Thought Bachmann was good, a good save with their player one-on-one (a textbook Bachmann save if you will), swept well a few times as well to deny them. Bayo was Bayo, did well to create a few chances, but wasted the best chance of the match when he could perhaps have taken it on a bit further. Plymouth are quite an open team, but I thought Asprilla and Chak were bright, not as easy a game as last week, but there's enough in that team to finish solidly in mid-table as expected
Disappointing not to win that. We dominated and there was a lot to like, but as we all know we desperately need a reliable finisher. A better number 9 today and we win that. Surprised RH didn’t come on. Let’s hope this coming week brings at least one incoming, maybe more. I think today showed us the Jekyll and Hyde of the two players we probably have the most doubts about. Bachman crazily sloppy with his possession but saved well from a couple of shots. Bayo very good at finding space and good positions but so wasteful with the chances. Nice cameo from Asprilla. Good to see him. I thought Hoedt had one of his better games for us. And Martins decent. Can only imagine he went off as fatigued after the midweek match? So it’s another point and clean sheet for the work in progress, against a side on a long winning run. Far from perfect but often fun to watch and genuine hopes here that with a few quality additions, we have a lot to look forward to. Would be nice to score a second half goal soon this season!
Good game for a 0-0 , we should have won but their defending was excellent and their goal keeper pretty good. 20 shots , 3 on target , a lot of effort by the whole team , a lot of good play particular in switching sides of attack. Manager doesn’t seem shy with a substitution either which makes a change. a bit deflated as we really should have had a goal, but they were throwing everything in the way, I know he isn’t liked by everybody but I do like the fact that Bayo (who should have scored) was in the right position most of the time. Bachman is going to cost us goals but I much prefer this style of play , let’s just hope that when he ****s up we are already a few ahead.
Well it was a fairly enjoyable game, in which we played well overall with a largely committed team - which is what people wanted right? Annoyingly considering that we did play pretty well, Plymouth also defended very well and got blocks in on everything. They also seemed to get the rub of the green with deflections always seeming to fall kindly for them. The elephant in the room was obviously Bachmann's passing. He played well in everything else he was required to do, but yes, it was terrible and our own worst enemy. Thankfully today it didn't cost us, but hairy moments will be inevitable. But by the same token, will we be able to find a GK who passes like Ederson while playing in the Championship? I thought Hoedt was immense today and MotM. His passing was sensational at times, and although I've been critical of his defending before he won a number of key tackles in defence today as well. While Louza was narrowly MotM last weekend, he was poor today. He should have been one of the earlier subs really, probably instead of Martins going off. As with the mid-week game against Stevenage he looked half-ar5ed too often and didn't really get involved aside from taking set-pieces. And then most of his set-pieces were too easy for the GK. I'll ask this again, but why did we ever take Sema off corners?! Bayo was having a decent game up until that rushed finish, which he'll obviously be criticised for. Chakvetadze and Asprilla's decision making was both a bit suspect when they came on. Andrews, Morris and Martins were all lively. It was a bit surprising we didn't throw on Healey towards the end and go 2 up top to try and get the winner and mop up the crosses we kept putting in the box. That was my main grievance with Ismael aside from taking off Martins a bit early. Not the result we wanted, but we did at least manage to end Plymouth's 8 game winning run.
Didn’t get to see any of it so all forum reports very welcome including anyone who fancies giving player ratings a go. I know we’ve had 3 of the ‘easier’ games of the season, but we have had a lot of possession and shots in all 3 which I like.
Couple of signings away from being a really good side. Think we all know which position we need the most... Also Plymouth deserve a lot of credit for their performance. Defended exceptionally well.
Positives: - Liked VI getting Sema/Martins to switch sides towards the end of the first half - we created a frankly obscene amount of crosses (34 according to whoscored.com!) and getting them onto their stronger crossing sides rather than playing inverted helped with that and caused Plymouth a lot of problems and on another day could've easily ended up with a couple of goals. - The youngsters. Andrews/Morris/Martins/Asprilla were all superb. Was disappointed Martins came off as thought he looked most likely to be a gamechanger. - Dominated the game really, we looked a bit susceptible on the counter a few times but we know that's gonna be a risk in our system and was worth the trade off for imposing our style on them. The Mehs: - As mentioned by others already, Bachmann is a disaster waiting to happen. - Sierralta far too slow and clunky in possesion. Good ball winner but he really slows everything down when we've got the ball - Disappointed not to see Healey, after the first 20 mins I thought Bayo was nailed on for a goal today but he waned and disappeared (other than the bad miss towards the end) about 5/10 mins after we made the big group of changes. Guessing he's a way off fitness if he's not seen a single minute yet. - Chakvetadze. Looked really positive last week but felt he was trying to be too flashy today which caused our attacks to break down too often.
im not sure Plymouth will be seen as easy game by the end of the season , they really defended well and showed massive team spirit , they were not letting a goal in regardless of potential injury and throwing themselves into everything , don’t think they are relegation candidates.
That's why I have patience with him even when he's wasted chances today. I do think he's going to get you 15-20 goals a season but he'll miss 20-30 more doing so. For better or worse, that's his style.
