The last straw

[SI 4 BHA]

Yes, it was a bit dull, but Tranmere are an ok team and for long periods, we looked the better team, without really threatening them. We do have a major problem in midfield as both Thomson and El-Abd are really defensive holding players and neither of them have a natural inclination to get forward and join in the attack so the forwards lack support and play breaks down. Unfortunately, I don't think any of the currently injured midfielders really fill the attacking role either. This is where we really miss Hammond, who, at his best, was very good at getting forward into dangerous positions. Until this is sorted, we will continue to be outnumbered when attacking and goals will be hard to come by. However, we should be quite difficult to beat, but it will continue to be a bit dull!

 

[seagullsss]

boring match but we got a point against one of the best teams in our league. You dont get extra points for entertainment. IMO Good result. Not even arsenal play good every week.

 

[The Large One]

who is going to be the first to pipe up with MOAN MOAN MOAN

im going to plum for AL

No, I'm not going to go down the 'moan, moan, moan' route, at all. We're all entitled to our opinions... I'm just going to say what a greater pleasure it will be at Withdean without the world's tenderest ego in attendance. God speed and good riddance to him, I say, if he wants to not bother coming. It means we can take his grizzling even less seriously than we did before.

Anyhoo, thoughts are it was a shit game, played by two teams basically cancelling each other out and neither having the nous to break each other down. My gripe about our performance was with the fact that we had two defensively-minded central midfielders, neither of whom were working hard enough going forward to help the wide players. As a result, far too much was broken down when the ball went to the wide players, and it left Forster and Murray hopelessly outnumbered by a well-organised Tranmere defence.

Oh, and I disagree with the Kuipers evaluation from Brett. He does like to throw the ball out to hs team-mates now - but far too many times he can't do that because either the players are just lolloping up the field and not making themselves available, or Tranmere's defence was alive and alert to these possibilities.

 

[TSB]

With respect f*** OFF waste of space

Mods, Mods, he's being mean

 

[pasty]

See to me that says that Tranmere came for the point and made damn sure everytime we broke forward they got numbers back behind the ball and made it difficult for us to break them down, not that we were playing for a draw.

Agree to a point, but only 3 or 4 Albion players in the opposition half says to me that we weren't trying very hard to break them down.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

Why's Vulture been banned? Was it for this thread?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Seems Harsh, double standards

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

It seems to me Vulture posted an opinion in contrary to all the Wilkins lickers and he was abused first.

 

[The Large One]

It seems to me Vulture posted an opinion in contrary to all the Wilkins lickers and he was abused first.

Yeah, well never mind that.

Clear out your inbox and post me your email address...

BTW, how does McGhee taste these days?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Yeah, well never mind that.

Clear out your inbox and post me your email address...

BTW, how does McGhee taste these days?

Al, My enlarged McGhee poster above my bed is a bit dog eared now but my framed McGhee signed photograph is looking good on my work desk.

 

[Storer68]

Well, that's it as far as i'm concerned. Another customer gone.

Tonight? Well, i paid good money to sit in the freezing cold watching absolute shit. Again.

It's all very well saying a draw against Tranmere isn't a bad result.
But watching us playing for a draw at home is not on.
It's NOT entertaining watching a team who seemingly don't care.
It's NOT entertaining watching a dugout who seemingly haven't got a f***ing clue.

I lost it at Withdean tonight. That's never happened before. Wilkins and subs. Again. Jesus H Christ.

Hart - now, i like Hart, but there is NO WAY that the man is a striker. Jesus wept, he makes Revell look like a chicken WITH a head. No positional sense, no strikers instinct. A joke substitution - the only way it could have been justified would be by putting the impressive Bowditch up front and having him on the wing. There is no doubt Hart can cross a ball and fly into a slide tackle, but can he do much else? I think not.

Know what you mean. Did anyone elese spot the irony in replacing the biggest signing we have splashed out on in the last 25 years, for a player who costs us a set of tracksuits ten years ago....

 

[Soul Finger]

Seems Harsh, double standards

Now that is funny

 

[Scotty Mac]

No, I'm not going to go down the 'moan, moan, moan' route, at all. We're all entitled to our opinions... I'm just going to say what a greater pleasure it will be at Withdean without the world's tenderest ego in attendance. God speed and good riddance to him, I say, if he wants to not bother coming. It means we can take his grizzling even less seriously than we did before.

