I think this is a very valid comment. Certainly the last few games we have been poor in the second half. Our subs are always too late with limited opportunity for the players to have any impact. Some may start to question Ainsworth tactical flexibility.
The level of entertainment this season has been dreadful. We’re so passive in games and the pressing has gone. We used to be a good watch because we got at teams, pressed high and irked the opposition. At the moment we’re not offering anything like that level of intensity.
Port Vale looked good going forward, especially second half. Lots of movement off the ball and very pacy. When their attacking mids got on the ball there were plenty of options open and they cut through us.
I’m not sure whether it’s our defence or our defensive mids that aren’t creating sufficient cover, I suspect the combination of defence and midfield is just not good enough without Gape or Scowen or preferably Gape and Scowen. And Taf too…when are they coming back?
@fame_46 : I don’t understand why two people saw fit to give you thumbs down to what seemed to me to be a perfectly reasonable post.
This evening had a feeling of groundhog days about it. It started badly for me as I cocked up my WanderersTV psssword yesterday and got the replacement wrong this evening . I updated it and got into the game six minutes after Mehmeti’s goal. Haven’t seen it yet.
On paper we’ve lost one of our last six games but boy does that not even begin to tell the story. I think within that run we’ve only played well in a few short periods, with really only the second half against Peterborough standing out as a full 45 minutes of being on top.
We look so lacklustre and uninspired going forward, yet due to individual moments of quality (normally from Mehmeti) we do actually score goals. Genuine ‘team’ goals with collective buildup are becoming very rare (or perhaps that should be even rarer). The discussion on long ball isn’t new but blimey it’s hard to watch when it’s so ineffective and results aren’t going our way.
Goodness knows what’s going on defensively. Set pieces are a serious issue, players standing still and watching an unmarked player tap it in two games in a row. It’s a more longstanding problem than that though.
I’ve all but written this season off (hopefully that’s stupid and I’m pleasantly surprised) and would really like us to try and reestablish some sort of identity as a team. That doesn’t have to be the hard to beat physical one of the past, just something that lets me know as a fan what our overall approach is and how the players fit into it.
I see reference to the strength of our squad made in previous posts, is it really that strong though? We’ve half a dozen or so consistent top players at this level, that’s not really enough to expect us to challenge much higher than where we are. It doesn’t have to mean we should have to settle for poor performances either though.
Thank goodness their shooting was way off. They had more than enough decent chances to win comfortably.
Unquestionably, we’re missing our DM’s, especially Scowen. Teams are running through our midfield like it’s not there at times. To a limited extent I can understand that but for sure our defence isn’t looking as strong as the sum of its parts suggests it should either.
@BlueBoy I think it's a squad that could reasonably be expected to challenge for the play-offs with the majority fit for the bulk of the season - but it's clear that we lack strength in depth.
You need depth though. Especially with our injury record.
I think a number of our guaranteed starters have dipped in form significantly and this means our starting XI is probably indicative of where we are. My real hope is that Scowen in the lynchpin and his return helps everything click again. That’s a lot of hope and pressure to put on one player though.
A pretty uninspiring performance but with 2 excellent individual goals. Lucky to get a point in the end I think as Port Vale probably did enough as the away side to win it. The subs again were quite odd, with Mellor (who has shown very little ability at this level to date) coming on in the last minute ahead of two seasoned and successful performers (and internationals) in Kaikai and Horgan - we need to release both of these players in January as they will be on significant wages and it’s very clear the manager does not rate them, a shame.
Scowen is a huge miss and will significantly improve this team, so would Curtis Thompson. I remember about 18 months ago I would look at a starting line up and if Curtis wasn’t in it I’d think we might struggle today. If he played, I always thought we’d be in with a shout, no matter the opposition. Curtis hasn’t played for over 8 months now, he is not listed in the squad, there has been no news on him whatsoever, is it unreasonable to think he may not play for us again?
We also hugely miss Tafazolli and hope he is back soon to partner Mawson in a 4, with Forino continuing to develop as as a regular alongside Taf next season (assuming Mawson moves on).
Vokes is so, so good at this level but we continue to aimlessly lump it forward to him 90% of the time. If we got the ball into his feet he is a very good footballer and could be a brilliant focal point. If we could get the ball into Mehmeti, McCleary’s feet more often we could get so much more quality into the box for Vokes and would be a much better side. Watching Mehmeti, McCleary and (particularly) Hanlan trying to win headers from aimless punts is pretty soul destroying. Hanlan is a genuinely cracking player when he can roll a defender but is the worst header of the ball as a professional footballer I have ever seen. It is just not his game.
i agree with a previous poster though that said this season may well just be one of consolidation. We need to really focus on creating a new identity again and let the shackles off a bit as we certainly won’t go up or down so let’s play with freedom and plan very carefully for what will probably be a very new look squad next season.
