Gillingham

[Johnnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Rudy said:

Aimson looked good 

Yeah, first time I've seen him, I was surprised he looked so assured, dominant and excellent in possession.  Definitely a real option, not just an occasional stand in on that showing.

[BobyBrno]

16 minutes ago, BWFC_LOVE said:

Thought the crowd were very good considering. Had we gone two down in the first half five years ago there would be much more disgruntlement.

Lee and John excellent. 

Really don’t get Kachunga. If he has a part to play it’s off the bench for me, where he chipped in with a couple of assists early doors.

Massive result that; not because of the point, more down to the fact it’s shown we have fight and we’ve broken that dry spell in front of goal. Hopefully we can kick on now. 
We won’t go up and we won’t go down. But the togetherness is there after a difficult week and hopefully we push on. 

You must have gone downstairs before the first half finished. Lots of boo’s as they came off. Agree with the rest though. 

[bolton va va]

Another 1st half struggle, disjointed with the ball, defensively disorganised with some horrible individual mistakes & physically bullied by what seemed to be a much bigger team.

After a shaky start to the 2nd half we started to stand up to the physical stuff & increasingly pushed Gillingham back, mostly by Isgrove & John's attacking play, all led by Lee driving forward

As Gillingham tired ( the"geddit forward", "geddit in the mixer " types won't understand why ) the chances started to come & the players showed a real fighting spirit. A long way from perfect with a lot of work on the defence needed but  happy with the fightback.

MOTM    -   Lee.

[Guest]

Interesting afternoon 

For the first 79 minutes it was the goes wrong football show, but alright in the end.

Teams have us sussed; can we work out hoss we to counteract?

[Tonge moor green jacket]

1 minute ago, BobyBrno said:

You must have gone downstairs before the first half finished. Lots of boo’s as they came off. Agree with the rest though. 

To be honest, they deserved a bit of stick on the first half performance. Even Evatt said they lacked confidence and belief.

During the game though, obviously there some groans when passes went astray etc but the crowd responded well, particularly once we started to dominate the second half.

More there than I expected too.

[bolton va va]

3 minutes ago, BobyBrno said:

You must have gone downstairs before the first half finished. Lots of boo’s as they came off. Agree with the rest though. 

A small minority & probably the same ones who left before we scored, but i thought the majority got behind the team in the 2nd half.

[Burndens Bogs]

Katchunga reminds me of a shit Jardel - and he was fucking woeful.

I don’t get the shit Isgrove is getting after todays game, he worked his bollox off and was way better than Brocky.

Not quite sure why Sheehan was hooked as he was playing well imo.

We’ve stopped the rot & we’ve scored 2 goals from open play….. it’s a start at least.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

1 minute ago, boltondiver said:

Interesting afternoon 

For the first 79 minutes it was the goes wrong football show, but alright in the end.

Teams have us sussed; can we work out hoss we to counteract?

Just don't give stupid goals away.

We might not be the strongest team, but they're very fit. Keep working at it, maybe a couple more players in January and we'll be right.

[bolton_blondie]

58 minutes ago, Kane57 said:

Kachunga for Bakayoko was an obvious sub from 15mins in. Kachunga is proper shit.

 

My daughter has started coming with me (she's 10) and for 88 minutes she was moaning about how boring it was and if we could leave early, but then walking out at full time after that last 5-6 minutes she turned and asked 'when is the next game'. Another one hooked for life.

Same. Mine moaned all the way through then those 2 goals went in and I had to grab her coat to stop her falling into the people in front of us. She'll be back. She has no choice 😂

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, superkev said:

Last 30 mins was good. Not just last 5

Correct.  Yes we could have conceded 4 in the first 50 odd minutes, but we deserved to score well before the 80th minute and its the first game I can remember since the Cheltenham game in January when it felt like the opposition keeper had made saves and effected the result.

[Cheese]

4 minutes ago, Burndens Bogs said:

Katchunga reminds me of a shit Jardel - and he was fucking woeful.

I don’t get the shit Isgrove is getting after todays game, he worked his bollox off and was way better than Brocky.

Not quite sure why Sheehan was hooked as he was playing well imo.

We’ve stopped the rot & we’ve scored 2 goals from open play….. it’s a start at least.

