Not exactly a Derby. Away to The Rams, Sat 16th March 3-0'clock.

[Worthy4England]

I'd rather us address the issues that we do have rather than swap out the approach to play like Derby did.

We just don't seem to be, though.

Show me a time in that run of fixtures where the club have had chance to take stock and fully address the problems?

We've had a lot of games in quick succession and bad weather. It's hardly like we've had chance to reflect and resolve problems. We've gone from playing a game to the players being back in to review the opposition, do a days worth of training and then go again with another match. We needed the time without a game. Thankfully now we've got it.

The deficiences pre-date this season.

They do. And other teams have problems too. The ones that go up in the autos are the ones that solve them.

You can afford a couple of slip ups heading towards play-offs. You don't get as many for the autos. We spend way too much time congratulating ourselves on 5-0 wins and not enough time on working out how to edge tight 1-0's

[TANGODANCER]

Does any of this really matter? We lost 1-0 and they got three points. That's all that does. The referee was a fanatic who'd give handball in a goldfish bowl. We were worth a win and didn't get a draw. Football is hard to take sometimes.



p.s. This was written in answer to Mar's post but didn't go through. Sorry.

[Mar]

They do. And other teams have problems too. The ones that go up in the autos are the ones that solve them.

You can afford a couple of slip ups heading towards play-offs. You don't get as many for the autos. We spend way too much time congratulating ourselves on 5-0 wins and not enough time on working out how to edge tight 1-0's

Definitely.

There's a case of too many games where we're complaining about fine margins. The best teams find a way. I'm not going to use that term to describe Derby as we've won one and they've won one against us this season.

Today won't be the one we look back on and think that's the reason we finished in the play offs.

It'll be the Charlton, Northampton and Exeter results that will have made the difference.

[nicholaldo]

I'd rather us address the issues that we do have rather than swap out the approach to play like Derby did.

We just don't seem to be, though.

Show me a time in that run of fixtures where the club have had chance to take stock and fully address the problems?

We've had a lot of games in quick succession and bad weather. It's hardly like we've had chance to reflect and resolve problems. We've gone from playing a game to the players being back in to review the opposition, do a days worth of training and then go again with another match. We needed the time without a game. Thankfully now we've got it.

The deficiences pre-date this season.

Disagree.

We had 7 clean sheets in a row this season and have had one of our best seasons defensively, up until this latest run. The problems were considered solved. Just like our ability to attack effectively (101 goals anyone).

We're not bad, we're unfortunate. Our first choice GK and first choice striker would undoubtedly benefit us.

They weren't considered solved by me.

The problem seems to be mostly psychological. A certain naivety in - to borrow a phrase from the youth - the "clutch" fixtures, and it stretches beyond the current season. I'd been privately hoping, against my own judgement, that we'd prove we'd gotten over being something of a flat track bully during this season's run-in but we've just had three crucial fixutres in which we've had that opportunity - Blackpool, Wigan Athletic, and today - and we've lost all three.

Credit where creidt's due, we showed courage to drag ourselves back into it against Barnsley (having found ourselves in a position where we were two goals down) so it's not as if we can't show fight. Too often, though, we go into these types of fixtures and come out the wrong side of them.

[nicholaldo]

And not for the first time, Evatt made himself a hostage to fortune during the pre-match press conference.

[nicholaldo]

I'd rather us address the issues that we do have rather than swap out the approach to play like Derby did.

We just don't seem to be, though.

Show me a time in that run of fixtures where the club have had chance to take stock and fully address the problems?

We've had a lot of games in quick succession and bad weather. It's hardly like we've had chance to reflect and resolve problems. We've gone from playing a game to the players being back in to review the opposition, do a days worth of training and then go again with another match. We needed the time without a game. Thankfully now we've got it.

The deficiences pre-date this season.

They do. And other teams have problems too. The ones that go up in the autos are the ones that solve them.

You can afford a couple of slip ups heading towards play-offs. You don't get as many for the autos. We spend way too much time congratulating ourselves on 5-0 wins and not enough time on working out how to edge tight 1-0's

Pretty much.

[Worthy4England]

It also seemed like our shit fans gave us plenty of support and fairly sure I heard Derby's booing (before they scored). At that point, I thought people were supposed to start feeling sorry for themselves...

