I think some posters( including me ) have a default setting (Ga/MB out...X is an awful player etc etc) that is unaffected by the actual match they are watching or the last ten years of games they have watched. 😉
Well said and in the last 3 seasons in our division the number of points needed to stay up was 48, 40 and 46 and 48 points is the average since League One was formed.
Just the sixth game I've been able to see live this season, the fewest in over 30 years, - and the first league win I've witnessed this campaign. Have to say that Wycombe never looked like losing last night, but for 84 and a half minutes it also looked nailed-on for a 0-0 draw. The style of play is not exciting and has none of the win-or-bust jeopardy that seemed to characterise the Ainsworth experience. Coming to the game a little late after work, I parked up outside Millbrook School thinking I wouldn't get closer - and then walked to the stadium with hardly another soul heading in the same direction - it felt more like a BSM Trophy atmosphere than a relegation six-pointer.
And that, perhaps, is the issue at the moment. The whole experience feels a bit anonymous. A bland style of play means fans are less inclined to shell out their wonga to watch and 6,500 empty spaces in the ground flattens the atmosphere. So, even with the win, it's all a bit 'meh'.
I do suspect the Couhigs are deep into their exit strategy and we'll see new owners within 12 months. Until then, everything on and off the pitch will be a bit conservative, a little low-key. Lubala ensured I came home happy last night, but his strike aside, did those who chose another way to spend their evening really miss that much?
Ah well, glad the club has 25,000 tickets for Wembley...
I did spot a couple of moments yesterday where Vokes was having a go at others for not being on the end of his flick-ons. One of them GMac had made a fantastic run into loads of space on the right, Vokes flicked it straight on to an oppo defender and then had a go at GMac for, I dunno, being in space instead of where the defenders were.
Having said that, I never like to read too much into players shouting at each other on the pitch, sometimes it's just part of wanting to win as a team, and if the player being shouted at doesn't start arguing back you know they're taking it the right way. We did look like a tight knit group last night. The Vokes moments last night may have looked like moaning but could just have easily been apologising along the lines of "sorry, I thought you'd be going that way".
If you think that 25 shots with 7 on target against in form opponents who didn’t muster a single shot on target is bland and unexciting, I think you are setting a very high bar for entertainment value, not to mention a contender for goal of the season.
Was that in the first half? If so, I noticed it too but actually thought Vokes was right. GMac needed to have ran beyond Vokes who flicked it on, but was too wide and deep. It is pretty common that don't get players close enough to Vokes to make best use of his skills.
‘In form opponents’ does not equate to opponents who played well.
We struggled for 85 minutes to score at home against a side that has a very high chance of being relegated.
I would definitely not encourage any neutrals to come and watch Wycombe at the moment. The football is bland and there is nothing left to play for in the league.
I don’t think I have particularly high expectations. I was hoping to finish in the top 10 this season.
I think we are far enough away from the relegation places to make a relegation scrap feel unlikely. The playoffs are surely well out of reach. Which leaves for the first time in many seasons not a huge amount to play for in the league. When the result isn't critical, it can flatten the excitement somewhat. Sometimes the style of football hasn't been great this year and in a cost of living crisis, with supporters struggling with their finances working out how to pay for their Wembley ticket, perhaps an easy choice to make to skip a cold fairly routine midweek night game.
Alan, Cheltenham failed to get a shot on goal all game and sat so deep that it was more like a coconut shy than a sporting contest, yet, penalty aside, Wycombe didn't look the threat 23 shots would suggest. As I said, the Beryly goal sent me home happy. The comment on the style of play relates to the games I've been able to see at AP this season - the likes of Exeter, Bolton, Shrewsbury and Lincoln, as well as Bradford on the telly last week. I know you're the unofficial PR spokesperson for the club - but too often you sound like one of the Tory ministers on the current media round. Look at the evidence: fewer than 3,500 turned up last night, fewer than 5k home fans for the recent Oxford match. Something's not quite clicking and the punters are choosing to spend their ££ elsewhere. Unless the Georgian billionaire is really keen on turning himself into a millionaire, that should be a worry for the club, as running an L1 club on dwindling income isn't sustainable. The Wembley trip will cover some of the loss this year - but can the club afford to be attracting crowds of 3,500 this time next year?
