The Robins (h) | Page 4 | Vital Football

The Robins (h)

Thought it was a fairly even 1st half and we were much the better team after HT.

Aasgaard made a real positive difference when he came on at HT and with Lang improving as the game went on we looked more threatening going forward,putting them under some serious pressure that 2nd half.

They couldn't handle Magennis physically and aerially (especially Naismith) but we didn't have anyone close enough/running off him as much as i'd like.
He had a brilliant game overall,but should've done better with his 1st 2 chances.His 3rd chance just before HT was more difficult and unlucky imo as it was magnificent control to bring the high ball down stretching over his shoulder,but then he couldn't quite execute the finish with the GK racing out to narrow the angle with the defender also in close proximity.

Whatmough and Kerr once he got to grips with his unfamiliar left centre back position were both solid and Power became more involved in an attacking sense in the 2nd half driving the team forward.

Williams definitely on the sly left one on Bennett when they were both on the deck.But when you react like that you're always running the risk of a red,so I was relieved to only see the ref produce a yellow.
Playing with 10 men against 11 for the majority in that extreme heat would've been a disastrous and credit to our lads who I thought looked fit and strong throughout and kept pushing right to the end in those baking hot conditions.

Overall i'm slightly disappointed we didn't get the 3 points after our strong 2nd half.But on another day we also could've lost that game if they'd taken that glorious headed chance just after we equalised.So we take another respectable point after coming from behind and our encouraging,unbeaten start to the new Championship season continues.
 
Good refereeing actually with the Bennett card, it wasn't a kick out for violent conduct but hooked his ankle to trip him, so petulance rather than violent conduct which is correctly a yellow card. Williams rather than getting up, deliberately pushes his knee onto Bennetts chest, which was far worse and didn't get a card, then feigning injury to try and get an opponent sent off, Williams was very lucky to get away with that.

Bristol City cut the clear handball from the highlights for obvious reasons and a great challenge from Kerr to prod the ball away in the box before the attacker threw himself to the ground dramatically.
 
NorthernSoul said:
Good refereeing actually with the Bennett card, it wasn't a kick out for violent conduct but hooked his ankle to trip him, so petulance rather than violent conduct which is correctly a yellow card. Williams rather than getting up, deliberately pushes his knee onto Bennetts chest, which was far worse and didn't get a card, then feigning injury to try and get an opponent sent off, Williams was very lucky to get away with that.
Click to expand...

This made me laugh...
https://twitter.com/x/status/1558781023235842050
 
I thought first half was like so many games last season before we switched to wing backs - no movement or showing for the ball, centre midfield completely empty leading to constantly going long to an isolated striker and giving them the ball back. In L1 when we had the superior individual quality to come up with a moment of magic our hard work, fitness, battling and set pieces could grind out wins despite a limited method to our play. But in the Championship when we no longer have the higher quality of player you can't get by on hard work and fight alone. It's not that the hard work can't carry you far, or long ball can't be effective but you have to play it well and we have never been that good at it - we are far better mixing it up. If you go long to a lone strikers head with no one close enough to pick up knock downs or flick ons like we did for the first half it is obviously not going to work very well.

By contrast Bristol played a more coherent version of long ball mixed in with some pass and move. Every time their target man Martin went for a header there was someone running beyond him for a flick on and someone running in behind him for a knock down. Every time they looked to the channels there was a runner already there while we generally put balls into the channels before there was a run and we often didn't get it. Poor Magennis was winning nearly everything in the air but the 3 attacking mids were so often miles behind him so all his hard fought aerial dual went straight back to Bristol. But the attack mid despite being too far behind the striker to play off him when we went long were too far ahead of the def mids and full backs when we were looking to play out so there was often no passing options though midfield. It was effectively the worst of both worlds from the attacking mids - too high up to link up and create and too deep to play off the striker leaving a big hole in the middle of the pitch that Bristol had uncontested. We were restricted to Power trying to play very difficult speculative passes from his own half due to a lack of options.

I thought us and Bristol played similar tactics first half but they had attacking movement to make it work while we didn't. By half time we could've conceded another goal and maybe a penalty but despite our struggles we still managed to get 3 good chances for Magennis who somehow missed all 3. It showed if we got our act together Bristol were vulnerable.

