| And breathe – Report on 09:47 - Apr 11 with 1710 views | ParkRoyalR |
| And breathe – Report on 08:59 - Apr 11 by gazza1 |
Tough call for who was MOM, perhaps Field edged it but Varane, Colback, Edwards & Morrison were very close. Thought Paal was very decent too. Bennie was fully out of his depth.
A 'shout' for Madsen too, contrary to many posters still complaining and talking low bars being ott negative, done a very decent controlled and skilled job for the first half and key in the first 20 minutes.
One interesting point, Field played the advanced midfielder closing down the Oxford back 4 players and did it very well. and it worked very well too.
As for Colback, as you would all expect, I thought he was key to the win, some of his controlled passing, availability to pick the ball up, closing down, talking/educating, a real leader & captain with Field, but 'hey-ho' posters would not notice the little 6 yard passes, etc, etc, & still want him out. Typical but understanding!!!! |
Key to the win was the ability of our Big 4 (Edwards, Morrison, Dunne & Field) to resolutely defend long throws & corners for the full 100 minutes, by comparison to their Centre Halves & Goalkeeper who gifted us those first two goals.
Even so, Field's injury (rightly MOTM as played a real Captain's role when on the pitch) and the prevarication of our management team almost threw this gifted start away.
Dembele's pace and superbly weighted pass to Yang sealed the win which Madsen should have secured in the first half but for a delayed and poor pass to Paal from the exact same position.
Madsen getting involved for the first 20 minutes meant we played with 11 men before he clocked off for the night and Colback's short passes did help retain possession in our third of the pitch but the win was ultimately down to their poor defending as acknowledged by Rowett, Field's hard work and a superb display by Edwards & Morrison. |  | |  |
| And breathe – Report on 09:49 - Apr 11 with 1682 views | TheChef |
| And breathe – Report on 09:47 - Apr 11 by ParkRoyalR |
Key to the win was the ability of our Big 4 (Edwards, Morrison, Dunne & Field) to resolutely defend long throws & corners for the full 100 minutes, by comparison to their Centre Halves & Goalkeeper who gifted us those first two goals.
Even so, Field's injury (rightly MOTM as played a real Captain's role when on the pitch) and the prevarication of our management team almost threw this gifted start away.
Dembele's pace and superbly weighted pass to Yang sealed the win which Madsen should have secured in the first half but for a delayed and poor pass to Paal from the exact same position.
Madsen getting involved for the first 20 minutes meant we played with 11 men before he clocked off for the night and Colback's short passes did help retain possession in our third of the pitch but the win was ultimately down to their poor defending as acknowledged by Rowett, Field's hard work and a superb display by Edwards & Morrison. |
Yes Marti made reference to that Paal chance in his post match interview, which could have made it 3-0 (without citing Madsen for the dreadful pass). |  |
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| And breathe – Report on 09:52 - Apr 11 with 1650 views | loftus77 |
Thanks very much Clive - a massively brilliant write-up totally befitting of a massively important result.
If only we can follow up (somehow) on the pitch tomorrow then we can finally lay this ragged, frazzled, strange season to rest. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 09:53 - Apr 11 with 1641 views | Sonic_Hoop |
I'd like to see one match report a season where you opt to describe events through the medium of contemporary dance. |  | | |
| And breathe – Report on 09:56 - Apr 11 with 1632 views | Paddyhoops |
Field is and has been the heartbeat of this team for years now.
Don’t care that people thinks he’s limited.
He’s clever, works his arse off and gives a shit .
He’ll do for me. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 09:59 - Apr 11 with 1615 views | Northernr |
| And breathe – Report on 09:53 - Apr 11 by Sonic_Hoop |
I'd like to see one match report a season where you opt to describe events through the medium of contemporary dance. |
Today's match preview might be for you. |  | | |
| And breathe – Report on 09:59 - Apr 11 with 1613 views | ParkRoyalR |
| And breathe – Report on 08:13 - Apr 11 by Northernr |
I think both he and the club would like to get to this 4-2-3-1 system. The "game model".
That's what they've tried to recruit for. You've already got Chair, Smyth, Andersen, you're adding Saito and Dembele.
