Pints, Punts and Points. Home v Cambridge United, Easter Monday 3-0'clock

[Prufrock]

They all had much of a muchness of inexperience. Of the four Traf was the most experienced with a full 11 league games, which hadn't gone well.

They were going to be a gamble, and safe to say neither Mbete or Shoretire have paid off. But I get why they took the risk. Traf and Bradley have been excellent.

Shoretire has flashes but I don't know what he is in this system, certainly not an 8. And Mbete just isn't very good. 19 is very young for a centre back, but he can't kick straight. He's low on confidence and going to have to play so hopefully he improves, but yeesh he was awful again today.

I thought the manager picked the wrong team, that first half was bad. Changes made a difference and he were on top and I think deserved to go in front. But those second subs baffled me. We were about to do them at 0-0, fine, risky but you roll the dice. I don't get why he didn't hold off for five minutes after we went in front. We just emptied out the midfield. Tbf, we should have scored a second and put it to bed, but Kacha at 10 dragged Charles and Nlundlu back to and then a set piece again.

V frustrating, but I'd still rather be us then Derby, and probably Peterborough too. Long way to go. Need to bounce back.

[Prufrock]

Nlundlu looked good though. Another like Sheehan who's needed some time after injury but today I could at least see for the first time what we've seen in him. Only a flash, but a start.

[Mar]

Evatts got a job keeping the entire squad happy. I'm sure the Friday to Monday fixture presented ample opportunity for rotation and this would have been planned in ahead of time.

The decision to rotate as many as he did is open to criticism but I think it's a fair choice. It wasn't as cohesive as we would like but I don't think that's down to one person but more a catalogue of mistakes, arguably brought about by as few minutes as they've had. More game time may lead to more relaxed and more impact. As it stands there was an element of panic, particularly Shoretire who seemed to just need to relax somewhat.

As for critiques around the signing of Mbete and Shoretire, these are decent prospects who are still learning. We were blessed with Dapo somewhat and can't hold the same expectation for everyone. Mbete was signed to cover Aimson who was our fourth choice CB who had come good at the tail end of his contract.

He's been a decent signing so far. He's understood our game plan and doesn't fill me with sheer panic. Sure he's not at the level of the rest yet but that may come with time.

Either way, today's result, despite not ideal is very close to a win. Frustrating but not ultimately devastating towards our playoff hopes.

Plenty of games left.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt is talking about having to rush Toal and Santos back and risk their injuries. Now that doesn’t strike me as a manager who believes in the wider squad and again goes back to Mbete being a mistake. He will learn from this of course. But when we sold Aimson we needed a more like for like replacement.

[TANGODANCER]

I always liked, and saw Sadlier as a good player for us. He had the ability to make a difference. How is he doing at Orient?

[Worthy4England]

Evatt is talking about having to rush Toal and Santos back and risk their injuries. Now that doesn’t strike me as a manager who believes in the wider squad and again goes back to Mbete being a mistake. He will learn from this of course. But when we sold Aimson we needed a more like for like replacement.

Don't disagree with the basic premise around like for like replacement. But what I would say is we have no notion who might have been available (think Mbete is only end of season loan), what sort of dosh we had left to get like for like replacement. etc. And with everyone fit, that player could become 5th of 5 picks (or two of Johnston, Santos, Toal and Geth are benchwarming).

I'd be quite surprised if Evatt actually thought he was getting the like for like replacement. Either way whilst neither Shortire nor Mbete were in any way good yesterday, neither were the only problems by a long chalk. Who picked up Mr Free Header from the FK? Don't think he was Mbete's and nor was the one a few minutes previous when Aaron got robbed on the byline...

[Mar]

Evatt is talking about having to rush Toal and Santos back and risk their injuries. Now that doesn’t strike me as a manager who believes in the wider squad and again goes back to Mbete being a mistake. He will learn from this of course. But when we sold Aimson we needed a more like for like replacement.

He doesn't believe in the wider squad? He's the one that picked the wider squad for that game yesterday which suggests he has faith in the wider squad. Even if Mbete wasn't in the first team selection I still believe he would've picked him in defence for that match.

It doesn't go back to Mbete being a mistake, thats you trying to fit Evatt's wording to suit your narrative.

