MATCHWATCH : Peterborough United (h)

[Snowflake Royal]

People might grumble about the football on display, but if it gets us winning regularly most will turn up regardless of quality.

And if it doesn't get us winning, we could be playing scintillating stuff and it wouldnt encourage many back.

[West F]

Which I can live with if we build on it. If we have a mix of good performances and piss poor ones, then the objective over the summer is pretty obvious; bring in the right players who can help us bring in the consistency. We just have to be patient and accept it's the start of a long rebuild.

Football fans generally don't have the patience these days. All instant gratification. Fantasy football recruitment. Whereas in real life it's about real people. Who bring with them all their personal baggage. No guarantee any signing will settle into the team long term.

I'm happy to be patient and allow time for a rebuild, just so long as that rebuild isn't based on foundations of 'hoofball'.

This is who he is and has said as much.

He didn’t mention the style of play as being an issue with yesterday’s performance. Choosing instead to praise Peterborough for their endeavours. If this crap continues into the new year, the crowds will dwindle. No amount of fireworks and hotdogs are going to arrest that decline. I will wait until the closing of the January window, to see if Couhig will back his man over what Noel was left with. There will come a point where rattling Dai’s skeleton at us no longer works.

[Millsy]

Saying that we lost the game in the first five minutes is worrying.

Came back to this thread to say exactly this.

You don't win or lose a game in the first 5mins ffs, you do something about it if there's a lapse. 1-0 down at home with almost 90mins to go against a shit side isn't the end of the game and anyoen who thinks it is concerns me.

Havign said that, I wonder if he meant it more in the sense that "the signs were there in the first five minutes" i.e. the players just weren't with it, and that mentality would likely continue.

[Clyde1998]

Gave it a bit of time to think about what we saw last night before posting.

1. Their opening goal was a poor one to concede. Obviously going 1-0 down within the first couple of minutes is always going to be problematic, but the static defending is concerning and Dorsett being left to handle two attackers by himself was never going to work. They were fortunate with how the ball pinged off Williams on to their attacker though.
2. I thought we responded fairly well, at least for the next half hour. Although we didn't create many clear cut chances, we had a few half chances: a couple of headers going wide; Kyerewaa's impressive spin before a wild strike. Arguably our best chance of the first half was when their keeper played the ball directly to Doyle, who's touch was like a trampoline - allowing him to recover. The first half fizzled out, but certainly wasn't anything to be booed off.
3. Our equaliser was similar to the Peterborough opener, in that it was fortunate more than impressive: Ehibhatiomhan's knockdown to Randall Williams being headed back into the box. That said, Kelvin's anticipation was good and he had the peace of mind to lift the ball over their keeper.
4. Thought it was incredibly odd for us to immediately proceed to take him off, given he would've had the confidence boost from scoring. Marriott did okay with what he was provided with; Ritchie hardly did anything.
5. The finish for their second was impressive. Can't really say too much about that. Perhaps their should've been a challenge for the ball when it was initially played long.
6. We didn't do anything much after they scored. I think the only serious chance was O'Connor's right at the end - when he headed straight at the keeper.
7. The concept of playing some balls long isn't necessarily a bad one, but aside from Kyerewaa having a run at a defender (with varying results), it seemed to be our long method of getting the ball forward consistently. Seemed the midfield was completely being bypassed for much of the game, which doesn't make sense when you've got both Wing and Savage playing. We need a mix of routes forward and a viable target man for long balls to be consistently effective. Did very occasionally cause some issues when played into the space in the channels.
8. Don't understand why Rinomhota wasn't brought on. We could've taken Randall Williams off and shifted one of Wing or Savage higher up the park; or simply played Rino as an attacking midfielder. Seems to be a total lack of plan B at the moment - which should've been something to work on in the week without a game.
9. Overall, I didn't think Peterborough were very good, but they got their goals and we didn't really threaten them. Too many flat performances last night once again. The reaction at Bradford will be interesting.

[MR. CYNICAL]

Just a tiny bit more enjoyable than catching your foreskin in your zipper, but at least it wasn`t cold.

And if you missed the Carlisle horror show, this was a pretty good imitation of it.

Yes I missed that thankfully, i decided after last night I`m done with evening games, at least if we lose on a Saturday I can get sloshed and forget it short term.

Yep, I'm thinking the same after encountering a huge stag deer, 2 road closures and a 30 mile detour, hence a horrendous 2 hour journey back to portsmouth.

[leon]

And if you missed the Carlisle horror show, this was a pretty good imitation of it.

Yes I missed that thankfully, i decided after last night I`m done with evening games, at least if we lose on a Saturday I can get sloshed and forget it short term.

Yep, I'm thinking the same after encountering a huge stag deer, 2 road closures and a 30 mile detour, hence a horrendous 2 hour journey back to portsmouth.

conversely I like evening games despite driving in from London - although thankfully I couldnt make Tuesday