BFTG (H) Brizzle

[Snowball]

All too casual at times. As others have said, need to keep the tempo up throughout the game. Bristol were crap. I think thats most fans biggest frustration. But, I saw plenty to be optimistic about.

Mannone did so well under the high Bristol press. AAH would have crumbled in that game with our back passing.

Defence was sound otherwise. The high press didn't allow our full backs out much.

We bossed the midfield (apart from headers!). I think Bacuna showed some glimpses of real quality. VDB got caught out a few times. Kelly was class; although really needs to start carrying the ball forward more imo.

Lastly, JDB had a bad day finishing. The Brum game showed what he's all about - I think hes comung in for some unfair criticism and people's memories are too short. Fcuk me, he missed like, 2 chances? Barrow and Aluko were wayward with theirs, too.

All that said - I'm really excited to see how the Barrow / Bod / Aluko partnership comes together over the coming weeks. Now we have a run of games they will get better and better.

Sensible Post!

[Hound]

Seen the highlights etc now. Bod's second miss ewas ghastly and think Mannone could possibly have saved the shot. Still some of the build up play looked impressive

Just seems like a massive missed opportunity. Last year with very rare exceptions, we were scraping through these games.

No real point bleating about the striker signing. We tried and we were priced out. Stam highlighted players who would do a good job and their clubs priced us out. End of really. Yann should be back soonish hopefully

[CountryRoyal]

Seen the highlights etc now. Bod's second miss ewas ghastly and think Mannone could possibly have saved the shot. Still some of the build up play looked impressive

Just seems like a massive missed opportunity. Last year with very rare exceptions, we were scraping through these games.

No real point bleating about the striker signing. We tried and we were priced out. Stam highlighted players who would do a good job and their clubs priced us out. End of really. Yann should be back soonish hopefully

I don't have a problem that we didn't get any of our 3 reported main targets.

I have a problem that in the entire world we concluded that our best options were those 3.

[paddy20]

5 goals scored in 6 league games is simply not top 6 form. Any armchair idiot such as myself can see the problem is the lack of ANY goalscorers in the side. Yet the Dutchman insists on buying ever more midfielders.

Bodvarsson is NOT a striker. 3 goals in 42 apps for Wolves last season is evidence enough, never mid the bambi-on-ice attempts today.
Kermorgant is 36 and retiring at the end of this season, not to mention being injured.

Er, what other striker options do we sensibly have? And I don;t mean midfielders playing up front, I mean actual specialist strikers - you know, those guys who are paid to put the ball in the back of the net?

Stam has totally f****d up his transfer dealings this window - again. Despite fielding our most expensive ever starting lineup today (£20M), we get beat by a side at home who will be relegation candidates for much of the season.

The Chinese will NOT be impressed with the season to date, as indeed I am not. What odds on Stam being ousted before the next transfer window?

Think the problem was last year in not planning for a replacement for Kermogant. Leaving it last minute meant we were costed out of getting a replacement

[paddy20]

All too casual at times. As others have said, need to keep the tempo up throughout the game. Bristol were crap. I think thats most fans biggest frustration. But, I saw plenty to be optimistic about.

Mannone did so well under the high Bristol press. AAH would have crumbled in that game with our back passing.

Defence was sound otherwise. The high press didn't allow our full backs out much.

We bossed the midfield (apart from headers!). I think Bacuna showed some glimpses of real quality. VDB got caught out a few times. Kelly was class; although really needs to start carrying the ball forward more imo.

Lastly, JDB had a bad day finishing. The Brum game showed what he's all about - I think hes comung in for some unfair criticism and people's memories are too short. Fcuk me, he missed like, 2 chances? Barrow and Aluko were wayward with theirs, too.

All that said - I'm really excited to see how the Barrow / Bod / Aluko partnership comes together over the coming weeks. Now we have a run of games they will get better and better.

Agree defence was fine today. However we only bossed midfield because we had the extra player there. I didn't think Kelly was that good yesterday partly due to him playing too deep. We effectively had a very defensive structure with not only 3 centre halves but also two defensive midfielders which left us short going forward.

As for Bodvarson I can't remember seeing such an inept performance from a striker. After 40 odd games for Wolves last season to only score 3 goals why did we buy him when what we needed was a goalscorer?

No complaints with the rest of the team apart from trying to get Blackett to act as a wing back. Every time he ran down the wing and had the opportunity to get the ball in the box he stopped and passed it back. Thats not what a wing back should do.

Think its going to be a frustrating season because we have a good team of players that can play football but without the final piece we won't achieve much

[LWJ]

Wasn't there, but reading these comments it seems like the same old same old from last season. Ponderous build up and no cutting edge? A passing/possession game is only any good if played at pace, otherwise it is just tedious and gives the oppo too much time to get themselves back into shape and then you've got to be better than we are to get past them.

When you say 'same old, same old from last season', are you alluding to the form that saw us lose two out of twenty three?

Yup. And I still don't understand how we made it the play off final playing the same dreary negative football. I will gladly bet a lot that if we play the same way throughout this season we will finish an awful lot lower than 3rd. I used to love the SSC way of playing. Get it out to the wing, take 'em on and get balls into the box. This possession style just ain't for me, it is tedious, slow and blunt football.

Bottom half or top? Il offer you £1k we finish top 10 - to your £2k we finish bottom 14

[leon]

With the squad we've got top ten should be a must.

[3points]

Surprised that Mendes wasn't even on the bench yesterday. Is he injured? I thought those types of pull back type chances we created were his bread and butter.

I actually thought we were reasonable yesterday. Created some good chances and the extra pace of Barrow and Aluko have already added a completely different dimension to the team compared to Beerens and McCleary and should be a fantastic asset, especially away from home. If I was Popa I'd be pretty pissed off that McCleary is getting game time ahead of me. he was awful yesterday when he came on.

