Wrexham (H) - League - 5th February 2005

[WS1]

To me Merson was marked out of the game by Wrexham, every time Merse had the ball they had two players marking him, why oh why can't Wrack/Taylor/Surman take on the role of moving in to openings when this happens.

I thought their first goal took a deflection until seeing it on sky tv today, Murphy was at fault, this guy has not been has good has I thought he would be.

Bennett needs a good rest, lets hope Ropes will be ok for Friday, Emblen still not up to his usual standards.

Wright and Aranalde for me did a good job, felt Ziggy at times had no help from the left hand side and was left wide open for their pacy wide man to attack him.

Wrack worked hard whilst Taylor was way off from how he performed last week.

Merse marked out the game , Fryatt very quite until he got near the eighteen yard box whilst Jorge took his goal well he did bugger all.

Osborn nothing special but did his job well my man of the match.

8)

[Geordiesaddler]

I'd have bitten the hand of anyone offering 4 points from the next two games after Colchester, especially with Merson still in charge, and games away at Luton and Brizzle looming. Those 4 points could well be the dfference between getting sucked into the relegation scrap and not.
A win over MKlargefries should see us well on the way to being safe, and them another 2 divisions closer to being overtaken by Wimbledon.

[tinned]

It makes no diffeence if Merson was offside, onside or even if the linesman had ballsed it up, he still SHOULD have put the bloody ball in the net. For Christs sake, Paul, instead of pancying around with the outside of your foot why don't you just bloody hit the thing once in a while ? It's okay showboating when you're at the top of the league, but not whn you're fighting for every point.

I've been accused in the past for slagging off Osbourn for mis-placing passes whilst making excuses for Merson. Well, yesterday, I didn't think Osbourn was much cop, but he was ten times better than Merson.

I said last week that after a disaster match Walsall always come back strong before the perfomances start to tail off. I didn't expect it to turn so quickly. It looks like Merson thinks the Huddersfield game saved his job and now he can go back to his usual, lazy self.

Anyone, who was pleased with yesterdays performance/result is easily pleased (like people like Ernest, who are so blinded by the fact that a "name" like Merson is our manager that they can ignore the fact that he swans around the pitch doing sweet FA).

[Cully]

STAFFLERS, STAFFS OR WHATEVER YOU ARE, CAN THE HALF TIME 'ENTERTAINMENT' BE CHANGED TO SLUG RACING? IT'S MORE INTERESTING. ALSO, YOUR CLOTHES TODAY WERE ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING.

Not quite sure whether the subject of the half time 'entertainment' is supposed to be Stafflers, I also thought the suit/fleece combination a little outrageous, rather reminded me of 'Its a Knockout' where the contestants used to dress up in oversized costumes while attempting to negotiate an obstacle course.

[WarsawPact]

I must say, Murphy seems to give up on shots much too easily. If his reactions really are that slow, he shouldn't be a keeper. He only had to move two steps to his right and the ball would have bounced out off his face.

[Exile]

Maybe he's also in training for 'It's a knockout'? If he had his oversize foam rubber suit on then the ball really would have bounced off - perhaps he forgot he'd taken it off? :wink:

[SheffieldSaddler]

Can you just imagine if Osborn played as bad as Merson did yesterday?
Jesus, the bloke would be slated left right and centre. Funny how some people do not bother slating Merson because yesterday he was USELESS.
Only 2 players who played well were Fryatt and Bennett.
The rest varied from totally useless(Merson) to just average.
We played Wrexham for gods sake. A team currently in the relegation zone, who caused our defence no end of problems in the first half.

[Bristol Fan]

I must have missed Bennett playing well (he only ever looked a second away from gifting them another goal) and Fryatt didn't seem in the game at all. I thought the only players who did much were the full backs (with the odd exception) and Osborn, who at least got stuck in a bit, and Wrack did a few good things, but not enough to counter the bad ones.

