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Match Report: Spot Kick Gift Ruins Tame City's Xmas


Olé

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At full time in a bitterly cold Hillsborough a  man dressed in a cheap and poorly fitting Santa outfit strode onto the pitch, milled around in the centre circle for a bit before following the match officials off the pitch and down the tunnel. Perhaps he was looking for tips on delivering gifts as referee Tony Harrington delivered his own for the hosts.

In an evenly matched game destined for a goalless draw for City with the form team in the Championship, both teams seemed to cancel each other out and 0-0 looked the likeliest outcome before ref Harrington decided late on that after a succession of optimistic dives from Wednesday's attack, a penalty was due from perhaps the most feeble of the lot .

Home target man Nuhiu had been tumbling theatrically throughout a second half that saw forwards determined to win cheap free kicks to break down the City back three's stubborn resistance, the man in black had waved several claims away but felt mounting pressure from home fans to award what was the worst dive of the lot.     

Wednesday claimed the late lifeline to win 1-0 and consign City to their third straight defeat - a horror pre-xmas run since winning at Fulham to go joint third, losing more in the recent run than they had all season - but while the endIng was unfair, it is yet another game that Lee Johnson's men lacked invention and made mistakes in.  

City went into the game with four changes as they reverted to five at the back using both Hunt and Moore, Smith and O'Dowda marshalling a new look midfield - and the away side almost stole into the lead in the opening seconds as from kick off Diedhiou laid it off for Hunt, Brownhill breaking the lines and squaring for O'Dowda to steer wide.

After six minutes City broke down the left via the impressive Moore, spreading play through Brownhill to the right where Hunt found space but unleashed an early rising shot over. Wednesday responded, Smith upending Luongo on halfway, and Nuhiu meeting a right wing cross at the far post, the ref ignoring him dragging down Hunt.

The match officials one sided view of any contact was a decisive factor in the game but City's recent propensity for mistakes was also significant and after the quarter hour Moore went roaming again, Diedhiou held it up and fed Brownhill who stood up the fullback only to overhit a pass to the overlapping Hunt - typical of City's recent carelessness.

Wednesday were trying hard to drag the City back three out of their positions and midway through the half a Bannon corner from the right saw forwards drag markers short, leaving Palmer wide open at the far post to side foot a volley home, Smith on the line to clear. Before half hour Bannan lifted a ball over the top, Reach bringing it down with Bentley to beat but hooking wide.

City keeper Bentley was then twice forced into low saves down to his right off incisive runs from the left wing, first Harris whose fierce shot luckily spun clear of a parry as Wednesday strikers closed to pounce, and then Palmer stung the keeper's hands in the next passage of play as the in form home side rallied strongly for an opener.

With just over 5 left City broke on the left for Diedhiou to first win a thrown in before winning a corner from a long range shot having combined with O'Dowda. But City were getting careless as Hunt would twice give the ball away, and twice pass it out of play, as he finished the half poorly having been combative in stalling Kadeem Harris.

Indeed in first half injury time Hunt even got into a mix up with Bentley to allow the home side to steal onto an aimless long ball, yet another cheap mistake. But with Taylor Moore City at least had one class act and he sealed an impressive first half with yet another marauding run down the left, almost putting Brownhill clear on goal.

A well contested first half deteriorated into a scrappy second period as the hosts took to tumbling deliberately around the box to sucker the referee into cheap free kicks. A first set piece slammed into the wall and from the rebound tested Bentley. The City keeper was well worked and smothered a dangerous cross that fell to Harris in the box.

At the other end City relied on hold up by Diedhiou, but it was O'Dowda who got the ball twice in dangerous spaces, giving it away cheaply twice by indecision. Yet the visitors best chance followed, a fast break via Fam to Rowe out left, his cross blocked but recycled to cross for Hunt unmarked far post, whose header was cleared off the line.

The game changed on an injury break at the hour mark which saw Johnson opt to reorganise his side, withdrawing Hunt and Weimann for Eliasson and Palmer, a move to four at the back (MOTM Moore to right back) which finally opened up the game and turned it into an end to end contest that favoured the direct Yorkshire hosts.

