Observations…

[formerly known as ivan]

Didn’t see last weeks game as I was away. Views on this week from the comfort of the sofa…

Great first half, created good chances. Second half Coventry improved and we didn’t get hold of the ball enough to stop their threat.

Forwards need to be braver and gamble on that ball coming in. Three or four decent, dangerous crosses that no one got on the end of.

Clean sheets will be an issue an issue this season. 0 in 4 so far. Silly individual mistakes time and time again don’t help. More often than not we will need to score 2 or 3 to win games.

Hoping this lad from Oxford is up to the task as Williams clearly isn’t. Said it before, he’s been the main part of an uninspiring midfield for far too long.

Overall a point gained against a decent team, but frustrating given the dominant first half display.

[Jose]

Comfortable and the better team without actually playing that well. Good sign? 

[BITW]

4 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Didn’t see last weeks game as I was away. Views on this week from the comfort of the sofa…

Great first half, created good chances. Second half Coventry improved and we didn’t get hold of the ball enough to stop their threat.

Forwards need to be braver and gamble on that ball coming in. Three or four decent, dangerous crosses that no one got on the end of.

Clean sheets will be an issue an issue this season. 0 in 4 so far. Silly individual mistakes time and time again don’t help. More often than not we will need to score 2 or 3 to win games.

Hoping this lad from Oxford is up to the task as Williams clearly isn’t. Said it before, he’s been the main part of an uninspiring midfield for far too long.

Overall a point gained against a decent team, but frustrating given the dominant first half display.

Not sure how it looked on sky but I thought Williams was class first half. Had him down as our best player. 

[steveybadger]

3 minutes ago, BITW said:

Not sure how it looked on sky but I thought Williams was class first half. Had him down as our best player. 

Certainly was decent. Funny how 2 very different managers have picked him regularly

[formerly known as ivan]

4 minutes ago, BITW said:

Not sure how it looked on sky but I thought Williams was class first half. Had him down as our best player. 

Didn’t look like that.

Bird I would have said was the stand out performer in the first half for me.

[PortInTheMorning]

I had Williams as man of the match. Really don't understand the hate he is getting from some people on here. 

 

 

[Fuber]

12 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Didn’t see last weeks game as I was away. Views on this week from the comfort of the sofa…

Great first half, created good chances. Second half Coventry improved and we didn’t get hold of the ball enough to stop their threat.

Forwards need to be braver and gamble on that ball coming in. Three or four decent, dangerous crosses that no one got on the end of.

Clean sheets will be an issue an issue this season. 0 in 4 so far. Silly individual mistakes time and time again don’t help. More often than not we will need to score 2 or 3 to win games.

Hoping this lad from Oxford is up to the task as Williams clearly isn’t. Said it before, he’s been the main part of an uninspiring midfield for far too long.

Overall a point gained against a decent team, but frustrating given the dominant first half display.

Didn't think Williams was bad today being honest.

Think the issue is that Mehmeti coming on killed any movement up top.

He doesn't know how to find pockets like Twine, and he doesn't gamble as he should more when far post. 

We need a wide option on the left willing to take his man on and get a ball on. Mehmeti nor Twine can do so. Second Hirakawa is match fit Anis is dropped for me.

[BITW]

5 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Didn’t look like that.

Bird I would have said was the stand out performer in the first half for me.

Fair enough always a different perspective on TV. He was everywhere first 45 tackling was brilliant and passed it very well. 

[PortInTheMorning]

9 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Didn’t look like that.

Bird I would have said was the stand out performer in the first half for me.

Bird is a bloody brilliant player- no question (probably my favourite player), but he turned the ball over a few times today. Joe turned it over once, but won most of his 1v1 battles.

Edited August 24 by PortInTheMorning

[formerly known as ivan]

1 minute ago, Fuber said:

Didn't think Williams was bad today being honest.

Think the issue is that Mehmeti coming on killed any movement up top.

He doesn't know how to find pockets like Twine, and he doesn't gamble as he should more when far post. 

