Almost regret my gushingly positive summary of last week’s performance - and everybody else’s on here.
It’s as if the players read all the glowing reviews and subsequently set in their minds that they are already promoted and don’t need to put in that level of effort again because it was too much like hard work!
I love to praise when people do well in any walk of life but maybe shouldn’t do it with footballers.
Rochdale did to us what we did to Barnsley. Yeah we hit the woodwork two or three times, criminally wasted a penalty, and had a lot of skill and slick passing. However in this league Rochdale's was a classic performance. We did not have a moment on the ball, they harried as if their lives depended on it, and the goal was the difference, not that they didn't carry a threat generally. We were very poor, hardly seemed a team at all, if it wasn't for individuals prepared to have pride in their personal performances it might have been a lot worse. Keith Hill is experienced at this level, Bowyer still learning, but very soon Bow will have to find a way to combat the up and at 'em style so prevalent in this league. We do have good players, but the sometimes excruciating and insistent build up from the back was crying out for a bit of variety. OK, in some games you have to play it long, accept you will lose the first challenge, but be ready to win the second ball, and be able to then use it further up the field. We tried one size fitting all today, but were well beaten because Rochdale tried harder with their game plan which suited their home circumstances. Individually no one was utterly useless, it was a failure of team play, so I give credit to Djiksteel, Cullen, Pratley, Pearce and Steer and Solly for standard decent performances, the others were average and that did not cut it today.
Dont want to have a go at Bowyer,but Beilick has experience at centre back,Pratley does not,so a little bit mystified,very worrying that we have not scored in open play 3 out of 4 games.I still think the squad is good but our front 2 seem to have been nullified recently.
It’s the story of every season. Look decent at the 10 game mark and then go on a 20+ game run of horrific results once the fragility of the squad is exposed.
But other than Bauer and Page, we've not lost anyone of note. It's not ideal that we're playing with a makeshift back 4 but what excuse do the midfield and strikers have for these shit performances?
At least they're out the way now until the final day of the season
Like Oxford; Rochdale have turned into another bogey team for us as that leaves us with one win in six against them
Is everyone we play now a bogey team?
Think the fact is, under Roland's leadership we have moved from a mid to lower championship side to a mid to low league 1 side.
If we do get taken over I expect it to be bye bye Bowyer. I feel like I should say, that's probably the right thing to do as we need an experienced, quality manager to take us back up to the championship...
At least they're out the way now until the final day of the season
Like Oxford; Rochdale have turned into another bogey team for us as that leaves us with one win in six against them
Is everyone we play now a bogey team?
Think the fact is, under Roland's leadership we have moved from a mid to lower championship side to a mid to low league 1 side.
If we do get taken over I expect it to be bye bye Bowyer. I feel like I should say, that's probably the right thing to do as we need an experienced, quality manager to take us back up to the championship...
Do you really see Roland will replace Bowyer with the wages of McCarthy or Hurst for example...?
Got to face the facts: On a good day we can beat anyone in this league; on a bad day, we can lose to anyone in this league; we have too few good days; overall, we are pretty average in a crap league.
Today, we tried to play pretty football against a team that were willing to fight for everything and they simply out-muscled us. We hardly won a header, our set-pieces were almost all rubbish and our passing was wayward.
Particularly disappointing were Steer (awful distribution and if that' s why he's in instead of Dillon it's just not fair), Ward (if he put as much energy into the game as he does his moaning he'd be a good player) and Grant (just like against Oxford, truly dire with the first touch of a carthorse).
The only player who can come out of the match with his head held high is Pearce - a real captain and a real warrior. All the rest, like the team overall, just bog average.
And we still have no sign that Duchatelet is going to make good on his intention to sell up any time soon.