I wonder if it might be very helpful for Wycombe to lose all the big-name players this summer. There's something that's not clicking. I don't know if it's that they're too grand to harry, chase and tackle (apart from Scowen) or too cultured, or just lacking the motivation. But whatever the reason they're not playing how Gareth wants his teams to play and it doesn't seem like he's able to convince them to run through walls for him. Assuming Gareth stays (and I don't see him going, I think the days of him being poached by others might be past and I don't think the Couhigs can afford to pay him off, even if they wanted to) I think he'll really benefit from being able to sign a fresh squad of unfancied journeymen... the next generation of Curtis Thompsons, Fred Onyedinmas, Bayo Akinfenwas with something to prove, all on relatively low wages, and get them smashing through walls for him again. We'll get back our no-nonsense rock-n-roll football... the Couhigs will get their cheaper squad... Gareth will get a fresh team to mould in his image. Everyone will be happy.
Isn’t it that the three players whose specific role is to harry, chase and tackle are all out injured at the same time, meaning we are filling in with Wing, Wheeler and Freeman?
With just one of Scowen, Thompson or Gape back (preferably Scowen) we’d be a different side.
We relied on 2 individual goals yesterday because as a team we don’t look like creating. The service to Vokes is confused (McCarthy is inconsistent with crossing, Obita prefers to cut back inside) and so often just becomes a long ball hoof.
In defence we are a shambles. We look disorganised at set pieces (something we never did) and are caught on the break over and over.
It starts with selection of course and having some players missing limits that selection. Crazy that the 4 players we have to play one role are all AWOL. Losing Forino now could make our defence even more fragile which is worrying again.
Personally I think we had a poor transfer window and this hasn’t helped. Why give Horgan a new contract and not play him? GA didn’t fancy Kaikai last season so why not get rid of the poor sod and let him play? It’s embarrassing. Maybe January will allow us to get a squad to give us a top half finish but we are limited on cards we can play now.
I also suspect that now things are getting hard and we are looking like a mediocre 3rd tier team with an expensive wage that the owners might get bored. I find my drive to AP longer after the last 3 games. A flight from the US must seem endless.
Wing and Freeman offered nearly nothing in defensive phases of midfield. Flabbergasted as to how many MOTM votes Wing got. Absolutely fantastic goal, but not doing us any favours out of possession. They are both great players when utilised in a sensible balanced system. Unfortunately, injuries mean we can’t play a balanced system at the moment.
Wing, Freeman and Wheeler are all excellent players. Freeman is tidy and rarely gives the ball away. Wing is strong in the tackle, has an excellent range of passes and can clearly shoot. Wheeler can play all round and was very strong last night. But it didn't work. All three cannot be described as playing poorly, they all played pretty well. It is just the sum of their parts didn't equal a whole. Pretty much the same as every other player.
If my stats are correct, as things stand, our current position would be the fourth best ever season in the football pyramid? Not bad at all.
Unfortunately what hasn’t been managed is our expectations. Valedictory exclamations of ‘automatics’ ‘best ever squads’ ‘world class’ this and that etc quickly come home to roost if (as many who actually have followed the lower league game for more than a couple of years anticipated) fails to be the case.
It will be interesting to see if this shift in the relationship between ‘the bosses’ and ‘the workers’ will be received as a learning curve to be taken on board by those who saw fit to make such naive proclamations, or if they choose to sulk at our cultural cynicism?
Your post was an absolute pleasure to read after seeing some of the inarticulate nonsense on the Facebook page. The reaction to last night’s result in this thread has been largely balanced, thoughtful and fair minded with a lot of valid points being made.
Comments
I think this is a very valid comment. Certainly the last few games we have been poor in the second half. Our subs are always too late with limited opportunity for the players to have any impact. Some may start to question Ainsworth tactical flexibility.
The level of entertainment this season has been dreadful. We’re so passive in games and the pressing has gone. We used to be a good watch because we got at teams, pressed high and irked the opposition. At the moment we’re not offering anything like that level of intensity.
Port Vale looked good going forward, especially second half. Lots of movement off the ball and very pacy. When their attacking mids got on the ball there were plenty of options open and they cut through us.
