Thoughts v Millwall

You can clearly see that losing Kelly and Zemura has knocked us off our stride a bit. We are trying to find ways to cover their absence and it is proving difficult. No big surprise really. This is where a manager earns his money. We were flying high with our settled team and losing those two and others at times ( like Pearson ) has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works.
I dare say we will improve once we get used to playing without them or better still, when they come back.
I think it’s about damage limitation at the moment. Fortunately Fulham did no better tonight, so no harm done, we at least showed character to hang on tonight.
 
For reasons I cannot define, I feel worse about that second half than I did on Sunday. I thought we were terrible on Sunday while Derby wasn't much. But today, for the final 35 minutes, Millwall took it to us and made us look very poor.

Again, injuries are a problem and the bench that looked so capable earlier in the year now is very thin.

Meps looked so composed in the first half, but in the second, he was scary to watch.

Another ref that seemed to be sided against us.

Tessam was so bad. It reminded me of when we were in the PL and we would get commentators that knew nothing about us. He had the wrong players much of the time, struggled with Solanke/Solanko. Only good point I thought he made was how we controlled the first half with a strong back line and midfield, and completely lost the plot in the second. I noticed that we had 57% possession at the half, 52% after the game, so dropped 10 percentage points from one half to the other.

We are still in a very admirable position but forgive me if I opine that this seems similar to the last couple of seasons where we start to earn points with poor performances. Because in those seasons, the points dried up soon after and we went into freefall. The stars are aligning against us a bit (injuries, busy schedule) with the fortunate offset that Fulham and West Brom are also leaving points on the table.

Hoping for a big bounce back on Saturday.
 
bpl234 said:
Wasn’t great . First half very even.
Thought second half we had a bit of a spell where we looked like we could grab a second .
For me everything seems rushed . Lacked a bit of compare on the ball.
Overall an away point
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Agree. Looked like game could open up in our favour, but then they started to get more of a foothold.

Did well to hold on for a point. I know we've absorbed pressure in a few games holding leads, but tonight thought it looked like we lacked a bit of confidence for first time. Looked a bit on the ropes at times, like a boxer who'd been caught by a few punches and uncertainhow to respond..players diving in, missing challenges, no one appeared to really want the ball at their feet.
Lerma seemed to take it all in his stride though.

Good point overall.
 
Topfarrier said:
Parker can't persist with that Cahill/Mepham partnership.....it's just to pedestrian.....one of the highlights of our play this season has been the high line we've played which allows to flood the opposition half and get players linking up in between the lines and winning the ball high up...obviously that's more difficult to do without Kelly's pace but surely Cookie should be an option over Mepham?.......we end up playing so deep that we don't have the numbers in the attacking third to even initiate an effective press.
I don't care what reason there is for Cookies exile tbf....Parkers stubbornness is costing us points.
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You've got a better chance of starting than Steve Cook !......I mean if a manager would rather put a full back who's having a mare in as a CB rather than bring Cookie on then there's no hope for him.
Source: @Topfarrier, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2021.
 
Toronto John said:
You've got a better chance of starting than Steve Cook !......I mean if a manager would rather put a full back who's having a mare in as a CB rather than bring Cookie on then there's no hope for him.
Source: @Topfarrier, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2021.
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Don't think you've read my post properly John.....nevermind it happens to us all.
 
AFCBade said:
Millwall are a tough side to play against so a point ok especially as Fulham drew. Worried about the lack of control in midfield - feel we miss pearson’s influence.

Second half poor but had a bright start to the second period and felt a second goal was needed at that stage.
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Agreed re Pearson. In some games the Lerma/Pearson combination is not creative enough, in other games their combination of strength and composure is vitally important.

We are certainly missing Kelly and JZ provides a lot more attacking potential than Davis, although that is not a criticism of Davis.

Although the media are bigging up Solanke and you can't knock the number of goals he has scored, some aspects of his all round game are underwhelming. Three times out of three in the last few minutes he failed to retain possession,
 
I’m starting to really lose faith in Mepham. He is just far too erratic to be a competent defender at this level, it’s no good being imperious in one half if you are going to be all over the shop in the next. When does his contract expire? I think we need to cut our losses and offload him for whatever we can in all honesty.
 
Waz afcb said:
I’m starting to really lose faith in Mepham. He is just far too erratic to be a competent defender at this level, it’s no good being imperious in one half if you are going to be all over the shop in the next. When does his contract expire? I think we need to cut our losses and offload him for whatever we can in all honesty.
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Thought it was billing in the last game, any players you'd like to keep?
 
People commenting on Cahill’s pace or lack of it, didn’t he get a clattering making a last ditch tackle just before the goal or was that after ? I might have nodded off, I can’t remember.
 
Topfarrier said:
Parker can't persist with that Cahill/Mepham partnership.....it's just to pedestrian.....one of the highlights of our play this season has been the high line we've played which allows to flood the opposition half and get players linking up in between the lines and winning the ball high up...obviously that's more difficult to do without Kelly's pace but surely Cookie should be an option over Mepham?.......we end up playing so deep that we don't have the numbers in the attacking third to even initiate an effective press.
I don't care what reason there is for Cookies exile tbf....Parkers stubbornness is costing us points.
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FFS IT'S TOO
 
Afobe mom ? Couldn’t hit a barn door for us towards the end. Didn’t think we’d see him at this level again I must admit.
 
Ivyhouse said:
People commenting on Cahill’s pace or lack of it, didn’t he get a clattering making a last ditch tackle just before the goal or was that after ? I might have nodded off, I can’t remember.
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Before. Afobe, accidentally and perfectly legitimately, gave him a good kick when going for the ball. What was unusual was BA then walked away without even checking he was ok, which players usually do in those circumstances.

I get the feeling Benik doesn't like us. Which is an odd situation since, in all likelihood, we'll be the club where he played at the highest level when his career is over. Even if it didn't end so well.
 
Funny how fluidity waxes and wanes in teams. I stood at Bristol City wondering if anyone could beat us, fast forward to JZ, Kelly and Billing injured or out, a few others dipping form and I’m now wondering when we will win again.

Our whole game plan was a high back line and then lots of interplay with the forwards pressing. That high back line went with Kelly, now the team just looks stretched out. Proof of that was how little the two wide forwards had the ball compared to the first few months. They are just too far out of it in a stretched team.

It also makes whoever plays in defensive central midfield look like an adrift traffic cone deposited by a student in the middle of a field. Nobody remotely near them and the only option to pass back.

The forward five press is being by passed with balls into our defensive third.

It’s all becoming a bit predictable and we need to break the loop, maybe even by trying different formations or style of play until the key players are back.

Every side has a spell in the season and I think we may well continue ours until after the Fulham game.
 
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