The BBC Stats that we had 21 fouls to FGR 9fouls. Did anyone else feel that the Ref gave FGR 's a free kick almost everytime one of their players fell to the ground, but totally ignored their no 9's persistent diving. Arm grabbing was another onesided free kick. One free kick he gave about 40 seconds after the tackle, when we had the ball all that time, so he could not have been playing the "advantage"
I'm generally fairly cool about the referees. Today, I've little complaint about the free kicks he gave them - a bit soft but few that we've not played for ourselves quite often - except that he did not give the exact same fouls to us. Luke's booking came after two nailed-on-by-the-standard-of-the-day fouls by them in a five second spell leading up to Luke's challenge.
Strange game today, their defence dealing about as poorly with Bayo as I've seen a league team deal with him. Cruised to 3-0 up. Then they changed a defender over, who looked a colossal brute, and after that into the second half we were happy to see it out.
Should have scored some more in a good display, and a bit disappointing to still concede a goal, but could have been a foul on El Abd in there, would have to see it again.
Hope it was enough of a good display to make @Jonny_King 's epic trip worth it.
Do you make that trip often!?
Rock 'n roll footy all over today, improvements to be made but if we score three every week we can't go far wrong. Waiting for the obligatory viral video of Bayo doing squats with O'nien on his back!
I completely agree with your assessment @Malone. Having seen both Forest Green and Lincoln now they really are worlds apart, with Lincoln a lot more streetwise to the direct nature of this league. It really felt like FGR hadn't done their homework on us at all - our key strength is our pressing game and so many times in that first 45 we won the ball in their half. Gape, ONien and Bloomfield absolutely ran the show in midfield - there was a point in the first half where ONien recieved the ball, turned 360 degrees and passed the ball without a FG player within 10 yards of him. I also can't believe they left that tall defender on the bench knowing they had Bayo to deal with.
None of that detracts from a superb performance from us though - and their approach gave us space to bring out our own passing game which was good to see. FG improved a lot second half when they went more direct but even then I thought we were relatively comfortable - bar the odd moment of danger.
Good display. Delighted with our start to the season.
Seems a clear pattern that we will bully teams that want to play football and dominate in midfield. But struggle against more physical opponents that are willing to match us in the challenge.
Personally I thought we absolutely bullied them in the 1st half. We had too much power, pace and strength. Then 2nd half IMHO we became more about trying to keep a clean shhet and invited pressure. I understand the confidence boost a shut out would give, just it wasn't quite so entertaining. That said I am very happy with the other really product, three.points and nobody has yet mentioned missing Saunders & Tyson.
I was really impressed with Mackail-Smith today. Seemed to have plenty of pace, worked hard out wide and clearly knows the way to goal. He made some cracking runs.
First half we played well, let them have the ball until they got anywhere dangerous then pressed and broke well.
Second half we hugely backed off and should've twisted the knife. For all the merits of our play, watching us run down a 3-1 home win in the corner was laughable.
Not more laughable though than Bayo trying to pace up and convert a 1 on 1.
Lots of good performances today. Not surprised about the second half show, their manager no doubt had words and they competed more by closing off the wings more effectively.
If we can keep CMS fit he will be one of the best signings for ages. His link up play and awareness is just a different level.
It was pretty hot out there in the sun so being three up at halftime, the 2nd half was not a great surprise. And something I never say, Bloomfield was almost a consideration for MOTM today. A fine performance with some good crossing too.
10 points from 5 games and a good home win at least keeps the village idiots quiet for a few days.
@Malone Cheers mate. Really enjoyed it, particularly the first half. Well worth the trip. Sadly I work a lot if Saturdays so doing that trip is something of a rare treat for me. My parents live in Berkhamsted, so I usually try and make sure visits to them coincide with a home game or two.
Great afternoon and it was good to see some of the newbies for the first time (for me at least). Cms was class I think he will prove to be a great signing. In summary we played well, FGR were terrible and the ref was a little whistle happy giving soft free kicks. But the bar was open and we won 3-1 so All in all an enjoyable day.
