Big reality check today. Unlike Doncaster it's hard to see Bristol Rovers being up at the top of the table come May. I tend to trust the steady heads on here more than the Arsenal fans on social media, but it's very worrying to hear that 4 games into the season we still don't look sharp. And maybe 4-3-3 doesn't offer us enough protection in L1.
Dont like to be negative but that was awful for 80 mins keep playing like this and were going straight back down. How Freeman cant get a game frustrates the life out of me. On the positives atleast we scored a goal.
Do you have a different view on the game? Do you think we outplayed Bristol and were unlucky to get beaten?
To say we are going back down again after one home defeat is to my mind a defeatist attitude, which fortunately, I am confident that Gareth and his squad will not share.
@Jonny_King said: @micra Can't be any worse than the absolute bilge being spouted on Twitter. We seem to have some fans who actively delight in us losing. Tellingly, most of them seem to support 'Wycombe and...'.
Ben Mawby is one who gets me angry does anyone on here know him away from his keyboard?
@robin I fear for the life prospects of some of these people given their negative, defeatest attitude and apparent willingness to throw in the towel the moment things go wrong.
43 league games to go this season; players to come back, new signings to come in, clearly not yet at our best individually or collectively - we will improve.
Not really into Twitter @Jonny_King even though I believe I have an “account”. I certainly get bombarded with notifications by email most days referring to updates by a range of people who, I guess, I’m assumed to know or to have an interest in.
I only look if Anthony Stewart (whom I’ve long admired) or @Wycombe Wanderers Official are mentioned. Often, it’s the same message as I’ve read several times already. I haven’t a clue how to engage in discussion on Twitter in any case.
The Fans’ Page wasn’t too bad. An “are” or two for “our” and difficulty on the part of a couple of people to agree whether it was a quail or a partridge that was breaking up Rovers’ midfield play more than Wycombe’s midfield.
Yes, I think we will get the points based on today's performance. We were sucker punched for their goals and showed some nice movement. Only 10% of Bayo's headers went to a teammate, one of them being for the Kashket goal, so more of those and headers on target and more goals will come.
Perhaps the intensity of League 1 is more constant but we do have the quality to win matches once we get our frailties sorted out. All this talk about adding to the squad doesn't really highlight what we need to improve and outscore our opponents, who played very well today both tactically and energetically imo.
I fear we will to struggle to accumulate enough points if we persist with the same game plan and formation as last season.
We were second best in midfield again today, and lumping the ball to Bayo just won't cut it often enough at this level.
But there's plenty of time to get it right. I'm sure GA has seen enough to make the necessary changes, and there's probably a couple of quality loanees still to come.
Disgusting and despicable performance, only turned up for the last 10, Rovers should have been out of sight. Not like an Ainsworth side at all, total lack of guts.
@Jonny_King said: @micra Can't be any worse than the absolute bilge being spouted on Twitter. We seem to have some fans who actively delight in us losing. Tellingly, most of them seem to support 'Wycombe and...'.
Ben Mawby is one who gets me angry does anyone on here know him away from his keyboard?
As you've named him, I can confirm this was the guy I heard at Doncaster scream obscenities at Bayo and shout how he'd "done nothing this season", 20mins into the second game of the season. The crime? Miscontrolled one pass.
Seen last season on the FB group slating all and sundry, in a season we got promoted.
Goes to every game, yet seems to find it all a horrific experience and revel in the moaning. You have to wonder what joy there is in that.
Three matches in and it's abundantly clear that a 433 formation won't work in this league. We simply don't have the strength in midfield to play with just three there and a "90% fit" Bayo (to me, he looks closer to 50%) allied to two wide strikers almost on the touchlines, one of whom isn't even a wide striker and never will be, is never going to be successful against the quality of defence we're now playing against.
We need more strength in the centre of the pitch along with a tight front two. Bloomfield should never be picked over a fit Sam Saunders. And why aren't we playing the new wunderkind that Gareth was so pleased to have signed from Shrewsbury?
Allsop and Kashket were able to keep the scoreline respectable and I can't see the latter not starting regularly now if fit. But please not in a 433, a system that neither suits him nor, it appears, the rest of the squad at present.
We were, though, second best for a good part of the game, despite trying our best, which was perhaps the most worrying aspect. There was a marked difference in sharpness, strength and, much of the time, quality which makes me share the fears some have expressed. Beautifully taken goal by Kashket, though, and it was a failure to take opportunities rather than to create them that was ultimately the difference, so it's not necessarily all doom and gloom.
