@HolmerBlue said:
Very very frustrating, first half we were great and should've been at least 2 up. Second half I think we just huffed and puffed a bit. Did I mention frustrating ? Good job we had those 10 days to put things right !
Any word on Taff ? Is it a sprained finger nail or something ?
Very frustrating indeed. I thought Thomo and Forino mopped up everything superbly and gave us a great platform to control the game. Sadly we couldn’t make the most of it.
Overall a good performance. If we go and beat Lincoln Sat then it starts to look like a respectable clean sheet and a result to build on after two defeats.
I feel McCleary could do with a rest really. We have so many attacking players in that position but seem to have tired him out a bit, while Horgan et al have barely had a sniff.
@ReturnToSenda said:
I'd like to revise what I said about Shrewsbury being shit - no threat, sure, but extremely effective at parking the bus and digging in to grind out a result, as evidenced by the fact they haven't conceded more than once for 11 games (of which they've only lost two).
That’s the point. Shrews came with zero attacking intent and defended so deep…I wouldn’t say they defended the six yard line it was more like the 2 yard line. We rarely drew their defenders out so when we did cross or pass in they had five or six men in the box. Very difficult to play against and requires real skill to break that down. We have that skill in McCleary and Mehmeti but tonight despite lots of great crosses we couldn’t put the shots or headers away. And their keeper did well.
Good to see that the majority of posters realise that it was just ‘one of those nights.’ We could have easily won 3-0, but if you can’t win then make sure you don’t lose. And to those pessimists worrying about this blip in form, remember that we are just 3 points off second place with a game in hand on the three teams above us.
First impressions of Lewis Wing were favourable in the early stages. We were passing the ball on the deck at that point and he was involved in several neat exchanges. He has a reputation for scoring cracking long range goals and one effort midway through the first half was screaming towards goal from well outside the box before deflecting off one of the massed ranks of defenders for a corner. Might even have been the one that nearly went directly into the top corner.
I was slightly surprised to see him in the starting lineup so soon after arriving but he is clearly highly rated and likely to be a fairly regular starter. For the life of me I can’t remember who last wore the 11 shirt.
Slept on last night's performance and it's hard to see how we did not win handsomely.
A very typical showing of 20 minutes of lovely football yielding no result therefore resort to lumping long diagonal crossfield balls to Vokes in the hope that he wins a flick on. Has happened time and time again, not just with Vokes but with Bayo too. Never understand it. But plenty of time to correct and try something different. Nope. 87 minutes in still trying the same thing and wondering why it didn't work.
The personnel were there to try something different. I would have had Vokes off earlier as it was clear their tactic was nullifying him and his goal radar was in need of adjustment.
Forino was superb again. As he approaches his landmark 10th appearance as a professional footballer!
A thought about the missing players. Pendlebury now appears to be way out of favour. Scowen was missed slightly less thanks to a great shift by Thompson. De Barr and Al Ahamidi not seen as good enough for the bench?
I hate to say this however feel we won't make the playoffs , our form has been poor and think Shef W and Plymouth and possibly Ipswich will overtake us and join Sunderland and MK Dons in the playoffs , I don't think we can cope without Scowen, MCleary looks leggy and I would have Hanlan Vokes and Mehmeti as front 3 . if Scowen is out for much longer then we will finish between 7-12 ....such a poor return considering we were top a month ago .
I fear Hanlan will become an enigma. His inconsistency throughout a game is so frustrating. World class run and shot. Followed by large patches of anonymity. Are don’t know if it’s a coachable thing as he has the ability is spades but is just not there for a of the game. Vokes was winning a fair number of flicks but Hanlan was just not getting there.
@Wanderers82 said:
I hate to say this however feel we won't make the playoffs , our form has been poor and think Shef W and Plymouth and possibly Ipswich will overtake us and join Sunderland and MK Dons in the playoffs , I don't think we can cope without Scowen, MCleary looks leggy and I would have Hanlan Vokes and Mehmeti as front 3 . if Scowen is out for much longer then we will finish between 7-12 ....such a poor return considering we were top a month ago .
Our results have been poor over just three games. We are three points off second place with a game in hand on the three teams above us, why the gloomy predictions?
@Wanderers82 said:
I hate to say this however feel we won't make the playoffs , our form has been poor and think Shef W and Plymouth and possibly Ipswich will overtake us and join Sunderland and MK Dons in the playoffs , I don't think we can cope without Scowen, MCleary looks leggy and I would have Hanlan Vokes and Mehmeti as front 3 . if Scowen is out for much longer then we will finish between 7-12 ....such a poor return considering we were top a month ago .
Our results have been poor over just three games. We are three points off second place with a game in hand on the three teams above us, why the gloomy predictions?
If @Wanderers82 is losing his usual confidence in the team we are certainly doomed!
I think what @Wanderers82 is saying that if we can recover our form we are in with a chance but if the current form continues we are going to drop out of the playoffs no doubt.
1 point from a possible 9 is terrible form and that was against two of the bottom teams in Morecambe and Shrewsbury and one of our play offs rivals in MK.
We certainly miss Scowen more than we miss Tafazolli or Stewart.
