@raglan said:
I blame Ainsworth's leather jacket and him not wearing his lucky red boots...
You know what I have found myself thinking that bloody biker jacket isn’t helping.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Remember after Torquay Gaz got rid of the shorts and trackie, cut his hair and said call me Gaffer..
New Year, new Gaz?
The great escape starts here.
@EwanHoosaami said:
Not so sure signing a goal scorer is the ultimate answer. Let's be honest, we don't create many chances for them to score do we? Kashket v QPR , Bayo v Watford & Horgan v Rotherham are the only standout opportunities for me. The fact I can remember them pretty clearly out of 20 odd games shows how few we create.
Charles v Rotherham
Kashket v Millwall
Kashket v Watford (kept out by probably the best save I've seen this season)
Fred v Derby
Knight and Kashket v Preston
Fred v Coventry
Kashket, Horgan and Bayo v QPR
And we've had enough decent ones in addition to those to have put a few more points on the board. We have some pretty barren games like yesterday, but we're perfectly creative on the whole for a side whose aim is to stay up.
@chairboyscentral said:
Nine of our 13 defeats have been by one goal - 69%, the most in the league. The performances have been there for the most part.
Correction: We've lost the highest % of total games by one goal.
@EwanHoosaami said:
Not so sure signing a goal scorer is the ultimate answer. Let's be honest, we don't create many chances for them to score do we? Kashket v QPR , Bayo v Watford & Horgan v Rotherham are the only standout opportunities for me. The fact I can remember them pretty clearly out of 20 odd games shows how few we create.
Charles v Rotherham
Kashket v Millwall
Kashket v Watford (kept out by probably the best save I've seen this season)
Fred v Derby
Knight and Kashket v Preston
Fred v Coventry
Kashket, Horgan and Bayo v QPR
And we've had enough decent ones in addition to those to have put a few more points on the board. We have some pretty barren games like yesterday, but we're perfectly creative on the whole for a side whose aim is to stay up.
Well I must bow to your superior memory, unless you are straw clutching and I'm not saying you are. It's that I have no memory of them, as such, they were not glaring/obvious misses that my aging grey cells have retained!
@EwanHoosaami said:
Not so sure signing a goal scorer is the ultimate answer. Let's be honest, we don't create many chances for them to score do we? Kashket v QPR , Bayo v Watford & Horgan v Rotherham are the only standout opportunities for me. The fact I can remember them pretty clearly out of 20 odd games shows how few we create.
Charles v Rotherham
Kashket v Millwall
Kashket v Watford (kept out by probably the best save I've seen this season)
Fred v Derby
Knight and Kashket v Preston
Fred v Coventry
Kashket, Horgan and Bayo v QPR
And we've had enough decent ones in addition to those to have put a few more points on the board. We have some pretty barren games like yesterday, but we're perfectly creative on the whole for a side whose aim is to stay up.
Well I must bow to your superior memory, unless you are straw clutching and I'm not saying you are. It's that I have no memory of them, as such, they were not glaring/obvious misses that my aging grey cells have retained!
Haha, I wish it was all from memory (I looked at the shot maps to prompt me).
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub said:
I’m sorry but the yo yo experience is not one that is going to happen in these current circumstances. Any other season we would be dripping in cash with packed houses most weeks. So when the inevitable relegation happens we would go down lighting cigars with £20 notes. We will go down this season with a higher wage bill, higher overheads and less cash in the bank. Next season will see us have to release the higher paid ones and that immediately will see us back to square one - favourites to go down from league 1. That’s the reality. The yo yo model is great when you can build a little each time you yo, this is simply not going to happen this time around.
I think you are being unduly pessimistic. For a start, we haven’t been relegated yet and I prefer to keep believing that survival is still possible. It’s also still possible that at least some fans will be allowed back into Adams Park and we will have 12 home games even after the current tier 4 restrictions have ended.
Yes, wages are higher but so was the TV and sponsorship income for winning promotion, so I’m not sure we will have less cash in the bank. Even if we do have to part with our higher earners, we would still be left with the core of the squad that won promotion.
In short, it’s not all gloom and doom so cheer up old chap!
If you imagine how frustrating it is for us to be there or thereabouts in most games but not get what we arguably deserve in the end, imagine how frustrating it must be for the players and management team.