Agree that Thompson was never motm. Frankly, he didn't, to me, look good enough for the level of play today. A miskick by him created the opportunity for their first goal and he offered neither control nor quality in midfield. I've no criticism of his effort but we looked a better team when Saunders came on. I guess there are rotation considerations with midweek games at the moment but the starting midfield today had no creativity and not much dog.
As for today, first of all, you're always massively up against it when you concede so early. That was such an untidy goal to give away.
The second was another set piece, and all of a sudden it's 2-0 and only 20mins have gone.
While we're on that subject, we look fairly vulnerable in the air again. El Abd and McCarthy both 6 foot, but arguably neither are an absolute Pierre esque colossus.
Players like O Nien and Paris weren't the tallest but over perform in the air.
Rovers could well have scored a few more. They had at least two one on ones with the keeper, and some other breakaways.
We looked fairly pedestrian, the midfield three didn't work at all. I fear we need to play Saunders and Gape every game to compete. Let's hope Morris is as promising as he sounds on paper when he gets going.
We may soon need to rethink things and revert to a classic two up front type formation.
However, i'd like to see us lineup with Paris and Tyson wide in the current formation first.
I would agree with that @Malone and @aloysius and would consolidate to a 442 when the opposition sees through our formation and is able to stand in between our players and turn over possession so much. Our pass completion rate surely improved second half and it seemed like the ball was dropping to us more. Whether this was them hanging back to protect their lead I couldn't tell. Would Kashket and CMS be a viable front two?
Pace, pace, pace. Without it you won’t cut it in League One.
Williams, Kashket, McCarthy (Tyson) have it and they are out best players.
JJ, Blooms, Bayo don’t and need to be ‘rested’.
Those around me seem to disagree but I think Gape ‘falls between stools’ as well, not fast , not strong in the tackle, can’t thread a pass - what does he bring to the party?
Oh and what was Alex Samuel doing warming up pre match. A second div ‘striker’ released by Stevenage after 22 games with no goals. Is this really the answer to our problems?
Gape is a really interesting one - he's tenacious and looks like he can see the right pass to make, he also generally times his tackles well. But I think he needs quality around him so that he doesn't end up having to do everything and, sadly, players like Bloomfield and Thompson are too pedestrian to offer much support. I still think moving McCarthy to midfield is the solution!
PS happy 70th @glasshalffull - always interesting to hear your take once you've recovered from the hangover...
My birding friend said it was a Red-legged Partridge, female due to the duller markings. This was quite an early sighting, we usually see them during the autumn, especially at evening games, dive bombing the away fans a particular delight to look forward to. Maybe the earlier shoot next door had frightened her.
I can't remember a previous ref being concerned at one on the pitch, and then it was only just on.
Why isn't the club reaching out to the bird watching fraternity to bolster Autumn evening game attendances? All these untapped resources going wasted! Did the board in fact organize the shoot to put off this potential new fan base? I think we should be told.
@Steve_Peart said:
My birding friend said it was a Red-legged Partridge, female due to the duller markings. This was quite an early sighting, we usually see them during the autumn, especially at evening games, dive bombing the away fans a particular delight to look forward to. Maybe the earlier shoot next door had frightened her.
I can't remember a previous ref being concerned at one on the pitch, and then it was only just on.
Was it injured? Looked like it was struggling to take flight.
First half was depressing. Very soft goals to concede for a side who usually pride themselves on organisation at set pieces. Thompson was all at sea, seemed to be trying too hard if anything.
Second half was more of the same for half an hour. The two Rovers centre backs managed Bayo excellently and nullified his threat to hopeful flick ons 40 yards from goal.
We capatlised on the one Bayo header to make it past the Rovers defence. Cool finish from Kashket.
Could and probably should have grabbed an undeserved equaliser at the end. Decent save from their keeper.
Thompson improved second half, which can be the only reason Alan Parry picked him for man of the match.
McCarthy and Al Abd played marshalled well (not much they could do about the goals) and Allsop made some important saves with feet to keep it close.
Don’t let the scoreline fool you, however. This was a comprehensive defeat and it would have been a robbery had we bagged a point.
Trying times ahead as I really don’t see Bristol Rovers being the hallmark of quality in this league.
Squad isn’t deep or strong enough as it stands (sympathy with Ainsworth - impossible job to revolutionise this squad over one summer) and formation is too rigid to mid-game tactical changes with Bayo seemingly undroppable.
The return of Tyson and Cowan Hall might make us more potent, but we need to find a way through teams rather than hit and hope to Bayo.
Not quite sure what game NorsQuarter and MooneyMan were watching. Head in sand positivity.
@OxfordBlue, apparently they run rather than fly when disturbed, I think it was OK. Maybe the Partridge is more appropriate than the Swan on our crest. We could call it Alan.
