Couldn't really identify anything wrong with any of our players ability, but tactically clueless as a team going forward. We keep on banging aimlessly on the door hoping for individuals magic or favorable bounce of the ball.
Since the start of the season - 1 win in 3 Since the resumption in June - 3 wins in 12 Since the start of the year - 6 wins in 24.
Need I go on ?
That's 1 win every 4 games. And from a pretty large sample for the boys saying "give it time" or "look at the table after 12 games"
Yes we had injuries in Jan & couldn't strengthen due to the embargo. Yes we couldnt strengthen after relegation.
So, now we have Thomas the Saviour. We have 3 weeks until the transfer window closes. We have 7 matches in October (less if games are called off due to international call ups). How many points do you think we will have after the magical 12 games ??
The above stats say only 2 more wins. I'll push the boat out and say 3 from the next 9 games plus a couple of draws. Let's be generous and say 3 draws......so an even 3,3,&3.
15 points from 12 games. Probably enough to be out of the bottom 4 but not enough for the top half.
Oh what joy.
Presumably you are advocating sacking Bowyer? That's fine, football is about opinions. Who are you saying to bring in as a replacement?
Not particularly worried as it's pretty obvious that the side we've had out in the early games will be drastically over hauled before the deadline.
Once we add Matthews, Pearce, another centre back and a decent striker to this side along with Watson playing 90 minutes and (hopefully) getting Aneke fit, we'll have a good side that is very capable of finishing in the top 6.
Since the start of the season - 1 win in 3 Since the resumption in June - 3 wins in 12 Since the start of the year - 6 wins in 24.
Need I go on ?
That's 1 win every 4 games. And from a pretty large sample for the boys saying "give it time" or "look at the table after 12 games"
Yes we had injuries in Jan & couldn't strengthen due to the embargo. Yes we couldnt strengthen after relegation.
So, now we have Thomas the Saviour. We have 3 weeks until the transfer window closes. We have 7 matches in October (less if games are called off due to international call ups). How many points do you think we will have after the magical 12 games ??
The above stats say only 2 more wins. I'll push the boat out and say 3 from the next 9 games plus a couple of draws. Let's be generous and say 3 draws......so an even 3,3,&3.
15 points from 12 games. Probably enough to be out of the bottom 4 but not enough for the top half.
Oh what joy.
Attaboy Golfie. That's the spirit, up and at em!
"Yes we had injuries in Jan & couldn't strengthen due to the embargo. Yes we couldnt strengthen after relegation. "
None of that counts though ..... eh?
Might do, might not. Did Luton & Barnsley strengthen much in January ? If they did then it didn't take effect until after the re-start as they were certs for relegation until the last knockings in July.
Ok, so if we take your point then the next 3 months we can see a big upswing in our results as we now have the resources to Bostrengthen. I expect to see us win from a losing position in 2 or 3 of those games & also not to squander a 1-0 lead with 10 mins to go.
RIght-o.
Also, you can’t just disregard the impact on the club of the ‘toxic’ environment throughout 2020. Yes, the points haul since the restart wasn’t anywhere near acceptable but I can forgive Bow and maybe even the players after everything he/they have been put through.
We now have to hope that a fit bunch of quality recruits hit the ground running to maximise our points return in October. That is a big ask and may not happen. I fancy we will be mid-table come 1st November and push onwards and upwards from there.
A couple of players out there been linked with a big move. Someone needs to grab them by the ears as they are not very good. Average bunch who we will have forgotten in a couple of years time.
Agreed. Just picking out 3 of the players:
Despite getting into double figures with goals last season, Bonne is clearly not a good footballer. His first touch is appalling and have we ever yet seen him score on a number of occasions in previous matches when he is one vs one against the keeper. Sure he will score a few with the head and get a few with instinctive taps ins etc but he is not good in holding the ball and laying it off, neither is he particularly strong in holding off defenders. Everyone is looking for a good striker but if we could bring a couple in and offload Bonne for a decent profit, that sounds good to me.
Doughty is a bright prospect, but were he to leave now for somewhere like Celtic he will doubtless not last long there in the first team. Playing week in week out in League 1 and with some decent coaching in terms of how to actually deliver some end product and practicing with his right foot occasionally, and he could have developed into a really good player by next summer.
