Few positives from that game, although a much needed win. That was the first game I've seen PCH in since his return though, and I don't remember him ever tracking back or putting tackles in before, so happy days.
See Allsop has already had the intensive injury acting course, whilst our tequila-sunrised heroes enjoyed a well-deserved stoppage time Lucozade.
Ok so the positives... 1) we won 2) Thompson's red card means we'll be forced to play with some youth up front for three matches.
Actually, we were doing that until he got sent off, with PCH up front from the start of the second half and Thompson on the right wing. But he's too slow for that, as became patently clear through his totally unnecessary but fully deserved sending off. PCH can clearly play as a front man though and I hope that's where he now stays.
It's no coincidence that the one time in the match we played with fullbacks running at defenders, wingers overlapping and crossing into the box, we score, with PCH's delightful looping header. Why oh why oh why can't we do that more often? It works damnit, unlike the constant long ball.
Other than PCH the only attacking player who acquitted himself well was O'Nien, whose intelligent distribution and darts forward deserved reward (he would have got it too if Bloomfield had returned the one-two in the box just before being subbed).
The vast majority of the match though we were dire, against probably the most toothless team in the league, with one player less for a long period.
The fact the crowd were chanting for Ugwu from 20 mins in rather sums up the night. If Ugwu is the answer what on earth can be the question?!
looking at the home and away form very much the same story as last season. Maybe having one of the smallest sized pitches has backfired on use somewhat ?
We were truly awful tonight. A shocking amount of hoofball on a decent pitch. When we did try to play football, a lot of passes went astray.
Some of the defending was worthy of Sunday League. It looked like two poor teams fighting at the bottom end of the table.
Worryingly, several players look really low on form/confidence. Sam Wood scurries around when tracking back but looks disinterested in getting forward. How many times did Jombati look for a simple out ball down the line and find Wood totally absent? Hayes is half a yard off the pace and even Harriman, despite playing so well just a few weeks ago, had a real stinker. Only McCarthy could be singled out for an excellent performance and I thought Onien did well off the bench.
On the plus side, two goals from open play and a good header from Paris for the second. But it is no coincidence that both goals came when we played a few passes and got a decent cross in. The evening was pretty much summed up in the fact that the second goal was preceded by mock cheers from the away end for every pass we strung together.
I actually think we played better on Saturday against Luton. We created better chances and tried to play a bit more football. Tonight we were dire, but were fortunate enough to play an already weak team further handicapped by a one man deficit for a large chunk of the game.
I fully expect us to lose at home to Exeter. How on earth are we sixth?
That's a really telling contribution Glenactico and I wasn't able to get to the game so an honest summing up is refreshing and enlightening. I too wonder how on earth we are 6th. I think this is a poor league.
Wycombe are currently 6th in the league and on course for around 73 points and another entry to the promotion play-offs at the end of the season. Personally, I am quite happy for them to carry on playing just the way they have been in an effort to secure that play-off spot; rather that than see them try to change things at this stage of the season, attempt to play like Barcelona and miss out on the play-offs if it transpires they are not comfortable with and/or not good enough for that.
The post-match comments from GA showed an incredible amount of nerve - calling D&R a "long ball side".
Erm, what the hell were we playing then? Particularly McCarthy and Jombati were punting everything as soon as they got it. Both can actually play football, but had clearly been told not to.
And I'm not buying this "D&R dragged us down to their level", a lot of their play was going through their winger (Jones) until they went a man down, and only then did Still bring on a giant up front to hoof it to.
Surely when the other side goes a man down that's the cue to keep it on the deck and stretch the opposition with the extra man, but you could hardly say we did that. Frustrating, even if the result went our way.
@Glenactico@PBo; saying it as it is. For all the scurring and in your face high intensity play style it masks that we can't play football for large portions of a game any game, wheather it's 11 or 10 men makes no difference.
Only positive was that our goals did stem from open play and the rarely seen pass and move it to a player with the same colour kit on rather than the old faithful, hoof and hope.
Big well done PCH and O'nien... heard you guys where awesome.
Isn't the rather obvious point that you have to play the way that best suits the players at your disposal?
Last season we had Alfie Mawson at centre half, as good a defender at bringing the ball out of defence and distribution as we have ever had, and Sam Saunders in midfield, a wonderful cultured midfielder with vision and loads of time on the ball.
We don't have either this season, and whilst Jason McCarthy is a great player he is not as good on the ball as Mawson, and whilst I love Pierre (he's my favourite player) nobody could argue that he was a good passer of the ball.
