MATCHWATCH : Mansfield Town (h)

[Sutekh]

Leam confirmed Haydon Roberts was fit. Dorsett was just preferred. Saw a comment from someone on here earlier saying Leam obviously doesn't rate/trust Roberts. Seemingly the case I'd say now. Dorsett is now the first-choice LB?

If Jeriel can consistently reproduce yesterday’s form then he probably should be the first choice left back, certainly would expect him to be there on Saturday.

[windermereROYAL]

LR certainly has a selection issue when the whole squad are fit, not easy to keep everyone happy, there`s only 18 match day players. hard to remember the last time we had that luxury.

[South Coast Royal]

Agree with pretty much everything said, rusty in the first 30 mins until the goal. Probably a hangover from a lack of confidence from last season and maybe the Luton game. Once we scored that pressure was lifted and the confidence came flowing back. The biggest thing for me is the balance of the team, the outlets on the wing is now working and Rhino is the missing piece of the jigsaw in midfield and gives us that added bite and ability to move forward through midfield.
No one picked up on Ward in defense who i thought was immense and I'm convinced he will be our new Bindon which is great however, will also make him a shining light on the radar so enjoy him whilst he's here.
Finally regarding Dorsett. Yes, he does often make himself a target through being out of position and making silly errors but the guy cannot be faulted for giving 100% every game and he does have the ability to produce that moment of brilliance during a game (That pass to Lisbie) some great headed goals etc....and lets be honest, its not his fault he's playing LB, he's being asked to play there, its the managers fault and ownership for not getting in a specialized LB!! there's a fine line between being a villain and being a cult hero!! Maybe we should be thanking him for playing out of position and giving his best for the club until the powers that be realize our LB issues.

This isn't Sunday League though where the normal left back hasn't turned up because of being hung over and a centre-back has to cover for him.
No, we should judge any player on the position he is playing, not whether he should be there.

This is not just a young kid, he is now 24 and has played 124 games across 3 different clubs and even represented England at U17 and U18 levels.

I don't think he is a good enough left-back to start for a team that has top 6 ambition and I was surprised that he didn't move on during the Summer.

LR presumably likes him (that may or may not be a good thing) and I realise why-he was voted Young Player of The Year at Rochdale and we know that LR likes young players of the year from his many signings and with the player having been at Rochdale is surely the icing on the cake.

I have never rated him but would never boo him, something that just seems pointless.

[RoyalBlue]

Without going through every single thread and post.... Did anyone notice we have a new screen..... And it's smaller!!!!! AND EVER WITH MY SUPER MEGA POWERFUL LENSES I I CAN'T READ THE TEAM NAMES FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE WEST LOWER!!!!!
Not only that but they didnt't even put the away team up or who had been carded or the goalscorers side by side. Looks like somone nipped over to Costco and bought the biggest telly they could find.....

Didn't know if the screen was new but what they out ion it lineus wise was indeed shite, yet the goalscorer pics were an improvement

Based on what was said in 'Rescuing The Royals', it seems that Couhig thought that providing Wycombe with a lovely new screen had proven to be a good way to make fans want to keep coming back and was a better investment than spending the same money on a player! If so, he's in for a rude awakening. We are not Wycombe and our fans do not come to games to stare in awe at a US-sized TV screen!

New screen or not, the size and style of font used made it impossible to read the the team line up from any distance away. What is incredible is that no one in the club ever seems to think of testing/trying these things out before going live! It would seem RC and JJ need to take a further look at the capabilities of some of those staff that they are still employing.

[Sutekh]

Without going through every single thread and post.... Did anyone notice we have a new screen..... And it's smaller!!!!! AND EVER WITH MY SUPER MEGA POWERFUL LENSES I I CAN'T READ THE TEAM NAMES FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE WEST LOWER!!!!!
Not only that but they didnt't even put the away team up or who had been carded or the goalscorers side by side. Looks like somone nipped over to Costco and bought the biggest telly they could find.....

Didn't know if the screen was new but what they out ion it lineus wise was indeed shite, yet the goalscorer pics were an improvement

Based on what was said in 'Rescuing The Royals', it seems that Couhig thought that providing Wycombe with a lovely new screen had proven to be a good way to make fans want to keep coming back and was a better investment than spending the same money on a player! If so, he's in for a rude awakening. We are not Wycombe and our fans do not come to games to stare in awe at a US-sized TV screen!

