Looking very good. We haven’t fully hit our stride yet so 10 pts from 4 is great stuff.
Causing lots of problems in attack with that front 3. Players still to come back from injury. Very promising indeed. And we won’t find many midfield pairings last that win more tackles and 50/50s than Scowen and Thompson.
I though Freeman played very well until he was literally kicked off the park, which could have been a red card. Dreadful refereeing. You could see from the first 3-4 decisions he was going to be shit and so it proved. Some soft free kicks; others given the wrong way; completely inconsistent application of yellow cards.
Lincoln looked a good side. Excellent movement in midfield. Their number 11 looked extremely handy. The fact we pressed them made it a really exciting game - we could have let them have the ball and sat in deeper but we pushed right on, which made for an entertaining contest.
@Right_in_the_Middle said:
Never ever seen a side give away a corner from a goal kick.
Am I allowed to say how well Nick Freeman played?
We really applied pressure well today getting on the player in possession closing them down immediately and giving him no chance to pick a pass and forcing mistakes like that
The ref didn't even card their player for wiping out Freeman did he? Played on and booked another for taking out McCleary instead but no further action. He was dreadful
@Malone said:
The ref peaked in allowing 3 of their players to absolutely obliterate Vokes without even a thought of a free kick.
Vokes won a huge amount of headers today, outstanding.
He did. 64% (14/22), which is an absolutely insane win rate for any striker.
Great variety of headed touches too.
I think he'll certainly enjoy this season once we properly get motoring into gear.
Looking forward to a bit of rotation on Tuesday now, and see if we can slip into round 3 for possibly the first time since the semi final season?
Genuinely can't remember any others, as we seemed to draw a champ team in round 1 and lose by 1 goal for about a decade in a row!
@ReturnToSenda said: @Malone We got to Round 3 in 18/19 - lost 4-3 to Norwich, but that's the only time since the semi season. Beat Stevenage and get Arsenal ?
Ah good knowledge, and I dare say I was there, and have just totally forgotten what sounds like a great game.
Did we make a late go at it after being 4-1 down? That sort of rings a bell.
Presumable round 3 becomes all in national again? Any big team would be good, even if they will put out a young/squad side.
Just back from the game, well done to the boys, was hoping that scoring after 3 minutes thT my nerves wouldn't be so bad at the end as we'd be further ahead by then... I should know better shouldn't I !!
Funny how we all see games different, I really don't get Freeman and I'm not sold on Obita at all. But I thought Horgan and Scowen in particular were our standout players
@ReturnToSenda said: @Malone We got to Round 3 in 18/19 - lost 4-3 to Norwich, but that's the only time since the semi season. Beat Stevenage and get Arsenal ?
Ah good knowledge, and I dare say I was there, and have just totally forgotten what sounds like a great game.
Did we make a late go at it after being 4-1 down? That sort of rings a bell.
Presumable round 3 becomes all in national again? Any big team would be good, even if they will put out a young/squad side.
I think so. Rhodes got a hat-trick (of course) and Saunders got at least one iirc.
And yeah, I'm pretty sure it does as that's when the Prem teams in Europe come in.
I thought McCleary was outstanding today. Not just on the ball, but the amount of work off it. I can't imagine there's many wingers in this league who'll win as many balls back as he does.
Horgan not quite up to that standard, but definitely some signs he could be the player we thought. A couple of lovely runs.
Vokes is looking class and JJ won a lot of tackles too.
Very positive all round, and one game nearer McCarthy, Tafa and Wheeler coming back into the mix.
Still no sign or word on Kashket. Hope there's nothing going on there, and presumably Gape is the one who had to have an op, and is out for the forseeable.
Best McCleary moment was in the first half when he left their guy for dead out on the left without touching it. Horgan did the same with two of them at once in the second half, albeit with the ball at his feet. But they're both too good for this level when in full flight - and McCleary was there again today.
Very entertaining performance. Attack attack attack and then have the players turn onto defence mode without the ball is great. Vokes was tackling back at the end. What a joy.
