Owls Tuesday (H).

[DrillingCobbler]

Well I will start with the team. Why drop Diamond for Zakuani and keep the constantly woeful Nyatangi in the defence? I thought it was a flat 4-4-2, but Im behind the goal and stand to be corrected? Whichever it was, it was far from clear!

First half, countless chances. Countless. I counted 7 decent chances, by law of averages we should have netted at least 2 or 3. Many were clear cut. But in between chances, Oldham were regularly cutting us open and whilst they looked less likely to score overall, they managed to take the lead. And to be fair, it was an excellent break after Taylor firstly lost the ball and then committed a foul which looked like a clear red card to me. As others have said, if they hadn't of scored he'd have been off. The ref bottled that decision, and fair play to the Oldham player who could have withered away in fake agony because that may well have swayed the ref. Many players would have done just that. Back to the goal…easily the best bit of play we saw all night from either side.

Even so, we were 1-0 down at half time and I felt very confident we would turn it round. First 5 minutes of 2nd half were great…nearly scored twice. But after that we were utter utter cack.

I now turn my attention back to the manager. This season Im getting utterly frustrated, more so than normal ( ) that our incumbent doesn't see the absolute bleeding obvious. For an hour, he may have his critics and he may have missed a sitter but Smith had been easily our best attacking player. He had won most headers and had generally been a real nuisance. His fellow attacking loanee, step forward Mr Anderson, had been Constantine like. I counted 3 total jibs, missed chances I can accept but non commitment I can't. It gets my back up. I would have hauled him off, Rico and Smith would have been far more effective chasing the game at that point in those conditions than Anderson and Rico.

Next stop, Wilde. How the hell did he last 75 minutes? Alongside Anderson, he was another 2 out of 10 max. What game were people watching that said he did some good runs? Really? Maybe its the obscure view I get behind the goal, I do 'get that'. Whether it was that or just plain old subjective (which football mostly is), he would have not lasted beyond the hour as far as I was concerned. I would have brought on Paul Anderson, instead we get McCourt, a defensive type midfielder for an attacking winger. We were losing 1-0 and I saw the need to bolster up the midfield but surely the time for that was at half time when McCourt should have replaced Taylor?

For me: 45 minutes - McCourt for Taylor. 60 minutes - Rico for K Anderson and P Anderson for Wilde. By that point in time, we'd lost the plot and didn't look like scoring at all until somehow, we scabbed a goal to bring it to 1-1. Do we go for the win I wonder?

Nope. An emphatic NO. Page tactics come into play 10 fold. Everybody back 30 yards, lets take the point. And we all know exactly what happens when any team puts Nyatanga and co under a bit of pressure for more than 5 minutes. Yep, I called it (2 minutes before it happened). Im sure anyone with half a brain cell in the crowd did as well. And they score…

Will we go down? I don't think we will, chances Im guessing currently are about 1 in 5. There are some other god dam awful sides in this division and Im confident that we will surpass the 50 points or so we will need. But Im no longer confident that we will give ourselves a 4 or 5 game holiday at the end of the season to plan for next season. It may even go down to the last game or two. I think our squad has just about enough in it to stay up. Overall.

As for Saturday, Id go with Smith and Rico up top with a midfield of Taylor,JJ,Boeteng and Williams if he's fit enough. Id have Zak and Diamond in the back 4, with the same full backs as tonight. But Im sure Nyatanga will keep his place because clearly he's a great footballer that only professional football managers and 'I manage a kids team/played at a decent level' types can see the attributes of. Whilst the rest of us mortals think he's just pretty crap.

Thats my take on the game, good night!

[guest2487]

Part of the problem I saw tonight was that there was nobody offering a run or anything when we had the ball which is why we went backwards a bit.

Lots of issues to sort out. I agree with Drilling though, Zak and Diamond for me. Pains me to say it but Buchanan is struggling a bit lately.

[Irchy cob]

Now, I am usually a quite positive kind of chap but what I witnessed tonight was abysmal. Taylor Woeful and lucky to stay on, the fact that they scored saved him. Can someone please lock the changing room door just after the others come out.

Anyone else fancy seeing Holmes on the Charlton right wing V Buchanan?