For the controversy i thought Williams was sly and stuck his knee into Bennett as he got up looking to provoke a retaliation and Bennett took the bait. It was a soft petulant kick out, not dangerous but regardless of that you're asking for a straight red if you last out. So I think we were very lucky it was only a yellow. To be fair I have noticed for a while refs do seem to use a bit more common sense for the handbags than they used to and I think the game is better for it.

In the second half I think a few things changed the game; Bristol ran out of gas in the heat and stopped pressing and surrendered midfield while our superior fitness saw us keep pushing and we pretty much played the game in their half with them hitting us on the odd break. Power took the game by the scruff of the neck and was everywhere driving us forward - he was at the heart of everything attacking wise - I wish we had another couple of players like him - always willing to take responsibility and trying to be positive. Aasgaard made a huge difference coming on as sub. But I think the main thing was we started to move off the ball which allowed us to start to play though midfield more, there were runners and Magennis finally got some support.

As soon as we started to play a bit and not just giving Bristol back posession so easily they started to struggle, by the end of the game we were dominating and they were clinging on for dear life. It wasn't like we completely changed style, more we started doing the fundemental things to make it work. By the end i thought we deserved the win and were the only team likely to get a winner.

Overall we had to ride our luck again with some of the chances they missed (second half header from Conway was far harder to miss than any of Magennis') and key decisions going our way. But we showed good spirit and fought back well after a bad start and on overall balance of play i think we shaded it. If Magennis could finish we'd probably be celebrating a win.

I hope we really learned after that first half that if we want to be a direct team we have to be far smarter in how we do it than we were last season. I think Bristol will struggle for sure and be down with us in the dog fight. We won't be able to afford to play long like we did first half and get a draw many other times this season but if we can play like we did in the second we'll be competitive against most. It was a mixed performances with encouraging things and stuff we need to work on.

Individually:
Amos - no chance on the goal and despite Bristol creating chances wasn't called into action before injury.

Darikwa- typical erratic did some hard things very well before making a mess on some of the easier things. Defended pretty well but didn't offer much going forward - although lack of options in front of him didn't help. I think Nyambe will be starting ahead of him in the next game or so.

Bennett- lucky to not get a red, defended well but like Darikwa couldn't get forward much except one sublime cross Magennis missed.

Whatmough - outstanding again.

Kerr - playing on the wrong side he still had great game except arguably could've given a penalty.

Naylor- good defensively but needs to take a bit more responsibility in posession. He too often gets a ball in space and just gives it straight back when he has the opportunity to turn or carry the ball or pick a forward pass. He's quite good with the ball when he takes it on but I think sometimes he is over cautious.

Power - sloppy pass lead to their goal but was our driving force in the middle, especially in the second half. His crossing keeps getting better - you can tell he works on that hard in training. Always wanted the ball and looking to take responsibility.

McClean - you always get high energy and aggression but it wasn't his best game, crossing was off again with the exception of a sublime lofted pass to Magennis.

Keane - seemed to go missing in the first half, improved but still quiet in the second half but popped up with the important goal.

Lang - struggled in the first half but seemed to slowly find his rhythm in the last 30 mins and started to beat men and cause havoc like he did last season. I think Lang has really felt the step up in competition but hopefully he's adjusting.

Magennis - probably his most dominant performance as a target man, winning so much despite having so little support. Looked very good on the few occasions we played it into his feet rather than aiming for his head, would like to see more of that. But his finishing was poor, could've had a hatrick.

Aasgaard - I think that was his break out performance, sensational considering it wasn't his natural position. Has to start the next game, he's got the quality we need in the starting 11.

Nyambe - good cameo, didn't do anything spectacular but looked promising.

Broadhead - came on as a no10 and didn't get much of the ball but looked decent on the few occasions he had it.

Jones - don't think he had anything to do.
 
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king_dezeeuw06 said:
I thought first half was like so many games last season before we switched to wing backs - no movement or showing for the ball, centre midfield completely empty leading to constantly going long to an isolated striker and giving them the ball back. In L1 when we had the superior individual quality to come up with a moment of magic our hard work, fitness, battling and set pieces could grind out wins despite a limited method to our play. But in the Championship when we no longer have the higher quality of player you can't get by on hard work and fight alone. It's not that the hard work can't carry you far, or long ball can't be effective but you have to play it well and we have never been that good at it - we are far better mixing it up. If you go long to a lone strikers head with no one close enough to pick up knock downs or flick ons like we did for the first half it is obviously not going to work very well.

