Let's talk about the Huddersfield Town game

[RoversInSpain]

One thing we could really do with is Joe I getting off the mark. Give him a full ninety and let him have a bash at penalties too. He seems to have been the forgotten man recently with Billy, Molly and to a degree Gibson getting a lot of focus.

[drfchound]

Joe will be fine.
He is experienced enough to,know his worth and that his chance will come, as will the goals.
If we get a penalty with both him and Billy on the pitch, I fully expect that Joe will take it.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Joe will be fine.
He is experienced enough to,know his worth and that his chance will come, as will the goals.
If we get a penalty with both him and Billy on the pitch, I fully expect that Joe will take it.

Good call!

Anything to get Joe off the mark.

Well, a wins a win. Also Yeboah breaking his duck too.

[graingrover]

MOM Ben Close who played the midfield anchor well , smooth performance throughout .Broadbent will have to apply himself more assiduously to this the challenge to get a starting place ahead of Westbrook and now Close .Shaun- Brown was up to his challenge 100 % tonight .

[scawsby steve]

Good performance tonight. Very impressed with Close, Olowu, and Sterry.

McGrath was good apart from the howler in the first half. Lawlor and Ironside both had solid games.

[Ryaldinhio]

Good performance tonight. Very impressed with Close, Olowu, and Sterry.

McGrath was good apart from the howler in the first half. Lawlor and Ironside both had solid games.

Agree with all of that other than Sterry, really? Another goal from a man totally free at back post. Been happening for last 18m. Walking back again?!

Am I missing summat?????

[mushRTID]

MOM Ben Close who played the midfield anchor well , smooth performance throughout .Broadbent will have to apply himself more assiduously to this the challenge to get a starting place ahead of Westbrook and now Close .Shaun- Brown was up to his challenge 100 % tonight .

Some people might laugh at this but Sam looked a better player than Broadbent tonight.
A bright future awaits

[scawsby steve]

Good performance tonight. Very impressed with Close, Olowu, and Sterry.

McGrath was good apart from the howler in the first half. Lawlor and Ironside both had solid games.

Agree with all of that other than Sterry, really? Another goal from a man totally free at back post. Been happening for last 18m. Walking back again?!

Am I missing summat?????

I mainly meant going forward, which he's often effective with. However, I agree with you about his defensive positioning, which is suspect.

I think Nixon's better defensively, so GM's got a bit of a selection poser there when Tom returns from injury.

[steve@dcfd]

MOM Ben Close who played the midfield anchor well , smooth performance throughout .Broadbent will have to apply himself more assiduously to this the challenge to get a starting place ahead of Westbrook and now Close .Shaun- Brown was up to his challenge 100 % tonight .

Some people might laugh at this but Sam looked a better player than Broadbent tonight.
A bright future awaits

If you watched the game he was better than Broadbent and Sbarra who was not very good

[Nudga]

Just realised it’s 7pm ko, do they not want people that work to attend, it’ll be Sky for me tonight then

I believe that this is the long end game of the monopoly.
Show as much lower league games on TV,  f**k about with ko times, have more people watch from home than the stadium.
Eventually clubs will be reliant on TV money because people will get out of the habit.
Clubs go bust, people need their football fix so watch more top end games.

Just my theory of course.

f**k sky TV.

[selby]

  My MOM's Ironside and Olowu also only two up against their best players in Ward up front and their No4 central defender Pearson two good individual contests within the game both acquitted themselves well in, McGrath was sloppy when caught in possession
that could have cost us big time and we were lucky to get away with it,

[Alan Southstand]

Other than his brain fart, I thought Mgrath looked the part, Selby.

I’ve seen people praising the return of Close, words like ‘stand-out performer’ come to mind, but come on, partnered with Broadbent and S’barra what did we expect?

The latter two have got their work cut out to get in the first 11. On the evidence so far, I can’t see what anyone saw in what S’barra might bring? Equally, Broadbent is not going to fill the void left by Craig! Nowhere near aggressive enough or commanding enough to claim a place in our midfield.

[selby]

  When not in possession Sbarra was probably our best player, certainly in midfield putting a foot in and disrupting the flow of the game with the tactical foul when Huddersfield looked to attack our back line.
  Football is not just about pushing the ball about ten yards square, that was not how the world cup was won, or the Champions League, and the players that can stop the players that play the ball about are just as important in todays football.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Extended highlights with much more action.

https://youtu.be/qoEtSz72Ehk?si=WvWY7w-k5uenz4uc

[Reg of the Rovers]

I didn't rate Close last night - he's one of least brave players I've ever seen, doesn't tackle, doesn't track, doesn't try to break the lines or be creative, just happy to sit deep, pick up the ball then drop it back in to the defenders. He's well behind Bailey, Sbarra, Kelly, Westbrooke and Clifton for me. We looked much more dynamic when Straughan-Brown came on, who looks like a really good prospect to me.

Ironside worked his knackers off as always and scored an amazing pen, Olowu and Lawlor also very good, thought Senior also did well - looked to be a loud voice on the pitch trying to organise. McGrath slipped once but otherwise I thought he did well and looks the tidiest defender we've had since Matt Mills.

Decent result especially as they through everything at us last 20 but we held on and battled well.

