Match day thread - Cup vs that team that doesn't like us for bizarre reasons

Yeah that's the problem though, while I'm glad to see fans give him credit for his work rate.
He is paid to score goals, and I'm afraid he's absolutely awful there at the moment.

 

Ohh not another one lol, how many is that now.
At least you didn't say you loved him, yet.

 

Can’t be anything but enthused after that.

Quite tight in the first half and a goal down after a penalty. Vim will learn. He’s a very intelligent kid and takes everything in. Be a good lesson for him tonight. Because on the ball it’s obvious he’s going places. Needs games to work on the other side. Hopefully he gets a loan move to L2/National League. He’s beyond the nonsense of 21s football.

Good hour into Pines. You can tell he’s not quite ready, but he’ll be a huge player for us this season. Seen some criticism of Earl and Maël, but honestly, if you’re watching Barnsley and thinking the defence is an issue, you need to look harder. If the finishing (from all players) was improved only a little bit, the defending is not even relevant. Like Friday night, with competent finishing, we win at a canter.

It was a 50/50 game first half, but once Phillips and Connell were on it became very one-sided. Which is a good sign, because Wigan are no mugs. They’ll be aiming for the top six. Had they not suffered that points deduction I don’t think they’d have been far off last season.

We created enough to have won at least two games, but no matter who was striking the ball, they couldn’t hit the net. It wasn’t just the strikers. But of course, Watters’ miss will be most talked about. He brought it down like Bergkamp but finished like Dave Regis sadly. He’s in there though. Same for Cosgrove and Marsh over these first couple of games. Yeah, terrible finishing but we are more direct, we are creating plenty. So you’d imagine either the current lot will start firing or we’ll grab a player or two who will be given the opportunity otherwise.

Ratings:

Slonina: Impressive debut. Iffy distribution at times but the conditions were bleak so we’ll see what Saturday brings. Looked solid otherwise and saw us to victory in the shootout. 8.

Cotter: Glorious and ghastly as ever. I love Baz. But you never know what you’re getting at any point and I know that’s hard to play with. 6,

Mael: The surface wasn’t great today so I’ll allow his ‘moments’ in a cup game. He’s better than he showed tonight. 5.

Pines: Good 60 minutes for the big man. Doubt he’s ready for Saturday, but beyond that he walks in. Pace, power and yet again he scores. Ok, he’s a bit iffy in possession but he’s here for a reason. 7.

Earl: He’s getting in because he’s left footed I reckon. He’s not a bad player, he just makes bad decisions at times. I hope we are looking for the next Liam Kitching. 5.

Gent: He’s impressed me in limited viewing so far. Glad he’s ours and not on loan. Good feeling about him. 7.

Yoganathan: Won headers, was tidy with the ball and showed some skill when needed. Off the ball, he f****** up a couple of times. Plenty of time ahead of him. 6.

Craig: Was disappointed with him to be honest. I felt we got worse when he went off on Friday, but tonight he wasn’t quite on it for me. Assume he’ll be a good substitute option for us. 5.

Russell: I’m a big fan of JR. Yes, he can frustrate. But he’s sublime at his best and in both games I feel like he’s made his mark. 7.

Cosgrove: Were the playoff performances the anomaly? Because he’s reverted to the lad we saw prior to that. Not a bad player by any means, but he isn’t getting double figures is he? 6.

Marsh: He’s not really any worse than the pair he’s fighting it out with. And inside the box he comes alive. But again, is he the answer? 6.

Phillips: There are genuine people who don’t rate him. They walk among us. He was superb tonight and if we get through the window without losing him we’ll be about 20 goals better off for it. 7.

Connell: Quality footballer and knits things together delightfully. If he can sort out his shooting, he won’t be here in January. 7.

Lofthouse: Again, impressive out of position. Can we see him on the right, please? 7.

Lopata: A younger Marc Roberts without the younger Robbo’s pace. I like Kacper. But he can only play central in a three and he’s not getting in ahead of Marc or Donny. 6.

Watters: Again, I think he did well. Like Friday. But again, he didn’t do the business where it matters and so I can bang on all night about how much I rate him (I really do) but it’s not happening is it? 6.

