Peterborough (H)

[radcliffe white]

2 minutes ago, tomski said:

I’d assume he came as a one off. What an odd game to do it in. Surely no one is surrendering 3 years to do that 

Thought that myself go out in style if you’re doing that 

[Arrested development]

2 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Said at the time it was a clear red and the replays are beyond question on that one. Late, studs up, over the ball. Ticks every box. The fact it took place in a completely unnecessary part of the pitch at a critical point in the game just underpins how pivotal it was. And I’m sure Jones knows it, too.

Pleasantly surprised with how well we did as a back four as you wouldn’t have Iredale or Cogley down as natural full backs, but Forrester was a rock and Baxter made a couple of decent saves again (as did his left hand post!)

Thomason was Thomason. Looked neat and tidy at times, but always capable of a misplaced pass and the booking was thick as fuck, even by his standards.

Stumbling across Nlundulu as a right sided midfielder was an unexpected success and JDB’s cameo was comfortably his best of the season.

Stick the clock on the middle ribbon every now and then like they did with the team announcements and it might not feel like I’m trying to watch telly in the house across the road from us. Big fan of showing the 2017/18 goals pre match so if they can build up the video content and get the odd replay shown then we might get back to where we were 25 years ago! Traffic not too bad considering the size of the gate, too. 

Do you not find it worrying that the only time we are happy with Nlundulu is when we aren't expecting him to score?

He wasn't signed as a midfielder. He worked hard yesterday and did a job for the team , but we paid a six figure fee for a striker. He doesn't look like one.

 

[Rizlar]

Red card for me , my issue our I’ll discipline is killing us GT booked again at this rate he will be getting more and more bans, Gethin was stupid this ref was known for handing out red cards and he puts in a stupid tackle. 
Biggest issue our manager sick of him ranting and raving at the officials concentrate on the game !!! 
Midfield is a major issue Evatt as not sorted it from last season otherwise battling point, 

[CumbrianWhite]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Swear we are a team of thickos.

Theres only Sheehan, JDB and Santos with any kind of footballing brain.

Passing in to danger, taking the wrong option, not getting Charles away quicker.

 

Correct, considering Evatt likes us to control possession, be intelligent with the ball, we’ve signed players who clearly aren’t capable of that.  
 

Johnstone is proving to be a huge miss this year also. Our left side of iredale and Williams is lower league one at best. 

[Cheese]

9 hours ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

How come ? It was a straight red = 3 games as far as I'm aware.

It's only 3 games if it's 'violent conduct'. Like when Kachunga punched that FGR player last season.

[ianofcleveleys]

8 hours ago, RoadRunnerFan said:

Agree with this to an extent but think we are having a rough time with refs. 

Most weeks we have more ball, less fouls but more bookings. Was the same against Wigan. 

The thing is, I don't think we're a particularly ill disciplined, temperamental or nasty team. Most of our bookings, in my eye, are because we're naive and weak defensively and expose ourselves to making desperate tackles, when players are getting away from them.

Iredale's yellow yesterday was down to his slow reaction to a situation and not having the pace to get there first. Jones's red similar, exposed again out wide, done for pace, desperate tackle. JDC dived in on a similar one for his, Dempsey's a cynical one when it looked like they might break on us late on.

The 3-5-2 shape, against good teams with quick, physical wide men was killing us last season and is again this. As has been said, they exposed it yesterday as Wigan did and, last season, Ipswich, Port Vale and others. We did indeed look steadier with a man short late on when in a 4.

We aren't going to have all Evatt's favoured personnel for his system back and on the grass at once for weeks yet, maybe time to ditch the stubbornness in adversity and be more pragmatic. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by ianofcleveleys

[gonzo]

13 minutes ago, CumbrianWhite said:

Correct, considering Evatt likes us to control possession, be intelligent with the ball, we’ve signed players who clearly aren’t capable of that.  
 

Johnstone is proving to be a huge miss this year also. Our left side of iredale and Williams is lower league one at best. 

Aye its definitely a concern that left hand side. Iredale is a real worry, out-fought and out-jumped continually, so slow as well. He had a torrid time in that first half.

Williams was having a right battle with that Kioso, if he had any pace hed have rinsed  the big goon, instead it was scrapping for throw-ins and corners.

Weve no pace in the team.

[embankment]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Wonder how the bloke who ran on the pitch feels this morning?

Absolute muppet,  are we convinced he is a Bolton fan ? Those stewards who completely failed to take him out on the pitch need binning off .

 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by embankment
Add more waffle

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

9 minutes ago, Cheese said:

It's only 3 games if it's 'violent conduct'. Like when Kachunga punched that FGR player last season.

I think it's violent conduct or serious foul play, isn't it?

[ianofcleveleys]

12 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Aye its definitely a concern that left hand side. Iredale is a real worry, out-fought and out-jumped continually, so slow as well. He had a torrid time in that first half.

