AAH is yet to kick a ball in League One and Mellor has played a total of ten minutes as a substitute. How can you decide that they are a long way short of the desired standard? I know we’re all disappointed by today’s performance but let’s keep things in perspective.
What an odd comment. I can only think that you didn’t watch today’s game. In total (both sides included) at least a dozen shots were blasted high, wide and far from handsome, several by players who weren’t even being closed down.
You have rather weirdly given the impression in your first sentence that you are addressing two different people - “….you [me, presumably] are asking [I’m not, I’m simply making an observation based on today’s game] ….”professional footballers” ..,….to [meet ?] the standard that @micra [me] demands”.
As I’m sure you realise @thecatwwfc, none of us on here are in a position to demand that players conform to any rules, regulations or standards. That’s down to management.
No idea where the Duke of Clarence is when it’s at home but assume by Chris you are referring to Chris Forino. If true, that is very welcome news indeed.
Injured against Oxford City in pre-season, presumably out for a while as no mentions in interviews.
Hanlan is the real killer for me, I’d argue him and Vokes and the only strikers in the squad remotely proven at this level, so when we lose one, it’s difficult as whoever we choose to back them up is probably lower League 2 / National League level (at the moment - maybe there’s long term potential there).
Ultimately I think the Couhigs need to take this one on the chin. I know GA does a very good job of toeing the party line, but the pressure and expectation of promotion looks really out of kilter with certain positions of the squad at the moment. Yes we have quality at this level (Vokes, Scowen, Mehmeti etc), but we’re simply incomplete in other areas, which is a shame.
I’ve got no doubts we’ll have reinforcements before the window shuts, but with the relentlessness of this league we’ll need to hope they gel quickly.
A quick glance at the league one table this morning shows us in the top half, one point off the play offs and above Plymouth, Derby, Oxford and MK.
A quick glance at the league one table this morning shows us plummeting ten places and now behind the likes of Fleetwood, Forest Green, Accrington and the Posh.
I guess we work on the assumption AAH is not ready for league 1 as he’s never played. If he was then at least he would have been blooded for 5 minutes here and there.
Early doors indeed. In a few weeks time yesterday will just be remembered as an ugly dream. Nothing seemed right at all on the day, apart from the joy of seeing the absolute class of Nick Freeman for the last quarter of an hour.
James Trafford, Bolton’s outstanding 19 year old, 6’6” goalkeeper, on loan from that other Manchester club, wasn’t the only difference (and only the harshest critic would blame Tyla Dickinson directly for any of Bolton’s goals).
Chris Forino is justifiably seen as a more than adequate replacement for Anthony Stewart - remember his half a dozen more or less consecutive MoM votes on here last season? - and we can only hope that @CarParkPete’s post yesterday about a conversation in the Duke of Clarence regarding Forino’s imminent return proves well founded.
Add McCarthy or Grimmer at right back and JJ or Obita at left back and things start to look much more secure. Let’s face it, concurrent injuries to McCarthy and Forino are a helluva blow.
Hanlan’s injury is another big blow, of course. D’Amino Mellor looked good in that showreel for United’s U23s but I noticed then that he doesn’t have the greatest close control. You can get away with that in U23 football but not in League 1. Very much a work in progress.
Big Sam? To say “juries out” seems inappropriate for someone of his age and experience but yesterday’s performance was all too reminiscent of Wembley a few months ago.
In summary, I’d say that, defensively and in midfield, things will quickly improve and ‘up front’ the supporting cast look fine but we need another big star to round things off.
It seems to me some people think the things Rob says are undeliverable...but still get angry because they think he cannot deliver them. Yet again we begin the season as a 'bang average' League One team and there is a long way to go.
I've just watched the highlights from Wycombe's Youtube channel and I reckon we'll be very lucky if McCleary isn't pulled up for an off-the-ball incident.
If you look on the highlights video around the 34-36 second mark, it looks like McCleary gives his defender a hit to the groin area. I might be wrong, but the defender if def uncomfortable and we were lucky it wasn't seen
Being one of the 400+ who made the 384 mile round trip to Bolton, I can only say that we were beaten by a far better team. Yes we can make excuses but not replacing key players like Stewart, Stockdale and Bayo is a massive mistake.
We were all over the place yesterday and looked very poor indeed. Yes we missed two or three chances, with Vokes missing an absolute sitter. However, we are very short of depth.
