Thoughts on last night...

[Fat Cigar]

A few thoughts on last night... Before last night, I was of the view (as were most of us) that we desperately needed to change either team selection or formation. Ideally both as far as I was concerned. Without any genuine fullbacks we have to accept that 3-5-2 is here to stay. For now. And good to see Cotterill finally making changes. I would have picked Reid over Freeman as well, but I'll come to that later.

Last night was very similar to the Forest game. We won most 50-50s, everyone worked their socks off, and the team played like a cohesive unit. This pleased me more than anything else. We were solid without being brilliant. I thought we were far better and looked a lot more confident in the second half, whereas thought we were better in the first half v Forest. It was a game of few chances but give me that over our usual 20 shots on goal and none scored. Apart from the first 20mins or so, Wolves were distinctly average. Not as poor as Forest (or Cardiff for that matter), but I expected a lot more. And Afobe barely touched the ball.

Baker is a reassuring presence at the back, and his influence is clearly rubbing off on Flint, who followed up his stinker from Saturday with a fine display yesterday. I know on another thread people have lauded Pack, but my man of the match was actually Ayling. Don't think he put a foot wrong. Won everything in the air and very good bringing the ball out of defence. As long he's not giving the ball away I'll be happy.

Freeman - he worked hard. Lots of running, but didn't seem to know what to do with the ball. Kept going sideways and backwards. No killer pass, and is clearly unable to cross, or even attempt to. He's been my biggest disappointment so far (Joe Bryan aside). Thought he was excellent at Birmingham, in his first game back after suspension, but he's most culpable in terms of giving the ball away. He's got to learn that he can't do what he did (with ease) last season. Players in the Championship are too good to let you glide past them. I would have picked Reid over him several games ago. Very little he did paid off. That's the one change I'd make for Bolton, but I expect the team to stay as it is.

Agard had a decent match. Lots of energy, a handful for their defenders. Be good to see how he links up long term with Kodjia, if he gets a good run. Want to see Cox play a bit too. Can't expect Kodjia to score every game. Our goal aside, we really need to work on our crossing and set pieces. Nothing ever comes from our corners.

We definitely lack ideas in the final third, one of the reasons I suspect the ball goes backwards once we make inroads in the opposition half. No one sure what to do with the ball. Need some more imagination up front and balls played through the centre rather than out wide where they inevitably go backwards again. Definitely something to work on. You can tell the players are a little nervous at the moment.

Every game feels massive, even at this early stage. We want to put a healthy distance between us and the bottom 3. It only takes 3 wins. Always thought these two matches would be crucial, and nothing has changed my view. We win on Sat and I'll feel a little less on edge. Been a bag of nerves this season. The stadium redevelopment and everything it signifies makes this season so important. I don't want us just to avoid relegation. I want a comfortable mid-table finish. We start being clinical in attack and we'll get there. Cut out the mistakes in our own half, and get that first goal. We've already counted the cost of conceding early goals. Go 2-0 down and the game's as good as over.

Roll on Saturday! Weekend in Manchester with friends cleverly organised so I can nip off to Bolton on Saturday afternoon...

[The Gasbuster]

4 minutes ago, Fat Cigar said:

A few thoughts on last night... Before last night, I was of the view (as were most of us) that we desperately needed to change either team selection or formation. Ideally both as far as I was concerned. Without any genuine fullbacks we have to accept that 3-5-2 is here to stay. For now. And good to see Cotterill finally making changes. I would have picked Reid over Freeman as well, but I'll come to that later.

Last night was very similar to the Forest game. We won most 50-50s, everyone worked their socks off, and the team played like a cohesive unit. This pleased me more than anything else. We were solid without being brilliant. I thought we were far better and looked a lot more confident in the second half, whereas thought we were better in the first half v Forest. It was a game of few chances but give me that over our usual 20 shots on goal and none scored. Apart from the first 20mins or so, Wolves were distinctly average. Not as poor as Forest (or Cardiff for that matter), but I expected a lot more. And Afobe barely touched the ball.

