My two pennorth

Hmm, now the dust’s settled a few thoughts on that one. Firstly, what a horrible place Pride Park is to go (as an aside - do you think when they named it they realised the connotations of the name - every time I go I’m a bit disappointed there isn’t a carnival parade with oiled up muscled blokes in rainbow trunks - anyway TM, concentrate...), in fact it’s actually the opposite of a Pride March, as there’s zero diversity in their fan base which appears to be solely made up of fat middle aged white male scrubbers in bad clothing. How can you design and build a new stadium in the absolute arse the bed of B@ttf-ck, Egypt and it still take an hour to get out of the car park.

Anyway, to everyone who thinks that selling Moore wasn’t a problem in Summer, I give you the first twenty minutes of this game. Chaplin competes gamely but can’t help that he is a medical dwarf (or midget, whichever is the one that’s in proportion) and Schmidt is like a more extreme version of Bradshaw - even physically softer, even less of an outlet and possibly an even better finisher on the upside. When you start with Schmidt and Bahre you start with 9 and it was frankly a miracle we didn’t concede a goal in that first 20 minutes. The only credit you can give Struber is that like all of us he recognised we were being overrun and didn’t wait to change it.

Aside number 2 - can Cameron McGeehan seriously not make the bench in the current team? Honestly? I’m well aware of his limitations and at least when he’s playing badly his llama style haircut creates a diversion. Is he not a better option on the bench than say Dylan Mottley-Henry, who may we’ll go on to become a good player but in all reality was never getting brought on.

anyway - this total lack of an outlet when we were being hammered meant that for once the fannying about trying to play out from goal kicks actually became something of a necessity. Consequently, within the first half hour we achieved the holy Trinity of appalling mistakes from each of Radlinger, Anderson and Diaby that gifted golden opportunities each time. Fortunately, they all seemed to fall to Jack Marriott, a man who plays football like Fola Onibuje with odd boots on. His attempted ‘lob’ of Sami made that Geoff Thomas effort against France look like a close miss.

Final word before the ratings is for Woodrow - all these people saying he’s not functioning that well at the head of the diamond - we saw in this game all the linking play that he does that wasn’t done in this game.

Player ratings:

Radlinger 7. Some really good saves, although to be fair mostly they were just horrible misses by Marriott. He’s good at making himself big in one on ones, where he excelled tonight. Nearly gifted them a goal with a scuffed kick, standard

J Williams 6. I don’t think he’s as bad as you all think he is. I see a player that’s growing.

Anderson 5. Just when you think he’s having an OK start he gifts possession and we nearly concede. Could do with a rest but there’s no realistic alternatives. Signing needed please.

Diaby 6. A mixed bag here. Disappointing for the second goal and also gifted possession nearly leading to one in the first half but on the other hand made a couple of vital blocks and interceptions and has a big heart, trying to lift us in the last five by storming forward in the style of Gerry Taggart. You have to love him for that.

Oduor 6. Where have we been hiding him? How on Earth did we spend half a season p-iss arsing around with Ben bloody Williams when we have a left back this good? Honestly.

Halme 5 - again a bit of an off day. Like Mowatt probably suffering from an inability to get a rest because there are no other options anywhere near as good (please don’t say Dougall)

Mowatt 6 - not one of his best days, he looked knackered from illness and weeks of carrying the team. Needs a rest at the weekend even though it will significantly weaken the team. Should have done better with second goal.

Thomas 5 - as poor as he’s been for a while. Had a golden opportunity to shoot but always seems to prefer to try and find a pass. Kept battling but it didn’t quite come off for him.

Bahre 1. One half of the soft twins. Every time he carries the ball it looks so loose to his body and looks like a tackle waiting to happen.

Schmidt 1. Soft lad number 2. Has the presence of Casper the ghost. We’ve seen he can finish but he’s one of the most powder puff players we’ve ever had.

Chaplin 6. Standard industrial amounts of effort, total lack of any sort of service but at least he looks to feed off the scraps.

Subs:

Simoes 7 - improved the overall levels when he came on and gets an extra mark for his goal.

Brown 5 - meh.

