Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: DonnyRover on January 24, 2026, 04:54:14 pm
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Have you ever seen substitutions as ridiculous as that in your entire life
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What was McCann thinking! Sharp... Gibson... Hanlan... ; bringing on three players who have no incline of defending when we're completely in control of the game.
If this costs us relegation, McCann has to go at the end of the season.
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Billy Sharp on for molyneux to play right wing, just after molyneux ran through their entire team and got a shot off. Brandon Hanlan is a competition winner I’m sure of it, that man is not a footballer
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Billy didn't play right wing though. Grant changed the shape to. 3/5 at the back. We were very unlucky today
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The manager has a lot to answer to, but our defence was so soft in the second half!
A dreadful performance indicative of a team going down.
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Billy didn't play right wing though. Grant changed the shape to. 3/5 at the back. We were very unlucky today
Billy is a legend but he shouldn't be playing at this level any more.
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Billy didn't play right wing though. Grant changed the shape to. 3/5 at the back. We were very unlucky today
Were you at the game? Brandon Hanlan was in the middle, Gibson in the left, Sharp on the right unless my eyes were lying to me, and if he wasn’t on the right, who’s was the right winger?
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Middletons obviously out of favour if hes behind Billy in being used as a sub.
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Billy didn't play right wing though. Grant changed the shape to. 3/5 at the back. We were very unlucky today
Were you at the game? Brandon Hanlan was in the middle, Gibson in the left, Sharp on the right unless my eyes were lying to me, and if he wasn’t on the right, who’s was the right winger?
Two strikers and Gibson as a ten. 5212
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Billy didn't play right wing though. Grant changed the shape to. 3/5 at the back. We were very unlucky today
Were you at the game? Brandon Hanlan was in the middle, Gibson in the left, Sharp on the right unless my eyes were lying to me, and if he wasn’t on the right, who’s was the right winger?
No I was watching on Rovers+ we went to a 3/5 at the back with Gibson as a #10
Think about the chance that Billy had it was from the centre not the right.
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McCann can go now for me!
Absolutely fuming at this result from the position we were in. Absolute mis management
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McCann can go now for me!
Absolutely fuming at this result from the position we were in. Absolute mis management
Can't see him being sacked.
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Subs have killed us, that is totally on GM, taking Haks and Molls off was criminal
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Subs have killed us, that is totally on GM, taking Haks and Molls off was criminal
Absolutely, the two players who offer the best outlet and the ability to get the game into the opposing half and ease the pressure. No outlet when the subs come on and they pile on the pressure
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Grant completely shot himself in the foot today ! He should come out and apologies to the fans his decision making ! That said that 1st half was sublime! We go again.
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Get some talented players playing mildly attractive attacking football McCann can do, but influence a game in motion, he can't, and never has.
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If it aint broke dont fix it, but i feel Grant makes subs just to give others a run out.
Just baffling. Worst for me was taking Clifton off for Grehan, just invited them on to us.
Gibson had a shocker.
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I don't really know how that happened, we weren't even under the cosh at any point, such a weird way to lose the points.
I thought overall we played really well but have to be critical at both ends of the pitch. Should have scored more than 3 and certainly shouldn't have conceded 3. Albeit the first is a good strike and their other 2 good crosses. Frustrating.
Perhaps the subs weren't the right ones that's for sure.
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I don't really know how that happened, we weren't even under the cosh at any point, such a weird way to lose the points.
I thought overall we played really well but have to be critical at both ends of the pitch. Should have scored more than 3 and certainly shouldn't have conceded 3. Albeit the first is a good strike and their other 2 good crosses. Frustrating.
Perhaps the subs weren't the right ones that's for sure.
He mage changes to solve nonexistent problems.
We were largely very good, head and shoulders above them. Can’t do that after the heroics last week.
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McCann can’t win .. he solves the goals at one end but leaves the door open at the other . The players must be confused as to how this wasn’t 5-6-7 nil. But one things for sure we can’t play two halves of football .
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Billy didn't play right wing though. Grant changed the shape to. 3/5 at the back. We were very unlucky today
Billy is a legend but he shouldn't be playing at this level any more.
