A switch of the (h) Ips and we're gone..Home V THE Tractor Boys Sat 11th Mar. 3-0'clock

[DJBlu]

Another thing was Santos got absolutely murdered today. People keep saying he’s championship level yet whenever we play against a half decent side with a striker with some movement he looks an absolute lumbering liability.

If we want automatic promotion or to really compete at the top end of this league we need better. Watch the videos and clips and tell me otherwise. He’s simply not going to deliver consistently in a way you need.

FFS. Just don't.

[DJBlu]

Will Aimson wouldn't have helped today. We got caught on the counter and on a set piece, neither of which Aimson has helped with in the past.

The issue we had at the back was related to experience, sure; but just having more experience regardless of attributes wouldn't have solved much.

What we've needed in both the wide centre back positions recently has been on the ball and not off it. Toal has apparently forgotten how to pass and Mbete clearly has no faith in his ability to put a ball in.

Evatt's big mistake today was playing Jones next to Mbete. Mbete refuses to use his left foot to play angles and that means he passes to Jones, but he passes to Jones as though he's a left footer and then there's no ball forward. We got stuck down that side so many times. If Mbete is going to play that same pass outside then Williams had to start.

I don't mind Toal or Mbete and I'm not having a go, but they've been poor with the ball recently.

Williams looks absolute bobbins. I’d play myself ahead of his thus far. Mbete is in no way ready to be in our team. Neither is Shoretire. No point pretending otherwise it’s blindingly obvious.

Will Aimson vs Derby. Exactly the same outcome.

[BWFC_Insane]

Another thing was Santos got absolutely murdered today. People keep saying he’s championship level yet whenever we play against a half decent side with a striker with some movement he looks an absolute lumbering liability.

If we want automatic promotion or to really compete at the top end of this league we need better. Watch the videos and clips and tell me otherwise. He’s simply not going to deliver consistently in a way you need.

FFS. Just don't.

Watch the game. He was all over the show. He is not good enough if we want to be promoted. If you rewatch the highlights it’s obvious. You need far more solidity than he offers. Any movement and he’s done for. In the championship he’d be absolutely murdered. This is definitely his level and no higher.

[DJBlu]

I did watch it. Its one game. They all played poorly.

[officer_dibble]

Presumably to be in with a shout of wembley Johnston has to be back Friday. If he’s fit he starts IMO. What was up with John today?

[BWFC_Insane]

Will Aimson wouldn't have helped today. We got caught on the counter and on a set piece, neither of which Aimson has helped with in the past.

The issue we had at the back was related to experience, sure; but just having more experience regardless of attributes wouldn't have solved much.

What we've needed in both the wide centre back positions recently has been on the ball and not off it. Toal has apparently forgotten how to pass and Mbete clearly has no faith in his ability to put a ball in.

Evatt's big mistake today was playing Jones next to Mbete. Mbete refuses to use his left foot to play angles and that means he passes to Jones, but he passes to Jones as though he's a left footer and then there's no ball forward. We got stuck down that side so many times. If Mbete is going to play that same pass outside then Williams had to start.

I don't mind Toal or Mbete and I'm not having a go, but they've been poor with the ball recently.

Williams looks absolute bobbins. I’d play myself ahead of his thus far. Mbete is in no way ready to be in our team. Neither is Shoretire. No point pretending otherwise it’s blindingly obvious.

Will Aimson vs Derby. Exactly the same outcome.

Will Aimson away at Barnsley and then home to Plymouth……

[Bertie Wooster]

Well that was grim. Again. Men against boys today. Poor choices and poor decision making all over the park.

One positive note - Cameron Jerome did enough in his short appearance to suggest he'll be an upgrade on what we've had up top. Victor certainly isn't on current showing.

Bertie - give yer head a wobble lad. Evatts proven himself and I'm confident we'll finish in a higher position next season than this, which shows continual improvement in my book.

HG I really don't rate Evatt end of, it doesn't mean that I'm right (far from it) but that's my opinion.

