Whilst Sunderland were better than us in the draw at the Valley, I think we have a stronger squad after the additions. There is nothing to get overly worried about. Doncaster have had a good start, but Wigan beat them. At the moment, they are looking the team to beat. I think Hull are flattering to deceive. We do have to impose ourselves more on teams though. That is the next step.
Regarding Purrington, had a shocker last night but overall he's a fine player and has had his moments for us. He can do a job but not sure he should be starting week in week out.
Regarding Purrington, had a shocker last night but overall he's a fine player and has had his moments for us. He can do a job but not sure he should be starting week in week out.
Agree, but displays like last night could see him drop down the pecking order to 4th choice leftie (Maatsan, Doughty, Osh, Purrington)....it's possible and not where you want to be in L1 as a specialist left back who can only play one position.
Regarding Purrington, had a shocker last night but overall he's a fine player and has had his moments for us. He can do a job but not sure he should be starting week in week out.
Agree, but displays like last night could see him drop down the pecking order to 4th choice leftie (Maatsan, Doughty, Osh, Purrington)....it's possible and not where you want to be in L1 as a specialist left back who can only play one position.
He doesn't do well against certain types of opponents but he won't be facing those sort of opponents every week in League One.
To be fair to Purrington, he's a decent player whose level is L1. He made a mistake last night but he's looked decent in the games he's played up to this point. He's also surely having to rebuild his confidence after being very obviously out of Bowyer's favour after the restart last season. Imagine being sat there while the team's worst centre half is repeatedly played at left back instead of you, and not even doing a good job of it. That's got to be a kick in the nads. I think he's a decent player to have around and he'll be fine as a back up to Maatsen. Also, we have to give him credit for being involved in both sendings off; that first time ball up to Bogle was absolutely brilliant to put him through, and if their defender hadn't decided to trip Bogle we might have been here talking about a first minute assist for him instead.
It may be the third week in october but we’re still at the settling in part of the season in a season that’s totally unsettled. Picking up wins, keeping clean sheets is a bonus and points in the bank but it won’t be until late November to mid December before any team really gets its act together, or not as the case may be.
I'm a fan of Purrington but his second yellow was idiotic on his part. What do you expect when you wrap your arms around the opposition player? Yep, another booking and an early bath. On a positive note, Maatsen added a touch of class and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him; Inness has all the makings of a cult hero; Chuks is getting better by the game and the rest of our players seem to be growing in confidence. It all bodes well.
All wishful thinking but if we had had that defence all season,we would now be top of the league,no way would anyone score the soft goals that we conceded in our two defeats.
Tell you what, we’ve got a bloody good side here. So much great experience mixed with outstanding youth talent, I can’t name a better back four or midfield in the whole division.
We may not have a striker that scores 20 goals a season, but I can guarantee we won’t be conceding many.
We’ve got a great spine to build on
I hope you're right but let's not get too carried away just yet. If we'd drawn last night we'd probably be slaughtering Watson and some would be saying Bowyer is too negative.
We've beaten a Wigan side in disarray (and could've easily drawn) and a Blackpool side who are 2nd bottom and got beat 4-1 at home by Ipswich.
After Northampton we have games v Oxford, Pompey and Fleetwood so they will give us a better idea of how good we actually are.
But the early signs are definitely promising.
Exactly
If we'd gone to Ipswich or Posh and ground out a 1-0 win, that would be a massive statement of intent. We instead scraped past the team in 2nd bottom, who now have 1 point from 5 games and who were a man down for 40 minutes, in the process recording ONE shot on target (plus the disallowed goal)
The defence is starting to look good, but as a team we're definitely a work in progress.
I'm a fan of Purrington but his second yellow was idiotic on his part. What do you expect when you wrap your arms around the opposition player? Yep, another booking and an early bath. On a positive note, Maatsen added a touch of class and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him; Inness has all the makings of a cult hero; Chuks is getting better by the game and the rest of our players seem to be growing in confidence. It all bodes well.
It can be instinctive, especially when an opponent is tearing you a new one.
Before we slag the officials off too much, we should ask ourselves whether their final decision was correct. I couldn't be sure looking at the stream but I could see how it could have been. Moan if it is incorrect, accept it if it was correct. It was obviously going in and Bogle should have stepped back with his hands in the air.
Possession and passing stats can be misleading though. In the first half, 10 men Blackpool defended deep, so a lot of the time we were passing the ball around the back 4, forward to Watson or Pratley, back to the back 4, with no outlet further forward to pass to
Good for possession stats, and passing accuracy ones too, but a lot different than passing the ball around the opponents box
Possession and passing stats can be misleading though. In the first half, 10 men Blackpool defended deep, so a lot of the time we were passing the ball around the back 4, forward to Watson or Pratley, back to the back 4, with no outlet further forward to pass to
Good for possession stats, and passing accuracy ones too, but a lot different than passing the ball around the opponents box
Absolutely. There is a computer programme that Liverpool use to assess players that based on tonnes of data knows the difference between dangerous passes and nothing ones. In a normal passing stat, an easy extra pass and a defence splitting one count exactly the same.
