Disappointing to see the usual defensive solidity get undone so easily on multiple occasions. Peterborough looked more like the top-end, playoff-contending side than the one this season that has been flirting with the relegation dogfight - they were clearly up for it today, went after the game and looked decent across the pitch. It's a real shame, because, as others have said, it was an open game and we had opportunities to take the lead.
Their first goal was a real shocker - clearly Mannion has made a big mistake here, but young keepers just do that. Thankfully, mistakes like that this season have been minimal, but it costs you points in games like this at the business end of the season. Whilst the individual error was dealt with initially, the resulting cross was a collective error that was invited through the initial free kick. I like many elements of Mannions game, but what we wouldn't give for an more experienced head in a situation like this. I think that our defensive performances this season have glossed over the deficiencies in our goalkeeping department this season, and whatever league we end up next year, a new number 1 will be top of the shopping list in the summer. Tough on the lad, but it just highlighted one of our weaknesses. Can't be doing that.
We huffed and puffed, but chasing a game against a pacey attack reminded me of the Rotherham loss. We don't do well against fast players who run at us with the ball - however, we absolutely shouldn't be leaving Coventry one vs one against teams like this. Ramsay should have been back there, really. I think that visions of Orient remained fresh in the mind and that might have been the way we snuck back into the game. That strat doesn't really work with the floated corner deliveries from Berry vs the more direct, driven deliveries from Gilbert.
Just need to follow this up with a better performance against Huddersfield next week, and NJ will hammer this home for them after today. We reacted well after the Rotherham game, and I expect the same. Realistically, this reduces the automatic push to low, low % chance, but that was always the case anyway. Get back to the way we have been playing, forget today and solidify ourselves for 4th minimum in the playoffs.
We've got ourselves into contention, we just now need to nail the landing ahead of playoffs. There's probably another away loss (but hopefully not two) in the Wycombe or Wrexham games. We will be ok and other teams will drop points too.
The ball came off of Ramsay’s leg with the attacker pressuring him from behind. Mannion committed to taking it then but Ramsay took another touch which was effectively a pass back to the keeper. A mix up but I’m not sure it was the keeper’s fault. If Ramsay wanted Mannion to clear it I’m not sure he had the space to swing a kick with Ramsay being pressured from behind and the box congested. Just a feck up and it did seem to rattle them.
Was right n front of me and definitely on Mannion. He had time to whack it clear. The second touch from Ramsay was totally unnecessary but he couldn’t predict what Mannion would do and he had an attacker right behind him
It was Ramsey, exactly as @LoOkOuT says imo. It was then Ramsey who played the scorer onside for his header. He's been very good for us generally; today I thought he looked like he was complacent then under prepared when he realised it was more difficult than he had expected.
Out passed, out paced, out thought .. reminded me of another very bad day at Rotherham .. we bounced back from that and we'll bounce back from this. BUT we have trouble with very pacy, tricky midfields who run rings round our rather pedestrian 3 As I mentioned in the preview, Mothersille was by far the best player on the pitch today, an inch perfect through ball for their (well taken) second and a very smart finish for their third No Edwards, we looked outta shape, some strange subs from Nathan, we were just out of sorts .. as I said just a BAD day all round, we'll be back As an aside, the indirect free kick inside the area was the first I have seen given for a very long time, of course it would be conceded by us
In a funny sort of way, getting the winning run monkey off our back may not be a bad thing if we bounce straight back. My concern is that when we have (rarely) lost in the last few months we have lost badly. It could have been five or six today. We had loads of pressure but created virtually nothing of particular note. Where we really consistently struggle is end product from our wide players. Small and TC terrorise defenders but their crossing/decision making is lamentable. Peterborough were neat and tidy and looked very good on the break. But in all honesty we made it easy for them. Dust ourselves down and get on the horse again next week. Top 2 probably beyond us but we’d have taken playoffs six weeks ago.
Never were we three goals worse than them today, but it was still a very bad day at the office. After the calamitous mistake by Will Mannion that led to the first goal, we looked shaky and unsure in defence, especially vulnerable to their fast counter-attacking play. We were toothless in attack and despite getting into decent attacking positions we failed to create clear-cut openings. The result feels harsh but in truth they could have had more.
But let's not overreact. We've had a fantastic run but it was always going to end sometime. The trick now is to bounce back quickly and decisively. We managed that well after the defeats at Birmingham and Rotherham but Huddersfield will be a very stern test next week, both of our players and of Nathan Jones’ ability to inspire a passionate and controlled performance after today's disappointment.
Have to disagree with that Davo. Second half they absolutely battered us and missed some real sitters before adding the third. In contrast we created very little.
I take your point, and I can only agree really. But I was just making the point that in terms of possession, balance of play, it felt a little harsh. We dominated the first half hour, for example.