Billy Sharp is a hero, he’s 10 times the player Hanlan is in his dreams at 40 year old and if he’d come on for Frankie, I think we’d have a different result
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Not the managers fault for me!
We created another 4/5 clear cut chances and took 0.
Take those chances and it’s a battering
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Not the managers fault for me!
We created another 4/5 clear cut chances and took 0.
Take those chances and it’s a battering
Shouldn’t have to be winning every game 7-3 so Grant can give the B team a run out
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McCann can’t win .. he solves the goals at one end but leaves the door open at the other . The players must be confused as to how this wasn’t 5-6-7 nil. But one things for sure we can’t play two halves of football .
The second half was reminiscent of the first half against Plymouth, scored early then concede three.
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Not the managers fault for me!
We created another 4/5 clear cut chances and took 0.
Take those chances and it’s a battering
Shouldn’t have to be winning every game 7-3 so Grant can give the B team a run out
We wouldn’t have been, 6-0 and their heads go down and it’s game over
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The players should be the ones taking the flak not the manager.
He made subs last week and we won.
Makes subs today and we throw it away. Whats a manger to do.
A manager cannot plan for players crumbling.
At 3-0 any manager should be afforded the luxury of taking players off with 1 eye on a game that is in 3 days.
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I do find that a lot of those calling for subs are the same people complaining about the subs made
COYR
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Wigan improved when their subs came our subs were not good enough. I question Grants decision making. First he takes off Adelakun and Eronokwo and brings two
Most ineffective forwards we have in Gibson and Hanlanthis effectively weaken our midfield aswell. Then he takes Broadbent off and brings on Robinson on at that stage it was 3 2 then to cap it all he takes off Molyneux and Clifton off and brings on Billy and Grehan weakened the midfield and defence really . The forward line had gone with the first subs. So went from 3. 0 up and should had 4 and 5 to drawing the game. Decision making very poor by Grant
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Maybe there was a case for some later subs to keep the pressure on upfront but maybe one. Hanlan or Middleton to offer something different out wide. Not the greatest move though to wholesale change the front line. Bit disappointing.
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I don't really know how that happened, we weren't even under the cosh at any point, such a weird way to lose the points.
I thought overall we played really well but have to be critical at both ends of the pitch. Should have scored more than 3 and certainly shouldn't have conceded 3. Albeit the first is a good strike and their other 2 good crosses. Frustrating.
Perhaps the subs weren't the right ones that's for sure.
He mage changes to solve nonexistent problems.
We were largely very good, head and shoulders above them. Can’t do that after the heroics last week.
Clearly had an eye on Tuesday and I can understand that a little bit. Adelakun for one does need to manage his minutes.
We clearly have some players who can't make an impact. Grehan for me is not a league 1 player right now, Gibson is probably also in that bracket. I don't understand why Pearson wasn't used today, exactly the player you'd want coming on.
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Billy didn't play right wing though. Grant changed the shape to. 3/5 at the back. We were very unlucky today
Billy is a legend but he shouldn't be playing at this level any more.
Agreed blurred vision from scoring v league 2 reserve team
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I think Pearson was omitted because we didn't have a full back on the bench and Grehan can in theory play full back. Or Bailey can go out right back and Grehan can go in centre.
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On subs, was the balance of the bench right? Two strikers, two wingers, a centre mid and a centre back…
How Senior starts over Maxwell is another strange decision. There’s quite a lot of daylight in between their level of ability.
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On subs, was the balance of the bench right? Two strikers, two wingers, a centre mid and a centre back…
How Senior starts over Maxwell is another strange decision. There’s quite a lot of daylight in between their level of ability.
Senior for me is in the side on merit and is infront of maxwell as it stands but that’s just my opinion and we all have them I guess
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On subs, was the balance of the bench right? Two strikers, two wingers, a centre mid and a centre back…
How Senior starts over Maxwell is another strange decision. There’s quite a lot of daylight in between their level of ability.
You’ve said this a lot about Maxwell and I think you’re probably right in terms of natural ability but Senior has brought far more to the side from what I’ve seen this season.
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On subs, was the balance of the bench right? Two strikers, two wingers, a centre mid and a centre back…
How Senior starts over Maxwell is another strange decision. There’s quite a lot of daylight in between their level of ability.