[officer_dibble]

It also seemed like our shit fans gave us plenty of support and fairly sure I heard Derby's booing (before they scored). At that point, I thought people were supposed to start feeling sorry for themselves...

Just listened to Evatt being interviewed by Derek and that was acknowledged. Deserved backing today and you can’t argue we didn’t leave everything on the pitch. Today’s not the reason we’re 4 points adrift at the business end. Like you said above, it’s not figuring out how to go to Wigan and get a 1-0. Carlisle and Bristol at home are probably the other two I would point at. Put even half of the Oxford performance into those 3 and we’re talking about where we should be in the league with the ability we clearly have.

[BWFC_Insane]

They do. And other teams have problems too. The ones that go up in the autos are the ones that solve them.

You can afford a couple of slip ups heading towards play-offs. You don't get as many for the autos. We spend way too much time congratulating ourselves on 5-0 wins and not enough time on working out how to edge tight 1-0's

Definitely.

There's a case of too many games where we're complaining about fine margins. The best teams find a way. I'm not going to use that term to describe Derby as we've won one and they've won one against us this season.

Today won't be the one we look back on and think that's the reason we finished in the play offs.

It'll be the Charlton, Northampton and Exeter results that will have made the difference.

Derby have more points than us. Because they have found a way to get them that we haven’t. Derby aren’t a great side. But then I think it’s fair to say neither are we.

We need to be more ruthless and efficient and Evatt has to find a way to achieve that before the play offs or this season will be up in smoke.

[DJBlu]

Evatt needs...... or....... Same shit.

Out of our hands now. Pressure is off. Watch em fly.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt needs...... or....... Same shit.

Out of our hands now. Pressure is off. Watch em fly.

It’s too late now. Prep for playoffs and try and finally win some big pressure games.

[Worthy4England]

Evatt needs...... or....... Same shit.

Out of our hands now. Pressure is off. Watch em fly.

It’s too late now. Prep for playoffs and try and finally win some big pressure games.

They can't afford to feel sorry for themselves. Posh and Barnsley would be level on points if they land their games in hand, with Posh going in front on GD...I suspect we'd rather 3rd/4th than 5th/6th...

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt ‘we are process and performance driven not results driven.’

Yeah that’s the problem. Maybe they will award us the process and performance trophy at the end of the season. Does it come with an extra promotion place?

[Worthy4England]

Evatt ‘we are process and performance driven not results driven.’

Yeah that’s the problem. Maybe they will award us the process and performance trophy at the end of the season. Does it come with an extra promotion place?

We'll be able to put it in the trophy cabinet next to the PPDA Cup.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt ‘we are process and performance driven not results driven.’

Yeah that’s the problem. Maybe they will award us the process and performance trophy at the end of the season. Does it come with an extra promotion place?

We'll be able to put it in the trophy cabinet next to the PPDA Cup.

9 points clear in the ‘content downloads’ league too.

[Harry Genshaw]

Evatt "It's not over. This side is capable of winning its last 7 games"

I really don't think it is. The problems that plagued us last year, not creating enough or in some cases not turning up in the biggest matches, have not been resolved.

[Gary the Enfield]

21 points to play for.

Best part of a fortnight to get out first team striker and keeper back

Time on the training pitch

Play off finals, whilst not ideal, is still progression on last season.

We always, always finish strong towards the end of the season

I'm not giving up on automatic yet.

Lots of twists and turns yet.

[knobpolisher]

Well said Gary

[irie Cee Bee]

I thought we played well but came up against a side that defended very well. No criticisms for any of our players. Derby'defenders knew they were in a game and were exhausted at the end. We came close but just not enough. Wilson made a difference for them when he came on as it gave them some attacking joy down the right, an he also scored I believe. I can see why we were after him in the summer.

We need to figure a way to defend these type of corners better however. They had 4 in a vertical line with us having 1 at the end of it before the corner. They then broke in different direction when the corner was taken. We struggled to pick them up and one of them scored.

Top 2 is now out of our hands, and playoffs looking more likely, but we need to end the season strong and hope Derby makes a mistake as Pompey seems to be out of our reach.

[Worthy4England]

Yeah, I'm with that too GTE. We can beat anyone on our day, but so can quite a few teams on their day. The difference between average and top draw, isn't the worldie you score, it's how many times you score the worldie.