Williams is a real enigma. Seems to be used exclusively as an impact sub, but invariably makes little or no impact nowadays.
Williams hasn't been the same since he came back from the knee injury against Derby, feels like he's lost his edge a bit. Didn't help that he continually had set backs when trying to come back, and then stuggled to get match fit after the lockdown.
His career has been blighted with injuries, at least he transformed the game at Wembley.
He did, but he had been able to put to together a reasonable run of games in a strong league one side with only a couple of smaller injuries. He needs to find the same form he took into the start of last season
A couple of players out there been linked with a big move. Someone needs to grab them by the ears as they are not very good. Average bunch who we will have forgotten in a couple of years time.
Agreed. Just picking out 3 of the players:
Despite getting into double figures with goals last season, Bonne is clearly not a good footballer. His first touch is appalling and have we ever yet seen him score on a number of occasions in previous matches when he is one vs one against the keeper. Sure he will score a few with the head and get a few with instinctive taps ins etc but he is not good in holding the ball and laying it off, neither is he particularly strong in holding off defenders. Everyone is looking for a good striker but if we could bring a couple in and offload Bonne for a decent profit, that sounds good to me.
Doughty is a bright prospect, but were he to leave now for somewhere like Celtic he will doubtless not last long there in the first team. Playing week in week out in League 1 and with some decent coaching in terms of how to actually deliver some end product and practicing with his right foot occasionally, and he could have developed into a really good player by next summer.
Williams is a real enigma. Seems to be used exclusively as an impact sub, but invariably makes little or no impact nowadays.
Williams hasn't been the same since he came back from the knee injury against Derby, feels like he's lost his edge a bit. Didn't help that he continually had set backs when trying to come back, and then stuggled to get match fit after the lockdown.
His career has been blighted with injuries, at least he transformed the game at Wembley.
He did, but he had been able to put to together a reasonable run of games in a strong league one side with only a couple of smaller injuries. He needs to find the same form he took into the start of last season
These days he only seems to get the ball when he’s in tight areas, some distance from the penalty area. He always seems to be outnumbered and up against it. Is that because he’s only coming on as a sub, and the opposition know he’s a danger, so double mark him? Would be good to seen him start to see if that would make a difference.
We can rightly complain about the penalty but there’s no excuse for that second half. Think the game was crying out for Chuks to come off the bench and give them something different to deal with. I hope his recovery is going well.
Positives for me were Washington (think his work rate is top class) and Famewo.
Deji had a game to forget, I like him but not convinced his good to enough to be first choice for us.
Bonne can get goals at this level but he needs support, if the game isn’t going our way I just can’t see him grabbing a goal from nothing to turn it around. Hopefully we can get in a good number 9 to help him out.
Not too worried yet, there are massive gaps in the side but we have some time and we didn’t have a great start in our play off winning season.
Back to reality and big big job ahead for TS and the management team.
The EFL trophy may actually be beneficial for us this season. May help bed in the new signings this season. sure there’s more to come over the next couple of days. Give them a bit of assistance before the next match
I think the defence will get sorted when Mathews, Pearce & maybe Phillips return. My bigger concern is at the other end, we just aren’t creating enough and I don’t trust Bonne to take enough of the chances when we do.
I think the defence will get sorted when Mathews, Pearce & maybe Phillips return. My bigger concern is at the other end, we just aren’t creating enough and I don’t trust Bonne to take enough of the chances when we do.
First half should have had 2 goals, then the absolutely incompetent officials allow a goal that was at least 2 yards off-side!!! Second half we were awful....gifted them a corner in the 88th minute and put no-one of any height on their top-scorer! We need 8/9 new players as a matter of urgency and Pearce back very soon. I was one to give Bonne a chance but last two games he has been appalling, and without a out and out striker we are fucked!! Positives were Levitt, Washington, Oztumer (sp), Purrington and Akin (Norwich youngster)......with a decent cameo from Watson...thats it!!
Purrington was rank for most of the game and has been since QPR A.
Really? Arguably our best player, although before today i agree with you he's been poor for a while
It is difficult because I can see both sides. I marked Purrington relatively high yesterday but thought when we were trying to chase the game he was a big part of the problem. Not because he was poor, but because we needed different attributes against a team putting players behind the ball.
