Animals Post Match Analysis

[animallittle3]

Blown away by 3.30 pm on the opening day against a side who will do well to finish mid table and managed by the most clueless little git it's been my displeasure to have witnessed at our club since the early 70's .

All our pre season fears were confirmed in the opening half hour , not sure what the 1100 loyal souls who braved the M5 and are probably £100 quid lighter in their pockets thought of it but I guess it wouldn't have been too grand .

Let's be clear though , looking at our lineup today it was far from lower league kids , Macdonald , Yiadom and Jackson at the back , Mowatt , Moncur in the midfield and Bradshaw up top , all need to be doing more , with Davies free from criticism the spine was workable and we have a right to expect more from the mentioned players .

That said this season was always looking to be a slow burner , Isgrove , Lindsay , Mcgeehan are all unavailable and we also have the Accy lad to debut yet too , this isn't the finished article by a very long shot , we need to remember that .

The key to this season has yet to reveal itself , there's more championship strikers sat supping in Oaks club right now and one of them is Jonny Parkin than we have currently at Oakwell .

Word to the wise , ditch the bloody plan or we will do well to survive , there's still time to address this , get a couple of strikers in who will at least give us an opportunity to beat the drop , if we don't bring in two strikers better than what we have then we will do well to avoid the drop , in fact I think it's a bloody tall order if we don't .

The season's started and there are 3 weeks left to the window shutting , we are fishing in an extremely small pond as it is , time to get busy and bring in some plug and play quality .

Difficult I know but if we have to pay over the odds then you have to balance that against a £5 million hit and relegation .

I don't give a flying who they are as long as we get 10 to 15 goals out of the pair of em .

Got to give ourselves a realistic opportunity or we are back to square one next season in league one .

[Ponte_Steve24]

Top post mate :star: However, they're a bunch of waynecarrs aren't they? HECKY'S lost it for me. White lightnin' post or not he needs to go.

[animallittle3]

Top post mate :star: However, they're a bunch of waynecarrs aren't they? HECKY'S lost it for me. White lightnin' post or not he needs to go.

I'm not going down the Hecky needs to go steve , that's just ridiculous and you know it mate .

However , I'm not leaving him out of any criticism either , what's with all the feckin midfielders Hecky ?

FFS man , unbalanced , to say the least .

If tha pyssed off then go mate , resign , we don't need the HC walking around with a face like a slapped ass or man up and get thi mojo back and stop sulking .

[Hodger1957]

It's obvious we need strikers, but who?
There are no obvious names I can think of.
It will have to someone from the lower leagues again or another youngster on loan from the big clubs.
I've just watched Villa and they haven't got a striker worth the name despite spending millions.
Hogan doesn't look like he'll score this side of Xmas. They threw a ****ager on who didn't look any better and finished up lumping it up to a 6'6'' centre half playing emergeny centre forward. Hourihane didn't get on despite them creating nothing from midfield. He must be frustrated, not getting a game in that side. They're certainly not lacking experience. Terry, Hutton, Whelan, Agbonlohor, Chester, Lansbury, El Mohamedy.
We could go for loaning Winnall back from Wednesday.:O
They started with Forestieri & Rhodes with Hooper, Fletcher & Nuhiu on the bench.
What's happened to this French lad & McBurnie?
We might have to pin our hopes on them.

[Acido]

Its getting harder to disagree with that Ponty, because lets face it he/Hecky has ballsed it up again today before the first ball was even kicked. Going 4-4-2 like that with no proper width is/was crazy! And when any fans question whether he should be trusted with more money to spend, well thats a good point to raise isn't it.

The biggest thing I agree with in your comments Animal, is the idea that we must drop or at least change the plan in a big way, and look for some more experienced players who are nearer to the 30 mark. Thats surely not too old is it, and I know theres no guarantees that these sort of players will work out anyway, but come on it can't make things any worse.
And there is of course a full season to go and Im sure if we can see a difference in the plan, where the club sort of back down and try something different, and try to give us the best possible chance of avoiding a relegation scrap, then I/we will accept it more and understand that early mistakes will be made of course.

[Atac]

Chaps, isn't this all a bit mawkish after one game.

There's undoubted talent in this team. Hecky has to do what he's done before - bring it all together in a coherent unit with the right game plan for each game. He'll do it. If we have recruited with BFC DNA in mind then we'll be OK. Get the basics right: press the ball, pass and move, take the shot. We'll need a team of fighters as well as the talent.

It's doable and Hecky will do it.

[lk311]

More worried about the interview afterwards than the result

[animallittle3]

It's obvious we need strikers, but who?
There are no obvious names I can think of.
It will have to someone from the lower leagues again or another youngster on loan from the big clubs.
I've just watched Villa and they haven't got a striker worth the name despite spending millions.
Hogan doesn't look like he'll score this side of Xmas. They threw a ****ager on who didn't look any better and finished up lumping it up to a 6'6'' centre half playing emergeny centre forward. Hourihane didn't get on despite them creating nothing from midfield. He must be frustrated, not getting a game in that side. They're certainly not lacking experience. Terry, Hutton, Whelan, Agbonlohor, Chester, Lansbury, El Mohamedy.
We could go for loaning Winnall back from Wednesday.:O
They started with Forestieri & Rhodes with Hooper, Fletcher & Nuhiu on the bench.
What's happened to this French lad & McBurnie?
We might have to pin our hopes on them.