On 65 a sustained spell of pressure from the home side attacking on the right saw a half clearance to Bannon on the edge of the box, whose first time volley through a crowded box was headed over by Kalas. At the other end Palmer was flying in with little success, albeit he did produce a slide rule pass that lacked an Afobe/Weimann run.

City's summer signing from Chelsea was a revelation in places earlier in the season but relegated to the bench he has lost his way, and in an open, end to end finish he was more liability than leader, often diving in impetuously and with ten remaining he conceded a dangerous free kick, Bannon finding the top corner but Bentley his equal.

As open as the second half had become, both central defences had impressed and clear chances were at a premium, though both Rhodes and Nuhiu had repeatedly gone to ground easily in and around City's box in hope the ref would intervene. While inconsistent, the official waved off most theatrics which made his late call all the more remarkable.

On 82 Nuhiu chased half heartedly onto a long ball going wide right, he was almost outside the box when Rowe approached to shield him out. There was no sense of danger from either player but again Nuhiu went down cheaply - the least convincing of the days belly flops - stumbling slowly and unconvincingly to the Hillsborough turf.

The famous cliché is a referee having no hesitation - but match official Harrington did not immediately react, yet perhaps in sensing the weight of the third desperate appeal of the half from home fans, made the extraordinary decision to point to the spot, somehow rewarding accumulation of half arsed appeals with a non-existent penalty.

Wednesday star Bannon rolled the penalty  stylishly bottom left, sending Bentley the wrong way. In response City threw on sub Semenyo, who had one barnstorming run at backtracking hosts, but the closest for the visitors was Eliasson, deep in injury time, in behind the defence and standing up a trademark cross which the keeper claimed.

Time ran out and Wednesday claimed the fortuitous 1-0 victory and the half-hearted man in a Santa outfit duly trotted on to get lessons from referee Harrington on gifting. The hosts are a quality side but the fixture seemed rightly destined for the 0-0 of two years ago and City, though poor in places,  were robbed of what should have been a gritty defensive point.

 

Bentley 7 Some suspect kicking but again some desperate last ditch claims, as the rest of the players deteriorate he makes his POTY claims more and more obvious

Kalas 6 Several important interventions but doesn't feel like he is back to his best yet, distribution is poor and clearances can go anywhere

Williams 7 Still outplaying Kalas, tidies up much more effectively than his peers

Moore 8 Our best player by some distance - we have missed his tidying up at the back and his Webster-like runs

Hunt 5 Got forward well and got stuck into Harris with gusto for half an hour - but his confidence evaporated as he became a liability with a succession of mistakes and rightly withdrawn

Rowe 6 A few desperate tackles but often overrun and needing the help of our centre backs to not be more exposed. Created our best chance of the game.

Smith 7 Really not saying much on a day short on midfield invention but Korey was pick of bunch, sat in and stopped what has been the form attacking side creating it's trademark long range potshots. 

Brownhill 5 Since our results have slumped so has Brownhill, bags of energy but the main culprit when it comes to making mistakes in recent games, speculative touches and considered passes both to no one in particular.

O'Dowda 4 May become the most frustrating City player of a generation. Can look neat and occupy opponents on the ball but the lack of conviction let alone end product is shocking. Routinely turns inside and then back, rarely beats a man, and at 1-0 down well placed and with four teammates ahead of him chose once again to pass inside and to the opposition - the third time he squandered possession.

Weimann 5 Virtually anonymous. Zero supply but nonetheless rarely involved.

Diedhiou 7 Our best player after Moore - hard to argue with his contribution, won ball often and brought others into play, despite often being manhandled in a way that massively exceded the shielding that prompted Wednesday's penalty

 

Palmer 4 Massively overcompensated for lack of game time by flying into opposition players and getting exposed. Could be a threat if we can get him on ball in space but was overrun chasing and often losing Wednesday players.  

Eliassson 6 Shape to accomodate him did us no favours but hard to fault him, main source of our threat for an equaliser.

