BFTG Blackpool.

[Snowflake Royal]

that Puscas chance is really how we should be playing for him. It was utterly simple, but he made an excellent run, and had the pace and strength to get in behind.

Shame that was about the only time we tried it all night

I make it to be 1 pass to play him through...... in 4 games now!!! I will defend him as he is definitely making the runs a lone striker should be making.He is absolutely wasted + wasting his time. He may as well just join in the midfielders 45yard sideways passing, from last nights showing doesn't really matter if they come off or not these days.
Azeez was totally the wrong sub at the wrong time. I know we are not blessed with options right now but as soon as he went off we completely lost what ever shape we had and it was fully taken advantage of.

Yep my point above - Puscas adds things we don't see and we seem to mysteriously lose shape when he goes. The sort of player you miss when he goes. Chases everything.

Your point about only 1 throughball for him in 4 games - yeah that's shocking. Mick and Tim commented at one point that noone seemed to be wanting to pass to him a few games back. When he did have another good pass it was too late so offside, he was expecting it much sooner and had a go at whomever it was. We're not Milan sadly.

But one thing that stood out for me, probably wrongly, is that he didn't take the knee. Whatever you may think of it, if most/all your other team mates are then it might rub them up the wrong way if you don't show some solidarity with them if nothign else. I'm purely speculating but I wonder he there's some tension, I don't know. He's another player who doens't smile much but then we know he's had a tough time away from home in a cold miserable poor resource-lacking brexity shithole of a country on his own so we can't blame him. I wonder how much he gets on with the rest of them though. You're more likely to pass to your mates I guess than someone who doesn't engage much? Probably reading too much into it but I did find it quite odd!

Kneeling thought occurred to me too. But would hope they've talked about it together.

It does show the morons that no one is forced to do it and Puscas isn't getting abuse for not doing it. Unlike they tried to claim early on.

[paultheroyal]

Moore and Dann were quality last night - top performance and in general at no fault for what happened. That all came down to the midfield , All 5 of them who were powder puff all game, walked through and non existent. Mention it before, but i do think Laurent is over rated. Better as a centre back based on performances in midfield this season.

Watch his contribution next game, runs around, and that is about it.

[Hound]

Moore and Dann were quality last night - top performance and in general at no fault for what happened. That all came down to the midfield , All 5 of them who were powder puff all game, walked through and non existent. Mention it before, but i do think Laurent is over rated. Better as a centre back based on performances in midfield this season.

Watch his contribution next game, runs around, and that is about it.

Laurent was excellent last season - top drawer for a lot of it.

Performances this season have been way off in the midfield though - added very little yesterday

[Millsy]

I make it to be 1 pass to play him through...... in 4 games now!!! I will defend him as he is definitely making the runs a lone striker should be making.He is absolutely wasted + wasting his time. He may as well just join in the midfielders 45yard sideways passing, from last nights showing doesn't really matter if they come off or not these days.
Azeez was totally the wrong sub at the wrong time. I know we are not blessed with options right now but as soon as he went off we completely lost what ever shape we had and it was fully taken advantage of.

Yep my point above - Puscas adds things we don't see and we seem to mysteriously lose shape when he goes. The sort of player you miss when he goes. Chases everything.

Your point about only 1 throughball for him in 4 games - yeah that's shocking. Mick and Tim commented at one point that noone seemed to be wanting to pass to him a few games back. When he did have another good pass it was too late so offside, he was expecting it much sooner and had a go at whomever it was. We're not Milan sadly.

But one thing that stood out for me, probably wrongly, is that he didn't take the knee. Whatever you may think of it, if most/all your other team mates are then it might rub them up the wrong way if you don't show some solidarity with them if nothign else. I'm purely speculating but I wonder he there's some tension, I don't know. He's another player who doens't smile much but then we know he's had a tough time away from home in a cold miserable poor resource-lacking brexity shithole of a country on his own so we can't blame him. I wonder how much he gets on with the rest of them though. You're more likely to pass to your mates I guess than someone who doesn't engage much? Probably reading too much into it but I did find it quite odd!

Kneeling thought occurred to me too. But would hope they've talked about it together.

It does show the morons that no one is forced to do it and Puscas isn't getting abuse for not doing it. Unlike they tried to claim early on.

Oh I hadn't heard that claim. Presumably anyone with eyes can see sometimes whole teams who don't do it and noone cares, and part do, part don't, with no issues.

So yeah I don't think any player is bothered about that per se, but it's just possibly a small hint of a larger issue of perhaps some lack of togetherness.

I hope not though, and they probably all get on really well and they don't try the through balls as much purely because they're more comfortable with little triangles and it's just part of the gameplan.

