Until we start playing through balls to Ajose to chase and score from rather than using him as a spare prick at a wedding for the opposition defence to mark we are always going to have fans who think he’s not contributing
He's not my favourite player ...... but I've always thought Ajose moves well off the ball, finds space for himself and drags opponents out of position.
The way he created a yard of space for himself in the box, losing his marker to score the winner at Pompey. Against Wimbledon, he made a good run off the ball wide to be on the end of Bielek's beautifully weighted killer pass, before rifling in the cross for Lyle to nick the 1st goal.
If Ajose is 'lazy', and doesn't make the run - then Bieleks killer pass comes to nothing, no assist and no goal scored.
Sure, he's missed a 1-v-1 in both games, and he'll know himself that he should have scored - but his critics ignore the fact that he showed great anticipation and movement to be on the end of those chances. If he doesn't make the off the ball run, then no chance is even created for him to miss.
As we all know, Ajose scored a lot of goals one season at Swindon. That rather suggests they knew how to use him properly and get the best out of him.
I’m stunned that Luton are doing as well as they are, watched them a few times in league 2 and thought they were very average
Newly promoted Luton are on an incredible run.
5 wins on the spin 9 games undefeated (8 wins + 1 draw) 10 wins + 1 draw + 1 defeat (v Barnsley away 13th Oct), since they drew with Charlton, 29th Sept. 15 games played with only 1 defeat since 8th September.
That's a grand total of 36 points in 15 games.
Is that promotion form, do you reckon?
Crazy form, not dissimilar to us to be fair, I love a smaller side performing well! Good on em!
I’m stunned that Luton are doing as well as they are, watched them a few times in league 2 and thought they were very average
Newly promoted Luton are on an incredible run.
5 wins on the spin 9 games undefeated (8 wins + 1 draw) 10 wins + 1 draw + 1 defeat (v Barnsley away 13th Oct), since they drew with Charlton, 29th Sept. 15 games played with only 1 defeat since 8th September.
That's a grand total of 36 points in 15 games.
Is that promotion form, do you reckon?
Crazy form, not dissimilar to us to be fair, I love a smaller side performing well! Good on em!
Are they a smaller side? Their gates aren't far behind us. Also, are Barnsley a bigger side? Since post war our league position almost mirrors theirs but their gates are currently higher.
Until we start playing through balls to Ajose to chase and score from rather than using him as a spare prick at a wedding for the opposition defence to mark we are always going to have fans who think he’s not contributing
He's not my favourite player ...... but I've always thought Ajose moves well off the ball, finds space for himself and drags opponents out of position.
The way he created a yard of space for himself in the box, losing his marker to score the winner at Pompey. Against Wimbledon, he made a good run off the ball wide to be on the end of Bielek's beautifully weighted killer pass, before rifling in the cross for Lyle to nick the 1st goal.
If Ajose is 'lazy', and doesn't make the run - then Bieleks killer pass comes to nothing, no assist and no goal scored.
Sure, he's missed a 1-v-1 in both games, and he'll know himself that he should have scored - but his critics ignore the fact that he showed great anticipation and movement to be on the end of those chances. If he doesn't make the off the ball run, then no chance is even created for him to miss.
As we all know, Ajose scored a lot of goals one season at Swindon. That rather suggests they knew how to use him properly and get the best out of him.
Strikers will always miss as many as they score. Got to have a go, keeper might save it or it might go off target. Grant and Taylor likely to have missed 20 chances between themselves but have also put away 20.
We’ve still got Portsmouth, Sunderland and Luton to come to The Valley in 2019. I think we still have a big role to play in the promotion battle.
Cannot wait for the rest of this season and chasing Sunderland and Portsmouth down.
We could be on the same number of points as Sunderland this time next week
They have a better goal difference and 2 games in hand.
I still strongly believe they'll go straight back up, and that any team finishing above them will be champions.
Games in hand eventually have to be won if they are going to be of any use. 10 goals better goal difference instantly disappears if they lose 3-0 to Pompey and we beat gills 7-0 next week...so that’s next week’s target boys...and they have to come to the valley on 5 Jan
Really don’t want to,say anything negative about yesterday; it was a war of attrition largely due to how Wimbledon didn’t want to play but we were also a tad under par across the park. Digging out the win in a game that could have continued submerged in nothingness is a big 3 points.
However....the quality of our delivery, from wide, corners and free kicks was absolutely shocking. Equally, I was also surprised when we had 10 min the number of free Ickes we had with an opportunity to put the ball in their box that we decided to just roll it a couple of yards to our nearest player rather than launching a bit of penalty box pressure.
I’m stunned that Luton are doing as well as they are, watched them a few times in league 2 and thought they were very average
Newly promoted Luton are on an incredible run.
5 wins on the spin 9 games undefeated (8 wins + 1 draw) 10 wins + 1 draw + 1 defeat (v Barnsley away 13th Oct), since they drew with Charlton, 29th Sept. 15 games played with only 1 defeat since 8th September.
