Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: Chris Black come back on April 01, 2025, 09:45:13 pm
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This is a terrible, terrible league. Nobody can get clear of anyone. Never seen anything like it.
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Exciting though init
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We got 14 points clear at one point, somehow.
As for terrible, its how it should be, competitive to the end.
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Reminds me of this
https://youtu.be/BbJTU-MFJkI?si=m9OkQtFYEU6BUAhK
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Play offs it is I think
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The lads give everything in most matches, the desire is not an issue, but overall quality is - and maybe to be expected at this level.
This is certainly not a squad that will cope with the next level, just the odd player.
Not sure how I feel about tonight’s match and result, we just look so single paced and a little bit like the handbrake is on - perhaps just nerves.
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Well, that’s just a complete bottle job. Zero composure when going in front.
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Second half we reverted to the toothless possession game that we know pretty much any team in this league can comfortably cope with. Bailey made a difference when the shackles came off, and both subs did great for the goal, but we didn’t do enough to deserve the win.
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Interesting games this weekend.
Us away early kick off against Cheltenham who have nothing to play for really, we need a win to keep pressure on others.
Walsall vs port vale also an early kick off, maybe a draw would be best for us, would leave Walsall on 73 points and Vale on also on 73.
Bradford away to Crewe, Crewe on the edge of the playoff race so will be going all out for the win, which we need Crewe to win by hopefully a few goals to bring Bradford goal difference down.
AFC Wimbledon home to Harrogate can they do us a favour, Harrogate need a win to clear the relegation dogfight.
Notts county away to Colchester a draw here or Colchester win for the best
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Agreed the draw was maybe fair - I would be slightly annoyed as a Walsall fan though, they were just looking to hang in for the draw and never threatened us at all until we scored.
Had they have pressed for that in the second half I’m not sure if we would have got the result we did.
However, a draw is not the worst result ever.We are still well in this.
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Win Saturday and it’s been a good week.
Pleased we competed better than the away game when they looked a million miles away from us.
Never feel confident we can see a big game out though!
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Think today we were bit scared of making a mistake to much,actually thought Walsall were better than they would be with the run they are on and were the slightly better team tonight overall,but coukd of gone either way although does feel like abit of defeat with the late equalise,thought the ref was poor again and sum soft free kicks going both ways
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Play offs it is I think
I think the next 2 games will probably decide what our fate is. 6 points would put us in a great position before the Wimbledon game. 4 would be ok, but I fear anything less could leave us short.
Just to be aware of chesterfield making a late surge for the playoffs. Could well snatch the last place, which would potentially leave us facing them over 2 legs…
Lot still to be decided yet
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When we got the second goal with 5 mins to go the first thing I said was don’t sit deep and hoof it forward, and what did we do? Sat deep and hoofed it forward, this group hasn’t got the confidence to see a game out. Cracking game though, and they didn’t look like a team thats been limping along, the two big lads up front looked a right handful for them
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This is a terrible, terrible league. Nobody can get clear of anyone. Never seen anything like it.
It’s the cheap end of the EFL and most teams are evenly matched budget wise !!
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Really disappointed tonight, after looking like we’d pinched it. I was nervous before the game as we don’t win two home games on the trot. I thought Walsall were quite decent, had some good players, very strong physical side. Like many have said in this chat, there’s not many out there who will be up to League 1 level, were we to sneak up.
We’re still in the mix, just don’t think we’ve the quality for the big games coming up, hope I’m wrong!
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Frustrating. Praise for Walsall their style was and has been effective all season.
But I thought after the first 20 or so we controlled it well and played fairly well..just frustrating we couldn't hang it on. Maybe McCann should've gone all out defense, those moments are important but it's a good point, can see why Walsall draw frequently.
We do need a run of wins, today isn't a bad point but wins over draws are the difference between top 3 and play offs (or worse if we lose).
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Really disappointed tonight, after looking like we’d pinched it. I was nervous before the game as we don’t win two home games on the trot. I thought Walsall were quite decent, had some good players, very strong physical side. Like many have said in this chat, there’s not many out there who will be up to League 1 level, were we to sneak up.
We’re still in the mix, just don’t think we’ve the quality for the big games coming up, hope I’m wrong!
