Fred needs to be playing in one of the wing back positions for me. He was really good when he came on yesterday and he nailed that position towards the end of our championship season.
I agree wholeheartedly. You don’t get teams who are pushing for promotion playing like 1970s Brazil at this stage of the season when there’s so much at stake. The pressure to win or more importantly not to lose, is suffocating. Wrexham aren’t playing particularly well and they have had ten 1-0 wins this season but their fans are thrilled. We win 1-0 and some fans are complaining. We are top scorers in the division averaging just under 2 points per game and only the runaway leaders Birmingham have a better GD.
For all the brilliance of controlling games, the worry is that we've become far too predictable. Obviously the 'fear factor' comes into play so close to the finish line but it the monotone football doesn't appear to give the players of fans much confidence. The early season in game changes of tempo and attacking focuses gave us a bit of swagger that made us so hard to play against. Desperately hope we can do it, and absolutely will take 1 nil to the Wanderers for the rest of the season but definitely don't feel as excited about this run-in as I feel I should.
I should also probably point out the obvious that this is a completely new way of the players from playing, compared to earlier in the season, with no preseason to drill it fully.
We’ve played it twice and won twice. The first back to back wins since November.
Is it perfect right now? No. Should we expect it to be? No.
Picking up @eric_plant ’s comment about some of us being annoyed with the result, I should stress it isn’t the RESULT some of us are annoyed about it’s about how we set up to - and did - play.
From my limited understanding of the nuances of football it was incredibly frustrating to play as insipidly as we did (first half anyway) against a team who did not look that good defensively.
Yes we won, but to be honest the goal we scored came out of nowhere and it wasn’t exactly looking like we were about to score.
The fear for me is if we are struggling to beat two teams in poor form playing as we currently are I really struggle to see how we will win against some of the better teams we are about to come up against.
I genuinely hope I’m wrong (I usually am) but I’m not convinced that this formation and style will be anywhere near enough to keep up and overtake Wrexham.
Leeds are a prime example in the Championship. Earlier in the season they were scoring goals for fun. Now they seem to have got the jitters and could even miss out on the automatics.
I’d definitely take playing badly and winning boring 1-0s for the rest of the season.
But, that’s not really the point. Playing badly you rely on luck to win games and we would have to be extremely lucky to win every game like that for the rest of the season, especially against higher quality opponents.
You say we struggled to beat two teams in poor form but that’s not correct. Rotherham had lost only one of their previous four games (1-0 against Wrexham) including beating Orient, whilst Lincoln had also lost only one of their previously four (1-0 against Birmingham) which included scoring 5 goals against Bristol Rovers and 4 goals against Crawley.
The Wrexham game was a real downer, and very understandably so. The handball by their player in their penalty area is exactly the sort of decision that Wrexham are getting seemingly every week and that feeling that the dice are loaded is a real invitation to give up.
For me there are five places where the mood matters. The team manager / head coach / whatever, he is definitely positive and obviously working hard to mould the team into something he can tweak and improve during a match. I don't think it is coincidence that we have been a better second half team recently and would offer up evidence from yesterday that our options for attacking seem to grow and flourish as the game progressed. There was less and less of the horrible sideways passes between centre backs as the game wore on. So I have no worries there. Oh and
Secondly there is the team. They all worked hard all game. Josh personifies that. Cameron played a blinder. You could see how much Joe Low wanted a goal when towards the end he was working away with his feet, trying to get a shot away, I believe it was around the edge of their penalty area. I saw Richard Kone trying runs against their back line and then could sense his frustration when the ball didn't come. Key players all involved and sharp. The job looks harder than it might have been, but they look well up for it. And some of the coherency from the best part of the early season was there again at the end.
Thirdly there is the crowd. I was on the terrace yesterday. Decent singing and support all game. Hopeful and supportive I would have said the mood was. Not over confident, but that is not surprising with the previous home Saturday game being the Wrexham game in front of a capacity crowd, the nil - nil quid a kid game against Wigan and the nil - nil against Northampton back on 25th Jan.