Not sure how their manager can say in terms of chances (both teams) 0-0 would of been a fair result. We had a chance and took it. So 0-1 was the correct outcome.
I think he was working on the principal that not every chance is a goal and there wasn't too many stand out chances between the two teams. You have to expect a bias from managers.
Not sure how their manager can say in terms of chances (both teams) 0-0 would of been a fair result. We had a chance and took it. So 0-1 was the correct outcome.
We scored two good goals, they robbed us of another and Amos had a quiet night. 0-3 would have been a fair result.
I think protecting the back four with both Watson and Pratley is sensible at this point in time. I would not like to risk opponents running through midfield quite yet. The Chelsea back looked like he has a good footballing brain and moved into the space that was in midfield several times to good effect. Not sure how many left backs would do that. He did benefit from a change in formation to three at the back and I wonder if when Pearce is fit we will play with a back three with him in the middle and wingbacks.
Tell you what, we’ve got a bloody good side here. So much great experience mixed with outstanding youth talent, I can’t name a better back four or midfield in the whole division.
We may not have a striker that scores 20 goals a season, but I can guarantee we won’t be conceding many.
We’ve got a great spine to build on
I hope you're right but let's not get too carried away just yet. If we'd drawn last night we'd probably be slaughtering Watson and some would be saying Bowyer is too negative.
We've beaten a Wigan side in disarray (and could've easily drawn) and a Blackpool side who are 2nd bottom and got beat 4-1 at home by Ipswich.
After Northampton we have games v Oxford, Pompey and Fleetwood so they will give us a better idea of how good we actually are.
But the early signs are definitely promising.
I certainly wouldn’t be slaughtering Watson, I thought he did well. Completely dominated the midfield, tied up the loose ends and sprayed the ball around nicely. The Blackpool commentators waxed lyrical about him all evening.
I understand what you’re saying but I’m not judging the team on individual results, I’m comparing them to what we’ve had previously and what others have currently got.
We may lose the next 10 games 1-0 but I’m still certain we have the best back line in the league. This team is better than the one we had for the majority of last season (excluding Gallagher, Taylor and Leko).
Watson was very tidy. I think the danger is to be wrongly critical of Watson and Pratley, when the issue is not with them at all, but the perceived need for a more attacking midfielder in the side.
I imagine myself as a half decent League One defender (we can all dream!) and I think, I wouldn't fancy playing against Aneke at all. I wouldn't mind playing against say Washington in the same way.
If Doughty is Right wing back and Maatsen Left wing back then Gunter would play in a 3 with Innes and Famewo.
It wouldn't work with Pearce, Innes and Famewo. That could be keystone cops. No problem if Pearce plays instead of Innes or Famewo if they have a knock or lose form during the season.
Innes and Famewo defending was superb; Both need to improve their passing, good start in their Cafc careers.
Comments
Not being near the top suits us. We cruised the first 10 games in some reasons once we were relegated from the PL, then just fell apart.
Gunter, Inniss, Famewo, Maatsen,
Watson, Shinnie, Madsen,
pretty much shoe ins.
On a positive note, Maatsen added a touch of class and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him; Inness has all the makings of a cult hero; Chuks is getting better by the game and the rest of our players seem to be growing in confidence. It all bodes well.
[and that’s from someone who thought it was Madison].
If we'd gone to Ipswich or Posh and ground out a 1-0 win, that would be a massive statement of intent. We instead scraped past the team in 2nd bottom, who now have 1 point from 5 games and who were a man down for 40 minutes, in the process recording ONE shot on target (plus the disallowed goal)
The defence is starting to look good, but as a team we're definitely a work in progress.
Before we slag the officials off too much, we should ask ourselves whether their final decision was correct. I couldn't be sure looking at the stream but I could see how it could have been. Moan if it is incorrect, accept it if it was correct. It was obviously going in and Bogle should have stepped back with his hands in the air.
Good for possession stats, and passing accuracy ones too, but a lot different than passing the ball around the opponents box
The Chelsea back looked like he has a good footballing brain and moved into the space that was in midfield several times to good effect. Not sure how many left backs would do that. He did benefit from a change in formation to three at the back and I wonder if when Pearce is fit we will play with a back three with him in the middle and wingbacks.
Doughty right wingback and Maatsen left wingback.
I imagine myself as a half decent League One defender (we can all dream!) and I think, I wouldn't fancy playing against Aneke at all. I wouldn't mind playing against say Washington in the same way.
It wouldn't work with Pearce, Innes and Famewo. That could be keystone cops.
No problem if Pearce plays instead of Innes or Famewo if they have a knock or lose form during the season.
Innes and Famewo defending was superb; Both need to improve their passing, good start in their Cafc careers.