Wheeler at full back and Grimmer at centre back was something we probably had to do but it wasn’t good enough. The formation was a tactical nightmare and there was no depth on the bench to rectify the mistake.
With Bristol Rovers winning 4-0 at Burton yesterday, that certainly put last weeks result into perspective.
Whatever the rose coloured glasses lot think, we are in need of an injection of players and quickly. We need another option up front to support Vokes, a centre back to replace Stewart and a goalkeeper ASAP.
For those who believe this current squad are strong enough, then just let me know and I will gladly have a bet with you that we won’t make the play-offs with no re-enforcements.
Another item for you all - we had a chat with a group of Bolton supporters in the excellent family zone and they told us that the new owners of Bolton were good people and that they had bought any supporters that had made the trip to Ipswich the week before a free pint at yesterdays game (on production of the Ipswich ticket). I doubt we would ever see that happen.
So after a real expensive day following our team, I at least crossed off a ground I hadn’t been too before and met some real nice Bolton fans but the performance was as bad as that 4-0 hammering at the stadium of light some three or four seasons ago.
Looking forward to new players coming in this week!!!
'Another item for you all - we had a chat with a group of Bolton supporters in the excellent family zone and they told us that the new owners of Bolton were good people and that they had bought any supporters that had made the trip to Ipswich the week before a free pint at yesterdays game (on production of the Ipswich ticket). I doubt we would ever see that happen'
Whatever did happen about that big party that was promised ??
I believe the owners of Bolton live in Beaconsfield and I think their son may own/run the Manscape hairdressers. (Again, one of Taff’s YouTube vids had him having “bants” with them around last seasons game)
maybe Rob could have a word about initiatives like that the next time he’s in Town
Turns out, after bit of digging Whites of Beaconsfield & Menspire (not mensape as mentioned before) are both owned by Sharon Brittans sons. Sharon previously being a person of control of whites and now Bolton owner.
whites, obviously, being the sponsor of the terrace.
I need more fun Sunday morning activities after a humbling loss.
Also Didn’t Rob already say isn’t usually in the business of giving anything away for free when he talked about the free tickets for school kids? Think he said Pete had to talk him into it on the basis that free tickets today will result in paying tickets in the future and how many supporters today are supporters because they got tickets through their schools and continued coming.
I think we’ll have to have a huge windfall or promotion to get free pints out of Rob. Not that I think that’s the wrong approach - he did always say he was coming here to run Wycombe as a profitable club. Giving things away is a little against that ethos when maximising off field income has been a huge priority.
Since the Couhigs have come to the club, we've been promoted to the Championship for the first time in our history, we've signed many players we wouldn't have had the chance to, become a stable League 1 side and, in my opinion, they've improved the matchday experience greatly.
Let's not let one loss make us so blinkered we're getting angry they don't give away free pints.
Always easy to bash people when they’re down, but I think McLeary’s level has dropped off quite a lot since January. Had that brilliant goal vs Plymouth, but when he has an off game, it’s a really off game.
I don’t think he’s an auto-start at the moment, particularly when we get Kaikai back.
I am not in need of a free pint from Rob Couhig but the point I was making that it was a fine gesture and one that the fans we talked with thought a great deal of.
Surely the first point is just basic marketing principles?
Give people a reason to come early in life and you’ll convert at least a few of them into future season ticket holders. Crazy that it took so long to convince Rob.
We’d spend far more on other marketing initiatives that may be less effective.
for the short term I can see Robs point of view - maximise income today. The medium and longer term it’s a no brainer to offer limited free tickets to school kids.
for what it’s worth, I think one of Robs strengths is listening when he/they get things wrong and changing/adapting quickly. Remember the cheerleader thing? Now free tickets to some kids. He was wrong, was open to an alternative approach and changed his mind. Maybe these are cultural difference between the UK and UK markets that need subtle changes.
hopefully he can do the same with squad strengthening because I think this approach is a massive risk and wrong. But I have always been a “get your business done early in the window” kinda guy.
Comments
AAH is yet to kick a ball in League One and Mellor has played a total of ten minutes as a substitute. How can you decide that they are a long way short of the desired standard? I know we’re all disappointed by today’s performance but let’s keep things in perspective.
What an odd comment. I can only think that you didn’t watch today’s game. In total (both sides included) at least a dozen shots were blasted high, wide and far from handsome, several by players who weren’t even being closed down.