By contrast Bristol played a more coherent version of long ball mixed in with some pass and move. Every time their target man Martin went for a header there was someone running beyond him for a flick on and someone running in behind him for a knock down. Every time they looked to the channels there was a runner already there while we generally put balls into the channels before there was a run and we often didn't get it. Poor Magennis was winning nearly everything in the air but the 3 attacking mids were so often miles behind him so all his hard fought aerial dual went straight back to Bristol. But the attack mid despite being too far behind the striker to play off him when we went long were too far ahead of the def mids and full backs when we were looking to play out so there was often no passing options though midfield. It was effectively the worst of both worlds from the attacking mids - too high up to link up and create and too deep to play off the striker leaving a big hole in the middle of the pitch that Bristol had uncontested. We were restricted to Power trying to play very difficult speculative passes from his own half due to a lack of options.

I thought us and Bristol played similar tactics first half but they had attacking movement to make it work while we didn't. By half time we could've conceded another goal and maybe a penalty but despite our struggles we still managed to get 3 good chances for Magennis who somehow missed all 3. It showed if we got our act together Bristol were vulnerable.

For the controversy i thought Williams was sly and stuck his knee into Bennett as he got up looking to provoke a retaliation and Bennett took the bait. It was a soft petulant kick out, not dangerous but regardless of that you're asking for a straight red if you last out. So I think we were very lucky it was only a yellow. To be fair I have noticed for a while refs do seem to use a bit more common sense for the handbags than they used to and I think the game is better for it.

In the second half I think a few things changed the game; Bristol ran out of gas in the heat and stopped pressing and surrendered midfield while our superior fitness saw us keep pushing and we pretty much played the game in their half with them hitting us on the odd break. Power took the game by the scruff of the neck and was everywhere driving us forward - he was at the heart of everything attacking wise - I wish we had another couple of players like him - always willing to take responsibility and trying to be positive. Aasgaard made a huge difference coming on as sub. But I think the main thing was we started to move off the ball which allowed us to start to play though midfield more, there were runners and Magennis finally got some support.

As soon as we started to play a bit and not just giving Bristol back posession so easily they started to struggle, by the end of the game we were dominating and they were clinging on for dear life. It wasn't like we completely changed style, more we started doing the fundemental things to make it work. By the end i thought we deserved the win and were the only team likely to get a winner.

Overall we had to ride our luck again with some of the chances they missed (second half header from Conway was far harder to miss than any of Magennis') and key decisions going our way. But we showed good spirit and fought back well after a bad start and on overall balance of play i think we shaded it. If Magennis could finish we'd probably be celebrating a win.

I hope we really learned after that first half that if we want to be a direct team we have to be far smarter in how we do it than we were last season. I think Bristol will struggle for sure and be down with us in the dog fight. We won't be able to afford to play long like we did first half and get a draw many other times this season but if we can play like we did in the second we'll be competitive against most. It was a mixed performances with encouraging things and stuff we need to work on.

Individually:
Amos - no chance on the goal and despite Bristol creating chances wasn't called into action before injury.

Darikwa- typical erratic did some hard things very well before making a mess on some of the easier things. Defended pretty well but didn't offer much going forward - although lack of options in front of him didn't help. I think Nyambe will be starting ahead of him in the next game or so.

Bennett- lucky to not get a red, defended well but like Darikwa couldn't get forward much except one sublime cross Magennis missed.

Whatmough - outstanding again.

Kerr - playing on the wrong side he still had great game except arguably could've given a penalty.

Naylor- good defensively but needs to take a bit more responsibility in posession. He too often gets a ball in space and just gives it straight back when he has the opportunity to turn or carry the ball or pick a forward pass. He's quite good with the ball when he takes it on but I think sometimes he is over cautious.

Power - sloppy pass lead to their goal but was our driving force in the middle, especially in the second half. His crossing keeps getting better - you can tell he works on that hard in training. Always wanted the ball and looking to take responsibility.

McClean - you always get high energy and aggression but it wasn't his best game, crossing was off again with the exception of a sublime lofted pass to Magennis.