The one bright light from last night was Forino, he was excellent.
Even the most positive minded supporter must be fed up with the way we simply lump the ball forward all the time. Pierre and his defensive mates gobbled up all those long balls all night. Shrewsbury were set up to defend and absorb those long balls and that is exactly what they did. We had no plan B.
At one point in the 2nd half last night we had possession near their 18 yard box and ended up passing it all the way back to Stocko for him to just launch it aimlessly forward and Pierre won all those 50/50 balls.
Last night was just one of those games where if we’d scored and forced Shrewsbury to come at us, we’d have won comfortably.
It was only in the last 5 minutes of normal time when we seemed to really put them to the sword with the crowd getting up, just felt flat aside from that.
@glasshalffull said:
Our results have been poor over just three games. We are three points off second place with a game in hand on the three teams above us, why the gloomy predictions?
We’ve won 4 out of our last 11 games and within that I’d say we only really looked comfortable against Charlton & Oxford, you could make an argument for last night too I guess but the way Shrewsbury set up I could have kept a clean sheet. It’s more than a 3 game blip unfortunately.
I’m not hitting the panic button just yet but we desperately need to find some of that early season form again if we don’t want to find ourselves slipping further down the table. We had a rather sizeable gap at one stage to some of the teams that now sit above us. Yes, we’re only 3 points off the top, but we shouldn’t let that mask the significant swing in points.
We also looked very comfortable v Burton and Bolton - and Sunderland was a very evenly-matched game against a fellow promotion/play-off contender. And if last night - although frustrating - wasn't comfortable, I don't know what is.
Thought Kaikai looked very sharp in his brief appearance. Would love him to get a run of games. Took quite a clattering at one point though, so probably won’t hear anything about him for the next 3 months
It's obviously our (individual) expectations that is causing some of the slightly doom laden posts on here. I'm sure I'm not alone in my early season belief that this time we would mirror Rotherham with our careful and sustainable finances and a sound team in all areas. We can see that we've clearly got some way to go yet as Rotherham sit top of the table, 12 points ahead of us on same number of games and looking imperious.
It's fairly clear to me now that we don't look a team ready for the automatic promotion places yet, which is a significant shift in my expectation. It is indeed an amazingly competitive league this season, with a number of 'big' clubs in the mix, however, Rotherham seem to have negotiated this successfully (thus far). I now accept that we're still work in progress and we're indeed doing very well if just slightly short.
I will naturally eat my (Tunnock's Wafer) hat when we storm to second place! COYB!
@glasshalffull said:
Our results have been poor over just three games. We are three points off second place with a game in hand on the three teams above us, why the gloomy predictions?
We’ve won 4 out of our last 11 games and within that I’d say we only really looked comfortable against Charlton & Oxford, you could make an argument for last night too I guess but the way Shrewsbury set up I could have kept a clean sheet. It’s more than a 3 game blip unfortunately.
I’m not hitting the panic button just yet but we desperately need to find some of that early season form again if we don’t want to find ourselves slipping further down the table. We had a rather sizeable gap at one stage to some of the teams that now sit above us. Yes, we’re only 3 points off the top, but we shouldn’t let that mask the significant swing in points.
The last 11 games have yielded 16 points (W4 D4 L3).
If we replicated that form over the next 11 games it would take us to 69 points with 5 games to play. Last season 74 points was enough to reach the playoffs.
Things are nowhere near as bad as some posters are saying.
Comments
Frustrating and expensive
Nick Freeman
Have we scored yet?
Very frustrating indeed. I thought Thomo and Forino mopped up everything superbly and gave us a great platform to control the game. Sadly we couldn’t make the most of it.
Overall a good performance. If we go and beat Lincoln Sat then it starts to look like a respectable clean sheet and a result to build on after two defeats.
I feel McCleary could do with a rest really. We have so many attacking players in that position but seem to have tired him out a bit, while Horgan et al have barely had a sniff.
That’s the point. Shrews came with zero attacking intent and defended so deep…I wouldn’t say they defended the six yard line it was more like the 2 yard line. We rarely drew their defenders out so when we did cross or pass in they had five or six men in the box. Very difficult to play against and requires real skill to break that down. We have that skill in McCleary and Mehmeti but tonight despite lots of great crosses we couldn’t put the shots or headers away. And their keeper did well.
Good to see that the majority of posters realise that it was just ‘one of those nights.’ We could have easily won 3-0, but if you can’t win then make sure you don’t lose. And to those pessimists worrying about this blip in form, remember that we are just 3 points off second place with a game in hand on the three teams above us.
If you really think about it..have we ever dominated a league game like that before?
First impressions of Lewis Wing were favourable in the early stages. We were passing the ball on the deck at that point and he was involved in several neat exchanges. He has a reputation for scoring cracking long range goals and one effort midway through the first half was screaming towards goal from well outside the box before deflecting off one of the massed ranks of defenders for a corner. Might even have been the one that nearly went directly into the top corner.
I was slightly surprised to see him in the starting lineup so soon after arriving but he is clearly highly rated and likely to be a fairly regular starter. For the life of me I can’t remember who last wore the 11 shirt.