New screen or not, the size and style of font used made it impossible to read the the team line up from any distance away. What is incredible is that no one in the club ever seems to think of testing/trying these things out before going live! It would seem RC and JJ need to take a further look at the capabilities of some of those staff that they are still employing.

At least changing the font shouldn’t cost anything, unless they have to hire a consultant in because they’ve lost the manual.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Leam confirmed Haydon Roberts was fully fit and available; Dorsett was just preferred. Saw a comment from someone on here earlier saying Leam obviously doesn't rate/trust Roberts. Seemingly, this appears to be the case. Dorsett is now the first-choice LB?

Considering he was one of our best players before he got injured i find this hard to believe. Maybe just managing his game time.

EDIT

He’s fine, he’s fine, it was just with a little bit of physicality, just with a little bit of things through the week, because Benn Ward didn’t nearly make the game.

So just wanted Dorsett's physicality in case Ward wasn't fit.

[RoyalBlue]

and they don’t think Pereira was in control of the ball for the disallowed goal.

If you have both hands on the ball it`s a foul, having control of it doesn`t come into it.

I believe the laws of the game refer to having control of the ball and, amongst other things, deem the keeper to have control of the ball even if he only has one hand on it or indeed if the ball is on the ground and he has an arm(s) on top of it.

[Hound]

This is probably a standard uneducated fans opinion, but to me Dorsett looks like he could do with slimming down a bit. He’s got the physique of a heavyweight boxer - maybe sometimes that’s useful but does seem to reduce his mobility and increase his clumsiness at times

[stealthpapes]

and they don’t think Pereira was in control of the ball for the disallowed goal.

If you have both hands on the ball it`s a foul, having control of it doesn`t come into it.

I believe the laws of the game refer to having control of the ball and, amongst other things, deem the keeper to have control of the ball even if he only has one hand on it or indeed if the ball is on the ground and he has an arm(s) on top of it.

**The goalkeeper is considered to be in control of the ball with their hands/arms and subject to the eight-second limit when:

*holding the ball in their hands/arm
*bouncing the ball on the ground or throwing it in the air
*the ball is between their hands/arms and/or any surface (e.g. ground or own body)

[windermereROYAL]

If you have both hands on the ball it`s a foul, having control of it doesn`t come into it.

I believe the laws of the game refer to having control of the ball and, amongst other things, deem the keeper to have control of the ball even if he only has one hand on it or indeed if the ball is on the ground and he has an arm(s) on top of it.

**The goalkeeper is considered to be in control of the ball with their hands/arms and subject to the eight-second limit when:

*holding the ball in their hands/arm
*bouncing the ball on the ground or throwing it in the air
*the ball is between their hands/arms and/or any surface (e.g. ground or own body)

Which it was

[The Cap]

LR certainly has a selection issue when the whole squad are fit, not easy to keep everyone happy, there`s only 18 match day players. hard to remember the last time we had that luxury.

LR said in his interview that it doesn't sit easily with him when it comes to leaving players out of the team/squad and that he is very open and honest with all those who aren't selected. Personally, I hope this season works out for him, as he's clearly a decent guy who is very committed to the job. Let's hope the footballing gods shine brightly on both us and him.

[leon]

fair fcuks to Dorsett I've not been his biggest fan at LB but he did well last night. He looked strong and got his tackles in. I hope he can keep that up.

[Sutekh]

fair fcuks to Dorsett I've not been his biggest fan at LB but he did well last night. He looked strong and got his tackles in. I hope he can keep that up.

A couple of wonky moments from him but possibly his best game for us

[stealthpapes]

I believe the laws of the game refer to having control of the ball and, amongst other things, deem the keeper to have control of the ball even if he only has one hand on it or indeed if the ball is on the ground and he has an arm(s) on top of it.

**The goalkeeper is considered to be in control of the ball with their hands/arms and subject to the eight-second limit when:

*holding the ball in their hands/arm
*bouncing the ball on the ground or throwing it in the air
*the ball is between their hands/arms and/or any surface (e.g. ground or own body)

Which it was

Yeah, I ran out of energy before writing “you’re all basically correct” \o/

[morganb]

Didn't know if the screen was new but what they out ion it lineus wise was indeed shite, yet the goalscorer pics were an improvement

On a similar tangent I liked (but didn't really care about) the dynamic floodlights, although they should do it during Sirius to totally rip off the Bulls

I thought it was just the font, it was terrible and really hard to read.