Rochdale did to us what we did to Barnsley. Yeah we hit the woodwork two or three times, criminally wasted a penalty, and had a lot of skill and slick passing. However in this league Rochdale's was a classic performance. We did not have a moment on the ball, they harried as if their lives depended on it, and the goal was the difference, not that they didn't carry a threat generally. We were very poor, hardly seemed a team at all, if it wasn't for individuals prepared to have pride in their personal performances it might have been a lot worse. Keith Hill is experienced at this level, Bowyer still learning, but very soon Bow will have to find a way to combat the up and at 'em style so prevalent in this league. We do have good players, but the sometimes excruciating and insistent build up from the back was crying out for a bit of variety. OK, in some games you have to play it long, accept you will lose the first challenge, but be ready to win the second ball, and be able to then use it further up the field. We tried one size fitting all today, but were well beaten because Rochdale tried harder with their game plan which suited their home circumstances. Individually no one was utterly useless, it was a failure of team play, so I give credit to Djiksteel, Cullen, Pratley, Pearce and Steer and Solly for standard decent performances, the others were average and that did not cut it today.
Guess we must extend our congrats to Rochdale - that was quite a scalp for them.
Keith Hill deserves credit for getting them to put it in as that must have been hard work for the players to overcome such a fancied team.
Strangely enough, last week we did go long much more than usual as well as playing out from the back - and it worked.
At least they're out the way now until the final day of the season
Like Oxford; Rochdale have turned into another bogey team for us as that leaves us with one win in six against them
Is everyone we play now a bogey team?
Think the fact is, under Roland's leadership we have moved from a mid to lower championship side to a mid to low league 1 side.
If we do get taken over I expect it to be bye bye Bowyer. I feel like I should say, that's probably the right thing to do as we need an experienced, quality manager to take us back up to the championship...
Do you really see Roland will replace Bowyer with the wages of McCarthy or Hurst for example...?
The only good thing about today`s game, was it took me 25 minutes to get home, Will pay on Monday morning at work, when the locals give me some stick. looks like another season in league 1 for us.
At least they're out the way now until the final day of the season
Like Oxford; Rochdale have turned into another bogey team for us as that leaves us with one win in six against them
Is everyone we play now a bogey team?
Think the fact is, under Roland's leadership we have moved from a mid to lower championship side to a mid to low league 1 side.
If we do get taken over I expect it to be bye bye Bowyer. I feel like I should say, that's probably the right thing to do as we need an experienced, quality manager to take us back up to the championship...
Do you really see Roland will replace Bowyer with the wages of McCarthy or Hurst for example...?
Don't see much happening in this league with Bowyer in charge - some attractive football but we're ineffectual.
The squad is not great but I would expect more than this. A good old school manager would make a difference even if the football was industrial but nobody decent would take the job.
following on from my rants/discussions on the match thread I noticed that today 4 teams in this league score 3 goals today & 2 scored 4. I then noticed (about 3 mins before Jeff Stelling mentioned it) that only 1 game today finished 0-0..........so in about 50 games across 5 leagues if you didn't score you didn't pick up a point.
This game is very easy. To win a game you have to score more goals than your opponent, and that invariably means you have to score at least twice. Only twice this season have we scored more than 2 goals (Scunthorpe & Wycombe) and one of those we lost. It seems if the front 2 don't score then no-one scores. It doesn't help that we miss a penalty (can't get a much better chance of scoring than that) but I don't blame Taylor if the 'keeper saves it. We just don't create enough chances & certainly don't get enough shots on target.
As I wasn't at the game I wont comment on the players or the match itself - but something has to change. Either formation and/or personnel. Problem is I don't think LB has many other options regarding personnel. Clarke should be back after the FA Cup game but will he make much difference. Page has been a big loss & putting your first choice right back at left back for more than a game or two seems madness to me.....but I don't think the problem is in defence (as pointed out above - score at least 2 goals & you've got a chance).
At the start of the season I thought we'd struggle (bottom 6/8 I posted at the start of August) and after LB brought in Cullen, Ward & Bielik I thought top 10 was about right, with top 6 only being achieved with a bit of luck with injuries & a good run. I also said back then that LB's comments on "top 2 definitely" was a stupid thing for him to say, and I stand by that.
Promotion via the play-offs is a pipe dream. Too many teams in this league know how to score goals & win games. Its not all about pretty football, its about getting the ball in the back of the net. End of.
Comments
It’s as if the players read all the glowing reviews and subsequently set in their minds that they are already promoted and don’t need to put in that level of effort again because it was too much like hard work!
I love to praise when people do well in any walk of life but maybe shouldn’t do it with footballers.
Like Oxford; Rochdale have turned into another bogey team for us as that leaves us with one win in six against them
It's all gone a bit pear shaped lately. Losing when we've had a chance to draw and drawing when we should be winning.
