Better Red

1 hour ago, 1960maaan said:

What about the defender ignoring the clear shout, then jumping over a team mate who was also ignoring the shout. Doubtful Kalas gets a clean clearing header as Martin is also going for it. 
As for interfering with the high line. O'Leary would be catching the ball just past the Penalty spot. A straight ball with no opposition players challenging . Exactly the sort of Ball I want my Keeper to claim.

That does sound a little condescending , but you may have been a keeper, or are an ex Pro , I don't know.  
But I just know that the Keeper called clearly. He's come with intent to catch, there's no danger or expectation of a challenge , should be a straightforward catch. Until Kalas runs and jumps on top of Martin. Scott ducks out so he's heard the shout.

As I've said, I'll defend him because I like keepers to claim those crosses, specially late on when trying to see games out or needing to get back up the other end. What I will say, I can't be 100% sure how early the shout was, though at the time it seemed early enough to have made it a simple catch. 

Of course you're right, if he stays home they don't score, at least in the way they did. Kalas's header could have gone to the same bloke , in space and it's still a chance.

We are managing to shoot ourselves in the foot on a regular basis, and it's not just that each mistake leads to a goal, they affect confidence and we are struggling to find simple passes, deliver decent balls and players are no longer available for passes they would have been 5 games ago.

A question I would ask about this goal, as I did about the first. Why is there a spare unmarked man at the back/left hand post ?

This has split opinion , so we will have to agree to disagree. I'll still want my keepers to come for balls, I have to then defend them if they do just that.

Cant claim a ball in his six yard box as he is always routed to his line but you want him to collect a ball nearly 20 yards off it.

If that’s the case you got the wrong keeper

Max at fault both goals yesterday.

1st Weak hand pushed it back into the middle instead of wide.

2nd If you come that far as a keeper you have to catch - he didn’t so he is at fault.

Offers nothing better than Bentley when coming off his line and Bentley is a better shop stopper.

Bentley just is a better keeper

Impact sub worth £10/15m according to a lot of people 8 weeks ago….

I have said for years on here he is not a Centre Forward (they score goals thread..) which I have been roundly slated.

For me he is a winger who will get 8 or so goals a season.

Play him wide in a front 3 and he would be more effective.

I would start him every game rather from the bench I rate him as a player who will cause lots of trouble and push teams backwards which importantly keeps them away from our goal (and Max)

3 teams that should finish in the bottom 3

Hull

Preston

Huddersfield

They are the worst 3 teams in the league. 
 

If we can take points of these 3 - I know we lost to Hull we should be Ok.

After the 3 it’s Coventry ( they looked pretty poor against us) and sadly I think it’s us.

Millwall also looked pretty poor yesterday so don’t expect them to be far away from the bottom 6.

13 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

So much wrong with this post.

JD - can beat a man, can cross, seen him do both many times this season

Sykes - usually goes outside, but does sometimes come inside.  Nothing wrong with that.  I went to today’s match with a friend who doesn’t usually watch City and he thought Sykes was by some distance our best player in the first half.

The suggestion that both are ‘useless’ and offer ‘nothing going forward or at the back’ is remarkable given how good both have been in other games this season.

Going four at the back reduces the number in midfield.  Three at the back allows you to play five in midfield.  That’s why so many managers like it.

I’d love to hear your justification for Naismith being ‘the best passer in the team’, especially given how many passes he has had intercepted this season.

Max had a great game on Wednesday, Bentley was awful at Birmingham.

The issue today was not the quality of the players.  They are the same players who have played some excellent football this season.  The problem today was - for whatever reason - their resilience, their ability to pick themselves up when they go behind, and their attitude, and possibly motivation.  Their heads dropped, and no one was able to lift them.  There was a significant lack of leadership on the field and off it.  To add to that, Pearson’s substitutions we’re awful. The match was crying out for an extra presence in midfield but Pearson does his usual thing of throwing on more strikers, while taking off Sykes (who had a decent first half) and moving the most out of form player in the side (Weimann) to wing back.  After that there was no shape and no creativity.

