The Home Straight

We're in with a great chance of the play offs now with 5 games to go, which is an amazing achievement in itself.

I do think this squad deserves to achieve promotion and I believe they can do it. The tide is with us.

Come on you reds!

 

Bradford and Millwall are still in the mix mate.

Saturday is pivotal.

If we beat Burton then it's wide open for that last play off spot and I would include Burton in that.

 

I think we'll beat Burton. We'll have a huge following there and they're collapsing like a house of cards.

 

Judging by Wembley and the highlights of the two games afterwards, our main vulnerability seems to be coming down the left. Other people have remarked that maybe White was brought back too soon. Maybe time to rest him and give George Smith a run - though what a time in the season in would be to put a young lad into the team. Big responsibility!

 

George smith should be nowhere near our team right now. White will be ok, the problems come when hammill is upfield and the opposition overload down that side

 

Personally think Smith would do a good job if he came in. He is solid defensively, but not great going forward.

White has looked way off the pace since coming back in. Both back and going forward. We have very few options though. What happened to that Everton lad?

 

Callum Connoly is back at Everton.

 

Might be worth bringing in Nyatanga at left back for a game, just to see how he does and also to give White the rest he clearly needs.

 

If Nyatanga is the answer, the question must surely be 'how do we make certain we miss the play-offs?'

 

I think that is quite harsh, none of the defence were covering themselves in glory earlier in the season and those with short memories forget he was voted the Players' Player of the year last season and was our best defender by a long way.

 

The last thing I would do is change the back four around now. White seems to have attracted some criticism for last night , I agree he had a poor game against Oxford but I'm going to buck the trend...I thought he was pretty good against Oldham overall.
If anything I'd bring Scowen back in to provide a bit more protection for the defence.

 

White will only get better game by game. I think he came back too soon to play at Wembley but it won't take him much longer to get fully fit.

What I will say is a lot of our own fans don't have a clue when it comes to blaming people for goals conceded.

At Wembley for Oxford's first goal White got the blame from a lot of people for not stopping the cross when he was marking two players because Hammill didn't track back. Clearly not White's fault.

Again last night White tracked the winger inside as he's meant to do & Hammill let the full back run past him & square the ball for Main to score & bizarrely a load of people around me started tearing into White when it was obviously Hammill's fault for not coming back with the full back. Whilst Hourihane & Mawson were bollocking Hammill for not tracking back fans around me were screaming at White, strange to see.

And then early in the first half James Bree tracked the winger inside as he's meant to do & the full back put a ball in only for people to blame Bree & not Watkins for not covering.

I think what we're seeing is opposition doubling up on our full backs because our attack minded system means they get little cover & instead of fans realising this they're tearing into the full backs instead.

Bree played well last night apart from a dodgy one-two with Brownhill but when he did things well seemed to get less applause than others which seems a strange reaction just because he's been picked ahead of Williams.

Toney got the same treatment for simply been picked up front instead of Fletcher or Watkins.

I'm pretty certain he won more headers last night than any of our forwards have in a game this season yet seemed to get very little credit. Superb ball through for Winnall as well when he hit the post in the first half.

And just to say I'm not having a go at Hammill because he's been outstanding for us & in the two games I've mentioned he created a lot more going forwards than he cost us defensively.

 

This! I feel quite sorry for him, who's to say in a more assured defence in a good run of results he couldn't perform how we know he can

 

Those with even shorter memories forget how bad at left back he is whenever he's played there, like earlier this season

 

I was never as sold on Nyatanga as most & think he got too much credit because he scored a few goals last season but he's more than capable of filling in at centre back especially coming into a settled team playing with confidence.

I don't want to see him playing left back though

 

He could be a good player to see out games, in the way that Scowen does at right mid.

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I want to see our full-backs picked from that quartet of Bree/Williams/White/Smith and nobody else, thanks very much. They're the four that have played in those roles since the upturn in form. They know the system. Not doubting Lewin's credentials or experience, but it's too late in the day to try and get him up to speed enough to make an impact. On the bench as cover at centre-half for me, but nowt else.