Turns out it's his joint fourth-lowest. Oxford and MK games also in his lowest five - have we been doing anything different in those games? He won 80% v Peterborough (fourth-highest). I think aerial success is a really flawed metric - if you win the header but your team loses possession, it still goes down as an individual aerial win - but I think it works better for Vokesy than most as his headers tend to be very productive.
I go back and forth between thinking that any team at our level would struggle without players like Gape, Thommo, Scowen, Taff and Forino and wondering how we’re not scoring more goals with the quality of our attacking players.
Re Vokes - it's all fine pumping balls to him, because most days he wins a good amount, but useless doing that without getting players round him. We're best with him when we use his all round game, get it to feet, cross it low and early to him, which we're not doing enough of.
I really don't understand why we don't play the likes of Hanlan & Kai Kai, get the ball to the bye line and whip in an early cross for Vokes. I'm convinced he will score a hatful. Lumping it up to him is vary rarely productive. Might be worth a go just for a change on Saturday?
We were ill disciplined in defence, at 2-1 in the second both Grimmer and McCarthy were caught midway in the Cambridge half as they broke away. fortunately the Cambridge player made a hash of the pass as we were left hopelessly exposed. The marking for the 3rd goal, was shocking at this level. I think the lack of depth in central defence again cost us. GA clearly doesn't think is ready or good enough to play at this level yet.
I'm starting to see a pattern in our disallowed penalty shouts. Mehmeti gets the ball outside the area, silkily passes 3 defenders, gets into the box, falls over, ref waves it away. Maybe he needs to spend some time with DDH to pick up some tips on effectively fooling the ref.
Our defending last night was poor, but the referee’s performance was worse. He made so many mistakes on key decisions, in particular the Mehmeti incident. The laws clearly state that attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation)" must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour which is misconduct punishable by a yellow card.” So, it should have been either a penalty or a free kick to Cambridge and a caution for Anis, either way play should have been stopped and their second goal wouldn’t have happened. Failing to correctly apply the laws is unacceptable.
If we are talking failure to apply rules can a professional commentator confirm that their defender who blocked Max's kick from the hand in the second half should have been booked. I thought it was a straight yellow.
I can (almost) forgive a match official for not getting judgement calls right but failing to apply the laws they are supposed to know does stink of competence issues.
I kind of knew we were going to have one of those officials when JJ got cleaned out after less than 5 minutes after delivering a cross. A referee who does not punish with a booking a foul like that because it is too early in the game (and then booking Wheeler later on for the same foul) lacks ability.
I'm not defending the ref, as my view is it was a penalty. However, football is a contact sport and sometimes players do fall over after contact without it being a "dive" or a foul. This must have been the refs thinking, hence no booking to Anis.
Well, that was a major disappointment. I said to my mate next to me after Vokes goal was disallowed that it was going to be one of those nights and so it was.
After all our nice interchanges in the first half we were undeservedly 2-1 down at half time. Was it a pen, wasn't it a pen - I've had one view of it and I thought it was a pen, soft but a pen.
Obita's clearance for the 2nd was shocking. Really should have done better. He had a really bad day and I think that probably affected JJ as well.
2nd half we were dreadful. Their #6 won everything we pummeled forwards to Vokes. His 35% headed wins must have been in the first half or included defensive headers, I can only remember him winning one header in the 2nd and that was fairly early. Why oh why we stopped passing, I really don't know. Cambridge significantly improved, which is also a factor, they couldn't have got much worse!
McCleary needs to be dropped now Hanlan is back fit. Thought that was his worst game for us in a long while, although a number of others were very poor yesterday. When he is running at people and really driving forwards he can be unplayable but far too often he turns back inside and lays the ball off at then minute. I want the McCleary that rips teams apart not the cautious one that takes the safe option constantly.
You realise how important Forino is for us when he is not there. Mawson looks half the player defensively without Forino.
Anyway, after such a dismal 2nd half display and result, we normally get a reaction. So, I'm expecting us to smash Morecambe on Saturday so GA send Derek Adams packing with his tail between his legs.
I did think the ref had a poor night, but with regards the penalty, surely there's times a ref can't be sure? Even after watching the replays, it's not clear to me whether Mehmeti was clipped. In that situation is the referee correct in not awarding a penalty or booking the player? I feel the disallowed Vokes goal was far worse, nothing in that at all.