You’ve said this a lot about Maxwell and I think you’re probably right in terms of natural ability but Senior has brought far more to the side from what I’ve seen this season.
Maxwell is better attacking, defensively and with ball progression. Senior alway looks to be busting a gut for the team which I think makes people buy into him. Each to their own tho.
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If its not broke don't fix it. Should have left it later before making subs.Took off Adelakun who was very influential. Then Molyneux. Very bizarre. :coat:
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On subs, was the balance of the bench right? Two strikers, two wingers, a centre mid and a centre back…
How Senior starts over Maxwell is another strange decision. There’s quite a lot of daylight in between their level of ability.
You’ve said this a lot about Maxwell and I think you’re probably right in terms of natural ability but Senior has brought far more to the side from what I’ve seen this season.
If argue all our goals were that side....
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Im all for if it aint broke then dont't fix it.
But i also believe that when that far in front and comfortable, then any manager in any league should have the comfort of making changes with 1 eye on a game in 3 days without the worry of the players f**king it up.
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It is not entirely clear let's be honest that we have the players in midfield to just keep possession when we are trying to hold on to a lead. We've got the players to attack but not keep the ball.
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I also agree on merit Senior deserves his place, Maxwell has been poor this season, his second touch is normally a tackle, and we can’t afford that this season.
Senior is more of a threat going forward too.
I don’t like hearing all the Grant out voices, I think we are on the cusp of something decent, but we need a better defensive unit, that can only come from a “real leader/organiser” that is what this team needs, they are all too quiet.
We also need a decent attacking midfielder, Clifton is ok, but nothing more. The squad is full of midfielders who play in the same deep area, this needs thinning out.
With that said I can absolutely agree Grants subs in taking Mols and Haks off killed us.
The midfield was off today too, hidden by an excellent display from Gotts, but both Broadbent and Clifton were anonymous.
Not sure what’s happening with Gibbo, he’s been so poor for a long time now, but today was an all time low.
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GM subs have been b*llocks most games this season. His subs are killing us.
It's like he's managing sn under 10s team and trying to keep kids and parents happy with game time. I'm starting to lose patience with him now.
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For me today is the first time where i believe McCann got it wrong with his subs, they were just plain bizarre. The only reason i can slightly understand is due to having a game on tuesday and thinking ahead however we looked a completely different team when Adelakun and Frankie went off, we couldn't hold the ball up anymore and didn't look threatening anymore, Hanlan just seems to not be able to control a football and complains that he gets manhandled all the time and then the cherry on top of the cake was taking Molyneux off who was having a fantastic game.
He is right though, we should've been even futher out of sight with 28 shots that we have.
However, despite how sickening today feels i still think we will stay up. I would've taken 4 points from Wimbledon/Wigan, its just the manner that it makes it feel like a loss today. Although its not season defining we need to pick up 3 points on Tuesday against the worst defensive side in the league.
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Given we have a game Tuesday and an early kick off saturday using substitutes to mange players minutes when in a comfortable lead is totally the right thing to do.
The fact the bench isnt as strong as those on the pitch is a different matter.
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In that scenario the least worst option would have been take off the front three and put Gibson on left, Hanlan on right and Billy in the middle. That at least has benefit of playing them all in their favoured positions. Totally wild to play both Hanlan and Sharp through the middle together. No idea what was expected to happen there.
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Given we have a game Tuesday and an early kick off saturday using substitutes to mange players minutes when in a comfortable lead is totally the right thing to do.
The fact the bench isnt as strong as those on the pitch is a different matter.
Why not just give some players an extra day off from training?
No need to put them through it on Monday.
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If Pearson is fit why wasn’t he on the bench so much better than Grehan and should start ahead of McGarth anyway
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Given we have a game Tuesday and an early kick off saturday using substitutes to mange players minutes when in a comfortable lead is totally the right thing to do.
The fact the bench isnt as strong as those on the pitch is a different matter.
Why not just give some players an extra day off from training?
No need to put them through it on Monday.
How do you know that isnt already the plan? Or light training Monday?
Haks needed minutes managing in his previous time with us. Clearly Frankie does as well given the injury scare in last game so they will be conscious of easing him in and building minutes up.
