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No Mad

Great support, good performance, clean sheet and three points

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Just got back from Carrow Road and this would be my summary. I feel great. Great to win!

A few thoughts:

1. IMO Plymouth were really poor

2. Safri is awesome (when fit and available)

3. We can really pass the ball when we put our mind to it - for example the second goal

4. Why did people round me groan when Henderson came on. Surely this was a good substitution at 2-0 up? I am fed up of the stick he gets!

5. Did we look better as a team without Huckerby? Don''t get me wrong. I love Huckerby and think he is our best player but I think having him in our midfield may unbalance our team? Before you attack me, I would definitely have him in our team but up front with Ashton, I think. On today''s performance, I think McVeigh would push Marney quite hard for the right-sided slot?

6. I thought we as fans were excellent. We got behind the team from the start and responded positively to their performance

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Yeh i agree, support was great from the word go, with "worthington''s green army" being chanted loud and proud many times. I didnt think any player had a bad game, everyone played well. We also seemed 2 get stuck in a bit more today than we have in previous matches this season, winning more 50/50 balls. imo safri and Shackell were my "men of the match". Hughes looked really good after recoverin from his injury, gettin stuck in alot in the middle of the park! the whole back 4 (Cloin, Flem, Shacks, Drury), had their bad moments, but 4 most of the match looked very solid. On the whole an impressive performance, with everyplayer playin well. so lets build on this now, and onwards and upwards from now on!!!!!

On the ball city....

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Great performance all round.  Great to se McVeigh back in contention. 

Saf was awesome, as was Drury.

Ash had a better game, and was again on the scoresheet.

Fantastic atmosphere from the loyal fans - Worthy''s name sung over and over - exactly what we need.

New loan signing looked great when he came on.

NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED

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I agree with most of the above, especially the fact that the team looked far more balanced without huckers, but saying that it seems unthinkable to leave him out, maybe our players get into a mind set of ive got the ball, look to see if huckers is free, and not automatically look for the best option available, he always seems to be the main outlet, but not best option.

Your views????

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Is it just co-incidence that the best performance of the season (well at least the first half) comes with Hucks not playing? I felt the side had a much better balance today. I know there''s some ifs, buts and maybes along the line but IF we win at Watford, team selection against Ipswich will give Worthy something to think about. 

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Interestingly, Steve Claridge commented on this too - referring to the imbalance of having Brennan on left and Huckerby on right. Personally, I think we might need to go back to the way we played with Huckerby in the promotion season, i.e. as one of 2 strikers?

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I think that we should guard against getting carried away here.

Yes, it was brilliant to get a win, but the performance was far from great against a very poor Argyle team. We were quite good in the first half, but looked pretty uninspiring in the second half. A half-decent team would have beaten us comfortably on our performance today. 

We looked vulnerable at set pieces and it took Greeno and the woodwork to stop them scoring on a number of occasions. The back four also sat deep again (against a lone striker with no real pace!) and this dragged the whole team back 30 yards; when the midfield did get the ball, we played it nicely sideways, but we weren''t always keen to run at their midfield / defence. Also, it''s ''pass and move'', not ''pass and stand still''. 

On the plus side, WLY and Ashton worked well together before tiring, and Lisbie looked bright when he came on, getting into some good positions for a through-ball. Hughes showed a bit more promise on today''s performance.

I think that we''ll get 2 or 3 put past us at Watford, as they''re well-organised at the back, as well as inventive and confident going forward. As long as we don''t get beaten by the Sc*m, I''ll be relieved. 

By the way, well done to the N&P Stand and the City Stand, who were as vocal today as any part of the ground!     

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I have got one point about the changes. If Huckerby and McKenzie had been available would they have played and would the result have been the same. After todays performance I am still willing to give Worthington a chance to get us back on top but again I feel changes for the better were forced on him rather than of his own thinking.

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How any one can say a great performance is beyond me....great to win YES feel good...YES but a great performance ...NO, a better team would have beaten us and while we showed signs that we are moving in the right direction I am not sure if we showed enough of them to beat the likes of Shef U, Wolves or even Ipswich.  We were terrible in the second half, gave the ball away, were venerable at the back and created very little. And Plymouth are just terrible! If this is a great performance I sadly feel that supporters are blind.   Take a good look at the team and realise if we dont take more time on the practice ground at such basic things as picking up men from corners and set pieces, we will be punished week in week out.

Still I agree with the posts great to win, it really is but see it for what it is and for who we were playing.

OTBC

St.John

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Much better today. And I felt you could visibly see some of the tension lift after our first goal. Suddenly we were a yard faster to every ball, everyone wanted the ball too. There were still a few dodgy patches but that was nearly back to how we were in the promotion season. We did take our foot off the gas a bit 20 mins from the end, but in truth the game was over by then anyway.And I disagree that it was only because Plymouth were a poor side. True, they were lightweught up front, but they seemed quite up for it. Plus, Crewe were also an average side but we didn''t beat them.Hopefully this will see some of the confidence repaired and we can go on from here.

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yes we played well in the first half and we showed how we can pass the ball. more of that boys please.the fans were fantastic today.

as for hucks yes we done well yesterday without him but he would be back in my team when avalible i would drop hughs who gives the ball away too much move marney into the middle with safri play mcvaigh to the left brennen to the right and play hucks up front with ashton

any one else think the same?

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Dicky - concerning Lisbie. He looked quick to me when he came on but I did not see much else in the time he had. I am pleased we have him though, although I think he is going to have to compete with Huckerby, McVeigh and MecKenzie (when fit again - assuming Lisbie stays longer than 1 month) for second striker place

Link - I thought our second half performance was adequate given we were 2-0 up. Better than defending deep at 1-0 up which we did for almost all the promotion year! To both you and Premier, I would say it is hard to consider hypothetical situations, i.e. if we had been playing another team. Generally, we tend to do better against better teams, for example beating Man U last year; who did we lose to at home in promotion year? [Bradford and Watford if I am not mistaken].

