55 shots against Bristol Rovers in 2 games

1 goal...





SIGN A FÙCKING STRIKER

 

Beyond belief…..

 

Completely unacceptable. Watters should have had 4 or 5 today.

Last season they screwed Neil Collins over by making an absolute mess with the defence and this season they've gone for the opposite end of the pitch and let Clarke down badly by not signing a striker.

 

Look at the first game against them as well in Sep, which we hung on to win eventually.
It was K.D's debut and he scored, and we battered them for the first 35 minutes.
Either they have just been very lucky in each game, where we keep on missing the chances.
Or, is it worse than that regarding our own players!.

 

We let 3 goals in today, we're not exactly blessed in the defensive third either. Our GA column looks to be more of a problem than GF.

 

We signed a goalscorer for £750k

 

We're often a shambles in defence. Got away with it in quite a few games.

 

their keeper MoM both games.

Again I ask, why do referees continue to allow such blatant time wasting by goalkeepers?

Didn't we have 3 outfield players booked for this offence against the Hollywood XI?

 

We've scored more than the two clubs directly above us, and only two less than table toppers Brum.

We've conceded more than everyone in the top 6 though - more than double Brum and almost double Wrexham and Hudders.

The defence is the main issue - as we've got two of the better goalscoring midfielders in the league.

 

Looking at performances purely on stats suggests that the defence is the issue. However, unlike under Collins the current team is set up to play more an attacking style of play which will give our opposition chances but we should more than offset this with goals scored .

Think of the difference between Arsenal in the early 90’s when they went out to win 1-0 and say us under Basset.

Yesterday the xg was Bristol 1.2 and Barnsley 3.1. That in itself suggest both our defence and attack underperformed by similar levels. Yesterday was a case of individual errors really hurting.

Clarke can only pick the players at his disposal. Like many players, Watters stock rose whilst he was not playing, yesterday he looked devoid of any finishing ability.

I think what made most people really annoyed yesterday is that we aren’t far off being a decent side. It’s pretty obvious what’s needed and there’s about two week left to sort it out.

 

Or alternatively, sign their keeper

 

We signed DKD for 750k; a good signing.

But he isn’t a centre forward. Not naturally anyway. He’s doing a job because he’s a good footballer.

I’m not advocating spending money we don’t have; but I’m also not having that we couldn’t get someone cheap or free, and pay them the same or less than we pay Cosgrove or Watters, who would do a job. Other clubs in this division with less resources than us have better centre forwards.

The majority of them probably couldn’t dream of having the midfield players we have, would love DKD, would love Humphrys as an option.

Even dare I say it some of the centre backs would be wanted by most of the teams in the league.

But we don’t have one league one quality number nine. We just dont. Arguably don’t have one that would cut up league two.

 

He made a lot of decent saves but no really outstanding ones, let’s be honest

 

You’re spot on. That’s the really frustrating thing. Clubs on far less resources than us seem to have far better forward options. Our recruitment in that area has been shockingly poor.

 

Im not disagreeing with any of that but DKD was signed as a goalscorer. Whether he was the right one to spend that money on considering the need for a number 9 is debatable.

My argument is more about people making the claim that the board didn’t try spend money on getting goals, they did.

 

I was at the game but actually missed their 2nd and 3rd goals having a sausage roll and then a slash. But having looked at the defending, my God - absolutely amateur. And as others have said, our GA column is pretty poor, only +4 GD in 5th place is not great.

That said, some of the chances missed were unforgivable and Watters in particular, I'm afraid, just isn't going to cut it as a goalscorer. We desperately need someone with the confidence/ability to bury these chances. Also, I'm still not sure what our "goal" in the first half was disallowed for.

 

On 85 minutes today Man City have had the same number of shots on target as we did yesterday.

We got 1 they got 6. I know they pay a bit more but jeez it really brings home the profligacy of our strikers.

 

**** stat.

A shot could be from anywhere on the field and bobble into the keepers hands....