Semenyo 6 Limited action but one mazy run was reminiscent of his only good game at Preston and showed promise.

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Interesting you mention Kalas' passing accuracy...59% today.

The worst was Palmer... 45% passing accuracy. That is truly woeful.

Worth comparing the Sheffield Keeper was 50%....

Keepers are always the worst, as many kicks are 50/50.

45%...from our playmaker...that is stunningly awful.

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I just can’t bring myself to even look at/think about/blame the penalty decision.

You only ever have a right to feel aggrieved when you’re denied something you actually deserved in the first place. The bottom line for me is that we simply have to do more to win games.

We didn’t pick a team to win the game. The team didn’t put in a performance to win the game.

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5-3-2 given the players we have is always going to be a very defensive line up. LJ went for a point to stop the slump and was undone by the penalty. Our attacking intent has dwindled to next to nothing it would seem. Biggest test of LJ’s coaching coming up. If we go on one of his trademark losing streaks, we can say goodbye to top 6 and he might be saying goodbye I to his post. Even SL doesn’t have endless patience!

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12 minutes ago, spudski said:

Interesting you mention Kalas' passing accuracy...59% today.

The worst was Palmer... 45% passing accuracy. That is truly woeful.

Worth comparing the Sheffield Keeper was 50%....

Keepers are always the worst, as many kicks are 50/50.

45%...from our playmaker...that is stunningly awful.

Completely agree. I would discount a playmaker's poor passing percentage if he was trying killer balls. The vast majority of the passes he attempted today were not even through balls and were often quite short but he still failed to find a red shirt. It was a woeful performance. 

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17 minutes ago, spudski said:

Interesting you mention Kalas' passing accuracy...59% today.

The worst was Palmer... 45% passing accuracy. That is truly woeful.

Worth comparing the Sheffield Keeper was 50%....

Keepers are always the worst, as many kicks are 50/50.

45%...from our playmaker...that is stunningly awful.

And the Sheffield keeper looked like he'd trained at the Frankie Fielding school of kicking too. 

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I usually agree, I feel that this report may have some Xmas goodwill in it, that might not be there for an non festive week.  It was pretty poor, the lack of creativity is concerning for the fact that by not creating anything we will continue the slide and surely, the fare on offer will see people staying away.

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40 minutes ago, Olé said:

At full time in a bitterly cold Hillsborough a  man dressed in a cheap and poorly fitting Santa outfit strode onto the pitch, milled around in the centre circle for a bit before following the match officials off the pitch and down the tunnel. Perhaps he was looking for tips on delivering gifts as referee Tony Harrington delivered his own for the hosts.

In an evenly matched game destined for a goalless draw for City with the form team in the Championship, both teams seemed to cancel each other out and 0-0 looked the likeliest outcome before ref Harrington decided late on that after a succession of optimistic dives from Wednesday's attack, a penalty was due from perhaps the most feeble of the lot .

Home target man Nuhiu had been tumbling theatrically throughout a second half that saw forwards determined to win cheap free kicks to break down the City back three's stubborn resistance, the man in black had waved several claims away but felt mounting pressure from home fans to award what was the worst dive of the lot.     

Wednesday claimed the late lifeline to win 1-0 and consign City to their third straight defeat - a horror pre-xmas run since winning at Fulham to go joint third, losing more in the recent run than they had all season - but while the endIng was unfair, it is yet another game that Lee Johnson's men lacked invention and made mistakes in.  

City went into the game with four changes as they reverted to five at the back using both Hunt and Moore, Smith and O'Dowda marshalling a new look midfield - and the away side almost stole into the lead in the opening seconds as from kick off Diedhiou laid it off for Hunt, Brownhill breaking the lines and squaring for O'Dowda to steer wide.

After six minutes City broke down the left via the impressive Moore, spreading play through Brownhill to the right where Hunt found space but unleashed an early rising shot over. Wednesday responded, Smith upending Luongo on halfway, and Nuhiu meeting a right wing cross at the far post, the ref ignoring him dragging down Hunt.

