JoeAman08

It'll bite me on the ass later if we play well but I'm not really in love with the starting XI. We are playing 3 defensive midfielders together. That's basically a back 5 with wingbacks. Super defensive again. Hope I'm wrong but the starting XI recently have left me wanting more and the results haven't been great since it's changed(since Cardiff). 

1 hour ago, Red Exile said:

I tell you what Joe..."tough for the fans" is playing poorly in the bottom division...with trips to York, Grimsby and Carlisle which make Barnsley look glamorous...this is about as good as it's got in the past 30 odd years!

 

I'll take your word for it! I get what you mean. Just think some early season success blurred expectations a bit. 

5 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

Agreed and LJ has time to sort it out. We have made a lot of new changes and no doubt we will see a couple of more additions in the next window. Cant expect it to work every match and you could argue fielding has kept us in a few games but then isnt that what a keepers meant to do?

Yup. I think it's tough for fans at the moment. We've had some wonderful moments this year where we look a class above most in this division and even when we don't, we often get points when we probably shouldn't have. It almost feels each week we should be the favourite so I think we expect winning more often. Not many weeks where I feel we are actually less talented I guess is the best way to put it. Next week will be one of the few matches in the league where I don't expect points. 

47 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

We have the fourth best goal difference in the league so i suppose scoring more coincides with conceeding more.

True but the Fulham match makes it seem better than it is. Sure over an entire season you'll get matches like that but take that out and it's only +2 or something like that. It's not like we've stringed together a few 2-0 or 3-1s. It's been winning by the 1 goal which is fine but just think we should be getting 1 or 2 more clean sheets at the moment if we want to take that next step as a team. We are going to find it harder to break teams down because they are defending us with 2 lines of 4 most games now. We have to stop conceding because scoring will be harder now teams have scouted us. 

I get Barnsley have goals in them but when do we start questioning the back 4? What is it, 2 clean sheets? 3 if you include the 4 cup games? They all individually have good games but never seems they all do on the same day. Maybe time to shake it up a bit back there to wake them up. 

2 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

We make four or five changes every game yet people can't understand why we start slowly!!!!

Yea I'd like a little more consistency for league matches to be honest. Some would be ok like a Golbourne for Bryan or Pack for GON but a formation change for an away match and leaving out wingers can't be easy for the lads to adjust to. Our wingers come inside a lot anyway though but we need to have the same starting lineup for league games for the most part. 

Got no problem with that lineup. Shame about Reid but I think Korey can play that role just not the goal scorer but hopefully can slot a few passes through to attackers 

3 minutes ago, Luxo Jr. said:

Really? I've not seen many of the recent games, but Magnusson still looked assured to me in the Cardiff match, one mistimed hoof aside.

For me, yes and Magnusson has been one of my favourites. He just hasn't looked as calm to me and I didn't watch tonight I did sound like he was a little nervous on the broadcast. Joe hasn't looked the same since Leeds when he was up against Sacko for 90 minutes. My personal opinion anyway. We won a few of those last games but we haven't looked  the better side in awhile now. Loads of good teams in the division but with the money spent and how everyone talks you expect better a bit more often. I do anyway. I expect better performances against teams like Cardiff and QPR. Every situation is different and I appreciate that but seems like our philosophy has changed a bit to be better defensively which is fine but hasn't quite worked. 

I think Tammy Abraham has masked how distinctly average a team we really are. Of course we weren't going to win most games but the disappointing thing for me is that our two losses have come from teams 14th or worse with I think two home wins combined this year so far. They aren't good teams but they've gotten the better of us. We are way too quick to go to the long ball. We have all sorts of issues and now that TA(inevitably) has been slowed down we truly see the team we are. 

So if I'm being honest, Tomlin hasn't done enough so far this year. For his fee and wage, we should be getting much more. Bryan and Magnusson have slowly regressed these past 4-5 games. GON needs to be off our free kicks and since the red card I haven't seen him at his best. We have had a fair few players lose form the past few matches and it's a bit worrying. It's not inconceivable we fall back into a relegation fight if this continues another 3-4 games. Harsh but it's the reality of the championship. We were 9 points clear at the start of the night with teams like Blackburn and Villa getting 3. 

I think Tammy felt some of Kodjia's pain last season. Tonight felt like a November game last season 

4 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

Reid was **** when he came on so not entirely sure how you come to that conclusion. 

Because he's been starting and we've been winning. Not starting him set the tone for the match that we'd play their game and we did. My opinion anyway. Certainly didn't impress but I thought he at least picked his head up towards their goal and tried to go forward which Pack and O'Neil didn't do for 60 minutes 

Woeful woeful performance. Not going to win them all but LJ let them off tonight from the start. No Bobby Reid from the start was a bad choice. For those that said give Wilbs a go from the start, fair play, we could've used that all match. Lads always give it a go but what happened to the good football we played much of the year? There was a long ball thread earlier and look no further than tonight. Disappointed with it tonight. Cardiff were up for it but not better and we let them off a bit with our tactics tonight. 

