Eddie

Calm down you bunch of wet wipes. See what happens on Tuesday

Lusty likes this

Another reason why any kind of interest or passion in England results is just not a thing for me. Football at the highest level is getting shitter and shitter. I want Bolton to win every game to get promoted to the championship. I want us to get there so we can play games that feel like they have more importance because they are either local (Blackburn, Preston, Burnley assuming they’re relegated) or just bigger (West Brom, Boro etc). The issue then comes that id want us to win enough to get promoted… but i now hate everything to do with either the premier league, international football or the top level of the game. It’s wank, its corrupt, its full of VAR and other shit that is so far away from the fundamentals that make you love football that I don’t know why you’d even brother. Give me a winner at Mansfield away than a “World Cup” win any day of the week

Any chance our fan base can make some judgements over a bit longer than the last game they watched. That was great to watch, there were some great performances but it in no way reflected a competitive league match. Just like a draw at Luton doesn’t mean we’re doomed to not get promoted again, nor does a good performance against a half asleep Bradford team who were only concerned about what time they’ll get back home mean that our players are suddenly world beaters, they can only play in certain positions, we don’t need (arguably) the best player in the league anymore and they’re really any different than the whole season has shown us. The key positive out of all of it was Cissoko clearly buzzing with confidence, that is a genuine change from what we have seen so far and could alter his form for the league. I wouldn’t be disappointed to see him start v Mansfield (Tutu at the weekend) and let him hopefully build on that confidence.

Still think it’s misleading just based on the occasion (lack of fans) and effort from those players. I don’t think that players start half-arsed, but you only need to look at the amount of 3, 4, 5 and 6s being scored tonight in the competition which tells you all you need to know about players’ desire to put full effort in when they go behind. We’ve played really well, and shouldn’t take away from that, but these lot have played at about 70% since the 3rd went in - hence it could easily have been 7 or 8 if we took some of the ridiculous amount of chances.

Just before we get too excited, there are definitely a few Bradford players out there who look like they have no intention of putting full effort in for the last 20 mins of a glorified training game in which they’re 3-0 down. It’s very easy to look good right now (without sounding too negative).

Beautiful. Can’t believe Dalby didn’t shoot but fair play, on a plate for Forss. Cissoko looking less and less like a headless chicken. Nice ball to pick out Randall (and a nice lay off from him to Dalby)

I know it’s a glorified training game, and this doesn’t take into account how a very in-form Sheehan gets in, but a central midfield of Simons and Erhahon just works - looks balanced, strong, quick and aggressive.

Cissoko looking a real player, full of confidence, 2 great finishes and now looking for the ball at all times. Dalby on the other hand… falling over the ball on the left and then zero instinct behind the defender with that peach of a ball from Christie. He really could do with a few things happening for him and soon!

You and players playing out of position. 😂 I can categorically say I never want to see Forrester play anywhere other than centre back for us.

Out of interest… how do you play both wings? Cozier on the left and Duberry on the right? I don’t disagree with the point around Burstow being isolated, but the idea that ACD can somehow switch from wing to wing and not have any impact on the defensive shape and set up is madness. For as long as ACD is so important to us, we’re playing wingers. We either figure out how the 10 gets closer to Burstow to help him, or we fix it in January. ACD doesn’t move from where he is. It’s akin to sticking Dapo at left wing back to fit a preferred system - your best players play in their best positions.

Go on, give us the lyrics, for us shit fans that weren’t there 😂

I’m with you, start him in both and tell Burstow to head off somewhere for a few days and get his feet up. Forss / McAtee can play back up striker in both games. Hopefully Dalby gets a few across both games - I don’t like to make any kind of judgement on any player that’s getting 20 minutes here and there… but he doesn’t look much of a footballer at the moment 🥴

To be fair, that’s essentially what he’s doing. Gale’s generally been our first choice left winger - he’s been injured and Tutu is his replacement. Tutu is perfectly good enough as a back up winger in a L1 team.

It’s not glass half full, it’s a fact. Nobody is making it sound like we’re cruising to promotion, we’re not and it’s unlikely that we will. We are 2nd in the form table over both the last 5 games and also 10 - considering that includes games against Bradford, Huddersfield, Luton, Cardiff and Wigan, I’d say we’ve done pretty well and have improved - it’s the first 6/7 games that mean we’re not top of the league. On paper, our next 10 games are nowhere near as difficult. My prediction is that we’ll be in the top 2 after Wigan away.

There’s in not a fucking chance that Stevenage make the top 2 this season. They are 10/1 to be promoted and are second in the league with a game in hand. We’re 3/1. They just won’t sustain it, we’ve seen it every season. They might cling on to a play off spot but even that I’d be surprised. Our away form has been poor. And yet we’re 3 points from our aim. Of course it needs to get better (we’ve just got 4 points from Luton and Huddersfield so are improving), but then again it doesn’t need to by much if our home form stays so ridiculously good.

We’re 3 points off automatic promotion, and that’s Stevenage who will drop away in the new year (if not before). We’ve caught up. It’s a shit league, it’s an even league, the whole 2ppg thing is almost irrelevant if nobody else is. Fact of the matter is that after a start that has hardly been anything special, we’re 1 result away from our aim for the season.

I don’t disagree, but it wasn’t when he’d gone forward that he was caught in behind. Time after time in the first half it was a simple ball over his shoulder that he was underneath and their winger got in behind. Most of the time Johnston made it across and covered him. I don’t want to get on his back because he’s had an overall great start to the season, but he looks poor at the moment. Not sure Taylor is the answer though - hard to show anything with 20 mins here or there but he looks like he’s away with the fairies.

Great start, goal was a proper team move with some quality from Tutu and Dempsey picking up those positions where the opposition can’t pick him up. I had it on the Luton commentary and they were seriously concerned at how easily we opened them up. Then it all changed. They had the next 75 mins of the game. Not a battering by any means (up until the sending off) but they were in the driving seat. Centre backs were brilliant again, TSL was assured. Full backs were gash, both of them. The centre backs bailed them out time and time again. Simons had a good game in midfield (never a red - first yellow was harsh, second wasn’t even a foul) and Dempsey had a brilliant first half but ineffective second. Morley was generally a waste of space and left us seriously short in midfield - they over ran us and he added nothing. Burstow is struggling. He’s more isolated without Forss close to him and is out of form. Nothing stuck, he rarely found a white shirt and doesn’t currently look a goal threat (I’m a big fan, I just think he’s out of form). Problem is, Dalby looks anything but a capable replacement. I wouldn’t be disappointed to see him start up top v Mansfield with Burstow rested but it’s more out of hope than anything I’ve seen of him. If we’d have nicked a win then it was true smash and grab. A point away at Luton is a good result, regardless - if we follow it up with wins against Mansfield and Exeter then the last 2 draws turn into really good results. Biggest question mark for me is waiting until the 73rd minute to make the first change. That game was crying out to be switched up and shored up from about the 55th minute - I’ve no idea why he took so long. Did it cost us, not sure you can say that, but it didn’t help. We’re still going up.

Our corners are nothing short of horrendous. May as well just let them have a goal kick and get back into our shape

Conway’s been done over the top at least 4 times now. He needs to sort his positioning

Be nice if Burstow or Morley could find a white shirt

What a team goal that is

Great result… and a nice one for different reasons in the other early kick off!

As expected. Glad to see 3 more genuine midfielders and a full back on the bench. Still don’t get the inclusion of 2 players for the same place on the bench (McAtee and Forss) but it’s hardly a big deal.