 

I enjoyed that report more than the match

nice one

 

We certainly improved markedly once Simoes came on and we actually took the game to derby, if Woodrow is out for 3-4 weeks we might be seeing more of him, like you say I can't believe McGeehan isn't making the bench - has to start at the weekend for me. Lack of options upfront and in defense are more worrying, we need another option at CB desperately and someone who's going to give the opposition CB something to think about, Schmidt just isn't cutting it.

 

I've never rated Brown. He certainly isn't a striker and can't cross.

 

Nice report TM and I mostly agree. A couple of additions:
1. How bloody difficult is it to get away from that ground if you park anywhere near it. I've been three times now and twice have sat in the car for the best part of 40 mins before the traffic starts to move. And the other time I parked well over a mile away - didn't arrive until after 7.30 last night so couldn't do that.
2. On Anderson - really poor that he let Marriott get goal side for their first goal.
3. Disagree on Dougall. He should've started for me, if only because we looked leggy and tired and he'd have been fresh. For the same reason Styles and McGeehan (as mentioned by others) and maybe even Cavare would perhaps have featured for me. On this, as a result of McGeehan, Pinillos, Thiam, Green, Cavare etc all being discarded the depth of our squad looks poor right now and Woodrow's absence highlighted it further. I don't mind letting several players go but we desperately need more quality in this window.

Edit: Forgot Cavare.

 

I agree, he was poor last night,,,, which was an improvement on his last outing

 

We don't have any idea what's going off behind the scenes .

 

Watching our back 4 and Halme was cringeworthy at times yesterday. We were so timid when defending our area, it looked amateurish.

Thomas shouldn't be starting in midfield in this formation. The diamond is really more a 4-3-3, any wingers either play in the front 3, or on the bench. If McGeehan, Styles and Dougall aren't going to play, then we need new midfielders as well as new centre backs.

 

A bit harsh on Ben Williams...last time I looked he was 3rd in our player of the season poll.

 

I agree with most of that apart from Thomas. I thought he was second to odour for one of our best players last night

Made himself a nuisance all game and kept trying to push the team forward. This player will be a world beater if he keeps going at the rate he is

If only were dangerous on set pieces because he kept winning us free kicks high up the field

 

Totally agree... Never will understand the JB love-in..

 

Imho Brown (like a few others), needed another season in league one one...or having better players around him, to bring him on. He has a few assists this season already but i cant help wanting more from the lad.

 

He has his moments but for as long as he's either unable or unwilling to use his right foot, he'll never be anything more than a player in a struggling Championship team or a top League 1 team

 

I agree. Just making the observation though that whilst Struber has a side he trusts and that was we reason he picked the side he did last night, several players looked tired and imo we suffered by not making a few changes.

 

19 starts, 6 assists and one goal. Not bad for a young playing his first season at this level in a crap team, more so given he's played rwb, lbw, rw and cf. Works his nuts off too.

 

Nice write up, but I'm sorry if the keeper is having a seven, so are Halme and Oduor. At least.
That was Mowatts most ineffective game for a while (til the last ten mins) so I would have scored Thomas above him on this occasion - however as you rightly point out it seems Mowatts performance was down to him missing Cauley.

 

Anyone staking a claim for McGeehan to play has golf balls for eyes.

 

Surprised at the posts on here (and other threads this season) about Brown. He's still young and has only a few appearances at this level. Despite that he's been good in recent weeks and has showed real signs he's championship quality. At the moment he's also the only player we have who can win a ball in the air from a kick from the keeper albeit that says more about the lack of height and aerial ability in the squad. And his work rate is huge. As yet he isn't a natural finisher but I think that will come with time.

I acknowledge he had a poor game last night but I think Struber had said he needed a rest?

My view is he'll progress and become a very, very good player and will eventually be sold for big money.

All about opinions eh?

 

What? I’m a few days behind but that’s baffled me.

Who’s voting him over any of Mowatt, Woodrow or Chaplin?

 

Top dozen as of last Wednesday.

Mowatt 39
Chaplin 26
B Williams 22
Woodrow 20
Brown 20
Collins 19
Halme 16
Bahre 14
Radlinger 14
Diaby 13
Odour 11
Cavare 10