Yep, that was a real weird one. Celebrations all round, then a bizarre, hang on, he's ruled this out, and the assumption there must have been a foul in there.
Maybe too early for either to be starting after recent injuries, but do either keep a top form Mehmeti or McCleary out?
Probably not.
But we probably need to rotate a few over the next couple of games. I was slightly surprised we only made 1 enforced change last night.
When McCleary first came in for that championship season he didn't play every game, now a couple of years later he is doing. He probably needs the odd midweeker rested, now we have more options.
Cambridge United travelled to Adams Park in a complete mess yesterday. It was just the third time they have played with a back three. Head coach Mark Bonner having been forced into the switch with both left-backs (Brandon Haunstrup and Harrison Dunk) missing through injury.
He named a starting XI that included:
Will Mannion, a goalkeeper starting just his second ever Football League game.
Zeno Ibsen Rossi, a centre-back starting just his third ever Football League game.
Lewis Simper, a central-midfielder, starting just his fourth ever Football League game.
Fejiri Okenabirhie, a striker, starting his first league game in 547 days (4 May, 2021) following long-term injury, and lasted just 25 minutes before being substituted due to injury.
They had scored just three goals in their previous seven matches before last night. Given this context, how on earth were we beaten last night? I bet they couldn't believe their luck.
The usual suspects will blame the referee as usual, but where is the professionalism and accountability from what was an atrocious second-half performance? That third goal is almost beyond description. Putting out 11 cones would have resulted in the same outcome. I can't recall the last time we conceded such an inept goal like that.
I am encouraged by Gareth Ainsworth's reaction, because I share his anger at least, if perhaps not quite his shock.
Without Bayo, without Bloomfield, without Stockdale, this squad has become devoid of character. Where are the men who are standing up and taking responsibility? How can the loss of Chris Forino-Joseph lead to such a shambolic defensive display? This squad has become too fragile, and lacks belief. Too many players are not playing with the same intensity as last season and are performing nowhere near the same levels (cf; Garath McCleary).
A win last night would have seen us in seventh place, which rubs salt into the wound. Another missed opportunity, another loss of momentum. Meanwhile those clubs who finished below us last season yet showed ambition in the summer and strengthened their squads (Bolton Wanderers, Plymouth Argyle) came back from losing positions to win last night.
So we currently sit in 13th place instead, which pretty much sums up our season. Average, mediocre, mid-table fodder. After last night, I don't think it's realistic to expect for anything more.
Agreed. What’s more disheartening is the fact that we’ll never know if the person reviewing the referee’s performance picked up on this, scored them negatively as a result and therefore gave some sort of consequence to the mistake. So there’s no form of closure at all for fans who pay money to see a game of football, trusting that the officiating will be of a sufficient standard.
I was glad to hear GA openly criticising the referee’s performance last night. In a world where managers and players are being highly scrutinised in their performance, it should be the same with match officials who have arguably just as much influence on the fan experience as the coaching and playing staff have.
After conceding the third goal Mawson and JJ appeared to exchange some rather differing viewpoints on the defending of the corner. The discussion carried on for a while. Hope they've kissed and made up.
We can't put yesterday down to the woeful hackneyed "lack character" routine. We've just come from behind v Peterborough, and seen off Oxford and MK away. Plenty of character in those games.
However, all of those were proper weekend high motivation jobs.
To me the midweeks often feel a bit of a drudge. I dare say even for the pros it's harder to get up for some bleak autumn midweeker against Cambridge after that triple up.
Just hope they're feeling more up for it v Morecambe.
I'd make a couple of changes. Give McCleary a break. Probably ditch this 3 at the back stuff again, and bring Horgan back in.
We all know the centre mid is a bit weak, so let's get extra legs in there.
Comments
Turns out it's his joint fourth-lowest. Oxford and MK games also in his lowest five - have we been doing anything different in those games? He won 80% v Peterborough (fourth-highest). I think aerial success is a really flawed metric - if you win the header but your team loses possession, it still goes down as an individual aerial win - but I think it works better for Vokesy than most as his headers tend to be very productive.
A similar result next Saturday against Morecambe and this place will get very salty....
I thought KaiKai did well when he came on. Got to the byline well.
I go back and forth between thinking that any team at our level would struggle without players like Gape, Thommo, Scowen, Taff and Forino and wondering how we’re not scoring more goals with the quality of our attacking players.