Baker is a reassuring presence at the back, and his influence is clearly rubbing off on Flint, who followed up his stinker from Saturday with a fine display yesterday. I know on another thread people have lauded Pack, but my man of the match was actually Ayling. Don't think he put a foot wrong. Won everything in the air and very good bringing the ball out of defence. As long he's not giving the ball away I'll be happy.

Freeman - he worked hard. Lots of running, but didn't seem to know what to do with the ball. Kept going sideways and backwards. No killer pass, and is clearly unable to cross, or even attempt to. He's been my biggest disappointment so far (Joe Bryan aside). Thought he was excellent at Birmingham, in his first game back after suspension, but he's most culpable in terms of giving the ball away. He's got to learn that he can't do what he did (with ease) last season. Players in the Championship are too good to let you glide past them. I would have picked Reid over him several games ago. Very little he did paid off. That's the one change I'd make for Bolton, but I expect the team to stay as it is.

Agard had a decent match. Lots of energy, a handful for their defenders. Be good to see how he links up long term with Kodjia, if he gets a good run. Want to see Cox play a bit too. Can't expect Kodjia to score every game. Our goal aside, we really need to work on our crossing and set pieces. Nothing ever comes from our corners.

We definitely lack ideas in the final third, one of the reasons I suspect the ball goes backwards once we make inroads in the opposition half. No one sure what to do with the ball. Need some more imagination up front and balls played through the centre rather than out wide where they inevitably go backwards again. Definitely something to work on. You can tell the players are a little nervous at the moment.

Every game feels massive, even at this early stage. We want to put a healthy distance between us and the bottom 3. It only takes 3 wins. Always thought these two matches would be crucial, and nothing has changed my view. We win on Sat and I'll feel a little less on edge. Been a bag of nerves this season. The stadium redevelopment and everything it signifies makes this season so important. I don't want us just to avoid relegation. I want a comfortable mid-table finish. We start being clinical in attack and we'll get there. Cut out the mistakes in our own half, and get that first goal. We've already counted the cost of conceding early goals. Go 2-0 down and the game's as good as over.

Roll on Saturday! Weekend in Manchester with friends cleverly organised so I can nip off to Bolton on Saturday afternoon...

Yep, agree with much of what you are saying !

But Korey for M.O.T.M., imo

[Super]

I certainly expected more especially after they won at Brum. Poorest team I have seen down here this season.

[Corsham Ed]

I really enjoyed last night. The passion from the team was outstanding everyone gave it their all, and I left the ground feeling really proud of my teams efforts. My only criticism from last night was Frank's distribution just needs to sort that part of his game. Barring that, it was an excellent evening.

[Nomad]

Excellent post Cigar. Agree with pretty much all of it.

[The Bard]

If we're playing Kodjia and Agard we need to be feeding through balls from centre mid and this is one of the reasons why I'd pick Reid over Freeman.  Agard's goal against Leeds is a perfect example.  Bobby's better at carrying it forward as well which will help away from home on the counter. 

[BRISTOL86]

Despite being thrilled with a big three points, I didn't think the performance was all that great on the whole, and that Wolves were by far and away the worst team I've seen here all season. 

Dont get me wrong, plenty of positives to take and the result was absolutely the most important thing, but I think we've played much better than that and lost this season. Wolves really were dire and a team with any kind of end product should have had a couple of goals last night. 

[Super]

7 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Despite being thrilled with a big three points, I didn't think the performance was all that great on the whole, and that Wolves were by far and away the worst team I've seen here all season. 

Dont get me wrong, plenty of positives to take and the result was absolutely the most important thing, but I think we've played much better than that and lost this season. Wolves really were dire and a team with any kind of end product should have had a couple of goals last night. 

I agree, defensively we were superb last night but the attacking was far too slow, and when we had the ball on the edge of the wolves box and it ended up back with Fielding was ridiculous.

[BRISTOL86]

9 minutes ago, Super said:

I agree, defensively we were superb last night but the attacking was far too slow, and when we had the ball on the edge of the wolves box and it ended up back with Fielding was ridiculous.

We were better than on Saturday defensively but still thought Wolves got in behind way too easily out wide and if they had any cutting edge they could and should have had a couple. 

