They seemed very complimentary about us and not the usual “we were crap” comments we usually get from some clubs.
Worst thing about reading those comments, is some are talking that performance up as one of their best for ages, when really they were very average. Well organised and competitive, but still average, and on the day we couldn't pick a way through them. We are much better than we showed yesterday and that's really frustrating.
I seem to come away from every game I've attended this season saying the same thing - which makes me think, are we actually that good? I should probably stop going tbf, feel like I'm jinxing us with my presence - lost 4 out the 5 away games I've been to in the league this season
I've been to every game, home and away barring the checkatrade, and my experience is different. I've seen some lovely football and lots of goals. Sometimes for all of games, sometimes in part. We played some nice stuff last week in the FA Cup, and in either side of half time at Sunderland, against a top team. Disappointed about yesterday, but I haven't given up on us like some seem to have. We haven't even played half a season yet.
I haven't seen us lose (when I've been there, I have watching the live stream). I've seen us blow Oxford away, a highly impressive away victory at Bradford, a spirited fight back at Scunny and a good game of football against Luton. The rest? I've been bored daft and seen very little between the two teams even though I haven't seen any defeats. Results have definitely been better than performances (that's not a complaint, just a fact). I didn't go to Peterborough or Rochdale though, two other very good performances. Some people will include Sunderland in our good performances list but I thought they could have been out of sight in the first 20 minutes and I find it very difficult to rate a 4-2 loss when the opposition took us apart from 20 minutes as a good performance. Are we a good side? If the opposition set-up a certain way, yes. If they try to play football in their own half of the field, if they're open and expansive, we'll win regularly and impressively. If the opposition keep it tight, if they press us and harass us, if they hit us on the break, then no, we're not very good. Trouble we've got is that every manager has now seen this and they all know how to beat us. Doesn't mean they always will. Identifying the opposition's weaknesses and having the tools to exploit them are two different things. However, since the victories over Peterborough and Luton we've played 8 league games and lost 4 of them. Cumulatively, we've conceded more than we've scored and we've only twice scored more than 1 goal in a game, and one of those was a defeat. I'd argue we were some what fortunate to get away with a draw against Donny who were the better side, and although the victories over Bristol Rovers and Southend had nothing to do with luck, they were amongst the least inspiring victories I've witnessed. The one performance in that time that looked like it was from a side gunning for promotion was against Accrington. Not a scintillating performance, but a very professional one. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was against the one team who stuck to their guns in terms of playing style, who made no compensation for the opposition, and continued to play their brand of open attacking football. Question is, other than Keith Hill, will any other manager in this division risk doing that against us again? Portsmouth might, they may think they can simply out play us, they may be right, or we may beat them, we'll see, but I think most teams will set-up like Wycombe, Donny, Shrewsbury and Charlton and we're going to have to learn quickly how deal with that.
We were tactically naïve yesterday. Adam Davies would roll the ball out to either Pinnock on the right, or Lindsey on the left. Wycombe were happy for us to do that and never challenged either of them. Wycombe retreated as Pinnock/ Lindsey advanced to the half way line and even beyond, and then our centre backs looked to release either Brown or Fryers who were by that time closely marked. Occasionally either McGeehan or Mowatt would receive the ball but there was little movement up front to receive a pass, as it was so congested in their half. There was almost no other outlet, as there were then around 20 players compressed into almost the final third of the pitch. Trying to pass our way through that congestion was almost futile, but we persisted with that tactic for long periods. Route one might have been an occasional option, but Davies rarely took a long kick, if at all. There was a great amount of square passing along the back four, with no penetration. The best offensive part of the game was via Thiam in the last eight minutes or so, out wide on the left. All in all, a dismal performance as so many others have commented.
Agreed. No variety in our play. Excellent header of the ball in Moore, but lots of passes took him out to the corner flag, and when we did get a bit desperate towards the end, we had no one close enough to him for a knock down. He looked as frustrated as the rest of us.
