Certainly some positives. Lowry is going to be a good addition. Low and Bradley are imperious. Norris has hit the ground running and immediately showed his strengths at crosses.
Our lack of goal threat continues to worry. Westergaard remains rusty and quite frankly for a million euros I was unfairly thinking he would be like nothing I’ve never seen before.
Crawley lost after being 3-1 up. We cannot come away from there with anything less than a point after fumbling against Cambridge and Northampton.
We weren't creating much, so another strong aerial player could have been an option for any set pieces. Never mind. We'd all take promotion over a further FA cup run, as much as we were so close to it.
Thought Lowry looked pretty good. As he settles he’ll be a great option if Humphreys is ever unavailable or having an off day. Was impressed with the defence, Skura out of position looked good but we do need a proper RB as soon as possible. Went with four of my family, none of whom are Wycombe fans - all agreed that we were incredibly solid but lacked a bit going forward. Two said they thought Bakinson was MOTM, one vote for each of the CBs. Thought Bez was impressive too and he worked incredibly hard - if he had taken another touch when the ball sat up for him second half I think he scores. Shame about the pens but a good performance, and 17 games to get promoted!
Not too disappointed at losing. Some real positives from the game. Norris looked solid in goal. I suspect he will be our no 1. for the run in. Feel sorry for Rav, who’s not let us down. Low and Bradley were superb. Taylor may have to wait to resume his partnership with Low. Not sure I understand why we bought the danish centre half when it appears there are four centre backs in front of him for selection. Perhaps I was expecting more from an £800, 000 player and I know Westergaard is rusty but I’d hope him to be more dominant. Hopefully that will come. Lowry looks a good acquisition .Since the New Year, we have looked a bit toothless in front of goal , without Kone. We need to keep him fit for the remainder of the season.
Well 3 (Taylor, Low, Bradley), can’t imagine Skura will be ahead of him. Also 2 of them are on loan so I expect to see him first choice by the start of next season once he’s acclimatised.
westergaard may look rusty but you can see he’s got some ability to be fair
Apologies if it's already been mentioned but across 3 cup games Vs Championship sides this season (Swansea, Portsmouth, Preston) we haven't conceded a single goal in 300 minutes of football - two of those games being away from home (barring the shootout of course).
Add in the fact we ran Aston Villa very close, and that is quite some going.
Just seen the highlights. Freddie Woodman is an England class keeper and really should be playing at a higher level than Preston. Those two saves from Udoh (in particular) and Reach were outstanding. Can’t complain about those.
Interesting Post game comments from Dodds in regards to our in possession work and changes he is looking to make- something that will need a "Significant amount of time".
Considering we are/have been one of the most free-scoring teams across all English Football leagues I find it interesting/fascinating/worrying even that he wants to change the in-possession side to our game quite so much. Perhaps he is taking this one game of not scoring in isolation or maybe wanting to make sure we aren't reliant on 1 or 2 individuals scoring every week but I guess we'll have to see what he wants in terms of in-possession play.
Seems to be even more confident in our squad and our chances in the next 16 games though, which is a good sign.
FWIW I don't think our "in possession" work has been nearly as good in the past 6 weeks or so. We were a free scoring side up until around Christmas, but though we've continued to get results (the sign of a great team), most of our recent goals have been the product of penalties or late winners. With that in mind, I don't think it's too controversial for Dodds to think our "in possession" play needs work.
He said about being more clinical in front of goal. Since our incredible scoring run we have had a couple of games where we seem shot shy. More willing to make a pass than take a shot. When we played Barnsley we battered them with shot after shot and it paid off. We can overwhelm teams in attack with the talent we have, just maybe need to have a bit more self belief sometimes?
I 100% agree. I am hoping for evolution rather than revolution. We have come unstuck alittle in recent times and that needs work. Just hope the baby isn't thrown out with the bath water.
