Ratings and views

Colgan 9 superb today, penalty save just copped it off,
Hassle 8 tried getting forward and a solid performance bar penalty
reid 8 looked solid at back with kay
kay 9 best game i seen him have for a while, won everything and looks more confident
heckingbottom 8 getting better and better, won his headers and put in a good display
devaney 5 just didnt get into it at all, too predictable and first touch wasnt there
togwell 8 great debut, gonna be an unsung hero this season. great prospect
howard 9 (mom) what can u say, not one foot wrong and a fantastic goal, licence to get forward more now will suit him and the team
mcindoe 7 looked really sharp pre season but had good patches and patches where he wasnt in the game, will come good i think
richards 7 lacklustre 1st half, purse saw to him pretty well, second half he came out and held the line really well
hayes 7 not an out an out striker but did ok today, skill and charisma is there, just needs to be stronger

SUBS
Wright 5 he makes me laugh when he comes on, 100% trier but no ability and just doesnt seem to know what to do when he gets the ball
Williams 6 not enough time to impress

MY VIEW: All in all it was a great performance by the reds, the only thing i can complain about is the result. A great game for the neutral with both sides having chances to win it. We still need 2 strikers though. Richards did ok and so did hayes but when u look at the opposition, there strikers only need one chance and bang, you are one nil down, ours need 3 or 4 os sometimes even more before we score. thats where i think we will honestly struggle. we need a striker that only need one chance or a glimpse of goal to put the ball in. Everyone says give tommy wright a chance, today he came on and did nothing, i dont slate players and wont do to him but when he gets the ball, he dont seem to know what to do with it and gave it away too many times when he came on. Devaney was our worst player today, he just couldnt get in the game and seems too predictable and good defenders in this league will sort him out pretty quickly. The 2 new signings impressed me although we didnt see the real mcindoe today. Defensivly we did good apart from there 1st which we didnt track the runner who scored. Midfield can hold their own and i think healy will add to this. Cardiff were good, like us they hit on the break and even though we are upset about mcphail, he was calm and did his thing today. this division will suit him. Chopra was quiet but he can hurt you if given time and space (1st goal). All in all im really pleased with the performance and hope we can come back from hull with something. Hopefully we will do well this season and the results will follow todays performance.

 

Spot on mate.

 

cheers fella, i try and understand everyones point of view and then put my own in. I used to play for the reds but only made reserve team and quit in 2000. Still love the lads though. Understand as a player and as a fan.

 

It was wright who played a great ball to Hayes when richards hit the bar and no... i'm not a fan but i thought he did alright when he came on today</p>

 

i aint ever gonna dis wright, i hope he can turn himself round and become a great signing for the club, true he hasnt started many games and when he has come on he hasnt got long to shine, true when he does come on he gives 100%, true when he comes on, he hasnt done anything to suggest he deserves a starting place. Confidence is a big thing in a player, maybe his is low. You can only base a player on how they perform. so far not so good. Time may be a great thing for him though. I for one hope he gets his chance ad takes it with a great performance and a goal. Only he can do that.

 

Agreed

 

I think 5 is a bit generous for Devany!

 

That assessment is spot on. It also indicates that the performance we put up is about as good as we can do. And as good as we did, we still lost.
It's going to be a long hard season.

 

But there are a lot worse teams than Cardiff to come - so IF we maintain that level of performance we'll pick up points.

 

cheers guys, i agree with the last post, cardiff wont be the best side to come to oakwell. we have to pick up the tempo and adapt quite quick and dont leave ourselves behind in the points.

 

I can't help but wonder

If Wright is guilty, if that's the right word, of "trying too hard". He's obviously aware that he's not pulled up any trees in his time here & is probably desperate to put it right. I dare say he's feeling tense & not relaxed at all which is probably making him think about what he's doing too much rather than just letting things happen.

Having said that, we do desperately need a new striker as I'm far from convinced that Richards is up to it at this level. In my opinion, he struggled at League 1 level. Yes you'll always get full effort from him but I seriously doubt if we'll get enough goals. We also need an older head at the back, preferably in the middle. Can't think of any names off the top of my head of people who would fit the bill for either position but, if we can fill those holes in our squad, I reckon we have a half decent chance of survival.

 

I reckon that's the best display we've put up for ages - we won't be as good as that each week. Can't fault the effort but there was a bit of that Premiership season feeling about it - effort having to bow down to opposition class.

 

Didn't Wright have a header cleared off the line?

It looked like it from where we were sitting.

Just curious,
Stephen

 

RE: Didn't Wright have a header cleared off the line?

No, their dfender beat him to it, and perhaps handled in the process

 

RE: I can't help but wonder

Kenny Cunnigham

 

RE: Didn't Wright have a header cleared off the line?

Thanks, I wondered what the penalty shout was for.

 

Class act yesterday our lads apart from the first 20 mins. All this McPhail ran the show talk is utter drivel, Togwell will be a better player as he has more ability fromwhat I saw pre-season.

Again, we are lacking a match winner, a big target man thatr can get on the end of a long ball when the pretty stuff aint working. Someone who can knock balls down to the smaller strikers around him. Who can also chip in with 15-20 goals. He does'nt have to be proven, just look at Nugent at PNE and Doyle at Reading.

If we play that way all season we wont go far wrong, we just need to find the one missing piece of the jigsaw.

 

Both full backs aren`t good enough and the strikers don`t penetrate the oppositions defence, they are there to score goals, that was the difference in the teams their strikers always look dangerous ours didn`t

 

that'll not be popular

 

RE: I can't help but wonder

totally agree, well said