Amazing how one (or possibly two) bad performances can turn a player from hero to zero.  The real question for me is why Pearson cannot explain today’s performance.  Why are they not doing what he wants them to?  Why has he not identified the problems and put them right?  The one thing I don’t feel I’ve yet seen Pearson do is to lift a team which is misfiring during the course of 90 minutes.

Max - did not have a great game Wednesday he had to pretty much do nothing. Preston barley put a cross or a shoot in and still maned to score.

Yestarday ‘both’ goals he was at fault.

The party for the header was not away from goal and not even headed that hard. He pushed it strait back into trouble rather than pushing wide.

The second if you come that far our you catch it. Miles to far to come off his line.

Max is a poor keeper at this level it’s as simple as that.

11 hours ago, DaveF said:

Give this man the top job. It is THIS simple.

Just maybe it is…

And thanks I accept

15 minutes ago, maxjak said:

So that's Bentley (Average)......then  O'Leary.(Average)*..........now step forward Mr Bajic, your turn?

Bentley is better than average.

Max is below average.

Picking a keeper from the two is very simple - pick the better keeper Bentley.

Dont blame Max he was just being Max.

Blame Pearson for trying prove a point.

He is wrong and no doubt will get it wrong again for at least the next 2 games.

When Max plays it normally is during a bad run. If Preston weren’t so bad he could have played 4 and lost 4 with him in goal I fully expect nothing at WBA or Reading then Bentley will be back.

We are in bad form and Preston was hiding the truth so I am not blaming results on max be he does not help.

Preston must be in with a shout of being relegated - they were the worst team I have seen this season and that is saying something and yet we still conceded with Max in goal.

Not brought this topic about for about 2 years.

But sadly Nothing has changed.

JD - Can’t beat a man, can’t cross.

Sykes - Can beat a man but chooses to come inside not even his position.

Both are useless and offer nothing going forward or at the back.

We would be better going 4 at the back and getting an extra man in midfield.

Vyner can play RB and Pring at LB and just let them overlap when it’s right to do so.

Both have pace both better defenders. Height wise they are better for defending.

2 from 3 in the middle - Kalas, Klose or Atkinson.

Naismith should be pushed into midfield he is the best passer in the team and can also defend not sure why that won’t work.

Play him with Williams or James 

Play Seymenyo and Wiemann wide in a 4 and they can take turns to join Wellls.

Scott in the whole

Wells upfront.

And Bentley in goal - I am an anti - Maxer.

If we had decent wingbacks then fair enough but we don’t so why do we play with wingbacks if we don’t have them….

2 minutes ago, rednotblue said:

Absolute howler from Max

He doesnt even make it to the ball

 

 

I blame Person.

Dropping Bentley is a ridiculous decision. He had one bad game. Never mind how many times he has saved us single handed and got us a draw or even a 3 points.

Max is just not good enough at this level.

To say he is better than Bentley is mental.

Give home 2 more games and he will be dropped again.

So far he’s conceded 3 in 2 by the time he gets to 4 games that will be circa 10.

Better than Bentley? It’s just mental to say that. 
 

Bentley may have some faults but he is one of the top 3 keepers we have had I the last 20 years.

As for Max he is L1 only reason he is the squad is he is cheap and most managers know he will never play.

Dont blame Max blame Pearson.

If it’s about the contract drop all the others that are out of contract in the summer

7 hours ago, Carey 6 said:

We conceded 23 in the 9 games he was in goal last season. I don't think the defence looked confident at all.

But yes, good save last night when we needed him & should remain in place until his form drops as you said. 

Last night Max had to do pretty much nothing all night.

Preston we the worst side I have seen all year.

He came off his line early and also made a save low down to his right in the second half.

The ball barley came in the box and when it did with decent delivery they scored.

To be fair Max did nothing wrong  but he did not do a lot right either and that’s not his fault.

Lets judge Max when we play a decent team and he’s called into action.