Lomtadze is reputedly worth c £3.5bn. Unless he tends to spend £2.5bn on us, hard to see how we alone are going to eliminate his billionaire status....
The club has invested heavily - arguably above its means - in the playing squad. Hard to see what more they can do to enhance gate revenue. Price slashing deals however dressed up seem to have the opposite effect.
I don't think the Georgian Billionaire has to worry about the crowds. A £3 million loss on the year would be %0.06 of his current wealth. He could make attendance free for all games and would still be nowhere near a 1% loss.
It's hard to comprehend so much money being near our club and what might happen because of this. No point speculating with so little to go on but the future is interesting. Hopefully we can replace the Babycham with some Cristal.
I often think that rich foreign investors want football clubs so that they can boast about to their other wealthy business buddies while not actually paying a bit of attention to the going-on's in and around the club. When it's successful, they are front and centre, when its not, they go missing. While Rob has his faults of being over positive / chasing something that might/won't happen, at least he see him around regularly. He did his homework, lent the club money when we needed it, he & his family helped out around the club to support it and build up their stock before the takeover and has been seen around ever since.
However, I do worry about how much influence this new investment is going to be into our club. Will they be silent or will they be proactive? Will we ever see them at Adam's Park or just see a representative of their's? Yes, they have money and could run the club on their interest alone, I hope they don't follow the same trends as Reading's "owner" where they push and push for Premier League and when they realise it won't happen, strangle every part of the club until its on it's knees.
Our new owner is worth 5 times Reading's owner, if a quick look at Wiki is to be believed. I'm more worried we do a Gretna but who knows??? This is day one of our brave new world (wide phenomena)
I would describe last night for the most part as “bland and unexciting” although not sure whether that was just the game. I left pretty confused. Delighted we had won and delighted with the last ten minutes, especially the character shown. But frustrated we did not finish chances early in the game, baffled how we lost some control in midfield once our best midfielder in Scowen had come on and utterly confused why it took so long to bring on pace that was badly needed against a slow and limited defence.
Lots of issues being conflated here. No sale has happened yet - and it may be that the Gorgeous Georgian is just dipping his toe in the market with WWFC. If he has sufficient liquid assets, I suspect there are a number of clubs that would be more attractive in terms of facilities, location, demographic and all of the factors necessary for expansion. Coming on board as a director may be useful as an education in the English game and club ownership - it does not necessarily mean we'll be either the next Gretna or even Manchester City.
I'm delighted to be positive when warranted - and the Lubala goal last night had me leaping around the Frank Adams stand as much as my nigh-on 60 year old knees would allow. But I also look past one result. This league season has been disappointing, so my joy remains tempered.
It used to be that club ownership was an ego trip for the rich - hence my stolen comment that the best way to become a millionaire is to start off as a billionaire and then buy a football club. Now, one has to be super-rich to be so indulgent, so club ownership has become more pragmatic. I'd like to see something shift soon - unlike the ever-ebullient Alan P, I'm not a fan of the current vanilla product, on or off the field (just don't bring back fireworks...).
Perhaps Cheltenham didn’t play well as well as their recent form suggests because Wycombe didn’t allow them to? They certainly defended well for 85 minutes and their goalkeeper made several good saves including from the Potts penalty. Nothing left to play for in the league? It was only a few weeks ago that some posters were predicting relegation as a certainty and we are still not safe so I would suggest this is not the time for gung ho football. I think our style of play is frustrating rather than bland as we have so often failed to convert the chances we have created.
Anyone who finds watching their team do this with 25 shots on goal boring, bland, or unexciting is watching entirely the wrong sport. I loved every minute of it, tons of individual moments of brilliance (like Taylor's double feint and drag back that took out two defenders who were all over him, loads of sublime interplay between Grimmer and GMac), constant attacking with fantastic attack patterns. I'm genuinely baffled that anyone could possibly not be entertained by that.
It reminds me of how I feel watching Formula 1, car go round, car go round again, car go round again. I accept that some people find car go round exciting for some reason, but man that "sport" is just not for me.
I think they were Eric, especially during that run when we only won one in 17 games. I was mocked for predicting that we would be safe. They know who they were.
Comes down to end product DocC. For 84.5 minutes, this looked like a 0-0 with the worry late nerves would deliver a Cheltenham goal. I'm really glad that actually what we'll remember is the worldie from Lubala.
