2022/23 Matchday Thread

[SF_]

Evans has a niggle and Barkhuizen is isolating.

Rodwell-Grant on the bench again, hoping he gets a chance.

Think our fortunes this season rely on DJ, Sinclair & Riis.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Our game kind of unfolded as I had predicted above. Bit of a mad game where ultimately we couldnt deal with them from set pieces. Just couldn't cope with the way WBA played the game, high intensity, balls into the box at every opportunity and key focus on set pieces which we did not defend well enough at all not helped by the centre half situation really. Got ourselves back to 3-2 largely through the high press and industry which we show, from the WBA point of view both our goals are shockers but then again so where all 3 of ours!

Big issue for us is the Clark injury which looked very bad indeed. At the very least I expect him to be missing for a couple of weeks with that although at the time I thought we might be witnessing something much more serious than even that.

 

[Kenneth E End]

What a crazy game that is. I think Ismael will really get that WBA team working hard and in the next couple of weeks will strengthen in the transfer market - perhaps in need of a defender. I fully expect them to get into the top 1. They were relentless all over the park, although we played quite a naive formation I thought. Last season we were a lot more regimented and structured in defence

The last 30 minutes we saw what this Luton team are all about - they could’ve conceivably got it back to 3-3 from what seemed an impossible scenario.

Clark will be a big loss considering his form in pre-season and the first couple of games, but he should be back for Sheffield United in a couple of weeks time.

Fantastic atmosphere too.

 

[BelizeHatter]

I thought we were lucky not to get a pasting, but showed heart at the end, but all too late. Central defence was an issue as noted but i thought we badly missed a quality DM in front of them. They continually had tome and space on the ball in front of us on the edge of the box.

Sluga still gives me the willies with the ball at his feet and on crosses. Seems he has such a fragile level of confidence.

Early days as we take shape and hopfully the injury to Clark isnt too bad. The end comeback hopefully allows us to keep a level of confidence a thrashing might have affected. Cornick on a scoring run is an unforseen blessing.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Cornick was always capable. I felt last year was a missed opportunity to become that £5m player that he showed signs of being in the previous season. It probably helps that we show more attacking intent.

Really impressed with Cameron Jerome… he was superb when he came on. He and Kyle Bartley were battling for everything and even at 35 years old was beating him for pace.

I still hope Sluga’s confidence will remain… yesterday was a real difficult one against that sort of team. Johnstone wasn’t totally flash either might I add… the second goal was a total fuck up from him I thought. In terms of the Jordan Clark challenge… he won the ball clearly, but it was a bit reckless. It all happened very fast but was it avoidable? Maybe not. The referee adjudged it as a Clark foul!

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Sluga didnt look too good against Peterborough either, he gets a bit too amped up with the crowds i think, needs to settle himself down. I dont particularly rate him as a keeper but on the whole he did quite well yesterday given their style makes it difficult for keepers.

The Clark incident was really dangrous but keepers are told to jump they like that. In a game that has been progressively been moving toward greater safety, some levels even banning heading, its a bit incongruous that keepers can still get away with that sort of play. Its probably the last part of the game where you can really seriously injure someone and get away with it. Dont think Johnstone to blame necessarily as its how they are coached but its objectively very dangerous.

 

[SF_]

Only listened to the first half, bad, you can't play 5-3-2 when we only have one wingback on the books, who is injured.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Sadly I feel Cornick had had more than a fair crack of the whip. Jones is a better judge than I, and sees more of the lad and his charactor. So perhaps he can produce. He had so much promise and i loved the tease of how good he could have been. But hes missed the boat for me and Id bite your hand off for a Cornick 500k.

He should be an impact sub and will become that this season. He flatters to decieve and has proven he will sadly never be more than he already is. Has pace to burn and a better than average football brain and positioning. Once thise attributes get him in position he completely falls apart unless its instinctive. I dn t do the in depth stats xG chance created etc stuff and base this on what i see week in week out and maybe its slanted by my dashed hope for him but quality crosses and goals are appaling versus positions he gets into.

 

[djs]

Having seen the keeper challenge on Clark live, then on film, then seen the stills, I am convinced that if Clark had challenged the keeper leading with with his right leg, and then connecting with both of his knees that high, it would have been an automatic red card. As it was the ref did not even give a foul to either player.

Why do keepers get quite so much protection?

Thinking about it though, Sluga certainly didn't get much protection yesterday, he was being fouled from most corners/throws.

 

[SF_]

Huddersfield away, they're obviously shit but there's every chance we're shitter.

Barkhuizen still unavailable I think, Evans might be back in contention.

I'd rather we didn't stick with 5 at the back but I think we will.

Iversen
VDB - Storey - Bauer - Hughes - Earl
Whiteman - Johnson
Browne
Riis - Evans​

 

[oakroader]

Sadly I feel Cornick had had more than a fair crack of the whip. Jones is a better judge than I, and sees more of the lad and his charactor. So perhaps he can produce. He had so much promise and i loved the tease of how good he could have been. But hes missed the boat for me and Id bite your hand off for a Cornick 500k.

