I’m trying to put on a brave face. I keep grunting frustratedly but mrs micra’s ignoring me. Doesn’t even seem to want know how it went. I said “you’re very quiet “ ! Frustration all round.
Bolton, Derby, Barnsley, all draw. All drop the points we've been waiting so long for them to drop. This was exactly the sort of match we have to win if we want to get into those playoff places. Massive opportunity missed there.
All a bit rusty and disjointed there. Wheels and Wing looked a bit like they'd never met at points as did the defence. Chem close up in the second half had a shocker unfortunately.GMac was doing well before he went off. What an odd up and down season. If we could get a grip and push on you never know but if you had to put your own money on it that shouted mid table.
Well I saw last week that Gaz said he hoped Wycombe and QPR would be in the same division next season, perhaps he should be careful what he wishes for.
Not good. Formation all over the place. We were too narrow. Didn’t have any kind of snap in attack. Vokes did his best to win his share of long balls but rarely was able to get clean contact.
It feels like one of those seasons where the hope of playoffs may just drift away with a few more negative results. Considering all of the headwinds we’ve faced (almost too many to list at this point), it’s pretty remarkable that we’re still sat in 7th.
Mixed bag today performance wise never looked good enough to win the game. But at the end of the day given results either an opportunity lost or no ground lost - depends how you want to look at it.
GMac and Scowen going off injured could be a problem as our bench at the moment looks like our development lads may be getting their chance.
We're really lacking depth in the full back positions - I'm not sure JJ has it in him any more to play wide and I've never rated McCarthy, even before his move up the leagues. Am I right in thinking Pattenden is a left wing back? If so I'd be tempted to stick him there next match if Obita is still unfit, move JJ to central defence and Grimmer out wide on the right. It's such a shame Thompson and Gape are out as one of those could have made all the difference today adding an extra shield to an uncomfortable defence. If Scowen is also out for a bit then we are going to have problems, I fear.
McCleary was at his tricky, creative best and its a real shame Vokes's self-created chances didn't come off. Campbell needs to work on his snap decision making / first touch as he'll never be able to out-muscle League One defenders. It was interesting that Bloomfield didn't bring on De Barr at the end, it seemed tailor-made for him to run at the defence, which at the least might have prevented Exeter marauding forward so much.
The thinning ranks are now a major concern assuming that Scowen, McCleary, Willis, Obita, Tafazolli and Thompson are now likely to be unavailable for at least another couple of games.
Goodness knows what sort of lineup we’ll see on Tuesday evening. Clutching at straws, I think our record against Fleetwood is probably considerably better than against Exeter.
No Pattenden’s not a left wing back. More a traditional right winger/right midfielder type.
Obita’s knock a real problem for Matt if he does want to play with a back three. Maybe Nick Freeman in the left wing back role, he’s done it before, although he might be needed in midfield on Tuesday.
I thought Exeter were impressive, came forward with pace and purpose. Some better finishing from them and we’d have lost that.
Better performance from us than Shrewsbury, however felt very disjointed. Mccleary’s shot going in instead of hitting the post would have maybe made it a bit more comfortable.
Felt for Pattenden when he came on. About 5 or 6 high balls he had to compete for. And that was about his lot.
McCleary hit the post, Vokes had a superb run just missing the target, but coming away from the game it felt like a real missed opportunity with a few rivals dropping points.
Walked away wondering if we will actually win any games, but snapped out of that putting it as the disappointment talking.
That was probably the most painful watch of 2023 so far. Shoddy defensive work today. Very fortunate to only concede one. Entirely understandable given the circumstances, but hope we see some flickers of quality in the coming weeks. Not much on show today!
It's a weird one - we could easily have won 3-0 or lost 3-0, with us having stellar chances but Exeter looking much more fluid, with some great chances of their own.
I keep coming back to the word disjointed. I don't think we were out and out bad, just a little out of sorts. It was the sort of game where two Wycombe players arrive at the ball at the same time, leave it for each other, and an Exeter player nips in.
Can’t see us getting near the play offs now unfortunately, the teams strength was how we pressed and obviously Blooms doesn’t want to do it the same way (which is fine if that’s his philosophy). But for me it means Wing will rarely get so high up the pitch and our back 4 will get exposed far more frequently for being square pegs in round holes. A strong opposition would have hit us for 4 at least today. Desperately want to see Taff back and shift Grimmer to RB. Not one of McCarthy’s best games.
For a lot of the game it was almost like one of those freak weather affected type games, as players kept overrunning the ball, or seemed to struggle to control it.
There was one where all McCarthy needed to do was play the standard full back percentage ball diagonal, but instead took a way too heavy touch, and then it almost let them in.
Easy to forget Exeter had at least 2 shots that produced a "phewww" as they whistled wide. May not have been that close, but from the Frank Adams didn't look too much in it.
Yeah I know, and look honestly I’m not trying to knock things and I’m totally happy to get behind Blooms and give him plenty of time. I just think that for the remainder of the season he knows so much about the squad that we should continue the style we have played so well since Christmas for the remainder of the season. But hey, he must feel he can get a finer tune out of the squad so fingers crossed it will click soon. We may look very different with Obita and Taff back in fairness. Onto Tuesday!