Agreed he is a poacher and his job is to get in the right place which he does well , nobody scores with every shot , just need him to get his conversion up to something like 1 goal in 4 shots
How on earth did we not walk away from that with 3 points! Felt that 4 subs maybe stemmed the momentum but we still had so many chances to score. Just so unlucky with ricochets and bounces and Plymouth defended so resolutely that I guess they deserved the draw and almost snatched it a few times. Bachmann is both amazing and calamitous in equal measure!
Did really well to get something on the early shot which went just wide, and made a couple of good runs, one of which he wasted, and one of which the defender just about got to. Don't get me wrong we can certainly improve upon him (and hopefully will with Moore or Kaba), but someone who is as deadly a finisher as he is good at getting into the right areas won't be playing in the Championship!
yeah he is going to get lobbed before too long , however he is plying the way the manager wants and it does seem to be integral into us pressing g much higher up the pitch which is more exciting. think we should all agree to not give him **** when the first lob goal goes in
Only 2 strikers in the league last season (min 1200 mins played) achieved that or higher last season (Archer + Liam Cullen at Swansea)!
He's 28 years old, I don't think anyone can make him a good passer at this stage of his career (even if he's not played that many games!), but I am encouraged with his sweeping, and his shot-stopping is decent as we know
From the readings so far it looks like Bayo is a bit like Gray, can get into the position and can turn a man, but his finishing is generally woeful. However, if he keeps practicing his craft I am hopeful he will come good. We all said pre-season this side would struggle to score goals, but so far 5 goals in three games isn't too bad. It's clear as day we need a potent striker but those do not come cheap and with Gino tightening the purse strings even more this season it's going to have to be a real gem of a find at a very low price. Four points from two home games isn't a bad start either. Team looks/sounds like they are working for each other and buying into VI's system which will take a bit of time to fully blossom. A lot more to like so far already after two games in from the dumpster fire of last season.
Obviously Bachmann is the big concern, he's going to cost us a few goals this season. No complaints other than that, a very good team performance but just one of those days in front of goal.
Unfortunate not to win really but then Plymouth actually had some good chances too . Agree there were some very encouraging performances from the young players . Martins a bit unlucky to go off ? Bayo just couldn’t get his feet sorted out ! Not sure Livermore and Chakvetadze had a great impact .
Really promising performance, much more cohesive than at any point last year. Identity, plan and effort. If we get a better #9 we can hopefully have a play-off push this year. How shyte must Healey be? Martins was great not sure why he came off, Andrews also great down that side. Hoedt tremendous today, if he can play like that consistently I’ll see what Southampton saw when they forked out! Referee’s just seemed to forget about any time management, Plymouth didn’t seem to waste a load but only 5 given the new thresholds was weird. Only a matter of time till a team capitalises on Bachmann’s uncertainty. An entertaining 0-0. A new striker and a new midfielder to take Sierrelta’s position and we could have a good season!
something else I have noticed is he is also doing his best to throw out as quick as possible to get us up the pitch and we are also taking throw ins quickly , last season we would just wonder round aimlessly letting the opposition get back into position, manager has def injected urgency
Did the ref not get the memo about the new injury time rules !? Shocked there was only 5 minutes overall.
Kone looked a far better player than last season. Broke through their line a few times and looked positive rather than playing simple backwards balls. I'm crediting VI for that.
I think we are going to see this more and more this season. Going against the new FA rules is certainly not going to go down well with them, but let's be honest the amount of time added on last weekend was silly. I get the system and it's needed changing for years into something to stop the time wasting, but you have to draw the line somewhere. 10+ minutes of injury time is never going to sit well especially with the winning team only a single goal up.
Tbf last week there were lengthy stoppages in each half with players down (make what you will of how that transpired!), I thought last weekend's added time was fairly sensible all things told
If Healey isn’t fancied to come on in a game like that then I don’t know why we bothered signing him Nevertheless, enjoyed that again today, high intensity performance and with a proper number 9 we’d probably have won it
Decent game, tactical chess in the first half and some fantastic stuff in the second after the brave move to make the 4 subs although it did look like Sierralta waved to the bench before going off. Very clear where the weaknesses are but can’t see them being resolved as that will require a few money signings. We have a shocking lack of depth in some areas. But because of those things, it’ll be an exciting lottery as to what we’ll see each week. Fully expect we’ll give someone a 5/6 goal hammering at one point but equally can see us taking a tonking or two against teams that can finish. Ref was terrible and should have been more added time but that should satisfy the injury time traditionalists. I can see why Asprilla wants to leave, made some of them look stupid when he came on. Bayo is Bayo, a cheaper Andre Gray. Not sure why some were so shocked he missed the one on one. Livermore looked decent when he came on. Bachmann is so out of his depth in the sweeper keeper role, I can’t wait to see what happens next time. Silly and compelling. Two games in a row I haven’t been bored which is a massive change from last season.
Played 2 strikers for a bit midweek and apparently we looked more threatening, not sure if that was something enforced, whether he was just experimenting or whether it's a genuine plan B
At least you can see a side coached to a system that are actually following the plan. At the moment it’s going better than I expected. I actually am enjoying watching us play.
