Mistakes by Hillcroft, by the players, by the ref, and by myself for deciding at the last minute to join my mate and come down ere.. I cant be arsed to defend em, because frankly, up until Cardiffs fifth goal, OUR players couldnt be arsed either. Hill chose a team and tactics that invited a potent team onto us. And because we play passing football, if 2 or 3 players are struggling - to pass - then you are in deep sh*t. And our midfield gave it away time and again. Gray and Jimbo had their 3rd invisible away display on the spin. Drinkwater was his usual self, but again, his distribution was way off. The full-backs had zero protection and were all over the place. The center halves were dissected/bypassed at will, and but for Steele we could easily have been 5 or 6 down at the break. But, their 2nd goal was a joke. It should never have materialised. Whittingham was allowed to continue his run - the ref played advantage - and have a shot at goal. But when it didnt go in, the ref, Mr Mathieson, THEN pulled it back for the foul!? Baffling. Up stepped Whittingham whose shot wasnt held by Steele and bang it was 2-0. And the back-pass incident was worse! The GK from my view took a swing at Gray, yet the ref booked both of em?? Bizarre. If he had been sent off at that point who knows what would have happened. But Cardiff again cut thru us like a hot knife thru butter and it was game over at 5-1. Then, and only then, did we get it forward with purpose, and attack a poor defence that were there for the taking from minute one. The fact we got 2 goals back should not gloss over the fact that we were worryingly bad. It was nothing like we have seen up until this point. So hopefully it was a one-off, a bad day at the office, pick a cliche.
we'll bounce back whitey i've more confidence in this team than i have had for a while.its a season long haul so i don't want to be over confident, but ive more faith in hillsangels than daveysdarlings or robinsrockets in bouncing back from indifferent performances.
All sounds a bit depressing Whitey but well played to you for going all the way down there. I really thought we'd get something today so it's been a bit of a wake up call and reminded me that unless you give 100% in this league this kind of result is likely. Hopefully Hill will learn from this and will read the riot act to some if the players. Hopefully just a blip, back to normal service next week.
When you say it was nothing like we have seen up until this point do you mean that it was even worse than against Morecambe and such like?
Im 3 hours better off now with regards to my outlook. I dont take back my view of the display, it was unacceptably gash. But I suppose I forgot to take into account how good 2 of the Cardiff goals were. And if the ref hadnt been such a blatant homer then who knows eh? I tend to believe what Dragon says, that had there been another 10 minutes it would have been interesting. I just hope we go with 2 up top next week and try to hurt them, rather than todays blatant white-flag approach.
maybe I was at a different game to him I was disappointed at the result and some other aspects, check out my report below.
tbh think the atmospheres gonna be a big factor this season with regards performances. the club need to do something drastic with pricing policy to get em in. imo the performances away would probably be a lot better with a recent oakwell roar still ringing in their ears and the vociferous away fans (of which until recently i was a regular) cheering them on
Didnt go to the cup match matey, but ball retention-wise, and defensively, I reckon today was the worst display Ive seen. Not enough of the collective fighting spirit, or the in-your-face pressure we have come to expect. Apart from Steele and maybe Drinkwater (his awful passing aside), there wasnt a decent performance in there. Although RVT and Davies were great once on. With hindsight, maybe starting a clearly unfit Perks out of position, rather than Davies or Rico, was a mistake. But Im moving on. Its gone, and I trust Keith to make sure it was a one-off. The returns of our quicker players would be a big plus. We lacked pace today and as much as I rate Gray when he is on form, he is a waste of a player when he dips below that level. Tired today he looked, very slow even for him.
Agree with that Whitey. A pity Drinkwater's second free kick didn't go in. But it says it all when (in my opinion) Steele was our best player. I think it was positive that Hill made the 3 changes at half time to try to rectify a bad situation. Hope we bounce back in our next two home games