Re Vokes - it's all fine pumping balls to him, because most days he wins a good amount, but useless doing that without getting players round him. We're best with him when we use his all round game, get it to feet, cross it low and early to him, which we're not doing enough of.
I really don't understand why we don't play the likes of Hanlan & Kai Kai, get the ball to the bye line and whip in an early cross for Vokes. I'm convinced he will score a hatful. Lumping it up to him is vary rarely productive. Might be worth a go just for a change on Saturday?
We were ill disciplined in defence, at 2-1 in the second both Grimmer and McCarthy were caught midway in the Cambridge half as they broke away. fortunately the Cambridge player made a hash of the pass as we were left hopelessly exposed. The marking for the 3rd goal, was shocking at this level. I think the lack of depth in central defence again cost us. GA clearly doesn't think is ready or good enough to play at this level yet.
Change??? Some hope. Change and Ainsworth are not words normally heard together in the same sentence.
Is it just me?
I'm starting to see a pattern in our disallowed penalty shouts. Mehmeti gets the ball outside the area, silkily passes 3 defenders, gets into the box, falls over, ref waves it away. Maybe he needs to spend some time with DDH to pick up some tips on effectively fooling the ref.
Our defending last night was poor, but the referee’s performance was worse. He made so many mistakes on key decisions, in particular the Mehmeti incident. The laws clearly state that attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation)" must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour which is misconduct punishable by a yellow card.” So, it should have been either a penalty or a free kick to Cambridge and a caution for Anis, either way play should have been stopped and their second goal wouldn’t have happened. Failing to correctly apply the laws is unacceptable.
If we are talking failure to apply rules can a professional commentator confirm that their defender who blocked Max's kick from the hand in the second half should have been booked. I thought it was a straight yellow.
Cambridge would have been left with only a couple of players on the pitch had yellow cards been dished out for feigning injury.
That would also come under the heading of unsporting behaviour which is indeed punishable by a yellow card.
I can (almost) forgive a match official for not getting judgement calls right but failing to apply the laws they are supposed to know does stink of competence issues.
I kind of knew we were going to have one of those officials when JJ got cleaned out after less than 5 minutes after delivering a cross. A referee who does not punish with a booking a foul like that because it is too early in the game (and then booking Wheeler later on for the same foul) lacks ability.
I restrain myself when it comes to the dark arts. We have had some very defective shoe laces over the years.
I don't think this is correct. If he feels it's a dive he can play advantage of Cambridge are in possession and book him at the next break in play
I agree though, it's either a penalty or a yellow card for diving and I was surprised that Anis wasn't booked after Cambridge had scored
I'm not defending the ref, as my view is it was a penalty. However, football is a contact sport and sometimes players do fall over after contact without it being a "dive" or a foul. This must have been the refs thinking, hence no booking to Anis.
I think a well - placed sniper might help in this situation
I was pretty sure the defender clipped the back leg of Anis as it's swinging forward causing him to trip on the back of his own ankle.
Well, that was a major disappointment. I said to my mate next to me after Vokes goal was disallowed that it was going to be one of those nights and so it was.
After all our nice interchanges in the first half we were undeservedly 2-1 down at half time. Was it a pen, wasn't it a pen - I've had one view of it and I thought it was a pen, soft but a pen.
Obita's clearance for the 2nd was shocking. Really should have done better. He had a really bad day and I think that probably affected JJ as well.
2nd half we were dreadful. Their #6 won everything we pummeled forwards to Vokes. His 35% headed wins must have been in the first half or included defensive headers, I can only remember him winning one header in the 2nd and that was fairly early. Why oh why we stopped passing, I really don't know. Cambridge significantly improved, which is also a factor, they couldn't have got much worse!
McCleary needs to be dropped now Hanlan is back fit. Thought that was his worst game for us in a long while, although a number of others were very poor yesterday. When he is running at people and really driving forwards he can be unplayable but far too often he turns back inside and lays the ball off at then minute. I want the McCleary that rips teams apart not the cautious one that takes the safe option constantly.
You realise how important Forino is for us when he is not there. Mawson looks half the player defensively without Forino.
Anyway, after such a dismal 2nd half display and result, we normally get a reaction. So, I'm expecting us to smash Morecambe on Saturday so GA send Derek Adams packing with his tail between his legs.