I think we haven’t got the bottle for the big games coming up
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Eeh, I just love getting home after a good game of footy between two sides chasing promotion (shame we didn't hang on for the 3 points), to then come on here & realise it was actually shit.
Night folks
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Play offs it is I think
No we’ll go up automatic I’m pretty confident of that
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Amateurish to concede two goals so quickly after going ahead.
Just kill the game for 5 minutes, lob it out for throw ins, anything ffs.
Still, no one else wants automatic promotion either.
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We got 14 points clear at one point, somehow.
As for terrible, its how it should be, competitive to the end.
You’ve got some good players, I liked Stirk and your big no.4.
Your issue is your front 2 - absolutely useless.
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We've struggled all season to get a fluid midfield making space for themselves and being available to receive the ball from the back, so what do we need to do, i know lets stick Broadbent in between the centre half's to receive and distribute the ball, but we're now a man light in the area where we needed him to be?
Is it me or do we just make a simple game so much harder for ourselves?
Worst thing about it was his uncanny knack of managing to find one of their men?
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One win against the current top 15 at home!!.....and that was Fleetwood in 12th.
Some character building required from the whole squad!
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Big Tom was immense tonight. Won almost everything they threw at him.
Street has been ineffective these last few games, maybe time to give Billy a start and change the approach.
Gibson is a typical winger, frustrating most of the time but can produce game changing moments.
Senior is steady bot offers very little offensively.
Bailey had another great game.
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I felt we didn’t really go for it tonight, whether that was Grant being careful (they could easily have picked us off after all) or some players not being mentally strong enough who knows
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I felt we didn’t really go for it tonight, whether that was Grant being careful (they could easily have picked us off after all) or some players not being mentally strong enough who knows
The latter unfortunately, if you saw the look on GM's face it told you everything.
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I enjoyed the start to the game and thought we were in for a cracker. Then from Walsall’s first equaliser to Billy’s goal I thought that there was a massive lack of quality from both sides
Definitely should have played PK. He at least tries to get forward. I don’t know if the data experts keep a track of how many passes go backwards but it’s far too many
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I blame the manager for that draw. He’d just watched how quickly they bounced back after Molyneux’s opener. He’d just should have choked it all up by making changes straight after BS scored, but missed the chance.
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Obviously frustrating not to get the 3 points after being ahead twice.
First half wasn't great and we played into their hands alot just not being careful enough with possession as we were always going to have our hands full with their physicality. After scoring, we shouldn’t have allowed that cross to come in for their equaliser.
Second half, we were smarter by keeping the ball better, playing on the deck and started to cause more problems. Unfortunately we just lacked that bit of quality with both Sbarra then Clifton in that pocket not being able to capitalise. We kept plugging away though and got back in front with a quality cross and a Billy finish.
I thought we were a tad unlucky to concede again as both Anderson and Wood defended manfully all game but I felt there was a foul on Wood which led to their goal. That said, they reacted quicker after TSLs save.
Overall a fair result but once again it highlights the fine lines between winning, losing or drawing. About as fine as Billy's chest being offside to make it 3-1.
We are still well in the mix so let's not get defeatist.
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Some really negative posts on here! We drew against the top of league! Yes we should have won. We were the only ones tring to play football. Low block from them and they are full of big units.Top 3 is still achievable. All still to play for. Some big fixtures on saturday.
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When we got the second goal with 5 mins to go the first thing I said was don’t sit deep and hoof it forward, and what did we do? Sat deep and hoofed it forward, this group hasn’t got the confidence to see a game out. Cracking game though, and they didn’t look like a team thats been limping along, the two big lads up front looked a right handful for them
That came from the manager. Just after Billy had his 2nd goal disallowed Mcann had Clifton to one side telling him something, then Clifton gestured to Sharp the instructions to drop deep.
I do have certain reservations about our leader. He’s gets out thought by opposition managers quite often. Walsall had a clear plan today and were unlucky not to come away with the win. I never know what our game plan is really. And were it not for moly’s individual brilliance I dread to think where we’d be. Not calling for his head but it’s a concern of mine.
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We were crying out for a ball into the space they were leaving behind their defensive line. Street’s best attribute is his pace and I lost count how many runs he made to get into that space but we never delivered a single ball there all night! Unbelievable! They were leaving 20 to 30 yards behind their back 4 and it was crying out for someone to exploit it, but either we were not clever enough or were blind to it.