Keane - seemed to go missing in the first half, improved but still quiet in the second half but popped up with the important goal.

Lang - struggled in the first half but seemed to slowly find his rhythm in the last 30 mins and started to beat men and cause havoc like he did last season. I think Lang has really felt the step up in competition but hopefully he's adjusting.

Magennis - probably his most dominant performance as a target man, winning so much despite having so little support. Looked very good on the few occasions we played it into his feet rather than aiming for his head, would like to see more of that. But his finishing was poor, could've had a hatrick.

Aasgaard - I think that was his break out performance, sensational considering it wasn't his natural position. Has to start the next game, he's got the quality we need in the starting 11.

Nyambe - good cameo, didn't do anything spectacular but looked promising.

Broadhead - came on as a no10 and didn't get much of the ball but looked decent on the few occasions he had it.

Jones - don't think he had anything to do.
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Lovely summary KDZ but can u cut down on the word count please, it's a great summary but come on some of us only have the attention span of a gnat lol
 
king_dezeeuw06 said:
I thought first half was like so many games last season before we switched to wing backs - no movement or showing for the ball, centre midfield completely empty leading to constantly going long to an isolated striker and giving them the ball back. In L1 when we had the superior individual quality to come up with a moment of magic our hard work, fitness, battling and set pieces could grind out wins despite a limited method to our play. But in the Championship when we no longer have the higher quality of player you can't get by on hard work and fight alone. It's not that the hard work can't carry you far, or long ball can't be effective but you have to play it well and we have never been that good at it - we are far better mixing it up. If you go long to a lone strikers head with no one close enough to pick up knock downs or flick ons like we did for the first half it is obviously not going to work very well.

By contrast Bristol played a more coherent version of long ball mixed in with some pass and move. Every time their target man Martin went for a header there was someone running beyond him for a flick on and someone running in behind him for a knock down. Every time they looked to the channels there was a runner already there while we generally put balls into the channels before there was a run and we often didn't get it. Poor Magennis was winning nearly everything in the air but the 3 attacking mids were so often miles behind him so all his hard fought aerial dual went straight back to Bristol. But the attack mid despite being too far behind the striker to play off him when we went long were too far ahead of the def mids and full backs when we were looking to play out so there was often no passing options though midfield. It was effectively the worst of both worlds from the attacking mids - too high up to link up and create and too deep to play off the striker leaving a big hole in the middle of the pitch that Bristol had uncontested. We were restricted to Power trying to play very difficult speculative passes from his own half due to a lack of options.

I thought us and Bristol played similar tactics first half but they had attacking movement to make it work while we didn't. By half time we could've conceded another goal and maybe a penalty but despite our struggles we still managed to get 3 good chances for Magennis who somehow missed all 3. It showed if we got our act together Bristol were vulnerable.

For the controversy i thought Williams was sly and stuck his knee into Bennett as he got up looking to provoke a retaliation and Bennett took the bait. It was a soft petulant kick out, not dangerous but regardless of that you're asking for a straight red if you last out. So I think we were very lucky it was only a yellow. To be fair I have noticed for a while refs do seem to use a bit more common sense for the handbags than they used to and I think the game is better for it.

In the second half I think a few things changed the game; Bristol ran out of gas in the heat and stopped pressing and surrendered midfield while our superior fitness saw us keep pushing and we pretty much played the game in their half with them hitting us on the odd break. Power took the game by the scruff of the neck and was everywhere driving us forward - he was at the heart of everything attacking wise - I wish we had another couple of players like him - always willing to take responsibility and trying to be positive. Aasgaard made a huge difference coming on as sub. But I think the main thing was we started to move off the ball which allowed us to start to play though midfield more, there were runners and Magennis finally got some support.

As soon as we started to play a bit and not just giving Bristol back posession so easily they started to struggle, by the end of the game we were dominating and they were clinging on for dear life. It wasn't like we completely changed style, more we started doing the fundemental things to make it work. By the end i thought we deserved the win and were the only team likely to get a winner.

Overall we had to ride our luck again with some of the chances they missed (second half header from Conway was far harder to miss than any of Magennis') and key decisions going our way. But we showed good spirit and fought back well after a bad start and on overall balance of play i think we shaded it. If Magennis could finish we'd probably be celebrating a win.