Isgrove is probably our best player at the moment.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Burndens Bogs said:

Katchunga reminds me of a shit Jardel - and he was fucking woeful.

I don’t get the shit Isgrove is getting after todays game, he worked his bollox off and was way better than Brocky.

Not quite sure why Sheehan was hooked as he was playing well imo.

We’ve stopped the rot & we’ve scored 2 goals from open play….. it’s a start at least.

Kachunga just isn’t a footballer 

decent shot today was the first positive contribution I can recall.

[radcliffe white]

323 away fans 

[Johnnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Mr Grey said:

If only Isgrove had an end product, he must have had 10 chances to either pick out a man or put in a dangerous ball, he didn't manage one.

Conceding first again, I've fuck all to say, IE needs to sort that out. 

Santos isn't a captain, it seemed to weigh heavy on him.

Showed some character coming back from 2 down, Dapo looked good in the 10 role, although we missed his width as Kachunga was the invisible man, by god he  has been fucking shite!

Lee MotM, never stopped moving and showing for the ball.

 

Agreed, that's the best I've seen him play, great positive attitude, pivotal in nearly every attack.  Great to watch when he plays like that, and Isgrove was superb too, accepting his final balls were hit and miss. 

[ErnestTurnip]

Shows how we all see things differently, I thought Aimson looked poor although he did settle. Williams looked very unsure about him and kept going to cover the same man.

The emotion Dapo was showing towards the end, was fantastic to see.

[Johnnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Mantra said:

What pissed me off tactically in second half was that we had a right footed Kachunga on the left wing. And left-footed Bakayoko on the right wing.

Apart from one long range effort from Kachunga, neither of them used their inside forward role effectively and constantly were trying to put in crosses on their weak foot.

Dapo seems our only capable inside forward. 

Yes that was very frustrating.  IE is obsessed with wingers playing on the wrong side, even when Fonz came on he played on the left.  I thought Bakayoko did OK, no more and no less, but he's a fish out of water on the right wing, he's a centre forward but if he has to play out wide at least let him use his left foot because his right is for standing on.

[jules_darby]

2 minutes ago, Mr Grey said:

Really ??? 

Above Lee and Dapo, fucking bold statement that fella, its either your deluded or expecting a rise, I think it maybe the latter.

It’s an odd statement indeed

IMO:

Isgrove puts in a shift but his delivery is poor. John the better of the 2 for us IMO.

We have to stop conceding shit goals where we’re nowhere near 2nd balls.

They were a big side today and at times we were out-muscled; similar to Wigan who were faster and stronger than us; Rico, Williams and poss Bakayoko aside we are worryingly physically weak IMO. Kachunga is particularly powder puff.

Although he made a decent double save, Dixon doesn’t command at all either; if we want to progress (next season maybe) then we need a better keeper for sure. Sadly I’d say the same for Doyle; I like the lad but he isn’t good enough for the top end of league 1 for me.

I also fear we are overly laborious going forwards; we got the best change out of it by playing the diag over their fullback’s heads and had them on the turn but too often we didn’t play it in when we could - Isgrove particularly guilty. We then turn back/cut in and by then our runners have stopped and they’re all back in position, the box is crowded and inevitably we get blocked out. Our decision making and execution in the final third is so bad. 

Final worry for me is the huge over-reliance on Dapo. Give it him, stand and watch - been the same the last 3 games. It’s not fair to put it all on his shoulders.

Promisingly we stuck with it but if we want to push on, we need half a dozen better players 

[Offshore]

beat pompey away next week and everything is fkn roses again...................

[Ani]

The real big take from today is that we are still a team and that last 20 minutes will do a lot for team spirit. 
 

Have said all season at some point playing too much football will fuck us over, very lucky to get away with it today  Santos was awful today, first goal him and MJ in midfield and then he got beat in the middle, on half time he gave ball away trying to beat their centre forward. As bad a game  as I have seen him have for ages  He has plenty of credit in the bank however. 
See the comments on Isgrove and his end product was disappointing but him and Lee (different gravy) combined well and helped turn the tide.

Not sure if the last 20 minutes has papered over cracks or is a big step in the right direction, hopefully the latter. 

