"Kick it back to them please"

[Robin Goch]

1 hour ago, Bernard Lerring said:

I was thinking that yesterday, why did we not do this?

If Preston were resorting to underhand tactics so should we. I wouldn't want us to play like that every week, but fight fire with fire surely 

Exactly. I would love for a manager to actually come and talk about this subject and call teams out on it but it almost seems to be a form of taboo. All sportsmanship in the modern game has completely gone so why keep hold of this ‘gentleman’s agreement’. 

[Harry]

2 hours ago, wayne allisons tongues said:

Was there goal offside? If so even more incompetence from the officials

I thought at the time that Robinson was definitely in front of Johnson, but I couldn’t tell from my angle whether the ball went forwards. 

Watching the replay, I think it went very very marginally forwards, so a tough one to call for the lino and so I have no beef with the decision. 

What’s more annoying is that when their break started, Hunt was standing next to Robinson, 5 yards inside our half. By the time the ball came to Robinson 10 seconds later, Hunt hadn’t bothered tracking back with him so he was all alone at the back post. 

It’s my biggest gripe with City players. Effing run back with your man and get into a defensive position / shape. We are lazy retreating out of possession. It frustrates the **** out of me. 

[Davefevs]

5 minutes ago, Harry said:

I thought at the time that Robinson was definitely in front of Johnson, but I couldn’t tell from my angle whether the ball went forwards. 

Watching the replay, I think it went very very marginally forwards, so a tough one to call for the lino and so I have no beef with the decision. 

What’s more annoying is that when their break started, Hunt was standing next to Robinson, 5 yards inside our half. By the time the ball came to Robinson 10 seconds later, Hunt hadn’t bothered tracking back with him so he was all alone at the back post. 

It’s my biggest gripe with City players. Effing run back with your man and get into a defensive position / shape. We are lazy retreating out of possession. It frustrates the **** out of me. 

It’s called doing the hard yards isn’t it.  It’s symptomatic of your criticism of Joe Bryan’s defensive attributes.

[WolfOfWestStreet]

Players now go down holding their head regardless of whether they have been hurt in the head or not because they know the ref is obligated to stop the game. 

This kind of behaviour will stop people believing in this type of injury and pose a risk to other professionals in the future.

[Red-Robbo]

Totally agree with you @Olé

Completely lost any respect for Preston Cheat End with their feigned injuries. Going down holding heads not just to timewaste but to stop every meaningful attack we had in their half.

It's about time refs got wise to this. He can stop his watch by all means, but denying the attacking team possession on restart just encourages outright cheating that makes the game an even more turgid watch than it was already. 

It's not like Preston needed to do this even. We wouldn't have scored if he'd added half an hour of extra time. 

[Harry]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It’s called doing the hard yards isn’t it.  It’s symptomatic of your criticism of Joe Bryan’s defensive attributes.

Exactly Dave. Bryan was, in my opinion, the worst culprit for this. Which goes a long way to why I didn’t like him as a left back. But we’re seeing it from a couple of others on a regular basis now. It’s the simplest thing to execute in the game - run back as fast as you can. Irks me so when I see the lack of desire to defend. 

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, Harry said:

Exactly Dave. Bryan was, in my opinion, the worst culprit for this. Which goes a long way to why I didn’t like him as a left back. But we’re seeing it from a couple of others on a regular basis now. It’s the simplest thing to execute in the game - run back as fast as you can. Irks me so when I see the lack of desire to defend. 

3 of us in the wheelchair section pre-game said we never seem to see players sprinting whether on the ball, off the ball.  When I played there were very few occasions where I thought - sh1t, If I’d done those 5 yards earlier or bust a gut, they wouldn’t have scored.  My lack of ability might have meant we conceded goals, but never effort.

Cozy Club

[The Joker]

Very valid point by @ole but after that debacle yesterday i would suggest that is the least of our worries, a bit like finding a splinter in the big toe of your leg that has been blown off with a hand grenade

[Roe]

11 hours ago, Harry said:

What got me though, was the one just infront of the dugouts where the stoppage had already wasted 90 seconds, and we proceed to kick it back to them, but we put it out for a goal kick, allowing their keeper to take another 50 seconds to restart again!!  WTF!  We should've passed it to their CB and immediately put him under pressure.  This was brainless football.

Yeah this annoys me more than them wasting time or the ref being inept, because it's something we can control.  We must be one of the most naive teams in the league.  Little moments like that could've helped us get momentum and a foothold in the game but there was no sense of urgency or common sense at all and it's not the first time we've done stupid things like that.

[Rudolf Hucker]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

3 of us in the wheelchair section pre-game said we never seem to see players sprinting whether on the ball, off the ball.  When I played there were very few occasions where I thought - sh1t, If I’d done those 5 yards earlier or bust a gut, they wouldn’t have scored.  My lack of ability might have meant we conceded goals, but never effort.

Cozy Club

Not just a defensive issue for City, Dave. Yesterday Patterson played the ball outside to Da Silva then, rather than make a run into the box for a return just stood still watching the action as yet another toothless attack came to naught. It was as though Patterson had come onto the pitch to get a better view of the shambles taking place on the pitch, not to participate in it.