Sadly we're not good enough to do it. The team, as Hunter says, is much more effective when we stick three midfielders in there together. So we do that, we put some results together, we get more confident, we move up the league, and we think it might be time to open it up and go back to 4-2-3-1. But... we're not good enough to do it.
This season, accept your limitations, play the pragmatic team.
Next season, big decision to make about what you recruit to. |
I thought I read Cifuentes's preferred system was 4-3-3?
With Field & Varane we have two wide midfielders with the athleticism & physicality needed in the Championship to play a 3 man midfield.
To compliment these two we need a replacement for Colback next season and I hav'nt given up on Chair becoming the next Barry Bannan and playing a free role behind the front 3, whether it be in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.
I really think Chair could be key to next season as will a mobile target man up front who can hold the ball up and contribute a 1 in 3 or even 1 in 4 goal to games ratio. Celar could be this player if he can adapt to the physicality of the Championship which he began to show signs of doing before being injured. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 10:54 - Apr 11 with 1472 views | Lblock |
| And breathe – Report on 09:59 - Apr 11 by ParkRoyalR |
I thought I read Cifuentes's preferred system was 4-3-3?
With Field & Varane we have two wide midfielders with the athleticism & physicality needed in the Championship to play a 3 man midfield.
To compliment these two we need a replacement for Colback next season and I hav'nt given up on Chair becoming the next Barry Bannan and playing a free role behind the front 3, whether it be in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.
I really think Chair could be key to next season as will a mobile target man up front who can hold the ball up and contribute a 1 in 3 or even 1 in 4 goal to games ratio. Celar could be this player if he can adapt to the physicality of the Championship which he began to show signs of doing before being injured. |
If Celar returns anything like 1 in 4 at this level we will truly have slipped through the vortex to a parallel dimension
Even more so him “holding up the ball”
That is simply not his game although, to be fair, I’m not sure what his game actually is |  |
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| And breathe – Report on 11:24 - Apr 11 with 1395 views | gazza1 |
| And breathe – Report on 09:47 - Apr 11 by ParkRoyalR |
Key to the win was the ability of our Big 4 (Edwards, Morrison, Dunne & Field) to resolutely defend long throws & corners for the full 100 minutes, by comparison to their Centre Halves & Goalkeeper who gifted us those first two goals.
Even so, Field's injury (rightly MOTM as played a real Captain's role when on the pitch) and the prevarication of our management team almost threw this gifted start away.
Dembele's pace and superbly weighted pass to Yang sealed the win which Madsen should have secured in the first half but for a delayed and poor pass to Paal from the exact same position.
Madsen getting involved for the first 20 minutes meant we played with 11 men before he clocked off for the night and Colback's short passes did help retain possession in our third of the pitch but the win was ultimately down to their poor defending as acknowledged by Rowett, Field's hard work and a superb display by Edwards & Morrison. |
Yea, another poster who doesn't see how important Colback is to the Team - sad.....the big 4 (ha ha ha)....not surprising you fail to see when you had 'blind' opinions like you did with our failed CFs, Dykes, who keeps the Birmingham bench warm or is injured in a lower league. How many goals has he scored this season???
Basically, the back 4 defended very well including Paal who won some very important headers and got forward very well. Field played well along with several players out there on Wednesday.
The Dembele pass was simple indeed for a professional (the space to pass the ball was bigger than a 'barn door'), the skill was the finish by Yang - not the pass. As for Madsen, you are another one who has a 'dig' at Madsen when he played an important part especially in the first 20 minutes but all of the first half.
As for the win, just look at the overall performance by many players out there and not just a couple of them as you are suggesting.
Poor post.. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 11:54 - Apr 11 with 1332 views | Myke |
| And breathe – Report on 08:53 - Apr 11 by stevec |
Very true.
It does worry me that Marti can’t see what is staring him in the face. It’s not even as if the football becomes less watchable when we string three across central midfield, obviously we were winning games but the performances during the winter were actually getting us on the edge of our seats.
It’s not as if our attack becomes less effective either, in fact if Dembele and Chair were fit at the same time I think even they’d function better if they were a two man either side of the centre forward.
Feels Marti has done a good job getting this club away from the drop zone whilst handicapping us from going higher, if that makes any sense at all?! |
'Feels Marti has done a good job getting this club away from the drop zone whilst handicapping us from going higher, if that makes any sense at all?!'
