My take ...

[blade too long]

let's. not forget Blackpool spanked Watford last week they are no mugs

and watford are 2 -1 up v Norwich and have missed a penalty too

 

[Old Programme seller]

If Khadra wants a contract next season with us he needs to step! Well put/written Pomps can’t disagree with anything as said we looked nervous but to be 2 goals to the good then found chasing the game at home is horrendous! We’ve been saying for 3 seasons that we need real midfielders asking 2 young lads on loan to play a full season as age old midfielders is wrong they’re learning their trade still and although they’re full of talent reading the game is more down to experience. At least it’s not another loss and players are coming back

 

[SuperSonicBlade89]

I just blame not shooting towards the kop in 2nd half

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

You could almost miss VAR after today’s game

 

[raul]

This squad doesn't make the play offs.

Can't handle the 20 or so games against the Champo template sides like today.

Either stand up, or play round.

I've seen worse ( God knows) sides, bur never seen one as scared as the one today.

 

[10-0 win]

We,ll improve,wc in winter a blessing

 

[10-0 win]

Missing Berge ,important off the ball,6 goals shipped in his absence

 

[Harry's Game]

We,ll improve,wc in winter a blessing

Yeah cos we are shirt hot after an International brea….

 

[10-0 win]

Yeah cos we are shirt hot after an International brea….

Like a new preseason , we,ll fly

 

[Varkanoid]

Thanks, good report. Being positive hopefully with Anel back we will turn a corner. Last year this game would have been us with 9 men and lost 3-2. However only 2nd on goal difference and with Watford doing us a favour someone somewhere wants us to stay top 2. For all the crappy performances we have had lately we are still 2nd. My goodness.

 

[steve26272]

The Midfield had no strength in it and was overrun from the first minute. Doyle and McAtee are good footballers but are not physically strong enough to play together in The Championship, Blackpool were the better side easily for an hour and deserved to be at least level at HT.

The full time behaviour was unforgivable from professionals.

Wes 5. No chance with the goals idiotic at full time

Baldock 5. Has he found a blades player with a ball into the box this season?
Bash 3. Club legend, top fella.. looks like its one season too many at this level.
Egan 5. unlucky on the third goal.. but has looked sloppy since the international break Mind elsewhere?
RND 5. Was given nightmares by Yates, badly at fault for their second… looked much better when switched to LWB
Osborn 1. Terrible, made me yearn for lasts season version of Enda. Now we know why’s he not been playing LWB

Doyle 6. Some great balls played in.. but light as a feather off the ball and run over most of the time Blackpool had the ball.
McAtee 5. See Doyle..
Norwood 5. Been our best player recently but off it a bit today.. nice finish for the equaliser.

Ndiaye 6. Not his best game but still some great things and another goal. Enjoy him whilst he’s here.
Sharp. 4. Extra point for the assist but other wise see Bash Review

Anel. 7 Only on 20 minutes but a class above, enjoy whats likely to be his one and only season here
McBurnie 6. Made his presence felt but can‘t help acting the Nob can he? Caused the ruckus that’s cost us Wes.
Kharda 0. Fucking awful again Send him back in January

Hecky 4. another starting selection wrong needs to up his game.

They are young and look like kids in a mens game

They need an enforcer to do the dirty work and pass them the ball for the pretty stuff

 

[themaninblack]

Thanks for the report; this is the first time I’ve ever agreed with your player assessments!
What do you think to McAtee? Scored one and went close with another but I still don’t think he offers enough for a team that is hoping to get promotion. I felt he went missing for large parts of the game.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Spot on assessment

 

[Freddie]

Agree with everything there. What’s worrying for me is even though we’re joint top a lot of the players do look league 1, we really need to start off loading the old guard and get some new blood in otherwise it will bite us on the arse. Feel sorry for the manager in some ways too, training ground being resurfaced so can’t fully train, injuries etc, but the timing of the subs baffle me, especially when we have 5 available now

Four games ago. Best team EVER. Now league 1. Yeah ok.

