Absolutely. but people who are 100% negative all the time erode their credibility (in my view). Nath has just become the boy who cried wolf by being completely negative all the time. Not everything that happens in and around the club is ****, just as not everything is perfect. But there is no balance to what he posts
Naths right, it was a turgid performance. Lacking inspiration until we found a piece of it in Joaos boot. There's positives to take in the way we organise the shape and have defensive discipline. But there was no cohesion between each 3rd of the pitch, we gave the ball away so often, and when we kept the ball for more than 3 passes it went back to foster to hoof it out of play. Derby were worse though with the repeated long balls to nobody when in possession. Cocu claims they played well, were the better team and should have got 3 points! Jesus.
This league is dreadful. Every team we've played so far has been utter turd. Having said that, Ivic gets huge credit for somehow getting us to 10 points from five games with the players available. Slightly concerned that we're going to go the whole season thinking 'just wait until some of our other players come back...' but for it to never actually happen as the dates keep getting pushed further and further back. This season seems like a huge opportunity to bounce back first time and so far, we are gambling with it but doing ok. We can't keep burning through games with a weakened team though, at some point it will catch up with us.
That guy that scissor tackled Kiko, pulled back King Ken and then handballed it from Chalobah's shot was incredibly lucky to stay on the pitch. Also, that was Ngakia's worst performance by some distance. He's been our best player so far this season but the passing infield straight to opposition players was rubbish. A marginal improvement from Quina but pretty much showing why he's not been played much over the last two seasons.
What I loved about the goal was the way Pedro did an arching shuffle around the ball to get it onto his right foot. It was both childlike and brilliant in equal measures and made me actually laugh out loud. The other laugh out loud moment, in what was a turgid evening's "entertainment", was Aidy Boothroyd's glasses. What was he thinking when he bought those? They made him look like a nonce.
Wilmot for me looks like he's going to be a top player. Still lots to learn, but he's got the demeanor of a player that's played 200+ games. Needs to do what he did for Pedro's goal mode often, especially if we have to continue with the turgid two in midfield until Capoue and Hughes return
The other laugh out loud moment, in what was aturgid evening's "entertainment", was AidyBoothroyd's glasses. What was he thinking when hebought those? They made him look like a nonce. Like many Aidy has a special place in my heart for that season and that trip to Cardiff. However I actually ended up doing an internet search to check that he’s not been unwell after seeing his work last night. Being U21 manager must be more stressful than you would anticipate and you are right, the glasses made him look a right wrong ‘un. Great goal, lovely three points and so good to us defensively organised after the past few seasons of proper clown defending.
I understand the different levels and it's reasonable to assume that we would have been punished by TC's error and Rooney would usually score,albeit Kabs did just enough. However just by being organised Ivic has made us look unlikely to concede. I cannot fathom why Pearson*,Gracia and even QSF couldn't do this. * Fight v Gino notwithstanding.
Next two games will be tough. Blackburn are scoring freely and no VAR leaves the Muff to indulge their Tom Daley impersonations.
A word on JP. Aside from the finish, he looks potentially special. He's good on the ball, with great close control and he works hard off it, closing down and pressing. He's also happy to get involved in a bit of argie bargie which is probably helped by improved confidence due to bulking a bit. The role he's playing in this system is obviously not ideal but the fundamentals are all there. I can see him getting a move in January.
On the subject of Boothroyd, he genuinely presented as someone who was in the process of recovering from a stroke; it was a bit baffling. It might have been the worst performance from an in-studio pundit I've ever seen, and Sky almost make it their mission to outdo themselves in that department week-to-week as it is. I can't imagine what that's like for the u21s in the dressing room at half-time, say. No wonder we just drew 3-3 with Andorra
So far this campaign we’ve won all 3 of our matches that were moved from Saturday afternoon, but failed to win any of those that stayed 3pm Saturday kick offs. Augurs well for Tuesday at least!
People keep repeating to him the fact we have three or four players out that would walk into any team in this league yet he just ignores it.
Blackburn have scored loads against two of the weakest sides. Wycombe, who look like the whipping boys this season, and Derby who we beat last night. They are a good side, but we have defended well so far and if we can keep that mentality, it's not impossible to get something I feel.
I think having Quina in front of him had a negative impact on Ngakia, both in terms of some passes he received from Dom that put him in uncomfortable situations, and in terms of having an outlet on his flank to combine with, given that Quina plays inside and didn’t provide a reliable option, and then with Sema and JP both inclined to play from the left as well. Did a job defensively, but his attacking output wasn’t as good as previous games.
Are you willing to concede the possibility that having Capoue, Hughes, Sarr and Gray in the side might be a solution to our lack of attacking threat?
It’s more the point he doesn’t seem willing to make any allowances for who we are missing when he complains about the lack of attacking threat as if we are misfiring WITH all our more creative players in the team.
I concede that but are you willing to concede that all or some of them will be bit part players at best and possibly gone in Jan? Gray I don't include because I don't concede that he will help.
You say we don't have the squad depth, but maybe we do. Maybe we're over exaggerating the Championship. We've played 5 teams now, and we've pretty much controlled every game, even the one we lost. We have 5 first team players to come back into the side, so I'd like to think the squad will improve quite a bit, especially across the forward line. If we can get close, but comfortable results with a fairly weak side, then it all bodes well. We will probably sign a free agent or two along the way, and may get Cucho added in January. Right now, I think we're a very good bet for a top two place, but I am aware there are a couple of decent sides in this league like Swansea, Bournemouth, Bristol City, Brentford & Norwich. But I don't think there's too much to worry about and those clubs I've mentioned will probably be part of the top 6, along with us of course. A lack of a instinctive striker could be our undoing, however, with Deeney, Gray, Perica and Sarr to reintergrate, that will almost certainly improve the situation.
That game was so bad that they put a long clip of the halftime whistle being blown in the 2 minute quick highlights to fill them out!
Thought yesterday was a good away performance. Granted we didn't create much, but as you can see in this league, if you're as solid as we are you only need to take one chance to win a game. Lets also not forget that we were denied a stonewall penalty that was going in had it not hit his hand. I personally think, as soon as we have a different Striker and Hughes/Capoue into that team, it's a completely different prospect. Thought Sema, Wilmot, and Pedro were great. Sema was beating his man every time he was in wide areas. Him and Sarr out wide could cause a lot of problems in the championship.
