No Pirates up the Irwell. Home to Bristol Rovers, Sat 16th Dec, 3-0'clock

[Mar]

Coming close here.

Some lovely deliveries by Morley. How we've not scored one of those.

Harsh not to be 1-2.

[Mar]

Come on Evatt.

Finally getting a head of steam, only for the subs to be brought on. Give them five minutes at that tempo at least. Lets not disrupt our own flow, its bad enough Bristol Rovers are doing their hardest to disrupt us without us contributing.


Thomason was working all the intricate angles in there aswell.

[jmjhb]

Now down to 6th, below Derby. That game in hand on the others is almost moot.

At least we can't fall out the playoffs next week

[DJBlu]

COYWM!!!

1-2.

[Mar]

Wahey. Bit fortunate Toal goal but no less than we deserve after the succession of close corners.

[DJBlu]

Back line has been awful today. If Gethin Jones reckons hes into the Oz Squad then I'd be surprised.

[Mar]

Back line has been awful today. If Gethin Jones reckons hes into the Oz Squad then I'd be surprised.

Might be bench material for the Aussies.

[DJBlu]

Back line has been awful today. If Gethin Jones reckons hes into the Oz Squad then I'd be surprised.

Might be bench material for the Aussies.

God knows what player we'd have if he did the long haul.

Got what we deserved today. Not one effort on goal in the first half, with our "best strikers"

Always going one way when our leader does that.

If we have ambitions of promotion these players need to get out of the mentality of thinking teams are going to be a walk over. It's happened twice this season at home.

A Wycombe late equaliser leaves Portsmouth laughing their tits off at how easy the league is making it for them.

[officer_dibble]

Massive, massive feck up.
Same as Carlisle and Reading - and teams with that many of those before Christmas don’t get promoted. Need some signings in Jan.

[Mar]

Well that was all sorts of terrible.
Sloppiness all round.


Did well vs Oxford, bettered by Pompey and our own worst enemy vs Bristol Rovers.

What a difference a few games makes.


Maybe we'd've won that with Santos and Charles on the pitch. Maybe not. Either way, standards weren't met and now we've got yet another week to reflect on it.

Hopefully things pick up when its 2 games a week.

[DJBlu]

Couch door is unlocked. 2nd on the left, in the history room.

Hey Blu, is there an extra space on the couch free today? Thanks!

Sorry bud, just seen this, the couch is in the History part of the forum. It's out most games so just check it in future bud. I think I added you ages ago so you should be able to get in.

[TANGODANCER]

Back line has been awful today. If Gethin Jones reckons hes into the Oz Squad then I'd be surprised.

Not just the back line. Not title contender stuff at all. We're so busy trumpet-blowing we get carried away with ourselves. We were two down with eleven men and got the run-around because we just don't learn lessons.. We tackle like a netball team, forever running off players instead of harassing them. Yes, big improvement second half, but all "after the ball was over" stuff. Not a happy chappy tonight. Oh, and the ref did us no favours that's for sure. There'll be more fight in Strictly Come Dancing.

[HMX]

Couch door is unlocked. 2nd on the left, in the history room.

Hey Blu, is there an extra space on the couch free today? Thanks!

Sorry bud, just seen this, the couch is in the History part of the forum. It's out most games so just check it in future bud. I think I added you ages ago so you should be able to get in.

Thanks! I’ll check it out next time. Might’ve dodged a bullet today anyway.

[DJBlu]

If Charles and Victor don't start next week I'll eat my hat.

This team needs to get back to winning ways and quick as the spiral will start to hurt any chances of promotion.

[GhostoftheBok]

First half was shambolic. Could happily never mention it again.

Second half I was proud of them. Worked for each other and played with maturity. Bristol had 11 and looked like they were playing with 10.

After a shocker like that you take what positives you can. As a coach an turn that second half display into a rally call to go out and smash the opposition next week.

We have to put Orient to the sword. Needs to be a statement performance.

[BorsdaneWhite]

Concerning how much Williams and Cogley have gone off the boil. I wonder whether it is because teams are doing their homework combined with their lack of end product. Toal is becoming a weak link and his being targeted is resulting in so much wasted possession.

Regarding the decisions: I could sort of understand the Charles one. He was poor on Monday and didn’t do much today. We played it into Bod in the second half and he did well to bring others into it. I don’t get the triple at all. It totally disrupted our flow. Iredale was having some joy on the left and Paris was growing. Neither replacement did anything useful in open play. Even more concerning: Bod limped off, meaning we may have Jerome as our only attacking sub for the next few.

[GhostoftheBok]

Toal is becoming a weak link and his being targeted is resulting in so much wasted possession.

The better managers picked up on it last season, resulting in the Barnsley thing of them forcing the ball to him and just waiting to get it back.

This season it's an open secret amongst the pressing sides.

He wants to run, tackle and head. He hates the football.

What I will say in his favour is he didn't hide this time. Against Pompey he didn't want to know. Today he actively offered for the ball and tried his best. Fair play to him on that score.

[BorsdaneWhite]

Toal is becoming a weak link and his being targeted is resulting in so much wasted possession.

The better managers picked up on it last season, resulting in the Barnsley thing of them forcing the ball to him and just waiting to get it back.

This season it's an open secret amongst the pressing sides.

He wants to run, tackle and head. He hates the football.

What I will say in his favour is he didn't hid this time. Against Pompey he didn't want to know. Today he actively offered for the ball and tried his best. Fair play to him on that score.

Good point. He improved second half, indeed. Got his goal, too, although I couldn’t work out what happened from where I was sat.

[nicholaldo]

If Charles and Victor don't start next week I'll eat my hat.

This team needs to get back to winning ways and quick as the spiral will start to hurt any chances of promotion.

Two defeats in a row since disrupting that partnership.

You have to wonder.

[BWFC_Insane]

If Charles and Victor don't start next week I'll eat my hat.

This team needs to get back to winning ways and quick as the spiral will start to hurt any chances of promotion.

There were a lot of problems today, the starting front two certainly weren’t the biggest.

Victor came on and was an embarrassment - he can’t trap a bag of cement that man and also drew the ire of the east lower through a failure to actually chase a ball that Bid had spent best part of an hour doing.

If we are going to pick holes let’s start with the captain, after two shockingly lazy performances in a row where he has cost us both times. And simply because he couldn’t be bothered. I don’t expect a lot but I do expect players to show up have some urgency and at least look like they want to perform. He didn’t.

Then Morley who similarly played like he’d rather be anywhere but.

Toal’s limitations are not his fault but he’s a trier. He was hopeless today but never stopped grafting. Which is at least something you can ask for. Same with Jones. Iredale too…though hopeless at least tried hard. Same can’t be said for Williams who replaced him.

Maghoma was awful. Tried to make stuff happen but couldn’t. Thomason was starting to play then was taken off.

It was an absolutely shocking performance first half but the front two largely didn’t do a lot wrong. Those behind them…well….