I’m not sure whether it’s our defence or our defensive mids that aren’t creating sufficient cover, I suspect the combination of defence and midfield is just not good enough without Gape or Scowen or preferably Gape and Scowen. And Taf too…when are they coming back?
@fame_46 : I don’t understand why two people saw fit to give you thumbs down to what seemed to me to be a perfectly reasonable post.
This evening had a feeling of groundhog days about it. It started badly for me as I cocked up my WanderersTV psssword yesterday and got the replacement wrong this evening . I updated it and got into the game six minutes after Mehmeti’s goal. Haven’t seen it yet.
Feels like it’s all my fault.
On paper we’ve lost one of our last six games but boy does that not even begin to tell the story. I think within that run we’ve only played well in a few short periods, with really only the second half against Peterborough standing out as a full 45 minutes of being on top.
We look so lacklustre and uninspired going forward, yet due to individual moments of quality (normally from Mehmeti) we do actually score goals. Genuine ‘team’ goals with collective buildup are becoming very rare (or perhaps that should be even rarer). The discussion on long ball isn’t new but blimey it’s hard to watch when it’s so ineffective and results aren’t going our way.
Goodness knows what’s going on defensively. Set pieces are a serious issue, players standing still and watching an unmarked player tap it in two games in a row. It’s a more longstanding problem than that though.
I’ve all but written this season off (hopefully that’s stupid and I’m pleasantly surprised) and would really like us to try and reestablish some sort of identity as a team. That doesn’t have to be the hard to beat physical one of the past, just something that lets me know as a fan what our overall approach is and how the players fit into it.
I see reference to the strength of our squad made in previous posts, is it really that strong though? We’ve half a dozen or so consistent top players at this level, that’s not really enough to expect us to challenge much higher than where we are. It doesn’t have to mean we should have to settle for poor performances either though.
Thank goodness their shooting was way off. They had more than enough decent chances to win comfortably.
Unquestionably, we’re missing our DM’s, especially Scowen. Teams are running through our midfield like it’s not there at times. To a limited extent I can understand that but for sure our defence isn’t looking as strong as the sum of its parts suggests it should either.
@BlueBoy I think it's a squad that could reasonably be expected to challenge for the play-offs with the majority fit for the bulk of the season - but it's clear that we lack strength in depth.
You need depth though. Especially with our injury record.
I think a number of our guaranteed starters have dipped in form significantly and this means our starting XI is probably indicative of where we are. My real hope is that Scowen in the lynchpin and his return helps everything click again. That’s a lot of hope and pressure to put on one player though.
A pretty uninspiring performance but with 2 excellent individual goals. Lucky to get a point in the end I think as Port Vale probably did enough as the away side to win it. The subs again were quite odd, with Mellor (who has shown very little ability at this level to date) coming on in the last minute ahead of two seasoned and successful performers (and internationals) in Kaikai and Horgan - we need to release both of these players in January as they will be on significant wages and it’s very clear the manager does not rate them, a shame.
Scowen is a huge miss and will significantly improve this team, so would Curtis Thompson. I remember about 18 months ago I would look at a starting line up and if Curtis wasn’t in it I’d think we might struggle today. If he played, I always thought we’d be in with a shout, no matter the opposition. Curtis hasn’t played for over 8 months now, he is not listed in the squad, there has been no news on him whatsoever, is it unreasonable to think he may not play for us again?
We also hugely miss Tafazolli and hope he is back soon to partner Mawson in a 4, with Forino continuing to develop as as a regular alongside Taf next season (assuming Mawson moves on).
Vokes is so, so good at this level but we continue to aimlessly lump it forward to him 90% of the time. If we got the ball into his feet he is a very good footballer and could be a brilliant focal point. If we could get the ball into Mehmeti, McCleary’s feet more often we could get so much more quality into the box for Vokes and would be a much better side. Watching Mehmeti, McCleary and (particularly) Hanlan trying to win headers from aimless punts is pretty soul destroying. Hanlan is a genuinely cracking player when he can roll a defender but is the worst header of the ball as a professional footballer I have ever seen. It is just not his game.
i agree with a previous poster though that said this season may well just be one of consolidation. We need to really focus on creating a new identity again and let the shackles off a bit as we certainly won’t go up or down so let’s play with freedom and plan very carefully for what will probably be a very new look squad next season.