You have rather weirdly given the impression in your first sentence that you are addressing two different people - “….you [me, presumably] are asking [I’m not, I’m simply making an observation based on today’s game] ….”professional footballers” ..,….to [meet ?] the standard that @micra [me] demands”.
As I’m sure you realise @thecatwwfc, none of us on here are in a position to demand that players conform to any rules, regulations or standards. That’s down to management.
You spoke to Gareth tomorrow?
No idea where the Duke of Clarence is when it’s at home but assume by Chris you are referring to Chris Forino. If true, that is very welcome news indeed.
Burton Albion. End of.
Injured against Oxford City in pre-season, presumably out for a while as no mentions in interviews.
Hanlan is the real killer for me, I’d argue him and Vokes and the only strikers in the squad remotely proven at this level, so when we lose one, it’s difficult as whoever we choose to back them up is probably lower League 2 / National League level (at the moment - maybe there’s long term potential there).
Ultimately I think the Couhigs need to take this one on the chin. I know GA does a very good job of toeing the party line, but the pressure and expectation of promotion looks really out of kilter with certain positions of the squad at the moment. Yes we have quality at this level (Vokes, Scowen, Mehmeti etc), but we’re simply incomplete in other areas, which is a shame.
I’ve got no doubts we’ll have reinforcements before the window shuts, but with the relentlessness of this league we’ll need to hope they gel quickly.
A quick glance at the league one table this morning shows us in the top half, one point off the play offs and above Plymouth, Derby, Oxford and MK.
A quick glance at the league one table this morning shows us plummeting ten places and now behind the likes of Fleetwood, Forest Green, Accrington and the Posh.
Early doors as they say.
Absolutely agree with everything in this post.
I wonder that with Bayo, Stockdale and Stewart gone, no JJ or McCarthy on the pitch, we lack a bit of leadership in when to tighten up during games.
I guess we work on the assumption AAH is not ready for league 1 as he’s never played. If he was then at least he would have been blooded for 5 minutes here and there.
Early doors indeed. In a few weeks time yesterday will just be remembered as an ugly dream. Nothing seemed right at all on the day, apart from the joy of seeing the absolute class of Nick Freeman for the last quarter of an hour.
James Trafford, Bolton’s outstanding 19 year old, 6’6” goalkeeper, on loan from that other Manchester club, wasn’t the only difference (and only the harshest critic would blame Tyla Dickinson directly for any of Bolton’s goals).
Chris Forino is justifiably seen as a more than adequate replacement for Anthony Stewart - remember his half a dozen more or less consecutive MoM votes on here last season? - and we can only hope that @CarParkPete’s post yesterday about a conversation in the Duke of Clarence regarding Forino’s imminent return proves well founded.
Add McCarthy or Grimmer at right back and JJ or Obita at left back and things start to look much more secure. Let’s face it, concurrent injuries to McCarthy and Forino are a helluva blow.
Hanlan’s injury is another big blow, of course. D’Amino Mellor looked good in that showreel for United’s U23s but I noticed then that he doesn’t have the greatest close control. You can get away with that in U23 football but not in League 1. Very much a work in progress.
Big Sam? To say “juries out” seems inappropriate for someone of his age and experience but yesterday’s performance was all too reminiscent of Wembley a few months ago.
In summary, I’d say that, defensively and in midfield, things will quickly improve and ‘up front’ the supporting cast look fine but we need another big star to round things off.
It seems to me some people think the things Rob says are undeliverable...but still get angry because they think he cannot deliver them. Yet again we begin the season as a 'bang average' League One team and there is a long way to go.
I've just watched the highlights from Wycombe's Youtube channel and I reckon we'll be very lucky if McCleary isn't pulled up for an off-the-ball incident.
If you look on the highlights video around the 34-36 second mark, it looks like McCleary gives his defender a hit to the groin area. I might be wrong, but the defender if def uncomfortable and we were lucky it wasn't seen
Being one of the 400+ who made the 384 mile round trip to Bolton, I can only say that we were beaten by a far better team. Yes we can make excuses but not replacing key players like Stewart, Stockdale and Bayo is a massive mistake.
We were all over the place yesterday and looked very poor indeed. Yes we missed two or three chances, with Vokes missing an absolute sitter. However, we are very short of depth.
