Performance

[glagys]

So yesterday’s performance had a fair few positives
A Lewis looked good with his crossing’s and throw ins
In fact all the subs played well

And a some negatives
Hallam Hope absolutely Hopeless look so much better when Lee came on
Hendrie was blow after about 5 mins into the game

[KenH]

I thought overall a much better performance than the lest 3 games.

Sadly, agree about Hope. Even when there were players attacking, he never seemed to be able to get himself in the right positions for others to pass to him. Seems a serious lack of understanding between them in front of goal. For me, he's a bit too slow to shake off his defenders and get into goal scoring positions, also a bit too slow to react when he gets the ball.

Not helped by Yann who seems to be too keen to hoof the ball randomly forward rather than head up looking for a pass. More just about hoping someone can get to the ball rather than aiming it at anyone. That just makes the attacking players more tired as they constantly chase balls they're unlikely to be able to do anything with, even if they get to it. I far prefer Yann as a centre back!

[marky No.1]

Not helped by Yann who seems to be too keen to hoof the ball randomly forward rather than head up looking for a pass. More just about hoping someone can get to the ball rather than aiming it at anyone. That just makes the attacking players more tired as they constantly chase balls they're unlikely to be able to do anything with, even if they get to it. I far prefer Yann as a centre back!

Yes, we do seem to lump balls forward up in the air rather than passing it. It makes it easier for their defenders to win the ball.
I noticed Wildig would be showing his defenders where to pass the ball to him, something we don't do

Unlucky not to score with their keeper on form

[glagys]

Nice to see wildig get a good reception when subbed and that he returned the applause
Top man

[Billy bodger]

I’ve Just read what Slot said about their victory over Man Utd, ‘we had midfielders who can run and had desire and aggression in midfield’. ‘We exploited Utd’s weaknesses out wide and drove forward in large parts of the game’.

I think we had that last season ( JJ, King, Mayor, Bloxham and Mellor), when our midfield get it going I think we have enough to stay in the league. More speed in going forward, channeled desire and aggression.

That we are now creating more and more chances is great, we will score and that means games will be different, opposition will not sit back as they have when they got that one goal. It’s up to us to score that elusive first goal, FIRST, I firmly believe that will change everything to us.

Unfortunately it has now become a big thing, the rest of the League know this and will set up accordingly.

Frustrating as it is to lose our first four games 1-0 to teams who have started well and have scored goals against other opposition, we are not far off.

If those four teams are supposed to be the best we all can see it, it will not take much to turn it around.

I am not overly concerned as long as we are not in the same position at the end of September.

Up that performance and we will be fine.

[fulwoodshrimp]

I hope you are right that we’ll be okay Billy but I do think we lack quality in vital areas of the pitch. At the moment we especially lack quality up front- certainly Hallam Hope looks out of his depth. Let’s hope the new striker shows some quality and bags some goals. I also worry the keeper has been found out. Other teams can see how his kicking is weak. You can bet other sides press him quickly when the ball is played back to him. These are worrying times and the sooner we get some goals and some points the better we’ll all feel.

[marky No.1]

One of the simpler solutions is to not pass back to the keeper as much, just puts them under pressure and we are not Barcelona.

[Keith]

Has anyone seen Hope's off-side 'goal'? Was it off-side?

I think Hope has worked hard, but is often dropping deeper than perhaps liked. Whether he'll grow with team-mates familiarity and/or a bit of confidence from a goal, it will be interesting to see. Not writing him off yet.

[deadorred70]

Personaly i think the highlight coverage is poor never seem to show our 'goal' about 5 minuets is pathetic.

[KenH]

Nice to see wildig get a good reception when subbed and that he returned the applause
Top man

He's certainly got class. I love to see a little respect from ex players who score against us - our fans always show respect back, we have classy fans too!

A shame that some of our ex players don't have that same class.

Also a shame that Wildig may still have been with us had Robbo not cast him out which was the catalyst for his family moving away. By the time DA came back and started playing Wildig again, he and his family had decided to relocate and his wife had accepted a new job down there.

[cragbankshrimp]

Has anyone seen Hope's off-side 'goal'? Was it off-side?

Songo was definitely offside when the free kick came in and he nodded it on. i was directly inline with it.

[Keith]

Has anyone seen Hope's off-side 'goal'? Was it off-side?

Songo was definitely offside when the free kick came in and he nodded it on. i was directly inline with it.

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought Hope looked on-side, but it wasn't shown again. Didn't even notice that it may have been another player.

[Billy bodger]

Yeh it certainly looked like Hope was onside for me was, if it was the guy who headed it on, it’s the only time the linesman was up with play. So if it was Songo’o, it was Songo’o just going that bit early. Shame another game we should have got something out of the game.

[Little Shrimp]

I've really liked a lot of what Hope does in terms of his movement and attempts to contribute to play. His decision making on when to drop deep, when to run-in behind and when to run the channels is pretty much bang-on, and he works super hard. His pressing is very good too. I totally can see why Derek has stuck with him for these first few games.

But he seems to have lost the pacy and physical edge to his game. Despite him being 30, I'm still a bit shocked at someone who was known for his pace and running to have deteriorated as much as he has - worth bearing in mind he's a year younger than Edwards. Just doesn't seem to have that springy physical edge to his acceleration to get away from from defenders.

I think Angol's performance and goal last night will probably move him up in the pecking order. He's not super quick but has that little burst of strength of acceleration. Gave the defenders a really tough time despite being given absolutely shocking treatment by the ref. Felt his prior performances he was still getting up to speed having arrived a bit later in pre-season - feels like he's more on it now. Worked hard off the ball and pressed well too.