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Obviously frustrating not to get the 3 points after being ahead twice.
First half wasn't great and we played into their hands alot just not being careful enough with possession as we were always going to have our hands full with their physicality. After scoring, we shouldn’t have allowed that cross to come in for their equaliser.
Second half, we were smarter by keeping the ball better, playing on the deck and started to cause more problems. Unfortunately we just lacked that bit of quality with both Sbarra then Clifton in that pocket not being able to capitalise. We kept plugging away though and got back in front with a quality cross and a Billy finish.
I thought we were a tad unlucky to concede again as both Anderson and Wood defended manfully all game but I felt there was a foul on Wood which led to their goal. That said, they reacted quicker after TSLs save.
Overall a fair result but once again it highlights the fine lines between winning, losing or drawing. About as fine as Billy's chest being offside to make it 3-1.
We are still well in the mix so let's not get defeatist.
Billy was a yard offside
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I blame the manager for that draw. He’d just watched how quickly they bounced back after Molyneux’s opener. He’d just should have choked it all up by making changes straight after BS scored, but missed the chance.
I thought exactly this. Take the bite out the game immediately. Get Nixon on, they were always going to throw everything at us for the last 5 mins.
Follow it up with another sub 2 mins later to break the game up. It's about game management and we obviously are poor at it.
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Big Tom was immense tonight. Won almost everything they threw at him.
Street has been ineffective these last few games, maybe time to give Billy a start and change the approach.
Gibson is a typical winger, frustrating most of the time but can produce game changing moments.
Senior is steady bot offers very little offensively.
Bailey had another great game.
I thought Street had a good game.
Even if he’s not scoring, he’s a very important player to the team as a whole with his attributes.
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Obviously frustrating not to get the 3 points after being ahead twice.
First half wasn't great and we played into their hands alot just not being careful enough with possession as we were always going to have our hands full with their physicality. After scoring, we shouldn’t have allowed that cross to come in for their equaliser.
Second half, we were smarter by keeping the ball better, playing on the deck and started to cause more problems. Unfortunately we just lacked that bit of quality with both Sbarra then Clifton in that pocket not being able to capitalise. We kept plugging away though and got back in front with a quality cross and a Billy finish.
I thought we were a tad unlucky to concede again as both Anderson and Wood defended manfully all game but I felt there was a foul on Wood which led to their goal. That said, they reacted quicker after TSLs save.
Overall a fair result but once again it highlights the fine lines between winning, losing or drawing. About as fine as Billy's chest being offside to make it 3-1.
We are still well in the mix so let's not get defeatist.
Billy was a yard offside
Yes, I think it was more wishful thinking on my part that he might have been on.
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Agree on Street, he was a handful in the first half but got zero service in the second half when everything was played safe- Ironside knows exactly how that feels. I have just heard Grant’s interview where he says we took control in the second half- that’s not how I felt.
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We did get more control but I thought they carried more threat throughout.
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A draw against the top of the league with several first teamers out is not a bad result...
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We are up there among the best in this league. That’s for certain. We’ve just played the league leaders and led twice. This is good going. What is a concern though is we don’t seem to be tactically flexible enough to outwit sides. It’s Plan A or nothing with us.
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Really thought we'd nicked it late on, but a draw was a fair result, & a good game. Seven more cup finals to go.
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I don't think them goals against happen with Jay and Joe in there.
For some reason Woody was caught out wide 3 or 4 times instead of being in the middle.
Gibson is so frustrating. His body language is awful and he doesnt do anywhere near enough work for the team. That has got to change if he wants to make something of himself.
Whilst we got away with one on the Tom incident it was clear TSL knew the ref had blown.
I think we have a real challenge now with the back 4 we had today.
Massive game on Saturday. If we win that and have 7 points from 3 games we would have all taken that before Carlisle? Still positives in the performance.
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They crowded Molly out of the game, he always seemed to have 2 or 3 defenders on him. I think Olowu would have prevented their 1st goal and maybe even their 2nd.
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Wood worries me. Senior for how we play doesn't offer anything going forward either, but does an okay job defensively.
