A really positive dominating first half today. Makes such a difference to go one up. Taffazoli is a real key player and is starting to become one of my favourites. Thought Thompson, JJ and McCarthy had great games and Knight looks more comfortable at the back than in midfield.
The last 10 mins were expertly managed after a bit of a pressure before that. The turning points werea couple of excellent punches from Stockdale and also Mehmeti re-emerging from a quiet spell to hold the ball up front and give our defence a breather.
Difficult weather conditions today but maybe this helped with focus on passing. It's great to see our style working with just a little bit more accurate passing.
Watching Mehmeti today and in previous games reminded me, and I am not alone looking at other posts on Gasroom, of Eze in those three months we had him on loan from QPR. I think in football skill terms Mehmeti is equally skilled regarding basic football skills such as ball control, balance and the ability to appear to glide by opponents but currently he lacks spacial awareness relative to releasing the ball to better placed teammates to progress the passage of play. His in-play decision making requires some refinement. Not his fault when you consider he comes from a far lower starting point in the football pyramid than Eze. I do not know the full details of his QPR career but I presume Eze was versed in the aspects of football other than developing the physical skills required. Hopefully we can secure his longer term tenure at the club. We have a gem on our hands who will benefit greatly from staying at Wycombe learning from the best managership team in the business.
Two defensive midfielders getting the ball up to one attacking midfielder, spreading the ball to two genuine wingers, crossing the ball into the one central striker.
1-0 Wycombe.
It's not rocket science.
Well done @aloysius. You called it right.
You might even be gracious enough to concede that I wasn’t exactly being outrageous when I said that I thought you were seriously underestimating Anis Mehmessi.
Mehmeti was excellent first half and last ten. I've said before he can be too selfish and if he wants to rise to the truly exceptional he needs to learn when to release others, by the sound of it Horgan made a similar point to him late on! For all his brilliant trickery I don't think any of his work today led to a shot on goal, either by himself or his teammates - which shows what he needs to work on. But the mazy runs were lovely to see, the turns, the jinks, the dribbles; all delightful. Still think we might get more return on goal in the short term from playing Wheeler in that role but I do accept that for pure entertainment value, no one in the squad provides it consistently as much as Mehmeti does.
Nor do I @Right_in_the_Middle and I didn’t take your comment as a snipe although I wasn’t sure whether those who called it that were interpreting it as being directed at me or at @aloysius !
What I am sure about is that Mehmeti is the most talented 20-year-old (just - he turned 20 in January) that I have seen in a Wycombe shirt in over fifty years of supporting the club. To me, being able to watch his remarkable skill on the ball and the development of his all round game has been a great privilege and the main incentive to keep watching at a time when, frankly, performances haven’t always done much to lift the spirits.
Let's remember Eze was playing in a League 2 side while Mehmeti is standing out in a Championship side. I'm not suggesting he's better than him, but his emergence as a key player for us at 20 years old having been picked up from non league for the B Team is nothing short of remarkable. Get him signed up and he will run rings round League One defences.
And doing a good defensive job too. On one occasion (possibly more) his anticipation and surprisingly quick reaction enabled him to ‘steal’ the ball from an oncoming Preston attacker. One of his best defensive performances for some time.
Mehmeti was great today. A real handful for the opposition and full of confidence.
A couple of thoughts on earlier comments.
Academy players don’t pass the ball much, that’s not what they are taught. The results of Academy games don’t matter to academy managers, it’s all about developing individuals. So that can breed greedy (let’s call them single minded) players. My youngest was at Wycombe for a few years and they said “we can teach them to pass later”. Then the lads get in a men’s team and all that matters is results. Mehmeti will learn when to pass and when to dribble, Gaz and Dobbo and his team mates will teach him.
When he had the chance to pass to Horgan late on, his head was down and I’m not sure he even saw Horgan on the overlap. Again that will develop as learns to play with his head up...amazingly difficult to do that at Championship level with the speed of play.
A great find for the club and will almost certainly be sold for a good transfer fee down the road.
I saw a website which had Mehmeti's contract as a mutual second year option. Hopefully that is right, but we also lock him down long term as soon as possible. If the club want to run a funding drive, I would happily chip in to keep him!
Has anyone seen Birmingham's fixtures? Next four are Reading, Watford, Swansea, Brentford. If we could win a couple during that run, this could get interesting!
They must have given up at halftime @Chris. That was a much improved defensive effort in the second half though. Not sure where that leaves former skipper Anthony Stewart !
@Doob said:
Can't believe no one's making the usual complaints about the officials for allowing a goal when it was clearly offside.
Why be negative after such a positive result? I assume you mean Ickpeazu in which case you are wrong as he was not ‘clearly offside’ as even the majority of Preston fans admitted on their forum.
Comments
Mehmeti is such a silver lining for this season. I hope we get at least a few seasons of him, and only sell for serious money.
Just the 7-3 aggregate against Preston over three games.
