A little bit of perspective

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Lets all stay calm.  If at the start of the season someone would have said we'd be in this position we'd have snapped their hands off.

A win on Tuesday and we're top of the league and everything is rosie again.  MK are as out of form as we are so we stand every chance.

We have injuries to 2 players who in my opinion have been our best this season (Hume and Syers).  I just hope Keegan is ok because I rate him highly too.  Sounded like we fell to bits in midfield after he went off today.

Apart from Bournemouth, the whole top 6 are currently out of form just like we are.  We just need to make sure we hit form again before they do - starting tuesday.

Come on you reds!!

[MachoMadness]

Hear hear. It is a bit worrying but we were going to have a blip eventually, and if we can arrest it on Tuesday after 2 games then I think we'll have done alright. The only worrying thing is a lot of the remaining games are against promotion rivals, and the last 2 games are very much 6 points dropped. They're games we should be winning and points against your rivals are 'bonus' points as it were.

[Sammy Chung was King]

Two massive cogs missing in the team wheel Hume and Syers,we miss the energy and goal threat from both,a good point Belle vue,Tranmere got beat,Bournemouth are our challengers for me,i expected tenth this season,so we are well above what i expected,a loan centre-half and Cassidy would see us over the line.

[Albert Trousers]

A keeper that command would go amiss either, Woods to be fair pulled off some good saves 2nd half today but he simply isn't good enough.

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Wondered how long it would take for Woods to be brought into the mix 

[Capmeister]

Like the away run, things have to end. You sort of know the Rob Jones' Day is either gonna end in a true legend being born.......he scores a hat trick or what actually happened. These initiatives heighten expectation and when it goes badly, to some, the world will cave in. Rob, ur not a God. But not missing it by much. Roll on MK Dons. Hope springs eternal.

[Thinwhiteduke]

Lets all stay calm.  If at the start of the season someone would have said we'd be in this position we'd have snapped their hands off.

A win on Tuesday and we're top of the league and everything is rosie again.  MK are as out of form as we are so we stand every chance.

We have injuries to 2 players who in my opinion have been our best this season (Hume and Syers).  I just hope Keegan is ok because I rate him highly too.  Sounded like we fell to bits in midfield after he went off today.

Apart from Bournemouth, the whole top 6 are currently out of form just like we are.  We just need to make sure we hit form again before they do - starting tuesday.

Come on you reds!!

Great post.

An un-biased ref on Tuesday night would help of course.

[mrfrostsdad]

Woods kept us in the game today. It was what was in front of him that wasn't good enough

[mushRTID]

We're 2 loan signings from the title. If we can get a stocky style midfielder and a finisher on loan (Cassidy) were sorted.

[smig64]

We need to keep it together and look forward to Tuesday, the players are as frustrated as we are as Quinn was arguing with McCombe and Harper in the second half. Come on Donny lets get the promotion express back on track. 

[RedJ]

We also need to remember Walsall are no mugs. Won 5 of the last 6 now, I think.

[The Red Baron]

Lets all stay calm.  If at the start of the season someone would have said we'd be in this position we'd have snapped their hands off.

A win on Tuesday and we're top of the league and everything is rosie again.  MK are as out of form as we are so we stand every chance.

We have injuries to 2 players who in my opinion have been our best this season (Hume and Syers).  I just hope Keegan is ok because I rate him highly too.  Sounded like we fell to bits in midfield after he went off today.

Apart from Bournemouth, the whole top 6 are currently out of form just like we are.  We just need to make sure we hit form again before they do - starting tuesday.

Come on you reds!!

I think we've missed Hume and Syers very badly and I agree about Keegan. After we went off we didn't win a second ball when defending and that is how they scored their goal. I do hope (in a way) that Keegan did go off because of injury, because if it was tactical then it was as bad a substitution as I've seen. I think even aged 51, overweight and with an artificial knee I could do as effective job in midfield as "The Pointer" does.

Time for a loan signing or two, I think, especially in midfield.

[hoolahoop]

...................PERSPEX more like nailed around our goal at set pieces. Strangely it used to be something this season that we gort very good at but we now look in absolute chaos.
Sort it please Jonesy. 

[Lytham Rover]

i was somewhat worried when i heard we were going to play 4-4-2 as we never seem to be able to make it work
so a little worried when we conceded after 75 seconds  but a little reassured when we went on to dominate the rest of the first half and get an equaliser
but in the second half walsall got better and better and totally deserved the win
i think the ref wasnt the best but we were the architects of our own downfall by committing stupid unnecessary fouls and generally being petulant

as above we did miss hume  but we had the same problem last week against bury who had a small side that buzzed around us stopping our passing game

surely we had them watched but still picked spurr at left back and allowed brandy to have him on toast

we have to be smarter for example  by playing husband against brandy would have been a better match and given us more mobility going forward

finally i thought that cottrill was poor today in general play he doesnt offer enough for me

[Sticky-Rover]

Don't think chopping and changing is necessary, we just didn't take our chances like usual.

On another note, Brown has stepped up his game and was quality once again.

