Probably best to only play him when we're kicking away from the away end too, just to be safe! He looked like a little boy lost when the Leeds fans piped up and we know those Millwall ruffians can be awful noisy.
He managed to score 2 goals in those cameo appearances, so probably not? I get that's not enough gametime to get fully up to speed, but we probably could have got him there if we'd played him
As Ismael seemed very keen during his midweek interview to stress how influential he’d been in our summer recruitment (and not the now departed Manga), I wonder in his next interview if he might mention that Lewis looks disinterested to be here, Healey has hardly been seen, his new striker looks generally awful, Ince has underwhelmed when actually fit, Chakvetadze looks ok on the eye but in truth has made little impact in terms of goals/assists while Livermore, while not looking the dinosaur most feared, hasn’t actually played that many minutes to justify being here. The one decent summer signing has been Martins, but as he was here pre-Ismael and a simple loan from our parent club, I can’t see he was actively involved in this one. In our present situation, we can’t be picky about a win. Three points is three points. I don’t feel we’ve yet earned the right to be walloping teams out of sight. So yesterday will do, in most respects. However, we all know it wasn’t a great performance and hardly one to fill most of us with any excitement about a good team growing steadily as the season progresses. The Head Coach has positioned himself this week as a man with more say than most of his recent predecessors. He seems to have a much bigger input on recruitment, a much bigger say on the general structure of management at the club (Manga going) and seems to have bagged himself a longer contract. All well and good, until you remember we are 19th with a 25% win rate and all those at home, don’t seem to have signed anybody this summer who has yet made any impact, and who yesterday struggled to beat the bottom and winless club. In some other footballing news, Nice yesterday beat Marseille 1-0 to go to the top of League 1. Sighs.
There were moans and groans in the stadium when we were passing it around the back, but I don't remember either Bayo or Rajovic doing anything to hold the ball up. Ultimately, I don't think the passing around the back is the issue, it's a symptom of players ahead of them not demanding the ball
a tad harsh on Bayo. He held the ball up far better than Rajovic who seems to be unable to control, pass or even head the ball passing at the back is fine but not when they don’t have the confidence to do it. It looks like it will always end in somebody giving the ball away in a dangerous position and the moans were because every time we had the ball on the halfway line our defence immediately looked to pass back. Even Porteous did that from a free kick
For me it all starts and ends with the midfield. As long as that department looks ineffective and keeps misfiring, and as a consequence Val keeps rotating his selection there game after game, the more the keeper and defence is exposed to the tippy tappy passing nonsense and the more isolated whichever limited striker we play up front will be.
Bayo is better than Rajovic, but that is a low low bar. We didn't give the ball away in dangerous areas yesterday, but Hoedt could have put us under the cosh, he just played the ball out of play under little pressure on numerous occasions
I remember a beer advert or something. The guy kicks his keys with the outside of his heel into a spittoon and the amiable, football loving f ft m foreigner says 'ah! Pele'
Think Livermore deserves credit for how he has stepped into the team and put in a good level of performance. Sierralta is fine as a backup option at CDM but Livermore's experience there is stark and is part of reason why we've stopped leaking as many open play chances. Definitely a position I want to see properly recruited come January though as it's shown the Sierralta experiment Haa ultimately failed there as a starter.
Thought defensively that was one of Hoedt's best games. He won practically every header throw at him today and was brave in the challenge. His passing overall was poor with unchallenged passes out of play but it's also because we're putting too much pressure on him being the only competent ball playing CB we have. Porteous' passing and the decision making with it has alarmingly regressed. Aye. It's little surprise that the side Ince is on generally gets exploited less. He does a good amount of running in both directions which is valuable
Agree. If players are forced to acknowledge support then it’s meaningless anyway. If a player felt the backing was good they can clap, but it’s up to them.
Why was the penalty overturned, does anyone know? Was it diving? Looked like a penalty to me from Vic Rd end. But there was definitely something off because the Sheff Wed players didn't seem to complain when it was overturned.
