Now We've Had Time To Digest Saturday...

[Tinmansleftboot]

What actually went wrong? What were the good points and I guess you guys have already started to discuss what can change.

On a personal note I was very dissapointed in the total lack of effort by all but one player. In what was a totally woeful performance I thought that Nick Carle was the only bright spark. He's obviously struggling to addapt to the English game but he was head and shoulders above the others in the second half.

Don't get me wrong, everybody has a bad day at the office, but why did ten players all have an off day at the same time? Do we really have a London complex?

While I was standing there watching the horror show unfold in front of me I couldn't really recall watching my team play so badly in many a year. It almost reminded me of the bad old Pulis days. No real method or substance to our play.

Obviously Louis and Liam weren't playing together butI feel the main problem goes deeper than the defence. Adebola was the steriotypical target man and every defender, midfielder and even Basso looked for him at every opportunity. Could this have been the problem? I can't remember seeing a Gary Johnson led City team play so little football. I know things haven't been going our way lately but we'd managed to get to second by playing some good football. I only hope we don't panic and start to ' Watford ' the ball forward at every turn.

I've read so many posts regarding other players this week that quite frankly are commical to say the least. I admit that I did give an ironic cheer when daddy took son off on Saturday but not because I don't value Lee Johnson as a footballer. I just feel that, despite his obvious ability, he's slightly out of his depth in this division. It only my opinion but I don't have the same reservations about Noble, Elliot, Sproul, McIndoe or Carle. Maybe it is time to rest Lee. Maybe I'll be proved wrong.

On the obvious topic of the defence. How on earth did Gary Johnson think that Vasko and McCombe would be a good partnership. If they played for another club we'd be falling over ourselves in laughter. Does anyone know why Liam was on the bench? I think it was probaly unfair that Vasko took all the flack. McCombe should be taking a long hard look at himself after his performance at QPR.

So, to sum up I'm delighted we signed Carle, not so delighted he decided to long ball it and am totally baffled by Johnson's choice of centre backs on Saturday.

RR

[Rob k]

What actually went wrong? What were the good points and I guess you guys have already started to discuss what can change.

On a personal note I was very dissapointed in the total lack of effort by all but one player. In what was a totally woeful performance I thought that Nick Carle was the only bright spark. He's obviously struggling to addapt to the English game but he was head and shoulders above the others in the second half.

Don't get me wrong, everybody has a bad day at the office, but why did ten players all have an off day at the same time? Do we really have a London complex?

While I was standing there watching the horror show unfold in front of me I couldn't really recall watching my team play so badly in many a year. It almost reminded me of the bad old Pulis days. No real method or substance to our play.

Obviously Louis and Liam weren't playing together butI feel the main problem goes deeper than the defence. Adebola was the steriotypical target man and every defender, midfielder and even Basso looked for him at every opportunity. Could this have been the problem? I can't remember seeing a Gary Johnson led City team play so little football. I know things haven't been going our way lately but we'd managed to get to second by playing some good football. I only hope we don't panic and start to ' Watford ' the ball forward at every turn.

I've read so many posts regarding other players this week that quite frankly are commical to say the least. I admit that I did give an ironic cheer when daddy took son off on Saturday but not because I don't value Lee Johnson as a footballer. I just feel that, despite his obvious ability, he's slightly out of his depth in this division. It only my opinion but I don't have the same reservations about Noble, Elliot, Sproul, McIndoe or Carle. Maybe it is time to rest Lee. Maybe I'll be proved wrong.

On the obvious topic of the defence. How on earth did Gary Johnson think that Vasko and McCombe would be a good partnership. If they played for another club we'd be falling over ourselves in laughter. Does anyone know why Liam was on the bench? I think it was probaly unfair that Vasko took all the flack. McCombe should be taking a long hard look at himself after his performance at QPR.

So, to sum up I'm delighted we signed Carle, not so delighted he decided to long ball it and am totally baffled by Johnson's choice of centre backs on Saturday.

RR

This is a very good post, We all get things wrong from time to time at work and i suppose GJ is no different, Vasko and mccombe should never play again together as its painfull to watch, My own personal feeling is that Orr and Mccombe are not good enough for this level and the less said about Byfields performance the better. Apart from that i thought we were much better in the 2nd half and created more than they did, we had some good chances which we never took, we could realisticlly have had 3 goals ourselves if Mccombe had scored at the far post, adebolas shot had creapt in instead of hitting the post and if Byfiled had played in Carle instead of turning in the box.