That's a grand total of 36 points in 15 games.
Is that promotion form, do you reckon?
Crazy form, not dissimilar to us to be fair, I love a smaller side performing well! Good on em!
I’m stunned that Luton are doing as well as they are, watched them a few times in league 2 and thought they were very average
Newly promoted Luton are on an incredible run.
5 wins on the spin 9 games undefeated (8 wins + 1 draw) 10 wins + 1 draw + 1 defeat (v Barnsley away 13th Oct), since they drew with Charlton, 29th Sept. 15 games played with only 1 defeat since 8th September.
That's a grand total of 36 points in 15 games.
Is that promotion form, do you reckon?
Crazy form, not dissimilar to us to be fair, I love a smaller side performing well! Good on em!
Are they a smaller side? Their gates aren't far behind us. Also, are Barnsley a bigger side? Since post war our league position almost mirrors theirs but their gates are currently higher.
Yes, Luton aren't a small club. They fell massively from grace, but that's down to ownership issues AND their awful ground holding them back. League Cup winners in 1988, back when it was a serious competition.
First season I supported us, 1962/63, Luton were relegated with Walsall from the old division 2.
We survived on goal average after winning 2-1 at Walsall in the final match of the season. Had we drawn or lost we would have been relegated with Luton.
What would be our strongest XI does everyone think, with every player available and what formation as well?
Steer Solly Bauer Pearce Page Cullen Bielik JFC Aribo Grant Taylor
4312 with those players would be my pick, quite a defensive midfield but also players that can bring the ball forward, our strikers are undroppable and Aribo would be incredible with less defensive duties imo.
Then we have options in Ward, Marshall, Reeves, Fosu and Ajose from the bench if we are struggling to get anything going.
What would be our strongest XI does everyone think, with every player available and what formation as well?
Steer Solly Bauer Pearce Page Cullen Bielik JFC Aribo Grant Taylor
4312 with those players would be my pick, quite a defensive midfield but also players that can bring the ball forward, our strikers are undroppable and Aribo would be incredible with less defensive duties imo.
Then we have options in Ward, Marshall, Reeves, Fosu and Ajose from the bench if we are struggling to get anything going.
I thought Wimbledon were the worst team so far at The Valley this season by a country mile. They looked defeated and already looking accepted of relegation to League Two.
What I couldn't understand for the life of me is why after Sarr's red card they didn't come out and go for it a bit more, they still left all 10 players behind the ball inviting us to come onto them. That was the plan before Sarr's red card and remained the plan. You would have thought they would have left one up front to give us something to think about but they squandered the extra man advantage IMO by sitting deep and still being content with a draw with an extra man advantage.
What was even more bizarre was the red card, the player didn't need to dive, like my point above had they shown a bit more will to win the game with the extra man they could easily have put us under pressure but the gameplan didn't change. But even more bizarre Wimbledon probably looked there most threatening all game when they were reduced to 10 men themselves.
Once they were also reduced to 10 it was only a matter of time until we scored. We were fortunate that with such a weak bench we had the easiest possible fixture out of the 46 we'll play all season we only had to be better than Wimbledon and we were and that's all that matters. Most teams would have gotten something out of the game yesterday after Sarr's red card though that's not to take anything away from how we played but Wimbledon were sat so far deep they could have been defending a goal at Charlton Park.
Wimbledon will 100% go down this season but we played them at the ideal time when we were very much depleated. Three well deserved points though.
They certainly showed why they are are stuggling in the league and why they are in the relegation zone. They struggled against Haringey Borough. The 3rd tier seems to have caught up with them for the moment and they need their new stadium and quick.
I believe the racist remark about Trevor Two-Reds Kettle may have been tongue in cheek ?
From memory the 6 red cards in Cafc matches have been. 1 ginger =Waggy 1 black= Nabby 1 mixed race = Davies 3 white = Hollands, Pinnock and the other Bolton Lad ?
@louismendez Lee Bowyer says that Lyle Taylor actually failed a fitness test this morning. Played after an injection in his foot and scored against his former side #afcw #cafc @BBCLondonSport
It certainly helped that AFC treated the game like a testimonial!
Understatement... Im genuienly disappointed we didnt win that by at least 4. They were atrocious
A tad harsh - as I saw it the boys expended a huge amount of physical and nervous energy on Tuesday with many lumps and bumps. Yesterday was all about 3 points - we can put on the style when we have 7 days recovery and a near full squad to pick from.
Trevor Kettle's decision to send Sarr off after less than a minute taking into account the horrid weather conditions and slippery pitch was probably racially motivated. But I am glad he had the bollocks to even it up. But to be fair I am calm about it now because we won. But hopefully we can keep Sols, Pat, Pearcey and Anfernee fit in the next three games if we lose any appeal or don't appeal the red card. Tall order I know and tall order (possibly being overtuning the red card) but more in keeping ALL those players fit with our horrid injury luck this season.
If I was Kettle and reading this, I'd sue you for libel.