And I have to say that, much though I think the criticism of Leitao is justified, we're a weaker team when he goes off. Robinson looks more and more like a headless chicken every time and he's not half the player Gary Birch was. (Note he scored for Kidderminster again on Sat.)

<goes into hiding>

[Stu]

Don't say things like that Bristol.

There was so much fuss to make sure we tied Robinson down to a new contract after he scored 4 goals in his first 3 appearances, I said at the time to wait 10 weeks. I'm glad Merson thought the same, as I'm really yet to see anything from him.

I don't even know if I'd say he was half the player Birch is to be honest, I don't think Robinson is that good.

[KJC]

I must have missed Bennett playing well (he only ever looked a second away from gifting them another goal) and Fryatt didn't seem in the game at all. I thought the only players who did much were the full backs (with the odd exception) and Osborn, who at least got stuck in a bit, and Wrack did a few good things, but not enough to counter the bad ones.

And I have to say that, much though I think the criticism of Leitao is justified, we're a weaker team when he goes off. Robinson looks more and more like a headless chicken every time and he's not half the player Gary Birch was. (Note he scored for Kidderminster again on Sat.)

<goes into hiding>

Cant disagree with any of that Bristol... sums up much of my feelings too.

I have to say that I thought Osborn had a pretty decent game too. Might have gone some way to shutting up those boo-boys. He needs to play like that (or better) a bit more consistantly though.

Zigor had a decent game :shock:
Still not convinced about Murphy, sometimes he pulls of some marvelous saves then other times he looks less than ordinary!

Some credit has to go to Wrexham, they looked very well organised and one or too of their players seem handy. If they keep playing like that, I cannot see them going down.

[London Saddler]

Predictable shambolic defending. Some people seem to waking up to the fact only now how much of a liability Murphy is. I have lost count of how many long range shots he has let in. He either lets in a howler (Bristol City and Tranmere spring to mind) or usually just stands there and watches the ball fly past him without even trying to save it (too many matches to mention). Bennett, even by his recent poor form, had another shocker. Clueless in defence and either passing to an opponent or hoofing long aimless balls. He got plenty of stick from those around me and by persisting with him, Merson is only going to make his confidence(already very low) even worse. Is Roper still unfit?

Going forward and midfield, we were ok in the 1st half. What was noticeable about the 2nd half was how anonymous our subsitutes were and we barely created anything as Wrexham saw a lot of the ball. Surman showed what exactly he is - a reserve/youth team player no better than any of our youth team. Apart from winning a free kick(should have been a penaulty), he did nothing. Robinson barely touched the ball, let alone have a shot on goal. Broad made a few back passes and that was it

Tactics wise, we lost it in the 2nd half. Merse seemed to be playing in midfield, then on the left wing, then on the right wing. Fryatt went on the left wing at some point

The most worrying thing is that our problem at the beginning of the season is exactly the same. Crap goalie and crap defence. How many clean sheets have we managed? Nearly every team knows they can get at least a couple of goals against us as we can't defend set pieces, can't handle pace, can't handle ale house balls and have a keeper who is in goal only because the alternatives we signed this season are even worse!

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Roper is fit - is captaining the reserves this afternoon. Match fitness is another question.

[geoffwhiting]

I thought Roper would have been in on Saturday and was very surprised that he wasn't after Bennett's rocky horror show the previous week.

I hope and expect to see Roper in on Friday though, after yet another poor showing from JB. So many aimless, mis-aimed balls, and over-hit balls came from him on Saturday, it surely hasn't gone un-noticed.

Have to agree with some comments about Merson - he was not on good form at all, though he was not as bad as some have said, but he was very well-marked by Wrexham who had done their homework, so why that didn't open up others amongst our lot to find some space and creativity, who the hell knows? My arithmetic says that if Merse has two men on him, someone should be free of a marker - why was that not apparent from the performances on the pitch. Guess it says that some were not working hard enough to find and take advantage of that extra space.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

I don't think they were marking him especially, Geoff, it was more a case of crowding the midfield and denying him (and the others) space. The best option would have been to go down the flanks . . . . . . . . .