The match officials one sided view of any contact was a decisive factor in the game but City's recent propensity for mistakes was also significant and after the quarter hour Moore went roaming again, Diedhiou held it up and fed Brownhill who stood up the fullback only to overhit a pass to the overlapping Hunt - typical of City's recent carelessness.

Wednesday were trying hard to drag the City back three out of their positions and midway through the half a Bannon corner from the right saw forwards drag markers short, leaving Palmer wide open at the far post to side foot a volley home, Smith on the line to clear. Before half hour Bannan lifted a ball over the top, Reach bringing it down with Bentley to beat but hooking wide.

City keeper Bentley was then twice forced into low saves down to his right off incisive runs from the left wing, first Harris whose fierce shot luckily spun clear of a parry as Wednesday strikers closed to pounce, and then Palmer stung the keeper's hands in the next passage of play as the in form home side rallied strongly for an opener.

With just over 5 left City broke on the left for Diedhiou to first win a thrown in before winning a corner from a long range shot having combined with O'Dowda. But City were getting careless as Hunt would twice give the ball away, and twice pass it out of play, as he finished the half poorly having been combative in stalling Kadeem Harris.

Indeed in first half injury time Hunt even got into a mix up with Bentley to allow the home side to steal onto an aimless long ball, yet another cheap mistake. But with Taylor Moore City at least had one class act and he sealed an impressive first half with yet another marauding run down the left, almost putting Brownhill clear on goal.

A well contested first half deteriorated into a scrappy second period as the hosts took to tumbling deliberately around the box to sucker the referee into cheap free kicks. A first set piece slammed into the wall and from the rebound tested Bentley. The City keeper was well worked and smothered a dangerous cross that fell to Harris in the box.

At the other end City relied on hold up by Diedhiou, but it was O'Dowda who got the ball twice in dangerous spaces, giving it away cheaply twice by indecision. Yet the visitors best chance followed, a fast break via Fam to Rowe out left, his cross blocked but recycled to cross for Hunt unmarked far post, whose header was cleared off the line.

The game changed on an injury break at the hour mark which saw Johnson opt to reorganise his side, withdrawing Hunt and Weimann for Eliasson and Palmer, a move to four at the back (MOTM Moore to right back) which finally opened up the game and turned it into an end to end contest that favoured the direct Yorkshire hosts.

On 65 a sustained spell of pressure from the home side attacking on the right saw a half clearance to Bannon on the edge of the box, whose first time volley through a crowded box was headed over by Kalas. At the other end Palmer was flying in with little success, albeit he did produce a slide rule pass that lacked an Afobe/Weimann run.

City's summer signing from Chelsea was a revelation in places earlier in the season but relegated to the bench he has lost his way, and in an open, end to end finish he was more liability than leader, often diving in impetuously and with ten remaining he conceded a dangerous free kick, Bannon finding the top corner but Bentley his equal.

As open as the second half had become, both central defences had impressed and clear chances were at a premium, though both Rhodes and Nuhiu had repeatedly gone to ground easily in and around City's box in hope the ref would intervene. While inconsistent, the official waved off most theatrics which made his late call all the more remarkable.

On 82 Nuhiu chased half heartedly onto a long ball going wide right, he was almost outside the box when Rowe approached to shield him out. There was no sense of danger from either player but again Nuhiu went down cheaply - the least convincing of the days belly flops - stumbling slowly and unconvincingly to the Hillsborough turf.

The famous cliché is a referee having no hesitation - but match official Harrington did not immediately react, yet perhaps in sensing the weight of the third desperate appeal of the half from home fans, made the extraordinary decision to point to the spot, somehow rewarding accumulation of half arsed appeals with a non-existent penalty.

Wednesday star Bannon rolled the penalty  stylishly bottom left, sending Bentley the wrong way. In response City threw on sub Semenyo, who had one barnstorming run at backtracking hosts, but the closest for the visitors was Eliasson, deep in injury time, in behind the defence and standing up a trademark cross which the keeper claimed.