I aint interested in who is doing what at Villa or down the road at wendy , they have different aspirations to ourselves .

We can either sit back and stick with the plan and hope for a miracle kid or two to come in and notch the goals we need

Or

We can look at this realistically and go over the age threshold , we aren't looking for strikers to bounce us to the PL we are looking for two to come in who are better than we have with at least 25 goals between them .

[Romared]

Conor Mcleny released by Everton , a lad we were tracking and hoping to sign after his loan to Oxford , he chose Fleetwood ? Better wages ? Scored 2 today

[EastStandRed]

It's ok going on about strikers all the time but it's the defence that lost us the game

[animallittle3]

It's ok going on about strikers all the time but it's the defence that lost us the game

The defence is never going to be water tight ESR , it wasn't last season .

If you don't carry a threat up top then you just pile more pressure on the defensive side of the team .

You carry a threat , lose a defensive mistake and a 3-1 defeat easily turns into a 2-2 draw .

We need a Johnny Macken type , far from top notch championship striker but workable with 12 to 15 in him .

[pass_and_move]

Chaps, isn't this all a bit mawkish after one game.

There's undoubted talent in this team. Hecky has to do what he's done before - bring it all together in a coherent unit with the right game plan for each game. He'll do it. If we have recruited with BFC DNA in mind then we'll be OK. Get the basics right: press the ball, pass and move, take the shot. We'll need a team of fighters as well as the talent.

It's doable and Hecky will do it.


Well said pal.

I'd like to know who these 30 yr old experienced players who keep being banded about are exactly?

Look, it's obvious we need a striker and a decent defender but who are we going to get with the necessary experience for the right price? Please give me a name chaps.


To be more realistic let's drop all this ballax about changing plans. It got us relegated in the past and got us into debt. It doesn't work as proven in the past.

We've got to allow this team to grow and develop an understanding. Yes they may be wet behind the ears but they're young and will improve.

I'm certainly no happy clapper. More a realist. I Predicted a 3 nowt defeat today based purely on the fact that Hecky clearly doesn't know his best team yet, the players are still getting acquainted, our suspect defence and lack of fire power. All these need addressing in the next 3 weeks.

I'd expect at least 3 more signings before end of month. They won't be experienced championship campaigners either.

Let's allow the team to grow together. Owt can happen once you find the correct formula. Bottom o LG 1 at chrimbo and promoted 5 months later remember. We as reds fans should know more than most how quickly things can change. Keep the faith

[EastStandRed]

Correct . Hourihane and the rest took us to the bottom of Lg1 before they clicked into gear. New teams take time to build , they never just blend straight from the off.

[Acido]

Regardless of who it is Pass, do you at least agree with the suggestion of us needing to look for some older/experienced players. Or don't you even agree with that ?.
No I can't name any names and I can't suggest what is the so called right price that we should be looking to pay. But Id definitely say that if we think strikers will get us out of this mess, for the cost of £500k or less, and with what we have in the bank now, well thats just ludicrous.

[EastStandRed]

Regardless of who it is Pass, do you at least agree with the suggestion of us needing to look for some older/experienced players. Or don't you even agree with that ?.
No I can't name any names and I can't suggest what is the so called right price that we should be looking to pay. But Id definitely say that if we think strikers will get us out of this mess, for the cost of £500k or less, and with what we have in the bank now, well thats just ludicrous.

I don't want to see older players coming in .

[animallittle3]

Well said pal.

I'd like to know who these 30 yr old experienced players who keep being banded about are exactly?

Look, it's obvious we need a striker and a decent defender but who are we going to get with the necessary experience for the right price? Please give me a name chaps.


To be more realistic let's drop all this ballax about changing plans. It got us relegated in the past and got us into debt. It doesn't work as proven in the past.

We've got to allow this team to grow and develop an understanding. Yes they may be wet behind the ears but they're young and will improve.

I'm certainly no happy clapper. More a realist. I Predicted a 3 nowt defeat today based purely on the fact that Hecky clearly doesn't know his best team yet, the players are still getting acquainted, our suspect defence and lack of fire power. All these need addressing in the next 3 weeks.

I'd expect at least 3 more signings before end of month. They won't be experienced championship campaigners either.

Let's allow the team to grow together. Owt can happen once you find the correct formula. Bottom o LG 1 at chrimbo and promoted 5 months later remember. We as reds fans should know more than most how quickly things can change. Keep the faith

That's the problem , we came from the bottom of the league a division lower and a team came together and many think it will happen again in the championship .

Different mindset in league one , we are a big club at that level , struggling in league one is unacceptable , everyone knows the club are underperforming and we shouldn't really struggle in the bottom 4 .

What the club are attempting to do is unprecedented at this level .

You can't follow a league one plan in the championship , it needs revisting , adapting and rolled out to give ourselves at least an opportunity to stay in the league .

It's taking the HC down with it is this game and without Hecky steering the ship we are fecked .

[Acido]

So that means stick with the up to 24-25 year old plan as it is Esr ?.
Id love for it to work out as it is, but I think if there was a chance of a player making a huge difference for us, even though hes 31 for example and if it was on just another short term fix loan, then Id go for it.

[animallittle3]

I don't want to see older players coming in .

Even if they do the business and keep us up ?

[animallittle3]

Darren Moore came to the club and suddenly we stopped conceding goals from corners and set pieces , ok he wasn't the most mobile but he did a good job at the back that season and we stayed up .