Yep certainly Bolton, Mansfield, Huddersfield, and Northampton were all home games where we lacked a bit of creativity and guile.
i also heard somewhere (I think not the top 20 podcast) that even when we were free scoring earlier on the season that our actual goals scored was outperforming our expected goals
Thought the ref was poor today giving very soft fouls for both sides preventing any flowing play. Bakinson dreadful I'm afraid, how was he not subbed off. Could have been the difference.
Also why did the ref choose the home end for pens? We were allocated less than half our end making it more 'neutral' behind the goal. And I sincerely hope we lost the toss for who went first...
Not sure why Harvie was taken off? Injury? Thought he looked dangerous and had a good effort on goal.
Was impressed with Lowry. Neat footwork, wants to take on players. Looks ‘nailed on’ to become a like for like Cam replacement. But he had lack of the ball as we didn’t use the central channel much.
GMac was GMac. I guess the conundrum with him these days is ‘is he a starter or a finisher’.
Fred had arguably our best chance with the header. A decent if not show stopping performance.
For me, Bakinson was a weak link. At times really lazy, just sticking a leg out. But I’m clearly not seeing what others are.
Bez was too exposed. He doesn’t have Kone’s strength nor skill with back to goal to take the ball and wait for the cavalry. He had a good game, but for me, he can’t play lone striker. And you always are waiting for the whistle for Bez to give away a foul.
I think Dec is improving game by game, it’s a joy to see a homegrown player transform so much. He’s still got to make better decisions when on the ball, at times took one too many touches and left us in dangerous positions.
Leahy was quite quiet for me, again, the central channel we hardly used (which may be why I was frustrated by Bakinson).
Norris looks confident and in command of his box. Some great saves. Some very poor passes. Franco will be wandering what he did wrong if Norris starts against Crawley.
Penalties are penalties. Let’s go again against Crawley.
As they lined up facing the other way I thought 'brilliant we're up first. But a not very thorough search suggests the ref chooses the end then tosses for kicks (experts could clarify @flymofrank?)
Unlucky to have lost 2 tosses if so. I blame the tosser.
I watched the Crawley / Bolton match highlights and I feel we will have our hands full against them next week. Crawley looked very fast up front and played with a high tempo, something we have been lacking for a number of weeks now.
I personally thought Low and Sonny were great yesterday and it was really good to see Harvie back in the starting 11 against Preston. However, I really think we looked pretty lethargic and short of creativity in midfield. Bez worked hard but he is no central front man in this 4-2-3-1 formation.
We certainly missed, Scowen, Humphreys, Kone and Grimmer from that starting 11 and I think that Simons may add that Morley magic. I am still slightly worried about some of the recent signings but hopefully that will come good as they bed into the new environment.
Funny how opinions can differ so much - I thought Bakinson was our best player (followed very closely by the centre backs) and I was very impressed with him.
Also liked the look of Lowry, just hoping he gets a new song soon.
Really good team performance, hopefully an encouraging sign for the rest of the season.
I do wonder about the number of squad players we have who will expect to be playing games though. Thinking of the 9 strong subs bench yesterday, and the half a dozen we had missing as cup tied/injured, feel like there is going to be a lot of disappointment to manage. Really hope Dodds can keep the team spirit together.
After the game yesterday and having watched Tamworth v Spurs, think I’m in the camp that if they’re going to scrap replays (which gutted about), might as well get rid of extra time before the semi finals and go straight to penalties.
Comments
Certainly some positives. Lowry is going to be a good addition. Low and Bradley are imperious. Norris has hit the ground running and immediately showed his strengths at crosses.
Our lack of goal threat continues to worry. Westergaard remains rusty and quite frankly for a million euros I was unfairly thinking he would be like nothing I’ve never seen before.
Crawley lost after being 3-1 up. We cannot come away from there with anything less than a point after fumbling against Cambridge and Northampton.
I thought so too.
I thought the only misstep was not bring Vokes on. We could have used his physical presence up front.
We weren't creating much, so another strong aerial player could have been an option for any set pieces. Never mind. We'd all take promotion over a further FA cup run, as much as we were so close to it.
