BFTG - Ipshit H

[NewCorkSeth]

Hi all. I notice Bacuna appears to be getting some low (I presume justifiably) marks despite getting the assist for our second goal.

I haven't seen the game yet so I want to know specifically where he was poor. In attacking?, defending?, passing?...

Was his performance poor because of formation or because he's simply being asked to do too much with Ezatolahi on the pitch to assist with the grittier jobs?

[SCIAG]

Think the big issue yesterday was the lack of midfield structure. In the last game, it was very clearly defined in an Italian style, with Kelly as the playmaker and Bacuna and Rinomhota ahead of him doing the screening and legwork. Yesterday that broke down, which left us more vulnerable and less able to build attacks.

Having said that, we should have defended better. Absolutely no excuse for that second goal. Dreadful.

Meite is starting to get silly, and McCleary showed what we have been missing. Think the Baldock criticism is harsh too, he did very well for the first goal and put in a good shift.

[Hound]

Hi all. I notice Bacuna appears to be getting some low (I presume justifiably) marks despite getting the assist for our second goal.

I haven't seen the game yet so I want to know specifically where he was poor. In attacking?, defending?, passing?...

Was his performance poor because of formation or because he's simply being asked to do too much with Ezatolahi on the pitch to assist with the grittier jobs?

Dreadful first half (along with everyone else) but a decent second half and great assist. Was overall one of our better players on the day

First half the midfield just weren’t there - rings run around them. Second half went two in midfield and was simply a case of getting the bail and moving it forward which he did quite well

[NewCorkSeth]

Hi all. I notice Bacuna appears to be getting some low (I presume justifiably) marks despite getting the assist for our second goal.

I haven't seen the game yet so I want to know specifically where he was poor. In attacking?, defending?, passing?...

Was his performance poor because of formation or because he's simply being asked to do too much with Ezatolahi on the pitch to assist with the grittier jobs?

Dreadful first half (along with everyone else) but a decent second half and great assist. Was overall one of our better players on the day

First half the midfield just weren’t there - rings run around them. Second half went two in midfield and was simply a case of getting the bail and moving it forward which he did quite well

Should we possibly be looking to go 2 in midfield until we have Ezatolahi back then? Or was this just another one of our "wait we're footballers?" halves?

[Hound]

Well I think we should just play 2 in there absolutely. Bacuna + Kelly/Swift

Then McCleary/Barrow or Sims on the wings and Meite + Baldock/McNulty (or even Loader) up front

[NewCorkSeth]

Well I think we should just play 2 in there absolutely. Bacuna + Kelly/Swift

Then McCleary/Barrow or Sims on the wings and Meite + Baldock/McNulty (or even Loader) up front

I more confident of it working now than before. With McCleary back and Meite shitting out goals it could work. Ezatolahi would make me a lot more confident though...

[Snowflake Royal]

Hi all. I notice Bacuna appears to be getting some low (I presume justifiably) marks despite getting the assist for our second goal.

I haven't seen the game yet so I want to know specifically where he was poor. In attacking?, defending?, passing?...

Was his performance poor because of formation or because he's simply being asked to do too much with Ezatolahi on the pitch to assist with the grittier jobs?

He was just shit. His first touch was poor and led to being dispossesed. His passes were poor and led to turnovers. His marking, tackling and pressing was poor. His showing for the ball was poor. He slowed things down.

It improved in the second half.

[Snowflake Royal]

Well I think we should just play 2 in there absolutely. Bacuna + Kelly/Swift

Then McCleary/Barrow or Sims on the wings and Meite + Baldock/McNulty (or even Loader) up front

I more confident of it working now than before. With McCleary back and Meite shitting out goals it could work. Ezatolahi would make me a lot more confident though...

Two in midfield 'worked' second half for a few reasons.

Ipswich tired
Ipswich decided to defend their lead and play on the break
Ipswich were confused about how to see out a one goal win

I saw nothing that suggested two in midfield would work against a decent team from the off. And I certainly wouldn't want Bacuna as one of the two.

[NewCorkSeth]

Well I think we should just play 2 in there absolutely. Bacuna + Kelly/Swift

Then McCleary/Barrow or Sims on the wings and Meite + Baldock/McNulty (or even Loader) up front

I more confident of it working now than before. With McCleary back and Meite shitting out goals it could work. Ezatolahi would make me a lot more confident though...

