Better Team Won

[Donald]

Best team won tonight.

Swansea without doubt best team I've seen at gate this season and looked a decent forward away from having a serious chance of top 2

We on the other hand, nothing in midfield, lack of communication in defence and mo service to the forwards, the moment skuse was out and LJ was in I feared the worse, against a team like swansea thought Cisse in middle would be a better option, but millens decision even If I disagree with it.

But can't believe how bad midfield was, I'd dock LJ, Marv and JCR's wages after tonight

Half time subs were right and helped, but 2nd goal killed us.

Would have brought on Ivan instead of the pointless Clarkson

Overall DREADFUL performance bur for a change the away team deserved

Thankfully still think there is worse teams than us,which results proved

Preston is massive and we need to avoid defeat, 3 points a bonus

[Andy082005]

Best team won tonight.

Swansea without doubt best team I've seen at gate this season and looked a decent forward away from having a serious chance of top 2

We on the other hand, nothing in midfield, lack of communication in defence and mo service to the forwards, the moment skuse was out and LJ was in I feared the worse, against a team like swansea thought Cisse in middle would be a better option, but millens decision even If I disagree with it.

But can't believe how bad midfield was, I'd dock LJ, Marv and JCR's wages after tonight

Half time subs were right and helped, but 2nd goal killed us.

Would have brought on Ivan instead of the pointless Clarkson

Overall DREADFUL performance bur for a change the away team deserved

Thankfully still think there is worse teams than us,which results proved

Preston is massive and we need to avoid defeat, 3 points a bonus

Out of interest, do you think we are improving?

[Maesknoll Red]

Out of interest, do you think we are improving?

I believe the trendy, interweb response to your question is:

ROFLMAO

[Alex_BCFC]

They are a good passing side but first half we were shocking. We tried a bit harder 2nd half but no quality. Worrying times.

[GrahamC]

Best team won tonight.

Swansea without doubt best team I've seen at gate this season and looked a decent forward away from having a serious chance of top 2

We on the other hand, nothing in midfield, lack of communication in defence and mo service to the forwards, the moment skuse was out and LJ was in I feared the worse, against a team like swansea thought Cisse in middle would be a better option, but millens decision even If I disagree with it.

But can't believe how bad midfield was, I'd dock LJ, Marv and JCR's wages after tonight

Half time subs were right and helped, but 2nd goal killed us.

Would have brought on Ivan instead of the pointless Clarkson

Overall DREADFUL performance bur for a change the away team deserved

Thankfully still think there is worse teams than us,which results proved

Preston is massive and we need to avoid defeat, 3 points a bonus

You're not alone in thinking Cisse should have started , surely if we have learned anything of late it is that LJ in a two man midfield= totally overrun.

I was staggered when LJ started the second half so poor had he been.

I think you are very harsh on Elliott though, it must be sole destroying to try to close down and track three players with no support but I thought he did ok.

Clarkson really surprised me, he did far more in his short time on the pitch than Pitman did in 90.

[red badger]

You're not alone in thinking Cisse should have started , surely if we have learned anything of late it is that LJ in a two man midfield= totally overrun.

I was staggered when LJ started the second half so poor had he been.

I think you are very harsh on Elliott though, it must be sole destroying to try to close down and track three players with no support but I thought he did ok.

Clarkson really surprised me, he did far more in his short time on the pitch than Pitman did in 90.

...couldn't make it this evening Graham...sounded dire. Will be there for Leeds...when we really do have to perform...

[GrahamC]

...couldn't make it this evening Graham...sounded dire. Will be there for Leeds...when we really do have to perform...

You were lucky, it was terrible, though one team was rather good (it wasn't us)..

Think, oh of any of about 6 or 7 other performances at home, Coventry, Watford, Norwich, Boro' Wednesday, you know the thing............

[ashtonvale]

Out of interest, do you think we are improving?

I dont think any sane person was expecting a win (hoped for a draw) and it wasnt as bad as the capitulation against 'boro.

Its still midfield thats the problem..

