Cam on, fear the noise: Cambridge (H) Sat 2 Mar 3pm

[Mar]

Daddy, what's a Jerome?

It means a clean sheet for the opposition.


Only joking, Jerome's looked relatively decent here since coming on.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

FT. Well done Whites. It'll do for now.

[Mar]

A dominant win where we could've quite easily had Hutchinson start for us. Coleman never really tested today.

2-0 matches expectation. Doesn't really impact our season as all the rest of the teams at the top won.

Big match on Tuesday.

[The_Gun]

Happy to get the win, of course, but concerns over our ruthlessness remain.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

God we're horrible to watch when the home guard comes on and we decide we've finished attacking.

Yeah. Bod had 2 touches, which is 2 more than at Wigan. Jerome had 7, and nearly half of those sent the ball out of play. Let's just say I'm glad Collins scored and looks to have rising confidence.

Bright side: We dominated, again. Scored two. Kept a clean sheet, after 8 league games without. Midfield tidy and creative. Ogbeta looking better all the time. Williams back in the fold.

Darker side: Should have had more goals. t'other teams all won. Striker subs meh.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

FT Pompey 2-1 Oxford
FT Derby 3-0 Vale
FT Wycombe 2-4 Barnsley
.

[BWFC_Insane]

It was a very good performance and hopefully restores confidence. Can only beat what’s in front of you but Cambridge were dire but we did the job.

Tuesday for me is now an absolute must win game. People will argue a point is a good result but for me looking at Barnsleys run in their games and what we have. I feel Tuesday we need to win. Not least to get over the mental hump we clearly have when the big games come round.

[Worthy4England]

I think without ever being at our absolute best, there was enough in there in a pretty good performance to give us self belief heading into Tuesday's game. Happy with that.

[BWFC_Insane]

I think without ever being at our absolute best, there was enough in there in a pretty good performance to give us self belief heading into Tuesday's game. Happy with that.

At times first half I thought we were at our best. Always hard to judge against an opponent who offered absolutely nought but some of our first half play was outstanding.

[officer_dibble]

Pleased Coleman got a clean sheet, and good that Collins opened his account.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Pleased Coleman got a clean sheet, and good that Collins opened his account.

Aye, this is the long-game. Coleman could have followed the game on this forum in the main, but he will feel much better for a clean sheet and certainly seemed confident with his feet late in the second half. Similar for Collins, whose goal appeared to light him up.

[officer_dibble]

I see Maghoma has had a pop at the fans as well. I know I’m as bad as anyone on here for a mental reaction (would have sold them all Tuesday!) but to target players/families on Twitter or whatever is just mental, what do people think it will achieve. Not really bothered about the result, there was nothing on this game, Tuesday is the chance for some redemption. Just pleased for Coleman mainly.

[Izual_Rebirth]

Meh. We were lucky to come away with all three points today. Even a draw might have flattered us. Lots to play for and we’d have lost games like the one today this time last season. I don’t think any teams are going on a Man City esque winning run so plenty of chances for you guys to put us under pressure. Our game vs you and our game vs Derby are going to be massive for everyone. If we lose either of those it blows the title winning race wide open. I’m hoping by the time we have those matches we’re well enough ahead it doesn’t matter too much but we’ve been playing pretty poorly since the Bolton game. Just hoping we can limp over the finish line. Best of luck for the rest of the season gents.

[The_Gun]

Meh. We were lucky to come away with all three points today. Even a draw might have flattered us. Lots to play for and we’d have lost games like the one today this time last season. I don’t think any teams are going on a Man City esque winning run so plenty of chances for you guys to put us under pressure. Our game vs you and our game vs Derby are going to be massive for everyone. If we lose wither of those it blows the title winning race wide open. I’m hoping by the time we have those matches we’re well enough ahead it doesn’t matter too much but we’ve been playing pretty poorly since the Bolton game. Just hoping we can limp over the finish line. Best of luck for the rest of the season gents.

Worst of luck to your lot, pal.

[Izual_Rebirth]

Meh. We were lucky to come away with all three points today. Even a draw might have flattered us. Lots to play for and we’d have lost games like the one today this time last season. I don’t think any teams are going on a Man City esque winning run so plenty of chances for you guys to put us under pressure. Our game vs you and our game vs Derby are going to be massive for everyone. If we lose wither of those it blows the title winning race wide open. I’m hoping by the time we have those matches we’re well enough ahead it doesn’t matter too much but we’ve been playing pretty poorly since the Bolton game. Just hoping we can limp over the finish line. Best of luck for the rest of the season gents.

Worst of luck to your lot, pal.

[BWFC_Insane]

There was a discussion on the radio with the airbag Keith Hill post match yesterday that for once I think actually held some truths. The presenter was talking about how we had so many shots but only scored twice but it doesn’t matter much because Bolton are always going to create more. But Hill intervened to suggest that the big games we may have less possession or ala Wigan be able to create fewer openings and what matters most in those matches is not volume but efficiency.

And I thought back to previous campaigns and I think that might be the issue. We need to do a lot to score with this team. We need to dominate. Even then we can miss a hat load of openings or chances. So better sides can restrict us and because we have low efficiency in terms of converting pressure into goals we may struggle in the bigger games.

It makes sense. I mean our last play off final we arguably had much less of the game especially second half but were ruthless in scoring when we had the chance. We had a model where even when teams were on top we had a release valve off the bench and a good chance of a goal out of nothing.

When I look back at our bigger games often the issue is we need to be able to dominate the opposition and it’s harder against better teams and on top of that we also need to score from fewer than normal chances.

So perhaps it’s not about mental stuff and more about a lack of efficiency?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I don’t remember many 100-goal calendar years under Keith Onions.

If his guru insight is that you get fewer chances against better teams, and that it’s better if you take your chances, I see now why his most recent management position ended in sacking with the team 23rd in the fifth division.

[BWFC_Insane]

I don’t remember many 100-goal calendar years under Keith Onions.

If his guru insight is that you get fewer chances against better teams, and that it’s better if you take your chances, I see now why his most recent management position ended in sacking with the team 23rd in the fifth division.

The point is that some teams are efficient in that they win games with lower possession and lower chances. Are Bolton efficient enough to win when teams are good enough to restrict either or both?

[TANGODANCER]

So perhaps it’s not about mental stuff and more about a lack of efficiency?

Plus there are twenty five other teams with much the same idea of course. Perfection is a good goal to aim for, but rarely attained in football for long, if ever.

[Worthy4England]

I don’t remember many 100-goal calendar years under Keith Onions.

If his guru insight is that you get fewer chances against better teams, and that it’s better if you take your chances, I see now why his most recent management position ended in sacking with the team 23rd in the fifth division.

Aye, there's a chunk of no shit Sherlock in there. I doubt anyone believes possession is a panacea against not losing any particular game and in general, you might expect to lose more to teams in and around top 6. They're at the top because they're better.

Now if you want to construct a tale that they style (which I'm not a fan of) is worse than a different style, you could cite this. But are results for a team maybe much more direct any better? For me Stevenage would be a contrasting style and they're not 6 points clear.

I have it rather more simple. A good big 'un will generally beat a good little 'un.