Thought Lowry looked pretty good. As he settles he’ll be a great option if Humphreys is ever unavailable or having an off day. Was impressed with the defence, Skura out of position looked good but we do need a proper RB as soon as possible. Went with four of my family, none of whom are Wycombe fans - all agreed that we were incredibly solid but lacked a bit going forward. Two said they thought Bakinson was MOTM, one vote for each of the CBs. Thought Bez was impressive too and he worked incredibly hard - if he had taken another touch when the ball sat up for him second half I think he scores. Shame about the pens but a good performance, and 17 games to get promoted!
Not too disappointed at losing. Some real positives from the game. Norris looked solid in goal. I suspect he will be our no 1. for the run in. Feel sorry for Rav, who’s not let us down. Low and Bradley were superb. Taylor may have to wait to resume his partnership with Low. Not sure I understand why we bought the danish centre half when it appears there are four centre backs in front of him for selection. Perhaps I was expecting more from an £800, 000 player and I know Westergaard is rusty but I’d hope him to be more dominant. Hopefully that will come. Lowry looks a good acquisition .Since the New Year, we have looked a bit toothless in front of goal , without Kone. We need to keep him fit for the remainder of the season.
We'll cling to the Danish lads needing to get to fitness plus adapting to a new country.
Certainly better to have more options than not enough though.
Well 3 (Taylor, Low, Bradley), can’t imagine Skura will be ahead of him. Also 2 of them are on loan so I expect to see him first choice by the start of next season once he’s acclimatised.
westergaard may look rusty but you can see he’s got some ability to be fair
“Attack wins you games, defense wins you titles” Alex Ferguson
Apologies if it's already been mentioned but across 3 cup games Vs Championship sides this season (Swansea, Portsmouth, Preston) we haven't conceded a single goal in 300 minutes of football - two of those games being away from home (barring the shootout of course).
Add in the fact we ran Aston Villa very close, and that is quite some going.
This is the moment when it's obvious we're going up.
(As long as Lommy doesn't have a heart attack or decides he likes basketball instead)
Just seen the highlights. Freddie Woodman is an England class keeper and really should be playing at a higher level than Preston. Those two saves from Udoh (in particular) and Reach were outstanding. Can’t complain about those.
The save from Udoh was good, Reach's penalty was poor.
Am I right in saying that this is the first time we have been knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties since Basingstoke!?
I was there to witness John Cornforth sky his penno! We’ve come a long way!
Interesting Post game comments from Dodds in regards to our in possession work and changes he is looking to make- something that will need a "Significant amount of time".
Considering we are/have been one of the most free-scoring teams across all English Football leagues I find it interesting/fascinating/worrying even that he wants to change the in-possession side to our game quite so much. Perhaps he is taking this one game of not scoring in isolation or maybe wanting to make sure we aren't reliant on 1 or 2 individuals scoring every week but I guess we'll have to see what he wants in terms of in-possession play.
Seems to be even more confident in our squad and our chances in the next 16 games though, which is a good sign.
He’s already said he won’t be changing oo much this season, so presumably he’s looking ahead to next season when we won’t have Kone to depend on.
FWIW I don't think our "in possession" work has been nearly as good in the past 6 weeks or so. We were a free scoring side up until around Christmas, but though we've continued to get results (the sign of a great team), most of our recent goals have been the product of penalties or late winners. With that in mind, I don't think it's too controversial for Dodds to think our "in possession" play needs work.
He said about being more clinical in front of goal. Since our incredible scoring run we have had a couple of games where we seem shot shy. More willing to make a pass than take a shot. When we played Barnsley we battered them with shot after shot and it paid off. We can overwhelm teams in attack with the talent we have, just maybe need to have a bit more self belief sometimes?
We saw evidence of that with Fred today. He looked much more willing to take a man on. Skura too, although I was less a fan of that development!
I 100% agree. I am hoping for evolution rather than revolution. We have come unstuck alittle in recent times and that needs work. Just hope the baby isn't thrown out with the bath water.
