+ This team has fantastic character and commitment to the cause. There was not one player out there yesterday who wasn't giving it 110%. I loved seeing Bamford helping out in defence and then running through the frontline moments later.
+ The top teams have their talisman - Pablo is playing on a different level to everyone else right now.
+ Bielsa is a genius. His decisions yesterday were inspired. Bera was superb and bringing on Kemar for half an hour gave him invaluable game time in the pressure cooker
+ Young players coming of age. Roberts, Harrison growing in stature and confidence
+ It's easy to overlook our one touch play, but no-one does it better. Teams just can't live with our pace and precision in the middle of the field. Pablo, Roberts and Klich are like Swiss watches, and Kalvin's passing range would put Tiger to shame.
And now all you one-star warriors can get to work with your middle digits
- Lack of variety in dead-ball situations reduces our effectiveness up front. How many corners did we have? How much trouble did we cause their defence?
- Alioski's crossing - what does he do all week in training?
- Poor decision making in the last third - players taking on shots when other players are in better positions, players scuffing shots, players unable to drive through the ball when they are on goal. All of our forwards missed good opportunites. Bielsa talked about our inefficiences in front of goal. We should have been out of sight by half-time yesterday.
- Giving the ball away in our own half. We got lucky on a couple of occasions yesterday. Despite our domination, we could easily have been pegged back.
Still, an excellent day at the office. Wigan will be another tough match. They were very unlucky not to beat Norwich and they have a gem in Reece James. Morsy and Clarke were excellent too, but their defence will struggle to manage the threats we pose. Make sure your defibrillators are fully charged.
+ and -
posted on 15/4/19
Negatives
Defensively shaky, we concede early often and look like we’ll concede whenever others attack at times.
Final ball into box very poor a lot of times.
Missing pace, attack build ups can be too slow.
Need more match winning options from bench, you could see difference Clarke could make earlier in season.
Positives (in addition to above)
The way Bielsa does things. We have missed integrity at club for decades, he has brought an integrity to the club that finally allows us to be really proud instead of having to explain the crookedness of owners or justify why Dennis wise, hock or Steve Evans are great coaches...
A team spirit amongst first team and u23s. Previously u23s were ignored or run down seem as something separate, now it feels like one big team, how it should be.
Respect from other clubs. People always talked about our history but didn’t really fear/respect us any more and not without good reason. How brilliant is it to hear, almost every week, managers saying we were better team and indeed, best team they’ve faced.
Joy for the players. Some of these have been through some sh. The criticism levelled at coopers appointmrnt as captain (inspired move by Tc to let players pick), philips being heavily criticised, Klich in wilderness, many of these suffering disappointment last season and maybe season before too, they deserve the plaudits this session.
Finally the fans. How many seasons have we had to hope against hope? Justify scrappy wins at lower reaches of football? Look up the stats on players like habibou and wonder what on Earth he is going to bring to team? Now we know we can pretty consistently play some amazing football, that every player who comes on delivers that we’ll win much more than we’ll lose and we have not just english football, but beyond looking in, hoping we’ll make it.
posted on 15/4/19
- there are too many people being negative, waiting for the I told you so moment, you know who you are lads
posted on 15/4/19
- definitely the pace issue and that’s why tried to sign dan James. Pleased that it was a top priority of the window
- the ticket office continues to be tier 5 standard
posted on 15/4/19
I genuinely believe we have been the best team in the league this season.
We have very rarely won points we didn't deserve. And so often when we have dropped points we have been the far better side.
The same cannot be said about Norwich.
Obviously we have negatives but these have to be taken in context of where we are in the world of football.
Orta obviously also aware of negatives like lack of pace and lack of options, hence highlighting James as the man to sign.
I would also say that giving the ball away in our own half is a necessary evil to allow us to play the way we do. You can't play the way we do but say we must not lose the ball in our own half.
posted on 15/4/19
Our only weaknesses are squad depth and being efficient in front of goal. Were the best side in the league comfortably and should be promoted already.
posted on 15/4/19
comment by Kamara's left foot (U21862)
posted 3 hours, 43 minutes ago
- there are too many people being negative, waiting for the I told you so moment, you know who you are lads
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Been on this site since the L1 days and this is stupidest comment I've ever read. Thinking people want us to fail for there own 606 agenda ffs
posted on 15/4/19
"I would also say that giving the ball away in our own half is a necessary evil to allow us to play the way we do. You can't play the way we do but say we must not lose the ball in our own half. "
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True, Faith, but it does add to the stress levels. There were a couple of times against Wednesday when they found acres of space behind our back four, but just couldn't do anything with it because their strikers were sheyte.
posted on 16/4/19
One other positive, we're not going to be trying to rebuild after sending loads of loans back, should be a more solid base unless we change it through our own choice.
posted on 16/4/19
comment by Shaun M - F**k off to the football league (U9955)
posted 1 day, 6 hours ago
comment by Kamara's left foot (U21862)
posted 3 hours, 43 minutes ago
- there are too many people being negative, waiting for the I told you so moment, you know who you are lads
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Been on this site since the L1 days and this is stupidest comment I've ever read. Thinking people want us to fail for there own 606 agenda ffs
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If you think it aint so then think again fella, a few just want to be right
posted on 8/10/19
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