As for the midfielders at our disposal, for all their qualities you couldn't describe any of them as playmakers. And so you play someone like Bean to screen the defence, and you play players like O'Nien and Bloomfield who will run all day and you clear your lines quickly and long and you ask them to get up and try and win scraps and 50/50s.
The best on the ball as far as I can see is McGinn but he doesn't look mobile enough to me to do the other stuff you need a midfielder to do.
If we tried to play the way some people want us to play with the players we've got then we'd end up giving away a lot of possession dangerously close to our penalty aside Teams would press high and take us apart.
I appreciate we were lucky to have and we shouldn't expect players of his quality to play for us but Sam Saunders would make a massive difference to this side.
As an aside, we had that Ollie Palmer on trial a while back didn't we? The way he played against us the other week he would be perfect for us at the moment
I think we'd have won at Wembley if Saunders hadn't been injured (although who knows really) and I think we'd be promoted this year if we had him fit for the rest of the season.
I dont think we ever had Ollie Palmer on trial, we were once linked to him when he was at Woking or Waterlooville, he's a handful but not the quickest.
We are crying out for a mobile midfielder, in the mould of Sam Saunders who can hold onto possession, as well as have the guile and craft to slip other people in and create chances, as well as take a few chances as well.
Bloomfield averages 2 goals a season, and about as many assists, ok to bring off the bench on some occasions, but i feel this is where our real weakness lies.
I know some people probably couldn't stomach this, but Stuart Beavon up front would suit our system down to the ground, his unselfish running on either flank as well as down the middle, would certain assist our present crop of misfiring strikers.
Needless to say both Saunders and the Beaver are both too advanced in both footballing and salary terms to have any chance of enticing them to Adams Park in the near future.
Thing is, we CAN play good football with this team. Villa away was a prime example. Oxford at home too, even the first 25 minutes or so on Saturday. Sometimes it feels like we're just panicking, particularly when we don't get an early goal, or if we go one down.
Beavon had one good season for us and is now approaching 32. We already have old timers in Hayes and Thompson, do we really need another? His scoring record at Burton of 12 in 67 games isn't earth shattering either.
@Glenactico Ainsworth mentioned in @bluntphil's post match interview the ironic olés from the crowd and the fact that both goals came from the only stretches of play where we brought it down and passed it.
I could also clearly hear the Wycombe fans on the commentary singing "We know what we are, we know what we are, time wasting bastards, we know what we are."
@drcongo , Agreed you could hear both chants clearly on the 'wireless', I also noticed big Aaron Pierre appearred to have his hands outstretched to the Wanderers followers after PCH's goal on the Sky footage.
I don't think we are asking for Barcelona-esque football here. I'm perfectly happy for us to play direct and do what is necessary to win.
But to me that means wingers working the line, overlapping full back and getting the ball in to the strikers quickly. It does not mean leathering it as far as you possibly can at every opportunity, particularly if that means shanking it out of play.
I think the team are fair game for these chants, after all we do go to football to be entertained, if not we'd just wait for the results at home if it was a purely results business.
I hate our darker side of the game, but I accept that it's part of the package you get with Ainsworth. And overall that package is excellent and right for the club at this present time
Some of the posts on this thread are quite embarrassing really. Listening to you bunch of moaners I'd have thought we'd lost a football match and stuck at the bottom of the league. But we won and we're 6th in the league. Cheer up eh lads?
@ChasHarps both Pierre and PCH gestured after the goal to indicate that they didn't feel the jeering was helpful. They're probably right but I can sympathise with those fans that felt they had to make a point. At that point in the game we were all over the place and desperately needed to get it on the floor.
Comments
What a load of shit we are could of lost that we are so poor crap football
We could have lost, we could have drawn, but we didn't. - we WON!
Few positives from that game, although a much needed win. That was the first game I've seen PCH in since his return though, and I don't remember him ever tracking back or putting tackles in before, so happy days.
See Allsop has already had the intensive injury acting course, whilst our tequila-sunrised heroes enjoyed a well-deserved stoppage time Lucozade.
Ok so the positives... 1) we won 2) Thompson's red card means we'll be forced to play with some youth up front for three matches.
Actually, we were doing that until he got sent off, with PCH up front from the start of the second half and Thompson on the right wing. But he's too slow for that, as became patently clear through his totally unnecessary but fully deserved sending off. PCH can clearly play as a front man though and I hope that's where he now stays.
It's no coincidence that the one time in the match we played with fullbacks running at defenders, wingers overlapping and crossing into the box, we score, with PCH's delightful looping header. Why oh why oh why can't we do that more often? It works damnit, unlike the constant long ball.