We played a pretty poor team at home against Coventry and we did not coincide with Bentley

I much prefer Bentley and don’t agree with him being dropped.

But Max has the shirt and I hope he keeps longer than last time as that means results are going well.

But I am not having he made a difference last night.

2 minutes ago, E.G.Red said:

Bit harsh on Jay 

Bit generous for Sykes

Give Klose 9 he was MoM for me

Also Preston looked awful team and never really looked like scoring.

Worst team I have seen all season.

22 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Sykes is a midfielder, often was central at Oxford- this is a pretty new position for him but he's been decent I think.

But he’s not a centre half, right back or midfielder we needed.

He plays just off or wide of the front - we have Scott, Wiemann, Seymenyo all better than him so why sign him - pointless signing.

28 minutes ago, Superjack said:

That's where we will likely finish. And most would be happy with that this season.

We will have good patches. We will have bad patches.

We weren't promotion contenders when we were sat in third place, and we aren't going down just because we are sat in eighteenth.

Some people just need to calm the **** down.

Unless we do something in January we are a bottom 6/8 team.

Easier said than done with no money.

We never sorted the problems of last year so why will we improve.

Stand still and you go backwards.

We don’t have a regular RB

We have a 5ft LB 

Centre Half  is a mess - Atkinson and Vyner are at best squad players. Kalas and Klose always injured. Naismith has more mistakes in him every 15 mins.

Midfield at least 1 very good regular starter short.

Thats what I thought at the start of the season and still fill the same.

We were last year.

Other teams have strengthen we pretty much did nothing.

We just go to hope there are 3 worst than us.

we got to hope 3 of the list below have bad seasons.

Really we need a good points return from below and if we do we should be ok - 25 points ish.

Hull, Huddersfield, Wigan, Rotherham, Coventry and maybe Blackpool 

Just now, The Bard said:

No he hasn't been our best player. That's Alex Scott. Semenyo, Weimann. 

He was dropped last season for a reason.  Scott and Weimann weren't.

He makes great saves but this is balanced out by the errors that cost us. He's a decent Championship keeper but he's hit his limit at about 12th in the Championship.  We can do better. If we're ambitious, we replace him.

Behave

Yeah and we could not get back in quick enough…

12th is about 6 places above this team - Like I said we are lucky to have.

Everyone has an opinion but in this case you are just the opposite of right.

Again we are lucky to have him

1 hour ago, GTFABM said:

I can honestly say from the start i didn’t want Pearson. But what i can say is all the behind the scenes stuff he has been exceptional! Had a few very bright games early in the season and was more than pleasantly surprised. He will not offer fast flowing attractive football on the budget given (no budget at all basically). Pointless getting rid because i can imagine we are paying him a very pretty penny to sort this shambles out. Stick with him let him steady the ship and avoid relegation for another season then look at the finances and re asses. Depressing as it is at times this is it for a while. Some good, some awful….

Well said

55 minutes ago, 77 punk said:

brentford got rid of bentley for a reason, to get a better keeper and get promoted

Been our best player for last 2 years.

Up there with the best keepers we have had in last 30 years.

Gets us about 15 points a season on his own.

Makes about 2 goal saving saves  a game.

Everyone can have an opinion but to look at Bentley as the problem in this team is just madness.

We are lucky to have him

26 minutes ago, bexhill reds said:

Nige wanted one, but for whatever reason being either finances, availability or other deals not going through it didn’t happen. 
 

The analysts might be on the case for one in Jan, got to hope so

Why recruit Sykes and a keeper over a centre half and midfielder we have been screaming out for.

23 minutes ago, ProfitInMyPocket said:

Go on Kadji, first appearance in the league? Can't do much worse than our midfield already has played. 

Good luck lad.

Poor players - Not technical or strong enough add in no movement = poor throw ins.

We are slow to use the ball  as well mainly because of the above.

we only know to throw it down the line to Martin and he’s not played all season.

3 hours ago, tin said:

If we line up like that, we will get battered. 

Maybe we should have…..

