Very Poor!!

[Snake Pit Rebel 0]

I booked a half day off work last night for last nights game and what did i see..

Green-He was ok although dives to early for penalties.
Drury-Thought he looked like the Drury of last season and pushed forward and linked well with Mcveigh in the first half.
Fleming-Played reasonably well has to cover Mckay a lot of the time and thought he was really unlucky with the penalty.
Mckay-I''m afraid his time is up-poor distribution,and lacks any sort of pace.Always worried that he will get sent off-especially when playing against a nippy forward.
Edworthy-Not a great game,distribution was poor and did''nt go forward with the affect that Drury had on the other side.Can play much better.
Mcveigh-Outstanding display.Got the ball and evaded so many challenges,was''nt afraid to get stuck in and really showed the others up with his work rate and commitment.Please get his contract sorted out soon.
Holt-Another poor game and felt his work rate and commitment were poor and as for his long balls-enough said.
Francis-He has''nt looked the same player since the loanees came in. He needs to not drop so deep and to get his game together.
Henderson-Did well for his goal but he generally had a lack of ideas.Summed it up on 55mins when on the half way line he turned round and looked to Edworthy and as if to say what the
hell do i do with it.
Huckerby-Really infuriated me last night.Why does he have to play so wide.We have Mcveigh for that role! If he wants more goals then he is going to have to play closer to Crouch and if he plays through the middle and beats a man then he will be through on goal.
Crouch-Outstanding,did everything that was asked of him on the floor and in the air-suffered from a lack of support though and was a complete joke when Worthy took him off.

The changes that i would make would be to replace Mckay with Shackell to give the back four some more pace and better distribution.Replace Holt with Mulryne as Holt and Francis are to similar and we really miss a playmaker-at least we tried to pass when Mulryne came on last night.We have to also start introducing Jarvis more and more as he is the future not Roberts.

I know that Robbo has carried us for many years but we want to remember the good times and not the times now.Would hate to see the fans get on his back after all that hes done for the club.

Please heal the rift with Rivers as he is a confidence player and is still after all our leading scorer..

Rant over..

O.T.B.C

[ZLF 271]

Agree with your overall comments although I feel you have been a bit soft on Francis who I though had an even worse game than holt. On far to many occassions he appears to lack the enthusiasm we need of a ball winning midfielder On one occassion last night he was tackled on the haf way line and felt he was fouled. No whistle followed but despite being on his feet and a loose ball nearby he made no effort to either remonstrate with the ref or more importantly work back to defend and win the ball back - he gave the impression of simply nt being bothered. That set the tone for his performance yesterday.

Overall I would agree with a Mullers Francis midfield but on last nights performance Francis deserves to be put on the bench more than Holt. It will be good to see what effect Shackell has - I assume that Malky will mis the Millwall game so I hope to see Shackell for some of the game against Crewe to gain some valuable experience.

Rivers is a confidence player but his mst recent performance have warranted a drop to the bench. I am sure he will turn the corner its just a question of when. However for saturday I hope harper is fit as its unlikely rivers confidence will have returned enough by then.


OTBC

[Away Day Specialist 0]

Earlier in the season when the great Malky debate was on the boards, the general concensus seemed to be that it would take an injury or a suspension to Malky or Craig to allow Shackell his chance. Well the chance is now here. Hopefully Jason will fit in a treat and keep Malky out of the team! Playing him in the Crewe game would be a good idea (zipper) before unleashing Rob Earnshaw onto him.

As for Iwan we can all see that his legs have gone, even Worthy admitted this a couple of games back. We do want to remember him for his glory (as some others have already posted)rather than the old lame dog he is becoming.

[HERALDO 0]

I MUST AGREE WITH YOU AND SP REBEL BUT AS FOR RIVERS IS IT CONFIDENCE OR HAS HE FALLEN OUT WITH NW? I HOPE CROUCH WASN''T INJUREDLAST NIGHT BECAUSE HE WAS BY FAR CITY''S HARDEST WORKING PLAYER. THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND IF WE HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN CROUCH AND HUCKERBY IT HAS TO CROUCH FOR THE LONG TERM GOOD OF THE CLUB. WE NEED A TARGET MAN TO REPLACE IWAN - WE HAVE WIDE MEN AND HOPEFULLY BRENNAN WILL BE FIT SOON. I SUSPECT THAT WE WILL HAVE BOTH BUT MAY LOOSE GREEN OR DRURY. WHILST THIS MIGHT BE GOOD BUSINESS, IF WE ARE PROMOTED WE NEED THE LIKES OF GREENO AND JUKE BOX AND CROUCH. HARD DECISIONS TO BE MADE THAT WONT PLEASE EVERYONE. EXCITING TIMES AHEAD.

[chicken 0]

Just the one thing really. Why has the team been changed from the one that has won away and at home comfortably. It seems that having both Mullers and Francis in the middle is a nessesity for creativity for attacking moves. I dont hold anything against Holt but sometimes its the creativity that can kill a team rather than the sheer cut and thrust of a battling player. I have said for many seasons now that Malky is a bit of a liability. He can have good games but most of the time he is average at best. We need a more cover in that department. Shackell gets his chance now, lets see if he can show the old horse how to defend. As for Roberts, I cant see his contract being renewed especially when we gain promotion which we will ofcourse ;oD

[beelsie 0]

Diabolical show last night I agree. I''ve said it before, our off the ball running is so poor that options are not provided smartly enough for the ball holder to be provided with good oportunities to make telling passes. Thats why Hendo was asking what can I do with it. It would be good if we could see more players commit themselves to short runs with the ball allowing others to show themselves as wanting the ball. We look woefully like fine weather players who are wanting the opposition to play the game our way. Instead of getting stuck in without fouling and dictating the game ourselves. I thought we were the away side last night. I think Huckerby''s wide position did not work, he was meant to draw the defence out, but the passes from our defence were put down the middle first, making him redundant. Also our defence plays on top of one another playing ping pong and getting nowhere, Spread out a bit lads so that you give the opposition some work to do. Much is made of the lads fitness, but there seems to be very little spark in the mid field. The silly fouls happen because we arrive too late at the ball, due to poor reading of the game. Not a sign of fitness i think, we appeared to be good yard off the pace last night.