The official was appalling. The tackle on Freeman was worthy of a booking and yet it let play go. Then trivial fouls he jumped on time and time again. And 10 mins before half time he lost the plot entirely which was embarrassing.
The match day experience was also vastly improved. Or am I just saying cos I had some curry goat?
Pretty solid win today against a Lincoln side who on the whole weren't really at their best.
Stockdale, Jacobson, Freeman, Scowen, Obita, McCleary and Vokes all really caught my eye today. I dont know why a lot of you aren't convinced on Obita. He's played most of his career in the championship and in my opinion he was a very good addition in the last transfer window. I suspect because Obita wasnt that amazing when we saw him play last season, some of you still aren't that convinced by him. But give him more time, he will definitely be a useful player to have.
I'm also getting more nervous by an ever increasing injury list and I'm also very worried about the right hand flank now. With Freeman going of injured due to a nasty tackle, we're really light on cover there. This season, I expect with our current formation (3-4-2-1), our wing back options on the right primerily will be Wheeler, McCarthy and James Clark (Clark is one of the "b team" players). We really do miss Wheeler and McCarthy and I'm very desperate for their return to the side. Obviously we have other options who could fill in that role such as Grimmer and Kaikai but we need a "natural" right wing back playing there.
Onto Stevenage on Tuesday. Safe travels to anyone going and COYB.
Wheeler had Covid so his recovery is going to be anywhere between instant and months. Good to hear Tafazoli is close and might mean we either go grimmer as wing back or 4 across the back in Tuesday. Or we chuck a development player in
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub said:
Wheeler had Covid so his recovery is going to be anywhere between instant and months. Good to hear Tafazoli is close and might mean we either go grimmer as wing back or 4 across the back in Tuesday. Or we chuck a development player in
It'd be good timing if any of the players not in today's 18 are back available, to at least step up to the bench.
Then start 5 or more of today's bench players.
@ReturnToSenda said:
Ipswich could yet be postponed as well, which might give us a bit of extra recovery time.
Any idea how many internationals they might have?
A fairly well informed (usually!) guy on the fb group seemed to suggest they might only actually have 1 current international.
Whereas we have Horgan and Mehmeti from the regulars, and the Gibraltar chap, and maybe Burley (?) from the development gang.
If those 4 were called up, I wonder whether we might decide we want to play Ipswich on a Saturday now, with them having 2 points from 4 games, for a bigger crowd, rather than the lotto of some midweek at an unspecified time, with them no doubt in better form?
I suppose it depends on whether we have the missing players back.
@ReturnToSenda said:
Ipswich could yet be postponed as well, which might give us a bit of extra recovery time.
Any idea how many internationals they might have?
A fairly well informed (usually!) guy on the fb group seemed to suggest they might only actually have 1 current international.
Whereas we have Horgan and Mehmeti from the regulars, and the Gibraltar chap, and maybe Burley (?) from the development gang.
If those 4 were called up, I wonder whether we might decide we want to play Ipswich on a Saturday now, with them having 2 points from 4 games, for a bigger crowd, rather than the lotto of some midweek at an unspecified time, with them no doubt in better form?
I suppose it depends on whether we have the missing players back.
Potentially a few, but only one looks likely (Armando Dobra, who's also Albania U21). Interesting to see what we decide if it comes to it, but you want everyone (fit) available.
@ReturnToSenda said:
Ipswich could yet be postponed as well, which might give us a bit of extra recovery time.
Any idea how many internationals they might have?
A fairly well informed (usually!) guy on the fb group seemed to suggest they might only actually have 1 current international.
Whereas we have Horgan and Mehmeti from the regulars, and the Gibraltar chap, and maybe Burley (?) from the development gang.
If those 4 were called up, I wonder whether we might decide we want to play Ipswich on a Saturday now, with them having 2 points from 4 games, for a bigger crowd, rather than the lotto of some midweek at an unspecified time, with them no doubt in better form?
I suppose it depends on whether we have the missing players back.