Wheeler at full back and Grimmer at centre back was something we probably had to do but it wasn’t good enough. The formation was a tactical nightmare and there was no depth on the bench to rectify the mistake.
With Bristol Rovers winning 4-0 at Burton yesterday, that certainly put last weeks result into perspective.
Whatever the rose coloured glasses lot think, we are in need of an injection of players and quickly. We need another option up front to support Vokes, a centre back to replace Stewart and a goalkeeper ASAP.
For those who believe this current squad are strong enough, then just let me know and I will gladly have a bet with you that we won’t make the play-offs with no re-enforcements.
Another item for you all - we had a chat with a group of Bolton supporters in the excellent family zone and they told us that the new owners of Bolton were good people and that they had bought any supporters that had made the trip to Ipswich the week before a free pint at yesterdays game (on production of the Ipswich ticket). I doubt we would ever see that happen.
So after a real expensive day following our team, I at least crossed off a ground I hadn’t been too before and met some real nice Bolton fans but the performance was as bad as that 4-0 hammering at the stadium of light some three or four seasons ago.
Looking forward to new players coming in this week!!!
You spoke to Gareth tomorrow?
Decent time travelling.
Looks like Mehmeti at Sunderland last season all over again. What was he thinking?
'Another item for you all - we had a chat with a group of Bolton supporters in the excellent family zone and they told us that the new owners of Bolton were good people and that they had bought any supporters that had made the trip to Ipswich the week before a free pint at yesterdays game (on production of the Ipswich ticket). I doubt we would ever see that happen'
Whatever did happen about that big party that was promised ??
I believe the owners of Bolton live in Beaconsfield and I think their son may own/run the Manscape hairdressers. (Again, one of Taff’s YouTube vids had him having “bants” with them around last seasons game)
maybe Rob could have a word about initiatives like that the next time he’s in Town
Bolton owners are also Wycombe fans if I remember correctly.
Turns out, after bit of digging Whites of Beaconsfield & Menspire (not mensape as mentioned before) are both owned by Sharon Brittans sons. Sharon previously being a person of control of whites and now Bolton owner.
whites, obviously, being the sponsor of the terrace.
I need more fun Sunday morning activities after a humbling loss.
One of the sons was once banned from Wycombe
(the football ground, not the whole town)
And my abiding memory of the other one (I was at school with both of them) is that he used to nick kids' footballs at lunchtime. Nostalgia 😌
Also Didn’t Rob already say isn’t usually in the business of giving anything away for free when he talked about the free tickets for school kids? Think he said Pete had to talk him into it on the basis that free tickets today will result in paying tickets in the future and how many supporters today are supporters because they got tickets through their schools and continued coming.
I think we’ll have to have a huge windfall or promotion to get free pints out of Rob. Not that I think that’s the wrong approach - he did always say he was coming here to run Wycombe as a profitable club. Giving things away is a little against that ethos when maximising off field income has been a huge priority.
Since the Couhigs have come to the club, we've been promoted to the Championship for the first time in our history, we've signed many players we wouldn't have had the chance to, become a stable League 1 side and, in my opinion, they've improved the matchday experience greatly.
Let's not let one loss make us so blinkered we're getting angry they don't give away free pints.
Always easy to bash people when they’re down, but I think McLeary’s level has dropped off quite a lot since January. Had that brilliant goal vs Plymouth, but when he has an off game, it’s a really off game.
I don’t think he’s an auto-start at the moment, particularly when we get Kaikai back.
I am not in need of a free pint from Rob Couhig but the point I was making that it was a fine gesture and one that the fans we talked with thought a great deal of.
Did someone mention free pints
Surely the first point is just basic marketing principles?
Give people a reason to come early in life and you’ll convert at least a few of them into future season ticket holders. Crazy that it took so long to convince Rob.
We’d spend far more on other marketing initiatives that may be less effective.
For the record, I'm not after a free pint either
for the short term I can see Robs point of view - maximise income today. The medium and longer term it’s a no brainer to offer limited free tickets to school kids.
for what it’s worth, I think one of Robs strengths is listening when he/they get things wrong and changing/adapting quickly. Remember the cheerleader thing? Now free tickets to some kids. He was wrong, was open to an alternative approach and changed his mind. Maybe these are cultural difference between the UK and UK markets that need subtle changes.
hopefully he can do the same with squad strengthening because I think this approach is a massive risk and wrong. But I have always been a “get your business done early in the window” kinda guy.