[LWJ]

If I was Popa I'd be pretty pissed off that McCleary is getting game time ahead of me. he was awful yesterday when he came on.

Popa must be injured after international games. He's been outstanding this year and warrants a spot in the squad minimum.

[WestRoyal]

If I was Popa I'd be pretty pissed off that McCleary is getting game time ahead of me. he was awful yesterday when he came on.

Popa must be injured after international games. He's been outstanding this year and warrants a spot in the squad minimum.

I heard the same re popa. People will make assumptions though

[windermereROYAL]

My take on yesterday, the performance was on par with the villa game for me, that game got plenty of plaudits on here because we won, this time we lost, so the knee jerkers surface again.
I certainly believe there is plenty to optimistic about, however the age old striker dilemma will always be there every time we lose.

[tmesis]

If I was Popa I'd be pretty pissed off that McCleary is getting game time ahead of me. he was awful yesterday when he came on.

I'm having doubts as to whether McCleary can ever be the player he was again. Too many injuries, and he looks well off the pace now.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Strap wrote: Bodvarsson is NOT a striker. 3 goals in 42 apps for Wolves last season is evidence enough, never mid the bambi-on-ice attempts today.

Bodvarssson.... First time I have seen our new striker.

Holds the ball well, can't win a header, has no pace and has two left feet. What matches, videos did our scouts watch to make the decision to sign the player.

[leon]

My take on yesterday, the performance was on par with the villa game for me, that game got plenty of plaudits on here because we won, this time we lost, so the knee jerkers surface again.
I certainly believe there is plenty to optimistic about, however the age old striker dilemma will always be there every time we lose.

Because either you're a 100% die hard or fickle knee jerker?

What is it with football fans that everything is so black and white?

There were positive signs but still there remains issues with the way we play.

[Muskrat]

With the squad we've got top ten should be a must.

Agreed. In fact anything less than a top 6 finish will be a dismal failure IMO. Yes we have good players but the squad is chronically unbalanced with far too many midfielders/wingers and not enough strikers. How the management team have allowed this situation to come about is frankly beyond me

[windermereROYAL]

My take on yesterday, the performance was on par with the villa game for me, that game got plenty of plaudits on here because we won, this time we lost, so the knee jerkers surface again.
I certainly believe there is plenty to optimistic about, however the age old striker dilemma will always be there every time we lose.

Because either you're a 100% die hard or fickle knee jerker?

What is it with football fans that everything is so black and white?

There were positive signs but still there remains issues with the way we play.

Well I would like to ask you this question?
How would you prefer we play, like the same under Adkins, Clarke, and McDermott (2nd time) route one football languishing in the lower reaches of the division , or playing controlled football and a top half finish and possible play-off spot?
Sometimes we have to be careful what we wish for.
I say it has I see it, too many people look at a loss and it`s a bad performance, the same way they see a win as a good one.
We won loads of games last year without playing well.

[genome]

With the squad we've got top ten should be a must.

Agreed. In fact anything less than a top 6 finish will be a dismal failure IMO. Yes we have good players but the squad is chronically unbalanced with far too many midfielders/wingers and not enough strikers. How the management team have allowed this situation to come about is frankly beyond me

I think you need to give it a few more games before judging the management on the transfer window - yes, a clinical striker and we would've won yesterday, but we did field a lot of new signings and Bod just had a stinker. Let's not forget he had an excellent game against Birmingham.

There were definitely signs of encouragement yesterday, hopefully the team will settle and be more clinical. If they don't, there it's fair game to criticise. Once Kermorgant's back, we will still have better striking options than last year IMO.

[genome]

Interesting stat than Aluko completed the most key passes (6) than anyone else in the Championship this weekend.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I'm actually satisfied after today. For the first 20 minutes of the second half, we completely dominated the game. Not just 'we were better than them', but we genuinely dominated. I was gobsmacked that we didn't score.

We did a great job of dampening down their support and completely stifling the game.

Bristol city would have been lucky to leave with one point, let alone 3. Once we conceded though, we never looked likely to score.

I don't think we can blame a lack of a striker. The attacking players we have showed real quality until the last 20 minutes when they got tired.

Also think it's harsh to say the club left it late to try and get someone in. Every club in this division will say they need a '20 goal a year' striker and prices will reflect that. We need to show that we are spending within our means that (even though we're obviously not), in order to help prove to the premier league that our owners are responsible. We can't afford to go and spend £10-15m on a player, in case we do finish in a promotion spot and end up with incredible levels of debt.

[RoyalBlue]

Wasn't there, but reading these comments it seems like the same old same old from last season. Ponderous build up and no cutting edge? A passing/possession game is only any good if played at pace, otherwise it is just tedious and gives the oppo too much time to get themselves back into shape and then you've got to be better than we are to get past them.

No, you are getting the shyte tinted glasses view of the game, which is usually fastest out of the blocks, including the obligatory slating of Gunter (I must have missed the calamitous mistake that led to their goal).

There were quite a lot of occasions during the game when we moved the ball around and attacked with real pace, including one prolonged spell at the start of the second half when we threatened to completely overrun Bristol - we were just short of anyone who can take chances (many of them were easy chances too). Edwards also missed an easy chance when he passed the ball into the arms of a grateful keeper (tbf it was his very first touch when he had only been on for seconds). Far too many of our players are scared to shoot and look to pass the ball on instead. Again Edwards was guilty of this, actually turning away from goal when well placed to shoot (can't help thinking Evans would have had a go for goal if similarly positioned).

Their keeper also pulled off a terrific save to deny us (can't remember who shot) before they took the lead.

Had JDB taken his chances, or had we had a natural goalscorer on the pitch, people would have been talking about this game in very positive terms.