We need a wide option on the left willing to take his man on and get a ball on. Mehmeti nor Twine can do so. Second Hirakawa is match fit Anis is dropped for me.

Agree with that. Once Mehmeti came on very little went down the left. He tried a lot to find space, quite often popping up in the middle of the pitch. But it always looked like aimless wandering rather than trying to do anything with any purpose.

[joe jordans teeth]

All round solid performance I thought,our bench is weak and a new defender is a must if we are to progress because Naismith isn’t the answer 

[formerly known as ivan]

2 minutes ago, PortInTheMorning said:

Bird is a bloody brilliant player- no question (probably my favourite player), but he turned the ball over a few times today. Joe turned it over once and won most of his 1v1 battles today (I admit he could have been sent off - but we already know he's a bit of a hothead :laugh:)

Williams turned it over multiple times in the second half, one blind pass in particular could have put us in trouble had it not bounced in our favour, mid to late in the second half.

[RedReg]

A better manager wins that. Outclassed by robins

[Cov 77]

3 minutes ago, RedReg said:

A better manager wins that. Outclassed by robins

Absolute crap

[Gazred]

2 minutes ago, RedReg said:

A better manager wins that. Outclassed by robins

Robins didn't win it either, so not sure how he was outclassed.

[RedReg]

Just now, Cov 77 said:

Absolute crap

You don't think Manning's substitutions threw away two points then?

[PortInTheMorning]

4 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Williams turned it over multiple times in the second half, one blind pass in particular could have put us in trouble had it not bounced in our favour, mid to late in the second half.

 We must be watching different games,mate. Williams was absolutely not the weak link today - Mehmeti was.

 

 

[DaveInSA]

My observations:

mehmeti - not for me. Not at this level.

naismith - not in a back 4 - too sluggish and not a “proper” centre half

referee - dreadful

midfield - biggest positive for me; they ALL wanted the ball, a big change. 

last 15 minutes - we tried to over complicate things. 

commitment - forwards need to commit. A few times cross/shots to the far post and nobody attacking it.

 

[And Its Smith]

19 minutes ago, PortInTheMorning said:

I had Williams as man of the match. Really don't understand the hate he is getting from some people on here. 

 

 

He gets hate because people don’t see the off the ball work. So they only notice the on the ball stuff. On the ball he’s okay, not great. Off the ball he’s very good 

[formerly known as ivan]

3 minutes ago, PortInTheMorning said:

 We must be watching different games,mate. Williams was absolutely not the weak link today - Mehmeti was.

 

 

Mehmeti wasn’t great when he came on, but the game had already swung in their favour by that point

[And Its Smith]

3 minutes ago, DaveInSA said:

My observations:

mehmeti - not for me. Not at this level.

naismith - not in a back 4 - too sluggish and not a “proper” centre half

referee - dreadful

midfield - biggest positive for me; they ALL wanted the ball, a big change. 

last 15 minutes - we tried to over complicate things. 

commitment - forwards need to commit. A few times cross/shots to the far post and nobody attacking it.

 

I’d say it’s anticipation not commitment. They are committed 

[Northern Red]

5 minutes ago, RedReg said:

You don't think Manning's substitutions threw away two points then?

They didn't work

Last week they did and I'm sure you were full of praise for him then......

[Cov 77]

7 minutes ago, RedReg said:

You don't think Manning's substitutions threw away two points then?

No to be honest , just because a sub does well does not means Robins our smarted anyone 

[east sussex red]

10 minutes ago, DaveInSA said:

My observations:

mehmeti - not for me. Not at this level.

naismith - not in a back 4 - too sluggish and not a “proper” centre half

referee - dreadful

midfield - biggest positive for me; they ALL wanted the ball, a big change. 

last 15 minutes - we tried to over complicate things. 

commitment - forwards need to commit. A few times cross/shots to the far post and nobody attacking it.

 

Think you can add that our defence, whilst improved, is still liable to the odd error which can costs us goals.