Potentially a few, but only one looks likely (Armando Dobra, who's also Albania U21). Interesting to see what we decide if it comes to it, but you want everyone (fit) available.
At least it sounds likely to be our decision.
I hope we decide to play. I do hate international breaks. To have them in league 1 is a real annoyance.
Tbf, if we're only missing one or two key players, I guess it's better to get it played and avoid having that congestion down the line. Plus it should be a proper occasion of a game.
@ReturnToSenda said:
Tbf, if we're only missing one or two key players, I guess it's better to get it played and avoid having that congestion down the line. Plus it should be a proper occasion of a game.
Horgan & Mehmeti are probably battling for 1 spot at the moment, so in a way it'd only be missing 1 definite starter.
If Wheeler is back, we have him and Kaikai to cover the two of them.
Snippets heard today, Wheeler all recovered from covid and expected back in 2-3 weeks, maybe Oxford game
Tafa expected back on Tues at Stevenage.
Kashket isn't injured, just can't make the squad.
Gape around the tunnel area today but no idea on timescales.
Comments
Looking very good. We haven’t fully hit our stride yet so 10 pts from 4 is great stuff.
Causing lots of problems in attack with that front 3. Players still to come back from injury. Very promising indeed. And we won’t find many midfield pairings last that win more tackles and 50/50s than Scowen and Thompson.
I though Freeman played very well until he was literally kicked off the park, which could have been a red card. Dreadful refereeing. You could see from the first 3-4 decisions he was going to be shit and so it proved. Some soft free kicks; others given the wrong way; completely inconsistent application of yellow cards.
Lincoln looked a good side. Excellent movement in midfield. Their number 11 looked extremely handy. The fact we pressed them made it a really exciting game - we could have let them have the ball and sat in deeper but we pushed right on, which made for an entertaining contest.
@glasshalffull only just spotted this. Hope you’re feeling better soon. That ref can’t have helped.
We really applied pressure well today getting on the player in possession closing them down immediately and giving him no chance to pick a pass and forcing mistakes like that
The ref didn't even card their player for wiping out Freeman did he? Played on and booked another for taking out McCleary instead but no further action. He was dreadful
The ref peaked in allowing 3 of their players to absolutely obliterate Vokes without even a thought of a free kick.
Vokes won a huge amount of headers today, outstanding.
Looked a nasty tackle and ref didn't even give a free kick.
He did. 64% (14/22), which is an absolutely insane win rate for any striker.
Great variety of headed touches too.
I think he'll certainly enjoy this season once we properly get motoring into gear.
Looking forward to a bit of rotation on Tuesday now, and see if we can slip into round 3 for possibly the first time since the semi final season?
Genuinely can't remember any others, as we seemed to draw a champ team in round 1 and lose by 1 goal for about a decade in a row!
@Malone We got to Round 3 in 18/19 - lost 4-3 to Norwich, but that's the only time since the semi season. Beat Stevenage and get Arsenal ?
Ah good knowledge, and I dare say I was there, and have just totally forgotten what sounds like a great game.
Did we make a late go at it after being 4-1 down? That sort of rings a bell.
Presumable round 3 becomes all in national again? Any big team would be good, even if they will put out a young/squad side.
Just back from the game, well done to the boys, was hoping that scoring after 3 minutes thT my nerves wouldn't be so bad at the end as we'd be further ahead by then... I should know better shouldn't I !!
Funny how we all see games different, I really don't get Freeman and I'm not sold on Obita at all. But I thought Horgan and Scowen in particular were our standout players
I think so. Rhodes got a hat-trick (of course) and Saunders got at least one iirc.
And yeah, I'm pretty sure it does as that's when the Prem teams in Europe come in.
I thought McCleary was outstanding today. Not just on the ball, but the amount of work off it. I can't imagine there's many wingers in this league who'll win as many balls back as he does.
Horgan not quite up to that standard, but definitely some signs he could be the player we thought. A couple of lovely runs.
Vokes is looking class and JJ won a lot of tackles too.