A really positive dominating first half today. Makes such a difference to go one up. Taffazoli is a real key player and is starting to become one of my favourites. Thought Thompson, JJ and McCarthy had great games and Knight looks more comfortable at the back than in midfield.
The last 10 mins were expertly managed after a bit of a pressure before that. The turning points werea couple of excellent punches from Stockdale and also Mehmeti re-emerging from a quiet spell to hold the ball up front and give our defence a breather.
Difficult weather conditions today but maybe this helped with focus on passing. It's great to see our style working with just a little bit more accurate passing.
Next game please
An extra reason to smile this afternoon, ColU are only seven points off the relegation zone in L2.
Watching Mehmeti today and in previous games reminded me, and I am not alone looking at other posts on Gasroom, of Eze in those three months we had him on loan from QPR. I think in football skill terms Mehmeti is equally skilled regarding basic football skills such as ball control, balance and the ability to appear to glide by opponents but currently he lacks spacial awareness relative to releasing the ball to better placed teammates to progress the passage of play. His in-play decision making requires some refinement. Not his fault when you consider he comes from a far lower starting point in the football pyramid than Eze. I do not know the full details of his QPR career but I presume Eze was versed in the aspects of football other than developing the physical skills required. Hopefully we can secure his longer term tenure at the club. We have a gem on our hands who will benefit greatly from staying at Wycombe learning from the best managership team in the business.
Nor do I @Right_in_the_Middle and I didn’t take your comment as a snipe although I wasn’t sure whether those who called it that were interpreting it as being directed at me or at @aloysius !
What I am sure about is that Mehmeti is the most talented 20-year-old (just - he turned 20 in January) that I have seen in a Wycombe shirt in over fifty years of supporting the club. To me, being able to watch his remarkable skill on the ball and the development of his all round game has been a great privilege and the main incentive to keep watching at a time when, frankly, performances haven’t always done much to lift the spirits.
Let's remember Eze was playing in a League 2 side while Mehmeti is standing out in a Championship side. I'm not suggesting he's better than him, but his emergence as a key player for us at 20 years old having been picked up from non league for the B Team is nothing short of remarkable. Get him signed up and he will run rings round League One defences.
Ah. You mean shots on target. Fair enough but not how I first read it.
Spit on Micra and Brownie
Well that's not very nice
That came out wrong, spot on Brownie and Micra
I thought for a moment the gasroom had taken a real turn !
Also has to be said, after an off night for JJs deliveries on Tuesday, he was fabulously back on song with those today
And doing a good defensive job too. On one occasion (possibly more) his anticipation and surprisingly quick reaction enabled him to ‘steal’ the ball from an oncoming Preston attacker. One of his best defensive performances for some time.
Mehmeti was great today. A real handful for the opposition and full of confidence.
A couple of thoughts on earlier comments.
Academy players don’t pass the ball much, that’s not what they are taught. The results of Academy games don’t matter to academy managers, it’s all about developing individuals. So that can breed greedy (let’s call them single minded) players. My youngest was at Wycombe for a few years and they said “we can teach them to pass later”. Then the lads get in a men’s team and all that matters is results. Mehmeti will learn when to pass and when to dribble, Gaz and Dobbo and his team mates will teach him.
When he had the chance to pass to Horgan late on, his head was down and I’m not sure he even saw Horgan on the overlap. Again that will develop as learns to play with his head up...amazingly difficult to do that at Championship level with the speed of play.
A great find for the club and will almost certainly be sold for a good transfer fee down the road.
I saw a website which had Mehmeti's contract as a mutual second year option. Hopefully that is right, but we also lock him down long term as soon as possible. If the club want to run a funding drive, I would happily chip in to keep him!
Has anyone seen Birmingham's fixtures? Next four are Reading, Watford, Swansea, Brentford. If we could win a couple during that run, this could get interesting!
Anyone looking for some lighthearted reading on Sunday morning could try the Preston fans forum.
https://www.pne-online.net/forum/index.php?forums/pne-discussions.20/
I sense a little disappointment with the result.
Ched Evans must hate playing Wycombe.
Page 10-14 make good reading
I’m looking forward to the day where we can have a pint together again @micra
I love this one:
And this one:
Along the lines of that last one, my favourite was when someone said Stockdale should be fined as it wasn’t essential for him to be there.
They must have given up at halftime @Chris. That was a much improved defensive effort in the second half though. Not sure where that leaves former skipper Anthony Stewart !
Can't believe no one's making the usual complaints about the officials for allowing a goal when it was clearly offside.
We may not be able to stay up this season but we can gatecrash a few championship end of season parties and piss in the punch
Very true @Morris_Ital and not forgetting to take the Championship funds with us!
Why be negative after such a positive result? I assume you mean Ickpeazu in which case you are wrong as he was not ‘clearly offside’ as even the majority of Preston fans admitted on their forum.
He was offside, and kicked the keeper in the face, as shown on the Quest highlights.
Even after a win there are a few on here determined to piss in OUR punch!