Thoughts v Blackburn

Cant understand except for ni juries why we change the team so much.apart frrom lerma going off v coventry it was probably our best performance in awhile ans proces cook and kilkenny can both play in the same team especially at home.
 
Never looked like winning this one from about 15 minutes in. Blackburn were very well drilled and smothered every attack.

A few points:
Christie looks better on the wing or at least seems more effective.

Anthony has a great understanding with Zemura and looks to have built one with Billing too, but it's asking a lot to expect him to do the same with Stacey/Smith/Davis/Brady. Moving him from one side to the other and injuries to the fullbacks have made him look ordinary and he seems to have no understanding with Stacey at all.

Imho Kilkenny already looks better than L Cook ever has and should start ahead of him.

I didn't understand the signing of Pearson and still don't. For a midfield hard man he spends a lot of time out injured. What's been needed is a creative midfielder who can pass the ball not yet another one who can stop other teams doing that.

The experts can help me with this one; but wouldn't Solanke make a better number 10?
 
We need another striker - hope rumours about this Arsenal youngster indicate that we’re on the case. Solanke was on his own up front for 80% of the game today - and the bench was bare of forward talent. We need to loan/spend in Jan.
 
Look at it this way. Everyone, bar Blackburn, is struggling right now. Might we just put it down to the strains of the league and injuries mounting. Had we not lost Kelly and JZ, I’m sure things would look a lot different.
January approaching and an opportunity to bolster the squad. A back up for Dom is of paramount importance.
 
stuseddon said:
Look at it this way. Everyone, bar Blackburn, is struggling right now. Might we just put it down to the strains of the league and injuries mounting. Had we not lost Kelly and JZ, I’m sure things would look a lot different.
January approaching and an opportunity to bolster the squad. A back up for Dom is of paramount importance.
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If we can get through the transfer window without losing anyone I'd be happy.
 
Neil Dawson said:
While not the greatest game it wasn’t as bad to warrant comment ‘makes we wish I wasn’t double vaccinated as I can get into the next one’ I heard on way out :grinning:
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When Botto made the announcement near the end of the game to tell people leaving not to block the view and enjoyment of the disabled fans in Row A, some wag in the NS Row A shouted out ENJOYMENT????
 
Neil Dawson said:
My tuppence worth…

There’s no goal balance in this side. We are nearly at Xmas and none of our starting back four today have scored… nor has Smith who started v Fulham. That’s unusual.. they are not there to score but it helps and most teams defenders will weigh in…we have many examples over the years…

Then look at midfield scorers outside of Billing. Christie… Jesus wept… how bad a finisher can you be? 0 goals in 17 games, Lewis Cook 1 goal in 106 games, Pearson 0 in 27 games. That meant our starting midfield today had scored 1 in 150 games!! On the bench or still to come in Kilkenny with 0 goals in 16, and missing Lerma with 6 in 123.

I wouldn’t call Anthony and Lowe prolific for forwards which then just leaves Solanke who I still believe, controversially, is not a natural goal scorer but he is a hard working striker that is scoring harder chances and has been excellent.

Morgan Rogers. If he can play for Man City then I am regretting not booking myself a trial.

With Billing, Brooks and Stan not around it means that we just won’t score the goals. We haven’t got bad players, plenty of great players haven’t chipped in with goals, but if you have too many you will have long periods where you have the ball but not much happens. We need to ship out some good midfielders in the window, be brave and replace them with a different type of player… one that scores, even if not technically as good.

If you make the most of your possession then all the other failings you worry about don’t apply as you aren’t hanging on to a 1-0 lead. Just as our championship winning side wasn’t great at defending aerially but it didn’t matter as we normally only found that out when we were already 3-0 up.
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I think you make some great points.
When Kelly and Zemura were fit we weren't conceding so one goal was usually sufficient to win. Certainly two.
Now we are conceding more yet haven't the players to improve the number of goals.
The difference pre Kelly's injury and after show what an important player he is. He is the fulcrum of the side. Once he is back, then we shouldn't need to score as many. Today arguably the 3 best players were missing.
 