[EastStandRed]

Even if they do the business and keep us up ?

If ! No guarantees is there though.We didn't have any old players last season

[animallittle3]

If ! No guarantees is there though.We didn't have any old players last season

Last season , bottom of league one to play off victory , doesn't count for anything does it now .

Play the percentage shot , cast the net further , not everyone over 24 years of age is past it or carries a bad attitude .

[Young_Nudger]

FFS !!!
Talk about hitting the panic button.
One match and everything is thrown out of the window.
I find this thread absolutely incredible.

We are signing hungry young players - we need to continue on that path.
Hecky says there maybe a requirement for a older head.
But where?

Personally I don't want to go down that route ever again.
That route - last time we tried it - got us anchored to the bottom 6 in the Championship season after season after season.
Which lost us 1000s off our fan base.
We cannot afford to do that again.
Some people have memories that resemble those of goldfish.

[Acido]

If ! No guarantees is there though. We didn't have any old players last season

But we also didn't have a squad of kids who know absolutely naff all about this division. What we're doing here with this 'plan' has never been done before in the Champship and we are at the moment, a relegation just waiting to happen.

[pass_and_move]

Right, hypothetically speaking say we do bring in a jon macken and a Darren Moore. Ok they did a good professional job for this club, fair play to them. I can't honestly think of a player in that ilk who is around at the moment. As I said, suggest some names. Bear in mind you could end up with a Keith Treacy or a Lita.

Yes the plan is LG 1 and has never been tried at this level but what is the alternative? I say let's carry on and give the lads a chance. It may take a while but I'm willing to be patient. If that means lg1 then I can take that on the chin. I know we'll be better prepared to make a return.

Historically we are a 2nd tier club but history means feck all. The game has moved on to another level and we are financially out of our depth now.

The patch up job getting in these elusive experienced players in has no future. It's like a 10 year old car that needs repair work every 12 months just to get it thru the mot. Eventually the repair bill is worth more than the car so you scrap it.

[animallittle3]

FFS !!!
Talk about hitting the panic button.
One match and everything is thrown out of the window.
I find this thread absolutely incredible.

We are signing hungry young players - we need to continue on that path.
Hecky says there maybe a requirement for a older head.
But where?

Personally I don't want to go down that route ever again.
That route - last time we tried it - got us anchored to the bottom 6 in the Championship season after season after season.
Which lost us 1000s off our fan base.
We cannot afford to do that again.
Some people have memories that resemble those of goldfish.

Panic button you sure ?

You do realise that the likes of Jon Macken , Darren Moore , Bobby Hassell , Rob Kozluc and Stephen Foster kept this club in the championship a lot longer than they should have done .

[Poulton Tyke]

I don't think the result or performance today could have surprised even the most optimistic Red, though I'm a little surprised how Hecky himself is getting a bit of a lashing. I don't care who you are- Fergie, Mourinho whoever... you are not going to create a successful side by building it from scratch a few weeks before your first competitive match in let's face it- an increasingly tough division.

Regardless of who he's brought in, he's not adding or supplementing- he's starting over. There's not one player left in that dressing room anymore who can put his arm around a new recruit and say "welcome to Oakwell - this is how we do things here" because it's first day at school for everyone.

So.... in my eyes we've got to build a spine and you're not going to do that with 23 year olds who've never played in the division. Bring in leaders. Usually that means experienced players. Like soneone else said- if we have to pay over the odds then we pay over the odds for the kind of player you can hang your hat on.

[Poulton Tyke]

Right, hypothetically speaking say we do bring in a jon macken and a Darren Moore. Ok they did a good professional job for this club, fair play to them. I can't honestly think of a player in that ilk who is around at the moment. As I said, suggest some names. Bear in mind you could end up with a Keith Treacy or a Lita.

Yes the plan is LG 1 and has never been tried at this level but what is the alternative? I say let's carry on and give the lads a chance. It may take a while but I'm willing to be patient. If that means lg1 then I can take that on the chin. I know we'll be better prepared to make a return.

Historically we are a 2nd tier club but history means feck all. The game has moved on to another level and we are financially out of our depth now.

The patch up job getting in these elusive experienced players in has no future. It's like a 10 year old car that needs repair work every 12 months just to get it thru the mot. Eventually the repair bill is worth more than the car so you scrap it.


Not sure I agree here. I know it's one game etc and it might seem daft to talk like this but hypothetically speaking, if as you suggest we do go down, we more than likely go down with a demoralised team of young lads who we expected far too much of and whose resell value will have most likely not materialised. Not sure that puts us in a stronger position. We could just as well find ourselves having to start over again.

[Acido]

Yes the plan is LG 1 and has never been tried at this level but what is the alternative? I say let's carry on and give the lads a chance. It may take a while but I'm willing to be patient. If that means lg1 then I can take that on the chin. I know we'll be better prepared to make a return.
Historically we are a 2nd tier club but history means feck all. The game has moved on to another level and we are financially out of our depth now.
The patch up job getting in these elusive experienced players in has no future. It's like a 10 year old car that needs repair work every 12 months just to get it thru the mot. Eventually the repair bill is worth more than the car so you scrap it.