2 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

I've not kept up completely with availability of players, but from what I have caught , I wouldn't be surprised at going back 4 and King sitting in as a screen. I'd worry about height at the back so maybe a time for Pring to come in ?

                         Bentley

Tanner - Vyner - Atkinson - Pring

                        King

          Massengo - Scott

                  Weimann

             Conway - Wells

‘Best’11 that are fit….

Back 4 but looks a little open hence 2 fullbacks.

Lots of pace energy all over the team but not sure defensively.

But looks great to watch

Front 6 all good in the ball and have pace.

Front 3 can all interchange.

                  Bentley

Tanner  Atkinson  Vyner     JD

                Massengo

         Wieman        Scott

  Seymenyo   Wells        Conway

Same old problem - Both wingbacks offer nothing.

Its been a problem we have had for a few seasons.

Against a poor side and with plenty of the ball they both offered very little.

JD was slightly better but delivery is general poor.

Neither beat there man on the outside and either wipe in from deep or cut back.
 

Either they offer something going forward or we go 4 at the back and have the extra man in midfield of going forward.

Kalas, James, Scott when they are in will make us a much better team.

Full back no one knows who are best 2 are - that says it’s a area we need to improve - some in and some out.

Both wingbacks have been useless.

Vyner delivers the ball better than both of them.

may as well play 4 at the back and play 3 up top would make us much better going forward

On 08/09/2022 at 09:09, And Its Smith said:

In his last 34 games he has scored 10 goals.  34 games is less than one seasons worth of games.  Or does it all have to be done in one season to follow your rules?   If he scored 10 goals in 46 games in one season would that be better despite taking more games?

Nice try.

Very simple 10 Championship goals in the season.

Thought he looked like he would cause trouble yesterday through the middle when he came on.

And then for some reason Nige put on Martin and moved him wide and that changed the momentum of the game.

Martin or Seymenyo through the middle is a no brainier and that’s me saying it…. 

On 02/10/2022 at 10:50, DaveInSA said:

I don't normally start a thread, but what I saw yesterday against QPR warrants one.

The defending was naiive and abysmal all at once. Not the defence. Defending. They are two totally different things.

From what I saw yesterday the key problems were:

• easy ball over atkinson - got done every time
• easy 3 vs 1 on vyner (several times) - skyes was AWOL and neither scott nor williams tracking back
• naismith gave the bal away so often
• sykes and Dasilva ineffective in attack (which actually cause us defensive problems - linked to point 2)
• absolutely zero pace in our back 3 (and from Wilson when he came on - he didn't look fit)
• and in the second half, after the subs on 59 minutes, litereally nobody knew what they were suppposed to be doing - it was an absolute mess

some of this is schoolboy stuff. i can forgive some of this - we know we're not a great defensive unit, but man alive we absolultley have to start at least trying to defend.by being a bit more streetwise and nasty. we're so polite and gentlemenly. can we at least learn to foul when positionally we're all at sea?

 

 

Agree with most of above.

They pushed 3 up on are back 3 from the start.  We looked exposed as soon as they look to run in behind.

After about the third time you would have thought we would do something tactically about - drop back 20 feet so no space behind or tuck the full backs in - we did nothing and paid the price.

Midfield was weak mainly due to Williams wanting to go backwards in stead of backwards 90% of the time. Also do we need to go to a three and go 4-3-3

Our wingbacks got forward in first 20 mins and then did nothing going forward - we need to improve in this area and we other players who we can give a go - Pring and Wilson

Are 3 centre backs will leak goals all year if they play together.

Atkinson - No pace.

Naismith - A mistake every 15 mins. But are most attacking player with the ball. He’s passes get the team going forward. 

Vyner - Has some pace but again has a mistake in him 

All three can not play together if we don’t won’t to coincide they are a recipe for exactly that.

We desperately need Kalas  back and need to find someone in midfield - maybe time to give Massengo more of a run in the team.

We are much better to watch this season but lack maybe 3 players to have a serious chance to get into playoffs.