Great team performance....Brown was decent...and what has happened to Bloomy? Last two games he has been tackling cleanly, running with purpose and putting in decent crosses. Paris, Bayo and CMS all loked threatening, Gape and O'Nien bossing the midfield (with Luke theatrics kept to a minimum) and I felt a bit sorry for FGR who came to play football but unfortunately kept trying to play football even when three down which was admirable, if foolhardy. I was a little disappointed that at three up GA was not tad more adventurous. Fresh legs at 60 mins would have kept us at them, given Freeman and the newbies some game time and wasting a free-kick in the corner in the last few mins of extra time when we might have had a go for a fourth was a bit irritating. But it was described as 'professional' by experts so what do I know. Al Abd getting booked for a ridiculously pointless tackle in the first minute looked ominous, but I thought the back four looked strong and steady today. New striker looked a handful. Happy days. Spare a thought for the doom-mongers though, They're having a bad run.
Sounds strange perhaps to say I found FGR disappointing but I saw them demolish Tranmere at Wembley a few months ago and thought they would be a handful. (Tranmere's sad decline continues, it seems.)
I struggle to recall a Wycombe side as highly energised and committed to all out attack (with skill and pace) as the one which so totally dominated the first half. I even expressed concern that they might not have much left in the tank for the second half. That wasn't a major concern but recent foul counts (whatever you may think about over-fussy referees) are definitely a worry. Adam El-And, who has averaged less than three yellow cards a season throughout his long career, will probably be suspended before the end of the month. (Some will see this as a welcome opportunity for WDH or Dan Scarr to show their worth.)
The fact that we have "lost" the second half of six of our matches does seem to suggest the need to use subs earlier than is usually the case, especially with the quality that we can call upon from the bench.
Dash it. Had to miss yesterday's game - and the very brief highlights on Ch5 this morning didn't really do it justice. Still, given the result, maybe my presence is the portent of doom and I should stay away more often.
I had a fantastic day yesterday, with the pleasure of making the acquaintance of @Jonny_King not the smallest part of it. I enjoyed the win of course, although I think we need to avoid getting carried away, because FGR were awful. And then the day was completed by seeing the truly excellent Girl From The North Country at the Old Vic - if you get the chance, go.
It was a joy to see the ball on the deck for vast swathes of the game. It clearly shows akinfenwa can be utilised as a target man without lumping it at every opportunity.
He possesses the touch, passing and intelligence to play it on the floor as long as he doesn't have to move for it.
Entertaining game and a superb first half performance, although we were up against a poor side, so probably shouldn't get too carried away. Credit to FGR for trying to play football, but for a passing team they were surprisingly poor in possession and we just bullied them out of the game in the opening half hour. Also, people complain about Brown, but compared to their keeper he looked like Lev Yashin.
Speaking of Brown, I thought he looked solid and was quick off his line on a couple of occasions to make stops or take crosses (a couple of them very good catches indeed). Spilled the ball badly in the second half and a few people around me went disproportionately nuts. Did we give the likes of Taylor and Ingram this much grief if they made a mistake? That said, he did seem to do a bit of a weird, OTT dive in the build up to their goal, subsequently stranding himself for Doidge's follow up. Maybe I'm being harsh though. Perfectly happy with him in goal and don't think we've seen anything like the best of him yet.
Not much I can say that hasn't already been said by others above. Better teams than FGR won't give us the time and space to play such free flowing football, but certainly an encouraging display and hopefully something we'll see more of, especially once the talents of Saunders, Tyson and Kashket return to the side. Umerah looks decent and judging from his physique could fill in as a makeshift Bayo on the odd occasion the Beast doesn't play.
No-one had a poor game. Blooms played like a man possessed and had an exceptional game. Hope the knocks he and PCH picked up are nothing serious. Stewart was excellent and the way he made space for his goal was delightful, as was the sight of him pirouetting past two of the vegans in the second half. CMS unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions and looks a wonderful signing. Midfield excellent. Fussy ref. Nice weather. Can recommend the Sloping Loakes ale in the Vere.
It was an absolute pleasure to meet @OakwoodExile and may the record show our introduction came about after he gallantly rescued me from a lengthy queue at Marylebone that would otherwise have seen me miss my train. Always nice to put a face to a name and glad to hear the show was good!
Comments
The BBC Stats that we had 21 fouls to FGR 9fouls. Did anyone else feel that the Ref gave FGR 's a free kick almost everytime one of their players fell to the ground, but totally ignored their no 9's persistent diving. Arm grabbing was another onesided free kick. One free kick he gave about 40 seconds after the tackle, when we had the ball all that time, so he could not have been playing the "advantage"
@wformation - it did look like he favored them in the 50-50s, for sure.
