Also, give Accrington some credit for making switches of personnel and tactics that helped them get back into the game after we were on top in the first half.
I second all the compliments for Max. The fact he is under contract to us is a step up from what the situation with Bishop would have been. He has a commanding presence, and really knows where to be. I am really pleased so far - I am out of hats to take off for the recruitment team!
Yes, credit where due as I so often feel that so many of us watch just half a game by being purely focused on your own team. The phrase "we played badly" so often doesn't credit the fact that the opposition didn't allow us to play. I've enjoyed several games in the past with opposition supporters and one gets so much more from the experience (result either way).
Max has been excellent, no frills, safe hands and excellent positioning.
Wing is a wonderful striker off a ball, and it is a very long time since, we've had someone with that ability who can hit a ball from midfield so crisply (probably Stefan Oakes and before that Howard Kennedy). But the midfield balance doesn't seem right with the SCAPE (Scowen and Gape) ratting behind him. I can see Ainsworths thinking that he can latch onto Vokes knock backs, but our attacking fluidity just doesn't seem right.
Mehmeti is fast developing into arguably our greatest ever talent. Let's enjoy him while we can.
I actually think it was an Accy game (relatively early in Ainsworth’s tenure) which gave birth to GA’s unwavering love of bending the laws of game time - I only remember it because it was the first, and probably last time I go there - I enjoyed the trip and my evening out there, just that it’s a pain in the arse to get to.
Note the telling quote at the end how we shouldn’t be giving away late equalisers, and that “seeing out games is really important to us”…little did we know back then the heights to which we would one day elevate this.
Lovers of pointlessly arcane appearance trivia will note from the COTN report one of the few ever showings on the bench of one Sebastian Cann-Svard - one of our illustrious Zero Appearances Squad, i.e. players who signed, but never actually played for us.
Our pressing has been so good this season. Second-most high turnovers* (66) and most shot-ending high turnovers (17). Mehmeti particularly impressive in that respect.
*possession gains 40m or closer to opposition goal
Not sure how many on here remember that incredibly quick bit of thinking by Horgan and Mehmeti in the home against Derby County in the Championship season when Mehmeti took a quick free kick for Horgan to run on to and score, only to have the goal disallowed for offside. If only for that reason, I would love to see them linking up again on Saturday.
I really hope Vokes gets on the ball a lot more than he did last night. If he doesn’t, I’d like to see Ali Al-Hamadi get more than ten minutes (and hope that he gets better protection from the referee).
Blimey @micra ! It was his first game back from injury ! I'm afraid as good as his 5 minute cameo was the other night, AAH is not anywhere near the level of Vokes
For someone who is rightly held in the greatest respect as a sensible Gasroom ‘elder’, I am surprised that you have such trenchant views about Sam Vokes. He has played at the highest level for club and country, was our leading scorer last season and will probably be again this season given freedom from injury. What is it about his performances that you don’t rate?
It’s all fine and well signing exciting names. But the real enjoyment comes if they buy in to the club culture and give everything for the shirt. Vokes and Mawson are perfect custodians in that respect.
Vokes is often left a bit isolated in the defensive formations, hopefully the ever improving Anis will bridge that gap a bit. I'm sure he understands why that happen, he certainly runs his socks off, it's possible we could setup in a way that he'd score far more but we wouldn't necessarily win. No issues there really.
Vokes, not unlike Bayo does what he does very well at both ends of the pitch, but when he's not considered to be doing it some people start questioning what he actually does. For me a great player for us and the rest of the team to have on the pitch.
Already noticed AAH improving in how he gets in front of defenders with his back to them, to protect the approaching ball and giving himself either a passing option or forcing the defender to tackle from behind. No way Vokes hasn't been involved in coaching that into him on the training ground, which is brilliant for AAH's development.
I feel very much like the fella in the army whose mother, when he was clearly the only one marching out of step, blamed the rest of the platoon.
As I’ve said on here before (probably ad nauseum) I would be delighted to be able to see what the vast majority evidently see. Whether my disappointment in that respect is a result of my “…very simple understanding of football as a whole” (= @fame_46), I’m obviously not qualified to comment.
I’ve been very impressed by Sam Vokes in many respects and only a couple of weeks ago, for example, I said on here how brilliantly he had performed as @bluntphil’s co-commentator. His influence generally on younger players must be considerable and his influence on his understudy, Ali Al-Hamadi, is clear for all to see. Well, at least for me to see!!
There were several posts this morning, commenting on my apparent blind spot, and I picked out the comment from @HolmerBlue partly because it was the first but mainly because my unpopular (possibly unique) view of Sam Vokes’ performances in more recent times was definitely not based on a single match. Sam himself would probably be the first to agree that he’d not played well in that game. Given the attritional, backs to the wall nature of the game, he spent more time in our box than in the opposition box. As I mentioned on here during the game, he was excellent defensively. Not getting a single vote on the MoM thread was entirely understandable in the circumstances.
Comments
Most importantly, Max seems to have mastered the spontaneous outbreak of cramp that is so vital to our “game management”.
There could be some serious acting faceoffs going on at Hillsborough…
Stockdale v Stryjek…
The Wily Old Pro vs The Young Pretender…who will triumph?
Also, give Accrington some credit for making switches of personnel and tactics that helped them get back into the game after we were on top in the first half.
I must be a man of hidden shallows because if we win, I am rarely perturbed by the performance.
