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Post by thekraken on Dec 28, 2014 10:24:04 GMT
First game of the second half of the season. Average two points a game from here, NL's average to date, and a play off spot is all but guaranteed.
Hope that our two old men have recovered enough to put in an appearance for at least some of the game. Eidur's pass to set up Emile the other day was sublime.
You've got to feel optimistic about getting something out of this game so I'll go for 0-1, the same as last season.
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Post by andyl on Dec 28, 2014 10:56:51 GMT
I think we may well see two or three changes to the lineup here perhaps Trotter Craig D and Wheater will come in for at a guess Vela Eidur and Hall. I doubt Heskey would start and Eidur will offer most when defences fade and pressing relaxes late in games especially away. This said it must be very tempting to use Eidur for the first 60 again. I just wonder if he'd fade earlier than on Fri though
We need to be patient. Last year Mason did the trick right at the end. Let's hope Lonergan's form and luck continue.
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Post by socalwanderers on Dec 28, 2014 17:00:08 GMT
The streak is over, I still remain upbeat.
Unlucky lads today...
Keep yer heads up! Onto the next game.
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Post by riochforthereebok on Dec 28, 2014 17:06:04 GMT
Bit gutting to be a goal up within seconds of the opening whistle.. Too much turkey me thinks for one or two of em but I too are still upbeat, especially with NL in charge. I don't want him swapping with Neil Warrnock or Alan Irvine after today's results ...
NL will no doubt know what to do, who to get, who to get rid of , but I'm not going to be too downbeat about today's result, so long as we turn it round for the next game
COYWM
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2014 17:06:50 GMT
I find it hard to keep my head up when we give the ball away which results in us losing against a crap side which I think we should at least draw  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2014 17:11:09 GMT
PS I bet the BBC puts us on early now that we have lost rant over Happy New Year to you all and lets hope it is just a small blip  |
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Post by Pedro on Dec 28, 2014 17:44:18 GMT
I listened to the whole game on Tower FM. The commentators thought that our lads had been reading and believing their own publicity and that it had gone to their heads or that they had enjoyed their Christmas dinner too much! Certainly didn't sound anything like Boxing Day and after the Pratley goal it was all Huddersfield and our ex player Jacob Butterfield who sounded to be a real handful (and was eventually named MOTM). Commentators said many times that they were waiting for the equaliser and it came just before half time. Another good half time team talk and Wanderers came out well but gradually Town raised their game and came back into it and scored their winner with 5 mins of ordinary time left. Good chances were wasted by Wanderers in the remaining time left and they failed to equalise. Stats say it all. Heskey netted late on but ruled offside.
Possession50%/50%90mins
Shots
24 8
On target
7 3
Corners
10 2
Fouls
13 5
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Post by OohMac on Dec 28, 2014 18:57:15 GMT
A point would have meant a very decent return from our xmas, shame we lost it late on but looking at the stats cannot complain. We've rode our luck in a few matches(including Huddersfield at the Macron and was going to get punished one week) This still isn't Lennons team, he's done wonders with what he's been left but with the injuries we've had theres no way we can be thinking about play offs.
Lets just hope we can bring some new faces in Jan and give the team the boost.
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Post by davidm on Dec 28, 2014 19:33:15 GMT
Well the run had to end but it ended in a game that we dominated early on but just let slip away until the winning goal became inevitable.
Incredible start with a stunning shot from Pratley after 30 secs and for the next 10/15 minutes we were dominant. We passed it around midfield for fun with some excellent possession football but the problem was it was all in midfield. We had no teeth up front. Gudjohnsen eventually found space and the goalie saved really well. 2-0 may have got us into control but we just faded.
Huddersfield pushed us backed, had corner after corner. Lonergan made what is now becoming his usual 2 or 3 great saves and we looked OK to get to half time.
Then Trotter was so dozy. He got caught in possession on the edge of our box and after 3 or 4 passes Butterfield rocketed it into the net. I’m not 100% sure that Lonergan might have saved it because it went across him at a high position but I’ll wait for the highlights for that.
Second half, Neil Lennon says we controlled but all I saw was loads of midfield possession but nothing up front until Heskey broke and put the ball in only for offside to stop him. He looked offside but I was at the other end.
I said to my son that only one team would score as we became so casual.
Vaughan got through a couple of times, Lonergan saved well again but then Trotter made an awful mistake with a terrible pass, Huddersfield quickly passed the ball forward and Wells was away to score. It was a terrible pass from Trotter but the central defenders were not marking Wells at all.
After that we made a mess of a free kick but really just faded away.
A disappointing performance. One were there was loads of good passes but no bite up front. We really should have tied that game up in the first 25 minutes.
Lonergan - 8 Might have been a 9 but not sure if he couldn’t have got to Butterfields’s goal.
Made some excellent saves yet again.
No chance with the winner.
Vela - 6 Very steady again. He oozes class in his game.