Yep certainly Bolton, Mansfield, Huddersfield, and Northampton were all home games where we lacked a bit of creativity and guile.
i also heard somewhere (I think not the top 20 podcast) that even when we were free scoring earlier on the season that our actual goals scored was outperforming our expected goals
I say on the half way line with some old friends today. I must say the noise from the travelling Chairboys was phenomenal.
Deepdale was an incredibly noisy and hostile place to visit in the 90s. I’m not sure what’s happened but they were virtually silent today.
Thought the ref was poor today giving very soft fouls for both sides preventing any flowing play. Bakinson dreadful I'm afraid, how was he not subbed off. Could have been the difference.
Also why did the ref choose the home end for pens? We were allocated less than half our end making it more 'neutral' behind the goal. And I sincerely hope we lost the toss for who went first...
Isn't there also a coin toss for choice of ends?
Low and Sonny were phenomenal, as always.
Not sure why Harvie was taken off? Injury? Thought he looked dangerous and had a good effort on goal.
Was impressed with Lowry. Neat footwork, wants to take on players. Looks ‘nailed on’ to become a like for like Cam replacement. But he had lack of the ball as we didn’t use the central channel much.
GMac was GMac. I guess the conundrum with him these days is ‘is he a starter or a finisher’.
Fred had arguably our best chance with the header. A decent if not show stopping performance.
For me, Bakinson was a weak link. At times really lazy, just sticking a leg out. But I’m clearly not seeing what others are.
Bez was too exposed. He doesn’t have Kone’s strength nor skill with back to goal to take the ball and wait for the cavalry. He had a good game, but for me, he can’t play lone striker. And you always are waiting for the whistle for Bez to give away a foul.
I think Dec is improving game by game, it’s a joy to see a homegrown player transform so much. He’s still got to make better decisions when on the ball, at times took one too many touches and left us in dangerous positions.
Leahy was quite quiet for me, again, the central channel we hardly used (which may be why I was frustrated by Bakinson).
Norris looks confident and in command of his box. Some great saves. Some very poor passes. Franco will be wandering what he did wrong if Norris starts against Crawley.
Penalties are penalties. Let’s go again against Crawley.
As they lined up facing the other way I thought 'brilliant we're up first. But a not very thorough search suggests the ref chooses the end then tosses for kicks (experts could clarify @flymofrank?)
Unlucky to have lost 2 tosses if so. I blame the tosser.
I watched the Crawley / Bolton match highlights and I feel we will have our hands full against them next week. Crawley looked very fast up front and played with a high tempo, something we have been lacking for a number of weeks now.
I personally thought Low and Sonny were great yesterday and it was really good to see Harvie back in the starting 11 against Preston. However, I really think we looked pretty lethargic and short of creativity in midfield. Bez worked hard but he is no central front man in this 4-2-3-1 formation.
We certainly missed, Scowen, Humphreys, Kone and Grimmer from that starting 11 and I think that Simons may add that Morley magic. I am still slightly worried about some of the recent signings but hopefully that will come good as they bed into the new environment.
Funny how opinions can differ so much - I thought Bakinson was our best player (followed very closely by the centre backs) and I was very impressed with him.
Also liked the look of Lowry, just hoping he gets a new song soon.
Really good team performance, hopefully an encouraging sign for the rest of the season.
I do wonder about the number of squad players we have who will expect to be playing games though. Thinking of the 9 strong subs bench yesterday, and the half a dozen we had missing as cup tied/injured, feel like there is going to be a lot of disappointment to manage. Really hope Dodds can keep the team spirit together.
After the game yesterday and having watched Tamworth v Spurs, think I’m in the camp that if they’re going to scrap replays (which gutted about), might as well get rid of extra time before the semi finals and go straight to penalties.
Not sure it's appropriate for a ref to be tossing just "for kicks"
He should be getting his "kicks" doing his job and sorting the penalties out.