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Post by riochforthereebok on Apr 20, 2024 15:09:58 GMT
AC / DC !!!!!!
I’d rather have ABBA At least they’d be less anonymous in their glittery glam wear
If Sheehan has designs on ‘Player of the Season’ winner, he’d better stop taking shots at the goalkeeper
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Post by whitesince63 on Apr 20, 2024 15:26:25 GMT
Wow, I’ve only just got in been out all day on grandad duty and hoped to see us at least a couple up from the first half but nope, the all familiar 0-0. It seems as though we’ve yet again been dreadful and lacklustre and do you know, I’m actually beginning to think these players don’t want to go up, crazy as that seems. After the abject performance on Tuesday you’d think that they’d be keyed up to make up for it but obviously not and aside from the players have we ever had a manager who is so obviously incapable of motivating a team. I genuinely can’t 5hink of one and if we’re not up for these last two highly winnable games what does that say about the play offs? The result today is for me now irrelevant because the performance should be everything. 🤨
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Post by chip on Apr 20, 2024 15:33:19 GMT
I can’t believe what I’m watching we are struggling to find a way past a team that’s conceded 72 goals make that 73 yessssssssssss
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Post by chip on Apr 20, 2024 15:34:36 GMT
Brilliant goal from Collins COYWM
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Post by chip on Apr 20, 2024 15:54:48 GMT
2-0 Jerome give him another two years hahaha
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Post by davidm on Apr 20, 2024 18:44:37 GMT
A win which is what we wanted but this was not a “play-off win” type of performance.
We thoroughly deserved to win but there were many shortcomings in the performance.
Defensively, we had some really slack moments. Port Vale should have scored a couple of goals.
Midfield, Maghoma apart, is just not working at the moment. There is no dominance over the opposition.
Attack wise, we still take so long to get to the penalty area that we run into a brick wall. Only Collins had any inclination to shoot.
We set off Ok and Collins brought the keeper into play with a decent shot. We had most possession and when the keeper blocked a shot both Charles and Collins seemed to knock the rebound against a post with the ball staying out of the net. This seems to be our thing at the moment. We hit the post twice against Portsmouth, twice against Shrewsbury and yet again today.
During these attacking spells we had some sloppiness in defence and Port Vale had a number of half chances including a repeat of the Shrewsbury corner routine where an unmarked man stood on the edge of the box and got a shot in. That was a disgrace that we had not learned from Tuesday.
It got half time at 0-0. We hadn’t been good enough really and with Derby winning the fight looked over.
We bucked up a bit at the start of the 2nd half with some decent runs down the right but the ball into the box was not good enough and when it was our shooting was nothing.
All the time, Port Vale had breaks and we continued to give them hope with some average defending.
Williams managed to hit the bar when the ball broke for him and he made space for himself. He should have scored.
Eventually, we scored when Collins and Williams exchanged passes and Collins rifled a tremendous shot in from the edge of the box.
We weren’t safe though and Port Vale had a couple of reasonable chances which they spurned.
We tied the game up in injury time when Williams and Maghoma combined for Maghoma to put a lovely centre to the far post for Jerome to head home.
Overall, a win is a win but we desperately need to get a bit of form. We played well against Portsmouth but since then the last 2 matches have been average.
Marks:-
Baxter - 6 Never quite looked as assured as we hoped
Dacres-Cogley - 6 Decent right wing attacking, particularly at the start of the 2nd half, but balls into the box still not good enough
Jones - 6 Not as much forward play as usual but OK
Taylor - 6 Fine. He looked reasonably solid
Toal - 5 A few strange mistakes.
Williams - 6 No worse than Ogbeta who he replaced at the last minute
Sheehan - 6 Quite a lot of the ball but most of it very deep. Not enough decisive forward passes
Maghoma - 7 Not as dynamic as Tuesday but a lovely centre for the 2nd goal
Thomason - 5 There is something not right at the moment about George. A couple of decent passes but mainly anonymous in the game. Stood on the ball when all he had to do was tap into an empty net
Charles - 6 Some encouraging signs, particularly early on. Faded late on
Collins - 8 The only man who could shoot. He finds space much better than anyone else and then put in a cracking shot for the opening goal
Dempsey - 5 Another, like Thomason, where it is just not working at the moment
Jerome Two goals in a week
Nlundulu Summed up with his ridiculous Miskick late on
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Post by riochforthereebok on Apr 20, 2024 22:25:33 GMT
And given that very forthright view of the game davidm, do you expect anything to change for the remaining games including the extra home and away play off games because I don’t
Evatt doesn’t do change
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Post by OohMac on Apr 21, 2024 13:21:55 GMT
Had we have had Vic, JDB or a fitter Dan I bet the usual 60m double striker sub would have been used and we'd have taken off our scorer for the first.