I'm generally fairly cool about the referees. Today, I've little complaint about the free kicks he gave them - a bit soft but few that we've not played for ourselves quite often - except that he did not give the exact same fouls to us. Luke's booking came after two nailed-on-by-the-standard-of-the-day fouls by them in a five second spell leading up to Luke's challenge.
Strange game today, their defence dealing about as poorly with Bayo as I've seen a league team deal with him. Cruised to 3-0 up. Then they changed a defender over, who looked a colossal brute, and after that into the second half we were happy to see it out.
Should have scored some more in a good display, and a bit disappointing to still concede a goal, but could have been a foul on El Abd in there, would have to see it again.
Hope it was enough of a good display to make @Jonny_King 's epic trip worth it.
Do you make that trip often!?
Rock 'n roll footy all over today, improvements to be made but if we score three every week we can't go far wrong. Waiting for the obligatory viral video of Bayo doing squats with O'nien on his back!
I completely agree with your assessment @Malone. Having seen both Forest Green and Lincoln now they really are worlds apart, with Lincoln a lot more streetwise to the direct nature of this league. It really felt like FGR hadn't done their homework on us at all - our key strength is our pressing game and so many times in that first 45 we won the ball in their half. Gape, ONien and Bloomfield absolutely ran the show in midfield - there was a point in the first half where ONien recieved the ball, turned 360 degrees and passed the ball without a FG player within 10 yards of him. I also can't believe they left that tall defender on the bench knowing they had Bayo to deal with.
None of that detracts from a superb performance from us though - and their approach gave us space to bring out our own passing game which was good to see. FG improved a lot second half when they went more direct but even then I thought we were relatively comfortable - bar the odd moment of danger.
Good display. Delighted with our start to the season.
Seems a clear pattern that we will bully teams that want to play football and dominate in midfield. But struggle against more physical opponents that are willing to match us in the challenge.
Personally I thought we absolutely bullied them in the 1st half. We had too much power, pace and strength. Then 2nd half IMHO we became more about trying to keep a clean shhet and invited pressure. I understand the confidence boost a shut out would give, just it wasn't quite so entertaining. That said I am very happy with the other really product, three.points and nobody has yet mentioned missing Saunders & Tyson.
I was really impressed with Mackail-Smith today. Seemed to have plenty of pace, worked hard out wide and clearly knows the way to goal. He made some cracking runs.
It's a really funny game, that a lot of people have focused on that 4-2 and the 5-1 defeats, and all of a sudden we're right up there!
We're a fickle lot. Lose to a good side and we're the worst team in the league and going down, beat a poor side and we're brilliant and going up.
I'm certainly not complaining. We've already equalled last seasons tally of scoring 3 or more goals in a game.
It could be fun again
First half we played well, let them have the ball until they got anywhere dangerous then pressed and broke well.
Second half we hugely backed off and should've twisted the knife. For all the merits of our play, watching us run down a 3-1 home win in the corner was laughable.
Not more laughable though than Bayo trying to pace up and convert a 1 on 1.
Also, Gape was immense today - swept the whole middle up.
@prufrock_91 - I agree entirely. The best form of defense is sometimes attack, especially when you have a team on the rocks.
Yep. He has made a cracking start to the season, with the exception of Notts Co where I thought Bean ought to have come on instead.
Similarly, Harriman, JJ, O'Nien and Bayo have all hit the ground running.
Long may it continue.
Lots of good performances today. Not surprised about the second half show, their manager no doubt had words and they competed more by closing off the wings more effectively.
If we can keep CMS fit he will be one of the best signings for ages. His link up play and awareness is just a different level.
It was pretty hot out there in the sun so being three up at halftime, the 2nd half was not a great surprise. And something I never say, Bloomfield was almost a consideration for MOTM today. A fine performance with some good crossing too.
10 points from 5 games and a good home win at least keeps the village idiots quiet for a few days.
@floyd Glad I missed them. The Newlyn senior ultras are animals (and amazing at Countdown).
@Malone Cheers mate. Really enjoyed it, particularly the first half. Well worth the trip. Sadly I work a lot if Saturdays so doing that trip is something of a rare treat for me. My parents live in Berkhamsted, so I usually try and make sure visits to them coincide with a home game or two.
Was a little disappointed no one lobbed their keeper. He really was asking for it.
Otherwise, thoroughly enjoyable afternoon
Great afternoon and it was good to see some of the newbies for the first time (for me at least). Cms was class I think he will prove to be a great signing. In summary we played well, FGR were terrible and the ref was a little whistle happy giving soft free kicks. But the bar was open and we won 3-1 so All in all an enjoyable day.
