I have credit both teams for both having a right go at winning, didn't really expect any difference tbf. Shocking weather and pitch so mistakes will happen from both sides. Hard fought 3 points the plus for me is if they keep battling like this we will no doubt be going for the Auto sports. WTE again doesn't fill me with confidence though, although Armstrong is an excellent player he seemed to mug off WTE all the time. But the front three were a joy tonight again, luckily Xisco has stumbled into a decent formation and lineup. As soon as I saw Pedro muscle his way past a defender in the opening couple of minutes I knew we were up for a fight and it was a fight they deserved to win.
Midweek games. Scoring. Winning. No VAR. No overcooked analysis of every game. I love being in the Championship.
The current winning run is very enjoyable, but being the grump I am, it does come with a small sense of regret that we did not change things around earlier in terms of personnel and formation. However, we have found a better balance and we can hopefully push on, but it is going to be very tight on automatic promotion. Hughes is a class act and his ability to find the right space to take the ball and his passing is exceptional. He has a good tackle in him too (although looked a little casual for their first goal (along with a number of others)). Cleverly is working so hard that you have to wonder if he will wear himself out with all the games that we have. Kiko is playing out of his skin. A quality player has emerged, both defensively and going forward. Sierralta is another who is performing very well and a player that we would have considered as a low ranked back up when he arrived at first. As for the forward line, it is as exiting a line up as we have had in many a year. I think Zinc will come good and will add to that as the weeks go by. Defensively, we were a little weak last night on a couple of occasions, but we have options and alternatives, if form and fitness issues arise. I wonder if Lazaar is worthy of a start, at this stage. The quality, or lack thereof, of the red button option on Sky was frustrating. I think I will splash out and go for the Hive Live option next time!
True and thankfully Xisco hasn't been making majors changes in the line up. Hopefully Nate will be back for Gosling and I would seriously look at Cathcart for WTE but that would be it, no major changes just tinkering. Going back to Cathcart he has the experience needed for the Muff game and the run in. Tbh I'm more worried about Wycombe than I am Muff.
It’s starting to look like our last promotion season when four teams broke away from the chasing pack and it was pick any two from those four for automatic. I’m not living in an idyllic heaven where I can’t see there are still a few problems and issues. We have made hard work of things this past week (although as I said last night, I think that ignores the fact that the opposition are actually allowed a say in things). There are still certain players I worry about. Some because they aren’t performing so well, others because I fear we rely on them too much. However.. The hard facts are 19 days ago we’d endured our third successive game without a win. We were lumping it up to an immobile Deeney. We weren’t starting with our best forward. We were playing our best midfield player on the wing. Most people thought the appointment of Xisco had backfired. I too was having my doubts. Fast forward to now and we’ve won 12/12 points, scored 12 goals, are playing some decent stuff, playing a better formation and honestly that 0-0 v Coventry feels like literally light years ago. We are right in the mix, the next few weeks promise to be tense and exciting, and whether or not we can all agree or disagree about the merits of TE’s passing, DB’s coming for crosses, BW’s performances off the bench, Xisco’s substitutions and whether or not we are making things hard for ourselves or actually showing great maturity to see the last three matches out to win by a single goal, the bottom line is since we rid ourselves of the dullness of the Ivic era, we’ve earned 26 points out of 36 and now look capable of scoring more than once in a match. For the first time in a while I’d suggest most if not all of us are now looking forward to our next match, not dreading it or feeling indifferent about it. Bring it on!
I'm dreading it in the normal sense, in that watching your own team is only ever really actually enjoyable when you're three goals or more ahead and cruising - otherwise it's a rollercoaster car crash of tension and feeling slightly sick. But yes, much better than the dread of paying a tenner to be treated to Conference South level football and the potential of seeing our promotion campaign sink without trace.
Something that really pleased was the way they celebrated our second goal with the all team running to the corner flag for big group celebration . Not seen that all season and reminded me of the spirit of 12/13 and 14/15 squads . I think a lot can be learned about team spirit from goal celebrations .
Looking at the second Blackburn goal, it really was poorly defended. Not only was Bachmann rooted to his line (as always) letting the defence deal with a corner, Wilmot was the wrong side of his man, which is also unforgivable. That is stuff you learn as a schoolboy. It's basic things like this that have to be ironed out PDQ, or else it's going to harm our chances of continuing this winning streak.
JP is far superior to any of our other striking options. If he stays fit to play it makes a huge difference to our chances of going up.
Whoever is in charge of “cutting round things” and general arts and crafts at Blackburn needs to be sacked .
Are we the only team not to have these “fans”? Because we were in the Premier league when this all started.
I know you’re trying to stir discussion but we won and we scored goals! Just enjoy it!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but it is the 1st time since September 18 that we have won 4 league games on the trot! 11/8/18 Brighton 2-0 H 18/8/18 Burnley 3-1 A 26/8/18 Palace 2-0 H 02/09/18 Spurs 2-1 H
Certainly doesn't look like a foul on Wilmot! My worry is Bachmann though as any goalkeeper should deal with, catching it or punching it clear. He is better than Foster with the ball at his feet but that's it. If Foster is fit he needs to start from now on
Yep, because if there’s one thing we know about VAR, it’s the unquestionable consistency of decisions being made from game to game. Highlighting this one instance that supports your argument was a solid play.
Excellent. The likes list from this post is a clear list of all the COGS here who The bedwetters can attack when we start doing badly again
yeah I thought there were a lot of tackles when a player seemed to go flying and the ref carried on (both sides) , I was guessing that this was due to the slippy pitch and they were not fouls , but with refs in this league who knows !
Definitely. Although the challenge on Wilmot for the goal was in a bit of a different category. That said, even though he totally missed a clear foul - a potentially critical decision - this ref didn't make me as ludicrously angry as almost every championship referee manages to do. Don't know what it was, though. Maybe because he let the game flow?
Can't find it reported either. That said, this is the Diagne incident. . Looks much more innocuous than the Wilmot/Brereton incident, although I may well be blinded by my hornets goggles here. Brereton hauls Wilmot to the floor whereas Diagne just sort of uses his hands a little to get across Lindelof. For what its worth I think that Wilmot is all over Brereton too, but generally when defender and attacker foul each other in those duels a free kick is given for the defending team (which is probably just some sort of vague refereeing norm rather than a rule).
In injury time, in what turned out to be the last kick of the game, Bachmann took quite a long time over a goal kick and the ref thankfully blew up on the four minute mark pretty much as soon as the ball hit the floor. Am I right in saying that some stricter referees might have added time for time-wasting?
Dan Gosling to the Echo - “I loved my time at the club, and I wanted to stay, but Watford came calling and it was a no brainer. What I saw today from Jeff (Lerma) and Jack (Wilshere) is the reason why Bournemouth will struggle. That attitude isn’t for me.”