The good news is that we aren’t that far away from a few tweaks changing us from competing in games to dominating (okay, only slightly) in games.
The bad news is that the inevitability that we (some of us) are starting to feel that we’ll give a soft goal away every game can become self-fulfilling in the players as well.
No easy answers, but at the moment I still don’t believe we are that far away with who we already have and I don’t think it will require major additions to change things for the better
I’ve woken up @Maline !! Was wide awake then switched on the Liverpool v WBA game. Probably the strangest game I’ve seen this century, assuming that the pattern of play after Mané scored stayed the same. 82% to 18% possession. And I thought we got out-possessioned ! (Much more even yesterday of course.) only 5 fouls between them and one shot on target by Liverpool. Wonder if Sam’s shrewd tactics will enable West Brom to snatch an unlikely draw.
I switched off the West Ham game earlier when one of the commentators said “you can tell from his reaction that he knew he should have done more better”.
Spot on, we need to be more clinical and finish our chances.
I thought this season would be tough and we would struggle but I can only think of the games against Blackburn and Swansea that we were outplayed and outclassed.
I also thought Allsop would struggle and JJ would be exposed and his lack of pace would cause problems. Both players have been excellent.
How many goals have we scored that have been disallowed?
4? Luton, Millwall, Watford and Coventry
The penalty and sending off that was not given against Norwich.
Also in that game, the free kick that wasn´t a free kick that gave the winning goal.
The red card against Bournemouth.
Would a Bournemouth player have been sent off for such a tackle?
The handball and penalty that was not given against QPR.
The own goals - Preston and QPR.
Injuries.
Imagine having Gape, Thompson and Adeniran available for the majority of the season so far.
Grimmer, Stewart and Tafazolli have all been injured aswell.
Bayo had surgery during the summer - is he fully fit?
Imagine having a fully fit Bayo and fully fit Ikpeazu.
Just had a look at the statistic of our front men. Samuel's and Bayo have made 29 appearences between them, and have registered 0 goals.
I'm struggling to recall Samuel's even having a shot on target.
Kashket has managed 4 goals,
Unless we dramatically improve on this statistic, it will be virtually impossible for us to avoid relegation.
@Aylesburyblue said:
For me I would certainly invest in a new striker..has to be a striker potentially bang in form for a div 1/2 side.As everyone says we compete in almost every match but don't create or take our chances.
its not a clinical striker that we actually need imo...we are not creating any real clear cut chances which is the problem
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub said:
I’m sorry but the yo yo experience is not one that is going to happen in these current circumstances. Any other season we would be dripping in cash with packed houses most weeks. So when the inevitable relegation happens we would go down lighting cigars with £20 notes. We will go down this season with a higher wage bill, higher overheads and less cash in the bank. Next season will see us have to release the higher paid ones and that immediately will see us back to square one - favourites to go down from league 1. That’s the reality. The yo yo model is great when you can build a little each time you yo, this is simply not going to happen this time around.
I think you are being unduly pessimistic. For a start, we haven’t been relegated yet and I prefer to keep believing that survival is still possible. It’s also still possible that at least some fans will be allowed back into Adams Park and we will have 12 home games even after the current tier 4 restrictions have ended.
Yes, wages are higher but so was the TV and sponsorship income for winning promotion, so I’m not sure we will have less cash in the bank. Even if we do have to part with our higher earners, we would still be left with the core of the squad that won promotion.
In short, it’s not all gloom and doom so cheer up old chap!
Its getting harder and harder AP to cheer up post games. Whether it’s the football gods or the football officials someone is taking a large sh1t on our season and it’s getting less and less fun. I’m just not sure if it’s a question of our spark being extinguished or our spark not sparking this season. I haven’t given up. I love these guys as much as I did back in July.
It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand
@bookertease said:
If you imagine how frustrating it is for us to be there or thereabouts in most games but not get what we arguably deserve in the end, imagine how frustrating it must be for the players and management team.
The good news is that we aren’t that far away from a few tweaks changing us from competing in games to dominating (okay, only slightly) in games.
The bad news is that the inevitability that we (some of us) are starting to feel that we’ll give a soft goal away every game can become self-fulfilling in the players as well.