[pillred]

2 hours ago, GasDestroyer said:

We are “too nice” as you call it. BUT we are a rudderless ship in the making. No leaders, no bite, no motivation, no tactics, no guile on the ball, no one to drive the attack, no one to defend like soldiers, infact the longer the Johnson area continues, the more we look like relegation material.

In previous seasons, Johnson has struggled to get us out of a rut through no new ideas to offer - just excuses. I am starting to feel conned with all the petty excuses he makes post match. I cannot see him turning this one around this season neither. The difference this season is that the slump has started in November rather than January - dangerous times I feel.

was thinking the same thing, last season thankfully we had enough points in the bank, our form from Christmas onward was certain relegation. As you say it's started early we could well be in serious trouble this time.

[RedM]

6 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

I think that was only because Pack had a moan at the Ref, probably would have been another uncontested otherwise.

But I did notice he made us take a corner from the side it went out, really poor weak Ref.

That incident was one of the singularly worst bits of Refereeing I have ever seen. 
A player collides with his own man, they are happy to play on while they are attacking . Attack breaks down and we have possession nowhere near the player and are breaking , only then the Ref deems a leg injury so bad as to stop play FFS ??????  
I know it is at the Refs discretion but surely if he's not injured enough for them to kick the ball out when they have it, it's not bad enough to stop play at all, shocking.

 

That’s what got me me, the fact they had ample time to kick the ball out and chose to attack. Ok it didn’t lose us the game but made for bad feeling all round and certainly not sporting by Preston or the Ref ( think he was the one who sent off Flint against Preston last year for tangling with Cunningham).

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

Not just a defensive issue for City, Dave. Yesterday Patterson played the ball outside to Da Silva then, rather than make a run into the box for a return just stood still watching the action as yet another toothless attack came to naught. It was as though Patterson had come onto the pitch to get a better view of the shambles taking place on the pitch, not to participate in it.

Yes, not defensive....all across the team.

[Lanterne Rouge]

5 hours ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

Yesterday I witnessed Daniel Johnson, a player I admire for his skill and vision but detest for his onfield antics,

I

We were saying exactly this at the time. I`ve always liked Johnson but the last two games v PNE at AG he`s just been a spawny git and has gone right down in my estimation. I can only imagine that he`s been told to do it because if Pearson or Gallagher did then their reputations would result in them being booked much sooner and Johnson gets away with it for longer.

[Fiale]

3 hours ago, RedM said:

That’s what got me me, the fact they had ample time to kick the ball out and chose to attack. Ok it didn’t lose us the game but made for bad feeling all round and certainly not sporting by Preston or the Ref ( think he was the one who sent off Flint against Preston last year for tangling with Cunningham).

 

Did their player when close to the corner flag not also point across to the injured player and say something trying to distract his marker to get past him ?

[RedM]

3 minutes ago, Fiale said:

 

Did their player when close to the corner flag not also point across to the injured player and say something trying to distract his marker to get past him ?

I can’t remember fully, I do think there was some hesitation where I was sure he was going to surrender the attack for a moment and remember feeling staggered when he carried on.

It certainly is a Preston tactic. I’ve seen them do it in the last four games against us now, home and away under two different managers.

[Mad Cyril]

6 hours ago, italian dave said:

Slightly off topic, but I've always wondered when I hear this; is it painful when p### boils?

@italian dave - think of it like watching City play a bottom five team....you get the same feeling

[Maltshoveller]

All this horrible stuff everybody is saying  PNE done

Time wasting, kicking balls away Going down to stop play

Not nice to watch but

Good game management 

[Rudolf Hucker]

44 minutes ago, Maltshoveller said:

All this horrible stuff everybody is saying  PNE done

Time wasting, kicking balls away Going down to stop play

Not nice to watch but

Good game management 

Sadly, a euphemism used by managers, coaches and pundits to excuse blatant cheating. It's all that's wrong with football.

[Xiled]

And another thing....

When I got clattered on the football pitch or banged heads with another player, I never once fell to the ground and started hammering the turf with my arm as if to say "oh, the pain, the pain, it's unbearable..."

The referee fell for that at least twice from the Preston cheats.

If you really hurt your head, you don't do that. Again, complete naivety from the referee.

[Harry]

1 hour ago, Fiale said:

 

Did their player when close to the corner flag not also point across to the injured player and say something trying to distract his marker to get past him ?

I was at the opposite end in the corner so couldn’t see it brilliantly, but that was my exact thoughts. It appeared the PNE player pointed toward midfield as if to suggest he was going to stop play, and then once our player was distracted he dribbled past him. 

Unbelievable. 

1 hour ago, Fiale said:

 

[Lanterne Rouge]

11 minutes ago, Harry said:

I was at the opposite end in the corner so couldn’t see it brilliantly, but that was my exact thoughts. It appeared the PNE player pointed toward midfield as if to suggest he was going to stop play, and then once our player was distracted he dribbled past him. 

Unbelievable. 

Surely that has to be a yellow for unsporting behaviour (if that clown of a ref spotted it of course which I doubt)?