We got Wycombed! Just lacked that last bit of quality in her box...but I was convinced we would win until the final whistle. Some strange decisions and cards for both sides but I thought it was a good game on whole. Bakinson and Hartridge both did a decent job. It's a squad game.🙂
Probably a fair result but a frustrating watch at times. We couldn’t get anything to stick in and around the box. Some of the deliveries were very poor. Feels strange being on the end of those kind of opposition tactics but fair play to Bolton, they dug in and got what they came for.
Bolton are far from the team they were last season, they don’t seem to have any creativity at all. We really should have beaten them. One goal and they would have rolled over.
Yes they had players missing but so have we with arguably three of our best players missing tonight.
I don’t fear Bolton after that and we have a better squad than they have.
Decent performance, not much wrong with that, we just lacked a cutting edge for once. Credit to Bolton, their patched up defence really put in a shift. Can't really blame them for lining up to protect their back line when they've got players missing and they're facing the league leaders away, it's what most teams would do.
Referee was frustrating at times, but didn't think he was as bad as the people around me clearly thought he was! Looked like we should've had a penalty first half, no chance the handball shout in the 2nd half. The lack of injury time in such a stop start game was incredible though, seems extraordinary he only deemed the stoppages to account for 3 minutes.
Felt like one of those night’s where it just wasn’t to be. Nothing seemed to fall quite right for us in the final third.
Can’t say we deserved all three points as don’t think we had any clear cut chances, but thought we were clearly the better team, especially in the second half.
Very impressed with Taylor & Low at the back.
Kone’s all round game gets better every time I see him, and thought Bakinson had a great game.. Pleased Hartridge had a good game as well, think will do him the world of good.
Just lacked that little bit of guile and edge in the final 3rd. Saying that Bolton knew if they smothered us and stayed tight it would require an individual bit of excellence or an error. Neither came.
Ref showing his new whistle off didn’t help. What referees fail to appreciate is that if you keep giving fouls for every bit of contact players will play to that. If you let it go then players won’t continue to play for fouls. Totally ruined the game as it became stop start.
Kone was great. He is strong, he holds the ball up, quick feet, continues to improve. They knew they had to do a job on him. Pattendon also had a super game and as 2nd choice for his position must make our club captain a bit frustrated.
Frustrating not to come away with 3 points there, but in a weird way, that game fills me with confidence for the rest of the season. Bolton are a big club for this level. They may have been missing some players tonight but still had the likes of Aaron Collins, Dion Charles and James McAtee yet were absolutely delighted to leave with a point - having played for nothing more than a draw for the second half. If that's how one of the teams in the play offs race treats a game against us, then I have every confidence that we have more than enough for a top 6 finish this season.
That being said, I do think we missed Morley's guile and Harvie as an attacking outlet today. Bakinson and Hartridge did a fine job deputising, but don't offer half as much going forward as those two. We absolutely need to buy Aaron Morley in January.
Huddersfield at home on Tuesday 7th January is shaping up to be the biggest game of the season so far. They are on a great run, and now just 5 points behind us.
I thought that in real time but there was a replay from behind the goal that showed it was impossible for him to get a shot off by the time the ball got to him. The pass was actually incredibly clever.
I never moan about the referee but, damn, he sucked the fun out of that one. The least he could've given us back was the amount of additional time he took with all his chuntering at each corner and free kick.
Morley became an absolute must-sign after tonight. Without him we lacked creativity and reverted to bypassing a workmanlike midfield that saw Humphreys isolated and lost.
Hartridge was good. He looks like he's bulked up since the start of the season and played with positional intelligence. I was impressed.
Taylor was my man of the match. I rarely get to Adams Park these days (partly because I'm still not home yet) and hadn't realised quite how tall he was until tonight. A very impressive player that didn't seem to do anything wrong.
I watched the game, from the main stand, with a sports psychologist who works with Chelsea. His observation, exemplified by the lack of a shot from three players in the first half, is that individuals abdicating responsibility playing safe is an issue. ‘Permission to fail’ especially in attack is missing and he feels a reflection of the management style being imposed. As I say this is his pro opinion not mine, I’m far too emotionally connected to be objective about our play.
In the end, a key moment. He underplayed the pass too which cost Lubala a free shot. Usually so great from those positions.
Still, not a bad point against a team that will hover around the playoff positions. Just need to forget this and move on to Stevenage. 3 points there and this will look a decent enough point.