I hope we really learned after that first half that if we want to be a direct team we have to be far smarter in how we do it than we were last season. I think Bristol will struggle for sure and be down with us in the dog fight. We won't be able to afford to play long like we did first half and get a draw many other times this season but if we can play like we did in the second we'll be competitive against most. It was a mixed performances with encouraging things and stuff we need to work on.

Individually:
Amos - no chance on the goal and despite Bristol creating chances wasn't called into action before injury.

Darikwa- typical erratic did some hard things very well before making a mess on some of the easier things. Defended pretty well but didn't offer much going forward - although lack of options in front of him didn't help. I think Nyambe will be starting ahead of him in the next game or so.

Bennett- lucky to not get a red, defended well but like Darikwa couldn't get forward much except one sublime cross Magennis missed.

Whatmough - outstanding again.

Kerr - playing on the wrong side he still had great game except arguably could've given a penalty.

Naylor- good defensively but needs to take a bit more responsibility in posession. He too often gets a ball in space and just gives it straight back when he has the opportunity to turn or carry the ball or pick a forward pass. He's quite good with the ball when he takes it on but I think sometimes he is over cautious.

Power - sloppy pass lead to their goal but was our driving force in the middle, especially in the second half. His crossing keeps getting better - you can tell he works on that hard in training. Always wanted the ball and looking to take responsibility.

McClean - you always get high energy and aggression but it wasn't his best game, crossing was off again with the exception of a sublime lofted pass to Magennis.

Keane - seemed to go missing in the first half, improved but still quiet in the second half but popped up with the important goal.

Lang - struggled in the first half but seemed to slowly find his rhythm in the last 30 mins and started to beat men and cause havoc like he did last season. I think Lang has really felt the step up in competition but hopefully he's adjusting.

Magennis - probably his most dominant performance as a target man, winning so much despite having so little support. Looked very good on the few occasions we played it into his feet rather than aiming for his head, would like to see more of that. But his finishing was poor, could've had a hatrick.

Aasgaard - I think that was his break out performance, sensational considering it wasn't his natural position. Has to start the next game, he's got the quality we need in the starting 11.

Nyambe - good cameo, didn't do anything spectacular but looked promising.

Broadhead - came on as a no10 and didn't get much of the ball but looked decent on the few occasions he had it.

Jones - don't think he had anything to do.
Click to expand...

Nice summary there. Don't agree with everything though.
I thought Darikwa had a decent game. One iffy moment and no suicide passes.

Not convinced that Max Power's pass was really to blame for the goal. Bennett also missed the ball, missed intercepting the subsequent pass and didn't track back ... the defending for their goal was awful.

Lang ... stupid fouls given away and the diving is head in hands stuff ... when he does get fouled he gets nothing. The rugby tackle should have been a yellow.

I thought Kerr started poorly as he is not naturally left footed. He did grow into the game and thankfully Bristol did not take full advantage in the shade.

I was quite impressed by the second half display. The first 30 minutes though... pass pass hoof tactics. No wonder Keane and the midfield appeared to go missing.

The team certainly stepped up in the 2nd half with the changes and perhaps we could have claimed the three points. A win will do wonders for the team spirit. Fingers crossed to avoid a Cook away record.

A centre back and a young Bradley Johnson type midfielder to complete the 5 pens ? Whoops ... and a goalie to make it six. Is Scott Carson still active ?
 
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king_dezeeuw06 said:
I thought first half was like so many games last season before we switched to wing backs - no movement or showing for the ball, centre midfield completely empty leading to constantly going long to an isolated striker and giving them the ball back. In L1 when we had the superior individual quality to come up with a moment of magic our hard work, fitness, battling and set pieces could grind out wins despite a limited method to our play. But in the Championship when we no longer have the higher quality of player you can't get by on hard work and fight alone. It's not that the hard work can't carry you far, or long ball can't be effective but you have to play it well and we have never been that good at it - we are far better mixing it up. If you go long to a lone strikers head with no one close enough to pick up knock downs or flick ons like we did for the first half it is obviously not going to work very well.