[DJBlu]

Will Aimson wouldn't have helped today. We got caught on the counter and on a set piece, neither of which Aimson has helped with in the past.

The issue we had at the back was related to experience, sure; but just having more experience regardless of attributes wouldn't have solved much.

What we've needed in both the wide centre back positions recently has been on the ball and not off it. Toal has apparently forgotten how to pass and Mbete clearly has no faith in his ability to put a ball in.

Evatt's big mistake today was playing Jones next to Mbete. Mbete refuses to use his left foot to play angles and that means he passes to Jones, but he passes to Jones as though he's a left footer and then there's no ball forward. We got stuck down that side so many times. If Mbete is going to play that same pass outside then Williams had to start.

I don't mind Toal or Mbete and I'm not having a go, but they've been poor with the ball recently.

Williams looks absolute bobbins. I’d play myself ahead of his thus far. Mbete is in no way ready to be in our team. Neither is Shoretire. No point pretending otherwise it’s blindingly obvious.

Will Aimson vs Derby. Exactly the same outcome.

Will Aimson away at Barnsley and then home to Plymouth……

Santos away to Peterborough and home to MKD.....

Scored 3 goals too.

[GhostoftheBok]

Williams looks absolute bobbins. I’d play myself ahead of his thus far. Mbete is in no way ready to be in our team. Neither is Shoretire. No point pretending otherwise it’s blindingly obvious.

Meh. The issue isn't Mbete, or Williams, or Shoretire, or or or...it's and, and, and.

It's too many players with asterisks next to them at once due to injuries and other issues.

Any of those players could have been fine if we were bedding them into a settled side, but we're not.

The injuries up front have meant we've not been able to settle the new strikers in and given that they essentially were our January plan things have gone poorly.

Williams we knew would need time to get fit. Mbete was an emergency job. It was the front three who were supposed to show up ready to be well bedded-in by now and instead they've all been out. On that basis Shoretire has bounced around between 10 and 9 and not been able to form relationships with the players he's meant to be feeding. As you say, his inexperience comes into play there; but the reality is it's the fact every striker we signed got injured that has scuppered us.

[BWFC_Insane]

Will Aimson wouldn't have helped today. We got caught on the counter and on a set piece, neither of which Aimson has helped with in the past.

The issue we had at the back was related to experience, sure; but just having more experience regardless of attributes wouldn't have solved much.

What we've needed in both the wide centre back positions recently has been on the ball and not off it. Toal has apparently forgotten how to pass and Mbete clearly has no faith in his ability to put a ball in.

Evatt's big mistake today was playing Jones next to Mbete. Mbete refuses to use his left foot to play angles and that means he passes to Jones, but he passes to Jones as though he's a left footer and then there's no ball forward. We got stuck down that side so many times. If Mbete is going to play that same pass outside then Williams had to start.

I don't mind Toal or Mbete and I'm not having a go, but they've been poor with the ball recently.

Williams looks absolute bobbins. I’d play myself ahead of his thus far. Mbete is in no way ready to be in our team. Neither is Shoretire. No point pretending otherwise it’s blindingly obvious.

Will Aimson vs Derby. Exactly the same outcome.

Will Aimson away at Barnsley and then home to Plymouth……

Santos away to Peterborough and home to MKD.....

Scored 3 goals too.

We are talking about the best sides but that’s not the point with Aimson. His experience and ability against Ipswich today was needed and not Mbete who clearly is out of his depth.

[truewhite15]

George Johnston shall return, as will others, tough March, April might, just might surprise us all.

If we can't take the fact we've been beaten by a better side on the day then we don't deserve to enjoy the victories.

It's the hope that is kills the fans as this builds the expectation that goes beyond the abilities of the team.

We'll win some and lose some until the end of the season.

If we go up then hurrah, if not then we are on the way there. Just needs a little more patience.

This. Times a million.

[TANGODANCER]

If we can't take the fact we've been beaten by a better side on the day then we don't deserve to enjoy the victories.