 

[Robbored]

9 minutes ago, RedReg said:

You don't think Manning's substitutions threw away two points then?

 I’ll admit that they were confusing. I nor anyone around me could grasp why Twine was replaced by Mehmeti and Bird replaced by Wells. Mehmeti is nowhere near as creative as Twine.

Replacing two influential midfielders and leaving the booked Williams on didn’t make much sense……...

Fans  regularly complain about managerial substitutions at every club but overall 1-1 was fair result.

[KegCity]

Unless they picked up knocks I’ve got no idea why Bird and Twine were hooked.

[pillred]

25 minutes ago, RedReg said:

A better manager wins that. Outclassed by robins

They were, unfortunately we drew.

[1team]

2 minutes ago, east sussex red said:

Think you can add that our defence, whilst improved, is still liable to the odd error which can costs us goals.

 

I don't think our defence has improved and after the 1st half I would have expected Cov to up their game butc as usual we wait until 60ish mins and make predictable changes. For those thinking getting shot of Vyner would be a good move.

[JP Hampton]

57 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Didn’t see last weeks game as I was away. Views on this week from the comfort of the sofa…

Great first half, created good chances. Second half Coventry improved and we didn’t get hold of the ball enough to stop their threat.

Forwards need to be braver and gamble on that ball coming in. Three or four decent, dangerous crosses that no one got on the end of.

Clean sheets will be an issue an issue this season. 0 in 4 so far. Silly individual mistakes time and time again don’t help. More often than not we will need to score 2 or 3 to win games.

Hoping this lad from Oxford is up to the task as Williams clearly isn’t. Said it before, he’s been the main part of an uninspiring midfield for far too long.

Overall a point gained against a decent team, but frustrating given the dominant first half display.

Totally disagree about Williams thought he was a linchpin in that game today. Felt he had a better game than Knight today.

 If you’ve said it before about Jo then I wonder if you’re already looking at him as you’ve previously viewed him rather than watching him as he is. 

Edited August 24 by JP Hampton

[joe jordans teeth]

31 minutes ago, RedReg said:

A better manager wins that. Outclassed by robins

Christ I talk some absolute bs on here but you have outdone me 

[Silvio Dante]

4 minutes ago, KegCity said:

Unless they picked up knocks I’ve got no idea why Bird and Twine were hooked.

Twine was relatively anonymous first half other than that late free kick - as noted, he was wide on the left where we know he’s not effective as opposed to in the centre as he was last week. No issue in taking him off, as he was the weakest of the midfield five first half and some way below Sykes who was our best outlet (argument there he had more space as Cov were more concerned with Twine but I think it’s as simple as he played better).

The issue wasn’t necessarily in taking him off it was a) his position to start with  and b) his replacement being Mehmeti

The Bird change made less sense, particularly in the context of the shape it gave us. Wells is not really a 10 and you had two who could play 10 wide in Mehmeti and Earthy (debate how well). So in practical terms we were set up in  more of a 4-4-2 with Williams (who I thought was very good today) and Knight being the CM so we really lacked creativity centrally. 
 

 

 

[JP Hampton]

24 minutes ago, DaveInSA said:

My observations:

mehmeti - not for me. Not at this level.

naismith - not in a back 4 - too sluggish and not a “proper” centre half

referee - dreadful

midfield - biggest positive for me; they ALL wanted the ball, a big change. 

last 15 minutes - we tried to over complicate things. 

commitment - forwards need to commit. A few times cross/shots to the far post and nobody attacking it.

 

Agree over the two games I’ve seen our midfield have been great to watch. Can’t see Mehmeti a good swap for Twine. 
 Felt that Fally could have played the simpler pass at times, tried to do too much  and lost the ball as a result. 