I'm sure that's a new screen it looked flatter, I'm sure the previous one was taller and closer to the roof.
Agree with Silver Foxes comments lighting was so much better on the pitch.

https://x.com/ally1871/status/2095260786327187556

Guys any chance you can have a word with whoever looks after the scoreboard as the team list tonight during the game was so small it’s basically unreadable from anywhere in west stand etc. even with my glasses on! Not on moan but just needs to be larger. Thx

Reply -

, We've spoken to the team and they are working on it now so it will be all sorted for Blackpool on Saturday

No mention about doing in-play updates for goals, cards, subs etc.

[scumbag]

I'm hoping this result was not hugely swayed by them having played Sunday with an ageing squad with injuries versus us who had a whole week off. Blackpool will give us more of an idea of where we are imo.

[rabidbee]

On the whole Wing debate, there were a few times I thought a simple pass forward through the lines was on, but he instead turned and played it back. (I was watching online, so usual caveats about not seeing the whole pitch apply.) I found this frustrating, although usually a few triangles of passes resulted in a ball for Dokes to run onto in space. Maybe Earthy’s inclusion and obvious abilities will encourage more faster forward balls in future.

However, when a player repeatedly plays a certain way, and keeps being picked to do that job, and isn’t harangued by the manager mid-game or hooked off, I generally conclude that those things (long ‘quarterback passes’, careful backward passes or looking to play it up the wings rather than through the middle) are what the coach wants him to do. In which case, seems harsh to blame the player.

[Extended-Phenotype]

In my head cannon of Wing, his form seemed to drop around the same time his overall body signal did. I thought at the time is was due to him being played deeper. I appreciate some people at the time pointed out he had always played pretty deep, but I honestly hadn’t noticed that before. It may well have been due to the whole team dropping deeper. I have no idea if that’s a managerial setup or the sign of players just struggling to get into the game and/or losing confidence.

I don’t really remember Wing being exclusively a “quarterback” either. It always seemed to me he was further up, playing through balls into the box of taking shots just outside of it. I never once felt he was a CDM protecting the backline. Then again, with Bindon and Mbengue I guess he had less reason to fill the space further back.

Regardless if it’s him just playing deeper, or the midfield sitting deeper to protect a slower defence, or the whole team playing deeper due to poor form/confidence, he hasn’t looked happy to me. Of course he could just be unhappy with his own form, but I dunno, it’s like he’s frustrated at being less involved in the danger zones.

I’d like to know if LR hasn’t tried Wing in the CAM spot because he genuinely thinks Wing isn’t good there, or if he’s just better as a CDM, or it’s just a matter of personnel limitations - we had better CAMs then CDMs available, so it was better overall for Wing to take a deeper role. I’d still like to see him tried there, though with Earthy looking rather good in that role the desire is less.

[West F]

Wing is a marked man in league one. Given any time and space on the ball, he has the ability to direct play and deliver quality in the final third. A lot of teams tend to try and man mark him out of games, with the result that he drops deep in order to find the space to get his head up.
Having Mbengue and Bindon behind him meant that the whole team could push up the pitch more. This would obviously give the impression that Wing was playing higher in comparison to last season. He was, because the whole team were higher, he was relatively in the same position.
At no point has he played as a CAM. This was either Knibbs, Elliot, Doyle and even Will Keane. Recently, this has become, Stokes, Earthy and Randall Kolo Willami.

[Forbury Lion]

Without going through every single thread and post.... Did anyone notice we have a new screen..... And it's smaller!!!!! AND EVER WITH MY SUPER MEGA POWERFUL LENSES I I CAN'T READ THE TEAM NAMES FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE WEST LOWER!!!!!
Not only that but they didnt't even put the away team up or who had been carded or the goalscorers side by side. Looks like someone nipped over to Costco and bought the biggest telly they could find.....

Thought it was just me, So I zoomed in with my phone and took a photo - it was still unreadable.

I'm also finding the lighting to be a bit dimmer than it used to be with the old floodlights, Usual I guess with a switch to modern energy saving lights but maybe we could do with a bit more light on the pitch to also benefit the players