. Interesting comment about Gunnar being tired out also. Could well be right. Until the last 20 minutes they got nothing just in front of our back four, where Gunnar was patrolling. However, their subs added a bit of pace and then we seemed unable to mark or tackle in "the hole". Was it Gunnar tiring or Whitts taking on the hoding role that caused our problem. I noticed Gunnar was a bit confused as to who should do what when Whitts arrived. Mistakes we must not make tomorrow against a Forest side who are streets ahead of Barnsley - particularly as it looks like Campbell will not be fit enough to play.
Not sure. But he was knackered Tuesday. Subbing him was correct. Problem was Whitts hopeless when he came on. Really think its time for Malky to be brave and leave him out - bring Ralls into the squad.
Noone instead of Whitts for Kimbo would have been brave, and it would have pushed Barnsley back rather than inviting them on. We'd scored by then though, and Malky was never going to go down that route. Agreed that if we were going to try to protect the lead, having Cowie on the bench would have been the answer rather than Whitts. I don't understand why we had both Helguson and Gestede on the bench - he was never going to use both. That limited other options.
Hope he doesn't make the same mistake tomorrow if Campbell is out. Give HH a bus pass for the weekend - one way.
All this discussion about the options we have in this squad. Just hope Malky realises what a good bunch we have. For me the bonus recently has been the form of Mutch. Like Kim he seems to get better with each game he plays. He also looks like our best chance for goals.
Well, this thread got redundant real fast I could not believe that HH started, and I thought Mason would have been a better choice then Rudy. Well played MM!