Very positive all round, and one game nearer McCarthy, Tafa and Wheeler coming back into the mix.
Still no sign or word on Kashket. Hope there's nothing going on there, and presumably Gape is the one who had to have an op, and is out for the forseeable.
Best McCleary moment was in the first half when he left their guy for dead out on the left without touching it. Horgan did the same with two of them at once in the second half, albeit with the ball at his feet. But they're both too good for this level when in full flight - and McCleary was there again today.
Very entertaining performance. Attack attack attack and then have the players turn onto defence mode without the ball is great. Vokes was tackling back at the end. What a joy.
The official was appalling. The tackle on Freeman was worthy of a booking and yet it let play go. Then trivial fouls he jumped on time and time again. And 10 mins before half time he lost the plot entirely which was embarrassing.
The match day experience was also vastly improved. Or am I just saying cos I had some curry goat?
Pretty solid win today against a Lincoln side who on the whole weren't really at their best.
Stockdale, Jacobson, Freeman, Scowen, Obita, McCleary and Vokes all really caught my eye today. I dont know why a lot of you aren't convinced on Obita. He's played most of his career in the championship and in my opinion he was a very good addition in the last transfer window. I suspect because Obita wasnt that amazing when we saw him play last season, some of you still aren't that convinced by him. But give him more time, he will definitely be a useful player to have.
I'm also getting more nervous by an ever increasing injury list and I'm also very worried about the right hand flank now. With Freeman going of injured due to a nasty tackle, we're really light on cover there. This season, I expect with our current formation (3-4-2-1), our wing back options on the right primerily will be Wheeler, McCarthy and James Clark (Clark is one of the "b team" players). We really do miss Wheeler and McCarthy and I'm very desperate for their return to the side. Obviously we have other options who could fill in that role such as Grimmer and Kaikai but we need a "natural" right wing back playing there.
Onto Stevenage on Tuesday. Safe travels to anyone going and COYB.
First league clean sheet of the season too. Important to get those racked up, as there will probably be a lot of tight games like today.
Wheeler had Covid so his recovery is going to be anywhere between instant and months. Good to hear Tafazoli is close and might mean we either go grimmer as wing back or 4 across the back in Tuesday. Or we chuck a development player in
It'd be good timing if any of the players not in today's 18 are back available, to at least step up to the bench.
Then start 5 or more of today's bench players.
Ipswich could yet be postponed as well, which might give us a bit of extra recovery time.
Any idea how many internationals they might have?
A fairly well informed (usually!) guy on the fb group seemed to suggest they might only actually have 1 current international.
Whereas we have Horgan and Mehmeti from the regulars, and the Gibraltar chap, and maybe Burley (?) from the development gang.
If those 4 were called up, I wonder whether we might decide we want to play Ipswich on a Saturday now, with them having 2 points from 4 games, for a bigger crowd, rather than the lotto of some midweek at an unspecified time, with them no doubt in better form?
I suppose it depends on whether we have the missing players back.
Potentially a few, but only one looks likely (Armando Dobra, who's also Albania U21). Interesting to see what we decide if it comes to it, but you want everyone (fit) available.
At least it sounds likely to be our decision.
I hope we decide to play. I do hate international breaks. To have them in league 1 is a real annoyance.
Tbf, if we're only missing one or two key players, I guess it's better to get it played and avoid having that congestion down the line. Plus it should be a proper occasion of a game.
Wheeler, his missus and baby were quite happily walking around the Caledonian an hour after the match, so hopefully he'll be back soon
Horgan & Mehmeti are probably battling for 1 spot at the moment, so in a way it'd only be missing 1 definite starter.
If Wheeler is back, we have him and Kaikai to cover the two of them.
I have a question about Sunderland fans. How bad at understanding football do you have to be in order not to appreciate Josh Scowen?
Snippets heard today, Wheeler all recovered from covid and expected back in 2-3 weeks, maybe Oxford game
Tafa expected back on Tues at Stevenage.
Kashket isn't injured, just can't make the squad.
Gape around the tunnel area today but no idea on timescales.