He should be an impact sub and will become that this season. He flatters to decieve and has proven he will sadly never be more than he already is. Has pace to burn and a better than average football brain and positioning. Once thise attributes get him in position he completely falls apart unless its instinctive. I dn t do the in depth stats xG chance created etc stuff and base this on what i see week in week out and maybe its slanted by my dashed hope for him but quality crosses and goals are appaling versus positions he gets into.

I feel your pain BH…
I’m the same,still,regarding PRM…
At least when cornick gets the ball the crowd generally stands up in anticipation…
Whereas with pelly most wait for the miss pass or one too many touches that come too frequently for my liking
Cornick seems to attract 2 covering defenders when he gets the ball which should leave an opening for someone like prm to utilise and make use of the space
But I think both are out of their depth in this league

 

[BelizeHatter]

Oaky. Cmon mate. Pelly has frustrated us all over the years but now he is almost too good for us. He holds the ball and makes time and space for himself and others and powers away. Yes he loses it at times, more often than not with a poor pass or by by over elaborating, but hes improved leaps and bounds and.losses it a lot less often.

I dont see an improvement with Harry and sadly dont think it can happen as he panics when he has to think and almost always picks the worst option or cant execute the right one. You cant coach that panic away. Harsh but hes reached his limit for me. Getting in that position isnt enough at this level.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

We are continuing to struggle at centre half with 5 who can play there remaining unavailable. So seems we will continue with Naismith and Osho. The real worry seems to be Bradley who seems to have been hit hard by covid, the rest have knocks which mean they aren’t ready but with covid it’s obviously a little unknown how that could impact him longer term, hope he’s ok

Clark also out which is another blow as he has been very good to start the season and arguably our best player!

Could see this going similar way to the West Brom game where balls into the box and set pieces cause issues. Not sure if Barnsley are still employing the same style as under Ismael but that really caused us a lot of issues on Saturday.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Having seen the keeper challenge on Clark live, then on film, then seen the stills, I am convinced that if Clark had challenged the keeper leading with with his right leg, and then connecting with both of his knees that high, it would have been an automatic red card. As it was the ref did not even give a foul to either player.

Why do keepers get quite so much protection?

Thinking about it though, Sluga certainly didn't get much protection yesterday, he was being fouled from most corners/throws.

Johnstone won the free kick.

 

[djs]

He didn't. The ref didn't give a foul at all. He indicated play-on and was starting to run off until players pointed out Clark's situation to him.

I still say that if Clark had run the distance that Johnstone did, connected with a keeper with foot, then knees, in the same way, he would have been sent off for dangerous play, out of control, and endangering an opponent.


On the Pelly/Cornick debate, my view for what it's worth.
I would like to sit down with NJ and his ranks of staff and watch a video of any game, and point out Pelly's errors whilst asking them to point out his strengths. I think that I would win. For example, after 300 games you would hope that he would at least be able to pass the ball to a teammate on a slightly more regular basis.
Cornick I still rate highly. He doesn't have had the best record in one on ones, but he creates a hell of a lot more than some might realise. He is usually marked tightly by the fullback (in exactly the same way that Potts doesn't!!), and works hard on the defensive side as well. By the way, taking penalties out of the total, he was our leading scorer from open play for the season before last, above Collins who was held up as a hero by some. Last season he was used in a different way, spending more time out wide.

Still everyone to their own opinion I suppose.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Literally could not disagree more about Pelly but like you say all about opinions i guess.

He has his off games, (dont they all!) but what he provides far outweighs those off games. Provides the box to box legs we need in our midfield structure, is a decent enough passer of the ball and tries to play positive wherever possible (for reference Pelly completed 76% of his passes last season, KDH a player widely and correctly lauded completed 1% more! Am sure you arent of the opinion that KDH was a poor passer of the ball?) and scores the odd important goal for good measure. Really important to our structure out of possession in allowing someone like Clark to go and play a 10 position this season, or us to play a true DM like Rea last season as he provides balance to the midfield and helps with our high pressing game. Realistically what better value are we getting for that at this level?

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Well our team tonight is erm...interesting. I think we are going 3 at the back with Kioso coming into bolster the centre of defence despite being a right back by trade. Lockyer back in so really hope he is up to speed, looked very rusty at Stevenage in the cup i felt.

In front of that seems more confused, no Clark obviously but no Onyendima is a big miss.

I think maybe something like
Sluga
Bree, Kioso, Lockyer, Naismith, Bell
Pelly, Lansbury
Muskwe
Jerome, Adebayo

But really how it lines up ahead of Pelly and Lansbury is anyones guess. Its somewhat an NJ tradition to do a really weird line up early in the season that doesnt go well (Crawley, Peterborough, Port Vale all away a few years ago immediately spring to mind) so this might be it as it seems a little confused albeit somewhat enforced.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Literally could not disagree more about Pelly but like you say all about opinions i guess.