About says it all. Injury, ref, weather were all the same for both, and if we'd scored the penalty and been level it might have ended differently. We didn't and it didn't. Que Sera.

[BWFC_Insane]

Williams looks absolute bobbins. I’d play myself ahead of his thus far. Mbete is in no way ready to be in our team. Neither is Shoretire. No point pretending otherwise it’s blindingly obvious.

Meh. The issue isn't Mbete, or Williams, or Shoretire, or or or...it's and, and, and.

It's too many players with asterisks next to them at once due to injuries and other issues.

Any of those players could have been fine if we were bedding them into a settled side, but we're not.

The injuries up front have meant we've not been able to settle the new strikers in and given that they essentially were our January plan things have gone poorly.

Williams we knew would need time to get fit. Mbete was an emergency job. It was the front three who were supposed to show up ready to be well bedded-in by now and instead they've all been out. On that basis Shoretire has bounced around between 10 and 9 and not been able to form relationships with the players he's meant to be feeding. As you say, his inexperience comes into play there; but the reality is it's the fact every striker we signed got injured that has scuppered us.

Well yes but none of them look very good either. Evatt has a problem where every so often a team he’s previously described as brilliant runs into a brick wall and then he has to reinvent it. I’ve said before that the problem is less that and more his judgement. He can’t keep assembling side having some good runs then struggling and ripping it up to start again. At some point he needs to get it right and build on it continually.

[Bertie Wooster]

Aye eventually he (Evatt) may get lucky, I can't recall any previous manager signing as many players as Evatt has 6 or 7 every window (he must have signed 20-30 in his time here ?), and most have been shite.

League 1 is improving so perhaps its not Evatt but a lack of serious investment from FV that we may need to get out if this league ?, i.e. the investment that Ipswich have had.

[GhostoftheBok]

Well yes but none of them look very good either.

They're fine. If everyone were up to speed Evatt would have plenty of tools to work with, but heads aren't right at the minute.

Mbete is the weakest of them, but you'd expect that from a snap deal. He'll be a good player one day, but his confidence is still questionable.

There's nothing wrong with Adebyejo, he's just being asked to feed on scraps. Everything we gave him today was to his weaker foot and when he dropped off he got horrible passes when better balls were on. The couple of decent passes (in terms of weight) he was given by Shoretire went on the opposite side to his run, but you expect that from players who've barely played together.

I don't think the issue is the individuals, it's the team. It was bumbling along alright, but we had to get the strikers going and when we couldn't the losses came heads went. I expected we'd get those forwards into action, but here we are.

I am confident we'll recover, but if we want more consistency we need that core of players settled and fit.

I completely agree we need some more experience and we need a couple with better mentalities to push us forward when things aren't working. Even if that means coming off the bench and flogging themselves to death for the cause.

You can't have consistency with an injury train wreck and a team that's bedding in an entirely new attack, though. It's not a thing.

Can we get this lot settled in in time to get top 6 and put up a fight in the play-offs? I *think so*. I've not been expecting to go up this season, but as I said before I think we need to show we can get our shit together before the summer and to do that we need to finish top 6 and be respectable against the top sides.

[GhostoftheBok]

On Randell, just as an aside. We're talking about a guy who has barely played in two years.

He's come into a very demanding style of football and picked up niggles as a result. I'm not sure it's entirely fair to write him off at this stage.

[BWFC_Insane]

Well yes but none of them look very good either.

They're fine. If everyone were up to speed Evatt would have plenty of tools to work with, but heads aren't right at the minute.

Mbete is the weakest of them, but you'd expect that from a snap deal. He'll be a good player one day, but his confidence is still questionable.

There's nothing wrong with Adebyejo, he's just being asked to feed on scraps. Everything we gave him today was to his weaker foot and when he dropped off he got horrible passes when better balls were on. The couple of decent passes (in terms of weight) he was given by Shoretire went on the opposite side to his run, but you expect that from players who've barely played together.

I don't think the issue is the individuals, it's the team. It was bumbling along alright, but we had to get the strikers going and when we couldn't the losses came heads went. I expected we'd get those forwards into action, but here we are.