Smith up front? World class ball in from Eardley tonight and Smith does what he does best and puts it wide.

No man of the match announced tonight unless I missed it?

That's exactly what we were saying - an on form Holmes against a woefully out of form Buchanan has disaster written all over it. Having said that buchs is still getting little to no defensive help from whoever plays in front of him and is getting completely exposed time and again - but that doesn't excuse the fact that he is constantly backing off when anyone runs at him. I'm praying that moloney and Williams are fit for Saturday and there is no way on earth that wylde should be anywhere near the starting lineup. Also there is no way smith and Anderson should be the striking partnership - they offer little to no movement and keshi constantly comes deep to get the ball leaving smith isolated

[Cobbler78]

Cobblers78 is daft with his opinions of the game. We never looked like scoring 1st half  even when presented with decent opportunities.

😂😂😂😂

[#Frank]

Even the skip couldn't be bothered tonight.

[Irchy cob]

Just seen the Holmes hat trick and his first 2 were absolute corkers.

[guest2677]

First half, countless chances. Countless. I counted 7 decent chances, by law of averages we should have netted at least 2 or 3. Many were clear cut.

And like me you sit/stand in the north? You must have astonishingly good eyesight. In contrast, I saw us get into what seemed like decent positions but I could only really say with any conviction that Smith's miss from Eardleys cross was a decent chance, and even then it was difficult judging how far out he was.

[everbrite]

Well I will start with the team. Why drop Diamond for Zakuani and keep the constantly woeful Nyatangi in the defence? I thought it was a flat 4-4-2, but Im behind the goal and stand to be corrected? Whichever it was, it was far from clear!

First half, countless chances. Countless. I counted 7 decent chances, by law of averages we should have netted at least 2 or 3. Many were clear cut. But in between chances, Oldham were regularly cutting us open and whilst they looked less likely to score overall, they managed to take the lead. And to be fair, it was an excellent break after Taylor firstly lost the ball and then committed a foul which looked like a clear red card to me. As others have said, if they hadn't of scored he'd have been off. The ref bottled that decision, and fair play to the Oldham player who could have withered away in fake agony because that may well have swayed the ref. Many players would have done just that. Back to the goal…easily the best bit of play we saw all night from either side.

Even so, we were 1-0 down at half time and I felt very confident we would turn it round. First 5 minutes of 2nd half were great…nearly scored twice. But after that we were utter utter cack.

I now turn my attention back to the manager. This season Im getting utterly frustrated, more so than normal ( ) that our incumbent doesn't see the absolute bleeding obvious. For an hour, he may have his critics and he may have missed a sitter but Smith had been easily our best attacking player. He had won most headers and had generally been a real nuisance. His fellow attacking loanee, step forward Mr Anderson, had been Constantine like. I counted 3 total jibs, missed chances I can accept but non commitment I can't. It gets my back up. I would have hauled him off, Rico and Smith would have been far more effective chasing the game at that point in those conditions than Anderson and Rico.

Next stop, Wilde. How the hell did he last 75 minutes? Alongside Anderson, he was another 2 out of 10 max. What game were people watching that said he did some good runs? Really? Maybe its the obscure view I get behind the goal, I do 'get that'. Whether it was that or just plain old subjective (which football mostly is), he would have not lasted beyond the hour as far as I was concerned. I would have brought on Paul Anderson, instead we get McCourt, a defensive type midfielder for an attacking winger. We were losing 1-0 and I saw the need to bolster up the midfield but surely the time for that was at half time when McCourt should have replaced Taylor?

For me: 45 minutes - McCourt for Taylor. 60 minutes - Rico for K Anderson and P Anderson for Wilde. By that point in time, we'd lost the plot and didn't look like scoring at all until somehow, we scabbed a goal to bring it to 1-1. Do we go for the win I wonder?