At 3.0 up making them changes was the right thing to do with an eye on Tue IMO.
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I don't really know how that happened, we weren't even under the cosh at any point, such a weird way to lose the points.
I thought overall we played really well but have to be critical at both ends of the pitch. Should have scored more than 3 and certainly shouldn't have conceded 3. Albeit the first is a good strike and their other 2 good crosses. Frustrating.
Perhaps the subs weren't the right ones that's for sure.
He mage changes to solve nonexistent problems.
We were largely very good, head and shoulders above them. Can’t do that after the heroics last week.
Clearly had an eye on Tuesday and I can understand that a little bit. Adelakun for one does need to manage his minutes.
We clearly have some players who can't make an impact. Grehan for me is not a league 1 player right now, Gibson is probably also in that bracket. I don't understand why Pearson wasn't used today, exactly the player you'd want coming on.
Once it went to 3-0 we were talking about when would Grant make the inevitable substitutions.
At the time we were all over Wigan and we knew that he would want to rest some players with Tuesday in mind.
We were thinking at the time that a fourth goal was likely and that we should wait until around 70 minutes and have the match won before the changes.
In other words, win this game and then think about the one on Tuesday.
As soon as Wigan got their first goal we looked really nervous and at 3-3 we did think we might lose the game.
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Given we have a game Tuesday and an early kick off saturday using substitutes to mange players minutes when in a comfortable lead is totally the right thing to do.
The fact the bench isnt as strong as those on the pitch is a different matter.
Why not just give some players an extra day off from training?
No need to put them through it on Monday.
How do you know that isnt already the plan? Or light training Monday?
Haks needed minutes managing in his previous time with us. Clearly Frankie does as well given the injury scare in last game so they will be conscious of easing him in and building minutes up.
At 3.0 up making them changes was the right thing to do with an eye on Tue IMO.
Obviously not, we let a 3 goal lead slip.
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We should have won.
Enjoyed the game.
Hate the result.
Sharp and Hanlon should not be on the pitch at the same time for me.
Grehan was odd, we weren’t under pressure. I have not been convinced by him.
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Grants decision regarding the subs was absolutely diabolical and changed the game completely.
He then has the nerve to blame everything on the players and takes no responsibility whatsoever.
The players were playing so well, and while I agree with Grant that they should have scored more, there confidence must have been sky high. And then he takes off players who making it happen, and replaces them with players who have not got a clue.
I have criticised Grant before for his selection, tactics etc. but never stated he should go, however after his decisions today and his post match comments, I believe he should seriously consider his position.
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We could do with another option to Clifton.
Gotts is not an attacking midfielder. Was great today.
We are wasting a loan spot on TLT.
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We should have won.
Enjoyed the game.
Hate the result.
Sharp and Hanlon should not be on the pitch at the same time for me.
Grehan was odd, we weren’t under pressure. I have not been convinced by him.
Hanlon shouldn't be on the pitch full stop
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We should have won.
Enjoyed the game.
Hate the result.
Sharp and Hanlon should not be on the pitch at the same time for me.
Grehan was odd, we weren’t under pressure. I have not been convinced by him.
Hanlon shouldn't be on the pitch full stop
I consider the majority of supporters agree with you, but why does McCann think differently about Hanlan, who I consider is totally out of his depth and should not be in any match day squads.
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From 5 minutes to around 55 minutes we were all over them, an excellent performance from us in that period.
Up until 60 minutes the game couldn't have played out much better than it did. 3-0 up at home, and cruising with 30 minutes left to play. Honestly, what more could you want?
And we're still not capable of winning the game.
Sorry, but I find that so completely disheartening, that I can't take much encouragement from the performance.
Wigan had no business getting back into that game, they were terrible. Yet, when it mattered, our lack of resilience, organisation, composure, quality off the bench, and piss poor game management allowed them to do so without them even piling that much pressure on.
Worst result of our season by far, because to me it shows that we haven't got what it takes to get out of this.