[ravenrover]

  My MOM's Ironside and Olowu also only two up against their best players in Ward up front and their No4 central defender Pearson two good individual contests within the game both acquitted themselves well in, McGrath was sloppy when caught in possession
that could have cost us big time and we were lucky to get away with it,

Of course McGrath was sloppy and  could have cost us....... now where is Bobby ?

[BessieBlue]

I thought the back line performed well last night with Olowu the stand out defender.

Up top Ironside put away his penalty with aplomb and how he gets his head to the ball is pretty incredible. On the downside his lay offs were either underhit, overhit or not anticipated by others. Hurst put in a lot of effort - a good performance I thought.

In midfield Close was on a different level to everyone else and for his first game back that was a top drawer performance - fully deserved his MOM. If he can keep injury free he will be key to making the midfield and hence the team tick, but that will make him a marked man by the opposition and he will be lucky to avoid the hard knocks.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Amazing how opinions differ on the same players.

Both Olowu and Anderson have both been through periods when they were subject to criticism and have come through to prove they are still important members of the squad. This means however, they are marked men and any mistakes tend to be highlighted more so than if other players made the same mistakes.

Close of course comes into that category as now does Sterry and Broadbent. They may not be everyone's cup of tea but we can't expect flawless performances from them but of course we expect them to contribute to our overall success.

We can debate how much TLT, Haks and Craig contributed to last seasons 'success' and while individually they may be better than players currently competing for their positions, the teams results will ultimately determine whether they've been adequately replaced. We have to adapt and perform with who we've got and so far, we're not doing too bad.  Plus, there's plenty of room for improvement as we find the right blends as the players gell even more as a group.

[Lesonthewest]

Thought we played really, Olowu looking really strong & seems to be maturing into his role now. Close played well & his fitness looked good so that's another bonus. Really good win & more confidence to take into Saturday.

[Bailey Vickerage]

Thought it was a very good performance barring the first 5-10 mins of each half where we were a bit sloppy.

Olowu MOTM for me just ahead of Close (great to see him back and don’t have to rush him either with the other options) and Sterry who also had a good game. Ironside also good up top and a great penalty to get him off the mark, not been many better penalty takers in our history than him.

Was impressed with 2 youngsters when they came on, especially Sam Brown who I thought was excellent, composed on the ball and great with the press off it.

[RoversInSpain]

Amazing how opinions differ on the same players.

Both Olowu and Anderson have both been through periods when they were subject to criticism and have come through to prove they are still important members of the squad. This means however, they are marked men and any mistakes tend to be highlighted more so than if other players made the same mistakes.

Close of course comes into that category as now does Sterry and Broadbent. They may not be everyone's cup of tea but we can't expect flawless performances from them but of course we expect them to contribute to our overall success.

We can debate how much TLT, Haks and Craig contributed to last seasons 'success' and while individually they may be better than players currently competing for their positions, the teams results will ultimately determine whether they've been adequately replaced. We have to adapt and perform with who we've got and so far, we're not doing too bad.  Plus, there's plenty of room for improvement as we find the right blends as the players gell even more as a group.

Very good post that DBR

[ncRover]

I’ve seen people praising the return of Close, words like ‘stand-out performer’ come to mind, but come on, partnered with Broadbent and S’barra what did we expect?

I can’t get my head around the mental gymnastics here Alan.
That’s Close’s first game in 8 months but you give Patrick Kelly more credit for having a bad game than Ben having a good one.

[rover-n-out]

According to Michael Duff on my Google news page, they dominated throughout, and Chapman only had two saves to make. Bemoaning having 4 midfield players out due to injury and Intl. call-ups. Same for the forwards, players out, so he had to change things by bringing in young players to make up the team. Another one,
here, never mentioned us by name once, and only acknowledged us once by saying Chapman couldn't do much about the first goal.
For all their perceived dominance doesn't he realise that we scored 2 goals and they only scored one?
From my point of view, I thought the first half was ours, and after the break they did look threatening and worked a very good goal within 4 mins, albeit with some sloppy marking from Broadbent. After that, I thought they would dominate us and go on to win, but that never happened and we dug in and held on for a good win.
Strange how some coach's can only see a game from their point of view and don't see anything from the opposition in trying to beat their team. Weird.

[idler]

I remember at Anfield in 1974 Liverpool fans near me saying that they had reserve players in. I said that you are telling me that your reserve players aren’t good enough to beat a bottom of the league 4th division team? They shut up after that plus their team had Clemence, Thomson and Keegan in the side to name just three. They admitted later that it was their hardest game before winning the cup.

[richtherover]

From memory they also had Hughes, Cormack and Heighway. Kitch hit the bar in the last minute. Would have been the greatest giant killing act ever.

[BobG]

A lob. Right onto the top of the bar...

BobG

[selby]

  i was stood with a group of Askern buddies near the tunnel where the players came out and when we went 1 down I turned around and said they will get six now.
 A little old scoucer heard me and turned around and said no no you have some good young players and are playing well
  When we went two up while we were celebrating the same little guy turned on me and said, " you dirty set of bas***S your kicking the F**K out of us". we were laughing our heads off.
  Another one was at Bradford Park avenue talking to a supporter who said watch our No 10 Kevin Hector he is the best in this division, one of the lads said watch our No 10 he would have been the best in the world, King Alick scored a blinder, the Bradford fan said " I see what you mean"
  Having mixed crowds was not all bad, and part of the game them days.