Dare I say it but the reason we have lost today is more because Albi is not there yet more than any other single reason.
He tries hard but he lacks confidence at creative midfield play and should have been substituted much earlier on. It’s more a case of keeping him on to give him confidence than anything else and that’s never a good move. Not a great lover of bowyer but he would’ve pulled him off at half-time. The trouble is who do you put on instead of him? We have no Josh Cullen or Jake Forster-Caskey right now.
Dare I say it but the reason we have lost today is more because Albi is not there yet more than any other single reason.
He tries hard but he lacks confidence at creative midfield play and should have been substituted much earlier on. It’s more a case of keeping him on to give him confidence than anything else and that’s never a good move. Not a great lover of bowyer but he would’ve pulled him off at half-time. The trouble is who do you put on instead of him? We have no Josh Cullen or Jake Forster-Caskey right now.
To be fair to Morgan, we were at home and you should have one holding midfielder and two attacking ones playing our formation. One of them ought to be occupying the space Morgan is/was and let him play higher. He is basically being asked to do too much and it isn't a given he can play the role with more help. He isn't to blame for not being the finished article.
Dare I say it but the reason we have lost today is more because Albi is not there yet more than any other single reason.
He tries hard but he lacks confidence at creative midfield play and should have been substituted much earlier on. It’s more a case of keeping him on to give him confidence than anything else and that’s never a good move. Not a great lover of bowyer but he would’ve pulled him off at half-time. The trouble is who do you put on instead of him? We have no Josh Cullen or Jake Forster-Caskey right now.
He's mainly fucked after 60/70mins but who could he have bought on today in place of him
Adkins has got to take that one on the chin and learn from it. We were slightly the better team against strong opponents for much of the second half. Going 4-2-4 with twenty minutes left was insane. Predictably we were overrun after that.
We were outplayed first half and only still in the game thanks to a worldie from MacGillivray. I still have questions about his judgement and positioning, though.
Left back is an absolute must, Gunter has been awful there. Watson showed his experience and was by far our best midfielder. Famewo and Inniss do not look like quite the same outstanding partnership had last year. Famewo's already made as many mistakes as he made the whole of last season.
We need some players, but more than that, we need consistency of performance from the ones we've got, particularly in Central midfield.
Walking's good, talking's good. Sitting on a train having traveled fifty miles to watch my team lose again, less so.
It seems odd that the club appear to have accepted losing in the hope of some points/ sacrificed a certain amount of games to possibly gamble on recruitment. We really haven’t looked like winning one game so far, I can’t see how Adkins is accepting of this when it is blindingly obvious, even to us mere mortals that the team as it is isn’t going to do what is needed. I really feel for the fans as a good number have committed both financially and vocally with understandable optimism. And yet here we are. I don’t think it’s anything sinister, but I am feeling there’s been a bit of a fuck up somewhere.🤷🏻♂️
To be fair to Morgan, we were at home and you should have one holding midfielder and two attacking ones playing our formation. One of them ought to be occupying the space Morgan is/was and let him play higher. He is basically being asked to do too much and it isn't a given he can play the role with more help. He isn't to blame for not being the finished article.
He isn’t good enough full stop. We also shouldn’t be hoping he learns on the job after lots of failed chances to impress, particularly in a team hoping for promotion. He wouldn’t be even close to 1st team football in any other promotion chasing side, and yet we seem to be pinning our hopes on him.( not me I may add, never have and never will). I sadly no longer hang on to the hope he proves me wrong as I don’t see it happening.😬
Believe it or not, I am not turning on Sandgaard. He has either made an error of judgement or doesn't have the money to walk the walk. I hope it is the former as it is probably easier to correct. But ultimately, he did rid us of ESI and they would have killed us.
The problem we have to accept is that there are potential buyers out there but not at the price Duchatelet wants. Sandgaard may be the only one willing to take us on with that mad weasel still owning the assets. Hopefully he has the ability to affect this. It isn't too late.
So I'll try and give a take on the actual game rather than just moan about the situation.
Some positives, well at least not negatives. MacGillivray definitely shut a number of people up, some great saves and if it were not for him then it could have been a lot worse. Only real criticism of him is he seems a bit hesitant in coming out for it, similar to Amos really.
Watson had one of his better games for us, some nice passing and reading of the game. Dobson looked better but he definitely is limited with the ball at his feet. Kirk showed some of his quality but I felt so sorry for him having no wing back to help him out, his game is clearly to cut inside a lot but that threat is completely nullified by having no wing back on the overlap.