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Wigan improved when their subs came our subs were not good enough. I question Grants decision making. First he takes off Adelakun and Eronokwo and brings two
Most ineffective forwards we have in Gibson and Hanlanthis effectively weaken our midfield aswell. Then he takes Broadbent off and brings on Robinson on at that stage it was 3 2 then to cap it all he takes off Molyneux and Clifton off and brings on Billy and Grehan weakened the midfield and defence really . The forward line had gone with the first subs. So went from 3. 0 up and should had 4 and 5 to drawing the game. Decision making very poor by Grant
They cancelled their subs, they didn’t come on until it was 3-2
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The fans saying we should be able to make these changes when 3-0 up must be watching a different team to me, in 4 of our last 8 games we’ve conceded 3 goals in one half of football, I wasn’t sat there comfortable at 3-0 today, there’s something fundamentally wrong how we can’t seem to reset and concentrate after we concede, one goal always seems to turn into 2,3 or worse and I don’t think it’s down to the players not being vocal enough as Grant seems to think that’s our biggest problem.
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I though we played well for large parts of the game today.... and could have been out of sight but for some average finishing and a keeper playing a blinder... I had an awful feeling when they got one back (Mcgrath all over the place) and this didn't improve when I saw Gibson sauntering on like he was on a Sunday stroll. We needed 30 minutes of energy and this guy is stealing a wage... I think we put a lot of effort into the first 50 minutes and perhaps relaxed off and left the door open. Let's hope we can move on and put things right on Tuesday. Gotts rightfully MOTM today, followed by captain fantastic in Bails..
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Given we have a game Tuesday and an early kick off saturday using substitutes to mange players minutes when in a comfortable lead is totally the right thing to do.
The fact the bench isnt as strong as those on the pitch is a different matter.
Why not just give some players an extra day off from training?
No need to put them through it on Monday.
How do you know that isnt already the plan? Or light training Monday?
Haks needed minutes managing in his previous time with us. Clearly Frankie does as well given the injury scare in last game so they will be conscious of easing him in and building minutes up.
At 3.0 up making them changes was the right thing to do with an eye on Tue IMO.
Obviously not, we let a 3 goal lead slip.
Its an opinion pal, it cant be wrong.
The sub of Haks and Frankie at 3.0 up with a game on Tue was right. The performance of the team from 60mins onwards was the reason for losing a 3.0 lead.
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Given we have a game Tuesday and an early kick off saturday using substitutes to mange players minutes when in a comfortable lead is totally the right thing to do.
The fact the bench isnt as strong as those on the pitch is a different matter.
Why not just give some players an extra day off from training?
No need to put them through it on Monday.
How do you know that isnt already the plan? Or light training Monday?
Haks needed minutes managing in his previous time with us. Clearly Frankie does as well given the injury scare in last game so they will be conscious of easing him in and building minutes up.
At 3.0 up making them changes was the right thing to do with an eye on Tue IMO.
Obviously not, we let a 3 goal lead slip.
Its an opinion pal, it cant be wrong.
The sub of Haks and Frankie at 3.0 up with a game on Tue was right. The performance of the team from 60mins onwards was the reason for losing a 3.0 lead.
The subs and formation change totally killed us, we lost all structure and shape and conceded territory, everyone in the ground could see what was coming after that. For me we should make sure of the win first and worry about Tuesday afterwards, taking Haks, Molly and Clifton off, our three most dangerous players was barmy
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Given we have a game Tuesday and an early kick off saturday using substitutes to mange players minutes when in a comfortable lead is totally the right thing to do.
The fact the bench isnt as strong as those on the pitch is a different matter.
Why not just give some players an extra day off from training?
No need to put them through it on Monday.
How do you know that isnt already the plan? Or light training Monday?
Haks needed minutes managing in his previous time with us. Clearly Frankie does as well given the injury scare in last game so they will be conscious of easing him in and building minutes up.
At 3.0 up making them changes was the right thing to do with an eye on Tue IMO.
Obviously not, we let a 3 goal lead slip.
Its an opinion pal, it cant be wrong.
The sub of Haks and Frankie at 3.0 up with a game on Tue was right. The performance of the team from 60mins onwards was the reason for losing a 3.0 lead.
But it wasn't 3-0, it was already 3-1.
Wigan scored their first at exactly 60 minutes. Our first 2 subs came on 3 minutes later, and 3 minutes after that Wigan scored their second.