I'm fairly certain Evatt will do the same thing again. He's done this in the past, rotate the squad for games close together and i'm sure he'll do it again.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt is talking about having to rush Toal and Santos back and risk their injuries. Now that doesn’t strike me as a manager who believes in the wider squad and again goes back to Mbete being a mistake. He will learn from this of course. But when we sold Aimson we needed a more like for like replacement.

He doesn't believe in the wider squad? He's the one that picked the wider squad for that game yesterday which suggests he has faith in the wider squad. Even if Mbete wasn't in the first team selection I still believe he would've picked him in defence for that match.

It doesn't go back to Mbete being a mistake, thats you trying to fit Evatt's wording to suit your narrative.

I'm fairly certain Evatt will do the same thing again. He's done this in the past, rotate the squad for games close together and i'm sure he'll do it again.

You can hear it in his interviews - he obviously wouldn’t be playing Mbete if he could avoid it now. If he had belief in this back three he’d not be talking openly about bringing players back half fit.

His post match interview screamed of a manager who doesn’t really believe in what he’s got right now.

And this is the thing…the rotation yesterday was probably too much on top of missing those players. But migh have got away with it if we had them. I mean but for Mbete’s error and then an inability to defend the free kick we’d have won the game, we’d have been very lucky to but still.

However one can see the problems we have now with this back three and teams will exploit them.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt is talking about having to rush Toal and Santos back and risk their injuries. Now that doesn’t strike me as a manager who believes in the wider squad and again goes back to Mbete being a mistake. He will learn from this of course. But when we sold Aimson we needed a more like for like replacement.

Don't disagree with the basic premise around like for like replacement. But what I would say is we have no notion who might have been available (think Mbete is only end of season loan), what sort of dosh we had left to get like for like replacement. etc. And with everyone fit, that player could become 5th of 5 picks (or two of Johnston, Santos, Toal and Geth are benchwarming).

I'd be quite surprised if Evatt actually thought he was getting the like for like replacement. Either way whilst neither Shortire nor Mbete were in any way good yesterday, neither were the only problems by a long chalk. Who picked up Mr Free Header from the FK? Don't think he was Mbete's and nor was the one a few minutes previous when Aaron got robbed on the byline...

Oh I still believe the biggest problem yesterday was Evatt thinking it was a good idea to empty our midfield at 1-0 up…I still have no idea what that was about. I think if he’d brought MJ on we ‘might’ have seen it out.

Edit: though watching the free kick again…Mbete doesn’t exactly cover himself in glory there either…I’ve no idea what he’s doing…seems to vacate the area where they score from.

[boltonboris]

Jeez that was frustrating!! The starting front 2 were poor - Adeboyajo continues to disappoint, even though that is apparently exactly what Evatt wants him to do. Jerome looked cumbersome and showed frustrations at his runs not being hit, even though he was constantly offside when making them.

Shoretire was way off it and found it tough going against an incredibly disciplined team

Mbete cost us with a moment of madness and just about summed his afternoon up.

We showed an uplift with the 1st round of subs and I also thought Nlundulu looked ok when he came on, without being particularly effective.

4 points from these 2 games is probably expected, but after winning at Exeter, this draw hurts

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Mbete was signed as last minute cover with a view to play some cameos and fill in occasionally. Possibly to have a closer look at with a view for a loan again next season. It isn't a surprise he's not thriving in a makeshift defence. We are where we are and the best thing we can do is give the kid loads of support and hope it helps his confidence.

The January signings have been underwhelming so far, but we've seen that Evatt and Markham get a lot more right than wrong and it often takes time for them to fit/settle in. Doesn't help in a tight promotion push, but we'd have all ripped a limb off to be where we are no back in the summer. Chill and trust Evatt and the lads to come through.

[boltonboris]

Why not ask him next time you see him?

If you do see him, can you also please ask why we played so ponderously slowly with a complete lack of tempo - we play better & win more when we play quicker at a higher tempo & move the ball quicker.

Surely that's something that can be quite easily instilled in the team by the coach / manager ?, it was like walking football at times today.

We unfortunately, had to play against somebody else...

[boltonboris]

One thing I would say about these community days, is that the atmosphere is shit.

People booing that you don;t normally hear and there was a guy in the bogs saying "I see the shite football hasn't improved - They can get fvcked if they think I'm shelling out £25 next time they play"

Just about sums it up. People almost WANTING us to be shit to justify not coming, but then moaning and booing when we don't nice person it on every goal kick. This club has evolved since Big Sam left fella's

[BWFC_Insane]

One thing I would say about these community days, is that the atmosphere is shit.

