Wycombe in peace, Wycombe (A) 3pm 18/02/23

[Worthy4England]

*edited*

I deleted a load there.

Basically we just need to pick up some players who can stick the ball in the box with more quality in the next window. It's one of the areas we still need to fix. If we do that we'll start to win these kinds of games.

It’s not like I’ve not been saying that for months now is it? Bradley has a major weakness there. John has decent delivery of a sort. Jones has better than Bradley.

That’s hurt us all season. Bradley is our best outlet but his delivery and final ball is non league.

Chuck enough shit and some of it will start sticking.

Our shots on target are lower with him in the side though.

Although I don't think including the last two games is fair as they might be outliers.

You could apply this to probably 90% of our team, that have been pub league. There are very few that Insano hasn't had in the "not good enough category" for a number of games...

Then we have hindsight - we've just come through a transfer window, where by the day, the targets we needed shifted. Not many of them were RWB is an absolute must, until we'd done most of our other business. And that's where I have Bradley. Could we use a better Bradley - yes. But he's only one WB and we went out and got one on the other side, which I think many might agree at the time, was a more pressing problem, as many believed John might be leaving the building. It's interesting in the collection of WB's Insano cites, Williams doesn't even make the list. Had he hit the ground running, and showed he can put decent balls in, we'd be looking less at Bradley - he hasn't and we're not. Shola is good in some games better marshalled in others (like yesterday).

Our performance yesterday wasn't down to one position lacking, we were second best from front to back. Gethin didn't play well for 45, gave the ball away too many times. John added impetus. I think all our crosses came from Bradley yesterday with not one from Geth/Dec. Same for key passes diddly squat from left 80% from the right. So sure, Bradley's going to be the focus. But there are larger problems on the left for me.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It's not just delivery though. Sometimes it requires a speculative effort and someone having a crack, rather than us shifting it out wide trying to walk it or pass it in.

As per Dempsey v Cheltenham.

[Worthy4England]

It's not just delivery though. Sometimes it requires a speculative effort and someone having a crack, rather than us shifting it out wide trying to walk it or pass it in.

As per Dempsey v Cheltenham.

True - but in the context of the game, Geth walloping the bar is probably the difference between point and no points.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It's not just delivery though. Sometimes it requires a speculative effort and someone having a crack, rather than us shifting it out wide trying to walk it or pass it in.

As per Dempsey v Cheltenham.

True - but in the context of the game, Geth walloping the bar is probably the difference between point and no points.

Aye. It's not quite "twas ever thus" - we had a lot of comebacks in 2022 - but much of Evatt's reign has been similar to much of Parkinson's in that we're highly likely to win if we score first - but somewhat unlikely to win if we go behind. Against knobbly bastards like Wycombe, who combine dangerous players with wily experience and a shameless happiness to dark-arts it, the latter half's perhaps truer than ever.

[BWFC_Insane]

*edited*

I deleted a load there.

Basically we just need to pick up some players who can stick the ball in the box with more quality in the next window. It's one of the areas we still need to fix. If we do that we'll start to win these kinds of games.

It’s not like I’ve not been saying that for months now is it? Bradley has a major weakness there. John has decent delivery of a sort. Jones has better than Bradley.

That’s hurt us all season. Bradley is our best outlet but his delivery and final ball is non league.

Chuck enough shit and some of it will start sticking.

Our shots on target are lower with him in the side though.

Although I don't think including the last two games is fair as they might be outliers.

You could apply this to probably 90% of our team, that have been pub league. There are very few that Insano hasn't had in the "not good enough category" for a number of games...

Then we have hindsight - we've just come through a transfer window, where by the day, the targets we needed shifted. Not many of them were RWB is an absolute must, until we'd done most of our other business. And that's where I have Bradley. Could we use a better Bradley - yes. But he's only one WB and we went out and got one on the other side, which I think many might agree at the time, was a more pressing problem, as many believed John might be leaving the building. It's interesting in the collection of WB's Insano cites, Williams doesn't even make the list. Had he hit the ground running, and showed he can put decent balls in, we'd be looking less at Bradley - he hasn't and we're not. Shola is good in some games better marshalled in others (like yesterday).

