Let's talk about the Crewe Alexandra game

[Chris Black come back]

Taylor, John-Jules, Tulloch and Richards all not playing today. All could have expected to start and play (I know Taylor started but went off after a few minutes).

[dickos1]

We will play much worse teams than Crewe this season but we went completely off the boil after Crewe scored the free kick.
Still had enough chances to have won the game. Not our day today.

After we played MK dons I can recall similar comments from you saying mK dons will surprise everyone this year and will be up there. But theyre down at the bottom struggling.
I just think we need to find a way of beating the sides which were expected to beat, we can’t break teams down

They are Dickos and all the teams have played only 7/8 games this season. I actually said MK Dons would finish mid table and if you check your facts and see my League prediction you would see that.
Never did I predict MK Dons would be any way near the play offs.

I think your exact words were MK dons will easily finish in the top half this season. They were much better than you expected and we will play sides much worse than them this season.
My point is we seem to make the lesser teams look good, Wigan, MK dons, Oldham, Crewe it’s a common theme

[dickos1]

Taylor, John-Jules, Tulloch and Richards all not playing today. All could have expected to start and play (I know Taylor started but went off after a few minutes).

With the additions on smith and sims I’m not sure all of the ones you mentioned would walk straight back in

[scawsby steve]

Taylor, John-Jules, Tulloch and Richards all not playing today. All could have expected to start and play (I know Taylor started but went off after a few minutes).

Very interesting. So who are the 3 players who would have been left out of the starting line-up?

[Chris Black come back]

Not sure what happened to Richards. Not even on the bench. Moore does I think prefer John-Jules as the central striker and while Fejiri did a good job at hold up play, his finishing was suspect.

[scawsby steve]

Not sure what happened to Richards. Not even on the bench. Moore does I think prefer John-Jules as the central striker and while Fejiri did a good job at hold up play, his finishing was suspect.

That's one. Who are the other 2?

[Chris Black come back]

Moore does like to mix and match teams to the opposition but he does seem to prefer John-Jules over Fejiri, when Tulloch was fit he was starting over Lokilo, Taylor started the game anyhow. Richards seems the least stable figure. He has picked him, dropped him and then today, who knows.

[dickos1]

Lokilo didn’t start today either though
So if you’re saying tulloch and Taylor Richards are expected to start I’m not sure who you’d be dropping

[BillyStubbsTears]

Crewe played an excellent press on us and I'm afraid we weren't good enough to counter it. No real complaints but we do need to show we are able to overcome that sort of press. It does leave gaps behind if you are sharp and slick enough to offload the ball to a colleague as the press comes in. Today we just weren't. Not often enough anyway.

All that said, there was a stonewall handball penalty for us near the end. I don't like carping on about refs but I'll make an exception here. Today's was awful from start to finish. He never once pulled them up for manhandling players and that set the tone from the off.

There was one handball that was an absolute disgrace, even though it was irrelevant as the ref had blown for a foul on their keeper by Wright. The ball got fired against the defender who looked like he handballed it at stomach height, then the cheating bas**rd went down clutching his head.

That was the one. It wasn't irrelevant because the Wright foul on the keeper came AFTER the handball.

[NickDRFC]

Who mentioned Crewe going 10 away games without a win?

Keep stum from now onwards please. Kiss of death.

You do realise don't you that those results had already happened and were public knowledge? Knowing what has taken place in the past is not some kind of mystical power that can dictate the events of the future. That we lost today had nothing to do with someone looking down a list of past results.

It was deeply flawed reasoning anyway given their two away games this season, although losses, were at 2 of the best sides in the league.

[IDM]

Crewe played an excellent press on us and I'm afraid we weren't good enough to counter it. No real complaints but we do need to show we are able to overcome that sort of press. It does leave gaps behind if you are sharp and slick enough to offload the ball to a colleague as the press comes in. Today we just weren't. Not often enough anyway.

All that said, there was a stonewall handball penalty for us near the end. I don't like carping on about refs but I'll make an exception here. Today's was awful from start to finish. He never once pulled them up for manhandling players and that set the tone from the off.

There was one handball that was an absolute disgrace, even though it was irrelevant as the ref had blown for a foul on their keeper by Wright. The ball got fired against the defender who looked like he handballed it at stomach height, then the cheating bas**rd went down clutching his head.

That was the one. It wasn't irrelevant because the Wright foul on the keeper came AFTER the handball.