Other than PCH the only attacking player who acquitted himself well was O'Nien, whose intelligent distribution and darts forward deserved reward (he would have got it too if Bloomfield had returned the one-two in the box just before being subbed).
The vast majority of the match though we were dire, against probably the most toothless team in the league, with one player less for a long period.
The fact the crowd were chanting for Ugwu from 20 mins in rather sums up the night. If Ugwu is the answer what on earth can be the question?!
I've only seen Ugwu a couple of times so I'm not taking the piss with this question, as I haven't got the background to comment.
However he seems to get slagged off on here a lot. So was all the Ugwu chanting crowning an ironic cult hero, or genuine?
He put himself about pretty well when he came on, but looks pretty clumsy.
http://www.skysports.com/iframe/widget/video/U4bHJzMDE6TFOQYhg2ctZae8K8Dn4_M2#ooid=U4bHJzMDE6TFOQYhg2ctZae8K8Dn4_M2
Highlights from Sky, from the badges looks like it was a Bucks derby!
@PBo Paris' last few weeks with us before departing to Millwall were filled with tracking back and some exceptional tackling.
fair enough. my last season as a season ticket holder was the season before, so I had stopped seeing as many games by the time he left for Millwall.
looking at the home and away form very much the same story as last season. Maybe having one of the smallest sized pitches has backfired on use somewhat ?
Away...............................P W D L PTS
(1) Plymouth Argyle---- 14 9 3 2 30
(2) Oxford United------ 14 8 4 2 28
(3) Bristol Rovers-------15 8 3 4 27
(4) Wycombe Wanderers-14 8 3 3 27
Home............................. P W D L PTS
(14)Exeter City---------14 5 5 4 20
(15)Wycombe Wanderers-15 5 4 6 19
(16)AFC Wimbledon-----14 5 3 6 18
We were truly awful tonight. A shocking amount of hoofball on a decent pitch. When we did try to play football, a lot of passes went astray.
Some of the defending was worthy of Sunday League. It looked like two poor teams fighting at the bottom end of the table.
Worryingly, several players look really low on form/confidence. Sam Wood scurries around when tracking back but looks disinterested in getting forward. How many times did Jombati look for a simple out ball down the line and find Wood totally absent? Hayes is half a yard off the pace and even Harriman, despite playing so well just a few weeks ago, had a real stinker. Only McCarthy could be singled out for an excellent performance and I thought Onien did well off the bench.
On the plus side, two goals from open play and a good header from Paris for the second. But it is no coincidence that both goals came when we played a few passes and got a decent cross in. The evening was pretty much summed up in the fact that the second goal was preceded by mock cheers from the away end for every pass we strung together.
I actually think we played better on Saturday against Luton. We created better chances and tried to play a bit more football. Tonight we were dire, but were fortunate enough to play an already weak team further handicapped by a one man deficit for a large chunk of the game.
I fully expect us to lose at home to Exeter. How on earth are we sixth?
That's a really telling contribution Glenactico and I wasn't able to get to the game so an honest summing up is refreshing and enlightening. I too wonder how on earth we are 6th. I think this is a poor league.
It's come to something when this is sung: "We know what we are/We know what we are/Time-wasting bastards/We know what we are."
Wycombe are currently 6th in the league and on course for around 73 points and another entry to the promotion play-offs at the end of the season. Personally, I am quite happy for them to carry on playing just the way they have been in an effort to secure that play-off spot; rather that than see them try to change things at this stage of the season, attempt to play like Barcelona and miss out on the play-offs if it transpires they are not comfortable with and/or not good enough for that.
The post-match comments from GA showed an incredible amount of nerve - calling D&R a "long ball side".
Erm, what the hell were we playing then? Particularly McCarthy and Jombati were punting everything as soon as they got it. Both can actually play football, but had clearly been told not to.
And I'm not buying this "D&R dragged us down to their level", a lot of their play was going through their winger (Jones) until they went a man down, and only then did Still bring on a giant up front to hoof it to.
Surely when the other side goes a man down that's the cue to keep it on the deck and stretch the opposition with the extra man, but you could hardly say we did that. Frustrating, even if the result went our way.
@Glenactico @PBo; saying it as it is. For all the scurring and in your face high intensity play style it masks that we can't play football for large portions of a game any game, wheather it's 11 or 10 men makes no difference.
Only positive was that our goals did stem from open play and the rarely seen pass and move it to a player with the same colour kit on rather than the old faithful, hoof and hope.
Big well done PCH and O'nien... heard you guys where awesome.
Isn't the rather obvious point that you have to play the way that best suits the players at your disposal?
