"Yes, we have no bananas!" Away to Barrow by the sea. Tues, Sept 3rd 7-45. -45

[DJBlu]

You're all more than welcome. Hopefully that's the fleas gone and we can push on.

[GhostoftheBok]

We're all now left hoping that no BWFC Tweet includes the term "ACL"...

[DJBlu]

We're all now left hoping that no BWFC Tweet includes the term "ACL"...

He was one of the brighter sparks in the first half so hoping it's nothing major, it did look like a twist though.

[GhostoftheBok]

I thought McAtee showed a lot of what he's about today.

Work rate, clever running and the bollocks to try something genuinely inventive.

Collins scored a quality goal and McAtee a scruffy one, but McAtee's required the brain to follow in and I liked it. Quality in its own way.

We need a player in the final third who will try things time and time again. Macca looks like he'll just keep going until it breaks for him.

Made lots of mistakes, but the further along he gets the less that will happen.

[GhostoftheBok]

He was one of the brighter sparks in the first half so hoping it's nothing major, it did look like a twist though.

I like him.

When we signed him my main worry was whether he could stay fit. We had to get minutes into him, but with that comes the risk of injury and here we are. Hopefully it's minor.

[GhostoftheBok]

Evatt doesn't sound too concerned about Desmond: "Might have jarred it and scared himself."

Hopefully that's the case.

[DJBlu]

Evatt doesn't sound too concerned about Desmond: "Might have jarred it and scared himself."

Hopefully that's the case.

That'll be 9 months then.

[Frank Drebin]

Plus points for me
Matete and Thomason link well together.
Matheson is plucky and competes well for his size.
Collins and Macatee got on the scoresheet.

Low point, conceding two again.

[Mar]

I thought McAtee showed a lot of what he's about today.

Work rate, clever running and the bollocks to try something genuinely inventive.

Think that's fair on McAtee. Seems like he's keen on putting himself quite a bit and making himself quite a nuisance, which we've wanted extra of, so that can only be a good thing.

Not too sure on his link up play with the others, hoping that will come with time. Don't think anyone's particularly shining at link up in the forward areas at the moment.

Collins scored a quality goal and McAtee a scruffy one, but McAtee's required the brain to follow in and I liked it. Quality in its own way.

Collins looks like he'll flourish once he get's his confidence firing. We know how good he can be. He got a goal and an assist today so that seems to have done him well.

We need a player in the final third who will try things time and time again. Macca looks like he'll just keep going until it breaks for him.

Made lots of mistakes, but the further along he gets the less that will happen.

At the moment, it's easy to see the missed opportunities. We've scored three today and yet could've had much more. We've had several balls into the opposition half and struggled to find our own player, not through the quality of the opposition but more from the decision making and carelessness from our own players. We've seen it on set pieces, offside traps, through balls, etc. Sometimes it just needs the players to relax and get out of their own heads.

[GhostoftheBok]

Sometimes it just needs the players to relax and get out of their own heads.

It does. However, it's fair for people to worry that a team like Huddersfield would have probably put 4-5 past us in that first half.

There are issues at the minute with how easy we are to counter on.

When the players bottle certain passes it doesn't just stop the attack, it puts the ball into an area where the loss of it leaves us wide open.

The lack of bravery leads to us conceding a chance and that leads to the lads being less brave. It's a vicious circle.

Risking mistakes in the right areas means we have cover when the ball is lost and the opposition have to play through us to attack.

They've got to get that.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I thought McAtee showed a lot of what he's about today.

Work rate, clever running and the bollocks to try something genuinely inventive.

Think that's fair on McAtee. Seems like he's keen on putting himself quite a bit and making himself quite a nuisance, which we've wanted extra of, so that can only be a good thing.

Not too sure on his link up play with the others, hoping that will come with time. Don't think anyone's particularly shining at link up in the forward areas at the moment.

That one where McAtee danced through but the keeper just about stopped him? I was angry he didn't square it to Collins.

However, on reflection I wonder if he didn't look across and see Collins was offside, because he ws offside an awful lot.

I hope those two can link up together behind a 9 - whoever that might be.

[GhostoftheBok]

That one where McAtee danced through but the keeper just about stopped him? I was angry he didn't square it to Collins.

However, on reflection I wonder if he didn't look across and see Collins was offside, because he ws offside an awful lot.

I hope those two can link up together behind a 9 - whoever that might be.

It's just a bad second touch. If he gets that right he can do what he wants with the ball - square or finish.

[truewhite15]

That one where McAtee danced through but the keeper just about stopped him? I was angry he didn't square it to Collins.

However, on reflection I wonder if he didn't look across and see Collins was offside, because he ws offside an awful lot.

I hope those two can link up together behind a 9 - whoever that might be.

It's just a bad second touch. If he gets that right he can do what he wants with the ball - square or finish.

My first thought was "greedy bastard, square the fecking thing!"