Number four - we have the best media team in the division if not in the 92. Enagaged, almost infinitely knowledgeable and both realistic and positive - I love them to bits.
Last and maybe not least, there is the Gasroom, traumatised but still there, still the best debating of all football forums, still a place to savour and feel good about, even when the dish served is salty.
Joe Low is too good to “rest” but he probably won’t be with us next season. Jack Grimmer is an outstanding club captain and matchday skipper. Before Joe made RCB his own, Jack often occupied that position and was surprisingly good in the air. He’s not an out and out wingback.
As I’ve said before, if we’re going to continue to play three centre backs, as seems likely, Jack at RCB and Fred or “Gids” at wingback (if only in the situation an hour or so into the game when we’re struggling to take the lead) has to be a serious consideration.
Such a shame that our best left side wingback was put out for the rest of the season (I think we have to assume) by what at the time seemed a fairly innocuous “knock”. At least there now seems hope for Kieran Sadlier to make a return, if only from the bench.
It is correct, they were both garbage regardless of the stats. Particularly Rotherham, I think I may have pstd from the first half. Good points nevertheless.
Well said @railwaysteve btw , plenty of positives amongst some very strange times this season.
I've got no desire to see Dodds leave or us lose games but find selection baffling. Have some posters leaned into that a bit much out of loyalty to Blooms? probably. But also no need to talk up poor games, opposition or selections. We've got our ridiculously positive posters as much as our negative nellies. Maybe people could just say what they see.
Tbh posting regularly on a site but then saying you'll never criticise anything that the club, team or manager say is pointless and takes away from what is no doubt an experienced and knowledgeable poster.
Is the Gasroom traumatised? It's noticeable how many regular or long-standing posters have had little to nothing to say about what has happened. I don't think most people are bothered.
Excellent post, nailed it. I think Tuesday against Shrewsbury is our most important game of the season so far. Win and we go above Wrexham and move 8 points clear of Charlton and 9 points clear of Stockport with a substantially better GD than both those teams below us. This is crucial because effectively to overtake us they would need to win 3/4 more of their remaining games than we win and with only 7 games left that’s a very tall order. Beat Shrewsbury and I think it becomes a straight fight between us and Wrexham for second place.
Yes Wrexham are away to Cambridge, I have had thoughts as to whether I could best support our efforts by wearing a Wycombe shirt in the home end at the Abbey, which is almost walking distance away from mine, and singing "Shit Referee" and "It's Disney, its make believe".
Although we pulled up no trees with yesterday's performance, I don't really see Wrexham as a superior outfit to us. What is very concerning though is the pattern of assistance from the officials
Off the top of my head you have the ridiculous foul at Crawley ignored resulting in a last minute Wrexham winner, the farce of yesterday's dive by Jay Rodriguez at Exeter and the equally farcical penalty against Stockport, all game changing decisions in Wrexham's favour. Meanwhile yesterday our player is punched in the head with no punishment. At this point it's beyond a coincidence what is going on. That's not even including the handball not given in the fixture between us!
It depends how you interpret current form. Most websites regard that as being the last 4–6 games whereas 12 games is more than one third of the season.
Regardless of whether you look at last six or 12 games, teams with aspirations of promotion should be beating mid-table teams anyway. They did so in one respect it is job done.
But even as Mr Positive you surely cannot be too optimistic after the unconvincing nature of the last two games?
Comments
Fred needs to be playing in one of the wing back positions for me. He was really good when he came on yesterday and he nailed that position towards the end of our championship season.
I agree wholeheartedly. You don’t get teams who are pushing for promotion playing like 1970s Brazil at this stage of the season when there’s so much at stake. The pressure to win or more importantly not to lose, is suffocating. Wrexham aren’t playing particularly well and they have had ten 1-0 wins this season but their fans are thrilled. We win 1-0 and some fans are complaining. We are top scorers in the division averaging just under 2 points per game and only the runaway leaders Birmingham have a better GD.
I would agree as I like flying wingbacks. I still have fuzzy warm memories of Mickey bell flying forwards and getting crosses/balls into the box.