 

[Jan Age]

Expected us to fully reset today, and come out and batter Blackpool, way down the league. Yep, last season they came and nicked all three points but after a series of unimpressive games and one point in nine, surely our form was to change today and we'd romp them 3-0 or summat and cement our place at the top against a resurgent chasing pack. Certainly, if we have any dream of automatics, it is important we win our remaining games before the WC break and push on the other side minus the injuries and crocks. Top two by the New Year is essential right now.

Today we started still nervy but going forward but even up to the first goal we looked fragile at the back and susceptible to a shock break and a goal. If anything we went one up against the run of play because Blackpool again seemed able to deal with anything we had. In the middle of the park we were easily mopped up and couldn't connect, hold the ball or chase down second balls. Out wide much endeavour was wasted because if you are playing Wilderball, it needs overload and we weren't doing that. At one up we still looked vulnerable and pretty clueless but still put some pleasing movements up in their half if the delivery was pretty shit in the end. At two up I thought we'd manage the win but fuck me talk about switching off when it wasn't needed for both of their responses? The back five all looked - as they have recently - like they've never trained together before and today was the first time they'd ran out in the stripes. No one came out of that first half in our back line with any credit. Where we looked bulletproof six weeks ago we now look like pushovers. How the fuck did we end up like this? In midfield again we are not exactly pulling up trees and the mistake to start Billy was there to see as he had a pretty uneventful hour.

To come out for the second period and concede further was simply unacceptable, even if Egan assisted it inadvertently. Comedy stuff. And lets face it, if you don't put away your chances and we had plenty both against ten ... then nine men ... you deserve to go into 8 minutes of injury time on prayers. Fortunately Norwood obliged via a few ricochets and we get a scraped draw from the jaws of abject humiliation. I'm not rejoicing we got a point today. I am angry. To give a two goal lead away, to allow them back in the game, take the lead, lose any numerical advantage and for us to be struggling to beat this side is wrong on all fronts, and I feel it is one or two players out there who need to stand up and be counted. Norwich next. They won't fuck about beating us if we let them.

Fodringham 6/10: No real chance with all three goals. Let down by his defence. But getting enmeshed in a post whistle scrap and losing him for three now with no firm replacement we feel we can fully trust
Baldock 5/10: Industrious and busy but fucking terrible with his crossing
Basham 4/10: Going backwards now. Lost all his sharpness, guile and ability to be trusted with the RCB position
Egan 5/10: Really poor from him. Seemed all over the shop today but possibly because of those around him playing like poppos
RND 5/10: Tough outing but error prone and nervy at times. We need Clark back and him out wide bombing up the flanks making a nuisance of himself
Osborn 2/10: Dreadful. Runs about with zero purpose and easily outfought and outmuscled
Doyle 7/10: Worked his tits off trying to get forward and get some reasoning into what was a pretty static midfield
Norwood 6/10: Not an entirely bad afternoon, but not good either. Well taken goal, this after he'd found the BLLT earlier with a better stood up chance. His dead ball stuff was more miss than hit
McAtee 5/10: He can turn it on, but he's just a kid. In the right place for his fumbled goal but largely he looked like a schoolkid on with the men
N'Daiye 7/5/10: Again, the only player looking dangerous. Willing to control the ball, get it on the deck and move at the opposition who in truth, were just asking for it. Scored a real striker's goal
Sharp 3/10: Worked hard but his days are growing dim now. Good assist ... but that was it.

McBurnie 7/10: Turned things round and added more bit to our attack, if having his efforts well saved
Brewster 6/10: Loses a point for the penalty miss which was the pressure point we needed to be sorted. Ran at them and bought their first red
Anel 7/10: Inpired sub for an ailing Basham. He has the skill and ability to move effectively from defence to attack and threaten their backline and bought us our penalty
Khadra 1/10: Really piss poor. Misplaced passes and clumsy control. He isn't what we thought he was, is he?

Again, I don't range all the blame at Hecky and Co for this. Yes, he should have brought the subs on as soon as we went 2-3 down because it was clear we were never going to get any better and could have gone further behind. But certain players out there are not good enough now for a PL chasing team which has to look like a PL team. Today we looked like a L1 team, and certain players even lower than that.

pommpey

I blame PH for the poor team selection from the off.