Time ran out and Wednesday claimed the fortuitous 1-0 victory and the half-hearted man in a Santa outfit duly trotted on to get lessons from referee Harrington on gifting. The hosts are a quality side but the fixture seemed rightly destined for the 0-0 of two years ago and City, though poor in places,  were robbed of what should have been a gritty defensive point.

 

Bentley 7 Some suspect kicking but again some desperate last ditch claims, as the rest of the players deteriorate he makes his POTY claims more and more obvious

Kalas 6 Several important interventions but doesn't feel like he is back to his best yet, distribution is poor and clearances can go anywhere

Williams 7 Still outplaying Kalas, tidies up much more effectively than his peers

Moore 8 Our best player by some distance - we have missed his tidying up at the back and his Webster-like runs

Hunt 5 Got forward well and got stuck into Harris with gusto for half an hour - but his confidence evaporated as he became a liability with a succession of mistakes and rightly withdrawn

Rowe 6 A few desperate tackles but often overrun and needing the help of our centre backs to not be more exposed. Created our best chance of the game.

Smith 7 Really not saying much on a day short on midfield invention but Korey was pick of bunch, sat in and stopped what has been the form attacking side creating it's trademark long range potshots. 

Brownhill 5 Since our results have slumped so has Brownhill, bags of energy but the main culprit when it comes to making mistakes in recent games, speculative touches and considered passes both to no one in particular.

O'Dowda 4 May become the most frustrating City player of a generation. Can look neat and occupy opponents on the ball but the lack of conviction let alone end product is shocking. Routinely turns inside and then back, rarely beats a man, and at 1-0 down well placed and with four teammates ahead of him chose once again to pass inside and to the opposition - the third time he squandered possession.

Weimann 5 Virtually anonymous. Zero supply but nonetheless rarely involved.

Diedhiou 7 Our best player after Moore - hard to argue with his contribution, won ball often and brought others into play, despite often being manhandled in a way that massively exceded the shielding that prompted Wednesday's penalty

 

Palmer 4 Massively overcompensated for lack of game time by flying into opposition players and getting exposed. Could be a threat if we can get him on ball in space but was overrun chasing and often losing Wednesday players.  

Eliassson 6 Shape to accomodate him did us no favours but hard to fault him, main source of our threat for an equaliser.

Semenyo 6 Limited action but one mazy run was reminiscent of his only good game at Preston and showed promise.

I’d personally say you’re generous on a couple, thought Hunt was very poor and Brownhill was as poor as O’Dowda 

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1 hour ago, Maesknoll Red said:

I usually agree, I feel that this report may have some Xmas goodwill in it, that might not be there for an non festive week.  It was pretty poor, the lack of creativity is concerning for the fact that by not creating anything we will continue the slide and surely, the fare on offer will see people staying away.

I'm afraid that you are correct if the current fare delivered continues. 

Whilst I shall still attend, the younger members of my family would now rather see a Bristol Bears game.

Still throwing coffers into the mighty Bristol Sport purse but what a shame. Gutted.

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An evenly matched game is very, very kind. We had one shot on target all game and that was our only moment of quality outside the opening 20 seconds.

The penalty decision was terrible, but if we let that detract from the turgid, slow, laborious 90 minutes that surrounded it then we're really letting a terrible, terrible performance off the hook. 

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14 minutes ago, RonWalker said:

An evenly matched game is very, very kind. We had one shot on target all game and that was our only moment of quality outside the opening 20 seconds.

The penalty decision was terrible, but if we let that detract from the turgid, slow, laborious 90 minutes that surrounded it then we're really letting a terrible, terrible performance off the hook. 

This is spot on. We were dreadful against a very average Wednesday side. CODs shockingly (but predictable)  cr*p effort after 15 seconds was as good as we got. Brownhill needs a rest and Korey looks off the pace (and one wonders whether he will rediscover his form). How COD got picked ahead of any other midfield player at the club is a mystery. We need another striker but we could actually do with a midfield that creates some chances!

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It was a soft pen but make no mistake, we got what we deserved today; nothing.