[Stranded]

Is it coincidence that yet again Puscas goes off and we concede?+-

He seems to play as a defensive forward - constantly chasing down every ball, harassing the defenders, the keeper, works his socks off. He might not've physically scored the first but it was basically 99% his goal, as he pressurised their back line and keeper and won the ball. Giving them something to think about all game. And he almost scored himself later by pressurising the back line.

Take him off for a floaty young winger who doesn't press as much and as we have seen before the opposition is delighted! They play with no fear anymore and can just all push forward.

I dunno, but it does seem quite odd to me how the game changes so much when he goes off.

Coincidence - yesterday absolutely. Their opener came from a lucky corner, a half clearance and a deflection off Dann's head. Taking Puscas off had no effect on that at all. Tide had already well and truly turned toward Blackpool before the goal any way.

For all 3 goals? Tide was always generally with Blackpool yes, we were shite, but we shipped 3 straight after he went off. How did they get that corner? By bombarding us. A goal seemed inevitable. Thats' my point. Just generally weaker, inviting attacks and corners etc

Attack is the best form of defence and shit as he may be at scoring he sure pressurises a lot.

The corner came from midfield, it was essentially an aimless hoof from the Blackpool player that brushed off Ejaria I think. Southwood went to cut it out then left it unaware it had touched a teammate on the way out - they scored from the ensuing corner. The corner was won all of 30 seconds after the Puscas sub.

If that hadn't happened, then we may have held on a bit longer or possibly seen the game out but A did not cause B in this instance - it's just an easy narrative, especially as, as you mention, Blackpool were already bombarding us and Puscas presence had not stopped that - maybe a shift to 3-5-2 may have helped but honestly at that point we could have put 18 men on the pitch and they may well have still won.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

[

Yep my point above - Puscas adds things we don't see and we seem to mysteriously lose shape when he goes. The sort of player you miss when he goes. Chases everything.

Your point about only 1 throughball for him in 4 games - yeah that's shocking. Mick and Tim commented at one point that noone seemed to be wanting to pass to him a few games back. When he did have another good pass it was too late so offside, he was expecting it much sooner and had a go at whomever it was. We're not Milan sadly.

But one thing that stood out for me, probably wrongly, is that he didn't take the knee. Whatever you may think of it, if most/all your other team mates are then it might rub them up the wrong way if you don't show some solidarity with them if nothign else. I'm purely speculating but I wonder he there's some tension, I don't know. He's another player who doens't smile much but then we know he's had a tough time away from home in a cold miserable poor resource-lacking brexity shithole of a country on his own so we can't blame him. I wonder how much he gets on with the rest of them though. You're more likely to pass to your mates I guess than someone who doesn't engage much? Probably reading too much into it but I did find it quite odd!

Yeah i kinda agree, that you are more likely to pass to your mates than not. However they are all professionals you'd like to think they would prefer to get the job done, unless they are sending a message to VP that they're not gunna play him in...which on reflection, vs Barnsely Azeez was played in immediately after he replaced Puscas.....but like you I might be reading between the lines.

[St Pauli]

Listened to the game on the radio, on my headphones in bed.

Fell asleep a few minutes into the 2nd half. Woke up later to hear it was 2-2 and knew how it was going to end so turned off the radio and went to sleep.

On confiming the result on the intenet this morning I would describe my feelings regarding the result to be those of dissapointment.

[Ark Royal]

Still fuming this morning...

Something that was glaringly obvious to me last night - even in the first half - was our reluctance to organize an outlet when defending corners: we had all eleven players in our box and even when the ball was cleared it was always going to come straight back. Don't think Blackpool's first goal would have happened otherwise and it changed the whole complexion of the game.

Still fuming this afternoon...

[paultheroyal]

Still fuming this morning...

Something that was glaringly obvious to me last night - even in the first half - was our reluctance to organize an outlet when defending corners: we had all eleven players in our box and even when the ball was cleared it was always going to come straight back. Don't think Blackpool's first goal would have happened otherwise and it changed the whole complexion of the game.

Still fuming this afternoon...

Gets easier - until 4:50pm on Saturday. Hang on in there.

[bcubed]

Not quite as caught up with the emotion on here as I was a red-button viewer last night.

When Puscas missed his one and only chance I had that dreadful feeling that it was going to matter.
Bournemouth played at home to Blackpool early on in the season and cruised into a 2-0 half-time lead.
My son-in-law who went to the game said the second half was all Blackpool and they deservedly came away with a 2-2 draw and, looking at the league table this morning, they are just 1 point behind us.
So at 2-0 did we, like Bournemouth, underestimate them?