I still believe we will get promoted. It is just we need to bring the right players in, which I am confident we will. I also think we have some decent players already but when the squad takes a hit we see the gaps. Had Washington scored from that early chance, I am confident it would have been a different story. Not blaming him though, or the officials who made a massive error. We have to expect of ourselves that we are good enough to get out of these situations.
Since the start of the season - 1 win in 3 Since the resumption in June - 3 wins in 12 Since the start of the year - 6 wins in 24.
Need I go on ?
That's 1 win every 4 games. And from a pretty large sample for the boys saying "give it time" or "look at the table after 12 games"
Yes we had injuries in Jan & couldn't strengthen due to the embargo. Yes we couldnt strengthen after relegation.
So, now we have Thomas the Saviour. We have 3 weeks until the transfer window closes. We have 7 matches in October (less if games are called off due to international call ups). How many points do you think we will have after the magical 12 games ??
The above stats say only 2 more wins. I'll push the boat out and say 3 from the next 9 games plus a couple of draws. Let's be generous and say 3 draws......so an even 3,3,&3.
15 points from 12 games. Probably enough to be out of the bottom 4 but not enough for the top half.
Oh what joy.
Presumably you are advocating sacking Bowyer? That's fine, football is about opinions. Who are you saying to bring in as a replacement?
I don't think criticising Bowyer is the same as wanting him sacked. It is right to look at recent games and not give him a free pass surely. I would expect him to do that of himself. He has shown what he can do and the time has come where with the support of Thomas, he needs to do that again.
I thought Bonne wasnt good at all, first touch was terrible and he just seems to lose concentration. He isnt the striker who will make runs behind the defence but one who will be the fox in the box but sometimes you have to adapt to a different style to benefit the team...making a run pulls a defender away to create space...simple things like that make the difference.
We will get better and on another day, would have taken those chances.
Tis a long season and parts of play yesterday gave cause for optimism!
I think the defence will get sorted when Mathews, Pearce & maybe Phillips return. My bigger concern is at the other end, we just aren’t creating enough and I don’t trust Bonne to take enough of the chances when we do.
I think with the defence sorted we will see improvements at the other end as well.
We have been far to tentative the last couple of games, which I feel is partly to do with fear of being easily broken down so playing overly defensive, and partly because Purrington and Barker really offer nothing going forwards.
As much as I love Darren Pratley when he is your only option in the middle of the park we are not going to break teams down or create clear chances. Indeed I'm starting to notice that whenever he has the ball the opposition double up and press him and force him to make an obvious pass backwards or into a mistake.
First half should have had 2 goals, then the absolutely incompetent officials allow a goal that was at least 2 yards off-side!!! Second half we were awful....gifted them a corner in the 88th minute and put no-one of any height on their top-scorer! We need 8/9 new players as a matter of urgency and Pearce back very soon. I was one to give Bonne a chance but last two games he has been appalling, and without a out and out striker we are fucked!! Positives were Levitt, Washington, Oztumer (sp), Purrington and Akin (Norwich youngster)......with a decent cameo from Watson...thats it!!
Purrington was rank for most of the game and has been since QPR A.
Really? Arguably our best player, although before today i agree with you he's been poor for a while
I focused on him today. He gave the ball to the opposition on every occasion in the first 30 mins, before he finally passed to one of his team mates. Second half he was ok.
One of us must be losing the plot because he played well first half, linked up with Doughty well and for once his touch/passing was good. Second half less so imo, I’ll let the jury decide...
Totally agree.
It's always fascinating how different people see players performances but for me Purrington had a good game yesterday and was one of our better players.
In the first half in particular he was bombing forward constantly and working well with those on the left hand side. He fizzed in one super cross that if it hadn't been intercepted Bonne could have tapped in at the far post.
Defensively he was sound throughout.
He's a perfectly sound full back at this level and getting a new left back must be incredibly low on our list of priorities.
Always thought it was going to be a brilliant reaction to the takeover or a performance where players' heads were not quite right. Unfortunately, it was the second. But things can only get better and confident LB will get it right. Encouraged by the performances of the new boys and looking forward to more signings.