Our performance yesterday wasn't down to one position lacking, we were second best from front to back. Gethin didn't play well for 45, gave the ball away too many times. John added impetus. I think all our crosses came from Bradley yesterday with not one from Geth/Dec. Same for key passes diddly squat from left 80% from the right. So sure, Bradley's going to be the focus. But there are larger problems on the left for me.

Again though my point isn’t that Bradley is the problem it’s that in the system and how we play when you get a team like Wycombe our ability to open them up really comes down to some quality from the wide areas into the box. Since that is basically our wing backs we know that is an area we’ve struggled with all season.

It’s not to say Bradley is a bad player. He’s clearly not. He’s just not in those games very likely to unlock a defence with a quality delivery.

And yesterday we had right footed Jones down the left too. Which doesn’t help our chances of creating a piece of quality that leads to a goal from those areas.

I agree we didn’t play brilliantly but Wycombe are always going to stop teams like us doing that. I suspect that our ability to win those games comes down purely to our ability to create in the periods of games we have pressure and that comes down to that quality ball.

If we look back to say a not too disimilar side in Todd’s champions for example we had serious quality into the box from the likes of Sheridan, Sellars, Thommo, Johansen. Teams that stopped us playing as we did still had to worry about a whole range of threats we could deliver into the box to score in a tight and scrappy game. Yes we had two quality strikers too but….

If you contrast that to now if you block us from playing are you overly concerned about our delivery into the box with Bradley and John or Jones? Certainly I’d take defending that as Wycombe over trying to go toe to toe with us.

That’s my point. It’s not that ‘oh Bradley should be dropped’. More that all season and not just Bradley the system and how we play means we are struggling to open these teams up consistently.

[The_Gun]

It might be all of those things but it’s a Wembley trip and a trophy we could win. It may be the only one of those we ever have in our lifetimes. I think considering we are in essence now a lower league club living off a lower league income and certainly not some billy big bollocks team dreaming of the premiership we have to deal with what we are.

I give up, in all the history of BWFC you seriously think that we should put 'Papa Johns Trophy 2023 finalists or winners' up there ? we may as well put blue peter badge winners.

You’re clearly a passionate Bolton fan, Bertie, and you’re entitled to your opinion, but I really don’t get this attitude.

How can anyone who’s followed our club for the last few years not be excited about the chance to go to Wembley and lift a trophy? Yeah it’s not the most prestigious competition, but Pompey and Sunderland took it seriously enough to sell out Wembley in 2019, and they’re both recent Prem clubs.

More than anything, it would be a nice way to celebrate how far the club has come since teetering on the brink. A chance for our fans to come together and mark the progress we’re making as a group.

Don’t underestimate the potential psychological boost it could also give the players. Most of our players won’t have ever won a senior trophy, so being able to lift a cup at Wembley I’m sure would engender tremendous confidence.

[TANGODANCER]

Ignoring Papa John for a minute:

Admittedly not the best informed physically, I do have enough basic football knowledge to know that the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim is sound. . Thus said, I have to wonder at Mr Evatt's Ainsley Harriots style mix and match recipe is a bit overdone right now. Six subs after two 5-0 wins has an air of uncertainty and desperation about it.

Wycombe soon found and exploited our Achilles heel in Shola's eagerness to play the high-speed stuff and it seemed obvious fairly soon that the ref wasn't buying his antics. That surely was the time to sub, not much later in the game when the damage was done, especially being a goal down almost right on half time. Even Kachunga would have seemed more of a threat than Shola, and we had a more muscular option in a couple of places. I can't offer a cert solution,, but telling right from wrong doesn't necessarily need Nostradamus to predict. A loss was always about to occur soon, as you can't win em all in even the highest echelons of football, but our aspirations of progress took a halt on a not particularly good day around us.

