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Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:41 pm

How come Matty has gone off? I've only just tuned in

Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:41 pm

Beat me to it Geordie, cheers

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:12 pm

Sounds absolutely dire game at the moment & presumably will drive even more fans away unless it improves dramatically in second half. Think Mick Kearns is being honestly critical of the performance.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:17 pm

If it really is "the worst game of the season" as described, then goodness knows how bad it is, because if it's worse than Bradford it must be a candidate for the worst game ever seen at Bescot.

Thank God it's nearly half-time, we arn't losing, and I'm not there having wasted another 80 quid and a day of my life on Merson FC.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:19 pm

Mick Kearns at half time 'An awful performance by 2 poor teams'. Training regime seems to be working well then.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:26 pm

Personally I consider the Bradford game to be a sackable performance. If today is worse I'm not surprised because you could tell at Bradford that the players don't want it. Once that happens you have to change the manager, it happened to Graydon and Lee and they went for unforgivable performances at Albion and Gillingham respectively. JB was ruthless with both of them, how this is being allowed to continue is remarkable.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:29 pm

hullsaddler wrote:Mick Kearns at half time 'An awful performance by 2 poor teams'. Training regime seems to be working well then.

LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE ALL GETTING VALUE FOR MONEY AGAIN, WONDER HOW ZIPPY AND CO WILL DRESS THIS ONE UP, WELL I'M GOING TO SOAK IN THE BATH FOR AN HOUR BEFORE I GO OUT TONIGHT.HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS? DONT HOLD YOUR BREATH!!! :shock:

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:34 pm

1-0 . well it has got better

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:46 pm

Thank goodness. Unfortunately Merson gets his 17th get out of jail card, but the 3 points are more important with teams below us picking up points.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:57 pm

Mick Kearns praising whatever was said in dressing room at half time- whatever it was can our manager in future say it before the game?

Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:58 pm

Yes he's mentioned it about 12 times now, basically trying to make Merson sound like manager of the season.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:12 pm

Geordiesaddler wrote:Yes he's mentioned it about 12 times now, basically trying to make Merson sound like manager of the season.

If you were listening Geordie, he mentions "the staff" not Merson, as in Kinsella, Halsall, and Whitney as well as Merson.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:20 pm

Trigger doesn't seem to realise that we have already made 3 subs as well.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:22 pm

yes I was listening, he's just mentioned it again just incase I wasn't.

Quick Mick one more for the road?

Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:24 pm

Best thing was hearing the reception that Jorge got at the end. Hope he can score next sat at Barnsley!

Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:18 pm

In answer to another thread then No Constable is not the new Gary Birch (based on this performance) I thought he had a good all round game and took his goals well.

Gerrard is immense and had another great game. Loved the way he was treading on the back of Parkers heels at a corner. nice and subtle and Parker got a warning for retaliating. Got booked not long after and couldnt afford to dive again. Ish was fortunate to escape even a booking in that incident when he kicked out at Parker. He needs to sort himself out.

Pead and Gerrard seem to have a very good understanding and provide an outlet for each other under pressure. Dont understand the guy behind me who moaned about Pead from the first minute to the last.

Midfield missing again until Taylor picked up his game 2nd half.

Nice send off for Jorge too.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:44 pm

Good result today and a decent second half performance.

First half - it really was the pits, certainly a candidate for the worst 45 minutes we've played under Merson. Against a poor team we were just overrun, with the back four (especially Gerrard and Roper) being the only things keeping it 0-0.

Second half we were vastly better, with Osborn (who had an absolute, utter stinker in the first half) suddenly energised and running the show. Taylor was still disappointing, but Wright came more into the game as well and Leitao was more effective on the left than Demontagnac had been in the first half (though in fairness, a cardboard box would have been as well).

Good to see Constable score two good goals (the second was a real belter) and we even put some other good moves together. Leitao should have scored at least once, but never mind. Back four all played well, especially Gerrard, and Staunton did well at left back too, though his chronic lack of pace would be a real problem against anyone remotely good.

We'll need our best performance in months to get anything on Monday though - hope Wright can manage another game after playing all 90 today, and hope Fryatt is OK (though it was his hamstring which went, so quite probably not).

Well done to Merson for whatever he did to energise the second half performance.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:55 pm

We were total shite - YET AGAIN

Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:59 pm

3 very much needed points gained today. A good end to a crap year. Excellent that Constable has grabbed a couple of goals. Should help his confidence a bit.

Roll on 2006

Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:06 pm

Valuable 3 points today and 2 good goals from Constable.

Gerrard was quality again today!

Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:07 pm

dornansog wrote:Gerrard is immense and had another great game. Loved the way he was treading on the back of Parkers heels at a corner. nice and subtle and Parker got a warning for retaliating.