If not then then 20 minutes in when it was blatant to see both our defence and their defence were piss poor and failing to see that The best way to win the game was to put McBurnie on, play up to him and then win the second ball and be straight on their defence.

Very very poor not to win a game where:

a) you’re 2-0 up inside 25 minutes
B) you’re playing against 9 men for the last 20 minutes
C) You have a penalty

However 10/10 for entertainment

 

[Nightsweats]

I blame PH for the poor team selection from the off.

If not then then 20 minutes in when it was blatant to see both our defence and their defence were piss poor and failing to see that The best way to win the game was to put McBurnie on, play up to him and then win the second ball and be straight on their defence.

Very very poor not to win a game where:

a) you’re 2-0 up inside 25 minutes
B) you’re playing against 9 men for the last 20 minutes
C) You have a penalty

However 10/10 for entertainment

Congratulations on a very clear and obvious appraisal of the game. Ignore the countless nonsense you will inevitably recieve for actually watching the game without the need for rose coloured glasses or a frontal lobotomy.

 

[RWE]

Four games ago. Best team EVER. Now league 1. Yeah ok.

When did I say the whole squad was league 1? If your gunna quote me at least get it right. 4 games ago we had players such as Anel who are premier league quality… your telling me Osborn, Bash, Robinson, Stevens to name a few and probably most of the young academy lads (which is understandable) aren’t league 1 quality?

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Agree with everything there. What’s worrying for me is even though we’re joint top a lot of the players do look league 1, we really need to start off loading the old guard and get some new blood in otherwise it will bite us on the arse. Feel sorry for the manager in some ways too, training ground being resurfaced so can’t fully train, injuries etc, but the timing of the subs baffle me, especially when we have 5 available now

Brewster is utterly devoid of confidence and is a terrible example of a "23 million pound striker."
Thanks Wilder.
Khadra is Heckiingbottom's fault and seems atrocious to me. The rest are decent Championship players, Anel and Ili are Premier league.

 

[ekke287]

Brewster is utterly devoid of confidence and is a terrible example of a "23 million pound striker."
Thanks Wilder.
Khadra is Heckiingbottom's fault and seems atrocious to me. The rest are decent Championship players, Anel and Ili are Premier league.

Not sure what you expect from Brewster. He scores and gets dropped for Sharp, rarely starts and gets pelters for any mistakes he makes (that others don’t).

Brewster misses a shot, get him sold he’s shit.

Sharp misses a shot, he usually scores them, he’ll get it next time.

He’s being kept out by McB rightfully who is in form, but why is he behind Sharp?

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Not sure what you expect from Brewster. He scores and gets dropped for Sharp, rarely starts and gets pelters for any mistakes he makes (that others don’t).

Brewster misses a shot, get him sold he’s shit.

Sharp misses a shot, he usually scores them, he’ll get it next time.

He’s being kept out by McB rightfully who is in form, but why is he behind Sharp?

You raise a good point about Sharp.
Brewster seems devoid of confidence.
I guess it's based on what Billy has done for the club, against what Rian has done.
Heckingbottom makes the decisions after all.

 

[VwBlade]

Having watched the highlights I've got to say we should have won that, yes we were bobbar at the back but the officials missed two blatant handballs in our favour and there's no way on this fucking planet Anel was offside. And put Ndiaye on penalties from now on, lads got ice in his veins. Reckon offering Blackpool a couple of mil for Yates in Jan wouldn't be the worst idea either

 

[PaulHalfway]

Crazy mad game, defence all over the place at times, midfield over run at times, too lightweight.
Why start with Sharp with Brewster and Oli on the bench, just don’t get that at all
Another 2 points lost, in a match really we should have gone on and won comfortably

 

[CPB]

I'd be livid as a Blackpool fan at dropping two points at the end.
Better than us all match, beginning to end and teams have the measure of the team.
Blackpool came to win this and deserved to, but they didn't.