[ianofcleveleys]

After last few results, and the manner of them, team talk ought to have been one sentence, 'start fast, don't concede first'. All out the window after a woeful 20 minutes. Teams have us well and truly sussed, get at us early doors and knock us off our game before we get going. Onus is on us from minute one to earn the right to play how we want, we're just not grasping that. 

We showed great character to keep pummelling them last half hour till they cracked, and could even have won if that thunderbolt from Dapo had gone in at end. It papered over a lot that was wrong though, we looked lightweight and soft centred, Isgrove (who was great coming forward last 20 mins) is not a full back, especially with such a nonentity as Kachunga in front of him, MJ was overworked again whenever we lost it and our back four needs two 'pivots' in front of them, they aren't good enough at this level without. Sheehan shows nice touches but too easily brushed off it.

Doyle needs a partner, to help him get involved in game, spends too long with no-one close to him to be as effective as he could be. When Baka came on and got about them in his vicinity things started dropping and he was unlucky not to score late on. Moving Dapo into the no 10 role was Evatt's best decision of the day, caused havoc for last 25 mins, superb goal and nearly won it.

First priority for me in Jan, other than obviously a right back, is an aggressive ball winning DM to give protection to defence and set counters going. We have to start nilling the opposition in a few games and building a more secure platform to play our game from, rather than constantly chasing games because we've shipped a cheap goal (or two). At the minute we look like a League 1 Arsenal, capable of great football, great goals and entertainment but flaky, soft centred and easily bullied. 

We did deserve at least a point in the end but Gillingham were rubbish, worst team we've played and we made an absolute meal of dealing with them. Great backing in that last 15-20 mins, must have helped them keep on pounding away till the death.

[wanderer1984]

1 hour ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Did you back it?

I was wondering if he might stick Baka more central with Doyle, and remove Kachunga. Crosses aplenty coming in, especially from the right, causing problems.

Confidence is a major factor in all this, and we were low first half, and they were on top of our lads. 

An excellent response though.

I don't think it was right to play Isgrove at right back, especially with Kachunga in front, but once we got on the front foot, he was playing as a winger anyhow, and was very good.

Still think we could play some of the crosses in earlier, with the attackers bearing down on their goal- they defended pretty well to our slower build up.

👍🏻

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Whitesince63 said:

Keep the team that finished today to start next week and for me No10 is where Dapo should be, he affects the play so much better there than out wide and with Amaechi nearly ready, bin Kachunga, just doesn’t do it I’m afraid. What a comeback though, we’ll done Whites and IE for not buckling.

I don't think your Fonz's biggest fan, I'd be surprised if you want him to start next week or any week!  I agree Dapo is better utilised as a No 10, on the wing he rarely puts a cross in anyway, its not his game.  Kachunga is poor but today was one of his better games, had a header on target (our 2nd of the season?) and a decent effort from 20 yards, which I've never seen from him before. 

[CambridgeBWFC]

I like Isgrove, he works his bollocks off and can cause problems,  his final ball does let him down but he isn't the only one to do that in those positions. I honestly don't think we practice crossing from wide as every player seems clueless when in those positions and our defence clearly hasn't got a clue what to do either.

Sheehan was ok in spells but awful in others, that back pass 2nd half was criminal. Dapo much better through the centre and harder for teams to pick him up.

 

Kachunga is SHIT, throw in first half straight to them, second half he had a chance of a break, got to the ball first and just smashed it out of play. Pulled out of a few others as well. 

[L/H White]

Tbf to Isgrove, we haven't a player within the squad who can put a decent delivery in

It's been our achilles heel all season 

Quarter of the way through the season and Sheehan is still on corner's, that needs addressing 

 

[RONNIE PHILLIPS]

39 minutes ago, Burndens Bogs said:

Katchunga reminds me of a shit Jardel - and he was fucking woeful.

I don’t get the shit Isgrove is getting after todays game, he worked his bollox off and was way better than Brocky.

Not quite sure why Sheehan was hooked as he was playing well imo.

We’ve stopped the rot & we’ve scored 2 goals from open play….. it’s a start at least.

Sheehan got hooked straight after yet another careless pass. I'm a big fan of his but he was shocking today & he definitely needs to be taken off corner duties.