Two in midfield 'worked' second half for a few reasons.

Ipswich tired
Ipswich decided to defend their lead and play on the break
Ipswich were confused about how to see out a one goal win

I saw nothing that suggested two in midfield would work against a decent team from the off. And I certainly wouldn't want Bacuna as one of the two.

Sounds familiar....

[Zip]

Well I think we should just play 2 in there absolutely. Bacuna + Kelly/Swift

Then McCleary/Barrow or Sims on the wings and Meite + Baldock/McNulty (or even Loader) up front

I more confident of it working now than before. With McCleary back and Meite shitting out goals it could work. Ezatolahi would make me a lot more confident though...

Two in midfield 'worked' second half for a few reasons.

Ipswich tired
Ipswich decided to defend their lead and play on the break
Ipswich were confused about how to see out a one goal win

I saw nothing that suggested two in midfield would work against a decent team from the off. And I certainly wouldn't want Bacuna as one of the two.

I think two could work if Ezatolahi is one of them. It was noticeable how hard GMac worked yesterday so with him down one flank and a worker like Baldock or Sims down the other we could then play say Meite and McNulty up top.

[Millsy]

One of those games where I typically wish we would lose and then get flamed for saying so.

A good 4-0 thrashing OF them and I might believe a corner has been turned.

A good 4-0 thrashing BY them and it'd be another much needed catalyst for change.

This was the worst possible ****ing outcome. A shit 2-2 draw at home against the worst where we played shit but not enough of a disaster for momentum to build calling for change.

The fact of the matter is we are shit. We were woefully shit to let in 2 goals and as is the Reading way these days when you're going to lose the game anyway it's suddenly easier to play as you have nothing to lose. And, surprise surprise, at home, desperate for a win against the worst team in the division we, erm, drew.

Yeah yeah they had a new manager and were trying hard etc but there are often such factors playing a bottom side who are desperate for a result. Fact is they are shit.

Let this not paper over the cracks. I hear people saying "what can the manager do if the players are playing shit?". Manage them, that's what he can oxf*rd do. That's what he's being paid to do. When my staff perform shit I manage them. One way or another I get the best out of them or my income suffers.

If it means hairdrier treatment, screaming, cumming in their breakfast so be it. I dont oxf*rd care.

End of last season. Shit. Only stayed up because of honeymoon results.

Transfer activity over the summer. Shit.

Preseason. Shit.

Early this season. Shit.

Now? Shit.

Is anyone noticing a pattern here??? How long do we say "oh well at least he says it how it is and shrugs his shoulders and admits we were shit.".

I once saw a chav mum shrug her shoulders in the park as her chav child was hogging all the toys. She turned round to us normal parents and shrugged her shoulders and said with a smile "what can you do eh?". What you can oxf*rd do is stop being a useless defeatist "everyone's fault but mine" chav mum, and take some responsibility and manage your chav child. What can our manager do? Manage the team.

[paddy20]

Clement hanging on by the skin of his teeth I reckon.

I like his honesty. Unlike Stam is totally upfront about the team's performance. Calling the first half performance embarrassing live on radio was spot on. Sending a clear message to some of the players.

Yes agree with his honesty but that can only take you so far. To keep saying that your team that you are responsible for, are continiously playing awful can eventually lead to only one outcome. Its true we don't have a great team but on player per player basis we are not one of the worst three. Yesterday we got our tactics all wrong in the first half. Unfortunately there was no one on the pitch that was strong enough to recognise and re-organise. It took until the half time talk to change and play 4-4-2 with a much better performance.

[Cape Town Royal]

I more confident of it working now than before. With McCleary back and Meite shitting out goals it could work. Ezatolahi would make me a lot more confident though...

Two in midfield 'worked' second half for a few reasons.

Ipswich tired
Ipswich decided to defend their lead and play on the break
Ipswich were confused about how to see out a one goal win

I saw nothing that suggested two in midfield would work against a decent team from the off. And I certainly wouldn't want Bacuna as one of the two.

