Man of the match - Rotherham (A)

[Holmowl]

6 minutes ago, parkfieldowl14 said:

FF the standard out Performer yesterday 7/10.

the rest a below par 5/10.

 

Reach 5? Bit harsh?

 

Despite hitting the post and his excellent work for Nando’s goal?

[parkfieldowl14]

Just now, Holmowl said:

 

Reach 5? Bit harsh?

 

Despite hitting the post and his excellent work for Nando’s goal?

Got him down as  my second choice of behind FF so i'll give him 6.5 out of 10.

[Holmowl]

1 minute ago, parkfieldowl14 said:

Got him down as  my second choice of behind FF so i'll give him 6.5 out of 10.

 

Wow you are easily persuaded.

 

Could I interest you in helping a Nigerian Prince pal of mine with £15mil to invest in your bank account?

[parkfieldowl14]

2 minutes ago, Holmowl said:

 

Wow you are easily persuaded.

 

Could I interest you in helping a Nigerian Prince pal of mine with £15mil to invest in your bank account?

no thanks.Just won the Euro Millions.

[akbuk]

Hector was a shambles

[frastheowl]

7 hours ago, FreshOwl said:

Joao needs outing like the rest of them 

 

How long do we stay patient and wait for this ‘potential’ to prosper? 

 

Its never gonna happen 

 

Previously, had we got rid of Joao, I'd have thought it was a mistake. I thought he was treated exceptionally unfairly under Carlos. And I don't think he's really recovered since. 

 

We've seen the erratic glimpses of the sort of form and performances he can produce, but its not enough. He's now at an age where he needs to be stamping his authority within this squad...with the ability he's got, he should be a shoe-in week in, week out. The fact he's not is down to him and his inconsistencies. 

 

However...to say he'll never reach his potential, is sensationalist at best. He could still achieve it here...but it's looking increasingly unlikely, especially if Bruce continues to play a 4-2-3-1 system. If that happens, we'll need a new striker in the summer...we haven't got a striker who can play that role. It was the reason why Carlos ditched it early on, and was forced into playing a 4-4-2 of sorts. 

 

Joao has the opportunity to prove Bruce, and ourselves, wrong. He absolutely has the ability to do it. I'm just not convinced he's mentally got it in him. 

[Cockers]

On 16/02/2019 at 16:22, frastheowl said:

 

Missed large chunk of the 1st half, including the goal, but it wasn't good viewing. 

 

Westwood - 5 - Seemed to really struggle with the long throw, got lost in amongst the bodies far too often, and didn't command the air like he often does.

 

Palmer - 5 - Powderpuff performance. Offered nothing going forward, and seemed to just aimlessly hit it long time and time again.

 

Hector - 3 - Horrible performance. I've not seen the 1st goal, but seems he was at fault for that as well as the 2nd. Lacked his normal composure on the ball, Smith rattled him and his indecision seemed to be contagious. 

 

Thorniley - 6 - Actually thought he dealt with Smith reasonably well when he went to play on him in the 2nd half. Despite the size difference, he went toe to toe with him. 

 

Fox - 5 - Few shaky moments both defensively and offensively. Had the opportunity to stick some decent balls in the box, but didn't really do enough on the whole.

 

Hutchinson - 6 - Tried hard, played on the edge again. But lacked any quality on the ball, and it's issue for us when trying to create things going forward. 

 

Bannan - 5 - Struggled with the pace of the game, and the Rotherham's midfield energetic press. But he's our only creative spark in midfield, and there's a lot of expectation on his shoulders.

 

Boyd - 4 - Not sure what he offers that a County standard cross country runner wouldn't? Covers ground, but there's no spark, no creativity, no quality from him. Surely it's time to give Aarons a good run in the side, see what he can offer.

 

Reach - 5 - Another sub-standard performance. Like Palmer, powderpuff. The right hand side was soft, and never looked like getting a grip on the game. Reach's insistence with shooting from long range is doing us more harm than good. Not convinced with him playing as an inverted winger...Reach's strength is getting to the byline and crossing, play him out left and allow him to do it. 

