saintant

Think that is down to improving his match fitness and, hopefully, he'll get stronger yet with more minutes on the pitch. He really deserves an injury free run - if he gets it he'll score goals and be a handful for any defence. He's what we've needed as long as he stays fit because he is a very good striker. He won us the 3 points tonight because that second goal was a worldy struck with great precision and power - it'll encourage him to hit more shots from distance. The first was a smart finish and taken with calmness. Good signs.

No, it was a tidy finish in the chaos of a crowded penalty area. Stewart took it with coolness and placed it firmly and accurately where others may have panicked and fluffed the chance.

Yeah, you missed their player backing forcefully into McCarthy as he went to jump for the ball. Clear foul all day long.

I've heard that 🙂

Agree. I actually thought Downes and Jander worked really well together against Liverpool and was surprised Will Still decided not to stick with that pairing.

I think he's winning a few over because, unsurprisingly, he's had his doubters. Needs to stay fit and get stronger now and he could score a load of goals for us.

Agree on the ref - nearly every tackle from both teams resulted in a free kick. The worst one being when O'Hare went down with zero contact from Edwards yet he gives them a free kick.

He was playing as a wing back so had to be disciplined and do his fair share of defending - I think it wastes what he offers further up the pitch.

Agree Quarshie struggled today. He's got a foot like a JCB shovel at times.

Agree but we were sleeping at the free kick which is unforgivable.

The positives, 3 much needed points and 2 goals from Stewart the second of which was a belter. He is beginning to look the part as our centre forward. Edwards had a good game other than letting the ball glance of his foot for the corner from which Utd scored the disallowed effort - rightly so because their guy backed forcefully into McCarthy. We still look very disjointed and slow in our build up with possession given away far too cheaply. Too much passing between defenders. We don't manage the game at all well when we get ahead - a collective panic sets in and we just lump the ball aimlessly away from our goal then back peddle as it inevitably comes back. Lots to work on and clearly we're not going to be a promotion contender unless things improve by a massive amount. Celebrate the hard fought win but we remain poor all over the pitch.

He's doing too much walking football today and engaging in the Russball fest.

That penalty! Did anyone ever see Tiss or Lambert start their run up with the ball straight in front of them and then have to bend the run? No, they approached it from an angle, made a simple run up and smashed the ball into the net. What is the point of bending your run up to a penalty kick?

Why have we turned into a prime Russball side? Walking football at the back, sideways, backwards...drives me nuts. I thought we'd seen the end of that rubbish. Every time Manning gets it he goes backwards, Quarshie and Wood both walking, only Edwards has got it right. Sort it out Will because this is not good enough. Showing why we will be well outside the promotion shake up come the end of the season. As for the finishing, Arma can't even hit the target from a softly awarded penalty. Big improvement and increase of tempo needed second half. Hopeless!

So was Stephens left out on Saturday because of this 'injury?' Will Still has not mentioned an injury to him in his press conferences. Strange.

Or ''Still City''

We've scored 8 goals in 7 games which kind of proves my point.

I struggle to see where our goals will come from judging by how we've lined up so far. Fellows will get crosses in but we've no big forward to convert them - we scored from his deflected cross on Saturday but that was the exception rather than the rule. To me chance creation and scoring goals is a massive problem and I'm not sure how Will Still addresses it with the players at his disposal.

Hopefully not to us.

That would have been a very brave thing to do but, in hindsight, probably the right call. What I would say is that it has taken far too many managers far too long before someone works out that we will play better without clunky Jack Stephens dithering and slowing everything down. Good lad he may be but decent footballer he's not. It's now almost like we're starting our season all over again and hopefully we'll build on the positives from the last two games without the handicap of JS, THB and Bazunu now that it's been worked out that you can actually drop those who have previously been viewed by some misguided souls as the mainstays of the team.

Or maybe it's because we have short players competing against giants.

Yeah because we don't score from crosses so no point putting a stream of them in with nobody to get on the end of them. For us to get the most out of Fellows we need him to score some goals because he aint getting many assists in this team. He'll have far more opportunity to score by cutting in from the left and shooting with his right. Liverpool do it all the time from both wings and it can work for us because we get nothing out of crossing as we have no dominant centre forward and mainly short forwards.

If it is us then maybe Will Still should tell the Chairman he has no confidence in some of the players and single out Capt Jack and THB plus others. It works both ways.

Watch him do the same against us next week 🙂

Surely Jason Wilcox will be looking to poach Russell Martin.