Its hard to accept Pass but I agree, that this 'used' to be our level and its something totally different now.
We're all fans who are on the same dividing line here and there are merits to each particular argument of course. As for what is the alternative, well I can and do whinge a lot and I can rarely ever come up with an alternative. So don't ask me. :D
I just wish we would think about mixing it a bit rather than trying to stick with one thing or the other, and in this case they have totally put their/our eggs in one basket... and thats the idea of nothing but kids etc.

Some 'negative' fans might ask that if our sole aim is to just survive at this level every single season, then whats the point in being here ?. I honestly wouldn't normally go along with that opinion, but when I/we know there is a lot more money to spend now, I would like to see us make more of an effort to stay up rather than just being able to say 'hey look at our brilliant bank balance for a Lg One club' etc. :(

[animallittle3]

I don't think the result or performance today could have surprised even the most optimistic Red, though I'm a little surprised how Hecky himself is getting a bit of a lashing. I don't care who you are- Fergie, Mourinho whoever... you are not going to create a successful side by building it from scratch a few weeks before your first competitive match in let's face it- an increasingly tough division.

Regardless of who he's brought in, he's not adding or supplementing- he's starting over. There's not one player left in that dressing room anymore who can put his arm around a new recruit and say "welcome to Oakwell - this is how we do things here" because it's first day at school for everyone.

So.... in my eyes we've got to build a spine and you're not going to do that with 23 year olds who've never played in the division. Bring in leaders. Usually that means experienced players. Like soneone else said- if we have to pay over the odds then we pay over the odds for the kind of player you can hang your hat on.

This isn't the level of football you can play catch up in .

Waiting for the finished article is fine but you have to remain in touch , you aren't going to pull back 10 points if you are cast a drift .

Look , I don't expect this season to be anymore than a struggle , fighting to stay up from day one is how I saw it as soon as we finished last season at Newcastle .

It's going to be tough with a couple of older , experienced heads , it's not as if we haven't been here before .

We've lost some real quality , quality that while wouldn't get you promoted to the PL without adding to it but wouldn't have you in the bottom 3 either .

Do I want to see a team full of older players with no resale value , no I dont , however you have to look at this realistically , two or three older lads are needed to develop this group or it's the blind leading the blind .

The likes of Macdonald , Mowatt , Moncur and Bradshaw clearly have enough with their own games without baby sitting green horns .

Just stay in the league , that's all I ask , give ourselves a reasonable chance .

In 12 months time the Potts , Lindsay's and Pinnock's will have a championship season under their belts and they join last season's crop who now have two years to fall back on .

It's evolution , you have to manage this realistically .

[perkytyke]

I've seen a few embarrassments in my time but that was awful.
Jackson should never pull the shirt on again I haven't seen him have a good game yet but today he was different class! He wouldn't get a game at Frickley playing like that totally out of his depth, he was bullied by their big striker and never won a header or tackle against him the whole game, he allowed the Reid lad to turn him inside out time after time and the defence fell apart covering for him!
Don't get me wrong they were all bad except Davies and Hammil when he came on.
Bradshaw, Ugbo, McCarthy, Yiadom, Angus all terrible from start to finish! Angus is Captain? well they should have given it to Davies cos he was the one talking and organising the back four and telling people off, Angus quieter than a mouse! I know the lad has had one game but Potts was well out of his depth and looked like a proper slow cart horse and this is a guy we expect to burst forward from midfield? Really???
This leads me to Mowatt, my god! What was this lad doing today? He was chasing his own backside for most of the game, mistimed tackles, making the wrong runs, misplaced passes the list is endless and Leeds fans didn't want him to go really? Christ I wish he'd go and I'll pay his bus fare!
Finally Moncur showed one flash of skill when he hit the bar when it was 0-0 after that if he spent as much time on his game rather than trying to play tip tappy pretty footy so he looks good then we'd have a player!
Now for the positive bit.....We will come back from league one with this team because individually they are probably not bad players and given time they will gel, unfortunately this season will be gone before they do gel and make no mistake unless we get a couple of experienced heads in to steady the young lads we will be down before xmas, bringing Hammil on proved that in the second half today!

[Poulton Tyke]

This isn't the level of football you can play catch up in .

Waiting for the finished article is fine but you have to remain in touch , you aren't going to pull back 10 points if you are cast a drift .

Look , I don't expect this season to be anymore than a struggle , fighting to stay up from day one is how I saw it as soon as we finished last season at Newcastle .

It's going to be tough with a couple of older , experienced heads , it's not as if we haven't been here before .

We've lost some real quality , quality that while wouldn't get you promoted to the PL without adding to it but wouldn't have you in the bottom 3 either .

Do I want to see a team full of older players with no resale value , no I dont , however you have to look at this realistically , two or three older lads are needed to develop this group or it's the blind leading the blind .

The likes of Macdonald , Mowatt , Moncur and Bradshaw clearly have enough with their own games without baby sitting green horns .

Just stay in the league , that's all I ask , give ourselves a reasonable chance .

In 12 months time the Potts , Lindsay's and Pinnock's will have a championship season under their belts and they join last season's crop who now have two years to fall back on .

It's evolution , you have to manage this realistically .


Absolutely bob on.

[Acido]

It looks like your wasting your time saying/posting that Animal, which is a shame because its something that I and some others on here also agree with, but it comes across as negative apparently.
If we're going to stick with this ridiculous plan (of buy cheap and sell dear) then we must surely give ourselves the best possible chance of staying up , and mix it up a bit eh.

