KrolMong

Just poor from the point of the first goal. On top until that point. We’ve been done by individual errors. Yes, some simply bad displays. Pedersen has been poor and been done for pace. Smith, awful. Ugbo is not a 10. We carried people. On paper I thought that the side was the right side. Defensive back four to give us more freedom. But, you just can’t excuse the mistakes from the wingers, Pedersen and Bernard - they were all bad bad mistakes. We need snookers.

Fuck me.

Good lord. That’s awful from Peterson. It was like his boots had grown roots.

Not a midfield problem today or Wednesday. That’s where we have been decent. Today, the two wingers have let us down defensively.

Bad from Musaba for the first. Firstly for conceding the corner and then getting beaten at the back post. Poor from Gassama for the second. Didn’t protect the ball. Annoyingly, we were just getting a head of steam.

It’s two against three in midfield now.

They fancy it against Peterson. There two best chances have come from getting behind him. We’ve been the better side. Gassama has got the beating of their whole back four. Musaba is a little clumsy today. Smith and Ugbo not great. We have options on our bench to influence things.

Massive game today. It’s a must not lose game, If we play like we did the other night, we’ll get a result. Got to watch them from set pieces. I don’t want us to be as open today, so might be tempted to move Famewo to left back and bring Ihiekwe in. I’d put Vaulks in ahead of Palmer today.

Fury v Usyk off. The cut that Fury has got looks horrific, but, the boxing fraternity have suggested it might not go ahead for two weeks now, as Fury has been taking a pasting in sparring. Unless Usyk fights Hrgovic, it’s also the end of the undisputed dream as the IBF were stripping winner on the 18th. It looks like if Fury doesn’t fight before the end of May he will lose the WBC and Usyk will be given mandatory. I’ve read somewhere that it’s the 12th Tyson Fury fight that has either been postponed or he’s pulled out of.

I’d love Rohl to get properly backed when we get ourselves on a more even keel financially. He’s getting a tune from a lot of average players, be good to see what he can do with a better calibre. If we stay up, he stays, and we have a bit more of a budget and a full pre-season. We could really shock some teams.

A few of my blade mates have said that they’ve not got the Wilder that got them into the premier league top 10. But they’ve got the one who spent 150 million on shite, blamed every defeat on everyone else but himself and deservedly got sacked. One of my mates has said that Wilder’s way to sort this out was to get them to run about a bit more and be somehow less organised. I watched that Palace game, they should have lost by 5 or 6.

Quite possibly. But Rohl is all about trusting people, you can see that he trusts Palmer, Vaulks and Bannan. He may, over time, trust Diaby. I don’t think he trusts Hendrick, he didn’t trust Byers, and I’m not sure he fancied Buckley. He so focussed on the press that he wants all of his midfield players to close the gap really quickly when the opposition turns into trouble.

It was two players from what I was told. Coventry indeed was one.

We changed the terms on an agreed deal at the 11th hour.

I’ll tell you how Pedersen helps us out in midfield. He’s a defender first and foremost, so in some away games we can play him instead of Johnson and just have Pol as the runner. This means we always have the coverage of three which takes the pressure off the midfield lads to fill in fullback positions when both Johnson and Pol go. I think it’s a clever signing because he’s an orthodox left back who is a good defender, and strong in the air.

I think this is going to see Gassama move inside. Poveda is a different type of player to the other two in that he wants the ball into feet, he’s not someone who wants to get behind someone. He’s all about creating a yard of space and having quick feet.

Yep. I’ve delved into social media and actually the feedback has been positive. But there are some mouth breathers who don’t understand football, don’t understand the transfer window and have an attachment to players who are not up to this level. I look at it another way. This window has been the quietest winter window in history. For us to do any business, is a positive because many haven’t.

As has been repeatedly mentioned. This window we have been really active, Röhl, DC and the recruitment team have slapped offers in all over the place, but for a myriad of reasons (one of which definitely of our own doing), we’ve not always go what we wanted. But, we can’t suggest the owner isn’t backing a push for survival, our newly built recruitment team have stuck to a model of youth with athleticism and I think Pedersen is a great really good signing. We have finished stronger that we started. There’s no doubt about that. I would like to have seen us get a number 9 in, but, they just don’t exist. I also think that having a 6 would have helped. But, i do see how the signings of Poveda and Pedersen can help those gaps. And I like the look of Ugbo. Good window and a good insight into what Röhl will want to do long term.

Was great in the two seasons in league one when fit. Top player at that level. Just not got the mobility at this level and legs at this level. Plus, gets injured a lot.

Just read that McGuire back to Blackburn is back on. Bolton have agreed a fee for Aaron Collins, so that will go through today. Not shocked by Byers, but it just further heightens the need for quality in there alongside Vaulks and Bannan.

I don’t think Smith and Gregory are remotely good enough at this level. They don’t have the mobility, nor the physicality to worry teams. If neither go, then they will have to have a role to play, but if we end up having to rely on them - we are relegated.

That’s the defensive midfield piece. He’s got Palmer in there for his mobility. He’s playing Bannan there because of his mobility and ability with the ball. Vaulks, no issues with him, he’s been good because he is good defensively and again has mobility and athleticism. Diaby and Byers don’t have that ability to get around the pitch. We need an upgrade on Palmer who has that mobility but is better with the ball. That will then free Bannan up, and tighten us defensively. We want Bannan doing the stuff he did tonight without having to make 50 yard defensive runs and last ditch tackles.

It’s crying out for a striker and a defensive midfield player, a striker is the difference between staying up and going down. We were the better side, created great opportunities and just don’t have a nine that offers that kind of movement to score a goal or open space for someone else. Case in point, Michael Smith. What did he offer when he came on? The defensive midfield player is critical to Bannan. Bannan’s range tonight was brilliant and made better by the fact that we have runners from wide and from full back who want to get behind people. This next 24 hours is literally going to determine the division we are in next season. We need someone to come in and 10 goals from 17 games, because we have the other pieces from an attacking sense.

What a bizarre half. Really good with the ball until it gets to the last second when it’s the cross or a shot. But, Windass, Gassama and Ugbo have been very good. As has Valentin. But, Bannan well and truly bailed Beadle out after the worst footwork I’ve ever seen from a goalkeeper. And the open goal miss was a sitter. We’ve missed some good chances. But look very dangerous especially with Bannan, Gassama and Bannan constantly swapping. If we score, we’ll get two or three.

But to counter that. If we stay up, and we continue to be cautious with spend and build over two years, we will be very rosy off the pitch. Our wage bill as it stands now is peanuts compared to the rest of the division, and DC has clearly been diligent in keeping that down.