I'm not going to keep having a pop about Morgan, he's clearly trying his best but just doesn't quite have it. My one remaining question is why is he still on set pieces? Do we really have no one else any better?
I didn't understand those who kept calling for 442, we don't have the players to even attempt it, if you think throwing on an extra striker and expecting our wingers to suddenly start creating enough then you must be watching another team because we certainly aren't going to create anything through the middle. We did move to a sort of 442 at the end but it was clearly a hail mary from Adkins, nothing was being created with what we have. In the end it maybe cost us a point but I guess had he not changed things there's be some calling him out for it.
Dare I say it but the reason we have lost today is more because Albi is not there yet more than any other single reason.
He tries hard but he lacks confidence at creative midfield play and should have been substituted much earlier on. It’s more a case of keeping him on to give him confidence than anything else and that’s never a good move. Not a great lover of bowyer but he would’ve pulled him off at half-time. The trouble is who do you put on instead of him? We have no Josh Cullen or Jake Forster-Caskey right now.
Dare I say it but the reason we have lost today is more because Albi is not there yet more than any other single reason.
He tries hard but he lacks confidence at creative midfield play and should have been substituted much earlier on. It’s more a case of keeping him on to give him confidence than anything else and that’s never a good move. Not a great lover of bowyer but he would’ve pulled him off at half-time. The trouble is who do you put on instead of him? We have no Josh Cullen or Jake Forster-Caskey right now.
So I'll try and give a take on the actual game rather than just moan about the situation.
Some positives, well at least not negatives. MacGillivray definitely shut a number of people up, some great saves and if it were not for him then it could have been a lot worse. Only real criticism of him is he seems a bit hesitant in coming out for it, similar to Amos really.
Watson had one of his better games for us, some nice passing and reading of the game. Dobson looked better but he definitely is limited with the ball at his feet. Kirk showed some of his quality but I felt so sorry for him having no wing back to help him out, his game is clearly to cut inside a lot but that threat is completely nullified by having no wing back on the overlap.
I'm not going to keep having a pop about Morgan, he's clearly trying his best but just doesn't quite have it. My one remaining question is why is he still on set pieces? Do we really have no one else any better?
I didn't understand those who kept calling for 442, we don't have the players to even attempt it, if you think throwing on an extra striker and expecting our wingers to suddenly start creating enough then you must be watching another team because we certainly aren't going to create anything through the middle. We did move to a sort of 442 at the end but it was clearly a hail mary from Adkins, nothing was being created with what we have. In the end it maybe cost us a point but I guess had he not changed things there's be some calling him out for it.
The problem was when we went to 442, we needed to play hoofball. Morgan was probably the player to come off and the midfield's job ought to have been a defensive one whilst being bypassed for our attacks. It still probably wouldn't have worked though. It is a question of personnel at the end of the day.
To be fair to Morgan, we were at home and you should have one holding midfielder and two attacking ones playing our formation. One of them ought to be occupying the space Morgan is/was and let him play higher. He is basically being asked to do too much and it isn't a given he can play the role with more help. He isn't to blame for not being the finished article.
But he is to blame for the shit set pieces that he takes, not being able to stay in formation, falling over multiple times and not being able to pass or shoot well enough to make a positive impact on the game, isn't he?
We were very lucky to go in 0-0 at half time. Wigan could have been 0-3 up at that point. We started brightly in the second half and put more into the game. But we didn't create too many chances and didn't play with any great imagination. Bit early to be pessimistic, but we don't look good enough to do much at this level and a run of results like this (and our other opening games) could send us down even if we recover later. Margins are tight. We need to bring in a couple of quality players before 31st August. Where's Ronnie Schwartz when you need him?
Just out of interest, how many players short do people think we are of being a decent side for this division
1) Macgillivray 2) Matthews or Gunter 3) NEW 4) NEW DCM 5) Inniss 6) Famewo (but need another option to keep them on their toes) 7) NEW CM 8) NEW ACM 9) Kirk 10) Stockley 11) NEW WINGER
5 starters plus two or three strong options to push them from the bench.
Clare and Dobson should be squad players along with Watson. Don’t know enough on CBT but will continue to assume a squad option.
People blaming Adkins are mad, it’s TS who has the cheque book and he’s given us a budget that gets us Dobson and Clare. Can’t describe how pissed off I am.
TS has given us a bigger budget than most teams. Very few have spent as much money as us. Stockley £750k (outbidding Portsmouth) £500k on Kirk and others. As for Dobson and Clare, I'm not sure who signed them but in case you didn't notice Clare didn't play today! Tactics were dreadful. That was our biggest downfall
You keep spouting there figures. And then are wrong.