[POGGYWELL]

I don't want to see older players coming in .

Correcto stick with the plan.
Same goal diff after the first game as last season and conceded one less goal at a place where we get nothing.
Let's judge us with a full assembled squad.

[Jules88]

Top post mate :star: However, they're a bunch of waynecarrs aren't they? HECKY'S lost it for me. White lightnin' post or not he needs to go.

Absolutely sh!t
How can you decide
You've not been
Not seen

Neither of you...

Go
Pay
Or shut up pontificating

[Jules88]

Blown away by 3.30 pm on the opening day against a side who will do well to finish mid table and managed by the most clueless little git it's been my displeasure to have witnessed at our club since the early 70's .

All our pre season fears were confirmed in the opening half hour , not sure what the 1100 loyal souls who braved the M5 and are probably £100 quid lighter in their pockets thought of it but I guess it wouldn't have been too grand .

Let's be clear though , looking at our lineup today it was far from lower league kids , Macdonald , Yiadom and Jackson at the back , Mowatt , Moncur in the midfield and Bradshaw up top , all need to be doing more , with Davies free from criticism the spine was workable and we have a right to expect more from the mentioned players .

That said this season was always looking to be a slow burner , Isgrove , Lindsay , Mcgeehan are all unavailable and we also have the Accy lad to debut yet too , this isn't the finished article by a very long shot , we need to remember that .

The key to this season has yet to reveal itself , there's more championship strikers sat supping in Oaks club right now and one of them is Jonny Parkin than we have currently at Oakwell .

Word to the wise , ditch the bloody plan or we will do well to survive , there's still time to address this , get a couple of strikers in who will at least give us an opportunity to beat the drop , if we don't bring in two strikers better than what we have then we will do well to avoid the drop , in fact I think it's a bloody tall order if we don't .

The season's started and there are 3 weeks left to the window shutting , we are fishing in an extremely small pond as it is , time to get busy and bring in some plug and play quality .

Difficult I know but if we have to pay over the odds then you have to balance that against a £5 million hit and relegation .

I don't give a flying who they are as long as we get 10 to 15 goals out of the pair of em .

Got to give ourselves a realistic opportunity or we are back to square one next season in league one .

Jules's post match analysis
How can animal "Analyse
You go to few matches and talk ****e

Big man
Pay money and go......./
Then tha can analyse!!!!

Like we do

[Acido]

Absolutely sh!t. How can you decide. You've not been. Not seen. Neither of you...
Go Pay Or shut up pontificating

Your right Jules and soz if I was harsh with what I posted during the week when I replied to you, but even though those of us who haven't been, that doesn't mean we can't at least share and discuss our opinions about the club does it.

[Jules88]

Top post mate :star: However, they're a bunch of waynecarrs aren't they? HECKY'S lost it for me. White lightnin' post or not he needs to go.

And that's the gospel according to the Pontefract pontificator
Oooooooh..

[Acido]

By the way, heres a view from a few Aston Villa fans tonight about Hourihanne & Bree, and Steve Bruce's attitude about them.


http://boards.footymad.net/showthread.php?t=38198658

[bankendbfc]

bad game, if your gonna have em, have em now, against morecome, the way we are we cannot afford one more o them if were going to stay up, and as nuts as it sounds we can defo do that, stay up a mean, theres some shockin teams on the face ofit in this league. we might just manage it if we go the keep it tight route, no danger o that today, hit the self detruct button big time, Ugbo is a sub, nothing more at the moment, not ready for this level just yet, will defo be a player, but not yet, where is the football hecky? cos that were shockin my friend, shockin. 100 percent going down if we do not have the quality to make smething happen at 0-0 0-1 0-2, was embarrassing. but i have seen it coming, you got 10 games buddy. sorry hecky a love ya t bits but if that is what we get were gonna have to look at someone else, am i being too harsh? 1 game in? i reckon i am.

[renno]

For me Danny Graham would fit the bill. Solid at this level. It seems that yesterday we were trying to crowbar everyone into the midfield. I've been extremely disappointed with mowatt and think he should be dropped. Hammill should've started yesterday along with pinnock. where is Mallan? Yiadom should be dropped - his head was clearly elsewhere when we played rotherham. He needs sharpening up. As I posted last week we have lost our identity. We have stopped pressing in the opposition half.

I personally don't think the players are fit enough, and whilst it won't guarantee anything, if you are able to run around like a headless chicken all afternoon and never let the opposition settle it will curry favour with the fans and unsettle the opponents.

My concern is that PH has fallen into the trap of trying to stifle the opposition rather than impose ourselves on them as well as letting the lack of buying power getting the better of him as opposed to the more anti-establishment attitude we seemed to have at the start of his tenure. 'It's only barnsley' seemed to be used to our advantage last season, similar to how Bournemouth first approached the division.

[Jules88]

Apologies to all. Sorry if I was rude...

[animallittle3]

Apologies to all. Sorry if I was rude...

No problem mate .

[animallittle3]

For me Danny Graham would fit the bill. Solid at this level. It seems that yesterday we were trying to crowbar everyone into the midfield. I've been extremely disappointed with mowatt and think he should be dropped. Hammill should've started yesterday along with pinnock. where is Mallan? Yiadom should be dropped - his head was clearly elsewhere when we played rotherham. He needs sharpening up. As I posted last week we have lost our identity. We have stopped pressing in the opposition half.