In terms of chances though we had far more. And they lacked discipline. Had they not has two sent off they likely hang on.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Expected us to fully reset today, and come out and batter Blackpool, way down the league. Yep, last season they came and nicked all three points but after a series of unimpressive games and one point in nine, surely our form was to change today and we'd romp them 3-0 or summat and cement our place at the top against a resurgent chasing pack. Certainly, if we have any dream of automatics, it is important we win our remaining games before the WC break and push on the other side minus the injuries and crocks. Top two by the New Year is essential right now.

Today we started still nervy but going forward but even up to the first goal we looked fragile at the back and susceptible to a shock break and a goal. If anything we went one up against the run of play because Blackpool again seemed able to deal with anything we had. In the middle of the park we were easily mopped up and couldn't connect, hold the ball or chase down second balls. Out wide much endeavour was wasted because if you are playing Wilderball, it needs overload and we weren't doing that. At one up we still looked vulnerable and pretty clueless but still put some pleasing movements up in their half if the delivery was pretty shit in the end. At two up I thought we'd manage the win but fuck me talk about switching off when it wasn't needed for both of their responses? The back five all looked - as they have recently - like they've never trained together before and today was the first time they'd ran out in the stripes. No one came out of that first half in our back line with any credit. Where we looked bulletproof six weeks ago we now look like pushovers. How the fuck did we end up like this? In midfield again we are not exactly pulling up trees and the mistake to start Billy was there to see as he had a pretty uneventful hour.

To come out for the second period and concede further was simply unacceptable, even if Egan assisted it inadvertently. Comedy stuff. And lets face it, if you don't put away your chances and we had plenty both against ten ... then nine men ... you deserve to go into 8 minutes of injury time on prayers. Fortunately Norwood obliged via a few ricochets and we get a scraped draw from the jaws of abject humiliation. I'm not rejoicing we got a point today. I am angry. To give a two goal lead away, to allow them back in the game, take the lead, lose any numerical advantage and for us to be struggling to beat this side is wrong on all fronts, and I feel it is one or two players out there who need to stand up and be counted. Norwich next. They won't fuck about beating us if we let them.

Fodringham 6/10: No real chance with all three goals. Let down by his defence. But getting enmeshed in a post whistle scrap and losing him for three now with no firm replacement we feel we can fully trust
Baldock 5/10: Industrious and busy but fucking terrible with his crossing
Basham 4/10: Going backwards now. Lost all his sharpness, guile and ability to be trusted with the RCB position
Egan 5/10: Really poor from him. Seemed all over the shop today but possibly because of those around him playing like poppos
RND 5/10: Tough outing but error prone and nervy at times. We need Clark back and him out wide bombing up the flanks making a nuisance of himself
Osborn 2/10: Dreadful. Runs about with zero purpose and easily outfought and outmuscled
Doyle 7/10: Worked his tits off trying to get forward and get some reasoning into what was a pretty static midfield
Norwood 6/10: Not an entirely bad afternoon, but not good either. Well taken goal, this after he'd found the BLLT earlier with a better stood up chance. His dead ball stuff was more miss than hit
McAtee 5/10: He can turn it on, but he's just a kid. In the right place for his fumbled goal but largely he looked like a schoolkid on with the men
N'Daiye 7/5/10: Again, the only player looking dangerous. Willing to control the ball, get it on the deck and move at the opposition who in truth, were just asking for it. Scored a real striker's goal
Sharp 3/10: Worked hard but his days are growing dim now. Good assist ... but that was it.

McBurnie 7/10: Turned things round and added more bit to our attack, if having his efforts well saved
Brewster 6/10: Loses a point for the penalty miss which was the pressure point we needed to be sorted. Ran at them and bought their first red
Anel 7/10: Inpired sub for an ailing Basham. He has the skill and ability to move effectively from defence to attack and threaten their backline and bought us our penalty
Khadra 1/10: Really piss poor. Misplaced passes and clumsy control. He isn't what we thought he was, is he?