He has his off games, (dont they all!) but what he provides far outweighs those off games. Provides the box to box legs we need in our midfield structure, is a decent enough passer of the ball and tries to play positive wherever possible (for reference Pelly completed 76% of his passes last season, KDH a player widely and correctly lauded completed 1% more! Am sure you arent of the opinion that KDH was a poor passer of the ball?) and scores the odd important goal for good measure. Really important to our structure out of possession in allowing someone like Clark to go and play a 10 position this season, or us to play a true DM like Rea last season as he provides balance to the midfield and helps with our high pressing game. Realistically what better value are we getting for that at this level?

I don’t disagree with your disagreement.

On another note, I’ve not a clue what is going on with selection… presumably Covid related again as Shea is also now missing.

I heard Neil Warnock this morning - he said the majority of his squad are unvaccinated. Wtf?

 

[Kenneth E End]

Luton have been relentless in the first 30 mins.
1-0 Bell

 

[BelizeHatter]

Good game. We playing long and aggressive and high press and they playing it around a lot. Both look dangerous.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Yep decent game. Worth pointing out given the above conversation that it’s Pelly and his attributes which is essentially allowing us to play a 2 man midfield tonight given Muskwe is basically playing advanced if both him and Lansbury and in the wide right channel most of the time

Barnsley not really employing the style of last season on that evidence, much more patient in build up and we have assumed there style of last season. Good start by us but Barnsley growing into the game as it goes on and beginning to create openings. We might need to sacrifice one of the three forward players to get a foothold in the midfield eventually but its worked so far. Got a bit feisty toward the end of the half too.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Pelly is class. Agtee they got a bit too much space in the middle and starting to utilise it. They have a very young but decent midfield

 

[Kenneth E End]

Shite.

 

[Craig]

Was afraid this would happen with the new gaffer. Back to trying to play like we did under Stendel and Struber which just doesn’t pay off as often at this level with the quality of players we have. Bring back the ugly hoof and hope ball please.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Frenetic game, probably not pretty on the eye for the neutral - and we certainly weren't pretty - but a huge amount of all the intangible stuff to get us over the line. Won individual battles all over the pitch i felt and that ultimately told in the game. Good to see as its easy to lose some of that grit with all the new players coming in.

Thought Lockyer did very well given he has been out for so long and just last week looked plenty rusty in the cup. Kioso was really impressive, seems to just love defending and Lansbury got through a heck of a lot of work, not just the pretty looking ball playing midfield player type stuff either. Muskwe looked good too, seems pretty raw but you can see a player is there.

Not sure we will employ that sort of style too much this season but did what we needed too ultimately.

 

[CCFC_Charlie]

First hour from us at Blackpool was the best I've seen in god knows how long. We should have been 4-0 up at half time. Let them back into it as it went on but a deserved win. Should really be unbeaten still gievn the performance away at Barnsley but it's been a good start to the season all the same.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Gave him some stick after first two games but Sluga looked very assured tonight. Commanded the box and marshalled the defense and wasnt dominated or intimidated like at the weekend. Several well timed punches and catches coming through crowds taking the pressure off and still did the things he does well, with good shot stopping when required. Well played Sir. Good away team performance had Jones purring.

 

[Kenneth E End]

He didn't. The ref didn't give a foul at all. He indicated play-on and was starting to run off until players pointed out Clark's situation to him.

I still say that if Clark had run the distance that Johnstone did, connected with a keeper with foot, then knees, in the same way, he would have been sent off for dangerous play, out of control, and endangering an opponent.


On the Pelly/Cornick debate, my view for what it's worth.
I would like to sit down with NJ and his ranks of staff and watch a video of any game, and point out Pelly's errors whilst asking them to point out his strengths. I think that I would win. For example, after 300 games you would hope that he would at least be able to pass the ball to a teammate on a slightly more regular basis.
Cornick I still rate highly. He doesn't have had the best record in one on ones, but he creates a hell of a lot more than some might realise. He is usually marked tightly by the fullback (in exactly the same way that Potts doesn't!!), and works hard on the defensive side as well. By the way, taking penalties out of the total, he was our leading scorer from open play for the season before last, above Collins who was held up as a hero by some. Last season he was used in a different way, spending more time out wide.

Still everyone to their own opinion I suppose.

He gave advantage to West Brom. For me it should’ve been an indirect free kick in the penalty area for dangerous play.

 

[oakroader]

A goal keepers “wrecking ball” approach to clearing danger in the box is reckless at its least.
No consideration is taken at how many “skittles” end up on the floor possibly as a result of the actions
This wouldn’t be tolerated any where else on the pitch
Unless the goalies intention is to catch the ball then any other outcome should be a free kick to the attacking team
Goalies should catch the ball and leave the defenders to clear the ball
They punch the ball too often and fail to catch and manipulate the chance of counter attack
A goalie of 6 foot or so should be catching a ball with his reach advantage if timing is correct
There’s been too many instances like Clarke’s in my opinion

 

[BelizeHatter]

Its a tough one. Being objective if you are a keeper your body has no protection as you stretch to catch/punch a ball. Your body core is all vital organs and human nature if you are about to get clattered is to protect yourself and bring up your legs. Protective instinct is hard to consciously stop. Think of keeping your eyes open when you head a ball.

I doubt Clark feels the keeper was at fault. Just part and parcel of physical contact sports on occassion.