Johnson should never ever be allowed to pull on a city shirt again

Marvin had brief flashes - chased hard .. but zero distribution

JCR - forget it

Clarky - ok, not midfield, played in the hole when he came on, intelligent player, but just not up to standard

Stewart was an obvious issue in defence and rightly subbed

Just hoping we get some midfield quality in the loan window

[dezgimed]

They were very decent.

Notice they had 3 midgets in their team, all class. Shows that LJ isnt just poor because of his size,he's just poor.

[Donald]

Out of interest, do you think we are improving?

I think we are almost handicapped when either cisse or stewart are in defence or if we have a midfield of LJ and Marv.

When both those situations happen, panic happens.......

Also noticed a pattern that we struggle when both JCR and LJ start

If we can start the back four that finished today and keep them fit, we will be ok I feel.

At the moment I'd like to see the team of

James

carey, fonts, caulks, Macca

Albert, skuse or Marv, Rose, Woolford

pitman Keogh

(Obviously when fit stead and Maynard will be front 2)

With our best back 4 we are a threat to anyone, but when we have the problems I've mentioned above, we stand as much chance of getting Dicked as we do of dicing someone, as results have proved

A strong defence builds confidence and ahead of Leeds, the most important thing is to not concede at preston, do thatmand I fancy our chances against leeds as long as we suffer no further injuries

[yardy]

i think if millen had the proper tactics we wouldnt of been so out played.

we should of had 5 in midfield then we might have been able to close swansea down quicker(like the 1st 10-15mins of 2nd half)

im not one to rant at managers but after this performence millen needs to hold his hand up.

we had the wrong tactics and no motivation,the way swansea walked through us in the 1st half was nothing short of shamefull,and why we only showed 10mins of a team that actually gives a **** is beyound me.

i would of made atleast 1 sub in the 1st 30mins and change formation,every man and his dog good see that we was getting over run in the midfield and to make a sub in the 1st 30 mins makes a statement,not only to the player that gets subbed but to the whole team,its not acceptable...

[Geoff65]

Not as bad as some would make out but not many positives either.

The way I saw it was that Swansea's first goal was fortunate in so much that our defenders dived in and made an excellent block and the ball lands at the feet of Pratley who scores. Swansea's 2nd goal was either hand ball and bundled in or just bundled in and we should never be conceding like that from a corner.

As to our chances, Brett smacked one goal bound, took a deflection and their goalie raised his arm and managed to get a hand to divert it for a corner. Marvin (think it was Marv)hit a thunderbolt heading for top right hand corner and a defender tracking one of our players back had the ball hit his head and went out for a corner - on other nights it could have been 2 goals but that wasn't to be.

I went to the Liberty stadium and knew what type of game it would be and we would concede possession but be very tight knit in the final 3rd. Now the first half was pretty disgusting to watch as you could have put a tailor's dummy in centre of midfield and it would have been more effective than Johnson. Talking of which, Carey had a go at him for being shit, Millen had a go at him for being shit and when someone in the Williams stand had a go at him he gesticulated with a swoop of his arm in the air. Quite frankly I hope he never plays again for us, drop him, remove him from training and tell him to **** off. His attitude ****ing stinks, it appeared to me that the situation has got so bad that team mates are not passing to him and he returns the favour by giving them dodgy passes back to make them look poor. He can go, leave and dont come back. That was the first half with Johnson, shit attitude, shit play and I was surprised he wasn't substituted at half time. 2nd half, Johnson was a man possessed and he played very well and that's the problem, he is inconsistent and I would have Johnson in my side all day long if he played to his potential like in the 2nd half but I guess I have seen less than a 1000 minutes of Johnson playing to his full potential and it's his attitude that lets him down.

Reverting back to the first half again and there are players who aren't performing, JCR, doesn't deliver good balls in to the box and isn't influential at all, fortunately Millen has (we hope) resolved that issue with Woolford coming in. JCR deserved to be subbed at half time, as did Stewart, my god he's a liability and thank **** Millen took him off. We have to remember that going into the match our defence had a non recognised left and right backs playing and Stewart wasting space in the heart of defence. McAllister comes on, the back for look much stronger with players playing their correct positions, McAllister looked capable, Fontaine and Caulker solid and Carey doing a very good impression of a good right back.