Again, I don't range all the blame at Hecky and Co for this. Yes, he should have brought the subs on as soon as we went 2-3 down because it was clear we were never going to get any better and could have gone further behind. But certain players out there are not good enough now for a PL chasing team which has to look like a PL team. Today we looked like a L1 team, and certain players even lower than that.

pommpey

Great Post Pommpey,even agreed with your markings.We are going through an amazing run of injuries ( McBurnie operation next on the horizon)Can't beleave some of the stuff coming from some so called blades Hecki must be a frustrated man, ok he has made some mistakes team wise !
trying to counter all the changers he is forced to make ! Odd mistakes in his team selection is bound to happen.
Having to play players totally out of confidence (Basham)and players coming back from injury,who although maybe injury free are not 100% fit and ready to go is a nightmare we are living through every match.
There is no short term fix and this is going to last all the way to the world Cup and beyond.
Can't fault the work ethic and commitment but match fitness is a vital factor in the modern game.
Hecki though has to stop these stupid bookings and flare ups! It's great to see the players covering each others backs ! Teams now using this to wind us up and, we are the big lovers.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Great Post Pommpey,even agreed with your markings.We are going through an amazing run of injuries ( McBurnie operation next on the horizon)Can't beleave some of the stuff coming from some so called blades Hecki must be a frustrated man, ok he has made some mistakes team wise !
trying to counter all the changers he is forced to make ! Odd mistakes in his team selection is bound to happen.
Having to play players totally out of confidence (Basham)and players coming back from injury,who although maybe injury free are not 100% fit and ready to go is a nightmare we are living through every match.
There is no short term fix and this is going to last all the way to the world Cup and beyond.
Can't fault the work ethic and commitment but match fitness is a vital factor in the modern game.
Hecki though has to stop these stupid bookings and flare ups! It's great to see the players covering each others backs ! Teams now using this to wind us up and, we are the big lovers.

Sorry loses! Not lovers! Although we love them blades don't we.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Sorry loses! Not lovers! Although we love them blades don't we.

Liked the original the best!

 

[djbaldken]

generally agree with most of what Pommps has said.

At 2 nil up I sent a text to my mate 'what can possibly go wrong now'. Knowing full well that it probably would, the way we were shaping up.
Our defence at the moment has cracks in it as wide as Katie Price's flue! Bash is no longer the player he was (great servant that he s been) George is no longer furious. Which as Pommpy aluded to is probably why Egan is way under par having to try to cover for them.
Our midfield minus the likes of Fleck and Berg is lightweight without them. The two city boys are just that atm, 'boys'. Yes the talent is there but they are too easily out muscled. leaving us weak in that department.
N'Daiye since the break for me just is not quite there. Things are just not going for him atm. Yes the work rate and trickery are there but its not coming off for him lately.
Hopefully now Anel is back the defence will tighten up and we can go back to not conceding so easily.
Wes out for the next three so who knows.
Brewster. Sorry I know I may well upset a few here, but god we ve had our pants well and truely pulled down there. For a player of his so called calibre to score the woeful tally hes scored so far with us. Hopeless. I said at the start of this season Ill be surprised if he get more than 5 goals all season. (Ill be delighted to be wrong)
Its what being a Blade is all about. You never can tell.

 

[Charlieblade]

Very similar thoughts.

FWIW:

Team selection - wrong team with Billy up top. No issue with Billy as a player but Brewster just broke his duck and McBurnie was cemented as a starter before missing through suspension. Made no sense to pick him above those two today other than his career record against Blackpool. He's done nothing so far to suggest he deserves to start on current form.

The defence - abysmal. We seem to lack the appetite to stop crosses. Why? Stop the cross and you don't have to defend it. First goal, Osborn shoes he's as weak as chip vinegar, doesn't even attempt to put him off. It's like having Tiny Tim there. Though again where were Basham and Egan marking the centre forward? Our promotion depends on how many games Anel plays. Second goal Norrington-Davies rushes to tackle when he should hang back. No idea where Osborn got to, but where was the marking? The third was a little unlucky but Wes does himself no favours. He doesn't narrow the angle at all, he just gives him a clear pass into the goal.