The ball came off of Ramsay’s leg with the attacker pressuring him from behind. Mannion committed to taking it then but Ramsay took another touch which was effectively a pass back to the keeper. A mix up but I’m not sure it was the keeper’s fault. If Ramsay wanted Mannion to clear it I’m not sure he had the space to swing a kick with Ramsay being pressured from behind and the box congested. Just a feck up and it did seem to rattle them.
Was right n front of me and definitely on Mannion. He had time to whack it clear. The second touch from Ramsay was totally unnecessary but he couldn’t predict what Mannion would do and he had an attacker right behind him
This all day long. Whether or not the second touch from Ramsay was necessary or not, whether Mannion was unsure of how much swinging space he had, picking the ball up was 100% the wrong choice. There's no two ways about it, the free kick and the resulting goal was down to Mannion.
If Kanu and Leaburn are out for the season I would have Dixon on the bench as a wild card option. Having two of Chuks, Ahadme or Hylton isn't having a different option.
Get chuks starting his coaching badge and keep him in the club. But playing days are done I think, unless he has some miraculous fitness regime over the summer.
Maybe we needed this kick up the arse to wake us up and not to expect every match to go our way, we've ridden our luck a couple of times now, but I am really looking forward to next week when Huddersfield roll into town and we give the a real old Valley drubbing... This could be spark we need to push us on for the last 8 matches...COYR
To be honest if it's another Rotherham then we bounce back then great, fair enough. We couldn't expect not to lose any another games realistically!
In desperate need of another decent striker, as can be seen today we're screwed if one of Godden/Leaburn are injured, but we have to work with what we've got.
Hopefully Edwards and Leaburn are back asap and we can put this down to a bad day at the office.
Tennai watson is not good enough to be in a promotion chasing league one side .Ahadme is not good enough to be in league one at all.Leaburn not being available meant bench was weak.edwards being out meant a change but i think mitchell alongside jonees and gillesphy leaving ramsey to maraud down the right is better that playing watson
I had very high levels of stress checking in on the score this morning. I seemed to know it was going to be bad. I guess there was some maths deep in my brain telling me we were due a loss. I just didn't expect it to be a drubbing. In our next game we need to get a big win (not just a win) to calm my nerves going into the end of the season.
After a few minutes, I thought this had the making of a 4-4 as BOTH teams looked dangerous in attack, but vulnerable at the back. Indeed that would have been a better reflection of the game than 3-0.
I thought we looked slightly sloppy at the back in the last few minutes against Wigan, and the same was definitely true today, and against better attackers, as our vulnerability is against pace rather than in the air. Mannion has been excellent since he came back in, but after his error (and yes it was his error) he lost a bit of confidence. Did we play too high a line today, as against lightning fast attackers our CBs were bypassed too often?
Our finishing wasn't great today, but taking Berry and Godden off made us worse. Berry actually looked sharp today, and combined well with Godden. Chuks was completely ineffective, and it was grim seeing him being outpaced by a defender for a 50/50. I'd rather have Ahadme on ahead of Chuks now, as at least he has some mobility.
If Nathan Jones recognised that Peterborough's strength was their 4 pacy, tricky forwards, (his press conference), then why did we play so open and attacking? I guess that his arguement would be that their weakness is their defence, so if you go a goal up, which we should have done in the first 30 mins, then their forward play would be nullified. My gut feel, is that we should have gone very defensive, from the start, which we have been strong, pretty much all season, and gone for a 0-0 at half time. tire Peterborough out , then go for the killer punch. It didn't work out that way, and having gone 2-0 down, it was an uphill task. Our season has been based on a solid defence, over the last few games we seemed to have gone away from this, complaints by CL people, players out of position, too far up the pitch, leaving us open to the counter attack. This was highlighted by this game, a time to go back to basics, which have proved so successful over the last ten games, we haven't got Peterborough's forwards, we are not going to win games three or four nil, but winning is all important at this time of the season. So, a plea to Nathan, make us boring again and just win games of football, I don't care if it's boring, but just win.
At the game - very disappointed especially with such a big away crowd - but you can see why we score so few goals - despite pressing high and having a good start we lack incisive final balls, instinctive accurate shooting and a lack of movement in the box when the ball is crossed in.
Mannion should have kicked it clear, Watson lost his man and then we left ourselves too open to the counter from our own poor corners like last season. Said it a few weeks ago but Aneke is finished - brings nothing - might as well have left Godden on and brought Ahadme on earlier - really worried if Leaburn and Kanu are out for the rest of the season.
TC frustrating to watch - so little end product - really missing the goals that JRS and CBT contributed from wide.
Once I’m over the disappointment of not finishing 2nd 😡 we go again Saturday.
Hard to really criticise the players after the run we’ve been on, trouble is they have built up our expectations when realistically play offs was our goal.