To put things into perspective,Purrington was the only defender who was a regular last season,we had a 17 year old at right back,a new left centre back and Oshi who really is a cover for first choices.We hit too many long balls,up to a front man who cannot hold the ball up,nothing wrong with long balls,Liverpool play loads,but you have to have a reliable target.Taylor to be fair was excellent at this,I think Chucks would be too if we could get him playing regularly.Midfield ,seemed to be passed by a lot of the time,but when Levitt and Oz got on the ball they often looked very capable,but once again when the ball went forward ,it came back.At this stage no need to panic,teams will get off to a flyer(Ipswich last year) and fade,others will start slow and build as the season progresses,get Matthews, another CB and another striker.I know he is young,but Davidson showed signs of being a good target man,should he be given a chance. Must admit a feeling of deja vu in the last minute of the first half,needless foul to give away the free kick,dodgy penalty,and then the farce that followed,that must have knocked the stuffing out of the team.
Didn't watch the game and I'm not going to read the reports on CL after we lose 2-0 to the Mighty Lincoln. (I have seen 8 matches in step 4 of Football Pyrimid already this season)
I said last week, we are so far behind the side that started our last League one Campaign. Taylor and Grant scoring goals for fun, Pearce and Bauer solid at the back, (Naby coming in later) Cullen and Bielik joining the fray after the start and giving a League 1 team some class. Phillips finally getting his chance to prove his ability.
Lee and Thomas have stated their ambitions to reach the promised land, Getting out the wilderness may take longer than many fans believe.
Didn't watch the game and I'm not going to read the reports on CL after we lose 2-0 to the Mighty Lincoln. (I have seen 8 matches in step 4 of Football Pyrimid already this season)
I said last week, we are so far behind the side that started our last League one Campaign. Taylor and Grant scoring goals for fun, Pearce and Bauer solid at the back, (Naby coming in later) Cullen and Bielik joining the fray after the start and giving a League 1 team some class. Phillips finally getting his chance to prove his ability.
Lee and Thomas have stated their ambitions to reach the promised land, Getting out the wilderness may take longer than many fans believe.
As I said to my mates, you need big horrible physical forwards in this division, Chucks might be ok if he wasn’t injured all the time, too many powderpuff forwards.
You realise he's had one minor knock in pre-season, but fit since January otherwise
Ok hopefully he will play more this season, but again he never looks fit enough to play 90mins.
I agree with that. For a player that looks mega fit, he needs to focus on more cardio & flexibility and less on power. Technically he should be one of our better assets.
Didn't watch the game and I'm not going to read the reports on CL after we lose 2-0 to the Mighty Lincoln. (I have seen 8 matches in step 4 of Football Pyrimid already this season)
I said last week, we are so far behind the side that started our last League one Campaign. Taylor and Grant scoring goals for fun, Pearce and Bauer solid at the back, (Naby coming in later) Cullen and Bielik joining the fray after the start and giving a League 1 team some class. Phillips finally getting his chance to prove his ability.
Lee and Thomas have stated their ambitions to reach the promised land, Getting out the wilderness may take longer than many fans believe.
It took 3 seasons in each of our last 2 spells.
And will probably take about the same this time. I don't expect us to be going up this season & hopefully next season we can be challenging for the play offs. TS maybe a great guy & our saviour, but he has a lot to learn about the 3rd tier of English football.
I think the one thing we can all, hopefully agree on is we need Pierce back asap, he is sorely missed at the back,....of course plus another one or two newbies
Since the start of the season - 1 win in 3 Since the resumption in June - 3 wins in 12 Since the start of the year - 6 wins in 24.
Need I go on ?
That's 1 win every 4 games. And from a pretty large sample for the boys saying "give it time" or "look at the table after 12 games"
Yes we had injuries in Jan & couldn't strengthen due to the embargo. Yes we couldnt strengthen after relegation.
So, now we have Thomas the Saviour. We have 3 weeks until the transfer window closes. We have 7 matches in October (less if games are called off due to international call ups). How many points do you think we will have after the magical 12 games ??
The above stats say only 2 more wins. I'll push the boat out and say 3 from the next 9 games plus a couple of draws. Let's be generous and say 3 draws......so an even 3,3,&3.