Nope. An emphatic NO. Page tactics come into play 10 fold. Everybody back 30 yards, lets take the point. And we all know exactly what happens when any team puts Nyatanga and co under a bit of pressure for more than 5 minutes. Yep, I called it (2 minutes before it happened). Im sure anyone with half a brain cell in the crowd did as well. And they score…

Will we go down? I don't think we will, chances Im guessing currently are about 1 in 5. There are some other god dam awful sides in this division and Im confident that we will surpass the 50 points or so we will need. But Im no longer confident that we will give ourselves a 4 or 5 game holiday at the end of the season to plan for next season. It may even go down to the last game or two. I think our squad has just about enough in it to stay up. Overall.

As for Saturday, Id go with Smith and Rico up top with a midfield of Taylor,JJ,Boeteng and Williams if he's fit enough. Id have Zak and Diamond in the back 4, with the same full backs as tonight. But Im sure Nyatanga will keep his place because clearly he's a great footballer that only professional football managers and 'I manage a kids team/played at a decent level' types can see the attributes of. Whilst the rest of us mortals think he's just pretty crap.

Thats my take on the game, good night!

I thought that Nyatanga wasnt too bad; thought that Zakuani looked hesitant and his passing out of defence was poor. Agree with you on Wylde he has no zip when he needs it! Smith is rapidly becoming Miss Smith. Its all very well running around and upsetting defences but constantly failing to hit the target when well placed is disastrous for us. Anderson K was constantly out muscled and I thought he was a speed merchant! Bringing on Anderson P would not have changed anything. Would play McCourt as he can tackle and stick with Rico and Anderson K up front and hope for the best with a few hoofs. Williams should come in now as we are running out of options.

[guest2995]

It's a game of opinions but I thought Nyatanga played well tonight and Zakuani did okay as well .
Wylde was the only midfield player with energy and tried hard , but did nothing to hurt the opposition at all .
JED can't rate Paul Anderson at all to have not brought him on in that game .
The biggest problem for me is that we move the ball so slowly . We are so predictable to play against and pass backwards constantly .
It's the biggest thing that's changed from last year when the movement was excellent .

[everbrite]

.......................we are in the dogfight.

I think we are in one now and have to face Charlton on Sat with RH in goal scoring form plus the dreaded " to leave Charlton without a win in their last seven games.". Trouble is we have been here before with 40 points under Gray and its all looking a bit ominous.

[DrillingCobbler]

And like me you sit/stand in the north? You must have astonishingly good eyesight. In contrast, I saw us get into what seemed like decent positions but I could only really say with any conviction that Smith's miss from Eardleys cross was a decent chance, and even then it was difficult judging how far out he was.

I do sit/stand, back row North stand, towards the East side. In no particular order…


1. First 5 minutes, we had a free shot from about 12/15 yards, straight at the keeper. Cant remember who cut it back/couldn't tell who had the clear site of goal.
2. Keshi Anderson was fed clean through, miscontrolled it and the ball ran through to the keeper.
3. The chance you mention. Totally unmarked.
4. Taylor/Keshi combination fumbled the ball across goal from the right, someone tapped it straight to the keeper from what looked like, around 3 or 4 yards out.
5. There was a big scramble that somehow didn't find its way into the net (from a corner)

There was a couple of other great chances but I cannot recall them properly to describe them but I counted 7 decent chances, 4 or 5 clear cut by half time.

[guest2995]

I do sit/stand, back row North stand, towards the East side. In no particular order…


1. First 5 minutes, we had a free shot from about 12/15 yards, straight at the keeper. Cant remember who cut it back/couldn't tell who had the clear site of goal.
2. Keshi Anderson was fed clean through, miscontrolled it and the ball ran through to the keeper.
3. The chance you mention. Totally unmarked.
4. Taylor/Keshi combination fumbled the ball across goal from the right, someone tapped it straight to the keeper from what looked like, around 3 or 4 yards out.
5. There was a big scramble that somehow didn't find its way into the net (from a corner)

There was a couple of other great chances but I cannot recall them properly to describe them but I counted 7 decent chances, 4 or 5 clear cut by half time.

In the first 20 minutes , the four golden chances were missed by
OToole twice , Keshi and Smith .
JJOT and Keshi took too many touches .
Smith just missed at the far post after a brillliant cross from Eardley
JJOT didn't bundle one in from close range .
I think there were others as well in that period of play .
Smith looks like he couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo and Keshi likes a lot of time to finish .