Kelly needs to play simple as that with Broadbent and Bailey backing him up
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If anything Walsall have proved the lump it up to the two big men approach is still alive and working well at this level.
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
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I don’t think so, their player up against sterry had a free header and he could have gone either side of TSL.
The question to be asked was why sterry up against one of their tallest players, a total mismatch in height.
Generally this has been a problem over the season when we have come up against players of significant height, particularly when the are multiple players eg Bromley at home.
Not sure but seem to think afc Wimbledon have players of height, so something that needs to be considered.
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
I thought Broadbent was decent again, the only thing that bugs me is he keeps picking up early yellow cards, he walks a tightrope for the rest of the game
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
I thought Broadbent was decent again, the only thing that bugs me is he keeps picking up early yellow cards, he walks a tightrope for the rest of the game
If THAT’S the only thing that bugs you about Broadbent……I’m speechless.
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
I thought Broadbent was decent again, the only thing that bugs me is he keeps picking up early yellow cards, he walks a tightrope for the rest of the game
If THAT’S the only thing that bugs you about Broadbent……I’m speechless.
There’s a player in there, he does the dirty work that goes un noticed, Paul Keegan was the same a lot thought he was shit, just because he doesn’t do the fancy stuff
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
The quality of their crossing was really good
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
I thought Broadbent was decent again, the only thing that bugs me is he keeps picking up early yellow cards, he walks a tightrope for the rest of the game
If THAT’S the only thing that bugs you about Broadbent……I’m speechless.
It really bugs me that he has no left foot whatsoever. So many times he could play an easy forward pass but instead he cuts back on to his right and plays it backwards. He’s not the only one to be fair.
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One thing last nights game will have underlined for Grant will have been which players aren’t capable of playing at a higher level if Walsall are the bench mark for one of the few ‘quality teams’ in this sh***y division.
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One thing last nights game will have underlined for Grant will have been which players aren’t capable of playing at a higher level if Walsall are the bench mark for one of the few ‘quality teams’ in this sh***y division.
Since their striker went back to Stoke they've been a bottom half team.
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
I thought Broadbent was decent again, the only thing that bugs me is he keeps picking up early yellow cards, he walks a tightrope for the rest of the game
If THAT’S the only thing that bugs you about Broadbent……I’m speechless.
It really bugs me that he has no left foot whatsoever. So many times he could play an easy forward pass but instead he cuts back on to his right and plays it backwards. He’s not the only one to be fair.
Take a look at Mollys goal. It was started with a great through ball from Broadbents left foot!!
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We are just to easy to play against at times. This one up front is great for the possession game and gives us the overload in the middle but once it breaks out wide and they look up to who to cross too it's just Street marked by two of them in the box.And that's where it continually breaks down..
If we don't go up automatically we've only ourselves to blame we had numerous opportunities to get ourselves in pole position for the automatics but we cant seem to take them.
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I don't think them goals against happen with Jay and Joe in there.
For some reason Woody was caught out wide 3 or 4 times instead of being in the middle.
Gibson is so frustrating. His body language is awful and he doesnt do anywhere near enough work for the team. That has got to change if he wants to make something of himself.
Whilst we got away with one on the Tom incident it was clear TSL knew the ref had blown.
I think we have a real challenge now with the back 4 we had today.
Massive game on Saturday. If we win that and have 7 points from 3 games we would have all taken that before Carlisle? Still positives in the performance.
I suspect Wood going out wide so much is due to him knowing that Senior isn't up to the job of defending his wing.
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Broadbent yellow card was harsh. Think the ref was getting paid per yellow card last night
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
The ball came from our Left and the keeper's correct positioning is biased to that side, so he wasn't positioned wrongly. He had no chance of reaching the header which went just inside the post.
I do think he could have done better with the 2nd goal, he should have palmed it over the bar instead of back into play.
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Broadbent yellow card was harsh. Think the ref was getting paid per yellow card last night
Broadbents yellow card was one of the few things the ref got right last night. Looking back at his performance over the whole game maybe we should be happy it was only a yellow.
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I thought Broadbent was really good again last night. My concern is there seems to be a retisence to play a forward ball through the lines which ironically was when we looked the most dangerous. Senior was solid defensively but terrified of playing a risky ball. Our midfield is too workman like with next to no creativity.