:D :D Gerrard had an awesome game today. I don't think anyone would have picked a different side today apart from Fox in for Staunton. The one thing we lacked today was some creativity - we missed an in-form Standing or Skora.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:11 pm

Nine points off the top, eight points off the relegation zone means the season really could go either way although we'll probably end up roughly where we are now come May. First half was atrocious, thought I was still watching the warm up, however Simon Grayson said it was as good as Blackpool had played in a while, which says something about how bad they are. We defended well - Gerrard in particular, of course - and I can't remember them having a shot on target or indeed a clear chance. The one that hit the bar was very much out of the blue.

Once we found our feet - due in part to the confidence boost of an early goal - we did OK in the second half. Wright and Nicholls' pace seemed to worry them and we did have chances to add to our total. Disappointed with Ossie and Taylor today - seemed to be a yard short in the midfield and Ossie gave the ball away far too much. That's 8 wins and 3 draws from our last 11 home games, including 8 clean sheets. If only we could get our away form sorted out to something even half decent, we might have a chance of getting somewhere this season. Lets see what 2006 brings, starting with Ashton Gate on Monday.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:15 pm

A real tale of two halves today.

1st half:
We were dire, and I mean DIRE! ... As said above, the Centre Midfield were almost anonymous... very lightweight, losing every tackle and second to every loose ball.
The wingers were totally unused... no-one seemed to want to give them the ball!
Again, we had a solid defence to thank for us going in 0-0.

Second half:
Nicholls came on for Ishy, going upfront with Constable, while Jorge went onto the wing... this took effect immediately, the pace of Nicholls had their defence reeling, we started using the wings to good effect too (especially Wright), and a goal came almost straight away!
We were a lot more adventurous and this played dividends. Ossie looked more comfortable on the ball, and KT looked at least a bit interested!

Plus Points:
1.) Nicholls was a real livewire and looks a very good prospect.
2.) Constable took his goals really well, and his alround game seems to be improving, he was strong in the challenge and decent in the air. Pity he took a knock and struggled for the last 25mins or so.
3.) Another clean sheet!!!

Negatives
1.) The first half.... we cannot keep playing like that, better teams will punish us.
2.) Staunton
3.)The Kris Taylor and Simon Osborn Midfield partnership... too lightweight, Kris Taylor just didnt seem 'up for it' - showed flashes in the second half, but disappointing overall.

A very good send off for Jorge, too.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:17 pm

I thought if there was one player who turned that game,it was Nicholls when he came on.first time I'd seen him play.he looks very sharp.him and Constable have the makings of an excellent partnership, though whether our manager can bring out that full potential is another matter.Can't remember when i saw a worse first half.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:46 pm

Gerrard was a well deserved motm, looked a class above everyone on the pitch. Second half was helped by us actually getting our wide players into the game and them reaching the byline and/or putting in a decent cross. Something I have been screaming for for about a year now.
Wright had an awful first half (couldn't control the ball AT ALL) and a good second half (when we played to his strengths), and for once didnt back out of challenges and seem to have some intent when in posession.
Staunton gave us full back who can put in an early cross and yet seems unable to complete a ten yard pass to an unmarked team mate................on the edge of his own area........ :x

Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:02 pm

What a first half.....DIRE, Taylor and Osborn strolling around the middle of the park. A disgrace.

2nd half, Better but by no means rosey. It comes to something when a kid comes on and shows the pro's how to have hunger for the game.

Gerrard....Superb again.

Pead...What has happened to your distribution of the ball???? :?

Constable....Drifted in and out of the game, Took his goals well.

Let's see what Monday has to offer....Hopefuly better than the last few away shows. :shock:

Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:14 pm

If ever there was a game that was made for the phrase "a game of two halves" then this was it.

1st half

I saw the team sheet before the game and though, who's picked this it can't be Merson, it actually looks good the players then procede to trot out an awful performance, as bad as Bradford I thought.

Only Gerrard and Roper turned up in the first half I thought. Great work from Gerrard on Parker who provided all the entertainment himself as the fans gave some right earache for 45 minutes. How the ref didn't see Ishmel's kick at him I'll never know. It was a very Beckhamesque when he got sent off against Argentina.

Staunton looked diabolical, it is disgusting that an ex international and highly paid player like that can put in such a performance, even his short passes weren't finding their men a la Osborn. The corners were awful thoughout the whole half, going straight to the keeper every time, what a waste.

I really thought at half time we were going to cave in and it was a step closer to Merson going.

2nd half

Brilliant! What a contrast.

Osborn got involved, as did Taylor, Jorge was more efffective and two great finishes from Constable sewed it up. Jorge should have capped his last home performance off with at least one goal from two glorious chances but it wasn't to be.

Nicholls was lively and made some good runs on and off the ball and the midfield were happy to make some better passes than the first half. Constable got a knock after his second and didn't seem to be running freely which is probably why he got caught offside for what should have been his hat trick after missing a great chance anyway. Looks promising although needs to work a lot on his first touch, at least he knows what he wants to do even if it doesn't come off every time. He's not afraid to shoot as shown by the excellent second goal.

