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Jim Smith

Thoughts on the game

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A great result in the end given that this was one of our worst performances for months. In the end our sheer determination and will to win coupled with a bit of class from hooly got us through but if we play like that on saturday we will get battered. Thoughts:

1. I was immediately concerned when i saw that defence and those concerns proved well founded. Drury coming back will strengthen us but there is no doubt this Ward injury is a major, major blow. You can just about get away with nelson alongside someone decent but a pairing of nelson and Askou at this level is a real worry. neither have any pace and neither can pass the ball meaning we not only lose a bit of defensive solidity but also miss ward bring the ball out from defence. I don''t know how fit Whitbread is but I would give serious consideration to starting him on saturday ahead of Askou.

2. Having said that i think our biggest problm was that the midfield had a collective off day. Fox went missing and for the first hour Crofts has a shocker. He improved massively however when he was moved to the holding role and we looked much more solid. He has to start there on saturday as he is much better in that role. Korey also came intoit when moved slightly more centrally.

3. Russell Martin - good game again - continues to make me eat my words.

4. I am a huge Lambert fan and still live by the mantra "in Lambo we trust" but he has to get over this issue with Wes, whatever it is. I don''t care if he won''t sign a new deal he should be in our team, especially is Lansbury isn''t. Lambert got the team wrong yesterday but thankfully he does change thinsg when they are not working.

5. Holt played for the first pen but they were a horrible, dirty team who deserve all they get, especially that little ginger t**t in the midfield.

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I can see us conceding three or four if Askou and Nelson start together on Saturday, they are a totally different level to Sheff Utd and we may have to go hell for leather and try and outscore them if none of our other centre backs are fit. Should make for a very interesting afternoon. If we had our best eleven out I''d fancy us to turn them over but a draw would be a good result considering our injury problems.

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completely agreem we got the 3 points which was the main thing but if we play like that Saturday the score line will be very embarassing, no Barnett or Ward is a huge blow.

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I think you''re being harsh on Fox & Crofts, for the first 35mins before the system was changed they were effectively up against a 5 man Sheff Utd midfield and simply couldn''t retain possession or win the ball the back.

The back 4 is a real worry against QPR but i felt Nelson & Askou grew as the game went on yesterday.

Hoolahan has to return for me but the midfield really lacks balance when Lappin, Surman and Lansbury are missing.

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Saturday would of been tough with a fully fit squad but hey Nelson and Askou defended well 95% of the game yesterday. We''ll need Crofts and Smith on top form to protect the backline.

 

Massive ask but not impossible and I''m sure we can give them problems when we''re attacking which is the 1st form of defence!

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[quote user="grantroederdisaster"]

Saturday would of been tough with a fully fit squad but hey Nelson and Askou defended well 95% of the game yesterday. We''ll need Crofts and Smith on top form to protect the backline.

 

Massive ask but not impossible and I''m sure we can give them problems when we''re attacking which is the 1st form of defence!

[/quote]

Sadly I can''t see us ending that run of games with out a clean sheet against QPR with Nelson and Askou at CB. The 2nd half was better yesterday but we were still fortunate with a couple of scrambles towards the end of the game where the ball could have gone anywhere, but the game would have been out of reach at half time against a better side. Askou gave away a silly free kick for the 1st, Nelson allowed Cresswell to turn and then gave hime time to pick his spot for the 2nd, he was then fortunate for the 2nd game running not to give away a penalty for a clumsy challenge on Ched. There seemed very little in the way of communication between the two of them (and Ruddy) and I won''t even mention the distribution. Neither have played much football this season and it showed. I''m concerned that QPR will carve us open all too easily on Saturday.

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I think we will be better to adopt the we''ll score more than them philospophy, we have shown we can score goals and we''re not paticularly good at defending even with our first choice centre backs so a bold approach could pay dividends for us.

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