16 March Match Thread

[Bobbin']

What have you done with Matt Smith? Not even on your bench last night. How is DJ getting on?

He's just not impressed. He's done ok at times but he's not better than Forster-Caskey, Shinnie or Morgan so struggling to make the side. The move is looking like a shame for all involved.

DJ we've not seen enough of but from what I've seen he looks to have bags of potential. I'd like to see him start a bit more but some of our fans seem to think there's some sort of clause in the Liam Millar loan where he has to start games so that makes it difficult especially as Millar is crap.

 

[Bartonyellow]

Blackpool away for us tonight.
Surely our winning run must come to an end at some point and I think tonight.
A 1-1 draw for me which I would be pleased with.

Available for Saturday nights lottery numbers on request

Well done Burton. What Jimmy Floyd has done deserves the Manager of the Year award.

Are the play-offs too far away?

no chance. 14 points and let’s be honest our form will inevitably plateau at some point. We was hanging on at points last night and looked knackered.
Be delighted just to stay up, and be there next season in person..(with a few pints first of course )

 

[Agombar stool]

He's just not impressed. He's done ok at times but he's not better than Forster-Caskey, Shinnie or Morgan so struggling to make the side. The move is looking like a shame for all involved.

DJ we've not seen enough of but from what I've seen he looks to have bags of potential. I'd like to see him start a bit more but some of our fans seem to think there's some sort of clause in the Liam Millar loan where he has to start games so that makes it difficult especially as Millar is crap.

I suppose it says a lot about the quality of our side that Smith was a player of the season candidate for us and he can't even get in your squad!!

I think DJ has the ability to be a fans favourite and a star. We also have had history around loans from premier league clubs that seemingly HAVE to start but I've no idea whether those clauses can genuinely be put into contracts or adhered to. Some of the stuff DJ can do on a football pitch is real 'get you out of your seat' stuff.

 

[GeneralLee]

Where do I start. Darren Moore got us into the top four with games in hand by Christmas, the board more than backed him, given zero capital coming in we extended 2 loans at significant cost, agreed another and signed 2 expensive permanent contracts yet didn’t start any negotiations on those out of contract at the end of the season on Darren’s request. It turns out Darren had been sending his CV around and then started to talk to Sheffield Wednesday well before he left, turning up late for training and generally not giving a toss. He left, what does that say to those he signed and made promises to, what does it say to those (and there are a few) out of contract players? Add to that the ongoing injuries (apparently fitness training left a lot to be desired) and you have team in total disarray.
Oxford thoroughly deserved their win tonight however I felt you played far better in the reverse fixture than you did tonight. A half decent team would have caused you problems. Good luck for the rest of the season.

This morning I’m still in shock at the turnaround. DM (despite the above) must have still been a positive influence? You can’t become a good side and so disciplined by ‘not giving a toss’, surely!?

in terms of last night the addition of two out and out wingers, particularly a Brandon Barker does leave you exposed out wide and often centrally as he is so offensive and direct. His defensive qualities have actually been better recently, however it is accepted that it far from a defensive setup which leaves you exposed on the counter. A reason we have the brilliant Alex Gorrin to break up attacks and is more often prone to a booking most games.

First half was 3-0 and could have been more so it’s tricky to say that the possibility of the game could have been anything but. In terms of the personnel KR got it spot on. The second half as you might expect was a lesser affair that was always likely to be played out with a view to getting players minutes/giving them a rest which made us very disjointed and yet it could have been five or six with genuine chances. Very happy and just what we needed to keep us on the hunt.

 

[Bobbin']

I suppose it says a lot about the quality of our side that Smith was a player of the season candidate for us and he can't even get in your squad!!

I think DJ has the ability to be a fans favourite and a star. We also have had history around loans from premier league clubs that seemingly HAVE to start but I've no idea whether those clauses can genuinely be put into contracts or adhered to. Some of the stuff DJ can do on a football pitch is real 'get you out of your seat' stuff.

I don't want to be harsh on him as he's obviously highly rated, he's just unfortunate that there is a lot of competition in that position which does make the move a bit odd. Forster-Caskey suffers with injury and does miss quite a few games so I can only guess that was Bowyer's thinking.

Yeah, those clauses don't seem right but big PL clubs taking advantage of L1 clubs who have a desperate need (and we did have a desperate need in that position at the time) doesn't surprise me.

Yeah, he's got great feet but he's only been getting 20 minutes here and there so far, I'm looking forward to seeing more of him. Millar was particularly poor last night so DJ needs to start ahead of him at the weekend.

 

[Railway Blue]

Available for Saturday nights lottery numbers on request

no chance. 14 points and let’s be honest our form will inevitably plateau at some point. We was hanging on at points last night and looked knackered.
Be delighted just to stay up, and be there next season in person..(with a few pints first of course )

Errr I was joking about the play-offs.

You were dead and gone under the old regime. Your form since he arrived is auto promo form.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

This morning I’m still in shock at the turnaround. DM (despite the above) must have still been a positive influence? You can’t become a good side and so disciplined by ‘not giving a toss’, surely!?

in terms of last night the addition of two out and out wingers, particularly a Brandon Barker does leave you exposed out wide and often centrally as he is so offensive and direct. His defensive qualities have actually been better recently, however it is accepted that it far from a defensive setup which leaves you exposed on the counter. A reason we have the brilliant Alex Gorrin to break up attacks and is more often prone to a booking most games.

