Wanderers v Blackpool

[Ianmooreslovechild]

Much that I rate Jussi,he's never been brilliant at commanding the 6 yard box and he's not going to get any better at it as he gets older.Falling over and waving at the ref will only work occasionally.His defenders need to help out by being sharper and attacking the ball better.It's a real achilles heel at present and opponents know it.Ricketts and to a lesser degree Robinson can be exposed by a good diagonal and either the cross or resulting corner if its charged down invariably creates mayhem in our defense.

[TKIZ!]

For the second goal it looks like SKD pushes him over and the ball was beyond him at that point. But two very poor goals to concede from a defensive stand point.

On Rodrigo, I think he looks decent, he's got some nice touches, he can mess about with the ball a bit too much. He's nowhere near the finished article. I'm sure though that Owen is glad to have got him on loan.

[Worthy4England]

Got to say in a strange sort of way, I quite enjoyed that.

Thought we were well worth a lead in the first 20-25 mins, we created some reasonable chances and on a different day we could have been at least one up, before they scored.

Mavies v Holden? I thought Mavies had a good game, and finished off a great team goal, but when you look at the top Premiership tacklers in the midfield, from Opta stats, the top two are Holden (79) and Muamba (62). I think it did show in our play, that we were missing Holden.

Davo, I thought was pretty well marshalled by their defence, so when we went through the 25-75 minute mark, punting it towards his head was pretty fruitless. Elmo wasn't really at the party like last week, but still managed 7 shots and until that bit of magic from Petrov probably still looked a more likely candidate for a goal than Davo.

Petrov v Taylor? Another corker of a goal from Petrov, but at the minute, I still think it's working the right way around. Petrov comes off bench after 60 minutes hard work by Taylor - who I thought was ok - and bags something spectacular. Petrov isn't the player that's going to put 90 minutes hard graft in (that doesn't mean just tackling and being defensive), so not sure I'd change it at the minute.

Steinsson v Ricketts? Not sure - all of our current full backs (both sides) scare the crap out of me defensively.

So to WtW's question regarding our best November. Purely on points gained (bearing in mind we've had some November's with 3 Prem games in them) I have to be the bearer of bad news. Two seasons ago, when HWSNBN was in charge and won the MotM award, we bagged 12 points from 5 games, 3 of which were away (as opposed to our current 11 points from 5).

Did it feel like this November's haul? Nothing like.

[Hoboh]

Nice salvaged point that was!
Our defending considering according to a few website wonders contains a £15-20 mill central defender another built like a tank we concede a lot of headers. Two slow average fullbacks lets us down game after game, any team with a bit of pace gets us on the back foot. Midfield is ok, going forward we can score a few, the defence is our worry.

[RobbieSavagesLeg]

Nice salvaged point that was!
Our defending considering according to a few website wonders contains a £15-20 mill central defender another built like a tank we concede a lot of headers. Two slow average fullbacks lets us down game after game, any team with a bit of pace gets us on the back foot. Midfield is ok, going forward we can score a few, the defence is our worry.

Yea, what happened to that other 'Spanish Wunderkid' at left back, surely he has pace?

Left back in the changing room...


Got my coat on already.

[Worthy4England]

Nice salvaged point that was!
Our defending considering according to a few website wonders contains a £15-20 mill central defender another built like a tank we concede a lot of headers. Two slow average fullbacks lets us down game after game, any team with a bit of pace gets us on the back foot. Midfield is ok, going forward we can score a few, the defence is our worry.

Yea, what happened to that other 'Spanish Wunderkid' at left back, surely he has pace?

Left back in the changing room...


Got my coat on already.

We've sent him to a Swiss plastic surgery clinic, to make him look like Rodrego.

We're going to send the wrong one back and not tell 'em.

[TKIZ!]

Nice salvaged point that was!
Our defending considering according to a few website wonders contains a £15-20 mill central defender another built like a tank we concede a lot of headers. Two slow average fullbacks lets us down game after game, any team with a bit of pace gets us on the back foot. Midfield is ok, going forward we can score a few, the defence is our worry.

Yea, what happened to that other 'Spanish Wunderkid' at left back, surely he has pace?

Left back in the changing room...


Got my coat on already.

We've sent him to a Swiss plastic surgery clinic, to make him look like Rodrego.

We're going to send the wrong one back and not tell 'em.

The old switcheroo eh, Worthy?

[Lord Kangana]

FIO - why shouldn't we expect to beat Blackpool at home? Were you in remedial class or something? This is the Premier League, and more importantly they've proved themselves a decent side this season. We earned a fantastic point today against a team who have already caused more than their fair share of upsets, and are quite rightly going about earning their place in this division in a very professional manner.

Its days like today I wish I could have been at the Bok. Proper football day. Not footertainment. (TM KB).

I assume that you meant should by the way.

I believe that because of our recent performances and the way that we have been playing and "scoring goals for fun". If we had continued in that form we would and should have won. As it is we didn't, we underperformed for most of the game based on the high levels that that we have recently displayed.

Yes Blackpool have been playing well and they did that again yesterday but we didn't play with the same energy and commitment as we have been doing of late and we didn't play the passing game that has been so effective until it was almost too late. When we did in those last 20 mins we almost got a win from out of no where, if we had played like that from the start then we would probably have won. Particularly as the goals we gave away were in my humble opinion poor ones to concede.

No, it was a question.

We're fifth, the footballs great. We will have bad days. Treat yourself to a smile.

[Eire_Trotter]

Looked like a great game and delighted to get something from the game .

Two great goals from our point of view and our equaliser was very Barca-esque

Would of prefered(sp) the win but so would everyone. Considering we were missing Holden and Steinssen glosses over the result a bit. I'm not saying we would have won had these 2 played as I thought Mavies and Ricketts didnt do too bad and Mavies got a nice goal but with our strongest 11 just maybe it could have been better.