We kept the ball well at times but with almost no movement off the ball, options were limited. Even Cotterill couldn't believe how we ended up back at Fielding from the edge of their box during one spell!

I'm thrilled we won the game and I'll take three points and a poor game any day of the week, but a lot of last night's result was down to Wolves being absolute dirge. 

[Guest]

I agree Freeman hasn't hit the heights I perhaps thought he might at the start of this season, but I think he's unfairly copping a hard time of it from a lot on OTIB. It's quite telling that 14 games in to this season I can think of at least 4 occasions where opposition fans have reserved special praise for Freeman, on occasions posting such on this forum too. Considering he missed half of Brentford and the 3 games following that's not a bad hit rate at all.

If he's doing that whilst the consensus is he's playing within himself roll on when he hits sharpness and confidence.

 

[Psychrome]

We can't score with every attack and, at one nil up, I would rather us keep the ball and pass it back to the keeper than turn it over and be under pressure. Can't believe that got booed. Constantly giving the ball away against MK Dons cost us so I was quite pleased we didn't rush into anything and tried to keep hold of the ball.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Agree about Ayling, he was my MOTM too.

Reid for Freeman? Not so sure, Freeman had a calamitous first half, but he never hides and improved in the 2nd, and never stops making himself available.

He's out of form and his confidence is clearly diminished, but he's a class player and hopefully will play himself through this spell. I suspect Cotts. is reluctant to drop someone who should be such an important player for us and if he keeps putting in so much effort it's hard to disagree with him.

Having said that Bobby has definitely impressed in small bursts and has no hesitation in attempting killer balls. It's his overall contribution and staying power when he starts that holds him back imo, but I do agree he should be getting regular opportunities from the bench.

Other thoughts on last night? What's happened to the lighting? The Atyeo and SS lights were switched on far earlier in the first half and kept on for far longer at the beginning of the 2nd compared with previous seasons. As for the Lower Dolman, not sure they were ever switched off.

The brightness on the pitch and the darkness around it are part of what makes night games special and the atmosphere is losing out imo.with what appears to be a new policy this season.

[One Team In Keynsham]

My thoughts?  First game I have attended this season, decent win and clean sheet.  Don't know why there is all this moaning and bedwetting going on.

[BRISTOL86]

1 minute ago, One Team In Keynsham said:

My thoughts?  First game I have attended this season, decent win and clean sheet.  Don't know why there is all this moaning and bedwetting going on.

Who is 'moaning and bedwetting'? All I see is discussion. So if we win we're not allowed to talk about the game?

[devoncider]

1 hour ago, Fat Cigar said:

A few thoughts on last night... Before last night, I was of the view (as were most of us) that we desperately needed to change either team selection or formation. Ideally both as far as I was concerned. Without any genuine fullbacks we have to accept that 3-5-2 is here to stay. For now. And good to see Cotterill finally making changes. I would have picked Reid over Freeman as well, but I'll come to that later.

Last night was very similar to the Forest game. We won most 50-50s, everyone worked their socks off, and the team played like a cohesive unit. This pleased me more than anything else. We were solid without being brilliant. I thought we were far better and looked a lot more confident in the second half, whereas thought we were better in the first half v Forest. It was a game of few chances but give me that over our usual 20 shots on goal and none scored. Apart from the first 20mins or so, Wolves were distinctly average. Not as poor as Forest (or Cardiff for that matter), but I expected a lot more. And Afobe barely touched the ball.

Baker is a reassuring presence at the back, and his influence is clearly rubbing off on Flint, who followed up his stinker from Saturday with a fine display yesterday. I know on another thread people have lauded Pack, but my man of the match was actually Ayling. Don't think he put a foot wrong. Won everything in the air and very good bringing the ball out of defence. As long he's not giving the ball away I'll be happy.

Freeman - he worked hard. Lots of running, but didn't seem to know what to do with the ball. Kept going sideways and backwards. No killer pass, and is clearly unable to cross, or even attempt to. He's been my biggest disappointment so far (Joe Bryan aside). Thought he was excellent at Birmingham, in his first game back after suspension, but he's most culpable in terms of giving the ball away. He's got to learn that he can't do what he did (with ease) last season. Players in the Championship are too good to let you glide past them. I would have picked Reid over him several games ago. Very little he did paid off. That's the one change I'd make for Bolton, but I expect the team to stay as it is.