[DonnyOsmond]

Husband and Woods have both been missed aswell.

[PDX_Rover]

My take on it... We're joint top of the league with a game in hand over Tranmere, Bournemouth and Swindon, which we really need to win. The results across this division today and last week show that anyone is capable of beating anyone on their day. Last week and today, games we could have won IF we have taken the chances when they presented themselves, something we were doing previously. That's football. I reckon no-one's as pissed off as the players, and we know that they have the grit to dig in and get things back on track.

Tranmere have been erratic of late, Swindon are on the verge of crisis, while Bournemouth are on the similar kind of run we were - that will end sometime. There is bound to be some fall out from losing Saunders so abruptly, and as others have mentioned, we are really missing Hume and Syers.

Automatic promotion is there for taking. There are still 48 points to play for. If we can invest some of the compensation from Wolves in the loan market in the right areas, I expect us to be top two come May. Dean had earmarked players and I am sure he and Flynny have talked about it. Don't we have some players from Wolves to call on as well, as JR stated recently, as part of the deal?  That might be key in the run in.

Let's not forget, this was meant to be a 'let's not get relegated' season, yet here we sit joint top.

"I'll buy that for a dollar."

[BobG]

Just a thought: whilst Bournemouth are obvious challengers, what about Yeovil as well? God result today. And is that 6 wins out 7 for them now?

BobG

[PDX_Rover]

Good point Bob. I'd rather be where we are though

[RedJ]

Just a thought: whilst Bournemouth are obvious challengers, what about Yeovil as well? God result today. And is that 6 wins out 7 for them now?

BobG

Nailed on for the playoffs for me, but I don't think they'll make the top two. Madden is it? seems to be banging em in lately.

[steve@dcfd]

Yes perspective Fowler is not a Wellens, Harper is a pointer and does not do enough. The midfield without Keegan was poor. Yet again as in a majority of games subs make the team worst not better. Tuesday game is important we do not want three defeats for the morale of the team. Down to the manager and his back room staff to get team selection right and then for them to perform. We need an attacking midfield player on loan and maybe a striker with good work rate and chance taker.

[RedJ]

Yes perspective Fowler is not a Wellens, Harper is a pointer and does not do enough. The midfield without Keegan was poor. Yet again as in a majority of games subs make the team worst not better.Tuesday game is important we do not want three defeats for the morale of the team. Down to the manager and his back room staff to get team selection right and then for them to perform. We need an attacking midfield player on loan and maybe a striker with good work rate and chance taker.

Here I have to disagree. Saunders' subs were often spot on, and today we had no option with Keegan, it seems.

[Norfolk N Chance]

We lost but gave 100. That's all you ask for. Harper getting a lot of stick but he was every where first half.

[RedJ]

We lost but gave 100. That's all you ask for. Harper getting a lot of stick but he was every where first half.

"Running about like a headless chicken after the ball", he was. Did f**k all all game and cost us the second goal.

[Sammy Chung was King]

We are badly missing some vital players,Martin Woods,gives us good balance on the left,and most had it in for him earlier in the season,he hasn't been outstanding at any point,but makes the team as a whole better when he is in the starting eleven,i know Tommy Spurr contributes quite a bit from full back,but for me,put him at the side of Jones if there's no loan centre back coming in,put Husband in at full back,we are missing his enthusiasm,youth and quality.We are missing the hard work that Hume puts in,when you get a player like him defending from the front,it spreads through the team,Brown and Paynter are fairly static,so don't cause many problems with their movement,though well done to Paynter for the goal.

Syers is the player that causes problems between the defence and midfield,he is our only central midfielder with a goal threat,so we are bound to miss his presence,our team this season has been based on hard work,reliability,and taking our chances,we have been rigid,keeping positions,probably too much at times,but that is what has got us to this point,it's been all about the team all season,some of the loan signings have worried me,is Sinclair a team player?,Fowler?,and has Coppinger coming back in unbalanced things in a way we didn't see coming?Coppinger has quality no doubt about it,but is he the player he was?,for me he's never been a team player,more of a luxury who performs when things are going well,Sinclair doesn't to me seem the right sort of striker we were looking for,we missed out massively on Jason Scotland,who would have destroyed this league,Cassidy would be ideal for us,we badly need a week in week out scorer,when you've got one games like Walsall don't happen,you edge games instead of losing.

Fowler,good on the ball undoubtedly,but will he put a shift in for the team,or will he become another luxury player,as in Coppinger,the blend of the team with the injuries seems slightly off kilter,we've gone through the season,with mostly hard working team players,with our luxuries being Cotterill,but we can afford to have him in the team,because,he performs,even in games where we have struggled for a bit,Kyle Bennett being our other,though admittedly he hasn't performed as good as the ability he has,still gives us the strength of wariness because of his pace,teams are always wary of pace,even if the player is not quite doing it,so him being on the pitch does have it's advantages.

MK Dons,are in a similar run of form to us,they are a decent team,nothing special,they also lack a prolific scorer at the minute,they are also susceptible,to someone like Rob Jones causing them major problems from set pieces,i can see us getting back to winning,in a tight game.