LJ post match Adams Park

[Robbored]

Not a happy bunny at all. He was as pissed off as I've seen him post match. Happy that we're in the hat and RoDs and Abrahams "won us the game" but unhappy with the overall game management. "we were hanging on".

Said that one or two "need to contribute more" and that Garita needs "loads of work".

Very frank and candid interview as always.    

[steviestevieneville]

9 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Not a happy bunny at all. He was as pissed off as I've seen him post match. Happy that we're in the hat and RoDs and Abrahams "won us the game" but unhappy with the overall game management. "we were hanging on".

Said that one or two "need to contribute more" and that Garita needs "loads of work".

Very frank and candid interview as always.    

Totally agree, great to see him being as honest as ever. Way too many managers hide behind excuses all the time. 

[Olé]

He's spot on. We were poor and result masked the performance. Garita was awful when he came on.

[HoldenBall]

Those who have seen Garita play knows he isn't anywhere near good enough for the first team. It still suprises me we've kept Garita on and let go a decent looking player like Armenterous in pre season.

[Nogbad the Bad]

3 minutes ago, Olé said:

He's spot on. We were poor and result masked the performance. Garita was awful when he came on.

LJ sees him in training every day, he shouldn't be shocked that 'he needs loads of work'.

In fact, hardly fair to be critical of him like that - if he needs loads of work, put him through it, and see positive results, before plunging him into the first team.

If LJ only sees him as L1 or L2 level (at the moment) then get him a loan move lower down the leagues.

If he's decided L1/L2 is his probable limit - even with 'loads of work' - then move him on, because that's clearly no good to us.

 

[allyolly]

Garita did seem well off the pace but the whole shape of the team seemed to have gone with the substitutions. 

It's great to hear an honest assessment from LJ but maybe on this occasion he's not exempt from criticism himself. Always going to be a tall order for 7 new players to pick up from the performance on Saturday. 

[Olé]

Some more considered thoughts, the last message was from the tube.

Poor game and LJ is spot on that we were tactically naive. We started well enough but in the end I think over 90 minutes Wycombe were the better team and certainly did a far better job of finding room and creating opportunities. Apart from Abraham's constant movement and willingness, I thought our lot today did nowhere near enough to affect the game and were half hearted in their attacking. At 1-0 up I just think they didn't really go for it and on another day we could have paid for the attacking complacency. Reid and Freeman both gave it a go first half (Reid has started this season the way he finished the last - as our best midfielder) but Freeman, for lots of early endeavour, fizzled out quickly when he realised he couldn't beat any Wycombe players 1-on-1.

We surrendered the initiative and rarely threatened second half. Our full backs were poor throughout. Matthews was awful, besides a block on Akinfenwa first half, he offered little going forward, was pushed back and went off after giving two consecutive passes away to opponents cheaply. Golbourne didn't offer much more on the other side, and it was telling that we brought both Bryan and Little on. But despite having 4 full backs play large parts of the game, we didn't once get beyond defenders to the byline and get a decent cross in. The few times we might have taken the final man on to find room for a cross, we turned back inside and passed back. It was typical of how we played, hesitant, lacking confidence, apparently happy not to create chances.

In most cases we invariably gave the ball away after deciding to pass up opportunities to get the ball in the box. I think this is typical of what LJ will describe as naive. It worries me that I've seen us only really tick for less than half an hour of 180 minutes this week so far, and that we seem to be trying to break teams down through the middle, relying on a killer pass from Reid or Tomlin. That's not Wilbraham's game today and it probably isn't going to be enough for any of our strikers if all they've got to attack are one or two sliderule passes a game. Where are all the crosses from the wings, balls to really attack, normally as a striker your high probability chances? The claimed high tempo has now been absent for two games running, which is odd too.

The answer, I think lies in the midfield. Today at least, Tomlin is playing with more freedom than I remember last season. He seems to be playing literally wherever he fancies and as a result, the midfield is struggling to find any shape. Reid is an attacking contributor and Freeman is playing in the channels and flanks. Those two are both trying to create chances. We're not stringing much together in midfield and it's simply not enough for Pack to be the only holding midfielder even against Wycombe Wanderers. There is no cohesion and we were far far too easy to break on. We need two of O'Neil, Pack and Smith in holding roles if we're going to play Tomlin in a free role. We also need to hold midfield and get the fullbacks bombing forward. We did neither.