I personally don't think the players are fit enough, and whilst it won't guarantee anything, if you are able to run around like a headless chicken all afternoon and never let the opposition settle it will curry favour with the fans and unsettle the opponents.

My concern is that PH has fallen into the trap of trying to stifle the opposition rather than impose ourselves on them as well as letting the lack of buying power getting the better of him as opposed to the more anti-establishment attitude we seemed to have at the start of his tenure. 'It's only barnsley' seemed to be used to our advantage last season, similar to how Bournemouth first approached the division.

Good post renno .

[pass_and_move]

For me Danny Graham would fit the bill. Solid at this level. It seems that yesterday we were trying to crowbar everyone into the midfield. I've been extremely disappointed with mowatt and think he should be dropped. Hammill should've started yesterday along with pinnock. where is Mallan? Yiadom should be dropped - his head was clearly elsewhere when we played rotherham. He needs sharpening up. As I posted last week we have lost our identity. We have stopped pressing in the opposition half.

I personally don't think the players are fit enough, and whilst it won't guarantee anything, if you are able to run around like a headless chicken all afternoon and never let the opposition settle it will curry favour with the fans and unsettle the opponents.

My concern is that PH has fallen into the trap of trying to stifle the opposition rather than impose ourselves on them as well as letting the lack of buying power getting the better of him as opposed to the more anti-establishment attitude we seemed to have at the start of his tenure. 'It's only barnsley' seemed to be used to our advantage last season, similar to how Bournemouth first approached the division.


A well thought out post Renno. Totally agree

[Gwynn Thomas vs stum]

Why, did you post whilst eating with your mouth open?

[Nozzer1953]

I went yesterday, and the result was what I expected. First 15 minutes we did OK, Moncur hit the bar, but Davies pulled off two world class saves. Their big £5 million bullied Jackson and Macdonald. Mowatt out on the left kept drifting into centre midfield, thus leaving Yiadom exposed. Potts looked like he had never met his team mates before, oh wait a minute... Young Williams look like he had some fight in him
After they scored the first goal we went to pieces (just like at Rotherham). We showed more spirit when Hammill and Hedges came on, but we made an average side look like Real Madrid.
We lost our opening game at Ipswich last year 4 2, but we looked like we could compete, and didn't play badly. I am afraid a different story this year. By the time this team start to gel and click we may be cut a drift. I am worried.

[SBRed48]

We ent got the £5 million to ev a quality big beast up front and then pay his wages fo three years.

[Nozzer1953]

I know we haven't. To be fair, I don't think he looked like a £5 million player, but he was strong, stronger than our centre halves. Our young Chelsea loanee tried to battle, but he is 18 years old. I am not sure that Jon Parkin is the answer, 5 or 10 years ago yes

[animallittle3]

I went yesterday, and the result was what I expected. First 15 minutes we did OK, Moncur hit the bar, but Davies pulled off two world class saves. Their big £5 million bullied Jackson and Macdonald. Mowatt out on the left kept drifting into centre midfield, thus leaving Yiadom exposed. Potts looked like he had never met his team mates before, oh wait a minute... Young Williams look like he had some fight in him
After they scored the first goal we went to pieces (just like at Rotherham). We showed more spirit when Hammill and Hedges came on, but we made an average side look like Real Madrid.
We lost our opening game at Ipswich last year 4 2, but we looked like we could compete, and didn't play badly. I am afraid a different story this year. By the time this team start to gel and click we may be cut a drift. I am worried.


Quite how Potts with barely one training session behind him gets the nod and our most experienced player gets to sit on the bench is bizarre to say the least .

Personally I'd have gone with Hammill on the left and put Mowatt on the right , at least when Mowatt comes inside he's using his better foot and can craft something with it , something I seem to remember him doing at dirty leeds to good effect .

I take the point Hecky doesn't know his best side but some things are just plain common sense to me , play the percentages .

Common sense is Hecky's default strength , Jackson is a train crash , out of his depth at this level , if you start Potts then why not start with Pinnock too ?

There's more than a hint of no solid plan in terms of style , formation and tactics with this group .

It's like we've brought them here without any thought on how we are going to go about things tactically , brought here because they fit the style Hecky wants doesn't appear to be there .

Normally speaking you try to go with a method to give yourselves the best chance of success , 3-5-2 in 96 and so the players were recruited who were best placed to fit that style , a team who played 4-4-2 wouldn't have looked at Thommo or Appleby twice .

Has this summer got the top side of Hecky , let's hope not .

[Exiletyke]

Quite how Potts with barely one training session behind him gets the nod and our most experienced player gets to sit on the bench is bizarre to say the least .

Personally I'd have gone with Hammill on the left and put Mowatt on the right , at least when Mowatt comes inside he's using his better foot and can craft something with it , something I seem to remember him doing at dirty leeds to good effect .

I take the point Hecky doesn't know his best side but some things are just plain common sense to me , play the percentages .

Common sense is Hecky's default strength , Jackson is a train crash , out of his depth at this level , if you start Potts then why not start with Pinnock too ?

There's more than a hint of no solid plan in terms of style , formation and tactics with this group .

It's like we've brought them here without any thought on how we are going to go about things tactically , brought here because they fit the style Hecky wants doesn't appear to be there .