That seems like the very definition of 'taking this team as far as he can'. Not sure I think that is true. We know he CAN be pragmatic (both this season and last) when necessary. We also know he dithers around unnecessarily, Wednesday night was not the first time he too ages to make a substitution - and it has cost us points.
I love Marti - but he aint perfect | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 11:58 - Apr 11 with 1329 views | Northernr |
| And breathe – Report on 11:54 - Apr 11 by Myke |
'Feels Marti has done a good job getting this club away from the drop zone whilst handicapping us from going higher, if that makes any sense at all?!'
That seems like the very definition of 'taking this team as far as he can'. Not sure I think that is true. We know he CAN be pragmatic (both this season and last) when necessary. We also know he dithers around unnecessarily, Wednesday night was not the first time he too ages to make a substitution - and it has cost us points.
I love Marti - but he aint perfect |
Nor will/would his replacement be, because of who we are and where we are.
I said this when we were getting to this stage with Warburton - whoever the next bloke is, I guarantee we won't like all his team selections, substitutions and decisions either. I guarantee, whoever it is, we'll be back here this time next year with the same people hammering him for the same perceived failings in post match interviews.
If we've got a manager here who is, by and large and on balance, fulfilling his remit and doing 'fine' then we should stick with, because our record in picking managers and appointing them is fcking abysmal. After Warburton we went off a two year cliff face from which Cifuentes, the fourth appointment in that time, rescued us.
He's taken us as far as he can because it's as far as we can go with this budget and this set up. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 12:03 - Apr 11 with 1313 views | wombat |
| And breathe – Report on 08:13 - Apr 11 by Northernr |
I think both he and the club would like to get to this 4-2-3-1 system. The "game model".
That's what they've tried to recruit for. You've already got Chair, Smyth, Andersen, you're adding Saito and Dembele.
Sadly we're not good enough to do it. The team, as Hunter says, is much more effective when we stick three midfielders in there together. So we do that, we put some results together, we get more confident, we move up the league, and we think it might be time to open it up and go back to 4-2-3-1. But... we're not good enough to do it.
This season, accept your limitations, play the pragmatic team.
Next season, big decision to make about what you recruit to. |
hadyn would be the first one through the door for me esp if colback does go |  |
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| And breathe – Report on 12:04 - Apr 11 with 1296 views | gazza1 |
| And breathe – Report on 11:54 - Apr 11 by Myke |
'Feels Marti has done a good job getting this club away from the drop zone whilst handicapping us from going higher, if that makes any sense at all?!'
That seems like the very definition of 'taking this team as far as he can'. Not sure I think that is true. We know he CAN be pragmatic (both this season and last) when necessary. We also know he dithers around unnecessarily, Wednesday night was not the first time he too ages to make a substitution - and it has cost us points.
I love Marti - but he aint perfect |
Nobody is perfect......what more do you want him to do with what he has at his side?? He has done very well since he arrived, remember the mess he as left with - we now have a good team but injuries have killed us all.
I agree, It is strange how it has been with subs but you need to know why he is taking so long....and too long it is.
Drop a line to him and suggest to him that he needs to gets his subs on sooner and tell him how to do it or how you would do it. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 12:07 - Apr 11 with 1277 views | wombat |
| And breathe – Report on 11:24 - Apr 11 by gazza1 |
Yea, another poster who doesn't see how important Colback is to the Team - sad.....the big 4 (ha ha ha)....not surprising you fail to see when you had 'blind' opinions like you did with our failed CFs, Dykes, who keeps the Birmingham bench warm or is injured in a lower league. How many goals has he scored this season???
Basically, the back 4 defended very well including Paal who won some very important headers and got forward very well. Field played well along with several players out there on Wednesday.
The Dembele pass was simple indeed for a professional (the space to pass the ball was bigger than a 'barn door'), the skill was the finish by Yang - not the pass. As for Madsen, you are another one who has a 'dig' at Madsen when he played an important part especially in the first 20 minutes but all of the first half.
As for the win, just look at the overall performance by many players out there and not just a couple of them as you are suggesting.