On replay, though, it's a pretty poor 2nd touch. Takes him too close to the keeper, and from there he's almost got no choice but to try and go round.

[Mar]

That one where McAtee danced through but the keeper just about stopped him? I was angry he didn't square it to Collins.

However, on reflection I wonder if he didn't look across and see Collins was offside, because he ws offside an awful lot.

I hope those two can link up together behind a 9 - whoever that might be.

It's just a bad second touch. If he gets that right he can do what he wants with the ball - square or finish.

My first thought was "greedy bastard, square the fecking thing!"

On replay, though, it's a pretty poor 2nd touch. Takes him too close to the keeper, and from there he's almost got no choice but to try and go round.

Definitely the bad touch. Decent 2nd touch and he's through, squaring the ball or side stepping the keeper would've been fine. 2nd touch stopped it, unfortunately.

[Worthy4England]

You're all more than welcome. Hopefully that's the fleas gone and we can push on.

I'm not convinced the fleas gone. I think my view of Shrewesbury was "workmanlike" and (for me, the better of the two). This one we're still looking plenty disjointed and contrived to concede 2. Some parts looked joined up, but the first half was shocking. It's like they bought a huge Lego bucket and gave them different house pictures, so occasionally someone shouts "there's something that looks like a wall, innit great."

Baxter also made a couple of decent saves prior to them scoring which are easy to put to the back if the mind.

The first, goal I was stunned at. Regulation free-kick, both Thommo and Schon get gubbed on them reacting quicker and they end up with one, arguably two strikers goal-side. Second one, bit unlucky because of the nature of the shot, but GT asleep and not aware he's last man. Even the "offside ref" hand up was a bit half hearted.

Our goals. Good reaction and strength from McAtee, coz he's about 6 yards from ball/man when it hits the post and got their first. Nice run from Matete to kick off the move, great strike from Collins for 2. Nice steer from Demps for the third, in what was a pretty crowded near post. Shit attempt at a save.

I've got it in the needed a win bucket rather than that was the win we needed. That level might not get us top 6, let alone up, against a team one div down, with what looked to be 7 changes from Saturday vs our 3, albeit we had JDC in an unfamiliar position.

Absolutely no shortage on the to do list, over the IB, my flea has not moved far. HMS hasn't left the dry dock.

[officer_dibble]

They also missed a free header from another Jackson free kick before we equalised. Should have been two down.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

You're all more than welcome. Hopefully that's the fleas gone and we can push on.

I'm not convinced the fleas gone. I think my view of Shrewesbury was "workmanlike" and [...]

I think DJ Blu was referring to the couch, which seemed very comfortable to me; thanks as ever.

(Not that I disagree with owt you've said thereafter. The Hiding To Nothing nearly got worse than it needed to be but i still say he needs a run of wins, and preferably not scrappy ones against Barrow B.)

[GhostoftheBok]

It wasn't an overall performance to inspire confidence.

What we did see was a load of lads running on fumes give a real push in the second half and win a game when they could have shrunk. They had excuses they could have rolled out, but they did the job in the second half.

It's a weak opponent and we did loads wrong, but they clearly give a shit and they managed to win it. When they got their heads right there was plenty of quality there.

We either show up in the league or we don't. I don't think that moved any needles in any direction. We'll all still be nervous about Huddersfield.

It was worse than Shrews overall (some bits were better). If we played like that against Huddersfield we'd lose 5-2.

[Worthy4England]

You're all more than welcome. Hopefully that's the fleas gone and we can push on.

I'm not convinced the fleas gone. I think my view of Shrewesbury was "workmanlike" and [...]

I think DJ Blu was referring to the couch, which seemed very comfortable to me; thanks as ever.

(Not that I disagree with owt you've said thereafter. The Hiding To Nothing nearly got worse than it needed to be but i still say he needs a run of wins, and preferably not scrappy ones against Barrow B.)

Ahh. My bad. Those fleas certainly not around.

I still say he needs a run of wins too! To me at the moment, it looks more like a rebuild of S1 than an evolution of S4. To go so far backwards with 8-9 of last years players in the starting XI, is a proper feat of modern engineering.

[GhostoftheBok]

i still say he needs a run of wins

If he doesn't win the next two at home he'll lose loads more fans and future home games will be really tough.

If you want to be negative it's 2 pressure games and then a potential demolition by Arsenal.

Positive take is two home games and the chance to close the gap on a rival, followed by a great away day.

After that it breaks into a nice block of 5 games to run into Birmingham away, plus a tune-up against Villa's U21s.

We have a chance to put all this in the rear view mirror in September and October, but Evatt and the team will need to lift the crowd at home vs Hudds. It'll be 5 minutes of support, but if the team is flat the stadium will be a graveyard after that.

Insane loves his "must wins" and usually I smile about it, but Huddersfield looks like it might make or break a manager.