Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:56 pm
Well that was a little bit anti climactic after the other day. I said earlier up the thread that the danger was us suffering a post-Sheffield hangover, and that's exactly what happened. The performance was flat, the atmosphere was flat, and too many of our players had their worst game of the season.
I don't care how many shots the BBC said we had, there wasn't any in the game which you would look at and go "we really should have scored", that little bit of quality in the final third was absent. Even Macken's goal, had he curled it over instead of in, wouldn't have been a glaring miss. I can't comment on their equaliser as I was debating Will Grigg at the time with the person next to me.
If we have any aspirations of threatening the playoff places then these are the sort of games we need to be winning. I hadn't twigged that we'd been leading in all games so far until it was mentioned above. This obviously needs to be addressed. On the plus side, Deano said our home form was the key and we're still unbeaten in the league at home.
I'm actually glad we lost to Middlesbrough now as I think we could do with the midweek off, the problem with having a small squad with no depth that when we play Sat - Tues - Sat - Tues - Sat, we don't have any options to freshen it up and we end up looking jaded like we did today. Hopefully the lack of a midweek game should see us fighting fit at Bournemouth on Saturday. Sheffield Utd fans said on Tuesday that a better team than us would have buried them, and the same can be said with Yeovil today. A decent team would have beaten us. But, we've played poorly and not lost. That in itself is a positive as we'd have lost that sort of match 12 months ago.
Walker - Reliable as ever. Commanded his box, distribution was good, make a couple of smart saves. Looked to be struggling towards the end, I wondered if he'd hurt his back.
Westlake - After Taundry, is the most improved player of the season. Has added being able to defend to his game. One of the better performers on the day.
Sadler - Solid and dependable. Gets forward well and provides a much needed left footed outlet.
Butler - Ran Macken close for MOTM, unlucky to get booked.
Lancashire - I thought he struggled today. His man ran through once in the first half and had he had a bit more nous he could have gone down and got Lancashire sent off.
Taundry - Another who I thought had his weakest game of the season. Its testament to how much he's improved that it was still better than most of his performances last season.
Peterlin - I really like him. Will be unlucky if he gets dropped for Chambers next week.
Hurst - My biggest complaint against him is that he's far too right footed to be on the left. Went off at half time with what looked like an injury.
Gnakpa - His best game for the club. Strong in the air, is forming a good partnership on the right with Westlake and provided the assist for the goal.
Macken - After Butler, is probably the most indespensible member of the team. If we lost him for a spell, we'd be in a bit of a pickle. We're benefitting from having him fully fit this year. He's everywhere, I just hope he manages to score some simple goals rather than relying on the beauties he's scored today and against Wolves.
Grigg - Appears to be dividing opinion. Had two conversations about him today, one with an occasional supporter who claimed today was the best game he'd seen Grigg play, and one with an ever present who believes he has a work rate to rival Jarvis. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Started the move for the goal but looks lost without Macken.
Subs
Nicholls - Is threatening to have a good spell. Played on the left and did ok, had one good run in the second half that ended with a shot that the keeper comfortably saved.
Jarvis - Got on the end of one Sadler cross but failed to keep his effort inside the stadium. His only real contribution.
Last edited by
priestley_saddler on Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.