Williams was having a right battle with that Kioso, if he had any pace hed have rinsed  the big goon, instead it was scrapping for throw-ins and corners.

Weve no pace in the team.

If your two wing backs play as high as Evatt wants them too, because he sees them as 'wing forwards' more than 'wing backs' the two wide centre backs have to have space and quick reactions to cover the spaces behind them. Iredale and Jones are liabilities in those positions 

[W.cramp]

15 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Aye its definitely a concern that left hand side. Iredale is a real worry, out-fought and out-jumped continually, so slow as well. He had a torrid time in that first half.

Williams was having a right battle with that Kioso, if he had any pace hed have rinsed  the big goon, instead it was scrapping for throw-ins and corners.

Weve no pace in the team.

Iredale is not good enough full stop, he was shown up in that Wigan debacle for what he is.   

 

[Rizlar]

2 minutes ago, W.cramp said:

Iredale is not good enough full stop, he was shown up in that Wigan debacle for what he is.   

 

Agree he was poor again yesterday . 

[W.cramp]

11 minutes ago, embankment said:

Absolute muppet,  are we convinced he is a Bolton fan ? Those stewards who completely failed to take him out on the pitch need binning off .

 

 

Was nice of the ref though to not add any time on for that.  4 minutes added time, he blew up at 4 mins 20 odd seconds, seemed a tad strange,  I was expecting another 3 minutes.

[RUREADY2ROLL]

Didn’t think it was a red card but looking at the videos it was a stupid challenge and he deserved to be sent off. Kioso should have gone earlier though for diving. The last few games has seen yellows cards for almost every foul but our opponents getting away with murder. 

[desperado]

6 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Iredale and Jones are liabilities in those positions 

Not always. First 3 games of the season they weren’t. 

So maybe it’s the level of opposition that determines their capability? I think so, maybe Evatt does too, especially with Iredale, probably less so Jones.

LCB, if fit you’ve definitely got Johnstone, more recently he’s opted for Toal and there’s also Ashworth.

RCB is a bit more competitive and less straightforward as I feel Jones still has a big part to play - but Toal and Forrester are probably the future and maybe sooner than we think.

But it’s a squad game and Jones and Iredale are a big part of that. If we have better than them, then great, we probably have. But they have played a part already in helping us pick up valuable points and I’m sure they will do again in the future.

Always against the grain after a game we don’t win and I know people seem to feed off negativity more. But maybe it’s a positive take that we do have squad depth. And a Squad that yesterday showed lots of character. 

[RUREADY2ROLL]

Iredale and Jones started the season so well but have been useless since Wigan took the piss. In addition we can’t handle a team that presses us and has pace. We won’t be even getting in the playoffs unless we improve dramatically.

[Duck Egg]

My biggest bug bear - 2 minutes to go, we've had a couple of late attacks, the crowds up and we got a free kick then a throw in deep in their half.  We went sideways and backwards with both of them.

I know it's not the done thing these days, but a long throw in by Randy to see if we could cause panic in their box? 

Edited September 24, 2023 by Duck Egg

[embankment]

12 minutes ago, W.cramp said:

Was nice of the ref though to not add any time on for that.  4 minutes added time, he blew up at 4 mins 20 odd seconds, seemed a tad strange,  I was expecting another 3 minutes.

I think he knew he had antagonised us enough and his afternoons work was done.

Would have been on the refs "let's screw up BWFC " Whats App "group.  Gloating by 17.31.

[RUREADY2ROLL]

Thomason give the first goal away with a reckless pass to nobody and got another booking; unfortunately we don’t have anyone any better for that defensive midfield position and the recruitment has been appalling the last couple of transfer windows. We could try Morley again but it’s a worry.

We stole a point yesterday but against Reading gifted them 3.

 

We need Santos back ASAP and Forrester and Toal with him.

[RUREADY2ROLL]

Thought both Vic and Dion were poor yesterday up top and even worst when they came back with losing possession in dangerous areas. Both put a massive shift in thought and Dion absolutely run his socks off. 

[Greg_BWFC]

6 minutes ago, Duck Egg said:

My biggest bug bear - 2 minutes to go, we've had a couple of late attacks, the crowds up and we got a free kick then a throw in deep in their half.  We went sideways and backwards with both of then.

I know it's not the done thing these days, but a long throw in by Randy to see if we could cause panic in their box? 

It's as if we don't want to score a scruffy/scabby goal, weird.

Long thought that at this level, the easiest way to profit is to give the other defence a chance to mess up.

Given how hard the team had to work yesterday, the long throw you talk about would've been a good option at that point, Bod was causing them problems when the ball was bouncing around.

Still made up with the point though.

[Zico]

3 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

 

Pleasantly surprised with how well we did as a back four as you wouldn’t have Iredale or Cogley down as natural full backs, but Forrester was a rock and Baxter made a couple of decent saves again (as did his left hand post!)