I thought Pead had a good game especially after getting needles stick even though played out of position at Bradford. I'd also like to highlight Mark Wright who I thought had a great game and was involved in most of our good work in the second half and put some good crosses over.

Gerrard was awesome throughout and fully deserved his MOTM award.

Jorge tried hard to get a goal but it wasn't to be but what a great send off he got, very emotional.

We really needed to win this game as Blackpool were pants. A better teams would have finished the game off like Bradford did on Tuesday and we can't afford to play like that again.

I can only think that Merson came out with his now tired half time line "you'd better buck up your ideas in the second half or I'm going to get sacked and you're going to have to work hard for a living when I'm replaced" Always goes down well when his job is on the line and is guaranteed to save him like in 3 or 4 games previously.

Whatever the reason I'm glad we won and are now another 3 points towards safety. Only 6 more wins to guarantee it.

PS - The Fryatt injury might be a blessing in disguise as it might put clubs off him until the Summer. Once again he seemed a bit too eager to go off for my liking.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:17 pm

Well, we saved the very worst till the very end. That 1st half showing was one of the worst I can remember in a long time, I can't remember the last time the team were booed off at half time.

2nd half was an improvement. Nicholls made a difference as he had some energy about him, whilst Constable seemed to fair better with Nicholls than he did with Jorge.

Constable took both goals very well, lost his marker and a good header for the 1st and a superb striker's instinct to hammer home the 2nd with the aid of a minor deflecton.

To think, we're 4pts off the play offs and 9pts off the top of the league, and we've not really put together a decent run or a decent string of performances yet.

2005/2006 League 1 really must rank as one of the worst in a long long time.

Best bit of the game: Watching Anthony Gerrard constantly stamping on Parker's heels and toe's when the Ref wasn't watching. Shame he couldn't give him a bloody good kicking off the ball.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:28 pm

The first half was just unbelievably poor, that's the first time I have actually considered leaving and going home at half-time. We still created and missed two decent chances, and Ozzie actually shot over the bar - er-r-r-r-r sorry, I mean over the stand. Was it really possible to get it that high from that angle ? Unreal !

There was NO sign whatever of a goal. Even though Blackpool were by far the better side, thankfully the defence played well and restricted them to a couple of long range shots and just about nothing else, this had the looks of a 0-0 all over it - as it did with the Hartlepool game a couple of weeks back.

The half-time cuppa in the Bonser Suite was the highlight up to that time, even though the stingey bastards don't give us any bikkies to dunk any more. Miserable swines - and at £1.20 a cup as well, disgraceful!

Anyway, the way the second half began was far from what we had expected based on that awful first half debacle. Two good goals from Constable, the first from a well-flighted free kick 30 yards out, diverted past the keeper with a deft flick of his bonce, the second a well-controlled opportunist cross shot from out towards the right corner of the penalty area and into the bottom left side of the onion bag.

After that we could have had one or two more from Constable, from Nicholls - who I thought looked lively - and it was a shame Jorge got hauled down on that run before he had chance to pull the trigger and fire into the advertising hoardings (as no doubt he would).

For all their work-rate, Blackpool created very little - as someone else has said the rocket that hit the bar was totally out of the blue, though it turned out a little fortunate for us. For Blackpool's very few chances we can thank the defence, in which Gerrard was rightly the MoM, but Roper also fielded everything thrown at him, AGAIN - please note this Diddy_P, Gerard MoM, Roper a close 2nd, just behind him.

Had we come up against a better side today, we would have been blown out of sight by half-time, with no way back. Thank God our dreadful deficiences were not exposed by Blackpool, and we went on to take the vital 3 points to drag us to a slightly safer position, though still in 13th place I believe.

Someone said above that we were 2nd to every lose ball - I disagree - I'd say we were about 3rd or 4th! Almost impossible you might say, well not with Walsall FC it ain't ! The proof was in front of us today.

Three vital points, I'm chuffed - maybe saved PM's ar$e once more, not so chuffed.

But this win again only papers over the cracks, the performance was diabolical for 45 minutes, maybe I'll concede it was "acceptable" second-half, though only thanks to two strikes from Constable in 5 minutes after half-time. We could have been dead and buried by then and can't afford any more of this rubbish if we are to climb the table and make any meaningful progress.

Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:42 pm

An absolutely diabolical first half. (yes, even I'll say it). I thought Fryatt was a bit too keen to come off. Didn't see him receive any treatment, he went straight to the dugout and sat down.

Much better second half.

A very emotional game, it was a credit to everyone for giving Jorge a fantastic send off.

People were still singing his name as they walked down Bescot Crescent to their cars.

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Blackpool (H) 31st December 2005 - League

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