After that humiliating defensive effort other players showed their shortcomings. Brewster hit the penalty too well you could generously say - lady luck gave us the middle finger once more after N'Diaye also hit the post and came out last week only for Jags to head post and in. But he missed one for Liverpool, missed one for us in a shoot out too. Is he really the guy? He's the sort of player who you need to hit a crucial penalty and he'd try a Penenka and miss. I wasn't remotely surprised he missed, though other than perhaps N'Diaye, with no Billy, no Berge and Norwood sitting them out, not sure who was the obvious one.

Central defence was poor and we need to get to Anel, Egan and Robbo IMHO as long as he's the latter season Robbo than early career Robbo, with Norrington-Davies at left wingback for now. Bash has been poor and he couldn't even help at the other end from about a yard even if there was an angle. He needs benching.

The officials - Missed so much. Without having seen multiple replays Anel's looks a well timed run and a goal. The handball at the near post was blatant. Between those two additional incidents you'd hope that would have seen us home after another patchy effort. Unless it is for a racist remark I'd throw the book at Wes. He's one of the experienced pros. We don't need to be without him for a handful of matches. Ridiculous to get himself in that situation.

Hecky - dropping points in matches we expect to win at home isn't a good look, Home draws with Birmingham in 18th and 19th placed Blackpool are shit results, let's not dress it up. I'm sorry but it is poor. No reason this squad can't hammer on at 2 points per game. It will now need three consecutive wins to get back to that. We've now let Burnley who haemorrhaged their best players jump to first. We've literally parked up these last 4 matches and invited them to catch up. Shoddy.

Management and players need to pull their fucking fingers out. We will never have a better chance of automatic promotion. We play Coventry and Norwich next. The defence and staff owe need to get that defence back to how it was early season. Offensively it's not that we don't have good periods. We've just totally abandoned the idea of decent defending. Basham should be nowhere near the XI right now I'm sorry to say and Billy neither.

As much as I can appreciate his good points, if we start going beyond 4 games without a win then the pressure is going to increase.

We don't do play off so it's top two or nothing. With no big sales once more, this squad not getting in the top two would be an abject failure.

Opening the door for Burnley, Watford and Norwich after making such a good start is extremely frustrating. We're even giving West Brom and Boro a sight of it and they should be dead and buried.

Sort it out Warnock!

I agree with most of what you have said. I’m a bit jealous because I don’t have the same knowledge and patience to write about almost every player in detail.
Yes, we would all like to see Anel start the game, but PH is damned if he starts him and he gets injured?
Much prefer RND as an attacking wing back. Osborn should have done better, but just back from injury, and RND will have one eye on the World Cup.
It would be good to have JLT or Clarke back to balance the defence, but neither of them is a patch on Anel or JOC. JLT will take time to get back to his ‘adequate’ standard of last season!
Bash and Billy will be good to have around at the sharp end of the season, even if they are on the downhill stretch.
I worry about Fleck for the same reason. Yes we can still get automatic promotion, but the heart of the team will need to be re-built if we do go up.
I would be less worried if Doyle and McAtee were ours but they aren’t.

Looking forward to our season from 19 December onwards. Berge should be back, and Ndiaye can still change a game in a flash.
The defence will have good starters and options from the bench, all fit and firing. Plenty of goals to come from midfield and forwards.
Hopefully we can give Sharp and Basham the send off they deserve come May.

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

Agree, to throw away the 2-0 lead, at home is unacceptable, injuries or not. I thought we missed a tough tackler in midfield and it was really stupid of us to keep hoofing it (which played to their strengths).

Must do better.

Doyle was outstanding though. McB also looked sharp when he came on.

 

[Drunk blade]

Expected us to fully reset today, and come out and batter Blackpool, way down the league. Yep, last season they came and nicked all three points but after a series of unimpressive games and one point in nine, surely our form was to change today and we'd romp them 3-0 or summat and cement our place at the top against a resurgent chasing pack. Certainly, if we have any dream of automatics, it is important we win our remaining games before the WC break and push on the other side minus the injuries and crocks. Top two by the New Year is essential right now.

