Reflecting on the 1st game & more

Ex Footy Legs

Well-known member
All things considered I believe it was a good point.
Should’ve been 2-0 at half time but we all know watmore is prone to those types of misses - sadly for him & us.
West Brom won’t be far away this season.
We coped well considering tavs loss. I thought wilder picked the correct two forwards and clearly didn’t want to put pressure on Coburn hence picking akpom ahead of him.
And wilder introduced the two new forwards at just the correct time I thought. It gave us those fresh hungry legs needed to thwart WBs growing confidence.

Caleb bunce is our only midfield turn to though. (!) unless McNair fills in which I think is likely given how short we are but McNair won’t be any where near upto speed having played in defence for so long(different type of fitness)

Obviously fry must come in for bola but will the left side of defence suit fry ? I don’t think so….plus, losing a left footer in there will be a loss to Giles.
Liked lenihan, Jones needs to run at people more. Diksteel was my MOTM. Giles done very well.
Crooks - hmmm. Ok I suppose, if he wants to keep his place he needs to start scoring.
Mcgree, decent considering he’s been playing in a different position pre season. Jury out though as to whether he can be a tav replacement. You won’t get physicality from him though which is big in this league.
Howson is dependable but not for 46+ games at his age.
2or 3 injuries in midfield and we become also ran’s which is a major concern

We need at least two midfielders and a proven forward to stand any chance of competing in the top 7 or 8.
Forss needs to be a goalpoacher because there doesn’t look like much more to his game.
 
All things considered I believe it was a good point.
Should’ve been 2-0 at half time but we all know watmore is prone to those types of misses - sadly for him & us.
West Brom won’t be far away this season.
We coped well considering tavs loss. I thought wilder picked the correct two forwards and clearly didn’t want to put pressure on Coburn hence picking akpom ahead of him.
And wilder introduced the two new forwards at just the correct time I thought. It gave us those fresh hungry legs needed to thwart WBs growing confidence.

Caleb bunce is our only midfield turn to though. (!) unless McNair fills in which I think is likely given how short we are but McNair won’t be any where near upto speed having played in defence for so long(different type of fitness)

Obviously fry must come in for bola but will the left side of defence suit fry ? I don’t think so….plus, losing a left footer in there will be a loss to Giles.
Liked lenihan, Jones needs to run at people more. Diksteel was my MOTM. Giles done very well.
Crooks - hmmm. Ok I suppose, if he wants to keep his place he needs to start scoring.
Mcgree, decent considering he’s been playing in a different position pre season. Jury out though as to whether he can be a tav replacement. You won’t get physicality from him though which is big in this league.
Howson is dependable but not for 46+ games at his age.
2or 3 injuries in midfield and we become also ran’s which is a major concern

We need at least two midfielders and a proven forward to stand any chance of competing in the top 7 or 8.
Forss needs to be a goalpoacher because there doesn’t look like much more to his game.

No booking for Crooks too
 
All things considered I believe it was a good point.
Should’ve been 2-0 at half time but we all know watmore is prone to those types of misses - sadly for him & us.
West Brom won’t be far away this season.
We coped well considering tavs loss. I thought wilder picked the correct two forwards and clearly didn’t want to put pressure on Coburn hence picking akpom ahead of him.
And wilder introduced the two new forwards at just the correct time I thought. It gave us those fresh hungry legs needed to thwart WBs growing confidence.

Caleb bunce is our only midfield turn to though. (!) unless McNair fills in which I think is likely given how short we are but McNair won’t be any where near upto speed having played in defence for so long(different type of fitness)

Obviously fry must come in for bola but will the left side of defence suit fry ? I don’t think so….plus, losing a left footer in there will be a loss to Giles.
Liked lenihan, Jones needs to run at people more. Diksteel was my MOTM. Giles done very well.
Crooks - hmmm. Ok I suppose, if he wants to keep his place he needs to start scoring.
Mcgree, decent considering he’s been playing in a different position pre season. Jury out though as to whether he can be a tav replacement. You won’t get physicality from him though which is big in this league.
Howson is dependable but not for 46+ games at his age.
2or 3 injuries in midfield and we become also ran’s which is a major concern

We need at least two midfielders and a proven forward to stand any chance of competing in the top 7 or 8.
Forss needs to be a goalpoacher because there doesn’t look like much more to his game.
At last someone mentioning Dijksteel. Thought he was brilliant yesterday. He fits the overlapping centre half role superbly. Brave coming forward and nice footwork to go past people.
 
I agree with everything you've written there. It sums up my thoughts on yesterdays game except I thought Crook's was decent yesterday. A further mention to Steffan who made 2 essential saves to keep us in the game.
 
Forss needs to be a goalpoacher because there doesn’t look like much more to his game.
I don't think there's ever been any suggestion otherwise had there? Shame he wasn't on the pitch in the first half, may well have been more than one up at half time.
 
I agree with everything you've written there. It sums up my thoughts on yesterdays game except I thought Crook's was decent yesterday. A further mention to Steffan who made 2 essential saves to keep us in the game.
Remiss of me to forget steffan. Looks assured and full of belief.
Crooks was a 6.5 to 7 out of ten I suppose but for me to not think about dropping him he needs to be scoring goals. That’s his unique selling point USP.
Worry for me is away from home and physicality is NEEDED and mcgree doesn’t give us that.
 
Overall I thought it was positive, we created chances and out xG was the highest in the Championship yesterday I think.

On the flip side Giles is obviously way better going forward than defending, Bola looked all over as a result and the biggest issue was our lack of cutting edge.

But much more to be positive about I think.
 
Definitely on that first half showing. Im rather puzzled by the overall disappointment and subdued reaction. Im not subdued - I was rather buoyed and lots to work on positively.
 
Signings will obviously make a massive difference and determine our season (as it always does). Seemed to have the same failings as last season (look promising, miss a crucial chance and then the opposition come back into it). With the way Wilder plays, we are a bit open and this invariably gives the opposition a chance. Up to us to make our chances count or could be a long season.
 
Overall I thought it was positive, we created chances and out xG was the highest in the Championship yesterday I think.

On the flip side Giles is obviously way better going forward than defending, Bola looked all over as a result and the biggest issue was our lack of cutting edge.

But much more to be positive about I think.
I would be loathed to curb any attacking instinct of giles if he's going to bomb forward then it's cover from centre back or midfield which needs to be better.its a bit like Trent Arnold at Liverpool he gets away with it defensively because the gaps are filed behind him by the likes of fabhino. mcgree and Bola were woeful covering him yesterday in the second half. For their goal mcgree lost possetion high up the pitch and was completely out of the game on the counter he just stood as a bystander and that's not good enough
 
Signings will obviously make a massive difference and determine our season (as it always does). Seemed to have the same failings as last season (look promising, miss a crucial chance and then the opposition come back into it). With the way Wilder plays, we are a bit open and this invariably gives the opposition a chance. Up to us to make our chances count or could be a long season.
I don't think it's the way wilder plays makes us open but a lack of decent midfield personel. The Huddersfield game last season highlighted how vulnerable we are to the counter they beat our press and picked us of numerous times. Wilder has to fix that, as good as howson is he can't do it all we need more legs in there
 
Thought we played fairly well in a enjoyable game. Showed how desperate we are for a couple of decent strikers.
 
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