And, again I reiterate, my take as stated in my earlier post is that the overall style of football across the season has been bland and unexciting - hence 3.5k bothering to turn up last night. I was happy in the end last night - not least as the only other time I've seen the side win in this campaign was 3-2 over Fulham's Under 12s, while I've also had to sit through the delights of Exeter, Shrewsbury, Bolton and Lincoln. Yes there were some nice touches, but also a lot of tippy tappy in front of the Cheltenham defence and quite a few Vokes knock downs to no-one in particular. I was reasonably entertained last night - but remain unenthused by the current product.
@MJS I was less referring to you than the endless stream of posters calling the match boring while it was ongoing and then mysteriously disappearing when we scored.
@eric_plant Interested to hear what you thought of the game (maybe I've missed it tho, soz if so)
My main concern was that it was almost an exact inverse of last wednesday's game vs Bradford (all the chances up against an inspired goalkeeper) and that the football gods were looking to dish up some pretty fast karma.
Thankfully that wasn't to be though, and we got a well deserved victory. I don't think there was a poor performance from anyone, including the subs.
I will confess to being disappointed when Sadlier was substituted off. I thought he was the best player on the pitch and he's just so good to watch. But I'm prepared to accept that the management have access to data we don't regarding condition etc so just have to trust the management team.
I will say one thing about the official attendance. 3,400 odd means that, if accurate, the stadium was over a third full last night. It didn't feel anywhere near that to me. I suspect they're including season ticket holders who weren't there.
Isn't this the point a statto brings up attendance figures to show that, although no doubt we are screwed when it comes to crowds, attendances are actually about average?
To be fair, if @glasshalffull said he liked Max's dog, there's a chance he'd be hauled over the coals for towing the party line and being a club mouthpiece.
Comments
I think some posters( including me ) have a default setting (Ga/MB out...X is an awful player etc etc) that is unaffected by the actual match they are watching or the last ten years of games they have watched. 😉
Well said and in the last 3 seasons in our division the number of points needed to stay up was 48, 40 and 46 and 48 points is the average since League One was formed.
I think 50 will be enough this season, and all of a sudden the gloom and frustration has lifted a fair bit for me, I think we'll get there no problem.
Beryly we roll along...
Just the sixth game I've been able to see live this season, the fewest in over 30 years, - and the first league win I've witnessed this campaign. Have to say that Wycombe never looked like losing last night, but for 84 and a half minutes it also looked nailed-on for a 0-0 draw. The style of play is not exciting and has none of the win-or-bust jeopardy that seemed to characterise the Ainsworth experience. Coming to the game a little late after work, I parked up outside Millbrook School thinking I wouldn't get closer - and then walked to the stadium with hardly another soul heading in the same direction - it felt more like a BSM Trophy atmosphere than a relegation six-pointer.
And that, perhaps, is the issue at the moment. The whole experience feels a bit anonymous. A bland style of play means fans are less inclined to shell out their wonga to watch and 6,500 empty spaces in the ground flattens the atmosphere. So, even with the win, it's all a bit 'meh'.
I do suspect the Couhigs are deep into their exit strategy and we'll see new owners within 12 months. Until then, everything on and off the pitch will be a bit conservative, a little low-key. Lubala ensured I came home happy last night, but his strike aside, did those who chose another way to spend their evening really miss that much?
Ah well, glad the club has 25,000 tickets for Wembley...
I did spot a couple of moments yesterday where Vokes was having a go at others for not being on the end of his flick-ons. One of them GMac had made a fantastic run into loads of space on the right, Vokes flicked it straight on to an oppo defender and then had a go at GMac for, I dunno, being in space instead of where the defenders were.
Having said that, I never like to read too much into players shouting at each other on the pitch, sometimes it's just part of wanting to win as a team, and if the player being shouted at doesn't start arguing back you know they're taking it the right way. We did look like a tight knit group last night. The Vokes moments last night may have looked like moaning but could just have easily been apologising along the lines of "sorry, I thought you'd be going that way".
If you think that 25 shots with 7 on target against in form opponents who didn’t muster a single shot on target is bland and unexciting, I think you are setting a very high bar for entertainment value, not to mention a contender for goal of the season.