Comments
@mooneyman Absolutely not
Do you have a different view on the game? Do you think we outplayed Bristol and were unlucky to get beaten?
Big reality check today. Unlike Doncaster it's hard to see Bristol Rovers being up at the top of the table come May. I tend to trust the steady heads on here more than the Arsenal fans on social media, but it's very worrying to hear that 4 games into the season we still don't look sharp. And maybe 4-3-3 doesn't offer us enough protection in L1.
Still plenty of time.
Dont like to be negative but that was awful for 80 mins keep playing like this and were going straight back down. How Freeman cant get a game frustrates the life out of me. On the positives atleast we scored a goal.
To say we are going back down again after one home defeat is to my mind a defeatist attitude, which fortunately, I am confident that Gareth and his squad will not share.
Read what I said dimwit. I said IF GA isn't learning we'll go down with a whimper.
I stand by that comment.
...I am positive about our chances of getting the points based on the performance today.
Really!?!??!
Ben Mawby is one who gets me angry does anyone on here know him away from his keyboard?
When a poster immediately resorts to personal abuse, it's not really worth trying to have an adult discussion with such poster.
>
Pretty sure I’ve seen him around the pubs in Thame as is much nicer in person. The internet does strange things to people.
@robin I fear for the life prospects of some of these people given their negative, defeatest attitude and apparent willingness to throw in the towel the moment things go wrong.
43 league games to go this season; players to come back, new signings to come in, clearly not yet at our best individually or collectively - we will improve.
Not really into Twitter @Jonny_King even though I believe I have an “account”. I certainly get bombarded with notifications by email most days referring to updates by a range of people who, I guess, I’m assumed to know or to have an interest in.
I only look if Anthony Stewart (whom I’ve long admired) or @Wycombe Wanderers Official are mentioned. Often, it’s the same message as I’ve read several times already. I haven’t a clue how to engage in discussion on Twitter in any case.
The Fans’ Page wasn’t too bad. An “are” or two for “our” and difficulty on the part of a couple of people to agree whether it was a quail or a partridge that was breaking up Rovers’ midfield play more than Wycombe’s midfield.
So don't feed the trolls.
Yes, I think we will get the points based on today's performance. We were sucker punched for their goals and showed some nice movement. Only 10% of Bayo's headers went to a teammate, one of them being for the Kashket goal, so more of those and headers on target and more goals will come.
Perhaps the intensity of League 1 is more constant but we do have the quality to win matches once we get our frailties sorted out. All this talk about adding to the squad doesn't really highlight what we need to improve and outscore our opponents, who played very well today both tactically and energetically imo.
No need for knee jerk reactions just yet methinks
I fear we will to struggle to accumulate enough points if we persist with the same game plan and formation as last season.
We were second best in midfield again today, and lumping the ball to Bayo just won't cut it often enough at this level.
But there's plenty of time to get it right. I'm sure GA has seen enough to make the necessary changes, and there's probably a couple of quality loanees still to come.
Disgusting and despicable performance, only turned up for the last 10, Rovers should have been out of sight. Not like an Ainsworth side at all, total lack of guts.
As you've named him, I can confirm this was the guy I heard at Doncaster scream obscenities at Bayo and shout how he'd "done nothing this season", 20mins into the second game of the season. The crime? Miscontrolled one pass.
Seen last season on the FB group slating all and sundry, in a season we got promoted.
Goes to every game, yet seems to find it all a horrific experience and revel in the moaning. You have to wonder what joy there is in that.
Three matches in and it's abundantly clear that a 433 formation won't work in this league. We simply don't have the strength in midfield to play with just three there and a "90% fit" Bayo (to me, he looks closer to 50%) allied to two wide strikers almost on the touchlines, one of whom isn't even a wide striker and never will be, is never going to be successful against the quality of defence we're now playing against.
We need more strength in the centre of the pitch along with a tight front two. Bloomfield should never be picked over a fit Sam Saunders. And why aren't we playing the new wunderkind that Gareth was so pleased to have signed from Shrewsbury?
Allsop and Kashket were able to keep the scoreline respectable and I can't see the latter not starting regularly now if fit. But please not in a 433, a system that neither suits him nor, it appears, the rest of the squad at present.
Steady, @Keith_Allens_Wig.
We were, though, second best for a good part of the game, despite trying our best, which was perhaps the most worrying aspect. There was a marked difference in sharpness, strength and, much of the time, quality which makes me share the fears some have expressed. Beautifully taken goal by Kashket, though, and it was a failure to take opportunities rather than to create them that was ultimately the difference, so it's not necessarily all doom and gloom.