Today we started still nervy but going forward but even up to the first goal we looked fragile at the back and susceptible to a shock break and a goal. If anything we went one up against the run of play because Blackpool again seemed able to deal with anything we had. In the middle of the park we were easily mopped up and couldn't connect, hold the ball or chase down second balls. Out wide much endeavour was wasted because if you are playing Wilderball, it needs overload and we weren't doing that. At one up we still looked vulnerable and pretty clueless but still put some pleasing movements up in their half if the delivery was pretty shit in the end. At two up I thought we'd manage the win but fuck me talk about switching off when it wasn't needed for both of their responses? The back five all looked - as they have recently - like they've never trained together before and today was the first time they'd ran out in the stripes. No one came out of that first half in our back line with any credit. Where we looked bulletproof six weeks ago we now look like pushovers. How the fuck did we end up like this? In midfield again we are not exactly pulling up trees and the mistake to start Billy was there to see as he had a pretty uneventful hour.

To come out for the second period and concede further was simply unacceptable, even if Egan assisted it inadvertently. Comedy stuff. And lets face it, if you don't put away your chances and we had plenty both against ten ... then nine men ... you deserve to go into 8 minutes of injury time on prayers. Fortunately Norwood obliged via a few ricochets and we get a scraped draw from the jaws of abject humiliation. I'm not rejoicing we got a point today. I am angry. To give a two goal lead away, to allow them back in the game, take the lead, lose any numerical advantage and for us to be struggling to beat this side is wrong on all fronts, and I feel it is one or two players out there who need to stand up and be counted. Norwich next. They won't fuck about beating us if we let them.

Fodringham 6/10: No real chance with all three goals. Let down by his defence. But getting enmeshed in a post whistle scrap and losing him for three now with no firm replacement we feel we can fully trust
Baldock 5/10: Industrious and busy but fucking terrible with his crossing
Basham 4/10: Going backwards now. Lost all his sharpness, guile and ability to be trusted with the RCB position
Egan 5/10: Really poor from him. Seemed all over the shop today but possibly because of those around him playing like poppos
RND 5/10: Tough outing but error prone and nervy at times. We need Clark back and him out wide bombing up the flanks making a nuisance of himself
Osborn 2/10: Dreadful. Runs about with zero purpose and easily outfought and outmuscled
Doyle 7/10: Worked his tits off trying to get forward and get some reasoning into what was a pretty static midfield
Norwood 6/10: Not an entirely bad afternoon, but not good either. Well taken goal, this after he'd found the BLLT earlier with a better stood up chance. His dead ball stuff was more miss than hit
McAtee 5/10: He can turn it on, but he's just a kid. In the right place for his fumbled goal but largely he looked like a schoolkid on with the men
N'Daiye 7/5/10: Again, the only player looking dangerous. Willing to control the ball, get it on the deck and move at the opposition who in truth, were just asking for it. Scored a real striker's goal
Sharp 3/10: Worked hard but his days are growing dim now. Good assist ... but that was it.

McBurnie 7/10: Turned things round and added more bit to our attack, if having his efforts well saved
Brewster 6/10: Loses a point for the penalty miss which was the pressure point we needed to be sorted. Ran at them and bought their first red
Anel 7/10: Inpired sub for an ailing Basham. He has the skill and ability to move effectively from defence to attack and threaten their backline and bought us our penalty
Khadra 1/10: Really piss poor. Misplaced passes and clumsy control. He isn't what we thought he was, is he?

Again, I don't range all the blame at Hecky and Co for this. Yes, he should have brought the subs on as soon as we went 2-3 down because it was clear we were never going to get any better and could have gone further behind. But certain players out there are not good enough now for a PL chasing team which has to look like a PL team. Today we looked like a L1 team, and certain players even lower than that.

pommpey

Stopped checking in on this thread for a while but i see nothing changes, Norwood makes the championship team of the week for the 9th time this season gets the last minute equaliser and it's another 6 out of 10