Was that in the first half? If so, I noticed it too but actually thought Vokes was right. GMac needed to have ran beyond Vokes who flicked it on, but was too wide and deep. It is pretty common that don't get players close enough to Vokes to make best use of his skills.
‘In form opponents’ does not equate to opponents who played well.
We struggled for 85 minutes to score at home against a side that has a very high chance of being relegated.
I would definitely not encourage any neutrals to come and watch Wycombe at the moment. The football is bland and there is nothing left to play for in the league.
I don’t think I have particularly high expectations. I was hoping to finish in the top 10 this season.
I think we are far enough away from the relegation places to make a relegation scrap feel unlikely. The playoffs are surely well out of reach. Which leaves for the first time in many seasons not a huge amount to play for in the league. When the result isn't critical, it can flatten the excitement somewhat. Sometimes the style of football hasn't been great this year and in a cost of living crisis, with supporters struggling with their finances working out how to pay for their Wembley ticket, perhaps an easy choice to make to skip a cold fairly routine midweek night game.
Alan, Cheltenham failed to get a shot on goal all game and sat so deep that it was more like a coconut shy than a sporting contest, yet, penalty aside, Wycombe didn't look the threat 23 shots would suggest. As I said, the Beryly goal sent me home happy. The comment on the style of play relates to the games I've been able to see at AP this season - the likes of Exeter, Bolton, Shrewsbury and Lincoln, as well as Bradford on the telly last week. I know you're the unofficial PR spokesperson for the club - but too often you sound like one of the Tory ministers on the current media round. Look at the evidence: fewer than 3,500 turned up last night, fewer than 5k home fans for the recent Oxford match. Something's not quite clicking and the punters are choosing to spend their ££ elsewhere. Unless the Georgian billionaire is really keen on turning himself into a millionaire, that should be a worry for the club, as running an L1 club on dwindling income isn't sustainable. The Wembley trip will cover some of the loss this year - but can the club afford to be attracting crowds of 3,500 this time next year?
Lomtadze is reputedly worth c £3.5bn. Unless he tends to spend £2.5bn on us, hard to see how we alone are going to eliminate his billionaire status....
The club has invested heavily - arguably above its means - in the playing squad. Hard to see what more they can do to enhance gate revenue. Price slashing deals however dressed up seem to have the opposite effect.
I don't think the Georgian Billionaire has to worry about the crowds. A £3 million loss on the year would be %0.06 of his current wealth. He could make attendance free for all games and would still be nowhere near a 1% loss.
It's hard to comprehend so much money being near our club and what might happen because of this. No point speculating with so little to go on but the future is interesting. Hopefully we can replace the Babycham with some Cristal.
Glad we won. Or it could have been very negative on here.
@glasshalffull being positive? Don't you ever learn, Alan? 😉
I often think that rich foreign investors want football clubs so that they can boast about to their other wealthy business buddies while not actually paying a bit of attention to the going-on's in and around the club. When it's successful, they are front and centre, when its not, they go missing. While Rob has his faults of being over positive / chasing something that might/won't happen, at least he see him around regularly. He did his homework, lent the club money when we needed it, he & his family helped out around the club to support it and build up their stock before the takeover and has been seen around ever since.
However, I do worry about how much influence this new investment is going to be into our club. Will they be silent or will they be proactive? Will we ever see them at Adam's Park or just see a representative of their's? Yes, they have money and could run the club on their interest alone, I hope they don't follow the same trends as Reading's "owner" where they push and push for Premier League and when they realise it won't happen, strangle every part of the club until its on it's knees.
Our new owner is worth 5 times Reading's owner, if a quick look at Wiki is to be believed. I'm more worried we do a Gretna but who knows??? This is day one of our brave new world (wide phenomena)
I would describe last night for the most part as “bland and unexciting” although not sure whether that was just the game. I left pretty confused. Delighted we had won and delighted with the last ten minutes, especially the character shown. But frustrated we did not finish chances early in the game, baffled how we lost some control in midfield once our best midfielder in Scowen had come on and utterly confused why it took so long to bring on pace that was badly needed against a slow and limited defence.
Lots of issues being conflated here. No sale has happened yet - and it may be that the Gorgeous Georgian is just dipping his toe in the market with WWFC. If he has sufficient liquid assets, I suspect there are a number of clubs that would be more attractive in terms of facilities, location, demographic and all of the factors necessary for expansion. Coming on board as a director may be useful as an education in the English game and club ownership - it does not necessarily mean we'll be either the next Gretna or even Manchester City.