I thought Walsall were pretty decent to be fair but us... don't know... we don't look on top form to me like Grant says, its moments of skill that are scoring goals, it doesn't appear to be tactics. How going up 2-1 against top of the league with 5 minutes left doesn't warrant throwing on another defender or putting Bailey in the back line is baffling to me. They were happy withus having the ball I the backine rolling it across the back 4 for 10 minutes then knocking an awful pointess diagonal ball into Gibson who can't head it or Molyneux that can't head it. Seems odd to me. Crying out for some creativity in Kelly or Crew but he seems set on Sbarra or Clifton who for me barring a few glimmers of quality are easily in the area of the pitch where we look weakest.
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I thought Broadbent was really good again last night. My concern is there seems to be a retisence to play a forward ball through the lines which ironically was when we looked the most dangerous. Senior was solid defensively but terrified of playing a risky ball. Our midfield is too workman like with next to no creativity.
I thought Walsall were pretty decent to be fair but us... don't know... we don't look on top form to me like Grant says, its moments of skill that are scoring goals, it doesn't appear to be tactics. How going up 2-1 against top of the league with 5 minutes left doesn't warrant throwing on another defender or putting Bailey in the back line is baffling to me. They were happy withus having the ball I the backine rolling it across the back 4 for 10 minutes then knocking an awful pointess diagonal ball into Gibson who can't head it or Molyneux that can't head it. Seems odd to me. Crying out for some creativity in Kelly or Crew but he seems set on Sbarra or Clifton who for me barring a few glimmers of quality are easily in the area of the pitch where we look weakest.
The reason we don’t play as many forward passes as we should is because Broadbent isn’t that good at passing and a lot of play goes through him.
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Bar a couple of stray passes from Broadbent, he did well and completed most to get things moving. It's the next pass from the tip of midfield where we could be better. That no 10 role that Sbarra and Clifton have been playing, where we need better quality to pick the right threaded pass, cross or shot, as many suggest. There were occasions it worked, highlighted by the Moly's goal with a great pass from Bailey but too many times promising moves just fall flat with overhit or inaccurate passes.
I don't think Broadbent is the main problem, we just want him to keep it simple and find a player who can be more creative or threatening.
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
A class player on his day, I thought Sterry was disappointing and was a notable missing piece from what we usually see - either an off day for him or his style was stifled.
He did well getting into positions coming forwards but his passing was particularly bad last night. Hi defending was okay, his movement forwards with the ball was poor by his standards. Maybe he gad less space, maybe Walsall's pressing and defending didn't allow him the usual options he finds.
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I'm genuinely surprised at the Broadbent hate, he is the only player who comes to get the ball off of the defenders and full backs, he tries to playthrough lines etc. Bailey didn't do that nor Sbarra. Last couple of months he has improved every game for me. Opinions eh?
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
I thought Broadbent was decent again, the only thing that bugs me is he keeps picking up early yellow cards, he walks a tightrope for the rest of the game
If THAT’S the only thing that bugs you about Broadbent……I’m speechless.
It really bugs me that he has no left foot whatsoever. So many times he could play an easy forward pass but instead he cuts back on to his right and plays it backwards. He’s not the only one to be fair.
Take a look at Mollys goal. It was started with a great through ball from Broadbents left foot!!
The pass was from Bailey with his right foot but ok.
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Way I see it Broadbent is the only player who picks up the ball from defenders because that’s part of his job. The other part is to get us moving up the pitch- after a few bad mistakes earlier in the season he is now much tidier but generally playing it very safe, and often back to the defence for them to either hoof or play it to Luke with three players on his back and nowhere to go. Combine that with a 10 who too often cannot retain possession and you have our midfield. In the last 10 mins last night it was striking how much more threatening we became when Bailey stepped forward- it’s probably bonkers but I wondered last night whether Bailey and Broadbent should swap roles- atm we are not getting the most from far and away our best midfielder and I think it’s George’s defensive game where he has been most effective. Appreciate Bailey might not be known for his range of passing but we are not getting that from George anyway. What you do get from Bailey is energy and intent, and the ability to combine with others to get us up the pitch.
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A bit disrespectful saying they lump it up. I thought they had much better players technically than us last night.