5 minutes ago, Fiale said:

Pack or o'Neil we don't need both, also Paterson, Freeman and Tammy are not making the runs/space there is nothing on.

 

 

Yup. All coming in to take the ball inside. No width no one in behind. Tomlin playing in a 3 with Pack and O Neil

No Bobby and you can tell. Why two slow holding midfielders against Cardiff? Pack doing a job in front of Lambert but they both sit back and pass sideways and back. Wake me up already. Can't play both. Too slow and don't think about a forward pass. We have 10 defending in our box when they have the ball then surprise surprise they get it back when it's 1:3 against TA. He's got no chance. Poor tactics and think we've over thought this game with Warnock. Play our game and we'll be fine. We didn't and guess what, we look woeful. That was worse than Cardiff away last year when at least Marshall earned them the point. 

No Bobby. I think it's a mistake. Happy for LJ to prove me wrong again though. 

All the tv goers tell me if you see me in my orange puma Ricky Fowler style hat. It matches nothing else I'm wearing 

Missing Tomlin. You don't realise his impact until he's not out there. Always 2-3 defenders near him which he can still beat. No Tomlin meaning no open spaces for anyone else because everyone is being marked. Real young team so it's no surprise we are down but they should still be playing better. Been a really poor first half both ways. I expect a totally different second half just like Wigan and Villa. 

I can't remember the match but it was said we weren't clinical enough and it cost us points. This is payback for that. You have days like that and days like this. They even out over time but a few more like today wouldn't be unwelcome. Great win 

8 minutes ago, Charliesboots said:

Freeman gets his hair cut and then starts finding real form the last few games. 

Coincidence????

I don't find it a coincidence at all. It's strange but something as simple as a haircut can change things for you. I even said it middle of last year. He's doing too much. Need to get back to basics. Cut his hair and simplify his game. Not even joking as I felt a new person when I cut my long hair off a few years ago. It sounds dumb but i think it makes a difference 

14 minutes ago, Owl Visiting said:

I hate playing you lot. Owlstalk in meltdown. 

Should've been here Saturday when we played Rotherham who we can't beat. We all have that one team 

Manchester got the worst of the storm. Just got the end of it in Sheffield it looks like. Hope everyone is ok

I had a look at their forum and the majority were quite complimentary and think tonight will be no easy task. I'd be happy with a draw or a close loss. Similar feeling to Norwich though I think points will be easier to come by tonight. SW will be in the thick of the playoffs again this year I reckon so again, I'll be more than happy with a point or close loss of the performance is good once again. 

4 minutes ago, cynic said:

Watching Derby at the moment and I'm not sure if its Newcastle being so much better or not, but Derby look distinctly average at the moment. Sheffield aren't firing on all cylinders either.

Four points would be good.

No doubt just saying its less likely than winning today was, in my mind. On paper the next two are much tougher but they haven't hit their stride yet. You could say we haven't really lived up to our potential yet either. I'm getting a feeling we will be quite close to that top 6 if not in it. Beatable teams this week but if we don't win I won't be surprised like I was a bit today. 

Just feel like games like today are the ones we need to win more often than not to do that. Still early and it's probably the only result so far that's a little disappointing. So good point under the circumstances but not knowing how the game went and you see 2-2 youd feel a bit disappointed as I did. 

22 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

You shouldn't expect to win any football match in any league . 

I don't see why not. We are the stronger team. I expect to win. I wouldn't expect the same Tuesday night or next Saturday. I don't see why we shouldn't expect to win some games. We are a strong team. 

I'll sound really negative but don't want to be too harsh at the same time. We had a great window and are playing good football. It's ok to expect to beat teams like Rotherham. I think we are as good as most teams in this division and yes we are still gelling but the level of dominance today should have gotten us more. It doesn't always have to be happy about everything. I'm glad we got something and they done well to get a point being two down but we need to put teams like this away early and go for the jugular. A point with SW away and Derby at home in the next week isn't the best as its going to be much harder to get points from. So 3 points was needed today. Im sure the errors will be corrected. So I'm happy for the point but I think we needed 3 and I expected it. 

I wasn't there but think Flint is feeling pressure with Ekstrand now pushing him more than anyone else would've the past 3 years? I don't know if he played well or recovered from the early mistake so genially asking. 

Also I'd seriously consider fining and suspending Tomlin for this dissent rubbish. Maybe it's frustrations that it isn't going as well for him now? Tbf, he was a star for a mid table team last year. Is it unfair to expect the same in a team with quite a bit more fire power now? Kodjia is gone but I still fancy us to score more this year