It All Started So Well Pt II | Vital Football

It All Started So Well Pt II

collioure_bee

Vital 1st Team Regular
First half on Tuesday night was a display of some really good stuff. The defence never really looked troubled, the midfield ran the show and we scored two goals from set pieces.
Wednesday fans got a tad upset with the ref for not awarding them a penalty, but in all honesty I didn't think it was at the time, and still don't having seen replays. From then on, he could do nothing right so far as they were concerned. I thought he had a pretty good game.

Josh ran the show for me. Dean was strong in defence and Henry made an impressive start. Both goals were well taken and you felt Smith's big change in line up was working, even if Romaine wasn't (and I really have tried to like him). He just wasn't on the same wavelength as Jota, getting in each other's way at times and not reading simple passes.
Jota and Canos stood out again quality wise. Then came the injury to Josh. It looked bad, slamming the floor in pain as Judge had at Ipswich, the Wednesday player calling our physio on, their physio coming over to help. To be fair to the Wednesday fans, a player who they'd been not too friendly towards not long beforehand due to an incident I didn't see, were very patient and gave him a rousing applause as he was carried off. Then it all changed.
Second half Wednesday took control and were all over us. Was it the lack of Josh? Was it the fact that once again we were effectively playing with ten men? For the first ten minutes KK did try . After that he did his usual disappearing act and was nowhere to be seen. He's had enough chances now. No more. Utter sh*t and one of the worst ever to pull on a striped shirt. No excuses. You saw the quality and class of the touch of Jota and then the clod hopping clumsyknuckle that is KK receive the pass. That is in the ten minutes he bothered trying.
Bentley made at least seven good to great saves and Wednesday could have come away with a four or five two victory that wouldn't have flattered judging by the second half.
Strangely, I enjoyed it for some reason. We got away with it for a change. Fortunes have gone against us recently, Newcastle, Brighton etc but Tuesday they went with us for once.
But please. Forget the 17 shirt. Let's play with eleven capable players.
 
Good summary cb, just relieved to get the win & a bit of fortune after recent gutting games. How classless was their mgr afterwards, big C
club entitlement! Are we able to follow it up or will this be another inconsistent week in a season that has been the very definition of the word. DS still has to find more for me, thank god the Spanish boys are here - otherwise who knows, Bjelland will have to come in for Harlee & we'll have to start Florian & consider Sergi up top if Vibe / Hoff aren't fit. Rovrum ate t as bad as their position & we can't have lightweights out there, KK, RS, Vibe.

50th anny of the qpr thing, needs a proper turn out & response on & off the pitch.
 
Missed this one which was typical having seen us lose away a lot recently, but so glad we won and put clear daylight from the bottom three.

Agree about their manager, his after match comments were crass and very disrespectful to the ref and us.

Rotherham will be tougher than we think as they are desperate for points and I am sure will put bodies behind the ball and hit us on the break, an early goal should do for us hopefully.
 
I think a lot of refs would have given them a penalty. I suspect the ref thought Forestieri was looking for it but it was clumsy of Harlee to clatter into the back of him. There were a few other decisions which they howled at which could have been given by another ref.

As CB said the first half was superb. The past half dozen games Josh has been terrific and making us tick and he did that on Tuesday. He's also toughened up a little [or perhaps been protecting previous injuries in the past].

In the second half Wednesday dominated the chances without dominating the game until the very end when it was all hands to the pumps. I think I counted three occasions when Sawyers played the right ball badly which could have seen us get a third. Towards the end we put Flo up top and brought Sawyers back to defend.

Saturday will be interesting. If Vibe and Hoff are still injured we might have to start with a front three of Jota, Flo and Canos and a midfield of Nico, Woods and Sawyers/KK [I believe Macca is injured too]. I'd expect Egan to move right and Bjelland to slot in. Field might start ahead of Rico to ease him back from injury.

I expect three points on Saturday. I don't care if Rotherham are fighting for their lives. They are sh*t!
 
I can see a pattern developing here!!

Yet again we started well and dominated the first half against a downbeat Rotherham and should have killed the game off by half time.

Second half we let them back into the game, twice, and then an amazing last four minutes when we completely took the game away from them.

Great ending and result which perhaps disguised a patchy second half display which might easily have given Rotherham only their second away point of the season.

We certainly missed Dean, Vibe and Josh but some positives in the entry of Henry who looks a real find, and the growing form of our Dutch/ Spanish contingent who add so much flair and energy to our team. Especially Jota of course who was majestic today.

Beginning to feel that not only are we safe in this division now but can maybe now look st a decent top half finish.
 
Delighted & very relieved to get the points in the end but god did we make hard work of it! Without being disrespectful to Rotherham who put a lot into it, we almost found a way to throw 2 or even all 3 points away. 1st half was a cruise and if we'd stepped it up slightly we'd have been out of sight , the midfield was knocking it around nicely and whenever jota or FloJo got the ball things happened. That said a few loose passes and with very little sticking with Romaine playing out of position you felt a few words were needed at HT, and a change.

This didn't happen, we went into our shell, got sloppy and you could see an equaliser coming, time to get Sergi on, but no he waited, and so they duly scored. They then had a great chance to take the lead and we looked all over the place as some panic set in, and conditions got worse. Finally a change, but not the one I'd expected, yes we got Sergi (who should've started imo) but the change was for Flojo! The 2 amigos got to work and lifted us, relief as we went ahead again, and bump a season a powerful long range hit flew in off a skiddy pitch. You could make a case for DB doing a bit better on their goals but he made a superb stop earlier on a one v one. Shaibu was also on and looked fast and powerful up front, Romaine moved back into midfield. So 2-2 and the place was flat, people making for the exits, always a mistake with BFC. We needn't have worried as a mad final couple of minutes ensued, the amigos and shaibu did their thing and took the game by the throat, the final act being jotas hat trick. What a player, arguably the most naturally gifted I've seen in a bees shirt.