Poor post.. |
madson in pretty much the same position as dembele failed to give an easier pass to paal earlier on , madson by his standards was an improment , remember this was agsint one of the poorest sides you are likely yo meet, if he starts sat he wont be given the same space on the ball | |
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| And breathe – Report on 12:16 - Apr 11 with 1254 views | BrizR |
| And breathe – Report on 08:13 - Apr 11 by Northernr |
I think both he and the club would like to get to this 4-2-3-1 system. The "game model".
That's what they've tried to recruit for. You've already got Chair, Smyth, Andersen, you're adding Saito and Dembele.
Sadly we're not good enough to do it. The team, as Hunter says, is much more effective when we stick three midfielders in there together. So we do that, we put some results together, we get more confident, we move up the league, and we think it might be time to open it up and go back to 4-2-3-1. But... we're not good enough to do it.
This season, accept your limitations, play the pragmatic team.
Next season, big decision to make about what you recruit to. |
The thing that gets me is that in practical terms the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 just aren't all that different. You swap a Field/Morgan for a Chair/Dembele (or Andersen in a pinch) and the latter starts five yards further up the pitch. Theoretically it enables you to get another 'creative' player on, but look at Sam rampaging around on Wednesday. All of Colback, Varane and Morgan are technically able too, and the gulf between them and the little '10s' isn't that vast. Our choices aren't "agricultural football played by 6'4" lumps" vs. "2010 Barcelona," we're slightly tweaking the position and profile of one player, accepting a significant decrease in legs/engine/strength in return, and watching results drop every time we do it. Who does this matter so much to that we keep trying? | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 12:18 - Apr 11 with 1247 views | ParkRoyalR |
| And breathe – Report on 11:24 - Apr 11 by gazza1 |
Yea, another poster who doesn't see how important Colback is to the Team - sad.....the big 4 (ha ha ha)....not surprising you fail to see when you had 'blind' opinions like you did with our failed CFs, Dykes, who keeps the Birmingham bench warm or is injured in a lower league. How many goals has he scored this season???
Basically, the back 4 defended very well including Paal who won some very important headers and got forward very well. Field played well along with several players out there on Wednesday.
The Dembele pass was simple indeed for a professional (the space to pass the ball was bigger than a 'barn door'), the skill was the finish by Yang - not the pass. As for Madsen, you are another one who has a 'dig' at Madsen when he played an important part especially in the first 20 minutes but all of the first half.
As for the win, just look at the overall performance by many players out there and not just a couple of them as you are suggesting.
Poor post.. |
Dembele's pass was indeed simple for a professional which is why it was so disappointing Madsen butchered the same simple pass, especially as his key and only attribute is his passing.
Madsen's big money failing this season could have contributed significantly to our relegation push were it not for us getting very lucky in signing a development player in Morgan who showed Madsen the courage you need to play in the Championship, the courage to show for the ball.
Kevin Gallen noted our inability to win the ball in the air up front all season, which is why when fit Dykes is still 1st choice for Scotland and Birmingham spent some of their £35m transfer budget on him, albeit £15m apparently on their No 1 striker from Premier League Fulham, hence Dykes being rightly benched.
Winning the ball in the air upfront in the Championship is a very important part of the game as most teams on our budget need this outlet.
You lauded your 2 favourites (Colabck & Paal) whereas I acknowledged 4 worthy MOTM's and am told to look beyond a couple of them? Ahem. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 12:34 - Apr 11 with 1196 views | BAWHoops |
You do feel the bones of a semi decent 433 side is there for next season
Nardi, RB, Morrison, JCS, Vale, Morgan, Varane, Field, Smyth, Chair, Kelman/Frey/Celar
You don't HAVE to play all your wingers because you like them. If Dembele and Saito need to be coming off the bench then so be it. Their time will come.
I udnerstand why they spent the money on Madsen, 6 ft4 goalscoring midfielder sounds perfect. But in reality not so much the case.
God I hope Marti sticks around. Would be utter madness to get rid now |  |
| http://blogandwhitehoops.wordpress.com/ |
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| And breathe – Report on 12:35 - Apr 11 with 1195 views | GroveR |
| And breathe – Report on 09:56 - Apr 11 by Paddyhoops |
Field is and has been the heartbeat of this team for years now.
Don’t care that people thinks he’s limited.
He’s clever, works his arse off and gives a shit .