First half was 3-0 and could have been more so it’s tricky to say that the possibility of the game could have been anything but. In terms of the personnel KR got it spot on. The second half as you might expect was a lesser affair that was always likely to be played out with a view to getting players minutes/giving them a rest which made us very disjointed and yet it could have been five or six with genuine chances. Very happy and just what we needed to keep us on the hunt.

Our drop in form coincides with DM engineering his move to the Owls, once he started talking to them he basically started turning up late for training, what training did take place was minimal. His general demeanour was one of I’m off so I don’t care (this has come from the players) I would imagine quite a few players feel betrayed too, add to this the bad luck with injuries, Taylor out for the season, Sims nerve damage so god knows when he will be fit, Bogle hamstring, Bostock groin, Robertson and James both leg injuries and John-Joules still 5weeks away. We don’t have the players to play the system we want to hence getting caught in possession playing out from the back last night. It also appears we don’t have the ability to change how we play either. I’m struggling to see where our next win is coming from.

 

[Luke Imp]

Get Bridcutt back for 60 minutes then lose Hopper with a hamstring injury. Couldn't make it up. I think our front three now have an average age of 20.

Another nightmare defensive performance last night by the sounds of it but everyone's form has dropped off the side of a cliff recently. It's a hell of an implosion albeit with circumstances against us.

 

[Bartonyellow]

Errr I was joking about the play-offs.

You were dead and gone under the old regime. Your form since he arrived is auto promo form.

Some of our fans on the messageboard started to talk of the play offs. Not joking.
Obviously been smoking.

 

[Marked Ox]

Our drop in form coincides with DM engineering his move to the Owls, once he started talking to them he basically started turning up late for training, what training did take place was minimal. His general demeanour was one of I’m off so I don’t care (this has come from the players) I would imagine quite a few players feel betrayed too, add to this the bad luck with injuries, Taylor out for the season, Sims nerve damage so god knows when he will be fit, Bogle hamstring, Bostock groin, Robertson and James both leg injuries and John-Joules still 5weeks away. We don’t have the players to play the system we want to hence getting caught in possession playing out from the back last night. It also appears we don’t have the ability to change how we play either. I’m struggling to see where our next win is coming from.

Unfortunately injuries are a feature of this season with the compact nature of the season and the lack of rest. I'm sure most other teams have a similar story and form has tailed off when it has happened.

Early in the season we lost starters Josh Ruffels, Rob Atkinson and back up John Mousinho from our defence which meant right back Sam Long played left back and centre back as well as his usual position at different times. As a result of the injuries our defence was awful as a unit in the main. Then we lost Cam Brannagan for a big chunk of time due to a rare eye infection but fortunately he didn't lose his eyesight which was a real risk. We also signed Joel Cooper from Linfield in the summer but due to family issues (probably exacerbated by Covid) he wasn't available for chunks of the 1st half of the season and we have loaned him back to Linfield so he can be near his family.

Another massive loss was Marcus McGuane in Jan/Feb who is out for the season as he was starting to run games for us and gave us power/drive through the middle. Sam Winnall has been injury prone, continuing on from before we signed him. Then recently, we've got Sam Long, James Henry, Sam Winnall (again) out for a fair bit and John Mousinho is out for the season after knee surgery. I suspect Mous will retire in the summer and fully join our coaching team which he has been part of anyway even when playing.

As said I suspect most clubs, including yourselves can say similar, and is just something, unfortunately, that has to be managed and made the most of when you don't have injuries.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

I’m not using the injuries as an excuse it’s just unfortunate that they have occurred at the same time as Darren’s shenanigans creating a perfect storm

 

[YEO YEO YEO]

Strangly despite losing 3-0, we actually attacked and had a fair amount of efforts. Much better than saturday.

If we'd had scored first, im sure it would have been a different game but once Gills scored after 10, there was only going to be one winner. We just couldnt cope with Gills attacks and they were very ruthless.

On a plus, at least we werent there to see smug Evans!

 

[Davidimp]

Strangly despite losing 3-0, we actually attacked and had a fair amount of efforts. Much better than saturday.

If we'd had scored first, im sure it would have been a different game but once Gills scored after 10, there was only going to be one winner. We just couldnt cope with Gills attacks and they were very ruthless.

On a plus, at least we werent there to see smug Evans!

Just watched the highlights all you can hear is the fat twins swearing!
Lots of chances but only 2 on target as most from outside the area but their keeper got in team of the day...

 

[THE LAST WALTZ]

Just watched the highlights all you can hear is the fat twins swearing!
Lots of chances but only 2 on target as most from outside the area but their keeper got in team of the day...

I thought that was a bit strange as he only made one save in the match really
I thought our two young centre half’s were superb though. As good as your defence was at our place in truth.

 

[Davidimp]

I thought that was a bit strange as he only made one save in the match really
I thought our two young centre half’s were superb though. As good as your defence was at our place in truth.

Completely different team than 6 weeks ago, we've fallen apart literally