So we look safe now, and with Sergi and jota around we'll pick up some nice wins and big points. Without these two we'd be struggling though, and not much better than yesterday's opponents, that's the difference they've made Imo. Smith is the safeish part of hands, Mr 1.25 points a game which in itself isn't a bad thing - it's 60 puts a season give or take, I'd take it until we get to LR personally, but I don't see him as the man to take us further than that. Better tactics, timely changes and more belief could see this talented squad really go places.

Anyway it all turned out ok in the end.
 
The highest number of points gained by a team relegated from this division is 54 by Peterborough about five years ago. Normally, 50 is more than enough, so as Kent and Rebel say, we look pretty safe now. Three wins and three draws from thirteen matches, seven at home would guarantee it. In the meantime, we need to give Jota a new contract, and spend some of the Hogan money to address the weaknesses in the team.
 
The highest number of points gained by a team relegated from this division is 54 by Peterborough about five years ago. Normally, 50 is more than enough, so as Kent and Rebel say, we look pretty safe now. Three wins and three draws from thirteen matches, seven at home would guarantee it. In the meantime, we need to give Jota a new contract, and spend some of the Hogan money to address the weaknesses in the team.
 
Some great points there. Not much to add really.
Atmosphere seemed a bit flat again though. Jota and Canos are exactly the kind of player we need. They show passion as well as skill and Jota never stops. Thought it strange that the two weakest midfielders were left on for first substitution and one of the more creative players in the side was hauled off.
Got to say I thought their manager was class. He arrived thanking all the fans for coming outside the ground, shaking hands with everyone, signing and posing for photos, chatty and friendly and at the end of the match, stood by the tunnel and shook hands with all our players, which must have been difficult as he would have been gutted after that last five minutes. Compare his behaviour to a certain Sheffield Wednesday manager.
 
A good start today at Ipswich before we let them back into the game and they had the upper hand until a good goal by Nico sent us into half time in better spirits. Second half we were much the better side, really took the game to them.

Nice away day is Ipswich.

A decent point but could and should have been more as the amicable Mick McCarthy said himself about us.
 
Would that be the same Mick McCarthy that claimed the horror tackle on Judge didn't even merit a yellow card? Lost a lot of respect for him for that comment. But good of him to say that about us yesterday.
Like you, felt we were the better side in a pretty drab match. Got to give credit for Sawyers who went from bloody awful first half, until that pass to Nico and then ran the show mid field second half. Did he drop a bit deeper?
Barbet also showed he is worth picking in front of the hapless Bjellend who again managed to find a way of passing to the opposition and putting us in a one on one when the pass to Nico was the easier pass.
A good point. Like you say, Kent, could have been more.
 
Agree about Sawyers, he was poor first half and then produced a gem of a pass for Nico to score. Second half he was far more effective and seemed to have more freedom position wise.

I agree about Barbet for Bjelland as well, he looks quicker and sharper and produces those 40 yard passes with aplomb. Having said that Egan had a good game and would expect him and Dean to renew their partnership on Tuesday.
 
Egan and Dean are a real solid unit and with Macechran (can he please change his name to one I can spell?) in front that's a pretty decent group. Barbet's long passes are excellent and his sliding tackles are second to none
 
Could have started a Pt III to be honest.

Good game last night. One I didn't know we had until I facetimed Sean to show a mate what it was all about and he was sat in TV gantry at Forest. Oops.

I would have to say, every single player did a good shift last night, including two of my favourites to moan about, Vibe and Sawyers.
Vibe did mess up a one on one early on and had me shouting at him to go somewhere...etc....

Great first goal, quick throw from Bentley to find Jota who did what Jota does so well, then fed Vibe for a brilliantly taken shot. Second goal was Vibe but belonged to Sergi for his excellent run and run and run before setting Lasse up, and the third....Wow Just Jota magic.

Then came a strange period in the last few minutes where a team that had been outplayed for much of the night, decent first half but awful second, made the scoreline a bit of a mockery. I honestly don't know what happened, but suddenly feared the worst! Another five minutes we may have been looking at only one point.

Have to say, that I feel it was down to three pointless substitutions, the old "game over let them have a rest" type thing which is never true. (Remember Gillingham all those years back). Why do managers think they have to make a change on the hour regardless?

Great three points and sorry to see Forest sink to such a bad level. They were all that was good about football. Smaller club sticking it up the big boys like they did.
 
The last 10 minutes might prove to be a blessing in disguise, as it might make the players and the manager realise that there is no such thing as easing down at this level. Having said that, it was ordeal by iPad for me; too many instances of Brentford throwing away leads are seated into my memory.
 
Sounds like a good game and three great goals bar the last ten minutes. This is panning out like the end of last season when with no relegation to worry about and out of the play offs the team seemed released from pressure and when on a stunning winning run.

Nobody will want to play us in this mood and I sense we are gaining genuine respect for how we play and how the club is managed.

Really looking forward to Huddersfield and Wolves as our next instalment and some Jota time..
 
The question I have to ask is. How long can we keep hold of Jota? He loves it here. He wants to be here. But he is just a class above......However.......Can he do it anywhere else? Plenty of classy players at one club have gone on to fail elsewhere.