Anyhoo, thoughts are it was a shit game, played by two teams basically cancelling each other out and neither having the nous to break each other down. My gripe about our performance was with the fact that we had two defensively-minded central midfielders, neither of whom were working hard enough going forward to help the wide players. As a result, far too much was broken down when the ball went to the wide players, and it left Forster and Murray hopelessly outnumbered by a well-organised Tranmere defence.

fair points al, i agree with your point about the central midfield. we are far too negative in that respect, and i dont think it is anything we can coach out of them - el abd and thomson are both naturally defensive, and it begs the question why wilkins plays them together - especially at home

the one thing i dont agree with is your "good riddance" comments - the worrying thing is that, however much potter does moan, he is a loyal fan who goes week in week out and gives the club a ludicrous amount of money. more and more fans seem to be feeling this way, and if it continues this season then attendances are going to drop further and further, which is not good news at all for the club

 

[Storer68]

I know it is as relevant as fried eggs at this point, but I was chatting to a Brentford fan at work who went to Barnet.

they had 40% of the attendance at Underhill and he recons Nathan Elder is the best signing they have made in years.

He held the ball up, chased down the defenders, set up the goals including winning a penalty, brought players into the game and was cheered off the pitch at the end.

Hopefully he has found his level in the Fourth Divi and he continues in that vein.

Genuinely nice bloke and one who was desparately dissapointed he diodnt get a better chance at Brighton according to the local radio here.


Looks like I made the right decision not busting a gut to get to Withers last night

If we are not careful, we might find out directly if Elder has found his level......

it would have helped if Wilkins had seen him play BEFORE he signed him.

 

[BensGrandad]

If it had been a boxing match we may have just edged it on points but he happiest boss must be the old moaner Ronnie Moore to have come here and got a draw without breaking sweat.

 

[The Large One]

fair points al, i agree with your point about the central midfield. we are far too negative in that respect, and i dont think it is anything we can coach out of them - el abd and thomson are both naturally defensive, and it begs the question why wilkins plays them together - especially at home

the one thing i dont agree with is your "good riddance" comments - the worrying thing is that, however much potter does moan, he is a loyal fan who goes week in week out and gives the club a ludicrous amount of money. more and more fans seem to be feeling this way, and if it continues this season then attendances are going to drop further and further, which is not good news at all for the club

Fair enough, but there are times when Potter moans for the sake of moaning. I don't have to read his posts, and if they are genuine concerns, I would sympathise or agree. But we get a negative slant on absolutely everything. So he oughtn't be too surprised when it brings out a reaction.

But the glib 'good riddance' part of my remark is only in keeping with the over-reaction of his initial post. It is, in this instance, proportionate to the original tone.

 

[saltash seagull]

it wasn't good last nite but we got a draw against one of the in form teams in the league who were really there for the taking!
bit suprised that jake never got on the pitch at any point as he has had more of an impact coming of the bench this season and if we had got both him and bowditch running at them might have opened the door.
can't believe how many negative people there are around at the moment though i reaaly think we are going in the right direction with wilkins and can't believe the amount of times i heard relegation mentioned last night!
got back to plymouth at 2oclock this morning and just new that if i put nsc on it would be full of moaners,looks like i was right !

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

You're not a supporter if you decide not to come because we're playing badly...

WE ARE MID TABLE, IN LEAGUE 1....

Good riddance I say... (but yes it was awful, but isn't that just football?)

 

[NMH]

I find all this incredible.
To me and my friends Tranmere were one of the best,most organised teams we have played all season.I would say a sure bet for the play offs.
The second half was a non event.However,i don`t believe that either side were playing for a draw.
Everytime we got forward it was noticeable how quickly Tranmere got their 2 rows of 4 behind the ball not allowing much space.
The only time we looked dangerous is when we were running directly at them.

There were a couple of times when our players got forward and 'could' have taken an immediate shot. Controlling the ball or taking an extra touch rather than fluff a shot, ensured EVERY time that the Tranmere defenders had time to cover the problem, force our man wide or get in front of him.

If I were manager I'd re-run the video of that game and work on shooting practise WITHOUT having to tee the ball up perfectly. We rarely score unexpected goals from surrise shots or volleys - nobody takes any chances in this squad.

 

[Seasider78]

My take on it was Tranmere done their homework on us. With two defensive minded midfielders they knew our supply was going to come from the wings. Cox was all but marked out of the game and despite a promising early start Tranmere soon snuffed out Bowditch with a few extra players behind the ball.

We were left launching the ball and despite the ref blowing up for every other piece of physical contact in the game he seemed oblivious to the fouls on Forster when we launched the ball too him. Combine this with him blowing up everytime a corner was whipped in left for a pretty dull encounter.

Tranmere were compact and got behind the ball and we struggled the break them down. By midway through the second half I think Wilkins knew this and our tactics and subs seemed to suggest we were happy with the point (particulary when defending corners when the entire team was in our penalty area)

Just one of those games when nothing we done came off it happens