[joe jordans teeth]

23 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

He gets hate because people don’t see the off the ball work. So they only notice the on the ball stuff. On the ball he’s okay, not great. Off the ball he’s very good 

He’s very good when we have the majority of possession,when it’s the opposite he’s always out of position and diving in to make up for it

[JP Hampton]

Just now, Silvio Dante said:

Twine was relatively anonymous first half other than that late free kick - as noted, he was wide on the left where we know he’s not effective as opposed to in the centre as he was last week. No issue in taking him off, as he was the weakest of the midfield five first half and some way below Sykes who was our best outlet (argument there he had more space as Cov were more concerned with Twine but I think it’s as simple as he played better).

The issue wasn’t necessarily in taking him off it was a) his position to start with  and b) his replacement being Mehmeti

The Bird change made less sense, particularly in the context of the shape it gave us. Wells is not really a 10 and you had two who could play 10 wide in Mehmeti and Earthy (debate how well). So in practical terms we were set up in  more of a 4-4-2 with Williams (who I thought was very good today) and Knight being the CM so we really lacked creativity centrally. 
 

 

 

Fully agree. Thought Sykes had a brilliant game and returning to his previous best. 
 Was confused about Wells coming on and not sure it added much. 

[nickolas]

15 minutes ago, Robbored said:

 I’ll admit that they were confusing. I nor anyone around me could grasp why Twine was replaced by Mehmeti and Bird replaced by Wells. Mehmeti is nowhere near as creative as Twine.

Replacing two influential midfielders and leaving the booked Williams on didn’t make much sense……...

Fans  regularly complain about managerial substitutions at every club but overall 1-1 was fair result.

With Max not looking troubles for 90 mins i’d not say 1-1 was fair. We were stronger throughout and even though Cov improved 2nd half, Max had nothing to do. 
Odd subs taking off both Twine and Bird. Possibly take Bird off and move Twine central but to take both off was odd. 
 

I still feel like we need a left winger. Perhaps Yu will be our man!

[TDarwall]

A decent performance overall.

Shame Earthy got crocked early on & was really struggling for a while.

Big Sincs was limping heavily at the end so with Dickie as well, I hope we're OK.

Naismith got away with it at the end but it would have been a travesty to lose.

I think Bird is doing really well as the 10, the biggest bit it, would we be better overall with him back in MF & Twine as the 10? 

[italian dave]

11 minutes ago, joe jordans teeth said:

He’s very good when we have the majority of possession,when it’s the opposite he’s always out of position and diving in to make up for it

Agree. I’m also starting to think that he has a problem the more tired he gets. All players get tired, but he doesn’t seem to manage it effectively. 

[Jose]

37 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Mehmeti wasn’t great when he came on, but the game had already swung in their favour by that point

I think that the game didn’t really go in their favour throughout the 90. Even when they scored it was 50/50. For the most part we were the better team. We just didn’t do as well as we could’ve on the ball. We will get better with time. 

[Bristol Oil Services]

Observation: well, more of a question: where will the clean sheets come from? Sigh ......

[Sleepy1968]

58 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Didn't think Williams was bad today being honest.

Think the issue is that Mehmeti coming on killed any movement up top.

He doesn't know how to find pockets like Twine, and he doesn't gamble as he should more when far post. 

We need a wide option on the left willing to take his man on and get a ball on. Mehmeti nor Twine can do so. Second Hirakawa is match fit Anis is dropped for me.

Twine having an off day was the better option. But hindsight  etc etc.

[MythikRobins]

2 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Observation: well, more of a question: where will the clean sheets come from? Sigh ......

Think we were unfortunate to not have one against Hull and could say we were unfortunate today. Look at how the goals and chances were created not at the result. 

I will say in 2/3 games so far this season I've thought the standard of officiating has been absolutely dreadful. Ref lost complete control in the 2nd half.

[JP Hampton]

  My observations (and I know it’s early days) are simply that the difference in watching City concede a goal now, is I have much more confidence they can still win and/or continue to challenge, than at any point last season. 
 

 

[Rob k]

1 hour ago, BITW said:

Not sure how it looked on sky but I thought Williams was class first half. Had him down as our best player. 