After the Cardiff game Hound posted that the players looked leggy and I disagreed and felt that only Yiadom looked leggy.
Last night from the start of the 2nd half they all looked leggy and that after having just one game after 2 weeks off.
Maybe some are having to play with injuries and unfortunately we had nothing on the bench that would make too much of a difference.

These are the only players that we have until the New Year so as our players take so long to return from injury the manager has to manage as best as he can and it is difficult.

Just on Puscas, his 2 contributions were helping to create a goal and missing the one-on-one.
For the rest of the game he never retained the ball at all when played up to him-he just hasn't got the strength or skill to play with his back to goal.
Admittedly, watching on TV, you do not see or appreciate runs off the ball and for all his limitations what else can the manager do other than keep on playing him until Joao is back?

Lastly, some of our intricate passing was top drawer and in playing that way we now have an identity even if it proves scary at the back (ironically our 2nd goal came about through Blackpool overplaying at the back) and our goals are more likely to come from intricate passing once we get in and around the box.
To do that we need a Joao but we haven't got a Joao for the foreseeable future so a variation on that way of playing is necessary as we create so few chances and, because we make so few, Puscas probably looks even worse than he is-Solanke or Mitrovic don't have to rely on just the one chance per game.

Reactions after Saturday were OTT positively, maybe fans are being OTT negatively after last night and we just have to grin and bear it and hope for the best as there are a lot of games for our very thin squad to play in the coming weeks.

Agree with most of this

First half play was really not too bad and there was plenty of pretty moves from us. As the game went on the moves broke down earlier and earlier. Either through trying one intricate pass too many or being dispossessed pretty easily.

I also think the players looked very tired in the second half. After the last game many people said we need some luck to get away with winning with such a small number of available players, so it doesn’t matter how we did it. Yesterday was perhaps one game too many and there was no energy to reply once we went behind. Unfortunately, more losses may follow until we get more players returning to fitness.

[Lower West]

[ Yesterday was perhaps one game too many and there was no energy to reply once we went behind.

With 33 games to go yet. You have to start to question whether the players actually have the neccessary attributes to be top consistant performers.

[Snowflake Royal]

We needed to react and reply substantially before we went behind.

[Crowbar6753]

Be interesting to know peoples thoughts on what could Pauno of done different. Strangest 2-0 lead at half time and then absolutely battered 2nd half.

With what we all knew was coming, what could of been done to prevent that?

I would have preferred Puscas to have stayed on and taken off TDB for Azeez. Also think given the dreadful energy levels he needed to bring on one of the Academy boys. We were being over run. We desperately needed fresh legs.

+1 Zip, TDB is clearly not an attacking midfielder!! the biggest loss for me is losing Halilovic, this guy brings a whole new dimension to our attacking play and does everything at a high tempo!! which is exactly the opposite to Ejaria, and i know this seems harsh but i believe Ejaria is a luxury player being played out of position and we would be more suited with a more direct Halilovic style of player in his place.
Ejaria for me would be best suited playing off the shoulder of the lone striker, but this is Swifts role and quite rightly so on current form.

Puscas, is an enigma, the guy is clearly talented and can score goals. That move and direct pass which created the one on one just showed if the team played to his strenghts the guy can be dangerous!! For me, this has to be down to poor coaching and management on Pauno's behalf, yes, i understand his hands are tied due to the injury crisis, but surly any good manager worth his salt should be able to adapt to the players you have at your disposal.

So for Blackburn, i to would start with Azeez on the right (as Halilovic is unavailable) and i wouldn't mind seeing the young lad Camara being given a go later in the game as it seems he to has show plenty of promise in the attacking midfield positon.

[Snowflake Royal]

Be interesting to know peoples thoughts on what could Pauno of done different. Strangest 2-0 lead at half time and then absolutely battered 2nd half.

With what we all knew was coming, what could of been done to prevent that?

I would have preferred Puscas to have stayed on and taken off TDB for Azeez. Also think given the dreadful energy levels he needed to bring on one of the Academy boys. We were being over run. We desperately needed fresh legs.

Agree.

Other options include Azeez for Laurent or Drinkwater in the same way.

Clarke for one of the midfielders to go 2 up and occupy their defence more, force them to commit more to defence. Give us more outballs to stop it coming straight back and help clear the lines going more direct.

Holmes on for a midfielder and him or Moore screening the defence. Or switching to a back 3 with wingbacks. Or just Holmes on for a defender, Yiadom, Moore or Dann, as they increasingly looked desperate and lost.

Camara for Ejaria to freshen legs is starting to stretch a bit.