Normally speaking you try to go with a method to give yourselves the best chance of success , 3-5-2 in 96 and so the players were recruited who were best placed to fit that style , a team who played 4-4-2 wouldn't have looked at Thommo or Appleby twice .

Has this summer got the top side of Hecky , let's hope not .



It seems to me that Hecky has let his last seasons fallout with Hammill get the better of his judgment
Playing Potts who had hardly got his coat off does nothing for Hecky's credibility
Come on Hecky you're bigger than that

[Nozzer1953]

I am wondering whether we ought to try 3 5 2 to try to be a bit more solid, and still have enough up front to get goals

[Ponte_Steve24]

Problem we have is there are too many midfielders in the squad and it isn't balanced. Mallan and Hammill need to be starting they offer real goal scoring ability to the team.

I'd go with Hammill, Moncur, Williams, Mallan in midfield with Payne and Bradshaw up front if we are to persist with the 4-4-2.

At the back I'd give Pinnock a go alongside Macdonald and drop Yiadom for the new lad Pearson.

[animallittle3]

A goalscoring threat from midfield just simply has to happen if we are accepting the front lads are going to be hitting fairly average 1 in 4 numbers .

Looking at this logically and to ensure survival and taking on board we are going to be in a dog fight all season I've downgraded my previous 60 goals that would have us comfortable down to 50 .

I'd suggest 35 of those need to come from the midfield and strikers .

The Mowatt's , Moncur's , Potts , Isgrove's and Hammill's have to contribute .

There are no Redders or Hignett's to get 15 individually and neither is there a 20 goal striker .

Telling people how to suck eggs I know here but the defence is where the work should start , not the back four but the whole team when we don't have the ball .

We can't be shipping two or three every week or we are dead in the water from an output of 50 goals scored .

Some right work to be had on that training ground , they'd be in all afternoon as well with me if the penny ain't dropping .

[Jules88]

I went yesterday, and the result was what I expected. First 15 minutes we did OK, Moncur hit the bar, but Davies pulled off two world class saves. Their big £5 million bullied Jackson and Macdonald. Mowatt out on the left kept drifting into centre midfield, thus leaving Yiadom exposed. Potts looked like he had never met his team mates before, oh wait a minute... Young Williams look like he had some fight in him
After they scored the first goal we went to pieces (just like at Rotherham). We showed more spirit when Hammill and Hedges came on, but we made an average side look like Real Madrid.
We lost our opening game at Ipswich last year 4 2, but we looked like we could compete, and didn't play badly. I am afraid a different story this year. By the time this team start to gel and click we may be cut a drift. I am worried.

About bang on Nozzer. McCarthy looks decent but Struggled to find anyone near enough to pass to when getting forward. Their tactic of pushing the ball forward and running onto the ball was same as last year.
Payne for Bradshaw Mowatt for Mallan,
No one got into any space up front and midfield lost every ball that Bristol gave them .... because I don't think we won a tackle all afternoon. Moncur want to play tippy tap.... ( against Coventry he put some lovely balls through but yesterday was passing too short too many times.
Sessi in midfield please getting in Some tackles and distributing better balls. Mallan has to start for me.
Yiadom needs to be sold or we need to publicly say he's staying to the end of his contract. His reaction then should decide wether we play him or not.
I won't judge them after that. But if we play like that we won't get ten points all season. !
Davies and Mcarthy,(and Hedges for the goal) were the only ones with any credit from yesterday ( and that includes Hecky for me, as the playing of Potts was just stupid).

[animallittle3]

Something that many of us have overlooked with the departures is the togetherness and spirit they had .

Players can have all the ability in the world but it doesn't necessarily mean the spirit in the camp is together .

The 96 team had it and the 2016 team most certainly had it .
When we walked out at Wembley against Millwall you could tell we were a together unit , despite the fact Brownhill , Fletcher and Isgrove were all loanees .

Today that's all gone and it's unclear whether we can get a similar dressing room with the current crop .

We may do and we may not , all I know is that BFC have their better days when we have that extra special spirit that can achieve results when the odds are stacked against us .

We will see of course .

[Acido]

Ive said a number of times that I don't like the so called 1 up front thing, but even I was disappointed that Hecky messed things up by not going 4-5-1 yesterday. Whether we should try and accommodate both and go 3-5-2, well that wouldn't fill me with confidence either.
It sounded like one of those early season struggles under Davey yesterday where the battle seemed to be lost as soon as we saw the baffling choices on the team sheet. And if he can learn anything from what he saw yesterday and put it to better use in future matches, then thats fine.
The thing is, how long can he give each player. Can he drop them if they play just as badly for the first 3 games or 5 games, how much is enough ?.

[animallittle3]

Ive said a number of times that I don't like the so called 1 up front thing, but even I was disappointed that Hecky messed things up by not going 4-5-1 yesterday. Whether we should try and accommodate both and go 3-5-2, well that wouldn't fill me with confidence either.
It sounded like one of those early season struggles under Davey yesterday where the battle seemed to be lost as soon as we saw the baffling choices on the team sheet. And if he can learn anything from what he saw yesterday and put it to better use in future matches, then thats fine.
The thing is, how long can he give each player. Can he drop them if they play just as badly for the first 3 games or 5 games, how much is enough ?.


I'd be staying clear of the 3 centre back formation myself , it's a formation for older more experienced pro's in my opinion but I take the point none the less about becoming solid and carrying a threat .

Who marks ? , who is on the cover ? etc etc .