Exactly..

Things just didn’t quite go our way today.. how many times did Whiteman attempt a killer pass that didn’t come off - but not by much.?

Fine lines perfectly illustrated today - we played well enough to win that game bud shit happens, and we didn’t.

We will play worse and win games.

[Chris Black come back]

Who mentioned Crewe going 10 away games without a win?

Keep stum from now onwards please. Kiss of death.

You do realise don't you that those results had already happened and were public knowledge? Knowing what has taken place in the past is not some kind of mystical power that can dictate the events of the future. That we lost today had nothing to do with someone looking down a list of past results.

It was deeply flawed reasoning anyway given their two away games this season, although losses, were at 2 of the best sides in the league.

It wasn’t deeply flawed to say they have a dreadful away record. They have won a single game in ten away, including while playing in an inferior league. If anyone thinks winning 10pc of their away games is anything other than dreadful, they need urgently to stop smoking crack.

[Janso]

I also don't understand why people seem to be under the illusion that the way fans approach a match on online messageboards is going to have any effect on how the players perform. Someone make that make sense?

[IDM]

I think there is no relevance in counting games from last season in this season”s form.  Teams have new players etc and have returned from a long break so aligning last season’s form with this is pointless.

[NickDRFC]

Who mentioned Crewe going 10 away games without a win?

Keep stum from now onwards please. Kiss of death.

You do realise don't you that those results had already happened and were public knowledge? Knowing what has taken place in the past is not some kind of mystical power that can dictate the events of the future. That we lost today had nothing to do with someone looking down a list of past results.

It was deeply flawed reasoning anyway given their two away games this season, although losses, were at 2 of the best sides in the league.

It wasn’t deeply flawed to say they have a dreadful away record. They have won a single game in ten away, including while playing in an inferior league. If anyone thinks winning 10pc of their away games is anything other than dreadful, they need urgently to stop smoking crack.

Eighty per cent of games you’re including were played over 7 months ago, in a different season and a different league. If you think that has any bearing on their away form now I think it’s probably you who needs to put the pipe down. That’s before you even start to consider how much having empty stadiums has levelled the playing field and meant away wins are significantly more likely.

[RugbyRover]

Who mentioned Crewe going 10 away games without a win?

Keep stum from now onwards please. Kiss of death.

You do realise don't you that those results had already happened and were public knowledge? Knowing what has taken place in the past is not some kind of mystical power that can dictate the events of the future. That we lost today had nothing to do with someone looking down a list of past results.

It was deeply flawed reasoning anyway given their two away games this season, although losses, were at 2 of the best sides in the league.

It wasn’t deeply flawed to say they have a dreadful away record. They have won a single game in ten away, including while playing in an inferior league. If anyone thinks winning 10pc of their away games is anything other than dreadful, they need urgently to stop smoking crack.

Eighty per cent of games you’re including were played over 7 months ago, in a different season and a different league. If you think that has any bearing on their away form now I think it’s probably you who needs to put the pipe down. That’s before you even start to consider how much having empty stadiums has levelled the playing field and meant away wins are significantly more likely.

I have a nice image in my head of CBCB having a "Condor Moment"....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txt5dlXGVVs

Always nice to be able to put a face to a profile.

[Campsall rover]

We will play much worse teams than Crewe this season but we went completely off the boil after Crewe scored the free kick.
Still had enough chances to have won the game. Not our day today.

After we played MK dons I can recall similar comments from you saying mK dons will surprise everyone this year and will be up there. But theyre down at the bottom struggling.
I just think we need to find a way of beating the sides which were expected to beat, we can’t break teams down

They are Dickos and all the teams have played only 7/8 games this season. I actually said MK Dons would finish mid table and if you check your facts and see my League prediction you would see that.
Never did I predict MK Dons would be any way near the play offs.

I think your exact words were MK dons will easily finish in the top half this season. They were much better than you expected and we will play sides much worse than them this season.
My point is we seem to make the lesser teams look good, Wigan, MK dons, Oldham, Crewe it’s a common theme

My point is do we know which are the ‘lesser sides’ at this point of the season. It is far too early to be definitive on that. We may have a good idea of course. MK Dons have some good players and I would be surprised to see them finish below 15th at worst. But you might be right Dickos who knows they could finish bottom of the pile.
There are no easy 3 point games. Every point has to be earned and no matter where a team are in the table doesn’t give you the right to beat them.
Football doesn’t work like that and a team that comes and defends are very often more difficult to beat than a team playing attacking open football.

