samo II

That's a good West Ham lineup. Shit.

Sign of respect I think.

The goals

Anyone else notice the fact that in celebrating the first goal, Elliott makes the effort to go up to JET and celebrate/speak with him?

Much is made of how divisive JET's application/talent ratio is, but would love to have a candid view on his contribution from the likes of our captain, as clearly he is keen to see the lad do well from that.

Real question; keep him on, or rest him for the weekend.

 

He gets another and he has a goal per appearance.

 

PS - SL; get your cheque book out.

He's ruining them.

Symons will probably recall Matt Smith and buy JET to go with him.

Would be manna from heaven for some on here...

 

Despite being bad for us, based on all available evidence.

All this talk of Fulham taking him back; anyone here be in anyway disappointed if we signed him permanent now?

 

Could be a complete Tony Dinning, but get the impression he's more likely Wilbraham but with 9 years less on the dial.

So is Matt Smith now ahead of Wilbraham?

Couple more goals and he'll have netted as many as Agard in a fraction of the time.

67% possession...

Hope we nail it down; bang in another.

Is that 2 jet assists too? Lazy good for nothing

Yeah, great to see a run of games helping him find some form.

 

Be nice to think he might be able to nick one too; would do him a world of good.

So is that 5 in 4 for the worst striker city have ever had?

Mark Robins hit five in eight games for us on loan from Rotherham under Wilson, and was seen as a very astute loan signing, as well regarded once he'd gone.

 

If Matt Smith went home tomorrow, he'd have the same record.

 

 

EDIT - Make that six in eight games; better than Mark Robins.

He's bound to benefit from a run of games.

 

From Saturday's commentary Jet stung the keeper's gloves (or legs) with 3 powerful shots, as well as misshitting one.

 

I suspect he's under orders from Cotts. to get a shot in when the opportunity arises, and there must be a good chance of him finding the net tonight.

His chance after chasing down an dispossessing a Doncaster defender on Saturday shows how keen he is to impress, and it being the JPT, and that he's already played in two first elevens who have beaten Gillingham at home, I'd hope he get another chance, if for no other reason than to give our top scorers longer to recover before league business restarts at the weekend, and with one eye on the cup replay next week too. 

6-0

JET hat-trick first half, M.Smith hat-trick second.

JET concludes his drawn out move to Swindon the next day, while Smith had his loan ended, with Cotts stating; "Unfortunately, the lad's had an awful time of it in our shirt, so think we're gonna send him home before he make himself look a total clown".

Having seen it only on telly, I must say Williams' challenge looked tremendously foolish; late, wild and going to ground far too high up the pitch. Can understand SC's frustration with him.

Will be interesting to see how we rearrange around his absence; Osborne must be raring to get into the side, and though I'd suggest he's not as confident taking the ball out of the back, I do rate his defensive abilities, so will be keen to see how it impacts our approach.

Hard to judge if we're playing out of this world, or if they're just really shit.

Great half though, more of the same please!

Yeah, this.

We look very efficient and hard working, so no complaints, but Peterborough really do look rather poor; zero confidence, and before their shape change couldn't put two passes together.

Still; not our problem. Go for the jugular straight out of the gate second half and kill the game.

More confident than I was against either of the previous two opponents, and thought people are saying they are looking to bounce back from a bad run; so are we.

 

Expect us to be attacked and to attack back, so score draw at least, with that type of match playing into our strengths. 

It's got 'draw' written all over it.

My gut feeling also.

Two all has been screaming at me all week.

But then I'm rarely right with these, and would be just like this team to go out and prove me devastatingly wrong and thrash Oldham.

Well, that was a little disappointing.

Other than Yates (Yeates? Don't really care tbf) I'd not have taken any of their players (other than perhaps Stead as a back up for Wilbs), and they certainly set up to frustrate/soak up pressure, rather than play football. In fact, they made some pretty bad mistakes first half when they tried, and several of their players looked worse than the Cheltenham ones we faded recently.

BUT... There game plan, coupled with a distinct lack of thrust from our midfield through the middle made our possession and neat passing look pretty toothless for a lot of the game, and had they taken the lead when they struck post and bar moments after the equaliser then we may have fallen victim to full scale 'bus parking' and have come away with nothing.