Last season we had Alfie Mawson at centre half, as good a defender at bringing the ball out of defence and distribution as we have ever had, and Sam Saunders in midfield, a wonderful cultured midfielder with vision and loads of time on the ball.
We don't have either this season, and whilst Jason McCarthy is a great player he is not as good on the ball as Mawson, and whilst I love Pierre (he's my favourite player) nobody could argue that he was a good passer of the ball.
As for the midfielders at our disposal, for all their qualities you couldn't describe any of them as playmakers. And so you play someone like Bean to screen the defence, and you play players like O'Nien and Bloomfield who will run all day and you clear your lines quickly and long and you ask them to get up and try and win scraps and 50/50s.
The best on the ball as far as I can see is McGinn but he doesn't look mobile enough to me to do the other stuff you need a midfielder to do.
If we tried to play the way some people want us to play with the players we've got then we'd end up giving away a lot of possession dangerously close to our penalty aside Teams would press high and take us apart.
I appreciate we were lucky to have and we shouldn't expect players of his quality to play for us but Sam Saunders would make a massive difference to this side.
As an aside, we had that Ollie Palmer on trial a while back didn't we? The way he played against us the other week he would be perfect for us at the moment
I think we'd have won at Wembley if Saunders hadn't been injured (although who knows really) and I think we'd be promoted this year if we had him fit for the rest of the season.
But even without him we're sixth!
Exactly! You'd be forgiven for thinking we were heading for relegation from the time of some posts
I dont think we ever had Ollie Palmer on trial, we were once linked to him when he was at Woking or Waterlooville, he's a handful but not the quickest.
We are crying out for a mobile midfielder, in the mould of Sam Saunders who can hold onto possession, as well as have the guile and craft to slip other people in and create chances, as well as take a few chances as well.
Bloomfield averages 2 goals a season, and about as many assists, ok to bring off the bench on some occasions, but i feel this is where our real weakness lies.
I know some people probably couldn't stomach this, but Stuart Beavon up front would suit our system down to the ground, his unselfish running on either flank as well as down the middle, would certain assist our present crop of misfiring strikers.
Needless to say both Saunders and the Beaver are both too advanced in both footballing and salary terms to have any chance of enticing them to Adams Park in the near future.
Thing is, we CAN play good football with this team. Villa away was a prime example. Oxford at home too, even the first 25 minutes or so on Saturday. Sometimes it feels like we're just panicking, particularly when we don't get an early goal, or if we go one down.
I would love to have Beavon back. But if I was him I wouldn't come anywhere near the club after our fans' treatment of him.
Beavon had one good season for us and is now approaching 32. We already have old timers in Hayes and Thompson, do we really need another? His scoring record at Burton of 12 in 67 games isn't earth shattering either.
@Glenactico Ainsworth mentioned in @bluntphil's post match interview the ironic olés from the crowd and the fact that both goals came from the only stretches of play where we brought it down and passed it.
I could also clearly hear the Wycombe fans on the commentary singing "We know what we are, we know what we are, time wasting bastards, we know what we are."
@drcongo , Agreed you could hear both chants clearly on the 'wireless', I also noticed big Aaron Pierre appearred to have his hands outstretched to the Wanderers followers after PCH's goal on the Sky footage.
Beavon is starting for a Lg1 team that is top of the league. He ain't coming back here this season anymore than Ibe or Williamson is.
It wouldn't massively surprise me to see Saunders back eventually but certainly not this season nor probably the one after.
I don't think we are asking for Barcelona-esque football here. I'm perfectly happy for us to play direct and do what is necessary to win.
But to me that means wingers working the line, overlapping full back and getting the ball in to the strikers quickly. It does not mean leathering it as far as you possibly can at every opportunity, particularly if that means shanking it out of play.
Not sure what I think of those chants. Along the lines of the 'No-one like us' but a bit too specific to be funny in my opinion.
Not really sure it's giving much support to the team but it wouldn't be the only chant that applies to these days.
I think the team are fair game for these chants, after all we do go to football to be entertained, if not we'd just wait for the results at home if it was a purely results business.
I hate our darker side of the game, but I accept that it's part of the package you get with Ainsworth. And overall that package is excellent and right for the club at this present time
Some of the posts on this thread are quite embarrassing really. Listening to you bunch of moaners I'd have thought we'd lost a football match and stuck at the bottom of the league. But we won and we're 6th in the league. Cheer up eh lads?
@ChasHarps both Pierre and PCH gestured after the goal to indicate that they didn't feel the jeering was helpful. They're probably right but I can sympathise with those fans that felt they had to make a point. At that point in the game we were all over the place and desperately needed to get it on the floor.