Takes a while to develop two centre backs never mind three , it can be catastrophic if players aren't all on the same page .

[Acido]

Yes it would come down to experience again and I find it unbelievable that the club don't seem to want to try and look for those sort of players.
And if Hecky has had any sort of fall out with Hammill then that really is poor, it means the team and us fans have to suffer because of it. Once again I can only go on match reports and comments from fans who were there, but wasn't it obvious we carried a greater threat in the second half because of the changes he made, one of which was Hammill on at Ht.
Its not rocket science is it Hecky lad!

[Exiletyke]

Something that many of us have overlooked with the departures is the togetherness and spirit they had .

Players can have all the ability in the world but it doesn't necessarily mean the spirit in the camp is together .

The 96 team had it and the 2016 team most certainly had it .
When we walked out at Wembley against Millwall you could tell we were a together unit , despite the fact Brownhill , Fletcher and Isgrove were all loanees .

Today that's all gone and it's unclear whether we can get a similar dressing room with the current crop .

We may do and we may not , all I know is that BFC have their better days when we have that extra special spirit that can achieve results when the odds are stacked against us .

We will see of course .





Don't know if anyone noticed on the bit of footage of the match when Bristol scored
Our players were all looking at each other looking for someone to blame
Didn't seem much togetherness to me
Something for Hecky to work on
Early days yet
Hope he can get them working as a unit
Wonder what Jules thought being there?

[Jules88]

Don't know if anyone noticed on the bit of footage of the match when Bristol scored
Our players were all looking at each other looking for someone to blame
Didn't seem much togetherness to me
Something for Hecky to work on
Early days yet
Hope he can get them working as a unit
Wonder what Jules thought being there?

I thought we were shocking.

[Jules88]

I thought we were shocking.
No fluidity, no decent passes, after first 20 minutes. our goal was a joke really. MacDonald was deffo to blame, and when second goal went in hung his head. A reight captain would have been going mental. Davo was.
I'm not a big Hammil fan as you know, but it was better with him in. We need someone playing in front of macarthy, he looks ok. Jackson just isn't good enough. Get Lindsay back asap. Potts shouldn't have played.
Nice ground. Decent Pasties, friendly enough fans. No bother walking round town with shirts on. The poster from Bristols advice about pubs was spot on. Cheers.

Im not going Tuesday. They can treat it as a training session,
I Think They'll get better. In Hecky we trust, I think the saying last August was. Usually I'd say "get out of the cups early" and concentrate on league. But I think the games will do us well if we stay in the early rounds of the cups this year

[Jules88]

No fluidity, no decent passes, after first 20 minutes. our goal was a joke really. MacDonald was deffo to blame, and when second goal went in hung his head. A reight captain would have been going mental. Davo was.
I'm not a big Hammil fan as you know, but it was better with him in. We need someone playing in front of macarthy, he looks ok. Jackson just isn't good enough. Get Lindsay back asap. Potts shouldn't have played.
Nice ground. Decent Pasties, friendly enough fans. No bother walking round town with shirts on. The poster from Bristols advice about pubs was spot on. Cheers.

Im not going Tuesday. They can treat it as a training session,
I Think They'll get better. In Hecky we trust, I think the saying last August was. Usually I'd say "get out of the cups early" and concentrate on league. But I think the games will do us well if we stay in the early rounds of the cups this year

I'm not going Tuesday because of apathy..... I have a genuine "sick note from my mother"

[Ponte_Steve24]

I'm not going tuesday because I can't remember last time we put out a decent team in the early rounds of a competition and a decent performance for that matter.

Barring Everton at home and the latter rounds of the JPT we've been pretty abysmal.

[Acido]

Theres always the incentive to win these sort of cup games though, because we might get a 'bigger' draw in the next round.
Id normally say concentrate on the league again but the idea of a cup run ruining our league form is just a myth, thats hardly ever happened.

[Romared]

Am gooin ony a fiver :P
Jules tell thi Mam t put Jules ez bin billious and cannot attend !!
Mi mam used t purrit on a note fo scooal , at time nubdi nu wat Billious ment , a nivva got questioned abartit eytha :O

[Exiletyke]

Am gooin ony a fiver :P
Jules tell thi Mam t put Jules ez bin billious and cannot attend !!
Mi mam used t purrit on a note fo scooal , at time nubdi nu wat Billious ment , a nivva got questioned abartit eytha :O


My mam used exactly the same phrase on her note to my school

[SBRed48]

My mam used exactly the same phrase on her note to my school

Same here. ;D

To add an extra detail she often wrote, "It's coming out a both ends Mr Beevers" ( the Head)

[Romared]

It must ev been thu Buzz word int mid Fifties ;D

[Jules88]

Just ed my heart shocked back to Rhythm this morning. Am gonna give it a miss..... can't do with all the overexcitement/Anger/frustration (Delete where appropriate) of a match tomorrow

[Romared]

Well i ope tha oreyt , leervit t owd regulars at ooham games then ! Arr dunt kno yor yungens ;D

[Jules88]

No work, no play...... that's what my mam told me. Or I didn't get a note!

[EastStandRed]

But we also didn't have a squad of kids who know absolutely naff all about this division. What we're doing here with this 'plan' has never been done before in the Champship and we are at the moment, a relegation just waiting to happen.


Don't get that tbh. The squad this season has much more Championship experience than last season so don't agree on that .