Fun to watch Abrahams again, best player on the pitch, reads the game well and movement fantastic. Credit to O'Donnell who had a quiet first half but then kept us in the game virtually single handed for a five minute spell late in the game when everyone else seemed to be surrendering. Other than that, bar some nice touches from Reid (a must in the starting 11, even on average performance by his standards), everyone was poor and no one has played themselves into contention - the much vaunted new competition for places certainly wasn't in evidence, and as above, I'm deeply suspicious about the lack of tempo or real attacking intent against a 4th tier team, the two things LJ has been preaching but have been in short supply so far this season.

• O'Donnell 8
• Matthews 4 (Bryan 5)
• Golborne 5
• Williams 5
• Flint 5
• Pack 5
• Reid 6
• Freeman 5
• Tomlin 5
• Wilbraham 5 (Little 5)
• Abraham 7 (Garita 4)

A word for Akinfenwa - I haven't seen him in the flesh for a number of years. If I'm honest some of his touches in and around our box would put our players to shame today, he was always looking to hold the ball up, lay it off and create crossing opportunities, his movement and intelligence was decent for a bloke of his size and he seemed to enjoy himself. He was quicker than I imagined for his size too. I suppose the real point is credit to him for leading the line and credit his teammates for finding him. We on the other hand did a lousy job of creating opportunities for our strikers (Abraham was always inviting) and got progressively worse to the point we brought Garita and two wing-backs on, as if to aim balls up to him, and then didn't do so once of any note.

[Olé]

19 minutes ago, allyolly said:

Garita did seem well off the pace but the whole shape of the team seemed to have gone with the substitutions. 

It's great to hear an honest assessment from LJ but maybe on this occasion he's not exempt from criticism himself. Always going to be a tall order for 7 new players to pick up from the performance on Saturday. 

All fair points. Hope you made your various train connections!

[allyolly]

2 minutes ago, Olé said:

All fair points. Hope you made your various train connections!

Cheers Ole! Made them but had to show an uncharacteristic sharp turn of foot on the underground at bakerloo! 

[Red-Robbo]

15 minutes ago, Olé said:

Some more considered thoughts, the last message was from the tube.

Poor game and LJ is spot on that we were tactically naive. We started well enough but in the end I think over 90 minutes Wycombe were the better team and certainly did a far better job of finding room and creating opportunities. Apart from Abraham's constant movement and willingness, I thought our lot today did nowhere near enough to affect the game and were half hearted in their attacking. At 1-0 up I just think they didn't really go for it and on another day we could have paid for the attacking complacency. Reid and Freeman both gave it a go first half (Reid has started this season the way he finished the last - as our best midfielder) but Freeman, for lots of early endeavour, fizzled out quickly when he realised he couldn't beat any Wycombe players 1-on-1.

We surrendered the initiative and rarely threatened second half. Our full backs were poor throughout. Matthews was awful, besides a block on Akinfenwa first half, he offered little going forward, was pushed back and went off after giving two consecutive passes away to opponents cheaply. Golbourne didn't offer much more on the other side, and it was telling that we brought both Bryan and Little on. But despite having 4 full backs play large parts of the game, we didn't once get beyond defenders to the byline and get a decent cross in. The few times we might have taken the final man on to find room for a cross, we turned back inside and passed back. It was typical of how we played, hesitant, lacking confidence, apparently happy not to create chances.

In most cases we invariably gave the ball away after deciding to pass up opportunities to get the ball in the box. I think this is typical of what LJ will describe as naive. It worries me that I've seen us only really tick for less than half an hour of 180 minutes this week so far, and that we seem to be trying to break teams down through the middle, relying on a killer pass from Reid or Tomlin. That's not Wilbraham's game today and it probably isn't going to be enough for any of our strikers if all they've got to attack are one or two sliderule passes a game. Where are all the crosses from the wings, balls to really attack, normally as a striker your high probability chances? The claimed high tempo has now been absent for two games running, which is odd too.

The answer, I think lies in the midfield. Today at least, Tomlin is playing with more freedom than I remember last season. He seems to be playing literally wherever he fancies and as a result, the midfield is struggling to find any shape. Reid is an attacking contributor and Freeman is playing in the channels and flanks. Those two are both trying to create chances. We're not stringing much together in midfield and it's simply not enough for Pack to be the only holding midfielder even against Wycombe Wanderers. There is no cohesion and we were far far too easy to break on. We need two of O'Neil, Pack and Smith in holding roles if we're going to play Tomlin in a free role. We also need to hold midfield and get the fullbacks bombing forward. We did neither.