Firstly, the transfers are usually "undisclosed" so you have no more knowledge then anyone else. I believe the figures knocking about for Stockley was less than £500k....£400k I remember being quoted on here over the summer. Kirk we believe had a release clause of £500k.....but againt hat has never been stated publicly. Clare from Oxford was in the region of £100k if Robinson can be believed.....and I think Dobson was released from his contract.
My observations from the ground were that we didn’t appear to have any movement in the team.
When we had the ball at the back there was no-one showing for the ball and moving their markers out of position.
So we went side to side and invariably failed to retain the ball or hoofed it long.
Throw ins were like musical statues.
We badly miss a player to keep the midfield ticking . Picking the ball up from the back for , playing one two’s - just being in the right place at the right time.
Our Full backs today hardly got into the oppo half.
We have no pace across the side.
Positives - Kirk looked dangerous . Stockley tried hard but has no gas , keeper made 4 really good saves.
All is not lost , but something is definitely wrong behind the scenes.
Gallen and Bowyer had a succession of decent signings with a small budget from RD, so what is so different now ? Ok they also had some ropey ones as well, but we haven’t seen players if the Calibre of Cullen , Gallagher , Bilik etc
Perhaps players would to move to play under Bowyer but maybe not Adkins ?
Did TS a think that he would retain last years players when he made his upbeat comments about promotion ?
I don’t know what’s up , but something isn’t right.
Comments
Jolly Boys Outing
We were outplayed first half and only still in the game thanks to a worldie from MacGillivray. I still have questions about his judgement and positioning, though.
Left back is an absolute must, Gunter has been awful there. Watson showed his experience and was by far our best midfielder. Famewo and Inniss do not look like quite the same outstanding partnership had last year. Famewo's already made as many mistakes as he made the whole of last season.
We need some players, but more than that, we need consistency of performance from the ones we've got, particularly in Central midfield.
Walking's good, talking's good. Sitting on a train having traveled fifty miles to watch my team lose again, less so.
Cousins who’s average at best, didn’t even look like he broke a sweat.
And McClean comes on to a chorus of boos and scores.
We are mugs, and absolute mug of a football club at times aren’t we.
The problem we have to accept is that there are potential buyers out there but not at the price Duchatelet wants. Sandgaard may be the only one willing to take us on with that mad weasel still owning the assets. Hopefully he has the ability to affect this. It isn't too late.
In fairness, Bob Bolder was never a liar.
Some positives, well at least not negatives. MacGillivray definitely shut a number of people up, some great saves and if it were not for him then it could have been a lot worse. Only real criticism of him is he seems a bit hesitant in coming out for it, similar to Amos really.
Watson had one of his better games for us, some nice passing and reading of the game. Dobson looked better but he definitely is limited with the ball at his feet. Kirk showed some of his quality but I felt so sorry for him having no wing back to help him out, his game is clearly to cut inside a lot but that threat is completely nullified by having no wing back on the overlap.
I'm not going to keep having a pop about Morgan, he's clearly trying his best but just doesn't quite have it. My one remaining question is why is he still on set pieces? Do we really have no one else any better?
I didn't understand those who kept calling for 442, we don't have the players to even attempt it, if you think throwing on an extra striker and expecting our wingers to suddenly start creating enough then you must be watching another team because we certainly aren't going to create anything through the middle. We did move to a sort of 442 at the end but it was clearly a hail mary from Adkins, nothing was being created with what we have. In the end it maybe cost us a point but I guess had he not changed things there's be some calling him out for it.
Or is not at fault for any of that either?
2) Matthews or Gunter
3) NEW
4) NEW DCM
5) Inniss
6) Famewo (but need another option to keep them on their toes)
7) NEW CM
8) NEW ACM
9) Kirk
10) Stockley
11) NEW WINGER
5 starters plus two or three strong options to push them from the bench.
Clare and Dobson should be squad players along with Watson. Don’t know enough on CBT but will continue to assume a squad option.
replace Morgan with a top no10 and sort left back position out and our season will get up and running
simples!!!
Firstly, the transfers are usually "undisclosed" so you have no more knowledge then anyone else. I believe the figures knocking about for Stockley was less than £500k....£400k I remember being quoted on here over the summer. Kirk we believe had a release clause of £500k.....but againt hat has never been stated publicly. Clare from Oxford was in the region of £100k if Robinson can be believed.....and I think Dobson was released from his contract.
So I reckon £1m is about the right figure.
Perhaps players would to move to play under Bowyer but maybe not Adkins ?