No easy answers, but at the moment I still don’t believe we are that far away with who we already have and I don’t think it will require major additions to change things for the better
Spot on - the hardest thing for me is seeing GA, Dobbo and these players looking so gutted, so often.
QPR, Wednesday, Birmingham, Forest, Derby and Millwall in a five-week period. Huge. Oddly Derby looks like the most difficult game out of those as things stand.
@chairboyscentral said:
Yeovil were awful though - and didn't they spend quite a lot of money? They definitely made a load of signings.
In terms of results though? Isn't there some similarities?
Just having a look and 12/25 losses were by 2+ goals and they conceded 3+ goals 11 times. We've kept it much tighter so far and it's hard to see another Blackburn.
Losing by 2 or 3 goals is the same outcome as losing by 1. 0 points.
But it tells you something about the performances. We're a clinical striker (or two) away from dragging ourselves out of this. Easier said than done but not like we're absolutely doomed.
I think this is dreamland. We could drop Messi into this team but if he’s told “don’t dribble, don’t shoot, don’t try to hold on to the ball, just kick it at Bayo within a second of receiving it”, then he wouldn’t make a spit of difference.
Watch Horgan playing for his country and he’s playing with his head up looking for the right pass at the right time. Playing for Wycombe he’s head down and getting rid quickly. You have to conclude he’s been told to.
Personally I think it unlikely that we can find a clinical striker who'll score 15 goals and get us the points to avoid relegation.
They are a rare beast (no pun intended), everyone else will be interested in the same player and we don't have the resources to compete.
In any case I believe our problem is that we are 5-10% below championship quality in many positions rather than simply lacking a goal scorer.
For instance we all know that JJ can be exposed by pace, that Rocky doesn't command his area, that Bayo isn't mobile enough, that Fred blows hot & cold, that Kashkett is too easily out muscled, that Horgan too often fails to deliver the killer pass, that Blooms isn't going to hit the target from more than 1 yd out, that Freeman isn't tough enough in the tackle, that Gape/Stewart/Uche are injured, etc etc ...
But you know what, it doesn't matter.
This season was all about evolving the team to play a style without Bayo* and to be more competitive for next year in league 1.
Sure, it would have been glorious if we'd managed to assemble a team to keep us in The Championship. But was that realistically going to happen?
I don't think so.
None of this means that it's not incredibly frustrating that we haven't got more pints than we have. Not is it intended as a criticism of our current squad or the management.
The one caveat is that so far I don't think we have seen enough of Uche to know if he can be the evolution we're looking for.
@Twizz, you seem to have given up already. A few fresh faces next month and a few wins on the bounce in January and we are in the hunt.
Believe, we can do it!!
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub said:
I’m sorry but the yo yo experience is not one that is going to happen in these current circumstances. Any other season we would be dripping in cash with packed houses most weeks. So when the inevitable relegation happens we would go down lighting cigars with £20 notes. We will go down this season with a higher wage bill, higher overheads and less cash in the bank. Next season will see us have to release the higher paid ones and that immediately will see us back to square one - favourites to go down from league 1. That’s the reality. The yo yo model is great when you can build a little each time you yo, this is simply not going to happen this time around.
You know we've probably added standard relegation wage clauses don't you?
Plus we've not gone mad on the signings anyway.
@micra said:
I’ve woken up @Maline !! Was wide awake then switched on the Liverpool v WBA game. Probably the strangest game I’ve seen this century, assuming that the pattern of play after Mané scored stayed the same. 82% to 18% possession. And I thought we got out-possessioned ! (Much more even yesterday of course.) only 5 fouls between them and one shot on target by Liverpool. Wonder if Sam’s shrewd tactics will enable West Brom to snatch an unlikely draw.
I switched off the West Ham game earlier when one of the commentators said “you can tell from his reaction that he knew he should have done more better”.
Watching Liverpool drop points is always a way to cheer a weekend up.
Especially seeing Klopp chasing the ref and ranting at him.
I switched off the West Ham game earlier when one of the commentators said “you can tell from his reaction that he knew he should have done more better”.
ps too true son.
Why use those two words when "betterly" would have done.
@chairboyscentral said:
We don't need a striker who's going to get 15 goals in 23 games. We just need someone who won't miss big chances time and time again.