15 points from 12 games. Probably enough to be out of the bottom 4 but not enough for the top half.
Oh what joy.
Presumably you are advocating sacking Bowyer? That's fine, football is about opinions. Who are you saying to bring in as a replacement?
I don't think criticising Bowyer is the same as wanting him sacked. It is right to look at recent games and not give him a free pass surely. I would expect him to do that of himself. He has shown what he can do and the time has come where with the support of Thomas, he needs to do that again.
We live in such a polarised world/society now that people assume extreme positions. Provide constructive criticism of Lee Bowyer and people assume you want him sacked.
I think Bowyer is a decent manager, certainly good enough to get us up if he has the right resources and he has been one small ray of light in an immensity of darkness in recent times, but he does have serious limitations and I think it’s fair for them to be discussed.
Comments
Who are you saying to bring in as a replacement?
Once we add Matthews, Pearce, another centre back and a decent striker to this side along with Watson playing 90 minutes and (hopefully) getting Aneke fit, we'll have a good side that is very capable of finishing in the top 6.
We now have to hope that a fit bunch of quality recruits hit the ground running to maximise our points return in October. That is a big ask and may not happen. I fancy we will be mid-table come 1st November and push onwards and upwards from there.
We can rightly complain about the penalty but there’s no excuse for that second half. Think the game was crying out for Chuks to come off the bench and give them something different to deal with. I hope his recovery is going well.
Positives for me were Washington (think his work rate is top class) and Famewo.
Deji had a game to forget, I like him but not convinced his good to enough to be first choice for us.
Bonne can get goals at this level but he needs support, if the game isn’t going our way I just can’t see him grabbing a goal from nothing to turn it around. Hopefully we can get in a good number 9 to help him out.
Not too worried yet, there are massive gaps in the side but we have some time and we didn’t have a great start in our play off winning season.
Back to reality and big big job ahead for TS and the management team.
May help bed in the new signings this season.
sure there’s more to come over the next couple of days.
Give them a bit of assistance before the next match
I still believe we will get promoted. It is just we need to bring the right players in, which I am confident we will. I also think we have some decent players already but when the squad takes a hit we see the gaps. Had Washington scored from that early chance, I am confident it would have been a different story. Not blaming him though, or the officials who made a massive error. We have to expect of ourselves that we are good enough to get out of these situations.
I thought Bonne wasnt good at all, first touch was terrible and he just seems to lose concentration. He isnt the striker who will make runs behind the defence but one who will be the fox in the box but sometimes you have to adapt to a different style to benefit the team...making a run pulls a defender away to create space...simple things like that make the difference.
We will get better and on another day, would have taken those chances.
Tis a long season and parts of play yesterday gave cause for optimism!
We have been far to tentative the last couple of games, which I feel is partly to do with fear of being easily broken down so playing overly defensive, and partly because Purrington and Barker really offer nothing going forwards.
As much as I love Darren Pratley when he is your only option in the middle of the park we are not going to break teams down or create clear chances. Indeed I'm starting to notice that whenever he has the ball the opposition double up and press him and force him to make an obvious pass backwards or into a mistake.
He plays better on the shoulder with someone like Lyle/Chucks doing the hard work winning the battles.
It's always fascinating how different people see players performances but for me Purrington had a good game yesterday and was one of our better players.
In the first half in particular he was bombing forward constantly and working well with those on the left hand side. He fizzed in one super cross that if it hadn't been intercepted Bonne could have tapped in at the far post.
Defensively he was sound throughout.
He's a perfectly sound full back at this level and getting a new left back must be incredibly low on our list of priorities.
Must admit a feeling of deja vu in the last minute of the first half,needless foul to give away the free kick,dodgy penalty,and then the farce that followed,that must have knocked the stuffing out of the team.
I said last week, we are so far behind the side that started our last League one Campaign. Taylor and Grant scoring goals for fun, Pearce and Bauer solid at the back,
(Naby coming in later) Cullen and Bielik joining the fray after the start and giving a League 1 team some class.
Phillips finally getting his chance to prove his ability.
Lee and Thomas have stated their ambitions to reach the promised land,
Getting out the wilderness may take longer than many fans believe.
is we need Pierce back asap, he is sorely missed at
the back,....of course plus another one or two newbies