Two more subs came on at 83 minutes, and 4 minutes later Wigan scored again.
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The fall off in Gibson's performances is a major concern. Yesterday he even kicked the floor instead of the ball at one point. On his day though....
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The fall off in Gibson's performances is a major concern. Yesterday he even kicked the floor instead of the ball at one point. On his day though....
I thought he was a complete disgrace yesterday. Watching players just run past him time and again. Pretty sure Hurst was shipped out for similar misdemeanours.
The moment you mentioned, in the South East corner? We had 6 or 7 players busting a gut to get in the box.
He honestly can go for me, he’s not what we need in this battle.
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On subs, the amount of changes that managers make throughout the divisions that make teams worse is massive. They massively over rate “fresh legs” over the potential drop off in level of the player coming on.
Brighton yesterday for example, brought Milner on for Baleba at 1-1. That’s making the team worse in both an attacking and defensive situation. Absolutely no value at all. They went on to concede.
There’s always likely to be a drop off if you replace a first choice starter with a replacement but some of the decisions are wildly detrimental and unnecessary.
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The fall off in Gibson's performances is a major concern. Yesterday he even kicked the floor instead of the ball at one point. On his day though....
I thought he was a complete disgrace yesterday. Watching players just run past him time and again. Pretty sure Hurst was shipped out for similar misdemeanours.
The moment you mentioned, in the South East corner? We had 6 or 7 players busting a gut to get in the box.
He honestly can go for me, he’s not what we need in this battle.
He’s McCanns love child. If I was Middleton I’d have had my transfer request on his desk the moment my name wasn’t on the team sheet against Southampton. How can you get a goal and man of the match performance in the previous game to being dropped for the foreseeable and not even being brought on in the last 2? What’s the story with this? The question needs putting to McCann and the answer not be swerved.
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It's definitely a concern about our mental resilience and its obvious why we find ourselves in the bottom four. It's human nature when confidence becomes frail, yet, in recent times the players have done well to try and improve things when under pressure. Performances have improved and we'd take the first 60 mins any day of the week.
I think we all were thinking we need a third goal and thankfully we got it, and nearly added to it straight away.
However, at this point there was a shift in mentality that particularly affected our back line, we suddenly dropped deeper conceding territory and not following play up the field as vigorously as before. Bails and McGrath (who had a case for mom up to that point) got disjointed. Did they get lazy?
We then concede but immediately get a great chance with Broadbent to make it 4-1.
At this point, me and the mates are saying no need to change anything just yet. Let's consolidate, carry on doing what we were doing, for at least another 10 mins.
But no, McCann opted to make those subs, as if they were pre planned at that time no matter what. I don't think it's necessarily who he subbed but the timing that was very questionable. When seeds of doubt have been planted in our back line, the players just need a kick up the bum rather than being disrupted further.
We didn't regroup sufficiently at the back though and you have to look at our organisation at the back that allows their second goal.
We have another immediate chance to make it 4-2 with Cliftons one on one so we still clearly had goals in us, right up to the final whistle.
So yes, McCann maybe didn't read the situation well at 3-1 by not addressing the defensive shape lapse, and not consolidating to steady the ship before considering the subs. Yes, we can understand we have another game Tuesday but for the sake of 10 mins, we're the subs that necessary???
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I’m in the same corner as people who are questioning the timing of the substitutes coming on.
We were looking so threatening with our fluid attacking play and looked very likely to add a fourth goal.
I understand the possible need to take the Orient game on Tuesday into consideration but would another ten minutes on the pitch really have taken too much out of the players who went off.
Hacks is always likely to produce something different and Wigan must have been delighted when he went off.
Clifton was having another of his good days and looking likely to score again.
Mols looked miffed when he was hooked as he was on fire and was the biggest threat.
Our thoughts were that we should have given the starters at least another ten minutes, put another goal away and put it beyond a comeback by Wigan and then think about the Orient game.
In the end I was kind of happy that we didn’t end up with a 4-3 loss because it had that feeling about it.
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Villa have just scored a 2nd at Newcastle, before the game kicks back off Emery takes off Onana and replaces him with Lindelof.