Tennai watson is not good enough to be in a promotion chasing league one side .Ahadme is not good enough to be in league one at all.Leaburn not being available meant bench was weak.edwards being out meant a change but i think mitchell alongside jonees and gillesphy leaving ramsey to maraud down the right is better that playing watson
Fairly poor all round. No stand out performance. Berry needs dropping and sent to find his shooting boots. He gets into decent positions but couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo!
Bad mistake by Manion seemed to lead to our downfalll.
Comments
Their first goal was a real shocker - clearly Mannion has made a big mistake here, but young keepers just do that. Thankfully, mistakes like that this season have been minimal, but it costs you points in games like this at the business end of the season. Whilst the individual error was dealt with initially, the resulting cross was a collective error that was invited through the initial free kick. I like many elements of Mannions game, but what we wouldn't give for an more experienced head in a situation like this. I think that our defensive performances this season have glossed over the deficiencies in our goalkeeping department this season, and whatever league we end up next year, a new number 1 will be top of the shopping list in the summer. Tough on the lad, but it just highlighted one of our weaknesses. Can't be doing that.
We huffed and puffed, but chasing a game against a pacey attack reminded me of the Rotherham loss. We don't do well against fast players who run at us with the ball - however, we absolutely shouldn't be leaving Coventry one vs one against teams like this. Ramsay should have been back there, really. I think that visions of Orient remained fresh in the mind and that might have been the way we snuck back into the game. That strat doesn't really work with the floated corner deliveries from Berry vs the more direct, driven deliveries from Gilbert.
Just need to follow this up with a better performance against Huddersfield next week, and NJ will hammer this home for them after today. We reacted well after the Rotherham game, and I expect the same. Realistically, this reduces the automatic push to low, low % chance, but that was always the case anyway. Get back to the way we have been playing, forget today and solidify ourselves for 4th minimum in the playoffs.
We've got ourselves into contention, we just now need to nail the landing ahead of playoffs. There's probably another away loss (but hopefully not two) in the Wycombe or Wrexham games. We will be ok and other teams will drop points too.
It was Ramsey, exactly as @LoOkOuT says imo. It was then Ramsey who played the scorer onside for his header. He's been very good for us generally; today I thought he looked like he was complacent then under prepared when he realised it was more difficult than he had expected.
As I mentioned in the preview, Mothersille was by far the best player on the pitch today, an inch perfect through ball for their (well taken) second and a very smart finish for their third
No Edwards, we looked outta shape, some strange subs from Nathan, we were just out of sorts .. as I said just a BAD day all round, we'll be back
As an aside, the indirect free kick inside the area was the first I have seen given for a very long time, of course it would be conceded by us
Oh, you're so fickle @ForeverAddickted ..🙄
This could be spark we need to push us on for the last 8 matches...COYR
In desperate need of another decent striker, as can be seen today we're screwed if one of Godden/Leaburn are injured, but we have to work with what we've got.
Hopefully Edwards and Leaburn are back asap and we can put this down to a bad day at the office.
Onto the next one, confident we’ll beat Huddersfield.
I thought we looked slightly sloppy at the back in the last few minutes against Wigan, and the same was definitely true today, and against better attackers, as our vulnerability is against pace rather than in the air. Mannion has been excellent since he came back in, but after his error (and yes it was his error) he lost a bit of confidence. Did we play too high a line today, as against lightning fast attackers our CBs were bypassed too often?
Our finishing wasn't great today, but taking Berry and Godden off made us worse. Berry actually looked sharp today, and combined well with Godden. Chuks was completely ineffective, and it was grim seeing him being outpaced by a defender for a 50/50. I'd rather have Ahadme on ahead of Chuks now, as at least he has some mobility.
It didn't work out that way, and having gone 2-0 down, it was an uphill task.
Our season has been based on a solid defence, over the last few games we seemed to have gone away from this, complaints by CL people, players out of position, too far up the pitch, leaving us open to the counter attack.
This was highlighted by this game, a time to go back to basics, which have proved so successful over the last ten games, we haven't got Peterborough's forwards, we are not going to win games three or four nil, but winning is all important at this time of the season.
So, a plea to Nathan, make us boring again and just win games of football, I don't care if it's boring, but just win.
Mannion should have kicked it clear, Watson lost his man and then we left ourselves too open to the counter from our own poor corners like last season.
Said it a few weeks ago but Aneke is finished - brings nothing - might as well have left Godden on and brought Ahadme on earlier - really worried if Leaburn and Kanu are out for the rest of the season.
TC frustrating to watch - so little end product - really missing the goals that JRS and CBT contributed from wide.
Bad mistake by Manion seemed to lead to our downfalll.
Time to put Chuks out to grass.
WTF were their mascots all about? Weird!