[marshall_42]

Didnt see the game but checked the beeb for updates while I was out and about. Testament to the new regime that at 0-2 and 30 mins left I hadn't given up and when we got 1 back I was sure we would throw the kitchen sink at them and get a point.

OC's white army!

[DJBlu]

It's really easy to say that we missed Holden. The fact was, Muamba didn't show up. It's not a reflection on the Mark Davies performance for me.

Granted not being as match fit as he might Davies didn't get as close to his midfielders as Holden did, but it was more that Fab wasn't as aggressive and determined in the middle of the park.

Other reason maybe that Holden and Fab have built up a good understanding and know each others game a bit better - certainly if you watch Holden's goal v Wolves Fab's the first one over to contragulate him.

This,

I think people are forgetting Muamba has become a better player over 14 games. They seem to know if I go for that then he'll cover me. Muamba needs someone he understands.

however ..

I'd like to have seen what the result would have been if it had been, Davies and Holden on the pitch from the off. We conceded 2 goals from corners. Hardly Muamba's fault. I for one admit he had an off day yesterday but I didn't feel worried that any goals would come from the centre..

[DJBlu]

Didnt see the game but checked the beeb for updates while I was out and about. Testament to the new regime that at 0-2 and 30 mins left I hadn't given up and when we got 1 back I was sure we would throw the kitchen sink at them and get a point.

OC's white army!

It was dissapointing we left it till the 89th minute, had it been 1 or 2 minutes earlier we would probably got all 3 points.

[thebish]

It's really easy to say that we missed Holden. The fact was, Muamba didn't show up. It's not a reflection on the Mark Davies performance for me.

Granted not being as match fit as he might Davies didn't get as close to his midfielders as Holden did, but it was more that Fab wasn't as aggressive and determined in the middle of the park.

Other reason maybe that Holden and Fab have built up a good understanding and know each others game a bit better - certainly if you watch Holden's goal v Wolves Fab's the first one over to contragulate him.

This,

I think people are forgetting Muamba has become a better player over 14 games. They seem to know if I go for that then he'll cover me. Muamba needs someone he understands.

however ..

I'd like to have seen what the result would have been if it had been, Davies and Holden on the pitch from the off. We conceded 2 goals from corners. Hardly Muamba's fault. I for one admit he had an off day yesterday but I didn't feel worried that any goals would come from the centre..

hmmm... not gonna argue about the Moo - BUT - the fact that they didn't score goals directly through the centre was more to do with DJCampbell leaving his shooting boots in his locker...

[BWFC_Insane]

We missed Holden in so many ways. Winning possession through the middle and crucially as I think it was Pru pointed out giving our fullbacks options for a pass.

[TANGODANCER]

I thought Lee was a bit off the pace yesterday and got pulled into the middle too much chasing shadows and consequently left his full back a bit exposed at times. Only to be expected that we can't dominate everything, but opposition wingers always seem to have plenty space to work with. I'd like Robinson to tackle his wingers earlier and at least make them beat him instead of letting himself get pushed back running off them. Happened too often yesterday. We're improving steadily in all areas right now and, hopefully will carry on doing it. Great to see what a fighting spirit we've regained under OC.

[Athers]

Just looking at the Guardian Chalkboards for the game..

Some things I found worth mentioning:

Shots:
Including blocked shots it was 32 vs 17 in shots!
Petrov had 7 himself in 30 minutes.

Passes:
Blackpool out-passed us 320 to 282
M.Davies made 31 of 37 including 1 assist.
Muamba made 17 of 27.
Allying with my point a few pages back, Jussi had the ball a massive 55 times, of which just:
1 passed short to Ricketts
2 passed short to Cahill
4 were thrown out to Moreno in the 30 minutes he was on.
The rest were played long and it was about 50:50 whether these were a Bolton or Blackpool head.

Tackling & Aerial duels:
Mark Davies won 8 of 12 (+ 1 interception)
Muamba won 1 of 3 (+ 3 interceptions)
Robinson lost 5 of 6 in our box, presumably these were against Taylor-Fletcher as they liked a diagonal to him.

[thebish]

the throws to moreno were very noticeable in the last period...

and - 32 shots... that's going some! maybe shooting practice this week???

that's a one-in-sixteen success rate!

Mavis's passing - impressive - and add to that a goal - and several surging runs that scared the crap out of Blackpool... and that adds up to a handy game...

this is, I suspect, what Coyle wants - for players to grab their chances in the team with both hands when they get the opportunity - thus giving him the selection headaches...

[bristol_Wanderer3]

the throws to moreno were very noticeable in the last period...

and - 32 shots... that's going some! maybe shooting practice this week???

that's a one-in-sixteen success rate!

Mavis's passing - impressive - and add to that a goal - and several surging runs that scared the crap out of Blackpool... and that adds up to a handy game...

this is, I suspect, what Coyle wants - for players to grab their chances in the team with both hands when they get the opportunity - thus giving him the selection headaches...

Damned impressive though isn't it - 32 shots.

He certainly has got a selection headache now. He will find it hard to leave Mavis out. It is a bit scary to go into the City game without Holden, but letting the guy who has come in keep his place is what OC has been doing recently (see Taylor and Ricketts).

[RobbieSavagesLeg]

It was dissapointing we left it till the 89th minute, had it been 1 or 2 minutes earlier we would probably got all 3 points.

There was a lot of time-wasting going on from the Tangerines towards the end, mainly the goalie but one sub took aaaages to come on.
Even the announcer fella commented:
"Clementine will be replaced by Satsuma.... Eventually"

[seanworth]

Can't fault them for time wasting. Just doing their job.