To be fair to Exeter, I felt they worked really hard for each other, passed the ball pretty well but lacked a bit of finesse up front, often making the wrong choice of weight of cross or not being prepared to take the risk of attacking our two full backs and instead trying to recirculate the ball across the edge of our 18 yard box and losing momentum & allowing us to reorganise.
Given they only came up this season I was impressed with them and am sure they will be safely mid table at the end of the season.
As for us, as I said earlier we were good in patches & awful in others in almost equal measure. I was surprised how deep we dropped at times & seemed to be happy to invite them onto us, which is a rather different approach than we had previously & one I am not sure the players know quite how to deal with. Assuming this is how MB wants us to play rather than the previous high press then the players will learn to deal with it and play in his style, but I suspect not in time to ensure our tilt at the playoffs comes to fruition.
I think Campbell will improve the more games he plays & he will learn how to deal with L1 defenders trying to take lumps out of him etc.
Anyway let's hope GMac & Scowen are not serious medium to long term injuries & that Taff is close to fitness & let's see what line-up & formation we have against Fleetwood
That was hard work, and if I'm honest possibly the most bored I've been all season, we didn't look like we wanted to score a 2nd until they scored. Lots of hard work with not a lot to show for it. The one thing that worried me today(apart form the obvious Scowen going off) was Wing not really getting any opportunities to get involved and get some shots off, he's been fantastic the last month, I really hope a change in play isn't going to affect his game
Our attacking set pieces were really dreadful today. We seemed to have a number of corners/ free kicks in the final third and I can't remember a meaningful chance from any of them.
Completely agree with the above comment that Wing was way too deep today. I'm sure this is where he was playing at the start of the season when he was pretty ineffective - he's far better playing in front of Scowen with the ability to drive us forward and pick a pass.
Vokes was brilliant today - he won pretty much everything. I was gutted that run of his in the second half didn't go in - would've been a solid Goal of the Season contender. He was badly let down by those around him though.
Comments
That was not great
I’m trying to put on a brave face. I keep grunting frustratedly but mrs micra’s ignoring me. Doesn’t even seem to want know how it went. I said “you’re very quiet “ ! Frustration all round.
Aristotle coined the phrase 'hamartia' to describe the fall of a hero being caused by a tragic flaw in his character.
Rotherham 3 QPR 1
Bolton, Derby, Barnsley, all draw. All drop the points we've been waiting so long for them to drop. This was exactly the sort of match we have to win if we want to get into those playoff places. Massive opportunity missed there.
Looking on the bright side, that was a hell of a lot better than last time we played Exeter.
We have one more good run in us. Hopefully it is enough!
All a bit rusty and disjointed there. Wheels and Wing looked a bit like they'd never met at points as did the defence. Chem close up in the second half had a shocker unfortunately.GMac was doing well before he went off. What an odd up and down season. If we could get a grip and push on you never know but if you had to put your own money on it that shouted mid table.
Well I saw last week that Gaz said he hoped Wycombe and QPR would be in the same division next season, perhaps he should be careful what he wishes for.
Not good. Formation all over the place. We were too narrow. Didn’t have any kind of snap in attack. Vokes did his best to win his share of long balls but rarely was able to get clean contact.
Lots of endeavour, very little quality
It feels like one of those seasons where the hope of playoffs may just drift away with a few more negative results. Considering all of the headwinds we’ve faced (almost too many to list at this point), it’s pretty remarkable that we’re still sat in 7th.
Real shame for Bloomfield to not get a win, don't want that to drag on.
Didn't control it at all, and felt like the defence were massively exposed, but had a few chances to scrape a win.
Felt a game where a few months ago, Mehmeti would've won it for us without much else going on
Mixed bag today performance wise never looked good enough to win the game. But at the end of the day given results either an opportunity lost or no ground lost - depends how you want to look at it.
GMac and Scowen going off injured could be a problem as our bench at the moment looks like our development lads may be getting their chance.
We're really lacking depth in the full back positions - I'm not sure JJ has it in him any more to play wide and I've never rated McCarthy, even before his move up the leagues. Am I right in thinking Pattenden is a left wing back? If so I'd be tempted to stick him there next match if Obita is still unfit, move JJ to central defence and Grimmer out wide on the right. It's such a shame Thompson and Gape are out as one of those could have made all the difference today adding an extra shield to an uncomfortable defence. If Scowen is also out for a bit then we are going to have problems, I fear.
McCleary was at his tricky, creative best and its a real shame Vokes's self-created chances didn't come off. Campbell needs to work on his snap decision making / first touch as he'll never be able to out-muscle League One defenders. It was interesting that Bloomfield didn't bring on De Barr at the end, it seemed tailor-made for him to run at the defence, which at the least might have prevented Exeter marauding forward so much.
The thinning ranks are now a major concern assuming that Scowen, McCleary, Willis, Obita, Tafazolli and Thompson are now likely to be unavailable for at least another couple of games.
Goodness knows what sort of lineup we’ll see on Tuesday evening. Clutching at straws, I think our record against Fleetwood is probably considerably better than against Exeter.