Agard had a decent match. Lots of energy, a handful for their defenders. Be good to see how he links up long term with Kodjia, if he gets a good run. Want to see Cox play a bit too. Can't expect Kodjia to score every game. Our goal aside, we really need to work on our crossing and set pieces. Nothing ever comes from our corners.

We definitely lack ideas in the final third, one of the reasons I suspect the ball goes backwards once we make inroads in the opposition half. No one sure what to do with the ball. Need some more imagination up front and balls played through the centre rather than out wide where they inevitably go backwards again. Definitely something to work on. You can tell the players are a little nervous at the moment.

Every game feels massive, even at this early stage. We want to put a healthy distance between us and the bottom 3. It only takes 3 wins. Always thought these two matches would be crucial, and nothing has changed my view. We win on Sat and I'll feel a little less on edge. Been a bag of nerves this season. The stadium redevelopment and everything it signifies makes this season so important. I don't want us just to avoid relegation. I want a comfortable mid-table finish. We start being clinical in attack and we'll get there. Cut out the mistakes in our own half, and get that first goal. We've already counted the cost of conceding early goals. Go 2-0 down and the game's as good as over.

Roll on Saturday! Weekend in Manchester with friends cleverly organised so I can nip off to Bolton on Saturday afternoon...

Great post. Agree with all of that - Reid for Freeman would bring more "zip" as Cotts says in the final third, and Kodjia would receive some killer through balls

[Fat Cigar]

1 hour ago, The Gasbuster said:

Yep, agree with much of what you are saying !

But Korey for M.O.T.M., imo

Korey being our best player in every game goes without saying!

I would have made him captain in the summer. I know it won't happen at the moment. But watch his body language carefully, how he's constantly geeing up the others. He leads by example, in my eyes. Not a dig at Wilbraham by the way, but making him captain was an odd choice. Being the most experienced player doesn't necessarily make you a leader.

[Red-Robbo]

Pretty much agree with the OP. 

I probably wouldn't start Reid, but with Freeman huffing and puffing to no avail, I'd have subbed him on. Trouble is - as Noggers says - Freeman did improve in the second half on a pretty poor first half performance. 

Nonetheless,  I think Bob always has an eye to break through that back  line and was more likely to score himself or set up Codger or Agard.

How hard did Agard want a goal?! He was practically straining every vein in his body to try to get on the scoresheet! 

Would start him again no matter how "rested" Wilbs is feeling. 

[Fat Cigar]

Whilst being surprised at how average/poor Forest and Wolves have been against us, we really shouldn't be. Before the season started I was fairly upbeat about our chances. Predicted we'd finish 10th. Why? There are a lot of teams in this division living off past glories. Not even sure that's true anymore to be honest. Teams who won nothing, done nothing, except being labelled as one of those "big" clubs. Leeds, Sheff Wed, Forest, for example. They've been going nowhere for years now.

My view was always we have nothing to fear from the likes of them. Now that we've got good results against some of the "big" clubs, we need to start bullying and not be overawed. Like we did last night, and against Forest. Get stuck in. Most of these clubs are also run appallingly, hence the endless years of instability.

[spudski]

Thanks for that OP Ben....I wasn't able to get down there last night due to other commitments, but your OP pretty much what colleague who went said.

Nice to see some changes and a more disciplined defence. Hopefully this will give us the confidence to kick on and become more consistent.

No taking away from the result, but I think it was a good time to play Wolves so soon after an intense local derby. By all accounts Birmingham looked shattered too last night.

[Garland-sweden]

Thanks for reporting. Coyr

[Aizoon]

Agree with the OP - just to point out that I thought the ref was excellent. I've rarely seen advantage played better and more thoughtfully. That's the sign of a ref who knows the game, not just the Laws.

[1960maaan]

I've been saying for a while, a few tweaks to the way we 'play' the system and things could change. 