January is going to be a huge month, isn't it? 5 league games at home, including fixtures against Huddersfield and Barnsley, plus Mansfield away. If Morley is recalled on January 1st, we might have to play all of those games without him, even if negotiations are ongoing at boardroom level throughout the month... Nervy times.
Huddersfield have not really seemed very real to me, owing to not having played them so far, but I think it is us, them and Wrexham for the second auto spot, so it will be interesting to see how we measure up when we finally play them.
I have a close relative who in the last few years has officiated at Adams Park and at Wembley, Adams Park was a league game and at Wembley a play off final. As a result of this relationship I am reluctant to criticise referees but the referee last night was a buffoon in many ways as already covered in previous posts on this thread. My relative at the time had a long career in the armed forces so being a highly qualified referee was a part time occupation. Like all referees he refereed to the best of his ability. My point is that professional football at our level should have full time officials or at least a full time referee in charge of proceedings.
Whilst I respect that persons role, there has been countless times where Kone shoots far too early and wastes great chances which doesn’t align with that theory as he isn’t thinking about playing safe or not having permission to fail and he is our top scorer. Also attacking / creative players are more likely to ‘fail’ with intended outcomes as the element of risk is so much higher in creative situations. I’d say his / her opinion is quite an easy observation to give in a game a team doesn’t score in, and doesn’t really run true in the big picture where we are one of the highest scorers in professional football in England this season.
Id just put it down to decision making not being at its best on this occasion.
last night proved that leahy is not the answer , come across as a brilliant human but feels he adds very little , cannot dictate play , not a great tackler, does not have the physical presence or Bakinson or the engine of Josh , his FKs are so 1 dimensional , if we have to rely on Luke as a starter , we will move down that table ....Luke is a mid table CM not one that challenges for the top end of the lea
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We got Wycombed! Just lacked that last bit of quality in her box...but I was convinced we would win until the final whistle. Some strange decisions and cards for both sides but I thought it was a good game on whole. Bakinson and Hartridge both did a decent job. It's a squad game.🙂
Boring boring bolton
Didn't create much but a bit of a pathetic effort from Bolton, negative, time wasting the usual and not clamped down on by the ref.
The ref let Pattenden get battered as well.
However, Morley and Harvie back next game helps, really need Scowen back ASAP.
The home form has dried up a little which needs immediately to be put right with that mad run Jan 1st on.
However Stevenage is all that matters for now.
Probably a fair result but a frustrating watch at times. We couldn’t get anything to stick in and around the box. Some of the deliveries were very poor. Feels strange being on the end of those kind of opposition tactics but fair play to Bolton, they dug in and got what they came for.
Bolton are far from the team they were last season, they don’t seem to have any creativity at all. We really should have beaten them. One goal and they would have rolled over.
Yes they had players missing but so have we with arguably three of our best players missing tonight.
I don’t fear Bolton after that and we have a better squad than they have.
Decent performance, not much wrong with that, we just lacked a cutting edge for once. Credit to Bolton, their patched up defence really put in a shift. Can't really blame them for lining up to protect their back line when they've got players missing and they're facing the league leaders away, it's what most teams would do.
Referee was frustrating at times, but didn't think he was as bad as the people around me clearly thought he was! Looked like we should've had a penalty first half, no chance the handball shout in the 2nd half. The lack of injury time in such a stop start game was incredible though, seems extraordinary he only deemed the stoppages to account for 3 minutes.
Felt like one of those night’s where it just wasn’t to be. Nothing seemed to fall quite right for us in the final third.
Can’t say we deserved all three points as don’t think we had any clear cut chances, but thought we were clearly the better team, especially in the second half.
Very impressed with Taylor & Low at the back.
Kone’s all round game gets better every time I see him, and thought Bakinson had a great game.. Pleased Hartridge had a good game as well, think will do him the world of good.
Just got in. Why on earth did Humphreys pass the ball on instead of just crashing it into the back of the net in the first half?
Score that and we win comfortably
I thought that as well actually - real shame.
Really not sure what you mean by glimpse into the future?
Just lacked that little bit of guile and edge in the final 3rd. Saying that Bolton knew if they smothered us and stayed tight it would require an individual bit of excellence or an error. Neither came.
Ref showing his new whistle off didn’t help. What referees fail to appreciate is that if you keep giving fouls for every bit of contact players will play to that. If you let it go then players won’t continue to play for fouls. Totally ruined the game as it became stop start.
Kone was great. He is strong, he holds the ball up, quick feet, continues to improve. They knew they had to do a job on him. Pattendon also had a super game and as 2nd choice for his position must make our club captain a bit frustrated.
