Positives and negatives v Brentford

GON interviewed after the match:

"I didn't think there was much in the game. I thought the boys gave everything. We worked really hard and created good moments but we didn't quite get the rub of the green. The boys were unfortunate with how it went this evening.

I don't think there was anything in the game, we created some chances."

I don't know if the Michael B Jordan involvement means we're getting a Netflix special, but if we do then they can call it "GON With the Wind".

What absolute horseshit. They won at an absolute canter.
 
I’m a plastic so didn’t watch us in league two but that is the most dire I’ve seen us play since having a season ticket in 1998ish. It wasn’t that we were especially rubbish; there’s been worse overall performances but it just lacked anything. And the limited stuff we did do that was ok was wrong if that makes sense.
 
I’ve got a positive. We are a PL team playing Kieffer Moore as a lone forward and asking Ryan Christie to supply him, yet we still got more points than Derby.

Today had nothing to do with O’Neil, that starting eleven today genuinely wouldn’t even get top half in the championship. Brentford barely had to break into a sweat to beat us comfortably. Even if we do get the 4-5 additions Foley was on about, it still won’t be enough. There is far far too much dead wood in the squad. Years of average recruitment (bar the odd one or two) have caught up with us.
 
KingKieffer said:
I’ve got a positive. We are a PL team playing Kieffer Moore as a lone forward and asking Ryan Christie to supply him, yet we still got more points than Derby.

Today had nothing to do with O’Neil, that starting eleven today genuinely wouldn’t even get top half in the championship. Brentford barely had to break into a sweat to beat us comfortably. Even if we do get the 4-5 additions Foley was on about, it still won’t be enough. There is far far too much dead wood in the squad. Years of average recruitment (bar the odd one or two) have caught up with us.
Click to expand...

Yet the majority of that team got us promoted last season, plus Neto and Senesi who are clearly better than mid table championship...
 
Positive - we're hurtling home in the Riverside Rocket. Easy getaway, mainly because just one accessible lift, that was very slow and only took 1 chair at a time. Alright stadium, very good stewards.

Negative - we were pitch side on what felt like the "naughty step", just 2 wheelchairs in there. The rest of our "wheeled division" were up on a platform.

Positive - had a chat with Eriktheviking and Ken Bailey's Ghost in the concourse. Brief hello's to quite a lot of other regulars : )

Negative - our seats were facing the pitch. I don't like to criticize but it's not good. Kick off, keep the ball for the best part of a minute without crossing the halfway line. We're nowhere near good enough to win games like that.
Brentford not much better player for player but organised and way, way more cohesive than us.

We all see the writing on the wall, the arrow's pointing downwards. In the words of the Grateful Dead " nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile". : )
 
Put it in the mixer said:
Did anyone notice the players slumped and totally disengaged when they showed the inside of our dressing room just prior to start of 2nd half? Crikey where was the energy, the passion, the let's get up and at them tempo. This for me spoke volumes. Players are not being inspired by our management team and that apathy now flowing back.
Click to expand...

I said exactly the same. Looked completely deflated
 
How many more defeats before something changes? And next... Forest, on the back of 7 points from 3 games. Hard to see anything but an away win.
 
N19 said:
I’m a plastic so didn’t watch us in league two but that is the most dire I’ve seen us play since having a season ticket in 1998ish. It wasn’t that we were especially rubbish; there’s been worse overall performances but it just lacked anything. And the limited stuff we did do that was ok was wrong if that makes sense.
Click to expand...
we've had plenty of seasons in league 2 since 1998, but yes totally agree, absolute rubbish since the world cup
 
Parker said we hadnt emouugh and he was right.brentford werent great but we dont look like scoring agasint anyone. Just depressing watching this team and manager atm.
 
Last edited:
kirsikka said:
Positive: If we do go down then we can say we only get relegated from the PL in years with an unusual mid-season interruption. So if we get back up we'll be safe until there's a zombie outbreak or alien landing, or something.
Click to expand...
Or another covid outbreak
 
kirsikka said:
Postivie pre-match: Neto back. Negative pre-match: Solanke out. I had a rant on here last season (or maybe the one before) about the amount of players we always have out. We went into the World Cup break with a slate of injuries, and somehow came back with more. Since then it's like it's one in, one out to the physio's room. Lewis Cook going off in the first half may mean we get another player back for Forest... If Foley wants to look at something that could do with immediate US expertise, perhaps it's our injuries as they've been an ongoing issue for many seasons now.

The Brentford bench were acting like a complete bunch of cocks again in the first half. Looks like it's standard behaviour when they play at home. Also, classy from the Brentford fans booing a player getting subbed off injured in the first half.