 

Pretty sure Iredale was LB at Cambridge and when he first came the plan was to use him as LWB when the plan was to defend as alternative to DJ

Then with absence of GJ and RW being full time LWB he's ended up in the back 3

[ianofcleveleys]

22 minutes ago, desperado said:

So maybe it’s the level of opposition that determines their capability? I think so, maybe Evatt does too, especially with Iredale, probably less so Jones.

I did say, maybe in another post, against better opposition, we got away with it first three games against two lots of relegation fodder and a Lincoln that had an off day

When Iredale was playing LWB last season he looked short of pace on the turn at times, even more exposed in a 3. Toal, Forrester, Santos the best we've got and can't be on the pitch together soon enough. 

[Eddie]

25 minutes ago, desperado said:

Not always. First 3 games of the season they weren’t. 

So maybe it’s the level of opposition that determines their capability? I think so, maybe Evatt does too, especially with Iredale, probably less so Jones.

LCB, if fit you’ve definitely got Johnstone, more recently he’s opted for Toal and there’s also Ashworth.

RCB is a bit more competitive and less straightforward as I feel Jones still has a big part to play - but Toal and Forrester are probably the future and maybe sooner than we think.

But it’s a squad game and Jones and Iredale are a big part of that. If we have better than them, then great, we probably have. But they have played a part already in helping us pick up valuable points and I’m sure they will do again in the future.

Always against the grain after a game we don’t win and I know people seem to feed off negativity more. But maybe it’s a positive take that we do have squad depth. And a Squad that yesterday showed lots of character. 

We played Lincoln, Cheltenham and Fleetwood - 3 teams that will be battling for relegation come the end of the season. The fact they did well against those and then looked shite against the likes of Wigan and Peterborough suggest their level is mid table L1 - not pushing for promotion.

I’ll admit, I thought Iredale would be perfect in that position as he’s a natural LB and so can support Williams going forward (and he did in the first few games) but my god they’ve been found out as soon as we’ve played anyone half decent. How the fuck we’ve gone into this season with that left hand side is criminal! Partially stubbornness in backing his signing of Williams - who everyone else can see is bang average at best, and partially due to injury.

[Wanderlust]

21 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

The thing is, I don't think we're a particularly ill disciplined, temperamental or nasty team. Most of our bookings, in my eye, are because we're naive and weak defensively and expose ourselves to making desperate tackles, when players are getting away from them.

Iredale's yellow yesterday was down to his slow reaction to a situation and not having the pace to get there first. Jones's red similar, exposed again out wide, done for pace, desperate tackle. JDC dived in on a similar one for his, Dempsey's a cynical one when it looked like they might break on us late on.

The 3-5-2 shape, against good teams with quick, physical wide men was killing us last season and is again this. As has been said, they exposed it yesterday as Wigan did and, last season, Ipswich, Port Vale and others. We did indeed look steadier with a man short late on when in a 4.

We aren't going to have all Evatt's favoured personnel for his system back and on the grass at once for weeks yet, maybe time to ditch the stubbornness in adversity and be more pragmatic. 

Ferguson dropped the tricky Randall in favour of serious pace down the wings and although the wingers he put out couldn't cross for toffee it pushed back Williams and Cogley far too often for our liking and negated a key element of Evatt's 352 approach throughout the first half.

And that's the problem with  sticking to 352 - get down the sides/behind the wingbacks and it's panic stations - credit to Ferguson for tactical nous. When RJJ got behind Cogley and Jones was exposed to his pace simply standing him up or shepherding him into the corner and waiting for reinforcements would have done the job because RJJ has no end product but in that situation - and knowing that the ref is twitchy - the last thing Jones should have done is dive in, but he did and it cost the team.

For once I have to give credit to Evatt's in game management though - his  response to going down to 10 was to forget the raiding WB scenario (which wasn't working anyway) go narrow AND to realise it was no longer Dion and Vic's type of game. Left it a bit late IMO but sticking Dan and Bod on did so much to relieve the pressure. Dan was winning headers and getting knock ons and I don't think I've seen JDB work so hard before and he has class and nous. That said I wouldn't get carried away with the idea of either of them starting regularly - it just developed into the kind of game that suited their abilities. Dion and Vic are both animals when it comes to pressing and closing down so it's different abilities for different situations IMO

As for Ferguson he spent way too long getting his players to lump it into our box. OK it's makes sense after seeing the goals we conceded against Reading and with Santos height being missing but it didn't work and they needed something else to break us down - and as the Posh fans are saying, they haven't got a plan B.

Evatt is very clear on how he wants us to play but it's predictable and tactically easy to expose. If we were Barca or City the opposition would know what we're going to do but wouldn't be able to do much about stopping it because of the precision with which their plans are executed. It's one thing to admire and want to emulate a style of play, but without the quality of players they have it's a very, very high risk approach and sometimes we'll get burned.