I'm delighted to be positive when warranted - and the Lubala goal last night had me leaping around the Frank Adams stand as much as my nigh-on 60 year old knees would allow. But I also look past one result. This league season has been disappointing, so my joy remains tempered.
It used to be that club ownership was an ego trip for the rich - hence my stolen comment that the best way to become a millionaire is to start off as a billionaire and then buy a football club. Now, one has to be super-rich to be so indulgent, so club ownership has become more pragmatic. I'd like to see something shift soon - unlike the ever-ebullient Alan P, I'm not a fan of the current vanilla product, on or off the field (just don't bring back fireworks...).
Perhaps Cheltenham didn’t play well as well as their recent form suggests because Wycombe didn’t allow them to? They certainly defended well for 85 minutes and their goalkeeper made several good saves including from the Potts penalty. Nothing left to play for in the league? It was only a few weeks ago that some posters were predicting relegation as a certainty and we are still not safe so I would suggest this is not the time for gung ho football. I think our style of play is frustrating rather than bland as we have so often failed to convert the chances we have created.
Anyone who finds watching their team do this with 25 shots on goal boring, bland, or unexciting is watching entirely the wrong sport. I loved every minute of it, tons of individual moments of brilliance (like Taylor's double feint and drag back that took out two defenders who were all over him, loads of sublime interplay between Grimmer and GMac), constant attacking with fantastic attack patterns. I'm genuinely baffled that anyone could possibly not be entertained by that.
It reminds me of how I feel watching Formula 1, car go round, car go round again, car go round again. I accept that some people find car go round exciting for some reason, but man that "sport" is just not for me.
not sure many posters were predicting relegation as a certainty were they?
I think they were Eric, especially during that run when we only won one in 17 games. I was mocked for predicting that we would be safe. They know who they were.
Comes down to end product DocC. For 84.5 minutes, this looked like a 0-0 with the worry late nerves would deliver a Cheltenham goal. I'm really glad that actually what we'll remember is the worldie from Lubala.
And, again I reiterate, my take as stated in my earlier post is that the overall style of football across the season has been bland and unexciting - hence 3.5k bothering to turn up last night. I was happy in the end last night - not least as the only other time I've seen the side win in this campaign was 3-2 over Fulham's Under 12s, while I've also had to sit through the delights of Exeter, Shrewsbury, Bolton and Lincoln. Yes there were some nice touches, but also a lot of tippy tappy in front of the Cheltenham defence and quite a few Vokes knock downs to no-one in particular. I was reasonably entertained last night - but remain unenthused by the current product.
@MJS I was less referring to you than the endless stream of posters calling the match boring while it was ongoing and then mysteriously disappearing when we scored.
@eric_plant Interested to hear what you thought of the game (maybe I've missed it tho, soz if so)
Made the mistake of reading comments under the bbc report on the match...lots of Wycombe fans on social media don't seem to like wycombe very much.
I think some of the usuals 'hoped to be proved wrong' (Though not sure they will be happy to have been necessarily) 😀
My main concern was that it was almost an exact inverse of last wednesday's game vs Bradford (all the chances up against an inspired goalkeeper) and that the football gods were looking to dish up some pretty fast karma.
Thankfully that wasn't to be though, and we got a well deserved victory. I don't think there was a poor performance from anyone, including the subs.
I will confess to being disappointed when Sadlier was substituted off. I thought he was the best player on the pitch and he's just so good to watch. But I'm prepared to accept that the management have access to data we don't regarding condition etc so just have to trust the management team.
I will say one thing about the official attendance. 3,400 odd means that, if accurate, the stadium was over a third full last night. It didn't feel anywhere near that to me. I suspect they're including season ticket holders who weren't there.
you're making it sound like this was an ocean of bed wetters and you were the only sage voice in amongst it.
Almost everyone agreed with you
Isn't this the point a statto brings up attendance figures to show that, although no doubt we are screwed when it comes to crowds, attendances are actually about average?
You are exaggerating as I said ‘some posters’ were predicting relegation and that is a fact.
To be fair, if @glasshalffull said he liked Max's dog, there's a chance he'd be hauled over the coals for towing the party line and being a club mouthpiece.