People booing that you don;t normally hear and there was a guy in the bogs saying "I see the shite football hasn't improved - They can get fvcked if they think I'm shelling out £25 next time they play"

Just about sums it up. People almost WANTING us to be shit to justify not coming, but then moaning and booing when we don't nice person it on every goal kick. This club has evolved since Big Sam left fella's

You mean gone massively backwards?

I get your point like. Generally. These sorts of games with cheap tickets do seem to create a more impatient vibe. But let’s be honest a bit…there are issues currently. Evatt is doing well and building and yes we are trying to play a certain style, but we are miles off being as good at what we do as the Allardyce sides were.

It also was incredibly dire yesterday and I can’t blame anyone for being frustrated or bored or whatever by it. Just because we pass out from the back it doesn’t make it a better watch as yesterday showed.

What most people want is goalmouth action, chances, scrambles…etc…I suspect vast majority of football fans will not care whether that’s as a result of 23 passes or one massive lump…it’s about the excitement created. First half yesterday especially had none of that…unless you supported Cambridge.

But the clubs success and progress is now intrinsically linked to bringing more and more fans in so we need more occasions like this, need to have a team people want to watch and probably need to tolerate the daytrippers….

[boltonboris]

I wasn't comparing them.. I was just saying that a lot of the people who come to these games, haven't regularly been since the halcyon days of Big Sam... They can't accept anything other than that level. Which is why they 1) don't bother anymore and 2) get pissy when we're not striding over the likes of Cambridge

The atmosphere is worse at these games than your Tuesday night games when it's a 'normal' attendance

[Worthy4England]

Yeah, for me, we did ourselves no favours with that team selection. You could sorta understand getting the "Thought you said this was entertaining" comment, had you roped a mate in...

[Harry Genshaw]

The most frustrating element for me was the 'Let's walk slowly towards the opposition half' tactic that just meant Cambridge all dropped back and squeezed any space there might have been.

I've not been impressed with Victor so far but he and Jerome were spinning off their man, looking to make arced runs along the back line but the ball was going nowhere near them. It was like we'd forgotten the quicker tempo and balls into the channels had served us well at Wembley.

About 40 minutes in, we'd not troubled them and got a free kick 10 yards into their half. I'm expecting Vic and Cam along with Mbete to get into the box and see if we can ruffle a few feathers, create a chance. Instead we passed it short sideways and it was back with Trafford in 2 more passes. Bloody frustrating

[Worthy4England]

Yeah Harry. That's pretty much what I'm on about, when saying "far too easy to pick out a couple of loanees." Sheehan was probably best of the MF three, but I still lost count how many times he did that spin 360 move then passed it 20 yards ahead/behind his man. It looked completely disjointed.

[BWFC_Insane]

The most frustrating element for me was the 'Let's walk slowly towards the opposition half' tactic that just meant Cambridge all dropped back and squeezed any space there might have been.

I've not been impressed with Victor so far but he and Jerome were spinning off their man, looking to make arced runs along the back line but the ball was going nowhere near them. It was like we'd forgotten the quicker tempo and balls into the channels had served us well at Wembley.

About 40 minutes in, we'd not troubled them and got a free kick 10 yards into their half. I'm expecting Vic and Cam along with Mbete to get into the box and see if we can ruffle a few feathers, create a chance. Instead we passed it short sideways and it was back with Trafford in 2 more passes. Bloody frustrating

Yeah. This. We do it way too often. And people the come and defend it and say ‘it’s Evatts plan’ when it clearly isn’t as he was as angry with it as the crowd. It’s harder against teams who sit in. But consistently the way we approach these games doesn’t work because we have no tempo to what we are doing. Had to turn them round more go front to back quicker and we saw second half we got some joy doing that.

The issue is though we gave them too comfortable a first half and that meant the game was always there for them. Had we hammered them first half I suspect we’d have won the game 2-0 or 2-1. When we start in that mode it almost always ends up a disappointing result.

Not sure why it happens maybe down to changes maybe down to finding it hard to play quickly enough against those teams. But it’s arguably a systemic problem as it happens too often and Evatt then has to do some stuff at half time to try and fix it.

[Harry Genshaw]

Systemic is right. Our goals (and points) tally v the bottom 3 suggests we have a problem with defensive sides willing to rely on the odd counter attack.