By contrast Bristol played a more coherent version of long ball mixed in with some pass and move. Every time their target man Martin went for a header there was someone running beyond him for a flick on and someone running in behind him for a knock down. Every time they looked to the channels there was a runner already there while we generally put balls into the channels before there was a run and we often didn't get it. Poor Magennis was winning nearly everything in the air but the 3 attacking mids were so often miles behind him so all his hard fought aerial dual went straight back to Bristol. But the attack mid despite being too far behind the striker to play off him when we went long were too far ahead of the def mids and full backs when we were looking to play out so there was often no passing options though midfield. It was effectively the worst of both worlds from the attacking mids - too high up to link up and create and too deep to play off the striker leaving a big hole in the middle of the pitch that Bristol had uncontested. We were restricted to Power trying to play very difficult speculative passes from his own half due to a lack of options.

I thought us and Bristol played similar tactics first half but they had attacking movement to make it work while we didn't. By half time we could've conceded another goal and maybe a penalty but despite our struggles we still managed to get 3 good chances for Magennis who somehow missed all 3. It showed if we got our act together Bristol were vulnerable.

For the controversy i thought Williams was sly and stuck his knee into Bennett as he got up looking to provoke a retaliation and Bennett took the bait. It was a soft petulant kick out, not dangerous but regardless of that you're asking for a straight red if you last out. So I think we were very lucky it was only a yellow. To be fair I have noticed for a while refs do seem to use a bit more common sense for the handbags than they used to and I think the game is better for it.

In the second half I think a few things changed the game; Bristol ran out of gas in the heat and stopped pressing and surrendered midfield while our superior fitness saw us keep pushing and we pretty much played the game in their half with them hitting us on the odd break. Power took the game by the scruff of the neck and was everywhere driving us forward - he was at the heart of everything attacking wise - I wish we had another couple of players like him - always willing to take responsibility and trying to be positive. Aasgaard made a huge difference coming on as sub. But I think the main thing was we started to move off the ball which allowed us to start to play though midfield more, there were runners and Magennis finally got some support.

As soon as we started to play a bit and not just giving Bristol back posession so easily they started to struggle, by the end of the game we were dominating and they were clinging on for dear life. It wasn't like we completely changed style, more we started doing the fundemental things to make it work. By the end i thought we deserved the win and were the only team likely to get a winner.

Overall we had to ride our luck again with some of the chances they missed (second half header from Conway was far harder to miss than any of Magennis') and key decisions going our way. But we showed good spirit and fought back well after a bad start and on overall balance of play i think we shaded it. If Magennis could finish we'd probably be celebrating a win.

I hope we really learned after that first half that if we want to be a direct team we have to be far smarter in how we do it than we were last season. I think Bristol will struggle for sure and be down with us in the dog fight. We won't be able to afford to play long like we did first half and get a draw many other times this season but if we can play like we did in the second we'll be competitive against most. It was a mixed performances with encouraging things and stuff we need to work on.

Individually:
Amos - no chance on the goal and despite Bristol creating chances wasn't called into action before injury.

Darikwa- typical erratic did some hard things very well before making a mess on some of the easier things. Defended pretty well but didn't offer much going forward - although lack of options in front of him didn't help. I think Nyambe will be starting ahead of him in the next game or so.

Bennett- lucky to not get a red, defended well but like Darikwa couldn't get forward much except one sublime cross Magennis missed.

Whatmough - outstanding again.

Kerr - playing on the wrong side he still had great game except arguably could've given a penalty.

Naylor- good defensively but needs to take a bit more responsibility in posession. He too often gets a ball in space and just gives it straight back when he has the opportunity to turn or carry the ball or pick a forward pass. He's quite good with the ball when he takes it on but I think sometimes he is over cautious.

Power - sloppy pass lead to their goal but was our driving force in the middle, especially in the second half. His crossing keeps getting better - you can tell he works on that hard in training. Always wanted the ball and looking to take responsibility.

McClean - you always get high energy and aggression but it wasn't his best game, crossing was off again with the exception of a sublime lofted pass to Magennis.

Keane - seemed to go missing in the first half, improved but still quiet in the second half but popped up with the important goal.

Lang - struggled in the first half but seemed to slowly find his rhythm in the last 30 mins and started to beat men and cause havoc like he did last season. I think Lang has really felt the step up in competition but hopefully he's adjusting.

Magennis - probably his most dominant performance as a target man, winning so much despite having so little support. Looked very good on the few occasions we played it into his feet rather than aiming for his head, would like to see more of that. But his finishing was poor, could've had a hatrick.