Okay, it isn't the end of the world; we lost nothing, but neither did we gain. Fortune favours the brave, and Mr Evatt can't influence bad refereeing, but the answer is surely get in front and stay there rather than try to re-enact the Alamo. We won't do it by casting the runes. Goals that count has always been the only answer.

Amen..

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Admittedly not the best informed physically, I do have enough basic football knowledge to know that the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim is sound. . Thus said, I have to wonder at Mr Evatt's Ainsley Harriots style mix and match recipe is a bit overdone right now. Six subs after two 5-0 wins has an air of uncertainty and desperation about it.

Or a squad full of options. If we're losing, I'd rather he make changes than sit on his hands.

[Worthy4England]

*edited*

I deleted a load there.

Basically we just need to pick up some players who can stick the ball in the box with more quality in the next window. It's one of the areas we still need to fix. If we do that we'll start to win these kinds of games.

It’s not like I’ve not been saying that for months now is it? Bradley has a major weakness there. John has decent delivery of a sort. Jones has better than Bradley.

That’s hurt us all season. Bradley is our best outlet but his delivery and final ball is non league.

Chuck enough shit and some of it will start sticking.

Our shots on target are lower with him in the side though.

Although I don't think including the last two games is fair as they might be outliers.

You could apply this to probably 90% of our team, that have been pub league. There are very few that Insano hasn't had in the "not good enough category" for a number of games...

Then we have hindsight - we've just come through a transfer window, where by the day, the targets we needed shifted. Not many of them were RWB is an absolute must, until we'd done most of our other business. And that's where I have Bradley. Could we use a better Bradley - yes. But he's only one WB and we went out and got one on the other side, which I think many might agree at the time, was a more pressing problem, as many believed John might be leaving the building. It's interesting in the collection of WB's Insano cites, Williams doesn't even make the list. Had he hit the ground running, and showed he can put decent balls in, we'd be looking less at Bradley - he hasn't and we're not. Shola is good in some games better marshalled in others (like yesterday).

Our performance yesterday wasn't down to one position lacking, we were second best from front to back. Gethin didn't play well for 45, gave the ball away too many times. John added impetus. I think all our crosses came from Bradley yesterday with not one from Geth/Dec. Same for key passes diddly squat from left 80% from the right. So sure, Bradley's going to be the focus. But there are larger problems on the left for me.

Again though my point isn’t that Bradley is the problem it’s that in the system and how we play when you get a team like Wycombe our ability to open them up really comes down to some quality from the wide areas into the box. Since that is basically our wing backs we know that is an area we’ve struggled with all season.

It’s not to say Bradley is a bad player. He’s clearly not. He’s just not in those games very likely to unlock a defence with a quality delivery.

And yesterday we had right footed Jones down the left too. Which doesn’t help our chances of creating a piece of quality that leads to a goal from those areas.

I agree we didn’t play brilliantly but Wycombe are always going to stop teams like us doing that. I suspect that our ability to win those games comes down purely to our ability to create in the periods of games we have pressure and that comes down to that quality ball.

If we look back to say a not too disimilar side in Todd’s champions for example we had serious quality into the box from the likes of Sheridan, Sellars, Thommo, Johansen. Teams that stopped us playing as we did still had to worry about a whole range of threats we could deliver into the box to score in a tight and scrappy game. Yes we had two quality strikers too but….

If you contrast that to now if you block us from playing are you overly concerned about our delivery into the box with Bradley and John or Jones? Certainly I’d take defending that as Wycombe over trying to go toe to toe with us.

That’s my point. It’s not that ‘oh Bradley should be dropped’. More that all season and not just Bradley the system and how we play means we are struggling to open these teams up consistently.

Yeah - I agree mate, in part - we'd love to open up defences every attack. Whatever system you play, you're going to need to be able to open teams up. With WB's you're expecting that they will.

If you look back at yesterday's game. He puts it on a plate after 2 minutes - it's a great pull back to the right place. Unfortunately the person on the end of it is Santos and it lands in Watford. 16 minutes, another good pull back makes it's way to Jones, he contrives to hit the bar...That was more than plenty in the first 15 minutes for us to have had 2 goals on a different day. They're not poor balls nor half chances - and in the final analysis 2 goals would have done us.

