Tommy Mulgrew

George Kirby?

Nobody on here, and I mean nobody, minds playing out from the back. What some do mind, however, is continuing to play around at the back when we are so effectively pressed that we cannot play out and so gift the ball to an opposition player, with the real possibility of us conceding a goal because we are still in or near our penalty area. All that is required is for us to vary our tactics when we find that our preferred way of playing is under too much pressure. By becoming less predictable we would become harder to play against. And thereby more successful. That is not an attack on RM; it is merely a wish that he should be more flexible and thereby more successful in what really matters: promotion (not the highest possible possession and pass completion statistics). Why some on here cannot see that completely defeats me.

That is precisely the point.

But not yesterday.

Our slow and ponderous crab-football when chasing a winner or an equaliser towards the end of a game. Exciting and incisive? Nah.

Not “Fishy” I hope.

Two-paced or even three-paced, not one-paced; positive, not negative, and progressive, incisive passing; fewer backward or sideways passes when scope for going forward exists; running forward off-the-ball into spaces; speed, not walking pace, in the counter-attack and urgency when chasing the game: all those would help. But he seems not to value them. That is why, IMO, he comes in for criticism on here. Of course we all recognise the good things. Some of us want more. Who, except one or two I could name, is to say we are wrong?

IMO, more like Monsieur Hulot while playing footie on holiday. Agree he was v good yesterday and before Afcon.

IMO the problems with “automatisms” and giving the ball away were caused by the absence of Downes, the presence of Brooks on the right wing and of Rothwell in midfield and Charles and Smallbone doing precious little right, partly caused by the two former points. Because many of our usual passing lanes were not there, we slowed down to almost walking pace and could not play with our usual (recent) intensity. Putting those things right would improve things considerably. Brooks as RW is hopeless because he does not track back defensively and he takes AA’s place, forcing the latter to the centre; AA is not a CF. If Brooks starts as a 10, he will still have to do some defensive work and will have to have a better idea of the automatic passing lines to him than he did at Bristol. If we play both JR and DB without having Downes, as we did on Tuesday, we shall have similar problems. Hopefully, big Joe Aribo is ready to play. The problem of the left side of our defence is easily solved, in Bree’s absence, by playing Meghoma and having our LW (preferably Fraser) doubling up as necessary. Meghoma is good defensively for someone so young but will not have faced a side as good as WBA before; he has done exceptionally well so far and shows every sign of being able to cope. I’d rather have him than Manning. GB, KWP, TBH, JB, Meghoma, FD or SC, JA, DB, AA, SM, RF Subs: Lumley, JS, RM, SA, WS, SAA, JR, Sully, Adams. Bragg and Dibling miss out. If Brooks is injured, WS to get a chance to redeem himself after his nightmare at Bristol and Bragg as a sub, with Dibling missing out. If Adams is not yet fit, Dibling replaces him. And a big, powerful hairdryer for RM.

We played the first half with one DM who is young, inexperienced and misplaced several passes. We played the second half with no DM. We played 70% of the match with two players who have only just arrived here and look lost when they do not have the ball; DB and JR did not make themselves available enough and that led to lots of misplaced passes by others. We played most of the match without a proper CF. We played all the match without a properLB. WS was poor throughout and was hopeless when trying to play as a DM; he misplaced passes and won no duels. We played too slowly and indecisively, just like in September. THB looked appalled by what was happening in front of him. GB had a good game despite the three goals. RM’s hairdryer was not big enough (and no good for WS anyway). On to the next game.

Manning, who else, at fault for the first goal!

13 points for us and 9 for Leeds. That will be enough to give us a bigger cushion to cover our match at Elland Road. Easy-Peasy.

He did pretty well on Saturday when holding off THREE defenders and delicately passing to Edozie, who scored our fifth goal. He seems to have developed a more bulky physique in the last few months and is now more capable of keeping the ball when under pressure from a CB or other defender. Give him time; he is coming good.

Did anyone notice who took over as captain when AA left the field yesterday?

I wish we were Farnham Town.

According to LFC, we last beat them in the FA Cup in 1924/25, 1:0 in round 4 at the Dell. We won 4:1 in round 2 in 1902. But we have lost each time more recently. This is our last chance to keep the period of FA Cup losses to LFC below 100 years. Another incentive to add to our present unbeaten run, provided it lasts that long of course. If only! We live in hope.

VFC win away from home in the French cup, 1:2 against Saint-Priest, of league 3 I believe. Congrats, Christophe. Winning is becoming a habit. 🙂

At the risk of incurring the grapes of your wrath, a currant or a sultana would do just as well. 🙂

It’s not just THB either; Bednarek plays just as many long, diagonal or over-the-top balls that are equally accurate and defence-splitting, too. Stephens, not so much but he does tend to surge forward with the ball a bit more. So, our three CBs contribute a lot to our attacking play as well as piss about, drawing the oppo’s press onto them to open up gaps that we can exploit. A key part of our play.

Is Eyupspor anywhere near Rotherham?

Agree SNF. Small is a big lad; perhaps the Welsh madman will play him as a CF seeing as Tall Paul is presently unavailable, plying his trade at Afcon and Turkey. We seem to have quite a presence at Charlton these days.

Does anyone know whether the reported late valuation, by Burnley for Benson, of £15m is true and, if so, whether that really did cause us to end our commitment to signing him and, also, what valuation did we have in mind? I am not sure when Benson’s contract ends but unless it is soon £15m for him seems not too far away from a sensible price for him, always assuming that he is as good as was mooted on here several days ago.

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Christophe got his wish! 3:1 final score. First win of the season in league 2; second win on the trot after last week’s cup win. The start of a winning or unbeaten run? Let’s hope so.

Where? I’ve looked and cannot see it. I’ve obviously missed it but cannot see where.