Match yesterday,where i think were going wrong/right

Another poor performance,truth is we should have come out with same result in previous 2 away games.Anyway we are sat 9th in league,3 points behind leaders,and haven't got anywhere near top gear yet.

Forest,Donny,Bristol,Hartlepool all trail us currently,admittadly not for long.

Reight,the DEFENCE = REID very capable centre half,good to see him captain,he says its an honour,lets hope he honours it and leads us on the pitch.Solid player really,two games less than rest,will get up to speed in no time.CARBON solid in air,never lost a header yesterday,if he stays fit he has shown that he still has a bit to offer at this level,seems to be a lot more safety first this year,gets shut everytime,encourging.AUSTIN playing out of position,but giving his all,his determination yesterday in the 10min spell before penalty earned us a undeserved victory.Suspect when on back foot,not very fast,which is why he dives in all time.TONGE pretty sound to be honest,good in air,fast,and trys to get the ball down on deck,another good academy product.

All in all the defence ain't too bad,however at times we are too quick to just lump it away rather than trying to get it down and pass the ball.No goals let in at home.Must also mention Colgan,to me the lad gets undeserved stick,kept scoreline respectful last week,his hesitant defence often make it look like he is at fault at times,he's not perfect,but not the calamity james people would have you believe.

MIDFIELD, now for me this is where we are going wrong this season big time.Games are won and lost in midfield,and our midfield are losing too many battles! McPHAIL & BURNS are too slow to support the attack,number of times yesterday CONLON & HAYES had ball with nobody to pass to was laughable! Too often these two players are passengers,now don't get me wrong BURNS runs himself into ground every week,but if your being honest thats all he does.His decision making is poor,passing often is too heavy,corners/free kicks not upto standard.McPHAIL is quality when he wants to be,Swindon game was him at his best,dictating play without breaking sweat,Colchester & Yeovil he might as well have been in stands.SHUKER 110% effort,great speed & trickery,but his end product is woeful,crossing very rarley gets anywhere other than keepers hands,if we are to go anywhere,he must must do better.WILLIAMS not a winger,looked half alseep yesterday,sooner everybody gets fit and he can slot into his natural position the better.

Two new signings to come back from injury,both midfielders,how we do could depend on the influence KELL & HOWARD make on this struggling midfield.For me i would like to see HASSELL back at right back and TONGE moved up into the position where we saw him play well first off.By all accounts KELL is a very very good player,6'1 ball winner,hopefully box to box player as well,i think this boy will be key to our fortunes.HOWARD all he has to do is beat a man and deliver half decent crosses everytime and track back,if he does that he will have done moe than we've been used to!

ATTACK, HAYES could well be one of the siginings of the season in this Div, 2 goals in 4 matches is a good start so far,he looks hungry,he dosen't need asking twice to shoot,if he stays injury free he'll get 20+ no doubts,inpressed with him.NARDIELLO the lad has obviously got so much talent,his workrate is questionable,but if he slots em in every couple of games we can live with that im sure.Will form a formidable partnership with HAYES in coming weeks.

We need another striker,take a chance on this czech lad,contract till end of year,can't go wrong.CONLON has been average so far,needs to more physical,he's got the touch but loses out in the physical batte too much.JARMAN looks half decent in brief glimpses we've seen of him,but we can't rely on him if we get injuries.Lets use the loan market Ritchie

All in all we are currently stumbling along,we have the players to be doing better,were not too far away from top on points but on performaces we are a long way off.

Brentford & Swansea up next,first good sides we'll encounter if we don't pull our socks up we'll get soundly beat in both games.Next two games will be a good judge of Ritchie's men.

 

agree with most of you have said fella,for me big barry does not look fit and ritchie should have taken hayes off 10 minutes earlier than when he did, because in my opinion he looked knackerd. as for the midfeild you are spot on about burns runs his blood to water but lacks any real quality, not strong enough to be ball winning midfeilder and when he does have the ball he couldnt pass water,i thought reid and carbon played well yesterday but you can tell they have no confidance in the indesisive colgan.

 

In my humble opinion a noble and accurate assessment

 

Colgan

On more than one occasion in the first half there were a couple of defenders standing in our box waiting for Colgan to decide whether he was coming for the ball or not, unsure whether they should clear it. Colgan eventually did come and get the ball, but despite the near silence from the Ponty end, I never heard him shout. Both my 2 lads (11 and 12) have had spells playing in goal for their teams and they were both constantly told to shout "Keeper's" when they were going for the ball. Surely professional keepers know that don't they?