Meanwhile, Bristol come a roving...Home at the Uninbol, Friday night 7-45 2 Dec

[TANGODANCER]

Conceding soft goals in not a new thing for us. We need to sort that as much as scoring. If we can defend well for 80 minutes why not ninety? The Sherpa jokes are too near reality to be funny and we need to be the ones making footprints in the snow, not following them. We need a bit of fine tuning is all.

[BWFC_Insane]

We conceded a very poor goal but it was only 1. Defensively we have the weakness of being unable to not make mistakes or switch off.

But that becomes a bigger problem when we lack any threat the other end. Our inability to break teams down is a problem we see week in week out. Evatt needs to address it. There are two main options. Either find someone who converts a higher percentage of chances and half chances or more likely find some delivery from somewhere. Our end product, final delivery is the worst I can remember. Bradley is just woeful in those areas. And that’s not overstating it either. Against teams who are all doing the same thing we need to improve our final ball into the box drastically. We also need someone in midfield who can do something once teams close down that option out wide. We are horribly predictable in midfield at times. The strikers are all misfiring and it makes it harder. We created little but Kachunga and Charles both missed chances you really need to be scoring.

[Worthy4England]

To Harry's point, it all feels a bit like we've gone backwards.

But, I guess that depends on where you're "gone backwards" starting point is. It doesn't feel as fluid in attack as we've seen (for a few games now) and it's always tricky when so many games have been winning/drawing from behind, in the last few minutes. That said, I had a quick peek at the table this time last year. We're 4 points behind where Sunderland were in 5th on the same number of games. That's got me thinking a bit (a dangerous place). The problem last night wasn't really that we looked like getting beat in a game that was 50/50. It didn't really feel like Bristol were knocking at the door and it did feel like we were mainly going forward not backwards (even for a fair chunk of the first half).

But during most of that time, it never felt like we were just a whisker away from an actual goal. There might be better examples, but the only two times I felt we might have genuinely threatened were when Kachunga went through and the keeper saved in the first half and when Charles broke the line and shot from a tight angle in the second (and that one, I think with hindsight would have been better to pull back)

Bradley is not the problem. As with Dibs comment, he was our best player for me, overall last night (without actually creating anything directly - still had him better than the others over the 90). Whilst we might want for better (and could certainly use better in the final third), he's probably at the minute a decent L1 RWB. I'm not sat at games looking at everyone else's RWB and telling myself I'd swap them in a heartbeat. That's not to say by any stretch there is no-one better - just that he's probably what you'd expect from a L1 WB.

We made fewer passes last night and the last two games we've had 15 shots in oppos box at home have bagged us 3 goals on both occasions (Charlton and Wycombe).

I'm mystified at the recent "last 20's" - it's like the nothing to lose, so let's now batter them switch gets hit - and often, we do bombard in that last 10-20 minutes. We figured JDB/Dapo/Sadlier starting would be the perfect counter to non-scoring Dion/Kacha etc. It wasn't - on last night's showing (with 2 of the three in the starting line-up).

It feels like we're playing more controlled and within ourselves in the first halves. I'd be happier with a batter them at the front end and then take a blow, than constrain our efforts in the first half whilst we ship a goal or two, then hope it works after 70 mins...

It doesn't feel irrepairable, but some of IE's promised advert about the way to play football, is clearly missing its final third at the moment.

[BWFC_Insane]

Agree that it’s less the overall territory or possession in games and more the fact that we don’t seem about to score far too often. It feels like we are miles away from a goal more than it does ‘we are about to score’.

And on Bradley - I fully agree he’s a very good player and wing back. I don’t think we will get better. The problem is in our system with nothing down the left he’s the only outlet and in an attacking sense isn’t good enough to carry a team with that level of responsibility. So we need a better option on the left and in the middle. That’s my point. If he’s our only real creative option he’s not good enough. But that he clearly shouldn’t be that and we need to balance the team far better.

[Worthy4England]

Agreed. On the Morley thing, what first impressed me about him was his dead ball delivery when he first came in - we actually looked like we might do something with it. Last night, he couldn't measure a dead ball delivery within about 5 yards of where it needed to be.

[BWFC_Insane]

Agreed. On the Morley thing, what first impressed me about him was his dead ball delivery when he first came in - we actually looked like we might do something with it. Last night, he couldn't measure a dead ball delivery within about 5 yards of where it needed to be.

I think he had a decent game but his set pieces were so bad.

With set pieces and a team like us who are clearly one of if not the worst at them why have all the variations? We haven’t mastered any of them. Why not do the Allardyce thing of just continually putting the ball between six yard box and penalty spot in the middle of the goal. I’d say if we do that and work on that from every corner and free kick in suitable areas and make our runs accordingly we are far far more likely to score a goal than we are from the assorted mix of complex far and near post set plays that we execute poorly. Let alone short corners.

Put the ball into the Pomo every time and if we get good at that surely something will happen.

[officer_dibble]

I think Morley generally has gone backwards this season. But yeah the set price thing, it’s embarrassing we don’t do more with them. And it makes it even easier for opposition teams to ‘shithouse’ cos they can foul or be fouled in safe knowledge we won’t do owt (last nights goal of course coming from a corner ).

Oh and the falling out with Dec John has been a bigger issue than has generally been made out of by Iles et al. He’s such a miss from second half of last season.

[Harry Genshaw]

Is DSB OK? Its unusual not to have his two pennorth on here. Hopefully he's working on some big stat/spreadsheet thing.

[DJBlu]

Is DSB OK? Its unusual not to have his two pennorth on here. Hopefully he's working on some big stat/spreadsheet thing.

I think he's on holiday or working on the West Coast of America.

[Harry Genshaw]

Is DSB OK? Its unusual not to have his two pennorth on here. Hopefully he's working on some big stat/spreadsheet thing.

I think he's on holiday or working on the West Coast of America.

Ah right. Bloody part timers

[BWFC_Insane]

I think Morley generally has gone backwards this season. But yeah the set price thing, it’s embarrassing we don’t do more with them. And it makes it even easier for opposition teams to ‘shithouse’ cos they can foul or be fouled in safe knowledge we won’t do owt (last nights goal of course coming from a corner ).

Oh and the falling out with Dec John has been a bigger issue than has generally been made out of by Iles et al. He’s such a miss from second half of last season.

Not sure Morley is much different to last season. His lack of engine and pace means he will always be a lower league one level of player. He has other attributes in abundance but I don’t think he will develop the hard running and mobility side of his game now and that means you aren’t going to progress up the ladder nowadays.

[TANGODANCER]

And we're still in fifth slot...

[BWFC_Insane]

Watching the Wycombe Portsmouth game and Wycombe beating Portsmouth is useful for us.

Another observation is that Mehmeti is exactly the sort of attacking midfield player we need. End product, workrate and real quality.

[Prufrock]

Can he play wing back?

[BWFC_Insane]

Can he play wing back?

We have no attacking threat through middle of midfield either.

[Worthy4England]

Can he play wing back?

We could probably adapt him...