 

Sensible post and pretty accurate, get what your saying about the finishing but we've still got to defend better as a unit, we can't go into games thinking we'll stick all our chances away and win 6-5, because as it stands we are still giving up soft chances far too easy, the better teams in the league will punish us from 2 or 3 chances.

 

I don’t see us recruiting in defence. But you’re right. We will give up chances with the backline we have and the tactics we go with.

So yeah. We need to improve our shooting. Because if we do, based on a tiny sample size of two games, we will win more than we lose.

I can count at least 8 chances from two games that we should be testing the keeper with. Yet we’ve blazed wide/over. Add to that a handful of shots that were more like pass backs.

 

Some of those chances weren't technically that difficult either, we don't defend enough from back to front as a unit for me the press/energy from Cosgrove isn't there, I know its not his forte but as a unit to how we pressed under duff is miles off.
It's not just down to the back 3 to defend.

Very much work in progress some strengthening in the final 3rd should see us improve massively.

 

Their boss Shaun Maloney seems to be honest here, especially about us in the second half.
Even though I know neither team should be too confident or too disappointed, when it comes to the League Cup 1st Round.

 

As someone who didn't see tonight's game thanks for that. No idea of the circumstances but you're a massive loss for the club.

 

I wonder if I saw a different game to everyone else tonight. I’ve not read all the comments on here but generally a very negative vibe.

I thought we were excellent. Sorry.

 

I hope so, but we do say this a lot about our strikers don't we.
And we were saying (and hoping) the same, last season about Cosgrove.

 

Loads of positives tonight

 

Some certainly saw a different game to the 5 in my car that went. Dominated throughout the game on the whole. A few errors on a very wet pitch. What we all agreed on was the strenghth in depth shown. There is going to be plenty of competition for places. Strikers still a problem admitted. But for me Phillip's has to be given a run up front, if not sold that is,. Midfield is looking tidy. Defence will be better than last season. Pines was excellent. Russell again. Showed how good he can be on his day. Goalie impressed,
We all thoroughly enjoyed that game in the main. And putting it mildly, the best side won.

 

Yeah your right there.
At the start of season '90, we won 0-1 at their old Springfield park ground, and they also won 0-1 at Oakwell, in the 2nd leg.
And we went through eventually on penalties, after extra time!.

And thinking about it, we have never beaten Wigan at home... But they have never beaten us on penalties!.

 

We did hammer Wigan for the most part today. Just some poor finishing and defending that put the game in doubt. Thankfully the correct outcome was achieved.

 

I'll never forget first time i went there in '79. It absolutely poured down, and Clarkie stuck away a late penalty.
Was it Speedie's debut when we played them at Oakwell?

 

Nice to see a sensible well thought out post for a change.
Opposed to the he is not good enough.

 

We seem to be rushing everything in front of goal.. trying to break the net with every shot. Hence nine out of ten getting smashed over the bar.. It's what's young Marshy was on about Stead is trying to teach, calm Infront of goal

 

Enjoyed that (despite suffering from a really severe allergic reaction to something that seems to be ebbing away thankfully).

Lots to build on from that, some nice passing (although lots of examples of gifting the ball away).

I think I'm more inclined to start Cotter over O'Keefe and Lofthouse over Gent. Pines, once he got the minutes under his belt seems an obvious starter alongside Roberts.

Yoganathan looks very composed on the ball so I think we can definitely look at shedding some bodies from the squad in that area.

Second half was probably as one sided as I've seen for a long while.

Probably an ideal game to have after a very disappointing opener. Hardly anyone there, more of a friendly atmosphere and a free hit.

We do need forward options though, it's imperative we get that business done soon before we burn through too many games.

 

You make some good points. That second half was like a training session, attack versus defence.

A couple I’m not convinced over though:

Lofthouse starting over Gent is the first. Lofthouse has looked good in his cameos so far this season but Gent offers natural width on the left side and whips a great ball in. Playing Lofthouse on the left is England in the summer all over again, in my opinion.

Then Yoganathan. On the ball, he is brilliant. His touch, dribbling and passing seems beyond his years. However, off the ball it’s a different story. I’m not sure if he’s a dirty player or just half a yard slower when tackling but I’ve seen him put in a few daft challenges already. I’m not sure he should be a regular in our match day squad just yet.

 

Thought we played better when our better players came on.