I agree. I also thought Anderson & Sterry had great games, Sterry seemed to be our main threat going forward. I just dont get what people see in Broadbent. He just seems to play the simple ball all the time & still makes a mess of it.
Anyone else think TSL could have done better with the first goal?. Looked to me like he could have took a step to his right before diving.
I thought Broadbent was decent again, the only thing that bugs me is he keeps picking up early yellow cards, he walks a tightrope for the rest of the game
If THAT’S the only thing that bugs you about Broadbent……I’m speechless.
It really bugs me that he has no left foot whatsoever. So many times he could play an easy forward pass but instead he cuts back on to his right and plays it backwards. He’s not the only one to be fair.
Take a look at Mollys goal. It was started with a great through ball from Broadbents left foot!!
The pass was from Bailey with his right foot but ok.
The pass to Bailey was from Broadbent with his left, although it was a fairly routine ball and Bailey's subsequent pass to Mols was definitely more incisive in terms of opening Walsall up.
I thought Broadbent did alright, some excellent defensive cover and he's always looking to be inbetween the lines. Sometimes he gets a bit squared up and needs to try and play on the half turn but I don't think he's as bad as he sometimes gets labelled, there is often not a great amount of movement in front of him and so.he has no option but to keep it moving sideways or backwards, and he is worth persisting with as a 'number 4,' albeit in the 8 shirt.
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Way I see it Broadbent is the only player who picks up the ball from defenders because that’s part of his job. The other part is to get us moving up the pitch- after a few bad mistakes earlier in the season he is now much tidier but generally playing it very safe, and often back to the defence for them to either hoof or play it to Luke with three players on his back and nowhere to go. Combine that with a 10 who too often cannot retain possession and you have our midfield. In the last 10 mins last night it was striking how much more threatening we became when Bailey stepped forward- it’s probably bonkers but I wondered last night whether Bailey and Broadbent should swap roles- atm we are not getting the most from far and away our best midfielder and I think it’s George’s defensive game where he has been most effective. Appreciate Bailey might not be known for his range of passing but we are not getting that from George anyway. What you do get from Bailey is energy and intent, and the ability to combine with others to get us up the pitch.
People claim we play 4231 but last night was a clear 433/4141 depending how you look at it. Bailey and Sbarra as the 8s with Broadbent sitting.
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I thought Wood was very soft for their second goal last night, and that's a surprising thing to say about him.
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Our midfield has been the weak link in the team for most of this season. Walsall romped through quite a few times last night, usually after we’d gifted them the ball straight back after first taking it off them. S’barra was largely anonymous while he was on the pitch and should have been subbed earlier.
The frustrating thing for me, though, was watching Walsall moving left to right with (almost ) 2 banks of 5 and the defensive 5 leaving a 20 to 30 yard gap for a quick forward to run through, which Street kept attempting but never once having the ball lobbed over into space. Surely, GM could see it, so why not send instructions on?
Cracking game to watch, though, overall. Just very disappointed we didn’t shore up after Billy’s great striker.
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I thought Broadbent was excellent last night, probably the best I’ve seen him play.
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I thought Broadbent was excellent last night, probably the best I’ve seen him play.
So did I. But I also see the point that he has a bit of work to do with his creative passing. I thought defensively he was excellent though and he covers ground very well too. Undoubtedly improved.
For me I would like to see Sbarra taken out to give more attacking minded players in that role. Clifton offers more there for me with runs in to the box for example.
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Interesting games this weekend.
Us away early kick off against Cheltenham who have nothing to play for really, we need a win to keep pressure on others.
Walsall vs port vale also an early kick off, maybe a draw would be best for us, would leave Walsall on 73 points and Vale on also on 73.
Bradford away to Crewe, Crewe on the edge of the playoff race so will be going all out for the win, which we need Crewe to win by hopefully a few goals to bring Bradford goal difference down.
AFC Wimbledon home to Harrogate can they do us a favour, Harrogate need a win to clear the relegation dogfight.
Notts county away to Colchester a draw here or Colchester win for the best
Reference the bit highlighted in red, a draw on Saturday would leave Vale on 71 points, not 73.
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I think this team would fair better in league one. Not as scrappy. I still think it's wide open and any of the top 5 could still win the title. Win our game in hand is a must, fail that and the Bradford game is a must win. I still think we will get automatic either win it or 2nd.