Are they allowed to miss penalties as you keep taking them off our goal tally to make some point or another?
In all seriousness though we need better quality from someone supplying these strikers. We need a more solid base to attack from. In short we need to not play every attacking player we have from the start. It's like playground football.
@chairboyscentral said:
We don't need a striker who's going to get 15 goals in 23 games. We just need someone who won't miss big chances time and time again.
Are they allowed to miss penalties as you keep taking them off our goal tally to make some point or another?
In all seriousness though we need better quality from someone supplying these strikers. We need a more solid base to attack from. In short we need to not play every attacking player we have from the start. It's like playground football.
You take penalties off so you can fairly compare teams/players in terms of creativity and finishing...
You take penalties off so you can fairly compare teams/players in terms of creativity and finishing...
In a league of cheats, divers and high pitched screams I'd argue penalty and free kick generation was high in creativity terms.
Out of interest though are goals scored direct from free kicks taken out too? This stats world is genuinely odd to me. With a few refereeing decisions we could gave had at least three more penalties and in stats been no more creative.
Comments
You know what I have found myself thinking that bloody biker jacket isn’t helping.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Remember after Torquay Gaz got rid of the shorts and trackie, cut his hair and said call me Gaffer..
New Year, new Gaz?
The great escape starts here.
Charles v Rotherham
Kashket v Millwall
Kashket v Watford (kept out by probably the best save I've seen this season)
Fred v Derby
Knight and Kashket v Preston
Fred v Coventry
Kashket, Horgan and Bayo v QPR
And we've had enough decent ones in addition to those to have put a few more points on the board. We have some pretty barren games like yesterday, but we're perfectly creative on the whole for a side whose aim is to stay up.
Correction: We've lost the highest % of total games by one goal.
Well I must bow to your superior memory, unless you are straw clutching and I'm not saying you are. It's that I have no memory of them, as such, they were not glaring/obvious misses that my aging grey cells have retained!
Haha, I wish it was all from memory (I looked at the shot maps to prompt me).
Marcelo Trotta now he could finish!
Or a young Simon Garner, the ultimate clinical striker!
Can we get Sean Devine out of retirement? He's only 10 years older than Bayo.
I think you are being unduly pessimistic. For a start, we haven’t been relegated yet and I prefer to keep believing that survival is still possible. It’s also still possible that at least some fans will be allowed back into Adams Park and we will have 12 home games even after the current tier 4 restrictions have ended.
Yes, wages are higher but so was the TV and sponsorship income for winning promotion, so I’m not sure we will have less cash in the bank. Even if we do have to part with our higher earners, we would still be left with the core of the squad that won promotion.
In short, it’s not all gloom and doom so cheer up old chap!
If you imagine how frustrating it is for us to be there or thereabouts in most games but not get what we arguably deserve in the end, imagine how frustrating it must be for the players and management team.
The good news is that we aren’t that far away from a few tweaks changing us from competing in games to dominating (okay, only slightly) in games.
The bad news is that the inevitability that we (some of us) are starting to feel that we’ll give a soft goal away every game can become self-fulfilling in the players as well.
No easy answers, but at the moment I still don’t believe we are that far away with who we already have and I don’t think it will require major additions to change things for the better
I’ve woken up @Maline !! Was wide awake then switched on the Liverpool v WBA game. Probably the strangest game I’ve seen this century, assuming that the pattern of play after Mané scored stayed the same. 82% to 18% possession. And I thought we got out-possessioned ! (Much more even yesterday of course.) only 5 fouls between them and one shot on target by Liverpool. Wonder if Sam’s shrewd tactics will enable West Brom to snatch an unlikely draw.
I switched off the West Ham game earlier when one of the commentators said “you can tell from his reaction that he knew he should have done more better”.
@Malone, sorry.
Spot on, we need to be more clinical and finish our chances.
I thought this season would be tough and we would struggle but I can only think of the games against Blackburn and Swansea that we were outplayed and outclassed.
I also thought Allsop would struggle and JJ would be exposed and his lack of pace would cause problems. Both players have been excellent.
How many goals have we scored that have been disallowed?
4? Luton, Millwall, Watford and Coventry
The penalty and sending off that was not given against Norwich.
Also in that game, the free kick that wasn´t a free kick that gave the winning goal.