Fun to watch Abrahams again, best player on the pitch, reads the game well and movement fantastic. Credit to O'Donnell who had a quiet first half but then kept us in the game virtually single handed for a five minute spell late in the game when everyone else seemed to be surrendering. Other than that, bar some nice touches from Reid (a must in the starting 11, even on average performance by his standards), everyone was poor and no one has played themselves into contention - the much vaunted new competition for places certainly wasn't in evidence, and as above, I'm deeply suspicious about the lack of tempo or real attacking intent against a 4th tier team, the two things LJ has been preaching but have been in short supply so far this season.

• O'Donnell 8
• Matthews 4 (Bryan 5)
• Golborne 5
• Williams 5
• Flint 5
• Pack 5
• Reid 6
• Freeman 5
• Tomlin 5
• Wilbraham 5 (Little 5)
• Abraham 7 (Garita 4)

A word for Akinfenwa - I haven't seen him in the flesh for a number of years. If I'm honest some of his touches in and around our box would put our players to shame today, he was always looking to hold the ball up, lay it off and create crossing opportunities, his movement and intelligence was decent for a bloke of his size and he seemed to enjoy himself. He was quicker than I imagined for his size too. I suppose the real point is credit to him for leading the line and credit his teammates for finding him. We on the other hand did a lousy job of creating opportunities for our strikers (Abraham was always inviting) and got progressively worse to the point we brought Garita and two wing-backs on, as if to aim balls up to him, and then didn't do so once of any note.

Well thank **** we didn't play our first choice XI tonight. Nonetheless,  it's a typical League Cup reminder of how we still haven't got squad depth.  

[Robin1988]

I thought Freeman was quite decent without making too much clear-cut. He at least looks sharper than last season.

Garita was a gamble when Cotterill signed him, he's still a gamble in that he might never be the finished product. Oh well, he cost £50k.

It was him or Jimmy tonight, he's been in good form in pre-season and JK was understandably rested ahead of Saturday.

Maybe it didn't turn out to be the best decision in the world, but **** me what an overreaction from @Nogbad the Bad and @billywedlock to a 25-minute cameo I doubt they even saw.

[Son of Fred]

2 hours ago, Robbored said:

Not a happy bunny at all. He was as pissed off as I've seen him post match. Happy that we're in the hat and RoDs and Abrahams "won us the game" but unhappy with the overall game management. "we were hanging on".

Said that one or two "need to contribute more" and that Garita needs "loads of work".

Very frank and candid interview as always.    

He may have been frank regarding the players but what about himself??.....had a nightmare.very poor management all round.

[havanatopia]

Its the first round of the League Cup; Nothing to read into the performance. We won. Delighted.

[Robin 101]

10 minutes ago, Robert the bruce said:

He may have been frank regarding the players but what about himself??.....had a nightmare.very poor management all round.

In what way? 

[Son of Fred]

2 minutes ago, Robin 101 said:

In what way? 

Lost the plot,tactically inept/poor substitutions/we were average,no cohesion in midfield,lacking shape and energy-no real threat final third-then the substitutions changed the game.......

[JamesBCFC]

11 minutes ago, Robert the bruce said:

Lost the plot,tactically inept/poor substitutions/we were average,no cohesion in midfield,lacking shape and energy-no real threat final third-then the substitutions changed the game.......

At what point did LJ lose the plot?

We were average and no cohesion- about as expected when there are 7 changes in the team.

So the subs were poor, but they came on and changed the game?

 

Seems a lot like you want to make it out a lot worse than it was

[A Horse With No Name]

Basically if you play your reserve team, you get a reserve team performance. 

[BRISTOL86]

It's the first round of the league cup, frankly it's a miracle we got that far!! 

I was half expecting us to be expelled from the competition altogether one of these years for continued piss taking. 

[westonred]

4 hours ago, Robert the bruce said:

He may have been frank regarding the players but what about himself??.....had a nightmare.very poor management all round.

Thats a bit harse he has to try our second string it didnt work but he had to give it a go .

I have seen Garita play twice pre season and can tell straight away he will not make it above league 2 level . LJ tried to loan him out to Oldham but after seeing him play they said no thanks. He scored 5 goals pre season so LJ tried him last night. Yes a mistake but one he had to try.

The rest of the squad needs strenghtening players like  Williams, Freeman, Reid and Pack are Okay when they have better players along side them but playing alongside each other they are very poor this was proven before.

Im sure LJ will take a lot from last night and put it right we scrapped through so no harm done

[Mighty Squirrel Kingdom]

I won't quote Ole's entire post again as it's spot on. A couple of things to add though:

Garita reminded me of John Akinde.

Wycombe huffed and puffed, but with the exception of Akinfenwa they never really looked dangerous. Eight of their last ten defeats in League Two have been by one goal (including at Crawley last Saturday), so that puts some sort of perspective on last night's result, which I'd describe as workmanlike more than anything else. We did enough to win.