I thought the ref had the opposite problem: *not* giving fouls. Either way, a complete joke - where do they get them from?
Frustrating not to come away with 3 points there, but in a weird way, that game fills me with confidence for the rest of the season. Bolton are a big club for this level. They may have been missing some players tonight but still had the likes of Aaron Collins, Dion Charles and James McAtee yet were absolutely delighted to leave with a point - having played for nothing more than a draw for the second half. If that's how one of the teams in the play offs race treats a game against us, then I have every confidence that we have more than enough for a top 6 finish this season.
That being said, I do think we missed Morley's guile and Harvie as an attacking outlet today. Bakinson and Hartridge did a fine job deputising, but don't offer half as much going forward as those two. We absolutely need to buy Aaron Morley in January.
I assume @glasshalfempty is referring to a team without Morley.
Huddersfield at home on Tuesday 7th January is shaping up to be the biggest game of the season so far. They are on a great run, and now just 5 points behind us.
I thought that in real time but there was a replay from behind the goal that showed it was impossible for him to get a shot off by the time the ball got to him. The pass was actually incredibly clever.
Fair enough. At the time it looked like the old Arsenal thing of one pass too many
I never moan about the referee but, damn, he sucked the fun out of that one. The least he could've given us back was the amount of additional time he took with all his chuntering at each corner and free kick.
Morley became an absolute must-sign after tonight. Without him we lacked creativity and reverted to bypassing a workmanlike midfield that saw Humphreys isolated and lost.
Hartridge was good. He looks like he's bulked up since the start of the season and played with positional intelligence. I was impressed.
Taylor was my man of the match. I rarely get to Adams Park these days (partly because I'm still not home yet) and hadn't realised quite how tall he was until tonight. A very impressive player that didn't seem to do anything wrong.
I watched the game, from the main stand, with a sports psychologist who works with Chelsea. His observation, exemplified by the lack of a shot from three players in the first half, is that individuals abdicating responsibility playing safe is an issue. ‘Permission to fail’ especially in attack is missing and he feels a reflection of the management style being imposed. As I say this is his pro opinion not mine, I’m far too emotionally connected to be objective about our play.
In the end, a key moment. He underplayed the pass too which cost Lubala a free shot. Usually so great from those positions.
Still, not a bad point against a team that will hover around the playoff positions. Just need to forget this and move on to Stevenage. 3 points there and this will look a decent enough point.
PS, Kone's backheel to Fred start of the second half was absolutely outrageous
January is going to be a huge month, isn't it? 5 league games at home, including fixtures against Huddersfield and Barnsley, plus Mansfield away. If Morley is recalled on January 1st, we might have to play all of those games without him, even if negotiations are ongoing at boardroom level throughout the month... Nervy times.
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It did look like Humphreys had a lot of the goal to aim at. Could have picked the other corner. He's normally very good in those positions.
We could well start with half a different team in February.
Huddersfield have not really seemed very real to me, owing to not having played them so far, but I think it is us, them and Wrexham for the second auto spot, so it will be interesting to see how we measure up when we finally play them.
I have a close relative who in the last few years has officiated at Adams Park and at Wembley, Adams Park was a league game and at Wembley a play off final. As a result of this relationship I am reluctant to criticise referees but the referee last night was a buffoon in many ways as already covered in previous posts on this thread. My relative at the time had a long career in the armed forces so being a highly qualified referee was a part time occupation. Like all referees he refereed to the best of his ability. My point is that professional football at our level should have full time officials or at least a full time referee in charge of proceedings.
I'm more worried about Huddersfield than Wrexham
Whilst I respect that persons role, there has been countless times where Kone shoots far too early and wastes great chances which doesn’t align with that theory as he isn’t thinking about playing safe or not having permission to fail and he is our top scorer. Also attacking / creative players are more likely to ‘fail’ with intended outcomes as the element of risk is so much higher in creative situations. I’d say his / her opinion is quite an easy observation to give in a game a team doesn’t score in, and doesn’t really run true in the big picture where we are one of the highest scorers in professional football in England this season.
Id just put it down to decision making not being at its best on this occasion.
last night proved that leahy is not the answer , come across as a brilliant human but feels he adds very little , cannot dictate play , not a great tackler, does not have the physical presence or Bakinson or the engine of Josh , his FKs are so 1 dimensional , if we have to rely on Luke as a starter , we will move down that table ....Luke is a mid table CM not one that challenges for the top end of the lea
To be honest I think he's better as a left back.