I normally agree with the content of your reports but conclude today that hypothermia might have gotten the better of you. Williams is quality and was our best player by a mile. TM did ok, as did Bentley and Rowe delivers far above those to whom he's supposed to be inferior. Hunt can't defend but gets forward so much more effectively than any of our midfield.  The rest of the starters were awful (again,) as was the set up. If somebody has the time replay the game and add up the stats, from my perspective, particularly 2nd half, The Bloke From Knowle did nothing other than give the ball away and I'd love detail of what he offered, when, today (and please don't reference anything inside our own box which is mostly where he best delivers these days?) Flappy for once didn't give the ball away, the result so far as I could see as he never got anywhere near it in the first place. CoD is a sorry excuse for a player and offering him a new contract was bad business all round. Man down every time his name appears on the teamsheet. Utterly gutless.

We offered nothing offensively, had nobody of the class of Bannen in midfield, Palmer's a soft touch show pony, Brownhill needs to stick wide right, Korey did ok but is showing his age and giving up Elliasen to play 3 at the back means we've zip creativity going forward - as WeeLee should have learned by now.

His post match press conferences are becoming a tad O'Dreadful. I'm not fussed you thought we were robbed Lee, I'm worried that for the 3rd game running you selected a team and formation that struggled to find the opposition box, barely troubled the keeper and that looked wholly devoid of any purpose. You crack on about small margins whilst oblivious to the gulf in class between those in contention and ourselves.

Mid table mediocrity at best. Wednesday sit high but are no great shakes.

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25 minutes ago, hollydog said:

This is spot on. We were dreadful against a very average Wednesday side. CODs shockingly (but predictable)  cr*p effort after 15 seconds was as good as we got. Brownhill needs a rest and Korey looks off the pace (and one wonders whether he will rediscover his form). How COD got picked ahead of any other midfield player at the club is a mystery. We need another striker but we could actually do with a midfield that creates some chances!

Totally agree he was dreadful but you could say that for most of the players with any attacking responsibility, including Fam. He got poor service but he couldn’t have held up a brick today.

Losing’s one thing but it’s worse when it’s a close game and you still can’t wait for it to finish. Like you say Wednesday were nothing special, it was a crap game between one team that didn’t have much quality besides Bannan and wanted to win, and one team that didn’t have much quality and couldn’t really be arsed.

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24 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

It was a soft pen but make no mistake, we got what we deserved today; nothing.

I normally agree with the content of your reports but conclude today that hypothermia might have gotten the better of you. Williams is quality and was our best player by a mile. TM did ok, as did Bentley and Rowe delivers far above those to whom he's supposed to be inferior. Hunt can't defend but gets forward so much more effectively than any of our midfield.  The rest of the starters were awful (again,) as was the set up. If somebody has the time replay the game and add up the stats, from my perspective, particularly 2nd half, The Bloke From Knowle did nothing other than give the ball away and I'd love detail of what he offered, when, today (and please don't reference anything inside our own box which is mostly where he best delivers these days?) Flappy for once didn't give the ball away, the result so far as I could see as he never got anywhere near it in the first place. CoD is a sorry excuse for a player and offering him a new contract was bad business all round. Man down every time his name appears on the teamsheet. Utterly gutless.

We offered nothing offensively, had nobody of the class of Bannen in midfield, Palmer's a soft touch show pony, Brownhill needs to stick wide right, Korey did ok but is showing his age and giving up Elliasen to play 3 at the back means we've zip creativity going forward - as WeeLee should have learned by now.

His post match press conferences are becoming a tad O'Dreadful. I'm not fussed you thought we were robbed Lee, I'm worried that for the 3rd game running you selected a team and formation that struggled to find the opposition box, barely troubled the keeper and that looked wholly devoid of any purpose. You crack on about small margins whilst oblivious to the gulf in class between those in contention and ourselves.

Mid table mediocrity at best. Wednesday sit high but are no great shakes.

Showing his age!!! he's 28, but apart from that pretty spot on with everything else unfortunately.

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5 hours ago, pillred said:

Showing his age!!! he's 28, but apart from that pretty spot on with everything else unfortunately.