I did think the ref had a poor night, but with regards the penalty, surely there's times a ref can't be sure? Even after watching the replays, it's not clear to me whether Mehmeti was clipped. In that situation is the referee correct in not awarding a penalty or booking the player? I feel the disallowed Vokes goal was far worse, nothing in that at all.
Surely a football man like you knows it's not always one or the other though.
There can be light contact, enough to knock a slight player down, but not enough for a pen.
EDIT - what @twizz said basically.@Twizz
Yep, that was a real weird one. Celebrations all round, then a bizarre, hang on, he's ruled this out, and the assumption there must have been a foul in there.
Maybe too early for either to be starting after recent injuries, but do either keep a top form Mehmeti or McCleary out?
Probably not.
But we probably need to rotate a few over the next couple of games. I was slightly surprised we only made 1 enforced change last night.
When McCleary first came in for that championship season he didn't play every game, now a couple of years later he is doing. He probably needs the odd midweeker rested, now we have more options.
Cambridge United travelled to Adams Park in a complete mess yesterday. It was just the third time they have played with a back three. Head coach Mark Bonner having been forced into the switch with both left-backs (Brandon Haunstrup and Harrison Dunk) missing through injury.
He named a starting XI that included:
Will Mannion, a goalkeeper starting just his second ever Football League game.
Zeno Ibsen Rossi, a centre-back starting just his third ever Football League game.
Lewis Simper, a central-midfielder, starting just his fourth ever Football League game.
Fejiri Okenabirhie, a striker, starting his first league game in 547 days (4 May, 2021) following long-term injury, and lasted just 25 minutes before being substituted due to injury.
They had scored just three goals in their previous seven matches before last night. Given this context, how on earth were we beaten last night? I bet they couldn't believe their luck.
The usual suspects will blame the referee as usual, but where is the professionalism and accountability from what was an atrocious second-half performance? That third goal is almost beyond description. Putting out 11 cones would have resulted in the same outcome. I can't recall the last time we conceded such an inept goal like that.
I am encouraged by Gareth Ainsworth's reaction, because I share his anger at least, if perhaps not quite his shock.
Without Bayo, without Bloomfield, without Stockdale, this squad has become devoid of character. Where are the men who are standing up and taking responsibility? How can the loss of Chris Forino-Joseph lead to such a shambolic defensive display? This squad has become too fragile, and lacks belief. Too many players are not playing with the same intensity as last season and are performing nowhere near the same levels (cf; Garath McCleary).
A win last night would have seen us in seventh place, which rubs salt into the wound. Another missed opportunity, another loss of momentum. Meanwhile those clubs who finished below us last season yet showed ambition in the summer and strengthened their squads (Bolton Wanderers, Plymouth Argyle) came back from losing positions to win last night.
So we currently sit in 13th place instead, which pretty much sums up our season. Average, mediocre, mid-table fodder. After last night, I don't think it's realistic to expect for anything more.
Yeah to be fair if Wilf Mannion was in goal that is a bad result
Agreed. What’s more disheartening is the fact that we’ll never know if the person reviewing the referee’s performance picked up on this, scored them negatively as a result and therefore gave some sort of consequence to the mistake. So there’s no form of closure at all for fans who pay money to see a game of football, trusting that the officiating will be of a sufficient standard.
I was glad to hear GA openly criticising the referee’s performance last night. In a world where managers and players are being highly scrutinised in their performance, it should be the same with match officials who have arguably just as much influence on the fan experience as the coaching and playing staff have.
After conceding the third goal Mawson and JJ appeared to exchange some rather differing viewpoints on the defending of the corner. The discussion carried on for a while. Hope they've kissed and made up.
We can't put yesterday down to the woeful hackneyed "lack character" routine. We've just come from behind v Peterborough, and seen off Oxford and MK away. Plenty of character in those games.
However, all of those were proper weekend high motivation jobs.
To me the midweeks often feel a bit of a drudge. I dare say even for the pros it's harder to get up for some bleak autumn midweeker against Cambridge after that triple up.
Just hope they're feeling more up for it v Morecambe.
I'd make a couple of changes. Give McCleary a break. Probably ditch this 3 at the back stuff again, and bring Horgan back in.
We all know the centre mid is a bit weak, so let's get extra legs in there.