 

Forestieri - 7 - MotM - Only real bright spark for me. When he got the ball, he looked after it, despite getting kicked from pillar to post. Scored the 1st, involved in the 2nd, and a constant problem for Rotherham's centre halves. But, as so often the case, it's one step forward, two steps back...good display, got his goal...now banned for two games. Infuriating. 

 

Joao - 4 - Powderpuff No. 3. Bullied. No threat whatsoever. Another start where he's flattered to deceive. 

 

Fletcher - 6 - Came on the made himself a nuisance, which is more than Joao did. 

 

Aarons - 6 - Delivered the ball into the box for the late goal, but other than that, nothing too much of note.

 

Iorfa - N/A - Not on long enough to get a mark, but what a mark he made. Owusu style debut!

 

Overall ... delighted to nick an undeserved point. And I'll be honest, part of me is pleased we're seeing these displays under Bruce's leadership. He needs to see, with his own eyes, the serious deficiencies within this squad, and this performance today (and Millwall to an extent) displays them all in abundance. Too many players are soft...physically and mentally. When the going gets tough, they don't. Too many flatter to deceive, make the wrong decisions far too often. 

 

Bruce has the opportunity to press the restart button in the summer, and he has to take full advantage of that. There was a risk that if performances continued to improve, he'd be tempted to stick with a large number of these failing players. They've had their chance, they've had their time at this football club, and on the whole, have failed. 

 

Getting battered to a poor Rotherham side, creating nothing against a horrid Millwall side, failing to score against the worst Reading side in years...the signs are there. Bruce will be noticing them, I'm sure of it. Time for him to rip the offensive blueprint up and try something different though...Reach, Boyd, Fletcher, Joao are all underperforming.  

A good post mate. I think you're bang on, especially in respect of Bannan and Hutch. Individually, we have some good players. But both collectively and offensively, we lack quality and do not create enough. Probably explains why we are 15th. 

[Dutch McLovin]

Westwood 6

Palmer 5

Hector 3

Thorniley 5

Fox 4

Hutchinson 7 MOM

Bannan 4

Boyd 4

Reach 4

Forestieri 7

Joao 5

 

Fletcher 5

Aarons 7

Iorfa 9

 

Gave Iorfa a 9 simply for the chaos it caused. Hutchinson and Forestieri only ones who showed anything like a performance very poor. Hutchinson best player for me.

 

Very worrying times that our key men in Reach and Bannan seem to be anonymous at the moment. Joao was poor but again he isn't getting helped from midfield. Boyd offers nothing. Time for Aarons to come in and we need a new CM from somewhere to push Bannan.

[Dutch McLovin]

On ‎17‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 09:46, Brommers said:

I dont get Joao. Seems to have a positive impact coming on as a sub but generally awful when given a start. Clearly a mental attitude thing that HE needs to address.

Whilst I agree with you he really isn't helped by our midfield, fullbacks. They send up stupid balls to him at waist height when he hes a man up his backside. Granted sometimes he doesn't help himself when he gets one on the floor to hold an messes it up but just have a think. He's not Nuhiu or Fletcher, play the ball in the channel when the defender is that tight on him and let him turn and have a go running. Its basics that were not doing.

 

Joao does need to work on consistency and presence he needs to start bossing defenders.

[Brommers]

2 hours ago, Dutch McLovin said:

Whilst I agree with you he really isn't helped by our midfield, fullbacks. They send up stupid balls to him at waist height when he hes a man up his backside. Granted sometimes he doesn't help himself when he gets one on the floor to hold an messes it up but just have a think. He's not Nuhiu or Fletcher, play the ball in the channel when the defender is that tight on him and let him turn and have a go running. Its basics that were not doing.

 

Joao does need to work on consistency and presence he needs to start bossing defenders.

Don't disagree with you Dutch, but do we as a team play vastly differently when he comes on as a sub as opposed to how you describe above?

[Dutch McLovin]

1 hour ago, Brommers said:

Don't disagree with you Dutch, but do we as a team play vastly differently when he comes on as a sub as opposed to how you describe above?

Probably not. Probably looks better as the defenders are tired and not as tight or the game is stretched - I'm not too sure.