Its not as bad as some are making out.

[MarcusX]

What actually went wrong? What were the good points and I guess you guys have already started to discuss what can change.

On a personal note I was very dissapointed in the total lack of effort by all but one player. In what was a totally woeful performance I thought that Nick Carle was the only bright spark. He's obviously struggling to addapt to the English game but he was head and shoulders above the others in the second half.

Don't get me wrong, everybody has a bad day at the office, but why did ten players all have an off day at the same time? Do we really have a London complex?

While I was standing there watching the horror show unfold in front of me I couldn't really recall watching my team play so badly in many a year. It almost reminded me of the bad old Pulis days. No real method or substance to our play.

Obviously Louis and Liam weren't playing together butI feel the main problem goes deeper than the defence. Adebola was the steriotypical target man and every defender, midfielder and even Basso looked for him at every opportunity. Could this have been the problem? I can't remember seeing a Gary Johnson led City team play so little football. I know things haven't been going our way lately but we'd managed to get to second by playing some good football. I only hope we don't panic and start to ' Watford ' the ball forward at every turn.

I've read so many posts regarding other players this week that quite frankly are commical to say the least. I admit that I did give an ironic cheer when daddy took son off on Saturday but not because I don't value Lee Johnson as a footballer. I just feel that, despite his obvious ability, he's slightly out of his depth in this division. It only my opinion but I don't have the same reservations about Noble, Elliot, Sproul, McIndoe or Carle. Maybe it is time to rest Lee. Maybe I'll be proved wrong.

On the obvious topic of the defence. How on earth did Gary Johnson think that Vasko and McCombe would be a good partnership. If they played for another club we'd be falling over ourselves in laughter. Does anyone know why Liam was on the bench? I think it was probaly unfair that Vasko took all the flack. McCombe should be taking a long hard look at himself after his performance at QPR.

So, to sum up I'm delighted we signed Carle, not so delighted he decided to long ball it and am totally baffled by Johnson's choice of centre backs on Saturday.

RR

What a ridiculous thing to say! Did you not realise that the week before we beat Blackpool, and those 2 together kept a clean sheet??? ANd may I say Vasko was my man of the match for the blackpool game. I remember saying at the game for once our defense looked fairly solid even without Carey and that game we didnt look like we missed him.

Liam was on the bench because Gary keeps a winning team and rightly so, people would complain if we won most weeks but still changed the team every time. And the players would never feel secure about their position

I guess you are only as good as your last match in some people's eyes

[Alex_BCFC]

What a ridiculous thing to say! Did you not realise that the week before we beat Blackpool, and those 2 together kept a clean sheet??? ANd may I say Vasko was my man of the match for the blackpool game. I remember saying at the game for once our defense looked fairly solid even without Carey and that game we didnt look like we missed him.

Liam was on the bench because Gary keeps a winning team and rightly so, people would complain if we won most weeks but still changed the team every time. And the players would never feel secure about their position

I guess you are only as good as your last match in some people's eyes

I think you miss one major difference.

QPR had 2 quick attackers- Blackpool didn't GJ should have seen this and put in Fontaine to combat it. We have missed Carey badly over the past games too- think of WBA and Palace especially.

A winning team should be kept sometimes but not always- you should put out a team capable of winning the game. The partnership of Vasko and McCombe was always going to encounter problems.

[MarcusX]

I think you miss one major difference.

QPR had 2 quick attackers- Blackpool didn't GJ should have seen this and put in Fontaine to combat it. We have missed Carey badly over the past games too- think of WBA and Palace especially.

A winning team should be kept sometimes but not always- you should put out a team capable of winning the game. The partnership of Vasko and McCombe was always going to encounter problems.

I didnt think Blackpools attack was that slow to be honest.

GJ Cant win, if he'd changed the team and we'd lost then people would have questioned why.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, anyone can claim to be knowledgeable whilst using it

[bartolona]

The last 2 clean sheets we've had has been with Vasko and McCombe at the back. But i would play Fonts and Carey together when available.