Is that all he is? In which he's sadly another Marvin E who after a similar serious injury came back and thereafter played as though he was 10 years older than he was..... Thought yesterday you could see he had the desire of old, simply his legs weren't taking him as quickly as they used to.

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12 hours ago, Curr Avon said:

Wish I'd caught up to wish you a happy Christmas Rob, so here it is, happy Christmas Rob.

I did see you in the distance scurrying for what I assume was a pub over the road from the station at 10am, I was doing similar - we obviously did not end up in the same pub but I guess the intention was the same, to prepare for the mind-numbing entertainment with some mind-numbing early morning medicine. Happy Xmas!

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I find it staggering that people said we got what we deserved, no we didn’t. Ok our forward play was non-existent but the defending was very solid. Players were putting their bodies on the line and defending stoutly and we were five minutes away from getting a very creditable point at a decent side until the ref intervened.

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14 hours ago, The Journalist said:

I just can’t bring myself to even look at/think about/blame the penalty decision.

You only ever have a right to feel aggrieved when you’re denied something you actually deserved in the first place. The bottom line for me is that we simply have to do more to win games.

We didn’t pick a team to win the game. The team didn’t put in a performance to win the game.

We were set up to stop them playing and largely achieved that so we did deserve the 0-0. Quite often away from home we've got good results by killing the game, the win at Cardiff was similar. The penalty decision has rightly been condemned by all the pundits so we were robbed of a point but agree didn't deserve to win.

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1 hour ago, Big C said:

I find it staggering that people said we got what we deserved, no we didn’t. Ok our forward play was non-existent but the defending was very solid. Players were putting their bodies on the line and defending stoutly and we were five minutes away from getting a very creditable point at a decent side until the ref intervened.

So if you set up to 'park the bus' for a 0-0 what happens when you concede? Somebody will have the stats but how often have we kept a clean sheet these past 3 seasons, not many would be my reckoning?

That we were unlucky to concede the pen is true, but matters not as we're a one trick pony, with no plan B and do not have the skill or personality to take sides on. That's why we remain Championship also-rans.

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4 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

So if you set up to 'park the bus' for a 0-0 what happens when you concede? Somebody will have the stats but how often have we kept a clean sheet these past 3 seasons, not many would be my reckoning?

That we were unlucky to concede the pen is true, but matters not as we're a one trick pony, with no plan B and do not have the skill or personality to take sides on. That's why we remain Championship also-rans.

Over the last 2 seasons we're the 4th best away side in the Championship, the only teams above us are WBA, Leeds etc (this was on Sky during the broadcast) so we're not doing too much wrong tactically in away games

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I had got back from a festival the day before and set my alarm for 11 after a nice long sleep to watch the city game. Luckily for me, my alarm never went off and I slept through til 2pm so didn't waste my time. First thing I checked when I woke up was the score so wasn't happy at the time but after reading all the reports, quite glad I took the extra 3 hours sleep :laugh:

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13 hours ago, RonWalker said:

An evenly matched game is very, very kind. We had one shot on target all game and that was our only moment of quality outside the opening 20 seconds.

The penalty decision was terrible, but if we let that detract from the turgid, slow, laborious 90 minutes that surrounded it then we're really letting a terrible, terrible performance off the hook. 

This is so true.  I have asked before how many times as fans ,  I have left the ground thinking ‘wow’. Once this year the Huddersfield game.  Twice last year. Our football is simply naff to watch. Yes I have seen us win games, but have I really enjoyed the spectacle.  No. Enjoyed 3 points yes,  but the football or  standard , no.  
it so frustrating as paying spectators we view this and see it, I worry the three wise men do not. 

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15 hours ago, Coppello said:

Completely agree. I would discount a playmaker's poor passing percentage if he was trying killer balls. The vast majority of the passes he attempted today were not even through balls and were often quite short but he still failed to find a red shirt. It was a woeful performance. 

He looked totally devoid of confidence, he couldn’t wait to release the ball, whether he had time on it or not. 

It was baffling to watch. 

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