[DrillingCobbler]

It's a game of opinions but I thought Nyatanga played well tonight and Zakuani did okay as well .
Wylde was the only midfield player with energy and tried hard , but did nothing to hurt the opposition at all .
JED can't rate Paul Anderson at all to have not brought him on in that game .
The biggest problem for me is that we move the ball so slowly . We are so predictable to play against and pass backwards constantly .
It's the biggest thing that's changed from last year when the movement was excellent .

We are leaking goals by the bucket load and defensively, something has got to give. My opinion is that we are leaderless at the back. Our two only 'defensive warriors' are Zakuani (main one) and Diamond (to a lesser extent). Nyatanga 'always plays alright' but is error prone. Thats pretty much how I see it. Im amazed that anyone would choose Nyatanga out of what we've got available, by all accounts (didn't go) Diamond played well on Saturday yet is seen as the more likely source of vulnerability. I just don't get it!

[DrillingCobbler]

In the first 20 minutes , the four golden chances were missed by
OToole twice , Keshi and Smith .
JJOT and Keshi took too many touches .
Smith just missed at the far post after a brillliant cross from Eardley
JJOT didn't bundle one in from close range .
I think there were others as well in that period of play .
Smith looks like he couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo and Keshi likes a lot of time to finish .

Thanks. I was beginning to question my own vision! 

Id say, by law of averages we should have scored 2 or 3 goals in the first half. And on a good day, maybe 4 or even 5. They looked like bloody good chances to me, even from the other side of the ground!

[#Frank]

I just knew that they would score twooo tonight. Feckin Owls.

[guest2995]

Thanks. I was beginning to question my own vision! 

Id say, by law of averages we should have scored 2 or 3 goals in the first half. And on a good day, maybe 4 or even 5. They looked like bloody good chances to me, even from the other side of the ground!

I'm at that end and they were all gilt edged chances that fell to suppposed goal scorers .
Smith should certainly have scored , let alone miss the target .

[Cobbler78]

Exactly, the fact we are creating chances gives me plenty to be positive about. We are poor defensively (2nd worst in the league)
Next game Diamond, McCourt and Rico in for Nyatanga, Taylor and Smith

[GrangeParkCobbler]

But we're not putting the chances away so it doesn't matter how many we have!! It was the same at Fleetwood on Saturday, we could have been 3-0 up before Fleetwood knew what had hit them.
Then we don't take our chances, usually get punished, and then get panicky and revert to hoofball.

[DrillingCobbler]

I thought that Nyatanga wasnt too bad; thought that Zakuani looked hesitant and his passing out of defence was poor. Agree with you on Wylde he has no zip when he needs it! Smith is rapidly becoming Miss Smith. Its all very well running around and upsetting defences but constantly failing to hit the target when well placed is disastrous for us. Anderson K was constantly out muscled and I thought he was a speed merchant! Bringing on Anderson P would not have changed anything. Would play McCourt as he can tackle and stick with Rico and Anderson K up front and hope for the best with a few hoofs. Williams should come in now as we are running out of options.

P Anderson has a fair few assists and even goals in his armoury. His biggest problem is/was he goes missing. He's another one of our coveted selection of luxury players.  But with 30 minutes left, losing and having run out of ideas, I reckon he could have had a positive influence. Wilde was seeing a lot of the ball, an awful lot of it. So by sticking with the same system and swapping players, logic should have seen Anderson see a fair amount of it to. Whether he would have made the difference, who knows. But he may have done. And Id argue that w'ed have had more chance of changing the course of the game with him coming on than with McCourt coming on instead, which left us with no width. We got worse as the game wore on, the changes for me looked stupid ones and whatever peoples opinions are on them there can be no denying they didn't work. JJ's goal was our only chance in the last 30 minutes and that was as scabby as they come, we'd created about 10 in the first hour.

[Cobbler78]

But we're not putting the chances away so it doesn't matter how many we have!! It was the same at Fleetwood on Saturday, we could have been 3-0 up before Fleetwood knew what had hit them.
Then we don't take our chances, usually get punished, and then get panicky and revert to hoofball.

Only in last 2 games, we are one of the highest scoring teams in the league.