Given that we had lost three in a row and only had three points from first six games, I thought yesterday was a lot about confidence. The players seemed confident as did we the fans! I think the experience and result will have given us more confidence.

I don''t think it is true that we did not run at their midfield/defence. Rather I thought we did it in a measured way, passing our way around them at times, e.g. for second goal. I thought both Colin and Drury, in particular, ran at people well when they got the ball. For the first goal, McVeigh picked up the ball on the half way line and was very positive in his running.

I am concerned about next two games but mainly because they are away. However, I suspect Watford are over-performing right now and Ipswich seem to be struggling with terrible morale. Anyway, if we are going to close the gap on Sheffield United and Co, we will need to pick up points away from home so let''s hope we start on that.

I am glad to be out of the bottom three and within 6 points of the play-off places! Frankly, I am just happy to win a game - and it also helps that Ipswich lost! I am savouring the moment and having a much more enjoyable weekend than many recent ones!

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I finally got over from Helsinki for my first game of the season - and what a great performance from the boys - seems thaa they started to gel and some of the build up play was awesome - glad to see hughes rallying the troops - captain in the making perhaps? Safri was brilliant and the two backs did really well - hopefully the confidence will be back now and we can get our first away win on Tuesday night

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St John - I see others have described the performance as great. I was careful with my choice of words. I agree that Plymouth are not a strong team but surely as good as Crewe, MK Dons, Southend or Colchester - all of whom we have struggled against recently. We won and won comfortably - and overall, I thought the performance was good

Simon P - did you mean Brennan on right? Has he ever played there? Sounds unlikely to me. I think McVeigh could play wide right and I would probably have Hughes ahead of Marney just.

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No mad, you were indeed careful with your words, I was referring to other posts on this thread. Good to win, good improvement, good spirit, good fans...YES YES YES!

 

GREAT performence.....NO!

 

OTBC

 

St.John

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[quote]Is it just co-incidence that the best performance of the season (well at least the first half) comes with Hucks not playing? I felt the side had a much better balance today. I know there''s some ifs, b...[/quote]

yes, agreed it may have been the best performance of the season but doesn''t the strength of the opposition have something to do with the equation?

be without huckerby against a stronger side (as we will be on tuesday) and it may look an entirely different picture

for me huckerby would always be in the side, bar a real downturn in form (and for worthy that could mean one game or four seasons depending on whether he is a favourite or not) - but i do agree with other points made we do need to pass the ball around to others as an outlet to the forwards etc

however, none of this reflects on huckerby - it is purely tactical and a matter for the coaches to instill ideas into the players - if they think hucks is the only way to goal then maybe more work needs to be done at colney seeking alternatives

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[quote]yes, agreed it may have been the best performance of the season but doesn''t the strength of the opposition have something to do with the equation? be without huckerby against a stronger side (as we w...[/quote]

Any team has to play its best players in positions that suit them best (why o why does worthy insist on crucifying Hendo by playing him on the right wing - he is a striker FFS) and the challenge to the coaching staff is how to play Hux and Ashton together in a team that does not leave Ashton isolated (look how well he played yesterday with a player who can bounce a ball to him when played as a pair) or leave the midfield exposed defensively - it is a challenge that so far they have failed spectacularly to meet.

While the midfield looked more balanced yesterday the passing (that goal aside) was not great and it lacked any sort of penetration at all. The fact that the worst team at FCR so far still managed to create more chances, and get more on target,and we had to rely on Green to keep us in the match shows just how ineffective this ''balanced'' midfield (& disorganised defence) were.

A huge result but still so far to go if we are to coninue up the table.

OTBC

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[quote]yes we played well in the first half and we showed how we can pass the ball. more of that boys please.the fans were fantastic today. as for hucks yes we done well yesterday without him but he would b...[/quote]

I can''t agree with dropping hughes at all. Yes he dived in a little too casually but he was very positive in driving forward with the ball and distributed the ball well most of the time.

Marneys passing/crossing was fantastic but I don''t see him getting stuck in as much.

Hughes/Saffri worked well in the middle for me.

We have to look at giving Hucks a chance up front now though. Squiz and Brennan had decent games again and either one of them could occupy that left sided role.

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[quote]I can''t agree with dropping hughes at all. Yes he dived in a little too casually but he was very positive in driving forward with the ball and distributed the ball well most of the time. Marneys pass...[/quote]

We will have to agree to disagree on Hughes.  I thought his distrubtion was poor and is ball winning ability non existant.  He IS superbly committed but I dont think that is enough.  Marney is not a ball winner but is busy and IMO a far better partner for Safri; he has more passing options when central and clearly prefers being in the thick of it - but again I thought his distribution (and corners) were woeful on Sat.  If only WLY had hughes physical presence - he would be the perfect partner to safri to create the passes that Ashton would thrive on.  

As it is could we play zipper in the hole being hux and ashton, allowing the midfield three of say brennan, Safri and marney to play centrally.  Hux could peel off left (and occasionally right) and zipper beingt he link man between the midfield and attack.  Being central in those circumstance he could feed hux or ashton or take the ball on as he did for the first goal.

OTBC  

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zlf - I am more with Rieg on Hughes. I think you are harsh on him on his passing (contributed to both goals) and tackling (Him and Safs look excellent in that respect IMO). I also thought he got into box well. Right now, assuming Jarrett is not fully fit, I think Hughes is best choice alongside Safri. I suspect an unchanged team tomorrow but when Huckerby is back, who knows? May depend on performances v Watford.

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