BFTG Wigan

[Cureton's Volley]

Not quite sure what point you are trying to prove, but you appear to be trying just a little too hard.

[Avon Royal]

Not quite sure what point you are trying to prove, but you appear to be trying just a little too hard.

Indeed!

[Ian Royal]

Our throw ins deeply upset me.

No movement, no urgency. Pisses me right off.

Every throw in is a bloody foul throw these days as well, also pisses me off. Everyone does it.

They did start to improve as we did. But I agree, our throws are symptomatic of our unimaginative, plodding, "let someone else do it" approach sometimes.

[Cureton's Volley]

Our throw ins deeply upset me.

No movement, no urgency. Pisses me right off.

Every throw in is a bloody foul throw these days as well, also pisses me off. Everyone does it.

They did start to improve as we did. But I agree, our throws are symptomatic of our unimaginative, plodding, "let someone else do it" approach sometimes.

Agreed. As soon as the ball goes dead it is the perfect opportunity to capitalise as the defending team will often switch off momentarily. However, we never seem to take advantage of this until late when chasing games, and even then rush it and take FKs whilst the ball is still rolling

[Ian Royal]

Oh and I'd just add, that I don't think you can lay much blame on Adkins shoulders for that result. He got a few things wrong certainly, and he's responsible for training, but it was really individual player errors that cost us.

Sharp's pen.
Pearce's control.
etc.

[WestRoyal]

He zipped loads in... No-one to feet on the end of it. Ah, maybe you had gone by then, got it. Apologies.

I don't think urz13 knows a good cross doesn't always mean one that will fall on someones head or foot. Sometimes a good cross is one that is put in the danger area for the striker to attack as once stated by mr shearer himself if my word ain't good enough. Don't worry though urz13 drenthe will come good and I'm sure he will get on the assist/goal chart very soon so there is no need to try and put McClearys game down to make him look better.

Not at all. You've summed up a good cross perfectly there, but McCleary didn't put in a single one yesterday. The one which missed the box entirely was especially awful as there were 4/5 players waiting for it inside the box. It's the biggest flaw in his game, just saying.

I must of been watching a different game yesterday. I also watched the site Hi-lights and someone who looked just like him on the right put in 3 crosses which lead to chances. Woeful absolutely woeful

[WestRoyal]

Well that sucked. Although, actually, I thought we played fairly well after the first 20 - 25 minutes. Even the first 10 weren't particularly bad. It was just a 15 minute patch after their first goal where we basically couldn't put a foot right. Second home game in a row we've been punished for a silly mistake with virtually the oppositions first attack. Second home game in a row we've then gifted them a second fairly quickly after.

Think Adkins did himself tactically by doing nothing to counter Wigan's shape with three at the back and 5 in midfield. Which mean for that first half hour we had no space and could string nothing together. Beausejour once again caused us a lot of problems.

I was impressed with the reaction of the fans, bar the HT booing, which I thought was unhelpful given the improvement we'd shown in that last 15 minutes of the half. Good motivational booing to prevent the unnecessary pass back to McCarthy / CBs and the Gorkss aimless hoof upfield. Good motivational cheering when we actually passed it and put some pressure on Wigan. I assume it was being outnumbered in midfield that made us decide to revert to the tried and failed tactic of hitting it at Pog's head.

Much better, although still difficulty with the final ball and a lack of penetration, once we actually started passing it through the team again.

McCarthy - 6 don't think he had a shot with either goal. Some good saves. Bizzarely, both some of his best kicking and worst during the game.
Gunter - 6 a few very poor passes, too many hoofs, struggled against Beasejour, but generally coped fairly well once in the back three.
Cummings - 6 some good, some bad
Pearce - 6 thought he actually had a decent game, bar the horrendus mistake for their second goal
Gorkss - 6 not too bad defensively, wish he wouldn't punt it forward at every other opportunity.
Guthrie - 6 hit it long too much at the end and bypassed too much at the beginning. Needs to show more movement and desire to push us up through the middle, looking to release, move forward and then receive again.
Williams - 6 missing early on, a few mistakes. But got stuck in and much improved second half. Both he and Guthrie need to look at linking up going forward and then need to make more effort to attack the box late when we're getting somewhere.
Drenthe - 7 not the final product and not fit, but he has that desire to make things happen, that unpredictability and that change of pace and direction that creates chances.
McAnuff - 6 not his best game, some errors, but a real captain's performance, busting his arse to make up for his mistakes, to help out his teams mates. He's not the devasting attacker that McCleary can be, but he's often involved in our better passing and moves and he rarely lets you down like McCleary can.
Sharp - 5 worked hard, decent team play, but terrible penalty and missed a couple of other chances.
Pog - 7 MOTM worked really hard but got very little decent service early on. No one takes his place when he goes wide either, meaning we only have one person in the box often. Crap at winning headers though.

Obita - 7 coped well at fullback and in the back three
McCleary - 7 dangerous going forward down the wing
ALF - 6 didn't see much of what he did as I was at the wrong end. Can't help but think he'd have buried that penalty and earnt us a point though.

Another game I've come away from thinking that we could and should have won it, when we haven't. That sucks, but it tells me whilst we're not playing well, it won't take much improvement to really do well.

Oh, and can we please make more effort to cross the ball to a target, rather than just into a "dangerzone". When you've got that few people in the box most of the time, you can't just bang it in there. You have to look up and actually choose who you're attempting to pick out.

I agree was happening too much in the first half

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Passing it out from the back is not the way to play in the Championship Nigel, its OK in the Premier as teams are not pressed back.

If you persist with this style of football we will continue to put ourselves under needless pressure from the off and end up giving away even more sloppy defensive goals.

[soggy biscuit]

You've summed up a good cross perfectly there, but McCleary didn't put in a single one yesterday

Reckon you went to the wrong ground on saturday mate

[If you still hate Futcher]

In general McCleary's crosses were either cut out at the front post or overhit - the one we scored from was the only real quality cross and that was put in by Guthrie.

One of the problems with the crossing is that McCleary always seemed to hesitate before trying to beat his defender which gave Wigan's CDM (McCann) time to get in the hole behind the LB and cut out the cross or make it more difficult for McCleary to find a man, also because it gives the other defenders time to organise.

If he backed himself a bit more I'm sure he'd get more reward - especially when the LB has been booked (both LBs they played were at some stage) and will have to be really certain before making a tackle

[tmesis]

Passing it out from the back is not the way to play in the Championship Nigel, its OK in the Premier as teams are not pressed back.

If you persist with this style of football we will continue to put ourselves under needless pressure from the off and end up giving away even more sloppy defensive goals.

On the contrary, I'd say it's a good way to play. You can tire the other team out as they chase shadows while you knock the ball around, and it gets them frustrated.

The downside is that you have to be pretty good at it for it to work. You need to be comfortable on the ball, and you need good off the ball movement so that the player on the ball always has options for a pass. The latter is a big problem at the moment.

[3points]

the one we scored from was the only real quality cross and that was put in by Guthrie.

Hopefully Guthrie learnt that's how to cross the ball, and not the dross he usually puts on from corners. A bit flatter, with a bit more pace, and not 5 yds beyond the back post

[semtex1871]

Have just seen the clip on Soccer AM......did not realise that the Wigan defender had put a hole in the penalty spot.

Thought it was the wind moving the ball not that it was rolling into the hole!