Brief thoughts on the debacle tonight. Not doing a full report as I am tired and frankly I cannot be bothered – most of the players could not be arsed tonight – so not sure I can put effort in writing a long chapter about how ****e we were!

We began with the same team and should have been behind in 45 seconds as we failed to stop a routine ball down the right, failed to stop the cross and then failed to stop the striker get his shot off. He missed as much as Henderson saved it. It should have been 1-0. Fear not for them soon after they had another half chance and it was knocked wide for a corner. We let a ball come right across and nobody challenged and it was put in unopposed. Soon after it was 2-0. Corner again. Flint. You know the lad – always scores against us. However, we have this big towering defender to stop this type of goal – or to let him run in and score exactly the same as he did for Bristol twice last year. Not long after and it’s 3-0. They walk through midfield, get down the left and a cross comes in unopposed. No worries, Baldock will clear or he will just leave it and let Downing in. It’s ok he has miskicked it. Henderson will save it. Or will just let it go into the net. Game over. After this they had more chances and we did well to get out 3-0. We barely had an attack of note. We were out chased, outpaced, out muscled, out thought and out on our feet.

We looked so slow, unfit and clumsy. They chased and won every ball and were hungry. They turned us round, won set plays and then did the rest. However, Wilder may come out and say all the clap trap about 2 set pieces, 2 goals but we should have been 1-0 down after half a minute. They had other openings. We were awful from back to front. No communication, no organisation and nobody getting their foot in; let alone on the ball. Wilder says it is always a given we will run around. Well the first two games; both teams have run around a lot more than us and they are better players before they even do that. So, if that happens; we have had it.

Seen a lot saying the 2nd half was better – well it was as they basically declared. They sat off, let us have it. Sure, we had one good chance – the Clarke header but then the other chances came right in the closing stages. We still only had two shots on goal all game – the Clarke pathetic effort and then the Stevens shot. We did better and Duffy and Woodburn made a difference but the game was done- we had been spanked well and truly in the first half.

Overall, it has been an appalling start – people will say do not panic; its two games and players need time but the first two games we have met teams that have been sold or been without due to injury several key players and both teams beat us fairly easily. 2-1 and 3-0 have flattered us in both games. We look a tired, disjointed mob. Tired. After two games. There will be loads of talk about Stevens, Egan, Evans, Lundstram etc but tell you what so called stars of last year Basham, O’Connell, Fleck, Clarke have been abysmal. Baldock was poor tonight. I did not expect us to be this bad. The one thing you always kind of get is effort and a fair amount of organisation and team spirit. As the players moped bak to half way at 15 minutes; a couple remonstrated with each other; my son said we look like a relegation side. He is only 10 and was exaggerating but you saw the kind of body language that started so badly in League One a few years ago. It reminded me of that Southend game as we went down 3-0 in 15 minutes in that one too.

We have played 2 games and not one player can say they have played well really in either game. I am not exaggerating. You can get away with a few average games or so-so games from some but for nearly all eleven to be off it. Not a chance of winning. It goes much further than tactics, formation and maybe even selection (although he’s got it wrong twice). Players have got to either a) want it and get stuck and win loose balls and individual battles or b) Have the bollox to pass it forward and try and attack and not be safe. For the most part we have been found wanting in both these key areas.

So, everyone will talk about we need this player or this many in; but the reality is we don’t have the funds to improve things that much from where it is at. At the most we may get 1 loan, maybe 1 permanent but we are not signing 7 or 8 players in the next week. The likes of Derby, Boro and Forest will blow us away when it comes to getting the good players sadly so we have to wheel and deal and hope his forays are better than they have been over the last 12 months as sadly his transfer record has been poor – Leonard, Holmes, Evans x 2, Lundstram, Wilson, Egan, Henderson (jury still out) really with only a few being a success since we went up such as Blackman, Stearman, Stevens first half of season but not so much now. Our best players are still the ones that got us into this division (Clarke, O’Connell, Sharp, Fleck, Coutts, Duffy and Basham) not the ones he has brought in. So ultimately, we have to improve from within and somehow get back to the hard to beat, pressing, relentless attacking side we had to start least season. We did not see much of it from Xmas onwards and that is worrying. We have kind of carried on from where we left off. I think he has to introduce some bite and creativity and in should come Duffy, Woodburn, sharp and even Leonard. I am not sure he will change the defence as he has shown he does not see Lafferty as any better than Stevens (not sure I do despite the masses of criticism Stevens gets – some deserved as he has been poor for a while) but changing the left-wing back is not going to change everything. The heart of the side; the midfield is a soft touch and we need to see Fleck getting back to standards he has set (started last season poorly), Duffy back in and Clarke to actual look arsed. We can hope Egan, O’Connell and Basham improve – he won’t drop Egan when he cost so much money I do not believe and not sure Stearman would play wide centre back and he isn’t changing his formation anytime soon. We are rock bottom – happened a few seasons ago; at a lower level and we will see what they are made of Saturday. It is only 2 games but has been an awful start. It is not as if we have been unlucky to lose or had bad decisions; we have been out worked and out skilled. We do not look like scoring and look like conceding every time the other team properly attacks. Not a good combination.