I wonder if it might be very helpful for Wycombe to lose all the big-name players this summer. There's something that's not clicking. I don't know if it's that they're too grand to harry, chase and tackle (apart from Scowen) or too cultured, or just lacking the motivation. But whatever the reason they're not playing how Gareth wants his teams to play and it doesn't seem like he's able to convince them to run through walls for him. Assuming Gareth stays (and I don't see him going, I think the days of him being poached by others might be past and I don't think the Couhigs can afford to pay him off, even if they wanted to) I think he'll really benefit from being able to sign a fresh squad of unfancied journeymen... the next generation of Curtis Thompsons, Fred Onyedinmas, Bayo Akinfenwas with something to prove, all on relatively low wages, and get them smashing through walls for him again. We'll get back our no-nonsense rock-n-roll football... the Couhigs will get their cheaper squad... Gareth will get a fresh team to mould in his image. Everyone will be happy.
Isn’t it that the three players whose specific role is to harry, chase and tackle are all out injured at the same time, meaning we are filling in with Wing, Wheeler and Freeman?
With just one of Scowen, Thompson or Gape back (preferably Scowen) we’d be a different side.
We have had a lot of good league seasons with crap FA Cup runs lately. Maybe we are about to see the opposite?
Just watched Ainsworth’s post match interview and he talks about tired legs. Why not bring on subs earlier?
We just look a mess.
We relied on 2 individual goals yesterday because as a team we don’t look like creating. The service to Vokes is confused (McCarthy is inconsistent with crossing, Obita prefers to cut back inside) and so often just becomes a long ball hoof.
In defence we are a shambles. We look disorganised at set pieces (something we never did) and are caught on the break over and over.
It starts with selection of course and having some players missing limits that selection. Crazy that the 4 players we have to play one role are all AWOL. Losing Forino now could make our defence even more fragile which is worrying again.
Personally I think we had a poor transfer window and this hasn’t helped. Why give Horgan a new contract and not play him? GA didn’t fancy Kaikai last season so why not get rid of the poor sod and let him play? It’s embarrassing. Maybe January will allow us to get a squad to give us a top half finish but we are limited on cards we can play now.
I also suspect that now things are getting hard and we are looking like a mediocre 3rd tier team with an expensive wage that the owners might get bored. I find my drive to AP longer after the last 3 games. A flight from the US must seem endless.
Depending on how much weight you actually give to injury updates provided by the club, Curtis is due back around January.
That timeframe has been mentioned a few times since the start of the season.
A little insight into the side he’ll pick on Saturday, if we didn’t know already…
Wheels made as many interceptions last night as Wing and Freeman did between them across the previous four games combined.
Bloody hell
He had an excellent game to be fair, as did Grimmer when he came on.
8 - most of any Wycombe player in a league game this season, which kind of tells you all you need to know about how open we were...
Wing and Freeman offered nearly nothing in defensive phases of midfield. Flabbergasted as to how many MOTM votes Wing got. Absolutely fantastic goal, but not doing us any favours out of possession. They are both great players when utilised in a sensible balanced system. Unfortunately, injuries mean we can’t play a balanced system at the moment.
Agreed. Reflects my thoughts almost exactly.
Wing, Freeman and Wheeler are all excellent players. Freeman is tidy and rarely gives the ball away. Wing is strong in the tackle, has an excellent range of passes and can clearly shoot. Wheeler can play all round and was very strong last night. But it didn't work. All three cannot be described as playing poorly, they all played pretty well. It is just the sum of their parts didn't equal a whole. Pretty much the same as every other player.
Perspective is needed here.
If my stats are correct, as things stand, our current position would be the fourth best ever season in the football pyramid? Not bad at all.
Unfortunately what hasn’t been managed is our expectations. Valedictory exclamations of ‘automatics’ ‘best ever squads’ ‘world class’ this and that etc quickly come home to roost if (as many who actually have followed the lower league game for more than a couple of years anticipated) fails to be the case.
It will be interesting to see if this shift in the relationship between ‘the bosses’ and ‘the workers’ will be received as a learning curve to be taken on board by those who saw fit to make such naive proclamations, or if they choose to sulk at our cultural cynicism?
Your post was an absolute pleasure to read after seeing some of the inarticulate nonsense on the Facebook page. The reaction to last night’s result in this thread has been largely balanced, thoughtful and fair minded with a lot of valid points being made.
Quite a contrast between Gab Sutton's interviews with the two managers last night...
Gaz: https://twitter.com/GabSutton/status/1587574131373084672?t=1aN_WiCP4hUigTIcEe_zDQ&s=19
Darrell Clarke: https://twitter.com/GabSutton/status/1587567313460527105?t=lzYeBQW_Zhw4WHJiTyKkog&s=19
Darrell Clarke channeling David Brent there.