KrolMong

Di Canio at Everton.

I’m going to be controversial and say there wasn’t much wrong with the performance at all yesterday. We stood up to the physical side, we had a perfectly good goal chalked off, we had a cast iron penalty not given and we missed a sitter late on. Games like that are won and lost on fine margins. Neither side created much but we did look the better side when we could get it down and play. Wycombe are high intensity and direct, they try and turn you quickly and the back three coped well but switched off for the goal. What I saw was actually us looking like we might have a game plan against those high tempo sides. I thought Dele was excellent, I thought Dunkley, Storey and Hutch were good. I thought Gregory was good. All we needed, and we’ve said it all season is. Is Josh Windass running in behind to get them to drop 5 yards. We’ll win the next two. I am confident.

Mauriss has some real financial clout. Be interesting to see what 115m actually gets him in terms of assets in the club.

I actually think Atdhe was better at things than people realised. But, there was the expectation that because of his size he was only a target man. In that season where he scored a fair few, he played more as a number 9, got on the end of crosses etc. I happen to think he made other players look good, but he suited certain types of players better than others. His biggest weakness was goalscoring, his abilities and his physical presence should have seen him getting 15-20 a season, he only came close to that once. But, I did like him, and I liked him and Joao up top, as well as him and Fessi too. He offered something different to what we had at that time.

If you look at the ‘regular’ contributions of players, there’s not many who have amassed enough games to be on consideration. But, I am surprised that someone like Bannan or MJ haven’t got it. Only 8 players have actually made more than 25 starts this season.

Can we set up a charity bout. MPB v Bartos. Three rounds? We could even get a YouTube payperview lined up for it.

I’ll also add. Shefki Kuqi and Lloyd Owusu.

Danny Sonner, Ian Nolan, Andy Pearce, Philip Scott, Craig Armstrong, Guy Branston, Michael Morrison, Gary Teale, Giles Coke, Dean Smith, Brian Barry-Murphy, Jon Shaw, Owen Morrison, Leon Knight, Darren Potter, James O’Connor, Ashley Westwood, Ian Hendon, Paul Smith, Ola Tidman, Richard Evans, Jay Bothroyd, Paul McLaren, Tommy Spurr, Kadeem Harris, Julian Borner, Almen Abdi, Stephen Bywater, Gilles De Bilde…

In the cold light of day, it really should have been 4 or 5, and we’ve effectively had two misses of the season from Berahino and Paterson and a whole host of other chances go begging. The attitude in the stadium would have been very different if we had gone in 2 or 3-up at half time, which is what we should have been doing. That said, there were some really poor displays last night. Paterson was absolutely dreadful, and it was capped off by that second half miss. Berahino was dreadful, he had a five minute spell in the second half where he game the ball away every time he touched it. NML, he was good when he got within 10-15 yards of the goal line and running at people but dire everywhere else on the pitch. Bannan, he underhit every pass over 20 yards last night. Positives were the back three and Byers. It was comfortable, the BPF had little, to nothing to do aside from a first half shot and a couple of caught crosses. Just on tinkering from Moore, I didn’t like it, but in hindsight it made sense, he thought we could dominate the ball with Johnson and Palmer in the three (which we did), the issue was in the midfield three where Paterson contributed nothing at all. Its a big test on Saturday at Wycombe purely because they’ll be big and strong and we’ll have to stand up to it. IF we win, autos is on for me, I’d we lose, we need 4 points from two to get the playoffs.

That’s a bit too much tinkering. He’s got one centre half, with Palmer and Johnson/Paterson as the other centre half. All the more puzzling with two central midfield players, a winger and two centre halves on the bench. It’s almost as if he’s not wanting to defend at all tonight

I’m not sure they will be. I can see it taking a couple of years to even get to an even base again given the state of the club and what Morris has left them with. And there is every danger that they don’t escape from admin quickly too, even with the preferred bidder state.

I’d not be resting anyone until it is 100% certain that we have made the playoffs. We can rest players for the last game if needed.

I’ll maintain that failure to go up this season given the squad and the backing is a failure. But, I will also maintain that if we had a full complement of centre halves, Luongo and Windass fit, we’d be 15 points better off and automatic would be very much on. What i do like about Moore is that he has a footballing philosophy, since December time, we’ve been a good side to watch despite a couple of blips. Just on Carlos, his issue was his system rigidity in both seasons. He’s learned since that point, Braga switched between multiple styles. That said, I’m a believer in never going back - so it’s a big no from me. Reports always stated that he wasn’t bothered about the fitness side of the game which is a massive issue in modern football if you choose to ignore or downplay it.