Aasgaard - I think that was his break out performance, sensational considering it wasn't his natural position. Has to start the next game, he's got the quality we need in the starting 11.

Nyambe - good cameo, didn't do anything spectacular but looked promising.

Broadhead - came on as a no10 and didn't get much of the ball but looked decent on the few occasions he had it.

Jones - don't think he had anything to do.
Click to expand...
I disagree on Nyambe. The number of forward runs he made was impressive. When he was in position he looked for a return ball from Power a few times but Power just ignored him.
 
Ok, ok, ok,.....I get it u all like KDZ's very long ,very drawn out, articulated, second by second blow of every miniscule detail of what occurred during the actual match,even down to the colour of boxers the player has worn during the game (😉) but some of us, especially us older folks we can't remember when we last pissed n by time we've read KDZ's essay we may well have pissed ourselves again.........joking aside KDZ, uve some cracking match summaries so carry on my friend 🍻
 
I have to admit, these days, I piss so often, even my poor memory can't forget the last time I did so. 😢

Don't agree with everything KDZ, especially with regard to the support to the front man, but generally, 👏
 
king_dezeeuw06 said:
I thought first half was like so many games last season before we switched to wing backs - no movement or showing for the ball, centre midfield completely empty leading to constantly going long to an isolated striker and giving them the ball back. In L1 when we had the superior individual quality to come up with a moment of magic our hard work, fitness, battling and set pieces could grind out wins despite a limited method to our play. But in the Championship when we no longer have the higher quality of player you can't get by on hard work and fight alone. It's not that the hard work can't carry you far, or long ball can't be effective but you have to play it well and we have never been that good at it - we are far better mixing it up. If you go long to a lone strikers head with no one close enough to pick up knock downs or flick ons like we did for the first half it is obviously not going to work very well.

By contrast Bristol played a more coherent version of long ball mixed in with some pass and move. Every time their target man Martin went for a header there was someone running beyond him for a flick on and someone running in behind him for a knock down. Every time they looked to the channels there was a runner already there while we generally put balls into the channels before there was a run and we often didn't get it. Poor Magennis was winning nearly everything in the air but the 3 attacking mids were so often miles behind him so all his hard fought aerial dual went straight back to Bristol. But the attack mid despite being too far behind the striker to play off him when we went long were too far ahead of the def mids and full backs when we were looking to play out so there was often no passing options though midfield. It was effectively the worst of both worlds from the attacking mids - too high up to link up and create and too deep to play off the striker leaving a big hole in the middle of the pitch that Bristol had uncontested. We were restricted to Power trying to play very difficult speculative passes from his own half due to a lack of options.

I thought us and Bristol played similar tactics first half but they had attacking movement to make it work while we didn't. By half time we could've conceded another goal and maybe a penalty but despite our struggles we still managed to get 3 good chances for Magennis who somehow missed all 3. It showed if we got our act together Bristol were vulnerable.

For the controversy i thought Williams was sly and stuck his knee into Bennett as he got up looking to provoke a retaliation and Bennett took the bait. It was a soft petulant kick out, not dangerous but regardless of that you're asking for a straight red if you last out. So I think we were very lucky it was only a yellow. To be fair I have noticed for a while refs do seem to use a bit more common sense for the handbags than they used to and I think the game is better for it.

In the second half I think a few things changed the game; Bristol ran out of gas in the heat and stopped pressing and surrendered midfield while our superior fitness saw us keep pushing and we pretty much played the game in their half with them hitting us on the odd break. Power took the game by the scruff of the neck and was everywhere driving us forward - he was at the heart of everything attacking wise - I wish we had another couple of players like him - always willing to take responsibility and trying to be positive. Aasgaard made a huge difference coming on as sub. But I think the main thing was we started to move off the ball which allowed us to start to play though midfield more, there were runners and Magennis finally got some support.

As soon as we started to play a bit and not just giving Bristol back posession so easily they started to struggle, by the end of the game we were dominating and they were clinging on for dear life. It wasn't like we completely changed style, more we started doing the fundemental things to make it work. By the end i thought we deserved the win and were the only team likely to get a winner.