I think two could work if Ezatolahi is one of them. It was noticeable how hard GMac worked yesterday so with him down one flank and a worker like Baldock or Sims down the other we could then play say Meite and McNulty up top.

Must admit I have thinking of how we solve our midfield issues with this squad and have been thinking of this too... Could Eza and Bacuna give us the same solidity and drive we got from Karacan and Legs, then use a fit McCleary and A.N.other on the other wing to link create chances for 2 up top... As long as 1 of the two strikers sits in when they have the ball deep, it would give us more stability in the game and hopefully get us playing further up the pitch where you can bring the wide players in and cause far more damage...

Yes our defence is not great, but if you keep getting done in midfield, then your defence is always going to be against it as we saw yesterday. When we got hold of the game Ipswich hardly threatened and we showed we'd have players that can cause problems..

Hate to say it, ditch Kelly, ditch Swift, get solid in midfield... I think it would help us away from home too.. just my thoughts and know we all see things differently...

[RoyalBlue]

Think the big issue yesterday was the lack of midfield structure. In the last game, it was very clearly defined in an Italian style, with Kelly as the playmaker and Bacuna and Rinomhota ahead of him doing the screening and legwork. Yesterday that broke down, which left us more vulnerable and less able to build attacks.

Having said that, we should have defended better. Absolutely no excuse for that second goal. Dreadful.

Meite is starting to get silly, and McCleary showed what we have been missing. Think the Baldock criticism is harsh too, he did very well for the first goal and put in a good shift.

Agreed. Yesterday I really noticed Baldock doing what managers and other players have referred to. He's not all about goals, he works really hard to bring other players into the game and create opportunities for them - our first goal was a case in point. Just a shame that the adrenaline got to him when presented with good chances for himself right at the death.

[Hound]

I more confident of it working now than before. With McCleary back and Meite shitting out goals it could work. Ezatolahi would make me a lot more confident though...

Two in midfield 'worked' second half for a few reasons.

Ipswich tired
Ipswich decided to defend their lead and play on the break
Ipswich were confused about how to see out a one goal win

I saw nothing that suggested two in midfield would work against a decent team from the off. And I certainly wouldn't want Bacuna as one of the two.

I think two could work if Ezatolahi is one of them. It was noticeable how hard GMac worked yesterday so with him down one flank and a worker like Baldock or Sims down the other we could then play say Meite and McNulty up top.

I’m not talking about 2 in midfield working, I’m talking about it being a less shit option than wasting 3 of your 11 spots with underperforming players

Absolutely would like McCleary to start. Then who do you drop? Barrow, Baldock or Meite? Not really.

Kelly has improved recently so prob deserves a spot, and Bacuna, despite Ian’s dislike, has been reasonable recently and is a big source of goals and assists. Didn’t think Rino was amazing last week and was dreadful this week so easy choice to drop him

[Snowball]

Clement hanging on by the skin of his teeth I reckon.

I like his honesty. Unlike Stam is totally upfront about the team's performance. Calling the first half performance embarrassing live on radio was spot on. Sending a clear message to some of the players.

Yes agree with his honesty but that can only take you so far. To keep saying that your team that you are responsible for, are continiously playing awful can eventually lead to only one outcome. Its true we don't have a great team but on player per player basis we are not one of the worst three. Yesterday we got our tactics all wrong in the first half. Unfortunately there was no one on the pitch that was strong enough to recognise and re-organise. It took until the half time talk to change and play 4-4-2 with a much better performance.

Perhaps that is why there are four teams below us!

Our league position is largely down to our dire (and slightly unlucky) start with just two points from six games. since then we have W4 D2 L5 = 14 points from 11 which translates to a 46 game haul of 58.5 or mid-table.

The opening game v Derby was robbery, a win made last minute loss, we blew a 0-2 win at Blackburn when McShane imploded, Bolton probably should have been 0-0. Those six points would have us on 22 from 17

Wednesday, Rotherham, Ipswich, Bolton have poor GDs followed closely by Hull and Millwall. Our GD of just -5 says we aren’t far from a low mid-table side and have been accruing “enough” for the last 11 games. At home we’ve taken ten points from our last five games. Naturally we see the bottom three as a possibility, but the truth of current form (11 games now) is we ought to creep up the table, and that is what is happening. After six games we were second bottom, so we ARE climbing, albeit slowly.