Just hope that's something we learn from. Keep your scorers on the pitch as long as you can.
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Post by davidm on Apr 21, 2024 13:59:03 GMT
Had we have had Vic, JDB or a fitter Dan I bet the usual 60m double striker sub would have been used and we'd have taken off our scorer for the first. Just hope that's something we learn from. Keep your scorers on the pitch as long as you can. I agree with this. It seems we are pre-programmed to make substitutions at a set time and also which players to be subbed – strikers and left wing back. I do not get the “tired” concept with regard to the strikers. No matter how hard you work and run, no professional footballer should be tired after 65 minutes. We are so predictable to opposition managers.
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Post by davidm on Apr 21, 2024 13:59:39 GMT
And given that very forthright view of the game davidm, do you expect anything to change for the remaining games including the extra home and away play off games because I don’t Evatt doesn’t do change In terms of approach to the game, No I do not expect any change. You are right – the manager does not change. As I said above, we are predictable to the extent that every opposing manager knows how we set up, when we make subs etc. But in performances/results, Yes I think things can change. We have let ourselves down badly with these 3 successive home games. We should have won all three but didn’t partly by poor finishing, poor defending (Shrewsbury) and rank bad luck. We hit the woodwork twice versus Portsmouth, twice against Shrewsbury and 3 times yesterday. Some of that is covered by the poor finishing comments but also some terrible luck. There are 2 answers to your questions. If we play like we played against Portsmouth, we will win the playoffs but if we play like the Shrewsbury and Port Vale games, it will be hard work.
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Post by whitesince63 on Apr 21, 2024 15:40:37 GMT
I suppose the only question now is who we play in the play offs? Hopefully not Blackpool because their recent revival would make them really tough competition, especially away. They are away at Reading so it’s not a gimme but really they should be favourites. On paper Lincoln have the toughest job at home to Portsmouth but with Pompey now on the beach and job done will that make it easier? Oxford have a tough one away at Exeter who are no mugs and slipping up recently may cause them to just miss out. Finally could Barnsley slip out of the picture? They have an eminently winnable home game against Northampton but their home form isn’t brilliant and Northampton are one of those teams who can surprise you. They are only 1 point ahead with a much inferior goal difference, surprising when you consider their opening day 7-0 thrashing of Port Vale? At least we’re pretty much guaranteed 3rd place so we will be playing whoever sneaks in. I personally hope it’s Barnsley but more likely one of the other three?
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Post by riochforthereebok on Apr 21, 2024 18:32:01 GMT
Assuming Derby do it (as we all expect) and assuming we do finish 3rd and Lincoln do scrape in, that’s perhaps not as bad as it seems.
Lincoln, despite their recent thumping of some teams 5 & 6 nil etc, have scored 65 goals with 16 of those coming in the aforementioned 3 game surprise back in March and apart from the fluke of beating Barnsley at Barnsley, the other routs were at home to Bristol Rovers and Cambridge when they were in the middle of a purple patch, so my argument for facing Lincoln in 6th, if we don’t beat these over 2 legs then we clearly do not deserve to go up at all.
If we do beat them, I suspect that we have to negotiate a way past Peterborough or Barnsley
Peterborough at Wembley would cause much concern as they’ve just been there and know the pitch with the players they have, better than we do and they have a few goal scorers up top, which is always a worry
To face Barnsley and it’ll be a dull scrap, I’m guessing, with both teams cancelling each other out.
If we finish 4th and we have to face The Tykes over 2 legs, we rarely do long drawn out battles and come out on top, especially against these
I don’t know, is it our turn?
One win and 2 draws at home before this last game at Posh (which both won’t really care if it’s a draw) is less than decent form BUT, we’re unbeaten in the last 6, scoring 12 and conceding 5
Strap in for a bumpy ride
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Post by chip on Apr 21, 2024 20:42:50 GMT
Do you know what wouldn’t surprise me is if Derby got beat and so did we against Peterborough and they went up instead of us and Derby haha
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Post by whitesince63 on Apr 22, 2024 9:40:22 GMT
Do you know what wouldn’t surprise me is if Derby got beat and so did we against Peterborough and they went up instead of us and Derby haha That would take an enormous turn around in goal difference chip so surprised would be an understatement of epic proportions. 😁
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Post by chip on Apr 22, 2024 12:04:36 GMT
Yes you’re right 63 I’ve just noticed the goal difference so it’s down to us to get second or should I say Derby to throw it away COYWM
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