The Game

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Oldsparkey

Oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Forum Moderator
Jan 27, 2011
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Porthcawl Riviera
Better overall today but that was due to the system used rather than anything else - something we've been crying out for for a long time. Five to start in midfield was a first as far as I can remember for a home game and was a sensible approach against a Derby side who can knock it about.

However, of the new guys, Peltier had a great game and if he continues to play like that could be a big improvement on Brayford. Malone was sort of OK but struggled against Ward - that guy always causes us problems- with both goals coming from his side. O'Keefe was busy and made the difference for Whitts allowing him more space, but lacks the finesse of the likes of Hughes or Mascarell.

Revell, despite his endeavour and willingness just lacks quality on the ball up front - he gives everything but is not the answer and looks like a lower league journeyman. Jones when he came on was a far greater presence and threat, but switching back to essentially a 4-4-2 meant they could sit back and take it - to be honest, they just played the game out very well.

The fact is that for all the effort, we still lack quality on the ball. Slade has no game influencing players in the middle of the park, let alone game changing ones left at the club. Slade is taking down a blind alley and if you look at some of the results of the teams below us today, we'll be hitting the wall before long.
 
There's simply no penetration, Sparks. Noone's lost his mojo completely and I'm now convinced that unless soemthing changes very quickly we'll be in deep trouble by the end of Feb.
 
Agree with both. What we need above all else is some luck and officials who know the rules.

Last 2 home games of season v Millwall and Blackpool. Could go down to those.
 
BluefromBridgend said:
It's that bad Vetch. Despair sums it up.
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Sad to see. I came over,and I was alone. Some would, of course,say that's the best way to deal with me,but hey,it's only a game.

Come on people,get back in the groove. Have some fun,take the p out of yourselves.It works for me anyway.
 
It's got so tight down there right now relegation is a very real possibility, if not a probability under Slade.

His talk of "not giving up on the playoffs" after yesterday's performance is a load of hot air and shows just how out of touch with reality he is. More of this fare and he'll take us down into the bottom 6 well before February's out.

In fact, if we lose next week at the Wendies, I don't think Tan will wait that long and pull the plug - Slade will be gone.
 
Just watched the highlights and the only chance we created was jones' header. Yet Slade thought it was a good performance?? He needs to go and the sooner the better or we'll be watching league one football next season.
 
The only thing in his defence is he hasnt been allowed to bring in his own coaching staff.
Ive seen elsewhere people mentioning Dave Jones. Basically another 442 merchant but a better one than Slade.
Dave Jones without Terry Burton would be a disaster but I think any sort of immediate change would get us an initial improvement and be enough to stay up.
Tan is asset stripping and cost cutting but a small amount is still being made available. Better to spend that on a manager who understands the modern game who can get us playing fast high tempo football.

FFS this clown actually spent money on a left back from a team in the bottom 3 when we have a Welsh and a Brazilan international player available.

Yesterday our best defender and top scorer are on the bench.

Players like Gunner and Noone who have been near useless for months constantly picked while younger players like Ralls and Adeyemi benched.

The bloke is clueless.

Sack him - add Pilks , Mason , Manga , Ralls , Adeyemi , Jones into the starting line up and we will finish top 10.

Keep him and i see us just ahead of Blackpool.
 
48% possession and 9 shots on goal compared to 3. Unfortunately 2 of theirs went in and none of ours.

Statistically an improvement, but the comments from the guys who saw the game suggest not in reality
 
Hilts24 said:
Sack him - add Pilks , Mason , Manga , Ralls , Adeyemi , Jones into the starting line up and we will finish top 10.]


The first two of those are out injured and wont be back for a while.

Of the squad list published in yesterdays programme, other than Declan John and Danny Gabs, what we had on the pitch and on the bench are our only fit players at the moment. So unless we see some reinforcements come in tomorrow, what you see is what you've got.

That said, I thought there was an improvement yesterday on recent performances and through my rose tinted glasses (or blue tinted) I don't think it will be the relegation fight some here are fearing!
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It was an improvement.
O keef allowed us to set up 4-2-3-1 and it sorry of worked. Peltier was superb and looks as though he can replace Brayford and more. Malone is seriously dodgy, I'll give him time but I see nothing that suggests he's any better than what we already had.
I thought Connolly put a claim in. He made a couple of mistakes but I like his aggression and he's not afraid to have the ball at his feet. I don't know if it was because Martin is so slow, or because we didn't have Turner but we defended 15 yards higher up the pitch. It helped keep us much more compact and the possession stats are 'better' because of it.
I was disappointed with the 3 of noone, Harris and whits. Revel lets the system work with his work rate and hold up play but he's not a goal scorer. The 3 need to get into scoring positions much better. A couple of times Revel held it up, we worked it wide and there was nothing to cross to. In those situations Whits and the other winger need to drive into the box.
I thought we did ok for 2 thirds of the pitch but we just didn't get players into positions to score. Probably in the main down to the fact that we had no natural goal scorers. Just after half time, Martin went under a long throw, it bounced on their 6 yard line. Not one City player was reacting, all it needed was a toe poke.

I think we were playing the wrong side. An excellent Derby side could have turned us over 2-0 if we'd played to our potential. I think a similar set up for the rest of the season should see us stay up fairly easily, then we can see what Tan, Slade and co do then.
I'd still be over the moon to see Slade sacked before then.
 
Slade thinks we can still make the playoffs......................get your head out of your arse man.

Look at some of the lower league managers about and explain to me how Slade was picked. Oh yeah...cheap.
 
It was better yesterday. We were throwing ourselves into tackles and actually got 48% possession. However, while we had 9 shots on target against Derby's 3, they scored 2 from theirs. Our shot count masks the fact we looked clueless in the last third and didn't look remotely threatening until Jones came on. We are right to be concerned about our future in the Championship. With 18 games left, a 4 game losing streak and only 7 points from the bottom 3, we are looking vulnerable.
 
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Stevoldinho said:
I was disappointed with the 3 of noone, Harris and whits. Revel lets the system work with his work rate and hold up play but he's not a goal scorer. The 3 need to get into scoring positions much better. A couple of times Revel held it up, we worked it wide and there was nothing to cross to. In those situations Whits and the other winger need to drive into the box.
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This is spot on.

For all Revell's efforts, and at least he does try, it can be a thankless task playing on your own up front with Slade's setup behind you.

It must be soul destroying when you contest a long ball pumped up from the back and find you're on your own. That happened a number of times. Once in particular, I think it was Malone who launched one and his challenge on Buxton caused the ball to drop in no man's land. There wasn't a City player within 30 yards to pick up the second ball and Revell looked very pissed off. Whitts isn't the right player to feed off a front man's challenges, and the two wide men Noone and Harris are glued to the touchline.

At least Adeyemi showed a lot of desire and anticipation to get on the end of things. I'd be inclined to drop either Noone or Harris (they were equally as poor) and play Adeyemi instead. Unfortunately, until Pilks or Mason are back, we have very little options to Whitts playing behind the front man in a similar setup.
 
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