That said; no one played what I'd say was a bad game. Instead, I'd say several were less dynamic than we've grown accustomed to, and our approach was just lacking that cutting edge.

Pack and Elliot were always looking to go wide, but Byan and Little were up against fullbacks AND midfielders, and Freeman was either too high to exploit the space this generated, or too far back to be the player to carry it forward.

Ultimately, though his set pieces were generally good (though one corner at the end post-goal was dire, and let's not talk about that free kick 'routine'...) Freeman looked like the least effective player in the second half, and was surprise he wasn't subbed for JET (who did little wrong that those on before him did, and at least looked for space and opportunities to shoot/get the ball in the box) instead of Agard, as resulted in Freeman basically up to anyway.

Pack was very good too; recycled the ball well, and noticeably worked to win it back when we did lose it, which wasn't often. Ayling was great too, in fact the whole back trio did good work. Fielding maybe should have been stronger for the 2nd goal, but was bold and clever sniffing out a Stead opportunity first half that less... 'eccentric' keepers may not have had the balls to, so fair play.

One thing; Wilbraham looked tired to me. Still put in a shift, and sharp enough to be aware of things like JET's smart attempt to slip him in late on that didn't pay off. But wish we had another target man type to take the strain off him when we've three 90s in a week, or even just to mix it up that bit more in terms of forward options. Any giants in the youth teams who might do a job?

All-in-all; Bradford will likely end up mid-to-lower-midtable based on that, and imagine we'll be disappointed we couldn't rustle up another goal to see them off. By the looks of if Oldham will be a totally different proposition this Sat, and I just how that we show a little more guile when faced with a footballing team who want to play, rather than a side set up to hold us at arm's length and so the ol' smash-and-grab.

They're no mugs, but everything they are doing is going through Yates (Yeates? Their 14; not to a programme); one of either Pack, Ayling or Elliot needs to be nullifying him, as though they are doing a good job covering, he's generating too much space.

We need a bit more compusure and thought in the final third, but really don't fancy their defence much, so want to see us come out and get at them.

Replacing an injured player with a guy with a bandage on his head was an interesting move on their part, and I don't think he (Sheenan) will win much against Wilbs; need to exploit that.

Good game though, but need to take it by the scruff of the neck second half.

Delighted Agard is back fit; hopefully all the better for a week of rest too.

COYR

Yea because Bradford and MK dons are clearly shit.

Regardless, our good form/results against teams who are currently looking unlikely to be challenging at the top is important, as it can give us the opportunity to perhaps draw (or even lose) to some of the more impressive sides, like Peterborough.

 

But that considered; Preston have drawn with Notts County and Sheffield Untied this season, while we've managed to beat them.  You can't predict how things will go game-to-game. 

We need to show more if we are going to up automatically.

Peterborough look like the class side, I think Preston are probably better than us at this point too.

Will be interesting to see how they cope with us/we with them when we end up butting heads.

Thought JET might start today? I know it's a squad game, but I can't see him wanting to stay if he's only going to get on from the bench! Do you play him in the hole? Do you play him up top? Bit of a headache for SC!

Thought he might start too, perhaps for Agard, but do need to give the new lad some time.

That said, hopefully his input last time from the bench might encourage Cotts to throw him on a bit earlier if we need more guile late on, and of he keeps effecting games like he did last time out, he'll get an opportunity to start soon enough.

Just seen the goal cam, very disappointing

Hopefully Cotts will show the squad; get them fired up against the injustice in time to take it out on Rochdale.

I'm just waiting for the impending "pack was crap" thread, despite the fact he was the only player in red to move and want the ball for every second he was on the pitch.

His vision is also sublime, often the execution is lacking, but the passes he sees are awesome.

Hey, we've already had folks slagging JET who appeared for all of two minutes, so you shouldn't have to wait long.

I'll take it; pleased with a clean sheet against a team who've scored seven in three too.

 

Good return from the first week and a half; look forward to seeing what we can do against Rochdale.