Some notable ones for me. My first away was at Barnsley in 91 when Palmer equalised late on. Leeds away 1-0 when Waddle scored. West Ham away 1-1 when Newsome equalised late on. Villa and West Ham league cup wins. Norwich away 1-0. Wolves away 3-1. Millwall away 1-0 (Simek) - immense day in London that. Derby away 2-0 (same season). Leicester away 4-1 and 3-1. Leeds away 3-2. Pigs away 2-1. Brentford away 2-1 (2012). If I was picking two, it would be Millwall or Brentford. As much about the day as it was the result. The train journey back after Brentford was the best atmosphere I’ve ever seen on a train, all carriages on the 8.55 singing and bouncing all the way back.

Watched it with my old man. It was a very very professional performance. We were very good with the ball for 65 mins, the midfield three ran the show. A very nice combination with Byers sitting, Dele doing the box to box stuff and Bannan playing behind the front two. Very balanced. The last 25 mins we did a good job of taking the sting out of the game, I thought the back three did well, Dunkley was solid when he came on, Palmer did well defensively as did Storey. Storey got done a bit on the Parrot goal, but aside from that, it was all efforts from distance. I’ll always maintain this, against footballing teams, we will look good. We’ve got so much craft in our midfield that when the game opens up, it suits us better. Acid test will be against the likes of Wycombe, who are a bit more in your face. I wouldn’t want to face us in the playoffs. Especially if we can get Windass, Hutch and Luongo back.

You over 50 Ty? I never knew that.

I like Gibson, looks like a player who could go on and step up. He’s big and strong, good in the air, and mobile. He looks comfortable with the ball too. I would love us to bring in him and Storey in the summer if we can get up. I like Storey too.

Good thread this Reach. I’ll start with the negative shocks. 3-0 at home to Forest in 1990. Even as a kid, I couldn’t see us losing. 3-1 away at Chesterfield, that for me, was the lowest point in our recent history. Positive shocks Deffo Anfield in the 1-0 win, I went on the ICO, not so pleasant afterwards. 6-0 at home to Leeds. Both the West Ham and Villa League cup wins. Also, Arsenal 3-0 under Carlos - I missed that, I was flying back from Poland.

Parry seems to have a vendetta against a few clubs. Us, Villa, Reading, Derby etc. If the EFL are being influenced by him, that’s not good, but I don’t think that’s the case. He’s bitter that he got Boro to the prem, didn’t back the coach and then came down and had to cut costs. No-ones fault but his even with the 100 or so million he got in parachute payments.

I don’t mind BPF, but, he suffers from the same issues as JW and CD in that he will is prone to a rick, that leads to a goal. That boils down to concentration levels that. JW and CD are probably league one level at best, BPF is a L1/Championship keeper. I do agree with the sentiments though, it would be good to try and get in an experienced proven Championship keeper next season similar to the deals we did for Kirkland and Westwood. It’s doable too because squads will shrink next season so they will be out there to sign.

Kieran Lee was injured when Dave Jones signed him. But… once he got fit, he very rarely missed a game until the hip issue under Carlos. Cracking player though, make him 6 foot, and you’ve got a player who plays in the PL for a good side. Just on tomorrows game, they’ve got a few missing, and away from home, we have done ok against footballing sides, it’s the shithouse teams who’ve done us. It’s a winnable game and from my reckoning, 12 points, I think, will do it.

Can we be clear, Wednesday got punished because we broke the rules, got given a chance by the EFL to put it right, and then screwed that up by filing the accounts wrong. There is not a vendetta against SWFC. Now, do I think that Derby have been given more time than they should have? Possibly yes. Do I think Wednesday would have been given the same chances? Absolutely yes. To give the administrators some credit, they’ve pulled every trick in the book to drag this out and get the deal done.

Iorfa has been really poor. Looked at fault for the Wimbledon equaliser as he looked like he played everyone on and then didn’t pick up the only target in the box. Get him hooked. We just need to move the ball a bit quicker. That’s all.

Heard a bit of rumour, and it’s only a rumour, that Windass might be back next weekend.

Really like it. Some nice little features, modern interface, phone friendly. Good work.