I second all the compliments for Max. The fact he is under contract to us is a step up from what the situation with Bishop would have been. He has a commanding presence, and really knows where to be. I am really pleased so far - I am out of hats to take off for the recruitment team!
Has he looked any better with his feet in the last couple of games? I've only watched him properly v Charlton and his kicking was a bit ropey then.
Was much better last night I thought
@PBo historic EFL record for the ball NOT being in play?
Yes, credit where due as I so often feel that so many of us watch just half a game by being purely focused on your own team. The phrase "we played badly" so often doesn't credit the fact that the opposition didn't allow us to play. I've enjoyed several games in the past with opposition supporters and one gets so much more from the experience (result either way).
Max has been excellent, no frills, safe hands and excellent positioning.
Wing is a wonderful striker off a ball, and it is a very long time since, we've had someone with that ability who can hit a ball from midfield so crisply (probably Stefan Oakes and before that Howard Kennedy). But the midfield balance doesn't seem right with the SCAPE (Scowen and Gape) ratting behind him. I can see Ainsworths thinking that he can latch onto Vokes knock backs, but our attacking fluidity just doesn't seem right.
Mehmeti is fast developing into arguably our greatest ever talent. Let's enjoy him while we can.
I actually think it was an Accy game (relatively early in Ainsworth’s tenure) which gave birth to GA’s unwavering love of bending the laws of game time - I only remember it because it was the first, and probably last time I go there - I enjoyed the trip and my evening out there, just that it’s a pain in the arse to get to.
http://www.chairboys.co.uk/onthenet/news1314/2013_11_02_accrington.htm
Note the telling quote at the end how we shouldn’t be giving away late equalisers, and that “seeing out games is really important to us”…little did we know back then the heights to which we would one day elevate this.
Lovers of pointlessly arcane appearance trivia will note from the COTN report one of the few ever showings on the bench of one Sebastian Cann-Svard - one of our illustrious Zero Appearances Squad, i.e. players who signed, but never actually played for us.
Won't having bags of presence mean that we will have to recall Dickinson for the busy Christmas period?
Agreed. His kicking was fine last night
Our pressing has been so good this season. Second-most high turnovers* (66) and most shot-ending high turnovers (17). Mehmeti particularly impressive in that respect.
*possession gains 40m or closer to opposition goal
Its the Skabour Festival in Folkestone - www.skabour.co.uk
Not sure how many on here remember that incredibly quick bit of thinking by Horgan and Mehmeti in the home against Derby County in the Championship season when Mehmeti took a quick free kick for Horgan to run on to and score, only to have the goal disallowed for offside. If only for that reason, I would love to see them linking up again on Saturday.
I really hope Vokes gets on the ball a lot more than he did last night. If he doesn’t, I’d like to see Ali Al-Hamadi get more than ten minutes (and hope that he gets better protection from the referee).
Blimey @micra ! It was his first game back from injury ! I'm afraid as good as his 5 minute cameo was the other night, AAH is not anywhere near the level of Vokes
For someone who is rightly held in the greatest respect as a sensible Gasroom ‘elder’, I am surprised that you have such trenchant views about Sam Vokes. He has played at the highest level for club and country, was our leading scorer last season and will probably be again this season given freedom from injury. What is it about his performances that you don’t rate?
It’s all fine and well signing exciting names. But the real enjoyment comes if they buy in to the club culture and give everything for the shirt. Vokes and Mawson are perfect custodians in that respect.
Mehmeti reminds me of when Mo Harkin was at his peak
Vokes is often left a bit isolated in the defensive formations, hopefully the ever improving Anis will bridge that gap a bit. I'm sure he understands why that happen, he certainly runs his socks off, it's possible we could setup in a way that he'd score far more but we wouldn't necessarily win. No issues there really.
Vokes, not unlike Bayo does what he does very well at both ends of the pitch, but when he's not considered to be doing it some people start questioning what he actually does. For me a great player for us and the rest of the team to have on the pitch.
Already noticed AAH improving in how he gets in front of defenders with his back to them, to protect the approaching ball and giving himself either a passing option or forcing the defender to tackle from behind. No way Vokes hasn't been involved in coaching that into him on the training ground, which is brilliant for AAH's development.
The new Alex Samuel???
I feel very much like the fella in the army whose mother, when he was clearly the only one marching out of step, blamed the rest of the platoon.
As I’ve said on here before (probably ad nauseum) I would be delighted to be able to see what the vast majority evidently see. Whether my disappointment in that respect is a result of my “…very simple understanding of football as a whole” (= @fame_46), I’m obviously not qualified to comment.
I’ve been very impressed by Sam Vokes in many respects and only a couple of weeks ago, for example, I said on here how brilliantly he had performed as @bluntphil’s co-commentator. His influence generally on younger players must be considerable and his influence on his understudy, Ali Al-Hamadi, is clear for all to see. Well, at least for me to see!!
There were several posts this morning, commenting on my apparent blind spot, and I picked out the comment from @HolmerBlue partly because it was the first but mainly because my unpopular (possibly unique) view of Sam Vokes’ performances in more recent times was definitely not based on a single match. Sam himself would probably be the first to agree that he’d not played well in that game. Given the attritional, backs to the wall nature of the game, he spent more time in our box than in the opposition box. As I mentioned on here during the game, he was excellent defensively. Not getting a single vote on the MoM thread was entirely understandable in the circumstances.
Alex Samuel plus.