He was by far in the first half 

[Silvio Dante]

Just me or are the four choices here odd? Would have had Williams and Sykes in. Thought Tanner was very good going forward but Wright did get round him a few times, Bird as has been said good but not up to last week, Pring no arguments and Armstrong good but a bit wasteful. 
 

They’re probably in the top 8 of the 16 who got on the pitch today but I think MS/JW are in the conversation 

 

[Redrascal2]

For me a major worry if Dickie is out for any length of time. Naismith just not fast enough or good enough at this level to play at the back. Hope Atkinson/Dickie are fit soon. Surely Roberts is a better option then Naismith.

[formerly known as ivan]

8 minutes ago, MythikRobins said:

Think we were unfortunate to not have one against Hull and could say we were unfortunate today. Look at how the goals and chances were created not at the result. 

I will say in 2/3 games so far this season I've thought the standard of officiating has been absolutely dreadful. Ref lost complete control in the 2nd half.

Unfortunately saying we were unfortunate not to keep a clean sheet isn’t enough to keep a clean sheet. Doesn’t matter how it’s happened, fact is that’s 0 in 4 games.

As for the ref, don’t over look the fact that it was him giving Twine a very generous free kick that lead to our goal. Nothing he done had any direct impact on theirs.

[BITW]

3 minutes ago, Rob k said:

He was by far in the first half 

Yep. Seems he’s being over criticised so far this season. As though the penalty he gave away at Hull has left a sour taste with some

[BITW]

4 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Just me or are the four choices here odd? Would have had Williams and Sykes in. Thought Tanner was very good going forward but Wright did get round him a few times, Bird as has been said good but not up to last week, Pring no arguments and Armstrong good but a bit wasteful. 
 

They’re probably in the top 8 of the 16 who got on the pitch today but I think MS/JW are in the conversation 

 

Thought Armstrong was pretty poor today to put it kindly. Fally even worse when he came on. Both still in massive credit over the first four games though. 

[MythikRobins]

6 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Unfortunately saying we were unfortunate not to keep a clean sheet isn’t enough to keep a clean sheet. Doesn’t matter how it’s happened, fact is that’s 0 in 4 games.

As for the ref, don’t over look the fact that it was him giving Twine a very generous free kick that lead to our goal. Nothing he done had any direct impact on theirs.

That makes it even worse no? That's my point. The ref was dreadful for both teams there were a number of decisions he got wrong that went in our favour.

Yeah, but just saying no clean sheets in 4 games isn't exactly a brilliant observation, watching the matches its clear to see if we keep this up we'll keep a fair few this season. Although, without Dickie we'll have to see.

[1team]

I think there are times when you have to show your opponent how big your balls are and today at half time we should have upped our game, bring on Mayulu to play alongside Armstrong, take off Sykes and bring on Earthy and gone for the jugular. We meekly handed back control to Cov and could easily have lost. Good for half a game don't win much.

[Johnny Musicworks]

Entertaining game again and a tremendous first half where our midfield dominated with fast-paced movement. For me the jury is out on Mannings in-game management with our second-half’s highlighting where he gets out-manoeuvred.

As with the cup game their half-time team talk clearly worked better and they did get more of the game without really threatening until we lost Dickie. The substitutions totally disrupted our fluent style. We are now playing much more attractive football with some good upgrades on players. If we could do some further trading this week with any of Anis, Naismith, Wells and Cornick we could challenge for the play-offs assuming Manning learns from his mistakes.

 

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Didn’t see last weeks game as I was away. Views on this week from the comfort of the sofa…

Great first half, created good chances. Second half Coventry improved and we didn’t get hold of the ball enough to stop their threat.

Forwards need to be braver and gamble on that ball coming in. Three or four decent, dangerous crosses that no one got on the end of.

Clean sheets will be an issue an issue this season. 0 in 4 so far. Silly individual mistakes time and time again don’t help. More often than not we will need to score 2 or 3 to win games.

Hoping this lad from Oxford is up to the task as Williams clearly isn’t. Said it before, he’s been the main part of an uninspiring midfield for far too long.