How bad was the penalty miss? Someone said it was a shot on target so it sounds like he, at least, didn't do a Nicky Bailey.
Why change it when its only failed once
Bollocks!
Rochdale did to us what we did to Barnsley.
Yeah we hit the woodwork two or three times, criminally wasted a penalty, and had a lot of skill and slick passing.
However in this league Rochdale's was a classic performance. We did not have a moment on the ball, they harried as if their lives depended on it, and the goal was the difference, not that they didn't carry a threat generally.
We were very poor, hardly seemed a team at all, if it wasn't for individuals prepared to have pride in their personal performances it might have been a lot worse.
Keith Hill is experienced at this level, Bowyer still learning, but very soon Bow will have to find a way to combat the up and at 'em style so prevalent in this league. We do have good players, but the sometimes excruciating and insistent build up from the back was crying out for a bit of variety. OK, in some games you have to play it long, accept you will lose the first challenge, but be ready to win the second ball, and be able to then use it further up the field. We tried one size fitting all today, but were well beaten because Rochdale tried harder with their game plan which suited their home circumstances.
Individually no one was utterly useless, it was a failure of team play, so I give credit to Djiksteel, Cullen, Pratley, Pearce and Steer and Solly for standard decent performances, the others were average and that did not cut it today.
4 4 2
The players have been playing 4 4 2 since they were at school.
No more fuckin about with silly formation s.
This lot need to go back to basics and regroup before the season is totally lost.
Time for LB to try another formation and not get stuck in the Jimmy Tarbuck rut.
Think the fact is, under Roland's leadership we have moved from a mid to lower championship side to a mid to low league 1 side.
If we do get taken over I expect it to be bye bye Bowyer. I feel like I should say, that's probably the right thing to do as we need an experienced, quality manager to take us back up to the championship...
Didnt Jackson miss about three or four before he was replaced?
Today, we tried to play pretty football against a team that were willing to fight for everything and they simply out-muscled us. We hardly won a header, our set-pieces were almost all rubbish and our passing was wayward.
Particularly disappointing were Steer (awful distribution and if that' s why he's in instead of Dillon it's just not fair), Ward (if he put as much energy into the game as he does his moaning he'd be a good player) and Grant (just like against Oxford, truly dire with the first touch of a carthorse).
The only player who can come out of the match with his head held high is Pearce - a real captain and a real warrior. All the rest, like the team overall, just bog average.
And we still have no sign that Duchatelet is going to make good on his intention to sell up any time soon.
Shit times.
Keith Hill deserves credit for getting them to put it in as that must have been hard work for the players to overcome such a fancied team.
Strangely enough, last week we did go long much more than usual as well as playing out from the back - and it worked.
And the game
The squad is not great but I would expect more than this. A good old school manager would make a difference even if the football was industrial but nobody decent would take the job.
I hope LB can fix things but I'm not optimistic.
This game is very easy. To win a game you have to score more goals than your opponent, and that invariably means you have to score at least twice. Only twice this season have we scored more than 2 goals (Scunthorpe & Wycombe) and one of those we lost. It seems if the front 2 don't score then no-one scores. It doesn't help that we miss a penalty (can't get a much better chance of scoring than that) but I don't blame Taylor if the 'keeper saves it. We just don't create enough chances & certainly don't get enough shots on target.
As I wasn't at the game I wont comment on the players or the match itself - but something has to change. Either formation and/or personnel. Problem is I don't think LB has many other options regarding personnel. Clarke should be back after the FA Cup game but will he make much difference. Page has been a big loss & putting your first choice right back at left back for more than a game or two seems madness to me.....but I don't think the problem is in defence (as pointed out above - score at least 2 goals & you've got a chance).
At the start of the season I thought we'd struggle (bottom 6/8 I posted at the start of August) and after LB brought in Cullen, Ward & Bielik I thought top 10 was about right, with top 6 only being achieved with a bit of luck with injuries & a good run. I also said back then that LB's comments on "top 2 definitely" was a stupid thing for him to say, and I stand by that.
Promotion via the play-offs is a pipe dream. Too many teams in this league know how to score goals & win games. Its not all about pretty football, its about getting the ball in the back of the net. End of.