Of all the stupid comments I've seen on this forum, this stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Slip over to the Jeremy Corbyn thread. You won't be disappointed.
If there's anything more stupid there, I don't want to read it.
Well done to all the players for attempting to play football in such lousy weather, especially when losing a player so early.
From my view in Upper North I thought Sarr's tackle would be red. My son said "lucky its the first minute or he'll get a red". Not knowing who the ref was at that point I said "knowing our luck it's Kettle and he'll be off " .....
Funny that later when the Wimbledon guy,who should have been red carded for a similar tackle, but only got a yellow as he didn't connect with the legs of the Charlton player, was red carded for diving when I thought he was actually fouled.
Surreal situation when the crowd stood for the minute applause as Sarr trudged off the pitch.
Agree with most of what has been said regarding team attitude, and how well we did given the early sending off. What I don't agree with, being my first live game this season, is many lifers castigating Ajose for his effort. He made so many good runs today, but only on a few occasions was there an attempt to play the ball to him. This was noted also by my son and the guy sitting the other side of me. He scored last week and I thought played well yesterday, so on current form should be supported. He may not be as effective as Grant and Taylor in their current form but I think he is having an effect, and effort is far above what he appeared to put in last season.
This is the point I made earlier. It can be easy to miss if you're watching the ball and not the player so I can see how some don't see what he does. And, of course, there's none so blind as those who don't want to see.
I’m stunned that Luton are doing as well as they are, watched them a few times in league 2 and thought they were very average
Newly promoted Luton are on an incredible run.
5 wins on the spin 9 games undefeated (8 wins + 1 draw) 10 wins + 1 draw + 1 defeat (v Barnsley away 13th Oct), since they drew with Charlton, 29th Sept. 15 games played with only 1 defeat since 8th September.
Comments
The way he created a yard of space for himself in the box, losing his marker to score the winner at Pompey. Against Wimbledon, he made a good run off the ball wide to be on the end of Bielek's beautifully weighted killer pass, before rifling in the cross for Lyle to nick the 1st goal.
If Ajose is 'lazy', and doesn't make the run - then Bieleks killer pass comes to nothing, no assist and no goal scored.
Sure, he's missed a 1-v-1 in both games, and he'll know himself that he should have scored - but his critics ignore the fact that he showed great anticipation and movement to be on the end of those chances. If he doesn't make the off the ball run, then no chance is even created for him to miss.
As we all know, Ajose scored a lot of goals one season at Swindon.
That rather suggests they knew how to use him properly and get the best out of him.
However....the quality of our delivery, from wide, corners and free kicks was absolutely shocking. Equally, I was also surprised when we had 10 min the number of free Ickes we had with an opportunity to put the ball in their box that we decided to just roll it a couple of yards to our nearest player rather than launching a bit of penalty box pressure.
@J_Aribo19
19h19 hours ago
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C’mon boys! Good home win for the team. Fans kept us going, thank you! #CAFC 🔴⚪️
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@jpearce05
20h20 hours ago
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Boys dug out a big 3points today. Need to keep the momentum. Thank you for the support. #ontothenextone #cafc #coyr
We survived on goal average after winning 2-1 at Walsall in the final match of the season. Had we drawn or lost we would have been relegated with Luton.
EDIT: if anyone wants a read http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/LeagueTables/Season1962-63/Div21962-63.htm
Steer
Solly Bauer Pearce Page
Cullen Bielik JFC
Aribo
Grant Taylor
4312 with those players would be my pick, quite a defensive midfield but also players that can bring the ball forward, our strikers are undroppable and Aribo would be incredible with less defensive duties imo.
Then we have options in Ward, Marshall, Reeves, Fosu and Ajose from the bench if we are struggling to get anything going.
Solly Bauer Pearce Page
Cullen Bielik Aribo Fosu
Grant Taylor
I thought Wimbledon were the worst team so far at The Valley this season by a country mile. They looked defeated and already looking accepted of relegation to League Two.
What I couldn't understand for the life of me is why after Sarr's red card they didn't come out and go for it a bit more, they still left all 10 players behind the ball inviting us to come onto them. That was the plan before Sarr's red card and remained the plan. You would have thought they would have left one up front to give us something to think about but they squandered the extra man advantage IMO by sitting deep and still being content with a draw with an extra man advantage.
What was even more bizarre was the red card, the player didn't need to dive, like my point above had they shown a bit more will to win the game with the extra man they could easily have put us under pressure but the gameplan didn't change. But even more bizarre Wimbledon probably looked there most threatening all game when they were reduced to 10 men themselves.
Once they were also reduced to 10 it was only a matter of time until we scored. We were fortunate that with such a weak bench we had the easiest possible fixture out of the 46 we'll play all season we only had to be better than Wimbledon and we were and that's all that matters. Most teams would have gotten something out of the game yesterday after Sarr's red card though that's not to take anything away from how we played but Wimbledon were sat so far deep they could have been defending a goal at Charlton Park.
Wimbledon will 100% go down this season but we played them at the ideal time when we were very much depleated. Three well deserved points though.