If you're not rushed for time, the best option for getting to and from Adams Park is the Park and Ride service from outside High Wycombe Station. It's not the most direct route from the town centre to the ground but it does the job. Bit of a mixed bag on the journey back to the town centre last night though: the driver picked up the Wycombe cheerleaders (who were going back to London) but there was also a half cut geezer who had clearly had beans on toast for tea, if you get my drift. We certainly got his.

[Monkeh]

5 hours ago, Robert the bruce said:

He may have been frank regarding the players but what about himself??.....had a nightmare.very poor management all round.

he won the game how is that poor management? blame the players they are the ones who didn't perform

[mozo]

I get that LJ wants to drill into the players that they have to follow his instructions but he'll have to be careful about how he how he manages his grenades

[Leroyfromthestart]

Sorry, but did we lose last night? Judging by some people's reactions we did!

Forgive me for being positive but we've proved despite making 7 changes including resting last seasons top scorer, that we have improved on previous seasons where we would have lost. 

Our record in this competition is shocking, we won last night though so what's the problem, we're still not up to steam in terms of match sharpness, but compared to previous seasons in which we'd have lost our first league and cup games in the first week or so.

Things aren't going to be perfect all the time but thanks to O'donnell and a bit of luck we went through, let's hope for a top 4 club to be drawn against us tonight to turn a few of these negative comments into positive ones!

No major injuries, more match practice shared amongst the squad, new tactics/formations/players experimented in a competitive match (which will help LJ as the season progresses) and ultimately we're finally through to the second round!

[RedM]

I only listened on the radio and @Olé's comments seem very fair from what I heard. I also think that if you look at the results from last night we weren't the only ones who were somewhat unprepared or whatever the reasoning was. At least we came through with a win and a clean sheet, that's more than some of our fellow Championship clubs can say.

Learn from it, move on. I think it's very much still a learning experience for both players and management. Yes Lee has been here for a few months now, but he arrived two thirds into last season and had to work from there. This time he's here from the start and has different demands, and of course a lot of new players to bed in. Isn't it strange how our best outfield player last night has had the least amount of time with his team mates.

[Robbored]

17 minutes ago, mozo said:

I get that LJ wants to drill into the players that they have to follow his instructions but he'll have to be careful about how he how he manages his grenades

Although LJ was thoroughly pissed off post match I'm  sure that what we saw was a toned down version of what he'd already said in the dressing room.........the team didn't perform as expected and his reaction was entirely appropriate.

I certainly have no problem with that and I doubt any of the players do either.

[Taz]

Think what probably helps with his frank and honest comments, is the fact that he knows from his time as a player here how critical the fans can be. May as well tell it how it is, otherwise he himself will be criticised for using all the football clichés...

[Abraham Romanovich]

8 hours ago, Iron Man said:

Those who have seen Garita play knows he isn't anywhere near good enough for the first team. It still suprises me we've kept Garita on and let go a decent looking player like Armenterous in pre season.

What we tried to sign one of the 3 Musketeers ?

[BRISTOL86]

36 minutes ago, mozo said:

I get that LJ wants to drill into the players that they have to follow his instructions but he'll have to be careful about how he how he manages his grenades

About time we had someone who isn't afraid to upset the poor lambs. Cotts soft touch and blind faith in poor individuals cost him his job. 

[Kid in the Riot]

8 hours ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

LJ sees him in training every day, he shouldn't be shocked that 'he needs loads of work'.

In fact, hardly fair to be critical of him like that - if he needs loads of work, put him through it, and see positive results, before plunging him into the first team.

If LJ only sees him as L1 or L2 level (at the moment) then get him a loan move lower down the leagues.

If he's decided L1/L2 is his probable limit - even with 'loads of work' - then move him on, because that's clearly no good to us.

Did LJ say he was 'shocked' that Garita 'needs loads more work'? I thought he just said he 'needs loads more work' which is constructive criticism. You can't say that isn't fair either, as it's pretty likely LJ has made it clear to Garita that he feels that is the case.

Garita was heading to Oldham on loan so we can assume that LJ does think Garita is very much 'work in progress' but there is no harm whatsoever in giving him some minutes in a League Cup game and then saying he needs loads more work - at least it shows a willingness to try and improve the player as well.

[ChippenhamRed]

1 hour ago, Monkeh said:

he won the game how is that poor management? blame the players they are the ones who didn't perform

Sometimes you can win a game in spite of poor management, particularly against an inferior side.

That's not a comment on Johnson specifically, I haven't seen anything of the performance to pass judgement.