Agree that Thompson was never motm. Frankly, he didn't, to me, look good enough for the level of play today. A miskick by him created the opportunity for their first goal and he offered neither control nor quality in midfield. I've no criticism of his effort but we looked a better team when Saunders came on. I guess there are rotation considerations with midweek games at the moment but the starting midfield today had no creativity and not much dog.
As for today, first of all, you're always massively up against it when you concede so early. That was such an untidy goal to give away.
The second was another set piece, and all of a sudden it's 2-0 and only 20mins have gone.
While we're on that subject, we look fairly vulnerable in the air again. El Abd and McCarthy both 6 foot, but arguably neither are an absolute Pierre esque colossus.
Players like O Nien and Paris weren't the tallest but over perform in the air.
Rovers could well have scored a few more. They had at least two one on ones with the keeper, and some other breakaways.
We looked fairly pedestrian, the midfield three didn't work at all. I fear we need to play Saunders and Gape every game to compete. Let's hope Morris is as promising as he sounds on paper when he gets going.
We may soon need to rethink things and revert to a classic two up front type formation.
However, i'd like to see us lineup with Paris and Tyson wide in the current formation first.
I would agree with that @Malone and @aloysius and would consolidate to a 442 when the opposition sees through our formation and is able to stand in between our players and turn over possession so much. Our pass completion rate surely improved second half and it seemed like the ball was dropping to us more. Whether this was them hanging back to protect their lead I couldn't tell. Would Kashket and CMS be a viable front two?
Pace, pace, pace. Without it you won’t cut it in League One.
Williams, Kashket, McCarthy (Tyson) have it and they are out best players.
JJ, Blooms, Bayo don’t and need to be ‘rested’.
Those around me seem to disagree but I think Gape ‘falls between stools’ as well, not fast , not strong in the tackle, can’t thread a pass - what does he bring to the party?
Promotion
Oh and what was Alex Samuel doing warming up pre match. A second div ‘striker’ released by Stevenage after 22 games with no goals. Is this really the answer to our problems?
Gape is a really interesting one - he's tenacious and looks like he can see the right pass to make, he also generally times his tackles well. But I think he needs quality around him so that he doesn't end up having to do everything and, sadly, players like Bloomfield and Thompson are too pedestrian to offer much support. I still think moving McCarthy to midfield is the solution!
PS happy 70th @glasshalffull - always interesting to hear your take once you've recovered from the hangover...
My birding friend said it was a Red-legged Partridge, female due to the duller markings. This was quite an early sighting, we usually see them during the autumn, especially at evening games, dive bombing the away fans a particular delight to look forward to. Maybe the earlier shoot next door had frightened her.
I can't remember a previous ref being concerned at one on the pitch, and then it was only just on.
People who shoot creatures for sport have tiny penises. Scientific fact.
Why isn't the club reaching out to the bird watching fraternity to bolster Autumn evening game attendances? All these untapped resources going wasted! Did the board in fact organize the shoot to put off this potential new fan base? I think we should be told.
Was it injured? Looked like it was struggling to take flight.
Managed to get along today.
First half was depressing. Very soft goals to concede for a side who usually pride themselves on organisation at set pieces. Thompson was all at sea, seemed to be trying too hard if anything.
Second half was more of the same for half an hour. The two Rovers centre backs managed Bayo excellently and nullified his threat to hopeful flick ons 40 yards from goal.
We capatlised on the one Bayo header to make it past the Rovers defence. Cool finish from Kashket.
Could and probably should have grabbed an undeserved equaliser at the end. Decent save from their keeper.
Thompson improved second half, which can be the only reason Alan Parry picked him for man of the match.
McCarthy and Al Abd played marshalled well (not much they could do about the goals) and Allsop made some important saves with feet to keep it close.
Don’t let the scoreline fool you, however. This was a comprehensive defeat and it would have been a robbery had we bagged a point.
Trying times ahead as I really don’t see Bristol Rovers being the hallmark of quality in this league.
Squad isn’t deep or strong enough as it stands (sympathy with Ainsworth - impossible job to revolutionise this squad over one summer) and formation is too rigid to mid-game tactical changes with Bayo seemingly undroppable.
The return of Tyson and Cowan Hall might make us more potent, but we need to find a way through teams rather than hit and hope to Bayo.
Not quite sure what game NorsQuarter and MooneyMan were watching. Head in sand positivity.
Probably been drinking to much Famous Grouse.
@OxfordBlue, apparently they run rather than fly when disturbed, I think it was OK. Maybe the Partridge is more appropriate than the Swan on our crest. We could call it Alan.