But I think Dodds wants a ball carrying CB to step forward like John Stones was doing at times for City. But this is League one.
For all the brilliance of controlling games, the worry is that we've become far too predictable. Obviously the 'fear factor' comes into play so close to the finish line but it the monotone football doesn't appear to give the players of fans much confidence. The early season in game changes of tempo and attacking focuses gave us a bit of swagger that made us so hard to play against. Desperately hope we can do it, and absolutely will take 1 nil to the Wanderers for the rest of the season but definitely don't feel as excited about this run-in as I feel I should.
I should also probably point out the obvious that this is a completely new way of the players from playing, compared to earlier in the season, with no preseason to drill it fully.
We’ve played it twice and won twice. The first back to back wins since November.
Is it perfect right now? No. Should we expect it to be? No.
Picking up @eric_plant ’s comment about some of us being annoyed with the result, I should stress it isn’t the RESULT some of us are annoyed about it’s about how we set up to - and did - play.
From my limited understanding of the nuances of football it was incredibly frustrating to play as insipidly as we did (first half anyway) against a team who did not look that good defensively.
Yes we won, but to be honest the goal we scored came out of nowhere and it wasn’t exactly looking like we were about to score.
The fear for me is if we are struggling to beat two teams in poor form playing as we currently are I really struggle to see how we will win against some of the better teams we are about to come up against.
I genuinely hope I’m wrong (I usually am) but I’m not convinced that this formation and style will be anywhere near enough to keep up and overtake Wrexham.
Leeds are a prime example in the Championship. Earlier in the season they were scoring goals for fun. Now they seem to have got the jitters and could even miss out on the automatics.
I’d definitely take playing badly and winning boring 1-0s for the rest of the season.
But, that’s not really the point. Playing badly you rely on luck to win games and we would have to be extremely lucky to win every game like that for the rest of the season, especially against higher quality opponents.
Walsall were run away leaders in league 2, currently only 2 wins in their last 12 games. Now only top by a single point.
You say we struggled to beat two teams in poor form but that’s not correct. Rotherham had lost only one of their previous four games (1-0 against Wrexham) including beating Orient, whilst Lincoln had also lost only one of their previously four (1-0 against Birmingham) which included scoring 5 goals against Bristol Rovers and 4 goals against Crawley.
The Wrexham game was a real downer, and very understandably so. The handball by their player in their penalty area is exactly the sort of decision that Wrexham are getting seemingly every week and that feeling that the dice are loaded is a real invitation to give up.
For me there are five places where the mood matters. The team manager / head coach / whatever, he is definitely positive and obviously working hard to mould the team into something he can tweak and improve during a match. I don't think it is coincidence that we have been a better second half team recently and would offer up evidence from yesterday that our options for attacking seem to grow and flourish as the game progressed. There was less and less of the horrible sideways passes between centre backs as the game wore on. So I have no worries there. Oh and
Secondly there is the team. They all worked hard all game. Josh personifies that. Cameron played a blinder. You could see how much Joe Low wanted a goal when towards the end he was working away with his feet, trying to get a shot away, I believe it was around the edge of their penalty area. I saw Richard Kone trying runs against their back line and then could sense his frustration when the ball didn't come. Key players all involved and sharp. The job looks harder than it might have been, but they look well up for it. And some of the coherency from the best part of the early season was there again at the end.
Thirdly there is the crowd. I was on the terrace yesterday. Decent singing and support all game. Hopeful and supportive I would have said the mood was. Not over confident, but that is not surprising with the previous home Saturday game being the Wrexham game in front of a capacity crowd, the nil - nil quid a kid game against Wigan and the nil - nil against Northampton back on 25th Jan.
Number four - we have the best media team in the division if not in the 92. Enagaged, almost infinitely knowledgeable and both realistic and positive - I love them to bits.
Last and maybe not least, there is the Gasroom, traumatised but still there, still the best debating of all football forums, still a place to savour and feel good about, even when the dish served is salty.