The red card against Bournemouth.
Would a Bournemouth player have been sent off for such a tackle?
The handball and penalty that was not given against QPR.
The own goals - Preston and QPR.
Injuries.
Imagine having Gape, Thompson and Adeniran available for the majority of the season so far.
Grimmer, Stewart and Tafazolli have all been injured aswell.
Bayo had surgery during the summer - is he fully fit?
Imagine having a fully fit Bayo and fully fit Ikpeazu.
Just had a look at the statistic of our front men. Samuel's and Bayo have made 29 appearences between them, and have registered 0 goals.
I'm struggling to recall Samuel's even having a shot on target.
Kashket has managed 4 goals,
Unless we dramatically improve on this statistic, it will be virtually impossible for us to avoid relegation.
its not a clinical striker that we actually need imo...we are not creating any real clear cut chances which is the problem
Its getting harder and harder AP to cheer up post games. Whether it’s the football gods or the football officials someone is taking a large sh1t on our season and it’s getting less and less fun. I’m just not sure if it’s a question of our spark being extinguished or our spark not sparking this season. I haven’t given up. I love these guys as much as I did back in July.
It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand
Spot on - the hardest thing for me is seeing GA, Dobbo and these players looking so gutted, so often.
We have a run of very winnable games coming up in January. Let's see where we are at the end of those.
I still reckon we'll stay up.
QPR, Wednesday, Birmingham, Forest, Derby and Millwall in a five-week period. Huge. Oddly Derby looks like the most difficult game out of those as things stand.
I think this is dreamland. We could drop Messi into this team but if he’s told “don’t dribble, don’t shoot, don’t try to hold on to the ball, just kick it at Bayo within a second of receiving it”, then he wouldn’t make a spit of difference.
Watch Horgan playing for his country and he’s playing with his head up looking for the right pass at the right time. Playing for Wycombe he’s head down and getting rid quickly. You have to conclude he’s been told to.
Personally I think it unlikely that we can find a clinical striker who'll score 15 goals and get us the points to avoid relegation.
They are a rare beast (no pun intended), everyone else will be interested in the same player and we don't have the resources to compete.
In any case I believe our problem is that we are 5-10% below championship quality in many positions rather than simply lacking a goal scorer.
For instance we all know that JJ can be exposed by pace, that Rocky doesn't command his area, that Bayo isn't mobile enough, that Fred blows hot & cold, that Kashkett is too easily out muscled, that Horgan too often fails to deliver the killer pass, that Blooms isn't going to hit the target from more than 1 yd out, that Freeman isn't tough enough in the tackle, that Gape/Stewart/Uche are injured, etc etc ...
But you know what, it doesn't matter.
This season was all about evolving the team to play a style without Bayo* and to be more competitive for next year in league 1.
Sure, it would have been glorious if we'd managed to assemble a team to keep us in The Championship. But was that realistically going to happen?
I don't think so.
None of this means that it's not incredibly frustrating that we haven't got more pints than we have. Not is it intended as a criticism of our current squad or the management.
@Twizz, you seem to have given up already. A few fresh faces next month and a few wins on the bounce in January and we are in the hunt.
Believe, we can do it!!
You know we've probably added standard relegation wage clauses don't you?
Plus we've not gone mad on the signings anyway.
We don't need a striker who's going to get 15 goals in 23 games. We just need someone who won't miss big chances time and time again.
Let’s finish 2020 with a win against Cardiff City.
Watching Liverpool drop points is always a way to cheer a weekend up.
Especially seeing Klopp chasing the ref and ranting at him.
Superb from Big Sam.
>
ps too true son.
Why use those two words when "betterly" would have done.
Are they allowed to miss penalties as you keep taking them off our goal tally to make some point or another?
In all seriousness though we need better quality from someone supplying these strikers. We need a more solid base to attack from. In short we need to not play every attacking player we have from the start. It's like playground football.
You take penalties off so you can fairly compare teams/players in terms of creativity and finishing...
In a league of cheats, divers and high pitched screams I'd argue penalty and free kick generation was high in creativity terms.
Out of interest though are goals scored direct from free kicks taken out too? This stats world is genuinely odd to me. With a few refereeing decisions we could gave had at least three more penalties and in stats been no more creative.