Overall we had to ride our luck again with some of the chances they missed (second half header from Conway was far harder to miss than any of Magennis') and key decisions going our way. But we showed good spirit and fought back well after a bad start and on overall balance of play i think we shaded it. If Magennis could finish we'd probably be celebrating a win.

I hope we really learned after that first half that if we want to be a direct team we have to be far smarter in how we do it than we were last season. I think Bristol will struggle for sure and be down with us in the dog fight. We won't be able to afford to play long like we did first half and get a draw many other times this season but if we can play like we did in the second we'll be competitive against most. It was a mixed performances with encouraging things and stuff we need to work on.

Individually:
Amos - no chance on the goal and despite Bristol creating chances wasn't called into action before injury.

Darikwa- typical erratic did some hard things very well before making a mess on some of the easier things. Defended pretty well but didn't offer much going forward - although lack of options in front of him didn't help. I think Nyambe will be starting ahead of him in the next game or so.

Bennett- lucky to not get a red, defended well but like Darikwa couldn't get forward much except one sublime cross Magennis missed.

Whatmough - outstanding again.

Kerr - playing on the wrong side he still had great game except arguably could've given a penalty.

Naylor- good defensively but needs to take a bit more responsibility in posession. He too often gets a ball in space and just gives it straight back when he has the opportunity to turn or carry the ball or pick a forward pass. He's quite good with the ball when he takes it on but I think sometimes he is over cautious.

Power - sloppy pass lead to their goal but was our driving force in the middle, especially in the second half. His crossing keeps getting better - you can tell he works on that hard in training. Always wanted the ball and looking to take responsibility.

McClean - you always get high energy and aggression but it wasn't his best game, crossing was off again with the exception of a sublime lofted pass to Magennis.

Keane - seemed to go missing in the first half, improved but still quiet in the second half but popped up with the important goal.

Lang - struggled in the first half but seemed to slowly find his rhythm in the last 30 mins and started to beat men and cause havoc like he did last season. I think Lang has really felt the step up in competition but hopefully he's adjusting.

Magennis - probably his most dominant performance as a target man, winning so much despite having so little support. Looked very good on the few occasions we played it into his feet rather than aiming for his head, would like to see more of that. But his finishing was poor, could've had a hatrick.

Aasgaard - I think that was his break out performance, sensational considering it wasn't his natural position. Has to start the next game, he's got the quality we need in the starting 11.

Nyambe - good cameo, didn't do anything spectacular but looked promising.

Broadhead - came on as a no10 and didn't get much of the ball but looked decent on the few occasions he had it.

Jones - don't think he had anything to do.
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Another great assessment, keep them coming I love to read your views on the games.
One thing that threads through all your posts is something that you wrote early last season and again today being that huge gap in midfield between the front and back and the big ball to the lone striker.
Last year you said we would need our game to evolve and today the same thing is being said but sadly we don't seem to be evolving and just using the same tactics, so it would seem the manager is not learning from last years mistakes and is not prepared to evolve.
It will be very interesting how he uses Broadhead and Fletcher
 
ZAKKY said:
Another great assessment, keep them coming I love to read your views on the games.
One thing that threads through all your posts is something that you wrote early last season and again today being that huge gap in midfield between the front and back and the big ball to the lone striker.
Last year you said we would need our game to evolve and today the same thing is being said but sadly we don't seem to be evolving and just using the same tactics, so it would seem the manager is not learning from last years mistakes and is not prepared to evolve.
It will be very interesting how he uses Broadhead and Fletcher
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I think later last season and second half yesterday we showed we have the answers to fix our issues, but for whatever reason we didn't start like that. It almost seems like we need the pressure to push us.

The quality of the opposition in this division is going to force us to evolve / improve in those areas.

As you mentioned the recruitment of Broadhead and Fletcher, they suggest we are looking to do that.
 
king_dezeeuw06 said:
I think later last season and second half yesterday we showed we have the answers to fix our issues, but for whatever reason we didn't start like that. It almost seems like we need the pressure to push us.

The quality of the opposition in this division is going to force us to evolve / improve in those areas.

As you mentioned the recruitment of Broadhead and Fletcher, they suggest we are looking to do that.
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The only thing I would say is that if Bennett hadn't been booked, Leam wouldent have changed things he admitted as much. So maybe it was only by chance that we were able to improve in the second half. Dam stubborn these Yorkshire men
 
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