Joe Low is too good to “rest” but he probably won’t be with us next season. Jack Grimmer is an outstanding club captain and matchday skipper. Before Joe made RCB his own, Jack often occupied that position and was surprisingly good in the air. He’s not an out and out wingback.
As I’ve said before, if we’re going to continue to play three centre backs, as seems likely, Jack at RCB and Fred or “Gids” at wingback (if only in the situation an hour or so into the game when we’re struggling to take the lead) has to be a serious consideration.
Such a shame that our best left side wingback was put out for the rest of the season (I think we have to assume) by what at the time seemed a fairly innocuous “knock”. At least there now seems hope for Kieran Sadlier to make a return, if only from the bench.
Plenty of reasons for optimism.
Rotherham United - won three in 12 (W3 D2 L7)
Lincoln City - won three in 12 (W3 D3 L6)
Stats, huh!
It is correct, they were both garbage regardless of the stats. Particularly Rotherham, I think I may have pstd from the first half. Good points nevertheless.
Well said @railwaysteve btw , plenty of positives amongst some very strange times this season.
I've got no desire to see Dodds leave or us lose games but find selection baffling. Have some posters leaned into that a bit much out of loyalty to Blooms? probably. But also no need to talk up poor games, opposition or selections. We've got our ridiculously positive posters as much as our negative nellies. Maybe people could just say what they see.
Tbh posting regularly on a site but then saying you'll never criticise anything that the club, team or manager say is pointless and takes away from what is no doubt an experienced and knowledgeable poster.
Is the Gasroom traumatised? It's noticeable how many regular or long-standing posters have had little to nothing to say about what has happened. I don't think most people are bothered.
Excellent post, nailed it. I think Tuesday against Shrewsbury is our most important game of the season so far. Win and we go above Wrexham and move 8 points clear of Charlton and 9 points clear of Stockport with a substantially better GD than both those teams below us. This is crucial because effectively to overtake us they would need to win 3/4 more of their remaining games than we win and with only 7 games left that’s a very tall order. Beat Shrewsbury and I think it becomes a straight fight between us and Wrexham for second place.
Tuesday is a proper match day, Wrexham and Charlton are both playing
Hope you’re right with those circumstances and everyone else near us in the table who are playing all lose to allow those permutations!
And two of our last three matches are at home and against……
Huddersfield away is our game in hand over Wrexham, not Shrewsbury.
Sadly not if Wrexham and Charlton both win but still a huge game before we go into some trickier (on paper) games.
I should have said ‘could’ go 8/9 points clear of the two teams below us so thanks for pointing that out.
Er, Wrexham (and Charlton) are also playing on Tuesday, so if we both win, Wrexham will still remain in 2nd place.
Yes Wrexham are away to Cambridge, I have had thoughts as to whether I could best support our efforts by wearing a Wycombe shirt in the home end at the Abbey, which is almost walking distance away from mine, and singing "Shit Referee" and "It's Disney, its make believe".
Although we pulled up no trees with yesterday's performance, I don't really see Wrexham as a superior outfit to us. What is very concerning though is the pattern of assistance from the officials
Off the top of my head you have the ridiculous foul at Crawley ignored resulting in a last minute Wrexham winner, the farce of yesterday's dive by Jay Rodriguez at Exeter and the equally farcical penalty against Stockport, all game changing decisions in Wrexham's favour. Meanwhile yesterday our player is punched in the head with no punishment. At this point it's beyond a coincidence what is going on. That's not even including the handball not given in the fixture between us!
Lincoln’s previous 12 league games before playing us read (W4 D3 L5)
Rotherham’s previous 12 league games before playing us read (W4 D2 L6)
It depends how you interpret current form. Most websites regard that as being the last 4–6 games whereas 12 games is more than one third of the season.
Might want to revisit your maths there.
12 games is more than quarter of a season, but less than a third.
Regardless of whether you look at last six or 12 games, teams with aspirations of promotion should be beating mid-table teams anyway. They did so in one respect it is job done.
But even as Mr Positive you surely cannot be too optimistic after the unconvincing nature of the last two games?
Apparently this isn't a penalty