Fundamentally, we had no leadership on the pitch, and the entire midfield were disorganised and poor. Especially Drinkwater. So we took off a striker.

[Stranded]

[ Yesterday was perhaps one game too many and there was no energy to reply once we went behind.

With 33 games to go yet. You have to start to question whether the players actually have the neccessary attributes to be top consistant performers.

There are very few clubs who will be living with being unable to make any changes game to game without weakening the side, so halves like yesterday will happen until we have 3 or 4 more players back.

It is also a hard accusation to put on this group when over the past 8 games they are W5 D1 L2. That is promotion form.

[Royality creeps In]

Bit surprised to see some of you sticking up for Puscas. He was oxf*rd abysmal apart from the goal assist.

We were crying out for someone to hold the ball up in their half and he failed miserably.

That's why Blackpool kept getting possession back because the ball kept bouncing off him, lost it because he had no strength, oh and zero pace!

I know our midfield .had an off day, however Puscas has one every oxf*rd game Dreadful!

[Zip]

Bit surprised to see some of you sticking up for Puscas. He was oxf*rd abysmal apart from the goal assist.

We were crying out for someone to hold the ball up in their half and he failed miserably.

That's why Blackpool kept getting possession back because the ball kept bouncing off him, lost it because he had no strength, oh and zero pace!

I know our midfield .had an off day, however Puscas has one every oxf*rd game Dreadful!

We barely got the ball to him! Time after time his runs were ignored.

[Jagermesiter1871]

I make it to be 1 pass to play him through...... in 4 games now!!! I will defend him as he is definitely making the runs a lone striker should be making.He is absolutely wasted + wasting his time. He may as well just join in the midfielders 45yard sideways passing, from last nights showing doesn't really matter if they come off or not these days.
Azeez was totally the wrong sub at the wrong time. I know we are not blessed with options right now but as soon as he went off we completely lost what ever shape we had and it was fully taken advantage of.

Yep my point above - Puscas adds things we don't see and we seem to mysteriously lose shape when he goes. The sort of player you miss when he goes. Chases everything.

Your point about only 1 throughball for him in 4 games - yeah that's shocking. Mick and Tim commented at one point that noone seemed to be wanting to pass to him a few games back. When he did have another good pass it was too late so offside, he was expecting it much sooner and had a go at whomever it was. We're not Milan sadly.

But one thing that stood out for me, probably wrongly, is that he didn't take the knee. Whatever you may think of it, if most/all your other team mates are then it might rub them up the wrong way if you don't show some solidarity with them if nothign else. I'm purely speculating but I wonder he there's some tension, I don't know. He's another player who doens't smile much but then we know he's had a tough time away from home in a cold miserable poor resource-lacking brexity shithole of a country on his own so we can't blame him. I wonder how much he gets on with the rest of them though. You're more likely to pass to your mates I guess than someone who doesn't engage much? Probably reading too much into it but I did find it quite odd!

Kneeling thought occurred to me too. But would hope they've talked about it together.

It does show the morons that no one is forced to do it and Puscas isn't getting abuse for not doing it. Unlike they tried to claim early on.

Isn't Millsy literally suggesting he may not be being passed to because he didn't kneel?

[Hound]

'fraid so

Think Pauno also mentioned last season when injured he spent a lot of the time round the team keeping people's spirits up etc, so very much doubt there is an issue there

[Millsy]

Yep my point above - Puscas adds things we don't see and we seem to mysteriously lose shape when he goes. The sort of player you miss when he goes. Chases everything.

Your point about only 1 throughball for him in 4 games - yeah that's shocking. Mick and Tim commented at one point that noone seemed to be wanting to pass to him a few games back. When he did have another good pass it was too late so offside, he was expecting it much sooner and had a go at whomever it was. We're not Milan sadly.

But one thing that stood out for me, probably wrongly, is that he didn't take the knee. Whatever you may think of it, if most/all your other team mates are then it might rub them up the wrong way if you don't show some solidarity with them if nothign else. I'm purely speculating but I wonder he there's some tension, I don't know. He's another player who doens't smile much but then we know he's had a tough time away from home in a cold miserable poor resource-lacking brexity shithole of a country on his own so we can't blame him. I wonder how much he gets on with the rest of them though. You're more likely to pass to your mates I guess than someone who doesn't engage much? Probably reading too much into it but I did find it quite odd!

Kneeling thought occurred to me too. But would hope they've talked about it together.

It does show the morons that no one is forced to do it and Puscas isn't getting abuse for not doing it. Unlike they tried to claim early on.

Isn't Millsy literally suggesting he may not be being passed to because he didn't kneel?

Wtf absolutely not.

I'm questioning correlation not causation.