No Pattenden’s not a left wing back. More a traditional right winger/right midfielder type.
Obita’s knock a real problem for Matt if he does want to play with a back three. Maybe Nick Freeman in the left wing back role, he’s done it before, although he might be needed in midfield on Tuesday.
I thought Exeter were impressive, came forward with pace and purpose. Some better finishing from them and we’d have lost that.
Better performance from us than Shrewsbury, however felt very disjointed. Mccleary’s shot going in instead of hitting the post would have maybe made it a bit more comfortable.
Felt for Pattenden when he came on. About 5 or 6 high balls he had to compete for. And that was about his lot.
McCleary hit the post, Vokes had a superb run just missing the target, but coming away from the game it felt like a real missed opportunity with a few rivals dropping points.
Walked away wondering if we will actually win any games, but snapped out of that putting it as the disappointment talking.
That was probably the most painful watch of 2023 so far. Shoddy defensive work today. Very fortunate to only concede one. Entirely understandable given the circumstances, but hope we see some flickers of quality in the coming weeks. Not much on show today!
It's a weird one - we could easily have won 3-0 or lost 3-0, with us having stellar chances but Exeter looking much more fluid, with some great chances of their own.
I keep coming back to the word disjointed. I don't think we were out and out bad, just a little out of sorts. It was the sort of game where two Wycombe players arrive at the ball at the same time, leave it for each other, and an Exeter player nips in.
Can’t see us getting near the play offs now unfortunately, the teams strength was how we pressed and obviously Blooms doesn’t want to do it the same way (which is fine if that’s his philosophy). But for me it means Wing will rarely get so high up the pitch and our back 4 will get exposed far more frequently for being square pegs in round holes. A strong opposition would have hit us for 4 at least today. Desperately want to see Taff back and shift Grimmer to RB. Not one of McCarthy’s best games.
That is exactly the word.
For a lot of the game it was almost like one of those freak weather affected type games, as players kept overrunning the ball, or seemed to struggle to control it.
There was one where all McCarthy needed to do was play the standard full back percentage ball diagonal, but instead took a way too heavy touch, and then it almost let them in.
Easy to forget Exeter had at least 2 shots that produced a "phewww" as they whistled wide. May not have been that close, but from the Frank Adams didn't look too much in it.
If you had to guess the tactic today it was like Wing had been told to sit super deep to utilise his ball spraying ability.
But he'd often be deeper than Scowen, and at times seemed to be in the left back position.
Yeah I know, and look honestly I’m not trying to knock things and I’m totally happy to get behind Blooms and give him plenty of time. I just think that for the remainder of the season he knows so much about the squad that we should continue the style we have played so well since Christmas for the remainder of the season. But hey, he must feel he can get a finer tune out of the squad so fingers crossed it will click soon. We may look very different with Obita and Taff back in fairness. Onto Tuesday!
Definitely need Taf back asap. Can't see it for Tuesday though, just too quick a turnaround.
To be fair to Exeter, I felt they worked really hard for each other, passed the ball pretty well but lacked a bit of finesse up front, often making the wrong choice of weight of cross or not being prepared to take the risk of attacking our two full backs and instead trying to recirculate the ball across the edge of our 18 yard box and losing momentum & allowing us to reorganise.
Given they only came up this season I was impressed with them and am sure they will be safely mid table at the end of the season.
As for us, as I said earlier we were good in patches & awful in others in almost equal measure. I was surprised how deep we dropped at times & seemed to be happy to invite them onto us, which is a rather different approach than we had previously & one I am not sure the players know quite how to deal with. Assuming this is how MB wants us to play rather than the previous high press then the players will learn to deal with it and play in his style, but I suspect not in time to ensure our tilt at the playoffs comes to fruition.
I think Campbell will improve the more games he plays & he will learn how to deal with L1 defenders trying to take lumps out of him etc.
Anyway let's hope GMac & Scowen are not serious medium to long term injuries & that Taff is close to fitness & let's see what line-up & formation we have against Fleetwood
That was hard work, and if I'm honest possibly the most bored I've been all season, we didn't look like we wanted to score a 2nd until they scored. Lots of hard work with not a lot to show for it. The one thing that worried me today(apart form the obvious Scowen going off) was Wing not really getting any opportunities to get involved and get some shots off, he's been fantastic the last month, I really hope a change in play isn't going to affect his game
As it’s pretty much my thoughts I’ll just repost this from @Shev
McCarthy really is terrible. For their goal he literally ran round their player like a chicken that had already had its head cut off.
Our attacking set pieces were really dreadful today. We seemed to have a number of corners/ free kicks in the final third and I can't remember a meaningful chance from any of them.
Completely agree with the above comment that Wing was way too deep today. I'm sure this is where he was playing at the start of the season when he was pretty ineffective - he's far better playing in front of Scowen with the ability to drive us forward and pick a pass.
Vokes was brilliant today - he won pretty much everything. I was gutted that run of his in the second half didn't go in - would've been a solid Goal of the Season contender. He was badly let down by those around him though.
Although I too was bored at times I inadvertently did get my heart racing when spilling my coffee on my hands