I am confident we'll recover, but if we want more consistency we need that core of players settled and fit.

I completely agree we need some more experience and we need a couple with better mentalities to push us forward when things aren't working. Even if that means coming off the bench and flogging themselves to death for the cause.

You can't have consistency with an injury train wreck and a team that's bedding in an entirely new attack, though. It's not a thing.

Can we get this lot settled in in time to get top 6 and put up a fight in the play-offs? I *think so*. I've not been expecting to go up this season, but as I said before I think we need to show we can get our shit together before the summer and to do that we need to finish top 6 and be respectable against the top sides.

Aseboyejo he plays like a fridge,,,catchy and also true, I’ve never seen a player consistently hang onto the ball so long before giving it away.

I mean look these boys need time. But none of the January signings has as yet been an improvement. They’ve all looked worse. Shoretire who had two bright games was a huge mistake. We needed a player not a boy. Mbete the same.

And I think you can see that we carried these lads when flying but now we need the signings to be carrying us but they are not.

Jerome has to play more as we need his experience.

But it’s very concerning. We are dipping alarmingly. At the time when we have season defining massive games.

Someone said we usually perform when we need to in the big games. Well today we didn’t. Next week is another huge game then a cup final. Heaven forbid if we go into Wembley on the back of this sort of a run and Plymouth turn us over. At that point we will be outside the top 6 needing a massive run to get back there.

If we don’t make the play offs this season will be a massive failure and Evatt will need to answer why. From telling us we were in with a chance of automatics again his judgement looks poor or he’s just not able to keep a team going.

Injuries weren’t an issue and now we have the players back we look worse than we did previously. Not having that as an excuse at all.

[Bertie Wooster]

On Randell, just as an aside. We're talking about a guy who has barely played in two years.

He's come into a very demanding style of football and picked up niggles as a result. I'm not sure it's entirely fair to write him off at this stage.

So why sign him if he's not ready ?

[HMX]

Might be in the minority but I like Adeboyejo. Strong, holds up the ball well, decent touch and dribbling for a big guy. Pissed myself today when our co-commentator said something like “he looks slight but he’s a strong lad”. His bicep is bigger than both my thighs.

Like someone said earlier in the thread, Shoretire and Ade’s passing didn’t quite click - through lack of experience playing together? - so they were left pointing at each other after they lost the ball. And a few times Ade was asked to be quicker than he is. A ball over the top is better for Charles, not so much Ade IMO. Get Ade to hold the ball up, release it to a midfielder and slide it around the last defender for Charles who is on the defender’s shoulder.

[GhostoftheBok]

But it’s very concerning. We are dipping alarmingly. At the time when we have season defining massive games.

If we don’t make the play offs this season will be a massive failure and Evatt will need to answer why. From telling us we were in with a chance of automatics again his judgement looks poor or he’s just not able to keep a team going.

Injuries weren’t an issue and now we have the players back we look worse than we did previously. Not having that as an excuse at all.

Players don't magically get to full form having been out. The idea that "players are back" means everything should instantly work is a nonsense. You said yourself they need time and are then instantly ignoring that fact in the next paragraph.

We've been saying throughout that the injuries were likely to cause us issues and we'd have to do amazingly well to keep up with the top two. Well, we've not.

My concern, such as it is, is that run of 8 games at the end. If we beat Wednesday and win a final, woohoo. I've broader views, though. Don't get me wrong, I'm at both those games and I'll be a grumpy bastard if we get hammered - they don't define Evatt as a manager though.

Whilst this is a slump, the general trend remains up. If we do lose the next two then how we recover mentally will be the huge question mark for Evatt. I'm not sure losing during a tough run of games with a load of players not match fit is all that alarming. I mean, I hate it; but alarming? Again, meh. If we drop out of the top 6 then it does start to get more worrying. Sack him? No. 100% not. He would need a good start next season, however. If we dropped out of the play-offs and had a dodgy start to next season then plenty would want shot.