Slept on last night's performance and it's hard to see how we did not win handsomely.
A very typical showing of 20 minutes of lovely football yielding no result therefore resort to lumping long diagonal crossfield balls to Vokes in the hope that he wins a flick on. Has happened time and time again, not just with Vokes but with Bayo too. Never understand it. But plenty of time to correct and try something different. Nope. 87 minutes in still trying the same thing and wondering why it didn't work.
The personnel were there to try something different. I would have had Vokes off earlier as it was clear their tactic was nullifying him and his goal radar was in need of adjustment.
Forino was superb again. As he approaches his landmark 10th appearance as a professional footballer!
A thought about the missing players. Pendlebury now appears to be way out of favour. Scowen was missed slightly less thanks to a great shift by Thompson. De Barr and Al Ahamidi not seen as good enough for the bench?
I hate to say this however feel we won't make the playoffs , our form has been poor and think Shef W and Plymouth and possibly Ipswich will overtake us and join Sunderland and MK Dons in the playoffs , I don't think we can cope without Scowen, MCleary looks leggy and I would have Hanlan Vokes and Mehmeti as front 3 . if Scowen is out for much longer then we will finish between 7-12 ....such a poor return considering we were top a month ago .
I fear Hanlan will become an enigma. His inconsistency throughout a game is so frustrating. World class run and shot. Followed by large patches of anonymity. Are don’t know if it’s a coachable thing as he has the ability is spades but is just not there for a of the game. Vokes was winning a fair number of flicks but Hanlan was just not getting there.
Our results have been poor over just three games. We are three points off second place with a game in hand on the three teams above us, why the gloomy predictions?
If @Wanderers82 is losing his usual confidence in the team we are certainly doomed!
I think what @Wanderers82 is saying that if we can recover our form we are in with a chance but if the current form continues we are going to drop out of the playoffs no doubt.
1 point from a possible 9 is terrible form and that was against two of the bottom teams in Morecambe and Shrewsbury and one of our play offs rivals in MK.
We certainly miss Scowen more than we miss Tafazolli or Stewart.
The one bright light from last night was Forino, he was excellent.
Even the most positive minded supporter must be fed up with the way we simply lump the ball forward all the time. Pierre and his defensive mates gobbled up all those long balls all night. Shrewsbury were set up to defend and absorb those long balls and that is exactly what they did. We had no plan B.
At one point in the 2nd half last night we had possession near their 18 yard box and ended up passing it all the way back to Stocko for him to just launch it aimlessly forward and Pierre won all those 50/50 balls.
Hopefully we will turn this form around.
Last night was just one of those games where if we’d scored and forced Shrewsbury to come at us, we’d have won comfortably.
It was only in the last 5 minutes of normal time when we seemed to really put them to the sword with the crowd getting up, just felt flat aside from that.
3 games is not form
What is it then @LX1????
It is certainly current form whichever way you cut it.
Temporary.
Class is permanent
Ok temporary poor form then.
Beat me to it - you've been in great form over the last 12 hours
We’ve won 4 out of our last 11 games and within that I’d say we only really looked comfortable against Charlton & Oxford, you could make an argument for last night too I guess but the way Shrewsbury set up I could have kept a clean sheet. It’s more than a 3 game blip unfortunately.
I’m not hitting the panic button just yet but we desperately need to find some of that early season form again if we don’t want to find ourselves slipping further down the table. We had a rather sizeable gap at one stage to some of the teams that now sit above us. Yes, we’re only 3 points off the top, but we shouldn’t let that mask the significant swing in points.
Without overreacting, it would be desperately sad to have the best squad in 30 years and to whimper out without even the playoffs.
We also looked very comfortable v Burton and Bolton - and Sunderland was a very evenly-matched game against a fellow promotion/play-off contender. And if last night - although frustrating - wasn't comfortable, I don't know what is.
I think in current day parlance, @LX1 has just "owned" @Blue_since_1990
Thought Kaikai looked very sharp in his brief appearance. Would love him to get a run of games. Took quite a clattering at one point though, so probably won’t hear anything about him for the next 3 months
It's obviously our (individual) expectations that is causing some of the slightly doom laden posts on here. I'm sure I'm not alone in my early season belief that this time we would mirror Rotherham with our careful and sustainable finances and a sound team in all areas. We can see that we've clearly got some way to go yet as Rotherham sit top of the table, 12 points ahead of us on same number of games and looking imperious.
It's fairly clear to me now that we don't look a team ready for the automatic promotion places yet, which is a significant shift in my expectation. It is indeed an amazingly competitive league this season, with a number of 'big' clubs in the mix, however, Rotherham seem to have negotiated this successfully (thus far). I now accept that we're still work in progress and we're indeed doing very well if just slightly short.
I will naturally eat my (Tunnock's Wafer) hat when we storm to second place! COYB!
Owned hahaha. Especially when we have only won 4 out of our last 11. We have to be realistic and we need to go on a run of wins now.
The last 11 games have yielded 16 points (W4 D4 L3).
If we replicated that form over the next 11 games it would take us to 69 points with 5 games to play. Last season 74 points was enough to reach the playoffs.
Things are nowhere near as bad as some posters are saying.