It's Halloween. But we have already had our nightmare. Two words for it. Utterly dreadful. Any repeat of the lack of desire, effort and ability to even control the ball will see the murmurings of discontent grow volubly. We could have sent a message out to the rest of the division by thumping Wycombe. Instead they will be looking at how easy is it to stifle us. Other sides such as struggling Barnsley will be emboldened as a result. Ivic needs to change tactics. The need for Hughes in midfield, a target man is paramount. Capoue was an utter disgrace on Tuesday. A decent player does not shirk his responsibilities but stamps his authority over the pitch. Yes he may be getting to full fitness but it was still a diabolical effort along with several others. Time for Crashcart to be removed. Get Wilmot back in if it is a three. If for the love of God we return to a back four then send Kiko to left back. It is not ideal but it's the best we can do until Masina returns. Many thanks to the idiots in charge of recruitment like Scott who still think a left back was not necessary despite Ivic asking for one expressly. As for the Tykes a three nil win over QPR will have been a shot in the arm for them. Cauley Woodrow remained with them. Would have been a decent signing for us at this level. Our possible managerial target Gerhard Struber has flown over the pond leaving Barnsley short of players and in what will be probably another season of struggle. But given our complete lack of grit, substance and discipline it will probably rely on a moment of individual magic a la Pedro at Derby or Foster putting on another superlative display between the posts to earn a point. I am greatly disappointed by our start. There is a lack of aggression, smoothness, running off the ball, cleverness, dreadful set piece work in an attacking and defending sense. It hardly inspires any confidence for a promotion run. This countering system Ivic is adopting is doing the team more harm than good. We need to grab games by the scruff of the neck from the start. Just what do they work on at London Colney ? Defeatism ? Perhaps Barnsley will deliver another chop to our shrinking ambition this weekend. Anyway. Famous men of Barnsley support their local team. Like much of the industrial north it has been gutted by the loss of coal mining and glass making but remains memorialized in several local museums. And of course there is the magnificent Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Tremendous musicianship for over a hundred years. A tear in the eye certainly. Brassed Off should be a must watch film for all. Opposition forum: http://barnsleyfc.org.uk/forums/bulletin-board.130/ Our recent decent record may well be ended this weekend: https://www.11v11.com/teams/watford/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Barnsley/ Always well to learn from mistakes Gino, Scott and Floppo. Remember last season ? Get your PASS NOW ! for some more tedious fare that will make you tear your hair out.
Think Gough is a United fan. Also a long-standing Tory, which must stand him out as quite odd in that part of the world...
Gritty, northern, flat cap wearing, coal mining cloggers Vs Southern, powderpuff fancy-dan, humous eating nancy boys. Nailed on home win.
Barnsley. Once a Premiership minnow and the whipping boys of 1998. Now a bit of a yo yo club between LG 1 and the Championship. They work hard and grind out the odd result. We just need to try to forget about yesterday as much as we can, learn from it and attempt to move on. Another draw could see us fall further behind in the early running order so we must realistically go for a win. He's pants but let's play Murray. Why not? A target man at least, and Ivic must see this rancid system does not suit us anymore. Plug the left back with Kiko and get Sarr and Pedro back to their natural positions. We won 4-1 here last visit. Don't expect such dominance this time. 0-0.
Last night was just so so deflating, I could stomach the injury time goal against Bournemouth because there at least was a lot to be encouraged by, but there was nothing encouraging about that Wycombe performance. I keep banging on about Hughes and Gray, and an eventual move to 4-3-3, but it's not going to all happen straight away, is it? A very tricky game in prospect this, they appear to have hit some form with the new manager, and are scoring goals which they just couldn't manage under Struber. I don't know much about Valerien Ismael (other than he got good results with LASK in Austria but left after the club got docked points for breaking lockdown restrictions), but under Struber they played a very intense pressing style of play which got them results against the bigger clubs in the division...we're gonna lose this one aren't we?
It's not the result, it's the way we performed. We were lucky, we could and probably should have lost.
Watford's performance on Tuesday was like crime on a multi-story car-park: Bad on so many levels. Here are a couple of things I think they might usefully improve on: Passing. There were so many under-hit, over-hit, mis-directed passes from players who are meant to be technically good. Especially the final ball to set up the move. Tailor the pass to help the receiver as much as possible, for goodness' sake - you are not ticking boxes here, quality counts. It's just shoddy thinking to put the ball behind the runner; yes, he might be able to retrieve it, but that's not the point, is it? 'Transitions' and attacking intent: Vary it, but at least some of the time try and move it forward fast instead of ponderous, steady, earnest stuff that creeps forward. High speed is on the attackers' side, slowness on the defenders'. After all, Sarr must be one of the quickest players in the division and Kiko is no slouch, either. Shoot on sight. Quina please note. If you are up against a packed defence sometimes it pays to go for quantity of attacks, not quality, if you can't break them down with the latter. We have already scored some really good quality goals, but they are too few and far between - One goal a game is not really enough, is it? &, if you go into a lead, don't drop back to defend it for the rest of the game, try (sensibly) to score another one. That's more than a couple and I could go on, but I might run out of ink.
Loved the Grimethorpe band. Loved Brassed Off. Loved Tara Fitzgerald in it. Who cares about the football?
I think it is a massive game. We have to see a response from the players. They should take a real positive from Wycombe and that is the positivity, work rate and desire of Wycombe.
Match going to be played in rain and gales. One for the gritty northerners not the fragile emotions and delicate skills of Pedro, Sarr, Quina etc. Must win game. 2-0 to the northern b******s.
Head says 1-0 Barnsley from a set piece as we look toothless get again. Heart says players roll up sleeves and put in a good response and Gray and Hughes are on the bench to give us a morale boost.
Just as I thought we'd never win at Wycombe, I think we'll actually do well at Barnsley. I hope my good predictions come true and not just the bad ones. I think we'll win this 3-0.
Gritty northerners? It's 2020, not the 1980s. There's a few local lads in the squad but the bulk of them are foreigners from such far flung places as Denmark,Angola,Poland,Kenya,Germany, Austria etc.etc. There's even a couple of Londoners
Yes but those from Denmark, Germany and Poland will already be acclimatised to playing in the same horrible northern weather conditions as will be found in Barnsley. For the others, a mere month will be enough to acclimatise. Delicate flowers Femenia, Pedro and Sarr had better take their cagoules, thermals, gloves and snoods. ps **** off back to oakwell and leave me to my stereotypes.
Yayyy another two days of the club’s media department bombarding us with interviews and training photos of players who won’t start on Saturday. My money is on Gray and Hughes this week. Followed by disappointment at 2pm on Saturday when the line-up is unveiled. And at 2.01pm when the official Twitter feed re-sends it, because once again they’ve named the same player twice by mistake. And then another borefest at 3pm, full of an overload of central defenders and our best attackers played out of position. I wonder which player will score our one permitted goal this match? We should make it a weekly competition here.
I seem to remember that, when you re-emerged as a poster back in July, your posts were both well-reasoned and optimistic. What's happened?