Fans will generally pay good amounts of money to watch their team all over the country. If the players' are not putting in at least some effort they are entitled to boo or show some unrest. It's not right that fans' boo players, but it happens in other entertainment events as well. Comedy shows, talent contests etc. On the other hand, they are also not entitled to clap the fans either, and it's entirely a personal choice if they want to or not. Do players care that fans' have travelled/paid a lot of money to come see them play and they put in an undercooked performance? Some might, but again it's subjective as it's part of supporting a team. You get good performances and bad ones throughout a season. Personally I have always found it pleasing if players at least show some appreciation to the fans that have travelled to see them, win lose or draw. They are not entitled to do it, but in the same regard fans' have a personal choice whether or not to boo the players' throughout a match. It's not frowned upon especially if they are not putting in effort.
https://twitter.com/azatampswfc/status/1715998459449270458?t=o0qRiS77KrcDIQqAldtHMQ&s=19 Turns out it was a good tackle. Tbh I missed it from the Rookery as I was sticking a bet on Wednesday winning 1-0 at the time!
It wasn't a penalty because Lewis had his foot on top of the ball and pushed it out for a corner, the Sheff Wed player dived over his other leg as he ran passed him. It was a dive, and the fact it was right in front of the away end it was brave of the officials signal the corner kick.
They are a rag tag bunch and it’s not been an easy watch for ages now, but equally our home support is the worst it’s been in my time going. Quiet as a mouse or booing at the earliest opportunity.
Ngakia was positive - some decent balls in, some dreadful but he shows more attacking intent than our supposedly creative players. TDB and Louza absolutely honk. Jamal Lewis is awful. Kone is hugely inconsistent but the ball through for Asprilla was excellent. Livermore made a world of difference as he did at Cardiff. Play badly but win and keep a clean sheet against a team with a new manager, happy days.
The Koné pass looked a lot better from the Rookery than on the highlights. It was an exceptional bit of play from our Canadian to get away from the man, find the gap and weight it perfectly.
Exactly this. Hoedt and Porteous have a lot of the ball but find the midfield are static or hiding, fans get impatient and scream “fffooorrrwwwaaarrrddd” so it gets pumped forward and we lose the ball. Midfield is our weak point. The two best attacking passes aside from the goal were from Hoedt and Ngakia. Our midfield have the strength of a quaver and very little creativity.
Marks and Smith both said several times on the commentary that it was static, there's just no movement. What has happened since the first few games? We had inverted full backs, the 8s were coming wide to receive the ball from the centre backs and then getting into the box, the wide forwards were drifting inside to get shots off and we even had Sierralta popping up in the opposition's box. Has Ismael changed something or have the players done their usual and stopped trying for the head coach, despite us clearing out the 'trouble makers'?
QPR just gave us too much room as Porteous admitted whilst we didn’t create that much even against Plymouth or Blackburn but least it was positive whereas now we are too slow and not looking for a quick pass into space forward maybe due to a lack of movement.
Ah thank you. Yes he did have his foot on top of the ball. I was very surprised that the linesman actually spotted it (that must be a first) and informed the ref.
Where are you getting that idea from Hogg-Deeney? The couple of sites I checked showed him only making one 10 minute cameo off the bench in their final game of the season vs Monaco. He scored one goal in that, albeit it was a speculative long-range shot because he didn't appear to have the legs to carry the ball further forwards. As per tut's post his cameo could have been for sentimental reasons, and he probably wasn't fully up to speed at that point yet either.
Neither - we kept the system exactly the same, but just took out players who were mostly crap or disinterested despite playing in their favourite positions and the subs who came on generally played with more purpose.
Not sure about that. It looked a stone bonk penalty on the TV. I had no doubts it was a pen, so no surprise the ref was fooled too. The commentators on hive live also didnt question it. The Watford players' protests were vehment, but then they always are. It was a beautiful and gratifying moment when, just as they were going to spot it up, the ref suddenly ran over to the lino. Phew!
It's a bit catch 22. We don't really have a midfield capable of progressing the ball through the centre of the pitch but we can't go long as Bayo's hold up play isn't great and Rajovic spends his time loping around like a baby giraffe. So we just end up with the centre backs passing to the full backs on their side (or straight into touch, shout out to Big Wes!) a little bit further up the pitch and then having to try and work things in tight areas.
It really did not. Even watching it live before the zoomed in replay it was clear Lewis won the ball. Put some glasses on.
That's why I'd have midfield as the number one priority for incomings in January. Our options through the middle are just not up to scratch: Louza - doesn't care and has checked out TBD - never going to happen for him Livermore - moves like a mannequin Kayembe - painfully one footed Kone - scared of loud noises Georgi C - stepover merchant Sierralta - square peg meets round hole