Agard helps by closing down defenders and not allowing them to build through possession, the other thing was if one CB 'went' the other or someone would stay.  I was impressed with the patience shown with the ball and the movement was good. MoM was difficult for me, could have been a few which must be the sign of a good team performance, I said at half time , if Bennett and Freeman had been better we would have been more up . I thought Flint looked good, but I think he was helped by the slight change to less gung ho attacking and having bodies at the back. Midfield were good, Freeman still ran with the ball even though it was one of those nights for him. Aizoon, I have to disagree about the ref. Over all he was OK , but he gave some very soft free kicks against us while ignoring similar by them. It's all subjective.

A few small criticisms , Patience is good but we did over do it at times and people looked scared to cross or shoot. Conversely ,we still hit the ball over the top to the wing back. I don't think it works well enough to try it as often as we do.  As mentioned above we need to work on the through ball, Agard and Kodjia are very mobile and it could be very profitable . Over all good solid performance, but one thing I'd like to add. Forest,Cardiff and now Wolves looked poor , against us. Coincidence ? or have we had a part to play in that. I'd like to think that we stopped them from playing and I hope we play a lot of poor sides in the near future.

[mozo]

Dont think anyone has mentioned that Williams was looking understandably uncomfortable in attacking positions, hence most of our play went down the right. 

I agree that Bobby deserves a go, or at least 30 minutes.

[MichaelRobartes]

One thing I noticed was how narrow we were when defending. When you have a back five I don't see any need for them all to be bunched up in the middle of the pitch. Their wide players were able to get a lot of crosses in because we were slow closing them down, despite having numbers in the box. Sure, we defended the aerial stuff very well for the most part, but I thought it odd.

Overall we were much improved defensively, even if Wolves were absolutely dreadful. On the flip side, as others have mentioned, we can play better. If we'd put up the Cardiff performance last night we'd have scored four or five. It was nice to not create a billion chances and miss them all for once. We were clinical last night, I wouldn't call any of our attempts bar the goal more than half-chances.

What I really liked about last night was how composed we were on the ball, particularly near the end (barring the hairy last couple of minutes). We were playing smart football in the right areas, probing but playing simple passes and retaining possession. Something we haven't seen much of this season. I agree with Ben that we were rather side-to-side in attacking. I certainly wouldn't be against Bobby getting a chance in the not-too-distant future. Might do Freeman no harm to have a breather. I'd also be thinking about bring Bryan back in the next couple of games.

[1960maaan]

9 minutes ago, mozo said:

Dont think anyone has mentioned that Williams was looking understandably uncomfortable in attacking positions, hence most of our play went down the right. 

I agree that Bobby deserves a go, or at least 30 minutes.

I thought Williams did well, I agree he is not a natural WB but as his first thought is defend he tends not to bomb on without thought.  Did well covering all the left side of midfield, maybe should have scored when he crossed baring down on the keeper and could cross earlier as he gets in good positions.

[DingleRed]

One thing I liked about Freeman is that he knew he was having a bad time, particularly in 1st half, was clearly disappointed with his passing and losing possession frequently, but he never gave up! With that sort of character he'll come good. He's got enough talent.

Noticeable that he went right most of the time - not his normal approach. So Williams sometimes found himself a bit isolated.

[Davefevs]

6 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

A few small criticisms , Patience is good but we did over do it at times and people looked scared to cross or shoot. Conversely ,we still hit the ball over the top to the wing back. I don't think it works well enough to try it as often as we do.  As mentioned above we need to work on the through ball, Agard and Kodjia are very mobile and it could be very profitable . Over all good solid performance, but one thing I'd like to add. Forest,Cardiff and now Wolves looked poor , against us. Coincidence ? or have we had a part to play in that. I'd like to think that we stopped them from playing and I hope we play a lot of poor sides in the near future.

I think patience was a result of a Wolves setting up fairly defensively....they only really played Afobe up top, and strung 5 across the midfield, albeit slightly staggered.

I really feared them going for a quick goal following Fulham, but apart from a few decent set pieces they wasted their opportunity to hit us whilst we were down.  The longer the game went on the more likely I saw us taking the points.  Took a great header from Kodj to get them though.