Here is Clement’s block-of-games up to the international breaks

6 games 02 Points = 0.33 ppg = 15.33 point season
6 games 07 Points = 1.16 ppg = 53.36 point season
5 games 07 points = 1.40 ppg = 64.40 point season

[Snowball]

Clement hanging on by the skin of his teeth I reckon.

I like his honesty. Unlike Stam is totally upfront about the team's performance. Calling the first half performance embarrassing live on radio was spot on. Sending a clear message to some of the players.

Yes agree with his honesty but that can only take you so far. To keep saying that your team that you are responsible for, are continiously playing awful can eventually lead to only one outcome. Its true we don't have a great team but on player per player basis we are not one of the worst three. Yesterday we got our tactics all wrong in the first half. Unfortunately there was no one on the pitch that was strong enough to recognise and re-organise. It took until the half time talk to change and play 4-4-2 with a much better performance.

Perhaps that is why there are four teams below us!

Our league position is largely down to our dire (and slightly unlucky) start with just two points from six games. since then we have W4 D2 L5 = 14 points from 11 which translates to a 46 game haul of 58.5 or mid-table.

The opening game v Derby was robbery, a win made last minute loss, we blew a 0-2 win at Blackburn when McShane imploded, Bolton probably should have been 0-0. Those six points would have us on 22 from 17

Wednesday, Rotherham, Ipswich, Bolton have poor GDs followed closely by Hull and Millwall. Our GD of just -5 says we aren’t far from a low mid-table side and have been accruing “enough” for the last 11 games. At home we’ve taken ten points from our last five games. Naturally we see the bottom three as a possibility, but the truth of current form (11 games now) is we ought to creep up the table, and that is what is happening. After six games we were second bottom, so we ARE climbing, albeit slowly.

Here is Clement’s block-of-games up to the international breaks

6 games 02 Points = 0.33 ppg = 15.33 point season
6 games 07 Points = 1.16 ppg = 53.36 point season
5 games 07 points = 1.40 ppg = 64.40 point season

[Snowball]

On players

OShea has played five times (excluding the 8 minutes v Birmingham)
and in four of those games we have conceded two goals each game.

The other game was Hull where he was sent off in the 77th minute


On WhoScored, Yiadom yesterday was rated second only to Meite who was second highest rating in the Championship.

Over the season he is our top player on WhoScored, just above Bod and a long way, a LONG way clear of Moore

[3points]

Surely it is also a bit of a case of horses for courses? If we play a team with a big lump of a centre forward who play direct (eg Millwall, Bolton) then play O’Shea at CB as he’s good in the air. If they have a fast fluid attack, then play Ilori. It’s not like either of them have been so impressive as to demand a regular starting slot. O’Shea looked like Bambi on ice at times yesterday trying to turn.

Same going forward. Some games we should play Barrow. Others we should play a more positionally aware wide player and set up to work hard. Barrow’s body language and lack of urgency was very noticeable in the first 30 minutes. In tight games or where we are chasing an equaliser Barrow could be a brilliant impact sub where you just let him loose and try to cause havoc against tiring defenders. How we could do with Jobi on the left at the moment to compliment GMac on the other side.

Away at Leeds or other high places teams then perhaps consider using Meyler again with Bacuna and Rinomhota. We need to become more solid and compact in midfield.

[Snowflake Royal]

I more confident of it working now than before. With McCleary back and Meite shitting out goals it could work. Ezatolahi would make me a lot more confident though...

Two in midfield 'worked' second half for a few reasons.

Ipswich tired
Ipswich decided to defend their lead and play on the break
Ipswich were confused about how to see out a one goal win

I saw nothing that suggested two in midfield would work against a decent team from the off. And I certainly wouldn't want Bacuna as one of the two.

I think two could work if Ezatolahi is one of them. It was noticeable how hard GMac worked yesterday so with him down one flank and a worker like Baldock or Sims down the other we could then play say Meite and McNulty up top.

Oh yes, Ezatolahi is a game changer in that respect. But until he's fit, we sign someone else or Bacuna pulls his finger out and Rinomhota plays like Brizzle every week I don't see it as an option.