A deserved and overdue defeat

[Jim Smith 2,314]

but not time to hit the panic button. We were always going to lose eventually and looking at the fixtures this was always a prime candidate with Holty suspended. I said in my comments post Hartlepool that if we played anything like we did in the Wallsall and Hartlepool games we would lose at Millwall and that is what ultimately transpired. Being honest we did not deserve 6 points from those two games so in truth we should be grateful to come out of Holt''s 3 match suspension with 6 points from 9 should be seen as some kind of bonus, especially as our rivals have failed to take advantage of our slip on saturday. As it is we have lost little ground on anyone but have got one of our tougher fixtures out the way.

As for saturay I thought we were ok in patches but once again the midfield was not right and we let them have too many chances in and around our area with not enough pressure on the ball. Players to emerge with credit in my eyes were Russell, Martin (Chris)  and the Doc but nobody else really stood out. I just don''t feel the balance of the side has been right recently and wonder if its time to give Hughes and Macnamee a go from the start and give Smith and Lappin a rest as both have been pretty ordinary recently. I would also like to get Whitbread into the defence as soon as possible as I remain unconvinced by the Doc/Nelson combo.Maybe now we are no  longer ona w inning run lambert will find it easier to change the team and shake things up a bit.

Final note thought the Millwall fans were terrific. They have a lot of a**eholes but you have to hand it to them they make a racket and create a properly old school, intitmidating atmosphere. Can''t help but wish carrow Road was a bit more like that at times!

[Jim Smith 2,314]

PS can all the little t**ts who think its a good idea to start singing ole, ole going up, up, up from the first minute of every game therefore leaving us with considerable scope for looking like fools with egg on our face please give it a rest until we are at least (a) winning and (b) looking like we are playing ok.

[GUcanary 0]

Some very valid points there, Doc/Whitbread would be good to see, I

just have no faith in Nelson, I always want him to do well (wanted that

overhead effort to go in in the 2nd half!) but I never feel confident

as he approaches the ball.

McNamee is deadly with 5 yards, he can skip passed someone and then

whip crosses in very easily, he was so dangerous with those few he did

deliver in. That said, sometimes he can be found a bit wanting and

maybe needs to be in top gear all the time.

[Canary Man of Kent 0]

I don''t think we should go nuts and shake things up too much at all, and I don''t think we will. As Lambo has said, he didn''t get too excited by 8 wins in a row, he''s not going to get too down about a defeat. To go and make sweeping changes now would surely damage confidence. The only changes I''d like to see would be Holt in for McDonald and Whitbread (we''re a little fortunate he''s not suspended!) in for Nelson. If things don''t go well at Brighton, then I''d consider making further changes based on that, I don''t think we can bring McNamee into anything other than a 4-4-2.

I agree that the Millwall fans created a good atmosphere, however I didn''t think there was any need for the lack of sportsmanship shown by the fans, and nor did I think there was any need for the overly aggressive behaviour. But, I guess they''d argue that''s how they are able to generate such an atmosphere.

My three comments on the game:

1) What a great run from Russell Martin! I want to see more of that in the future, and I think we really lacked that on Saturday, we passed the ball sideways in front of them a lot, but very rarely drove forward at them. Holty will make a big difference from that perspective.

2) How did Michael Rose avoid getting booked? I can''t think of a particular foul that definitely warranted a yellow (although there were 1 or 2 that other refs would''ve booked him for) but he gave away a lot of freekicks! On that note, I think the ref did alright, he kept control of the game well and although I thought he could have perhaps given Cody and Chrissy a bit more protection in the first half, he got the big decisions right (can''t say the same about the lino).

3) They were good. They had good players and they had a good game plan which they executed very well. They hassled and harried from the word go, marked Hoolahan superbly, made us resort to hoofing it at times, and mopped up everything in the air, they were physical but not dirty, they played a high line knowing we didn''t have the pace to get behind them and left no space in the midfield. Martin and McDonald had to come deep to get the ball, and once they received it with back to goal didn''t tend to make much forward progress.

As has been said, we were beaten fair and square. Now, let''s go on another run! Hopefully, that defeat will give the players the hunger to push on.

 

 

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

Good manager, good squad, good run. A 1 goal loss at a very good top 6 side needs to be kept into perspective. We have been fortunate to get 9 points from the previous 3 games but with holt back i expect 3 points at Brighton but feel a draw is on the cards against the saints

[K Lo 221]

Is McNamee some offspring of Rule Fox? There are similarities that some of the otehrs were saying too at the Walsall game. It was tempting to start chaning "Rule, Rule Rule) but McNamee would probably be none-the-wiser!.

[Puzzy magnet 0]

[quote user="K Lo"]Is McNamee some offspring of Rule Fox? There are similarities that some of the otehrs were saying too at the Walsall game. It was tempting to start chaning "Rule, Rule Rule) but McNamee would probably be none-the-wiser!.[/quote]

He might also find it a little insulting...

[ROBFLECK 132]

I agree with Doc Witbread combination. And McNamee seems roaring to get in there. I would give him a start too.

The Ruel Fox comparison is premature though... I hope he gets half as good as foxy!

[Ghost of Davie Ross 0]

I felt we definitely looked more dangerous when McNamee came on. Before that we had not been creating much but all of a sudden he was getting crosses into the box. He might well get a start before long.