He’ll do for me. |
Nor would you be entirely disappointed if your daughter bought him home, the loveable little scamp. |  | | |
| And breathe – Report on 12:40 - Apr 11 with 1189 views | Brighton_R |
| And breathe – Report on 07:54 - Apr 11 by Hunterhoop |
I have said it ALL season, from half way through our Sheffield United game, this side, squad, club, needs to play 3 genuine centre midfielders to be effective. Be gone with the midget 10s. We need men in the middle of the park. We can have two midgets as wide forwards and whoever is standing up front down the middle, but we need 3 down the middle. Ostensibly one of them can be pressing higher up the pitch and find themselves in the box supporting our forward, but that is how we compete.
Our great run was Varane, Field, Morgan. Wednesday night was Varane, Colback, Field. Perm variations.
Our bad run started when Chair was fit again, not because Chair played badly per se, but because we went back to trying to play with 2 of those 3 and then Chair, more recently Andersen, in front of them. It does not work. Not with our personnel. Teams play through us far too easily and we have to start our attacks from far deeper (because our press and tackling is worse), making it far less likely we will score.
Let’s just embrace who we are until we’re a bit more competent, eh? |
Amen to this. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 12:42 - Apr 11 with 1184 views | paddyhdog |
Utterly brilliant writing - compelling, funny, on the mark.
Clive's match reports are one of the best things about being an Rs fan. And let's be honest theres not many of those things left thesedays. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 13:11 - Apr 11 with 1123 views | LongsufferingR |
| And breathe – Report on 12:35 - Apr 11 by GroveR |
Nor would you be entirely disappointed if your daughter bought him home, the loveable little scamp. |
I would. My daughter's 13. |  | | |
| And breathe – Report on 13:23 - Apr 11 with 1097 views | Paddyhoops |
| And breathe – Report on 12:35 - Apr 11 by GroveR |
Nor would you be entirely disappointed if your daughter bought him home, the loveable little scamp. |
She’s with a grease monkey , he’s an Arsenal fan . You know the type . Born in Watford . Lived there all his life.
Nice fella but yeah . I can dream . | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 13:59 - Apr 11 with 998 views | gazza1 |
| And breathe – Report on 12:18 - Apr 11 by ParkRoyalR |
Dembele's pass was indeed simple for a professional which is why it was so disappointing Madsen butchered the same simple pass, especially as his key and only attribute is his passing.
Madsen's big money failing this season could have contributed significantly to our relegation push were it not for us getting very lucky in signing a development player in Morgan who showed Madsen the courage you need to play in the Championship, the courage to show for the ball.
Kevin Gallen noted our inability to win the ball in the air up front all season, which is why when fit Dykes is still 1st choice for Scotland and Birmingham spent some of their £35m transfer budget on him, albeit £15m apparently on their No 1 striker from Premier League Fulham, hence Dykes being rightly benched.
Winning the ball in the air upfront in the Championship is a very important part of the game as most teams on our budget need this outlet.
You lauded your 2 favourites (Colabck & Paal) whereas I acknowledged 4 worthy MOTM's and am told to look beyond a couple of them? Ahem. |
I remember that Madsen could have played that pass, when was it - I want to look at it.
Morgan, the great hope we got for nowt!!! I recall the first couple of games, I do not want to remember his games after the very early performances - they were very average indeed. Many posters overracted, as usual. These boys can play that is why they have a pro contract but most don't get more that 25 starts. We will see with Morgan, but I like his forward thinking but not many other parts of his game. Not good to compare Madsen & Morgan!!
Dykes is poor, just not good enough. Scotland are poor, just not good enough. He is a good fit for them. I/m looking forward to seeing him next season at the R's....should be good.
Yep, Paal & Colback are my favourites, both excellent footballers, both left footers (like me - ha ha)......but I like a lot of the players actually and think we would be much higher in the division if we did not have so many injuries. At Oxford I thought there were 6,7,8 players who did very well, no issues at all with Norf's decision re Field - he played well supporting the front runner. | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 14:37 - Apr 11 with 900 views | tommytanker |
Top man Clive, we're lucky to have you! | | | |
| And breathe – Report on 15:08 - Apr 11 with 816 views | gazza1 |
| And breathe – Report on 14:37 - Apr 11 by tommytanker |
Top man Clive, we're lucky to have you! |
Really, why do you think that?? | | | |
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