Great team performance....Brown was decent...and what has happened to Bloomy? Last two games he has been tackling cleanly, running with purpose and putting in decent crosses. Paris, Bayo and CMS all loked threatening, Gape and O'Nien bossing the midfield (with Luke theatrics kept to a minimum) and I felt a bit sorry for FGR who came to play football but unfortunately kept trying to play football even when three down which was admirable, if foolhardy. I was a little disappointed that at three up GA was not tad more adventurous. Fresh legs at 60 mins would have kept us at them, given Freeman and the newbies some game time and wasting a free-kick in the corner in the last few mins of extra time when we might have had a go for a fourth was a bit irritating. But it was described as 'professional' by experts so what do I know. Al Abd getting booked for a ridiculously pointless tackle in the first minute looked ominous, but I thought the back four looked strong and steady today. New striker looked a handful. Happy days. Spare a thought for the doom-mongers though, They're having a bad run.
Sounds strange perhaps to say I found FGR disappointing but I saw them demolish Tranmere at Wembley a few months ago and thought they would be a handful. (Tranmere's sad decline continues, it seems.)
I struggle to recall a Wycombe side as highly energised and committed to all out attack (with skill and pace) as the one which so totally dominated the first half. I even expressed concern that they might not have much left in the tank for the second half. That wasn't a major concern but recent foul counts (whatever you may think about over-fussy referees) are definitely a worry. Adam El-And, who has averaged less than three yellow cards a season throughout his long career, will probably be suspended before the end of the month. (Some will see this as a welcome opportunity for WDH or Dan Scarr to show their worth.)
The fact that we have "lost" the second half of six of our matches does seem to suggest the need to use subs earlier than is usually the case, especially with the quality that we can call upon from the bench.
One of the things that struck me was that our lot looked to be really enjoying themselves as well as playing well.
Dash it. Had to miss yesterday's game - and the very brief highlights on Ch5 this morning didn't really do it justice. Still, given the result, maybe my presence is the portent of doom and I should stay away more often.
I had a fantastic day yesterday, with the pleasure of making the acquaintance of @Jonny_King not the smallest part of it. I enjoyed the win of course, although I think we need to avoid getting carried away, because FGR were awful. And then the day was completed by seeing the truly excellent Girl From The North Country at the Old Vic - if you get the chance, go.
2 points a game = Champions. Let's not peak too early before the Cup in November
It was a joy to see the ball on the deck for vast swathes of the game. It clearly shows akinfenwa can be utilised as a target man without lumping it at every opportunity.
He possesses the touch, passing and intelligence to play it on the floor as long as he doesn't have to move for it.
Entertaining game and a superb first half performance, although we were up against a poor side, so probably shouldn't get too carried away. Credit to FGR for trying to play football, but for a passing team they were surprisingly poor in possession and we just bullied them out of the game in the opening half hour. Also, people complain about Brown, but compared to their keeper he looked like Lev Yashin.
Speaking of Brown, I thought he looked solid and was quick off his line on a couple of occasions to make stops or take crosses (a couple of them very good catches indeed). Spilled the ball badly in the second half and a few people around me went disproportionately nuts. Did we give the likes of Taylor and Ingram this much grief if they made a mistake? That said, he did seem to do a bit of a weird, OTT dive in the build up to their goal, subsequently stranding himself for Doidge's follow up. Maybe I'm being harsh though. Perfectly happy with him in goal and don't think we've seen anything like the best of him yet.
Not much I can say that hasn't already been said by others above. Better teams than FGR won't give us the time and space to play such free flowing football, but certainly an encouraging display and hopefully something we'll see more of, especially once the talents of Saunders, Tyson and Kashket return to the side. Umerah looks decent and judging from his physique could fill in as a makeshift Bayo on the odd occasion the Beast doesn't play.
No-one had a poor game. Blooms played like a man possessed and had an exceptional game. Hope the knocks he and PCH picked up are nothing serious. Stewart was excellent and the way he made space for his goal was delightful, as was the sight of him pirouetting past two of the vegans in the second half. CMS unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions and looks a wonderful signing. Midfield excellent. Fussy ref. Nice weather. Can recommend the Sloping Loakes ale in the Vere.
It was an absolute pleasure to meet @OakwoodExile and may the record show our introduction came about after he gallantly rescued me from a lengthy queue at Marylebone that would otherwise have seen me miss my train. Always nice to put a face to a name and glad to hear the show was good!