Overall a point gained against a decent team, but frustrating given the dominant first half display.

It's odd how different people see games differently though Williams bar for nearly getting a red was good.

I thought Robins made the better subs again.

And I think given the backing this managers had that's two points dropped. Away draw would have been ok but home 3 points should be the target.

[formerly known as ivan]

12 minutes ago, MythikRobins said:

That makes it even worse no? That's my point. The ref was dreadful for both teams there were a number of decisions he got wrong that went in our favour.

Yeah, but just saying no clean sheets in 4 games isn't exactly a brilliant observation, watching the matches its clear to see if we keep this up we'll keep a fair few this season. Although, without Dickie we'll have to see.

It doesn’t need to be a brilliant observation, it’s fact!

The one thing that will guarantee you conceding goals is individual mistakes, and we are full of them! Not making a team work for a goal is criminal yet we do it week in week out.

[SecretSam]

Hmmmm...

- Sykes looks back on form

- Hope Dickie's injury isn't serious 

- Twine on the left a waste, but Bird V good in middle

- Bloody Palmer...

[Street]

1 hour ago, KegCity said:

Unless they picked up knocks I’ve got no idea why Bird and Twine were hooked.

Agree, and why naismith not roberts was strange to me. Anis did nothing when he came on.

[richwwtk]

1 hour ago, RedReg said:

You don't think Manning's substitutions threw away two points then?

I'd say it was more down to our heads dropping a bit after Dickie went off

[Davefevs]

Twine - plenty decent enough first half, playing half left / half inside.  That’s how Mehmeti played it last week too.

Williams - MOTM contender

Knight - played as a distributor today, which is not something I’ve seen too much previously.  Good game.

Tanner - helluva goal, almost got one earlier, shocking chest inside the box for their goal, kept Wright quiet.  MOTM contender.

Armstrong - first half threat, quieter second half

Mayulu - gonna have to get used to him playing off his first touch and sometimes it going awry

Sykes - good game, decent theat from his side of the pitch

+++++

Naismith - manager needs to appreciate that he’s susceptible to runs off his shoulder (as is Dickie tbh).  If you’re gonna play Pring high, that’s what risk you buy, especially when you see Cov starting to hit that channel.  As it stands the left half of our defence is our weak point the way we playing it, regardless of personnel imho.

[Charlie BCFC]

1 minute ago, SecretSam said:

Hmmmm...

- Sykes looks back on form

- Hope Dickie's injury isn't serious 

- Twine on the left a waste, but Bird V good in middle

- Bloody Palmer...

Don’t think he’ll care as he scored but I thought Palmer was really poor

[MythikRobins]

Just now, formerly known as ivan said:

It doesn’t need to be a brilliant observation, it’s fact!

The one thing that will guarantee you conceding goals is individual mistakes, and we are full of them! Not making a team work for a goal is criminal yet we do it week in week out.

I agree, but I think over the season if we continue like this we'll shut out a fair few teams. The freak incident from Williams against Hull likely won't happen again and today we did well to keep a very dangerous side who will certainly score a lot of goals this season to 1 shot on target. The Millwall game is the most worrying defensively as they created a fair few chances and scored a fair few but seeing this game today gave me confidence for it. 

Just for a comparison, we beat Coventry 1-0 in the fixture last season and that win gave me less confidence than today did, Coventry should've scored about 4!

[MythikRobins]

1 minute ago, Charlie BCFC said:

Don’t think he’ll care as he scored but I thought Palmer was really poor

He was. I think all of their subs were. Dasilva looked like a lost puppy!

But, especially bad for me today probably the worst player on the pitch was Rudoni, surprising I was worried about him coming in to todays game.

[TDarwall]

Last week & today was the Sykes of old, which is really encouraging.

[Charlie BCFC]

8 minutes ago, MythikRobins said:

He was. I think all of their subs were. Dasilva looked like a lost puppy!

But, especially bad for me today probably the worst player on the pitch was Rudoni, surprising I was worried about him coming in to todays game.