[TANGODANCER]

Admittedly not the best informed physically, I do have enough basic football knowledge to know that the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim is sound. . Thus said, I have to wonder at Mr Evatt's Ainsley Harriots style mix and match recipe is a bit overdone right now. Six subs after two 5-0 wins has an air of uncertainty and desperation about it.

Or a squad full of options. If we're losing, I'd rather he make changes than sit on his hands.

He did. We still lost.

[BWFC_Insane]

Worthy - the issue with Bradley for me is he doesn’t trust his quality on the cross so always looks for the pull back. It leaves whoever is on the end of it still a bit to do.

And also teams become aware of it.

If you contrast with Jones at Peterborough beats his man in the air one touch then a quality delivery that Charles can’t miss from.
Bradley is a bit weaker on those areas than is ideal but in the squad generally we lack wing backs who have consistent quality on delivery especially in tight games without the spaces behind.

[Worthy4England]

^^ A point, I'm pretty sure I've echoed too. The pull back to the apex. It feels to me like that's what they're being directed to do. Has done all season. Do you think those 2 early pull backs in the first 16 mins, should have got us one or two?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Admittedly not the best informed physically, I do have enough basic football knowledge to know that the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim is sound. . Thus said, I have to wonder at Mr Evatt's Ainsley Harriots style mix and match recipe is a bit overdone right now. Six subs after two 5-0 wins has an air of uncertainty and desperation about it.

Or a squad full of options. If we're losing, I'd rather he make changes than sit on his hands.

He did. We still lost.

So we did. But we tried to change things. Better than not doing, I'd say.

[BWFC_Insane]

Good write up from Iles. Lots of focus on Wednesday. He’s been right in his assessment. It’s all being set up for Accy to ‘do us’ Wednesday and that won’t be pretty.

https://t.co/E9loAXn0Yx

[sonicthewhite]

Bad day at the office but we move on to the next one.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Bad day at the office but we move on to the next one.

Personally I agree, but I predict a few days' excited anticipation among symphorophiles.

[nicholaldo]

A new word has just entered my lexicon.

[GhostoftheBok]

It’s not like I’ve not been saying that for months now is it? Bradley has a major weakness there. John has decent delivery of a sort. Jones has better than Bradley.

That’s hurt us all season. Bradley is our best outlet but his delivery and final ball is non league.

There's more than one way to crack an egg, Insane.

Bradley created chances yesterday, by running the ball into the box. We need that. We also need delivery from angles. Bradley doesn't have to do it all himself.

Evatt has intentionally added more dribblers to the squad to try and get the ball into the box so it can then be played in.

We also made a move for Devine, because he has that delivery in him.

[GhostoftheBok]

It's not just delivery though. Sometimes it requires a speculative effort and someone having a crack, rather than us shifting it out wide trying to walk it or pass it in.

As per Dempsey v Cheltenham.

And as players tried for us yesterday. They just missed.

[BWFC_Insane]

It’s not like I’ve not been saying that for months now is it? Bradley has a major weakness there. John has decent delivery of a sort. Jones has better than Bradley.

That’s hurt us all season. Bradley is our best outlet but his delivery and final ball is non league.

There's more than one way to crack an egg, Insane.

Bradley created chances yesterday, by running the ball into the box. We need that. We also need delivery from angles. Bradley doesn't have to do it all himself.

Evatt has intentionally added more dribblers to the squad to try and get the ball into the box so it can then be played in.

We also made a move for Devine, because he has that delivery in him.

Oh yep we need a balance. It’s just this system puts pressure on wing backs to have that delivery. Bradley will get better there. John isn’t bad. I’d say games like yesterday show the difference that real quality delivery from a variety of areas and positions out wide would make. We can’t always get round the back and both John and Bradley prefer that. Sometimes you need to engineer the space and whip a cross in round the defender and that’s something we definitely struggle with. It’s part system. Few wing backs at our level can do everything.