I'm not worried about relegation because I think there are worse sides in the division, I'm not concerned as our defence with players playing in their correct positions won't concede many, midfield is and everyone knows it, is the problem but with woolford coming in, skuse/cisse and elliott as a central pairing we wont be playing many teams who can keep possession as accurately as Swansea do, and as I said earlier on another night we could have scored a couple.

Fact of the match was, that with the personnel and attitude of the 2nd half we would have created a few more chances in the first half and possibly a goal or two may have materialised, as it was, shit attitude (Johnson), not good enough players (Johnson, JCR and stewart) prevented us in the first half but if we play like we did in the 2nd half we will get points because very few teams are as effective as Swansea are with regards to ball retention.

I appreciate others won't see it that way, but in terms of having already seeing us play Swansea this season, the way in which the match was played didn't surprise me but **** me some of the players should only be used in extreme emergencies.

[ashtonvale]

Not as bad as some would make out but not many positives either.

The way I saw it was that Swansea's first goal was fortunate in so much that our defenders dived in and made an excellent block and the ball lands at the feet of Pratley who scores. Swansea's 2nd goal was either hand ball and bundled in or just bundled in and we should never be conceding like that from a corner.

As to our chances, Brett smacked one goal bound, took a deflection and their goalie raised his arm and managed to get a hand to divert it for a corner. Marvin (think it was Marv)hit a thunderbolt heading for top right hand corner and a defender tracking one of our players back had the ball hit his head and went out for a corner - on other nights it could have been 2 goals but that wasn't to be.

I went to the Liberty stadium and knew what type of game it would be and we would concede possession but be very tight knit in the final 3rd. Now the first half was pretty disgusting to watch as you could have put a tailor's dummy in centre of midfield and it would have been more effective than Johnson. Talking of which, Carey had a go at him for being shit, Millen had a go at him for being shit and when someone in the Williams stand had a go at him he gesticulated with a swoop of his arm in the air. Quite frankly I hope he never plays again for us, drop him, remove him from training and tell him to **** off. His attitude ****ing stinks, it appeared to me that the situation has got so bad that team mates are not passing to him and he returns the favour by giving them dodgy passes back to make them look poor. He can go, leave and dont come back. That was the first half with Johnson, shit attitude, shit play and I was surprised he wasn't substituted at half time. 2nd half, Johnson was a man possessed and he played very well and that's the problem, he is inconsistent and I would have Johnson in my side all day long if he played to his potential like in the 2nd half but I guess I have seen less than a 1000 minutes of Johnson playing to his full potential and it's his attitude that lets him down.

Reverting back to the first half again and there are players who aren't performing, JCR, doesn't deliver good balls in to the box and isn't influential at all, fortunately Millen has (we hope) resolved that issue with Woolford coming in. JCR deserved to be subbed at half time, as did Stewart, my god he's a liability and thank **** Millen took him off. We have to remember that going into the match our defence had a non recognised left and right backs playing and Stewart wasting space in the heart of defence. McAllister comes on, the back for look much stronger with players playing their correct positions, McAllister looked capable, Fontaine and Caulker solid and Carey doing a very good impression of a good right back.

I'm not worried about relegation because I think there are worse sides in the division, I'm not concerned as our defence with players playing in their correct positions won't concede many, midfield is and everyone knows it, is the problem but with woolford coming in, skuse/cisse and elliott as a central pairing we wont be playing many teams who can keep possession as accurately as Swansea do, and as I said earlier on another night we could have scored a couple.

Fact of the match was, that with the personnel and attitude of the 2nd half we would have created a few more chances in the first half and possibly a goal or two may have materialised, as it was, shit attitude (Johnson), not good enough players (Johnson, JCR and stewart) prevented us in the first half but if we play like we did in the 2nd half we will get points because very few teams are as effective as Swansea are with regards to ball retention.

I appreciate others won't see it that way, but in terms of having already seeing us play Swansea this season, the way in which the match was played didn't surprise me but **** me some of the players should only be used in extreme emergencies.

Spot on Geoff.

Excellent post.