Matchday Thread: Orient v Derby in t Cup 11/1/2025

[ramAnag]

The socials went ballistic last night. So much so that I've turned 2 FB pages off. They went into it on 9 wins and a draw from their last 10. We were on 1 win, 2 draws and 7 defeats from 10. Who was the confident side? Yep, them, and they started well. We got back into it.

Stats? Possession 50/50. Shots 11/11. Shots on 1/6 and we hit the bar.

The Elder penalty. That should have been retaken as their keeper was well off his line when Elder struck the ball. When your luck is out, your luck is out.

I saw enough of Daj last night to think he should start against Watford. Good hold up play, Laid the ball off well. Took a lot of hammer from defenders. I have more faith in him than I do in Yates. Kenzo had a very good game. Harness looked good on the ball, however, when looking to tackle an opponent he is all too easily sent the wrong way. CBT was ineffectual. NML OK in patches. Ebou was asking for a card from the moment he came on and got his wish. Cash back at the weekend which is good with Nat P having a calf problem. Ossie back too.

Am I worried? Absolutely not. In essence we've had 2 poor games in the last 12. Other than that we've been in with a shout most games. What we need is a striker who scores regularly. That could be Daj but I don't think PW will start him all that often. It isn't Yates, period. That means we pin our hopes on Salvesen or whichever striker we bring in this month.

Didn’t watch and didn’t particularly care tbh so thanks for the report.
Getting excited simply because a win would have brought the Champions to PP and an exercise in likely embarrassment is probably an indicator of how far we’ve fallen.

Hope Elder doesn’t get loads of stick as seems to be the current fashion. Even the very best can fail from the spot and he’s been a relative success this season.

Am I worried? Increasingly so I’m afraid. Confidence and form are fading. We’re on a bad run and success, even against a moderate L1 side who we easily beat last season, would have at least helped the former.

Our relegation rivals have mostly taken steps recently. Whether they’re right only time will tell and I’m not about to indulge in some sort of witch hunt, but I suspect anything less than two points from the next two games and the shouts for change might become irresistible. Clock is ticking on this season and two poor performances leading to defeat will, imo, prove terminal.