How on earth did we lose that?

[walks on water 0]

[quote user="ricardo"]

[quote user="SimonOTBC"]Moaning about lambert is ridiculous. Injuries left him with no options and also took 3 of the best players out of the game. Lambert will have learned alot tonight, we have far too many average players in the squad, but it''s far from unfixable.[/quote]

Lets hope the thing he learnt was not to leave experienced players out of the squad and leave yourself a hostage to fortune.

three points chucked away through pig headedness in my opinion. If we are paying Russell, Hoolahan etc good money we should be playing them at least as subs.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[/quote]

 

Exactly Ricardo. So obvious that it makes you wonder what''s going on

[B-ru 0]

We lost due to being forced to change the shape of our team with the 3 injuries. All 3 were key as well.

Nelson had his best game in the yellow and green for me, not a world beater, but was more than competent, bringing on Spillane was perhaps not up to it.

Drury going off meant that we had Lappin coming in to defence, not where we want him in truth. Can strike a ball (as Adayemi found out [:p]) which meant the shape of the midfield was lost.

Hughes coming off was the biggest loss, and I think that the side without him in there look a lot shakier.

As mush as I think Smith and Adayemi, Daley, Martin and Spillane can do a job, for me that is a few too many inexperienced players. not to forget that Forster is 21 as well)

We were also robbed on the penalty shout! Bring in Wimbledon (tennis) style tv reviews. 3 challenges, if deemed to be the wrong decision, then the challenge stands, if not then a challenge taken away.

[Scooby 0]

Isn''t it amazing how people see the game differently, some through rose tinted spectacles, some.... well some will just moan and critcise whenever 3 points are not added to the total at the end of the day.  These latter people however will always be the same and will always be the ones who shout loudest when we win.

How did we lose that game? Well, after watching the game again this morning with the benefit of sky plus, it''s simple.  An absolutely pathetic display of refereeing.  We could easily point out the blatant shove on Holt which went "unnoticed" by ref and linesman, for a stonewall penalty in the first half.  We could also point out that the same ref allowed himself to be over ruled by his linesman who failed to see, right in front of his face, Chris Martin play the ball in our own penalty area.  That said, for me it was not the worst of it.  Just how many times did Grant Holt have to be bludgeoned by a gang of white shirted players before being offered any protection whatsoever?  The blatant swinging of arms, drunk street fighter style, at his face in the penalty area was amazing to behold.  The ref, not more than 8 yards away with a completely unhindered view, apparently saw nothing wrong with these tactics.  I could have sworn that deliberate contact with an opponents face with your hand, whether clenched or open, is a RED card? There were many culprits in Ince''s team.  His instructions were obviously simple, "go out and kick them off the park"  quite literally it turned out.  How there right back Doumbe, managed not just to stay on the park but even escape a yellow for a number of disgraceful challenges, is quite beyond me.

Now before I get a flurry of well this is league one, what do you expect replies, I expect referees to put players safety first and officiate within the rules of the game.  The "Guvnors" plan certainly worked. His teams thuggery ensured that we were forced into changes, most notably to Hughes, which meant that later in the match when he would dearly have liked to, Lambert could make no tactical substitutions. It is little surprise that MK were able to dominate 2nd half possesion as a result. No Cody McDonald with fresh legs for the last 15 mins to keep them on their toes.  The possible long term loss of our best player will be the most costly outcome, not the 3 points lost here.

OK, some plus points.  We did not resort to hoofball as some have intimated, we continued to try and play on the ground.  Our first time balls into the box were the best I''ve seen for a while. The "crap" defence that some have mentioned managed a fourth game without conceding in open play (the non penalty was not given against a defender, nor the free kick).  Martin seems to be the obvious choice now for the second strikers berth.  Korey Smith played the holding role very well and his pairing with Hughes, should it be allowed to continue, looks promising.

Negatives?  We sat back. Ok this was forced upon us partly by the loss of Hughes and Lappin having to step back to fill in for Drury.  Luke Daley is not there yet.  Bags of pace and promise but needs to learn to take the blinkers off.  We need Hoolahan! Even if it''s just on the bench.

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="SimonOTBC"], but, I''m encouraged (sadly) by how poor our opponents have been. [/quote]

wait for saturday.....

Thats going to show the difference between a promotion chasing side who have been ready since relegation and a team with lots more work to do