The good news is we didn't concede from a set piece. The bad news was that we reverted back to instead giving away a penalty. Most goals conceded from set pieces in the PL this season? Us with 11. The next worst team only has 7. Most penalties conceded in the PL this season? Us joint top on 6.

As for the award of then pen, Senesi was stupid. He made the first grab at Ivan Benjamin Elijah Toney (IBET)'s shirt, IBET then used his arm to keep it there and when Senesi was spun around instead of stumbling to the ground he reached out with his other arm so it looked like he had dragged IBET down. Slightly cheaty from IBET, but if Senesi wants to be a PL player he has to expect that. Throwing his other arm out was rank idiocy. It went from a free kick to us, to a pen to them.

I tried to think of a word to describe us. What single word sums up what we look like out there under GON. Drab. There is nothing exciting about us.

Trying to find some positive... we looked mildly more organised at the back.

Going forward though, we're offering nothing. There's no structure to try and overload or break things down. I looked at Anthony on the ball just past the halfway line in the first 45 mins and he had nobody around him, nothing to aim for. No runners. No support. At one point near the box in the second half he had to try and beat four defenders as there was nobody else near him, and when the ball fortuitously ricocheted to Moore in the box he fluffed his control. When a winger has to beat four men to try and get a cross in, the problem isn't the winger.

Having played almost exclusively down the left when we did venture forward, Dembele came on. Immediately he did two dangerous things and injected pace. We responded by switching to playing almost exclusively down the right. I'm going to glue a wig on this evening so I've got some hair to tear out.

Individually players are putting in effort but there's no group-think. No hunting in packs. One player will tear after the ball whilst those around him amble about. It's often mentioned the way to combat a disparity in quality is through hard work, but it isn't that alone. It needs intelligent hard work as part of structured teamwork. We'd be graded U in our GCSE Football Tactics the way we're going about it at the moment.

I looked at Brentford swinging in a cross with three or four men in the box. Then I saw us do it with one man in the box, against four defenders. Everyone seems to want to hover around the edge of the penalty area. There's nobody taking the chance, making that run, supporting the striker, pulling defenders out of position. Have they been told that they might leave a gap that exposes us to a breakaway and so not to do it? I've no idea, but I can't recall the last time I saw a team so full of players who seem so uneager to score themselves.

Brentford a decent side at the moment, in some very good form. They were **************** tonight by their standards. And they cruised to a 2-0 victory against us. Yet another team who we haven't given a game to when an opportunity arose.

Special mention to Kelly for one of the most random and pointless hoofed backpasses I can recall seeing. If anything tells the story of how much intent we have to get forward at the moment, it was that.

Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab. Drab.

--- Positive performances ---

Nobody stood out. I mean, it wasn't that they were all terrible but I can't say that anybody was good and worthy of a special mention.

--- Room for improvement ---

Stacey - Didn't look especially comfortable defending and times he did get forward the quality was poor.

Billing - He didn't have an anonymous night. He was actually pretty involved when we went forward. However, his touch and passing were so awry things usually came grinding to a halt when he got on the ball.

To be honest, there weren't any absolute howlers out there either. Pretty much everyone was just a bit below standard without being horrific individually. You can carry a few of those in a game, but when it's spread like norovirus across the whole team then you're in trouble. And it doesn't look or smell pretty.


--- GON watch --
He's got to go. Sorry but I didn't want him appointed and he's managed to undershoot even my worst fears. We look clueless going forward. There's no identifiable plan. No team ethic. No belief. Nobody wanting to take risks. No intent. Nothing I can point to and say "He's improved that", but a lot I can point to and say "We've gone backwards there". I look at us and I see a bunch of players who think they're already down, and that they're being led by a manager who doesn't know what he is doing.

Our worst run of results since pre-Redknapp. The lowest average number of shots on goal per game since the PL started recording that stat in 1997. And the problem is I don't see any green shoots that tell me things will change. There's nothing to build on. It's looks like Parker left after the last game and we're still trying to work out what we should be doing.

If GON is still going to be in charge next week, any chance someone could nip down the stadium on Friday and knock off a few of the signs so we can get it called off again?
Click to expand...
Just listened to his interview- it’s Groves -level straw clutching .
 
Last edited:
Sometimes the stats don’t align with the eye test; you can see a reasonably good performance of little actual output be punished. Sometimes you can play horrendously and sneak a result. Sometimes, you don’t get what you deserve for differing reasons.

Whether you look at the statistics, or the media, or the on pitch performance, you come to the same conclusion. We’re A S S. And if this is the conclusion, a change must be made.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;