Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Puzzy magnet

Some belated thoughts on saturday

Recommended Posts

Having been away for the weekend this is my first chance to post about saturday''s game. Apologies if there are already multiple threads below about the match.

Overwhelming opinion is that this was one of the games where we are just grateful for the 3 points and move on. As someone posted below it was a strange game in that we could have been 3 or 4 nil up had we taken our chances early in the second half but in general I thought our performance was deeply unconvincing and we will need to improve by 100% if we are going to get anything from Elland Road next week. I suppose the fact we held on for the win is again encouraging and shows that this team has some resolve but frankly we were sloppy and lethargic for long periods of the game and for the last 25 minutes I thought that (despite some brave blocks and decent last ditch defending) we pretty much fell apart in several aspects of our play. Perhaps I am being over-critical. Perhaps the last two home games led to me being a bit over expectant ahead of the game on saturday but thats just the way I saw it. The good thing though is that we will create chances against most teams in this league even when playing badly and that means we always have a chance of picking up the type of result we got at Carlisle. Comments on individuals:

Forster -7- probably his best game for us so far. Made 2 or 3 really good saves and was solid in all that he did. Good battle between him and Rudd for the number one spot. Great save at the end to stop that shot which was going right in the bottom corner.

Francombe -5- technically decent and looks a tidy player but he is not ready yet. On several occasions got outmuscled or overpowered by more physically mature opponants. Would in my view be an enormous risk to play him at Leeds.

Doherty -6- reasonably good game from the Doc although again still prone to give away stupid free kicks.

Askou -5- I thought this was the worst game i''ve seen him play for some time. Kept letting balls bounce when he should have taken them first time and somehow allowing Dobie to get his body between him and the ball when JBA was getting there first. Did win some good headers thoigh when we were under the cosh.

Drury -7- the best of the defenders. I think he is getting back to somewhere close to his best again now he is playing regularly.

Smith - 5 - his quietest game for weeks. At times did not seem to want the ball. Did do well though when switched to right back. He is only young and frankly it is a surprise he has not had more quiet games before now. Sure he will be back on song next week.

Russell - 7 - did well and that was important because for long spells he had to carry the midfield on his own, especially in the seciond half when Smith and Lappin went missing.

Lappin - 4 - I thought he was rubbish. Gave the ball away constantly and aside from corners i don''t recall him touching the ball in the second half. Having been our best player at the start of the season I think his performance levels over recent weeks have dipped alarmingly. Hopefully Lambert can get him back on track.

Hoolahan - 7 -  iffy start but then once he got going was always our most dangerous player. Was up to his usual trick of taking 2 or 3 touches too many at times and should really have scored/created 2 or 3 more goals but then thats what you get with Wes.

Martin - 6 - decent workrate but some poor decision making at times. Bit worried he is starting to show some of his old petulance but is definitely a decent player at this level.

Holt - 7 - not everything really came off for him but battled hard and never stops.

Subs: Adeyemi 6, Cody 6 - neither really had time to make any impact. Would have brought Cody on a lot earlier myself as we were sitting deep and his pace would have been useful.

Looking at the above some of the marks perhaps seem harsh given that we won the game and kept a clean sheet but i think its just worth stressing that Carlisle are not a good team and we made really havy work of it. On the occasions when we got the ball down, kept it simple and moved the ball around we opened them up with ease. had we played anything liek againts Bristol Rovers we would have ripped them to peices. I know we won''t play like that every week and get 3 or 4 goals every week and thankfully we won''t need to in this league but for me we were not really at it on saturday and rather got away with it. Personally I think that whilst this formation is definitely getting the best out of Wes we do lack a bit of balance and width in the midfield, especially if Spillane is not bombing up and down the flanks. We could still really do with finding a bit more pace on the right wing.

Fans - good turnout, would say 900 ish. Noisy at times but got a bit nervy at times as well which i thought reflected what was happening on the pitch.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think it was just one of those games when we didn''t play to our best, but still got the result. I am led to believe this is the sign of a good team.

I think it''s clear we will be up for the Leeds game and put in a performance to be proud of.

We need to remember we can''t be brilliant all the team and we are not going score 4/5 goals every week.

We need to be able to grind results out and that is what we did.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just got back from Carlisle as well. We looked pretty tidy for much of the game and as said should have been several goals ahead going into the last 15 minutes. In the end we were hanging on though. Lets put things in perspective though the previous game Carlisle had drawn 2 - 2 at Leeds. they are a difficult side to beat but find it hard to score only 12 league goals all season against our 24. I suspect they will be a bottom half side at the end of the season though out of the relegation places. a good 3 points but we made it hard for ourselves

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...