[Chris Black come back]

Moore saying that Richards has only a minor injury but he didn’t want to risk him today.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

The game today was all about the finishing for me (or lack of).  Fejiri should have had 2 goals for sure.

My concern though was how we lacked ideas when behind at 2-1 and didn't seem to be able to try something different.  Part of that was the limited options available.

Still unsure on the keeper too, he's not really shown me anything of note yet this season.  I'm not sure marosi or dieng concede that free kick for example.

Key is how we bounce back though games like today will happen but they are the difference between promotion, play offs and mid table. For me we have lost two games we should have won and did enough to win.

[Campsall rover]

The game today was all about the finishing for me (or lack of).  Fejiri should have had 2 goals for sure.

My concern though was how we lacked ideas when behind at 2-1 and didn't seem to be able to try something different.  Part of that was the limited options available.

Still unsure on the keeper too, he's not really shown me anything of note yet this season.  I'm not sure marosi or dieng concede that free kick for example.

Key is how we bounce back though games like today will happen but they are the difference between promotion, play offs and mid table. For me we have lost two games we should have won and did enough to win.

We lose games every season we should have won.
Every club in the Football League lose games they should have won. That’s the nature of the game.
Doesn’t make it any less frustrating when it happens though of course.

[idler]

So some are saying that poor finishing cost us the game.
We would have won 1-0 if we hadn't conceded. We don't get enough clean sheets for me which guarantee at least a point.

[graingrover]

Bursik is a. good young keeper but needs to heed advice from PG on his positioning for free kicks .He. was done in the same way against Blackburn leaving his left hand side so unguarded .If he wants JW to stand on that goalpost for free kicks he should say but it should be a of twice bitten third time wiser .

[elmsallrover]

Even the best keeper's in the world get beat by free kicks

[albie]

I agree with graingrover.

Bursik has made the same mistake he made at Blackburn, setting up half a stride too far to his right.
Good free kick, but he invites the left foot to hit that spot by his position.
https://www.skysports.com/football/doncaster-vs-crewe/report/430896

This should have been sorted in training after the Blackburn goal.
The first could have been stopped as well.

[Jonathan]

Yet to see why Bursik is so highly thought of in the England set up. Admittedly Dieng set a high bar, but he’s nowhere near it. Command of the box seems little better than Lawlor and he was unconvincing for both goals today. Hopefully he improves as the season progresses, he must have something... but right now I’m struggling to see why he’s in ahead of Jones.

[drfchound]

In that second half Crewe reminded me of Barton’s Fleetwood.
Time wasting tactics, petulantly kicking the ball away or taking an age to take a throw in or free kick, management team screaming at the officials and trying to get players booked or sent off etc etc etc.
Horrible to watch.
A long way from the Crewe ethos of years gone by.

[Chris Black come back]

Bursik does have good distribution. Some of his longer balls out from the back were much better than both Anderson and Wright. Not convincing for the free kick.

[Michael Shaw]

"Horrible to watch."  and win the game or "play nice football"  and lose the game. I'll take the former thank you, and Crewe got it right.

[drfchound]

Well I for one wouldn’t watch to watch a team like Crewe or Fleetwood on a regular basis.
Luckily ?  our “nice” football got us two very good wins in the previous two matches.
I bet that Rovers finish above both of those two clubs this season.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Bursik does have good distribution. Some of his longer balls out from the back were much better than both Anderson and Wright. Not convincing for the free kick.

I've taken my time to look at Bursik. Generally he's a very competent keeper, moves well around his box, does well when gathering the ball into the bread basket from shots low down and, he's very good with his feet.

We know however, he tends to prefer the punch to the catch in crowded areas and we can give him the benefit of doubt on that one.

What troubles me though, is his agility when on the stretch, diving for the corners, particularly above shoulder height. He's not the tallest keeper but he doesn't seem to possess the spring either! He's about as aerodynamic as a plank and he barely gets off the ground. The ball hit the net half way up so it wasn't even in the top corner.

I've looked back at the other free kicks and he just looks so unnatural in the air. A bit like Casper in Kes! It wouldn't surprise me if he closes his eyes too.

This could be make or break for a young keeper. If he doesn't have the spring he's going to struggle at any level. Reminds me a bit of Ben Smith who looked the part but just seemed to dive under any shot that came his way that he had to move for.