Rudoni very good in the cup game but I think we won the midfield battle today. Thought Mason-Clark and Thomas-Asante were lively replaced Simms and Sakamoto who were strangely quiet today

[steviestevieneville]

Subs didn’t come off today . Possible problem going forward for me is where max bird plays. I understand that he played in the 10 out of necessity for the first two league games. If he’s going to continue to play there then why did we sign George earthy ? Even when he came on he went right hand side & wells played in the 10 . There will be injuries & suspensions yes it’s a long season , neither knight or williams deserve to be left out  though. Interesting to see what manning does. 

[Northern Red]

13 minutes ago, MythikRobins said:

He was. I think all of their subs were. Dasilva looked like a lost puppy!

But, especially bad for me today probably the worst player on the pitch was Rudoni, surprising I was worried about him coming in to todays game.

Mason-Clark was good I thought.

[SecretSam]

Mayulu did over complicate, few little flicks that didn't work. Mehmeti anonymous, suspect Twine still not 100% match fit. Bird looks great. I was surprised how niggly Coventry were. Still, great away support, fair play.

[Robbored]

2 hours ago, Fuber said:

Didn't think Williams was bad today being honest.

Think the issue is that Mehmeti coming on killed any movement up top.

He doesn't know how to find pockets like Twine, and he doesn't gamble as he should more when far post. 

Spot on Fuber. 

[luke_bristol]

23 minutes ago, MythikRobins said:

He was. I think all of their subs were. Dasilva looked like a lost puppy!

But, especially bad for me today probably the worst player on the pitch was Rudoni, surprising I was worried about him coming in to todays game.

One of their subs scored, and another one provided the assist! If only ours did the same

 

I thought KP was decent; amazing what happens if you make an effort, there was always a player in there. He must have megged one of our players three or four times.

[MythikRobins]

4 minutes ago, luke_bristol said:

One of their subs scored, and another one provided the assist! If only ours did the same

 

I thought KP was decent; amazing what happens if you make an effort, there was always a player in there. He must have megged one of our players three or four times.

I think Tanner provided the assist actually haha, great finish but he was gifted acres of space and a bit of fortune with the way it bounced off Tanner.

[1960maaan]

31 minutes ago, 1team said:

I think there are times when you have to show your opponent how big your balls are and today at half time we should have upped our game, bring on Mayulu to play alongside Armstrong, take off Sykes and bring on Earthy and gone for the jugular. We meekly handed back control to Cov and could easily have lost. Good for half a game don't win much.

How would you get 2 up top , you have to lose a player somewhere.  

So do you take a MF off ? Bird and Williams were possibly MoM contenders and Knight worked his rocks off covering and harassing .
Twine ? He was doing well until he faded a little later on.

***************
Observations ;

I thought Bird was excellent again , Twine good and Williams back near his good form of last year. Knight worked tirelessly , Sykes good and I thought Armstrong had a good game with no help from the Ref. 
We do seem to drop a level when we start the second half, not sure if it would have been possible to press and control a game for the 90 like we did in the first half.
The Subs , well . I have criticised Manning before , but I'm not sure what I'd have done differently. 
Naismith for Dickie, in-forced . 
Earthy for Sykes , seemed sensible.
Mayulu for Armstong , obvious .
Wells for Bird , I get it with the options we had.
Mehmeti for Twine , it was him or Cornick so ......

Whether we sat off a little and let them get a foothold, or it was them always going to get a little control I don't know. They had more of the play 2nd half, but we still created a few decent chances and forced saves. We restricted them to one shot on target to our 7 over all but we should have killed them off. We needed the 2nd and didn't quite make it. 

Special mention to the Ref who I thought dug new levels of incompetence .

[RedRock]

Nobody has mentioned Max!

Not stand out today as he didn’t have much to do, but has developed into a really solid upper Championship keeper. A couple of season’s back I had my doubts about him in the Championship, but I think now he could actually take the step up with us if we achieved promotion.