[SE23Red]

What a ridiculous thing to say! Did you not realise that the week before we beat Blackpool, and those 2 together kept a clean sheet??? ANd may I say Vasko was my man of the match for the blackpool game. I remember saying at the game for once our defense looked fairly solid even without Carey and that game we didnt look like we missed him.

Liam was on the bench because Gary keeps a winning team and rightly so, people would complain if we won most weeks but still changed the team every time. And the players would never feel secure about their position

I guess you are only as good as your last match in some people's eyes

Nine times out of ten I'd go along with keeping a winning team, but there have to be exceptions. The way I read the selection of the back two in the last two games is as follows. We lost at Palace so GJ was free to select the best players to deal with the threat Blackpool offered - he had no loyalty to a winning team. As Blackpool had limited pace and movement but liked to get the ball forward to the big forwards early Vasko and McCombe were the right choice and had a comfortable afternoon.

But the fact they were the best pairing for Blackpool at home doesn't make them the right choice for QPR away. GJ said himself he had picked them having looked at how Blackpool played so surely he could have dropped one of them despite having done so well against Blackpool. Instead we had to watch them chase shadows for 45 minutes, going two goals down before getting a more mobile defender onto the pitch.

[Fodbarmyarmy]

What a ridiculous thing to say! Did you not realise that the week before we beat Blackpool, and those 2 together kept a clean sheet??? ANd may I say Vasko was my man of the match for the blackpool game. I remember saying at the game for once our defense looked fairly solid even without Carey and that game we didnt look like we missed him.

Liam was on the bench because Gary keeps a winning team and rightly so, people would complain if we won most weeks but still changed the team every time. And the players would never feel secure about their position

I guess you are only as good as your last match in some people's eyes

I agree

I don't think the problem (if there is one) lies with our central defenders IMO its the fullbacks who are lacking and not contributing enough

McAllister - too slow for this level and gets turned inside out too easily - doesn't offer much going forward either (mainly because he cant get back so has to be careful)

Bradley is a smashing guy who always tries 100% but sometimes (especialy at this level) his 100% is not good enough

[Alex_BCFC]

I didnt think Blackpools attack was that slow to be honest.

GJ Cant win, if he'd changed the team and we'd lost then people would have questioned why.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, anyone can claim to be knowledgeable whilst using it

Blackpool had Morrell upfront who is fairly slow.

I don't think anyone would have questione GJ if he put Fontaine back in. He is the 2nd best CB at the club and was fast enough to deal with Aygemang and Vine as the 2nd half showed.

And yes hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[Tinmansleftboot]

What a ridiculous thing to say! Did you not realise that the week before we beat Blackpool, and those 2 together kept a clean sheet??? ANd may I say Vasko was my man of the match for the blackpool game. I remember saying at the game for once our defense looked fairly solid even without Carey and that game we didnt look like we missed him.

Liam was on the bench because Gary keeps a winning team and rightly so, people would complain if we won most weeks but still changed the team every time. And the players would never feel secure about their position

I guess you are only as good as your last match in some people's eyes

What a totally uneducated thing to say. Keeping a winning team is all very well and good if you think that team can win the next game. If I'm being honest I think we were fortunate to beat Blackpool. The fact we did wasn't down to Vasko at all.

It was pretty obvious quite early on during Saturday's match that we'd be lucky to get anything from it. Having seen the goals again on TV this morning I'm horrified to see Vasko's positioning for both opening goals!

rr

Vasko is obviously a good footballer as he plays international football, but when are we going to see that player?

[mossey]

What a ridiculous thing to say! Did you not realise that the week before we beat Blackpool, and those 2 together kept a clean sheet??? ANd may I say Vasko was my man of the match for the blackpool game. I remember saying at the game for once our defense looked fairly solid even without Carey and that game we didnt look like we missed him.

Liam was on the bench because Gary keeps a winning team and rightly so, people would complain if we won most weeks but still changed the team every time. And the players would never feel secure about their position

I guess you are only as good as your last match in some people's eyes

come on! we struggled to beat Blackpool, for the whole of the seconf half they were the better team, and looking the team most likely to score, Vasko and Mccombe are ok against slower , first div type playing teams,who play the ball in the air alot, but against any team with pace and movement they will always struggle, (think it was colchester as well) need the right sort of balance against more mobile teams. Must admitt did fear the worst when I saw team selection, and that was not only in defence.