Well for what its worth...I thought it was very poor....first time in living memory I have left before the final whistle ...... Blackburn well organised and deserved 3 points...
 
:bow:
fritter said:
Goals 2014/15
Back 4. Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels. 9 goals.
Midfield. Pugh, Ritchie, Arter, Surman. 36 goals.

Pitman 14, Kermorgant 17
Wilson 23.


Included both number 10s.as they swapped places.
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Look at all those goals:bow:
 
My thoughts….

tough run of results but clear that we lack enough creativity to break down sides that are well organised at the back. Need christie on top form but his influence has waned in games

If that game was played in September then I reckon solanke and christie would have put away those gilt-edged chances to win the game 2-1 but at the moment we unable to get the wins. Earlier in the season we were clinical and scoring well above xg but not now.

No doubt teams have studied us and are finding ways to stop us. If SP is as good as people reckon he needs to find a way to get around this

thought emi and Rogers offered a bit more when they came on unlike in recent games

not liking the flat-footed defence at corners where solanke cook and Cahill are standing stationery while runners attack the corner kick. Not working.

crowd again subdued. Players gave up at 2-0 but so did the crowd imho

think it will get worse before it gets better with Boro and qpr away games to come but by that point should have lerma, billing, JZ (not for long), and Kelly back so think we will turn the corner

fortunately championship fixtures less frenetic than prem so a week in between games to iron out a few issues
 
Neil Dawson said:
My tuppence worth…

There’s no goal balance in this side. We are nearly at Xmas and none of our starting back four today have scored… nor has Smith who started v Fulham. That’s unusual.. they are not there to score but it helps and most teams defenders will weigh in…we have many examples over the years…

Then look at midfield scorers outside of Billing. Christie… Jesus wept… how bad a finisher can you be? 0 goals in 17 games, Lewis Cook 1 goal in 106 games, Pearson 0 in 27 games. That meant our starting midfield today had scored 1 in 150 games!! On the bench or still to come in Kilkenny with 0 goals in 16, and missing Lerma with 6 in 123.

I wouldn’t call Anthony and Lowe prolific for forwards which then just leaves Solanke who I still believe, controversially, is not a natural goal scorer but he is a hard working striker that is scoring harder chances and has been excellent.

Morgan Rogers. If he can play for Man City then I am regretting not booking myself a trial.

With Billing, Brooks and Stan not around it means that we just won’t score the goals. We haven’t got bad players, plenty of great players haven’t chipped in with goals, but if you have too many you will have long periods where you have the ball but not much happens. We need to ship out some good midfielders in the window, be brave and replace them with a different type of player… one that scores, even if not technically as good.

If you make the most of your possession then all the other failings you worry about don’t apply as you aren’t hanging on to a 1-0 lead. Just as our championship winning side wasn’t great at defending aerially but it didn’t matter as we normally only found that out when we were already 3-0 up.
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I've been saying this for many years that our midfielders do not score enough goals,this isn't a new thing ,Eddie signed Lewis and Jeff.We also had Surman who very rarely notched.
I really thought Christie would chip in with a few but so far that hasn't happened .
To be fair to the defence ,Zemura has scored 4 I think,and Lloyd 1.
Surprised Cahill hasn't notched from a corner,I thought he would have scored one or two.
 
Blackburn okay side but if we had more punch up front we would have beaten them….need to strengthen the attack in January as a priority
 
Poorest performance so far this season. I thought Mowbray out-smarted Scott today in this one. Blackburn figured us out and knew exactly how to hurt us. We always do seem to struggle against bigger outfits like Rovers. Anthony was crap as was Christie. I think it's quite worrying how predictable we are at the moment.
 
We had enough chances to get something from the game, but we didn't deserve it really. As others have said we desperately need goals from midfield. Hopefully when Christie scores he goes on a bit of a run. Anthony I just don't know. He's got quite a few goals but I'll upset a few as I just don't think he's good enough, hopefully I'm wrong though. We really do miss Zemura for creating chances but he's gone for possibly a month in Jan as well.
 
anthony may have been ineffective yesterday for whatever reason, but to say he's not good enough? his performances, assists and goal counts this season have been fantastic haven't they?!
 
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