Mills - 6 Centre of defence was a bit shaky today and Vaughan got through on goal a couple of times.
Dervite - 6 Not dominant enough. Nothing terrible but it always looked like Huddersfield would score.
Ream - 6 He was up against a tricky winger and got no help.
Danns - 6 Played very deep and couldn’t influence the forward play.
Pratley - 7 Spectacular goal. Like the others though he faded away.
Chungy - 7 Classy as ever but had no forward players to feed. Will be sorely missed next month.
Gudjohnsen - 7 Class again. The goalie made a superb save from him in the first half but is not an out and out forward.
Trotter - 4 Played as defensive midfield with Danns. Started well but made 2 awful mistakes which both resulted in goals.
Feeney - 6 He combined well with Vela and made some good runs but his crossing is awful. Too many, in fact most, crosses straight into goalie’s hands.
Heskey - 6 He looked well offside for his disallowed goal but apparently he was on. He took it well.
Manager - 7 In the second half, he was a bit too happy to be drawing for me. We invited Huddersfield on in the second half with the inevitable result.
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Post by Trotter on Dec 28, 2014 19:49:13 GMT
Heskey scored a perfectly legit goal, we were very unlucky to lose.
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Post by andyl on Dec 29, 2014 10:16:46 GMT
Couldn't help remembering the one on one horrendous miss by Wells at our ground a few weeks ago. Our luck had to run out sooner or later . It wasInteresting to read the reports. Must have been very cold at the game? All in all as we approach the New Year we are on the up
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Post by andyl on Dec 29, 2014 17:08:38 GMT
Watched the highlights back. Couldn't see whether Heskey was offside.Couldn't tell re a handball so how could the ref hope to? Was surprised though to see that their first goal looked saveable certainly relative to Lonergan's recent form . He has made a number of comparable even harder saves. Still he has done very well for us at key moments recently and is well in credit
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Post by joanna on Dec 29, 2014 19:39:07 GMT
The only person to blame for the two goals was Trotter (with a little help from Danns). Just exactly what does he do, apart from move at snail's pace, fail to exert himself, mis-control, give the ball away and pass to the opposition? He certainly was guilty of all those things at Huddersfield. He had a shocker....no surprise there!
Whereas the Wanderers' man of the match in almost all the media was Lonergan.....again, no surprise there!
As for the Heskey "goal", I think you'll find that the referee was close to the action, had a perfect view and an assistant to help him.....so how could he get it as wrong as he did?
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Post by whitesince63 on Dec 30, 2014 7:19:20 GMT
We can't expect officials to get everything right I suppose and it's always more annoying when it's against you but it happens to all teams over a season. In fairness we've been pretty lucky over our little run really so it had to end some time but it is annoying it's to a team I expect to see finish well below us. Hopefully NL can bring in one or two to pick us up for the second half but I'd prefer one or two of quality rather than the mass of journeymen zFreedman saddled us with. At least one good striker is essential if we are to get anywhere near the play offs which looks unlikely now I'm afraid.
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Post by andyl on Dec 30, 2014 12:10:48 GMT
Re offsides, Joanna you may be posing a rhetorical question but the answer to your question is
1. The referee will have instructed his assistant to take responsibility for offsides and at this level he is not going to overrule his linesman on a point of positioning and will only do so in case of a) the last kick or header being a defender's and b) if in the referee's opinion the player given offside was not interfering with play or seeking to gain an adavantage. So re this decision no blame to the referee
2. The assistant at this level should keep up with play ie the last defender and that's a matter of experience and fitness but can be very difficult. But s/he has a much tougher job than the referee in this respect- s/he has to maintain a line of sight across the field but also has to watch and listen for the moment of the pass and has to see both simultaneously. If s/he exclusively watches the ball for a split second and loses the horizontal line players will have moved. It is very very difficult to do and the closer the assistant is to the action the harder it is to see both. A player or players in the immediate foreground can block line of sight to ball and offside player. It is much easier to pick out offside players on the far side of the field than the near. I am using s/he because in my opinion Sian Massey in the games I have seen her is amongst the best I have seen at getting hairline decisions correct. At championship level the standard of assistant is not usually at the level of the best which she is and ditto more famously Darren Cann- and even he got one wrong recently.
The only solution is the application of technology and review. Someday it may come and we may see games without on field assistants. Personally I can see no problem with allowing each captain two challenges re offside or in and out of play decisions- much as in other sports. And I would dismiss the idea that it would slow up the game unduly. I think the experience of other sports is that it serves to create an ambience of fairness and indeed to moderate appeals borne of frustration
Also re the rhetorical question assistants have been getting these wrong on a weekly basis for every one of the 57 years now that I have been watching BWFC and for all teams. In passing at club level I don't think I ever encountered a forward who thought he was offside! The decisions make good talking points and also an easy get out for managers whose defenders have been ball watching or whose attackers have been inattentive or either who have been the victiom of a retrospectively inaccurate decisionl
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