pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
- Banned
- #1
Well, yet another game where we are grateful for a result but despairing at the performance. Tonight we played like our 'usual selves', scrapping about the middle of table for the meagre hope we'll scrape into the playoffs only to be bummed in the first round because ... because ... because ...
It was over eighty five minutes a terrible game. First five we actually looked worth it and QPR, after being tonked by Luton last game at Loftus looked like they were in for another back-dooring. But after that we just slid off the plate like a sad pie and splattered all over the deck. The back three, now restored, looked like they were brand new out of the box and Egan simply gifted them a goal and from the moment it hit the back of our net, QPR smelled the same blood the last set of teams we have edged past did and we leak it with real abandon into a sea full of not very impressive sharks. Crap sharks, in fact.
QPR weren't, once again, very good or really worthy of a 1-0 lead right up into injury time but fuck me they made themselves known. Everywhere we looked or ventured, they had it covered. Not even changing the formation from 5-3-2 to what I assume was 4-3-1-2 gave us any traction. We either fed hopeful passes that were mopped up or we gave full control of the game to them and lacked any real urgency until someone must have said "Gaffer ... it's gone an hour ... d'you think you might do summat about the 'we're losing' situation?" Sure, we'd hooked Clarke for JLT, but that hardly gave us the grit needed to take the game to them for the next 45. QPR found it easy to play round us, through us and past us and we stayed firmly 'behind' for too long until Jebbison came on and offered some token resistance. QPR by this time, although tired, managed us really well even into some heartstopping final moments when eventually the dam broke and we snatched a late, late, barely deserved equaliser.
By tonight's performance alone, it's clear we are skating on thinning ice. Key, essential players tonight were still off their best and in other areas we are relying on veterans. It's an indication that during this JTW, we cannot simply sit on our hands and repeat the mantra that 'we have enough'. We don't, and what we have certainly won't be enough next season if we go up because the expected whirlwind most of us thought would happen four years ago will definitely happen from the first whistle in August if we continue to adopt the untidy attitudes shown tonight and rely on the talismanic skills of one or two whose future with us isn't guaranteed.
Foderingham 5/10: Continuing his flat spot. Unconvinging and hesitant tonight. He's not been the same since the WC
Baldock 4.5/10: Though he made his own game difficult by overthinking and overplaying at times
Anel 5/10: His game is suffering because in front of him and around him as we go forward, there is hesitancy and nervousness. Defending he was okay
Egan 4/10: Would have got 3/10 had it not been for the late goal. Tonight he was impossibly poor even for his recently fair-ish standards. And for fuck's sake ... their goal ...
Clark 5.5/10: Our best central three. Hope his injury isn't a doozie ... rumoured to be a hamstring though so won't hold my breath
Stevens 5/10: An improved but not flawless game for him. He did get forward and did get some goes on goal and an assist
Doyle 6/10: Grafted and at least tried to impose, if giving away daft fouls in the process. Quite why he was hooked, I have no idea
Norwood 7/10: Another improved performance. Between him and Doyle they marshalled the midfield on their own
Berge 3/10: The invisible man. Really hope people get the fucking message now
NDaiye 6.5/10: Dogged, determined and denied as he can't do this shit on his own
Sharp 4/10: Another one who, despite all his efforts, is just ineffective now in a game like this. His weak effort in the first half being case in question
McAtee 6.5/10: Despite some spirited runs, failed to impose and get round their pretty timid defence
Jebbison 7/10: Made us look an entirely different prospect, if again, ineffective
Bogle 5/10: Too late for any effect. Should have been on twenty minutes earlier. Absolutely no idea what the formation was by that time, mind
HJ&SMcC 4/10: Rescued a draw from the humiliation and gathering feeling we'll fuck this chance up. We won't of course ... but games like tonight are unwarranted and avoidable if he instils that oft mentioned killer instinct we have always lacked. No idea what formation he was meant to be playing late on but one point is better than zero. Play the kids next week vs Miwaw and get this lot back on the basics. And fr fuck's sake board, sign some fucking players, eh?
pommpey
It was over eighty five minutes a terrible game. First five we actually looked worth it and QPR, after being tonked by Luton last game at Loftus looked like they were in for another back-dooring. But after that we just slid off the plate like a sad pie and splattered all over the deck. The back three, now restored, looked like they were brand new out of the box and Egan simply gifted them a goal and from the moment it hit the back of our net, QPR smelled the same blood the last set of teams we have edged past did and we leak it with real abandon into a sea full of not very impressive sharks. Crap sharks, in fact.
QPR weren't, once again, very good or really worthy of a 1-0 lead right up into injury time but fuck me they made themselves known. Everywhere we looked or ventured, they had it covered. Not even changing the formation from 5-3-2 to what I assume was 4-3-1-2 gave us any traction. We either fed hopeful passes that were mopped up or we gave full control of the game to them and lacked any real urgency until someone must have said "Gaffer ... it's gone an hour ... d'you think you might do summat about the 'we're losing' situation?" Sure, we'd hooked Clarke for JLT, but that hardly gave us the grit needed to take the game to them for the next 45. QPR found it easy to play round us, through us and past us and we stayed firmly 'behind' for too long until Jebbison came on and offered some token resistance. QPR by this time, although tired, managed us really well even into some heartstopping final moments when eventually the dam broke and we snatched a late, late, barely deserved equaliser.
By tonight's performance alone, it's clear we are skating on thinning ice. Key, essential players tonight were still off their best and in other areas we are relying on veterans. It's an indication that during this JTW, we cannot simply sit on our hands and repeat the mantra that 'we have enough'. We don't, and what we have certainly won't be enough next season if we go up because the expected whirlwind most of us thought would happen four years ago will definitely happen from the first whistle in August if we continue to adopt the untidy attitudes shown tonight and rely on the talismanic skills of one or two whose future with us isn't guaranteed.
Foderingham 5/10: Continuing his flat spot. Unconvinging and hesitant tonight. He's not been the same since the WC
Baldock 4.5/10: Though he made his own game difficult by overthinking and overplaying at times
Anel 5/10: His game is suffering because in front of him and around him as we go forward, there is hesitancy and nervousness. Defending he was okay
Egan 4/10: Would have got 3/10 had it not been for the late goal. Tonight he was impossibly poor even for his recently fair-ish standards. And for fuck's sake ... their goal ...
Clark 5.5/10: Our best central three. Hope his injury isn't a doozie ... rumoured to be a hamstring though so won't hold my breath
Stevens 5/10: An improved but not flawless game for him. He did get forward and did get some goes on goal and an assist
Doyle 6/10: Grafted and at least tried to impose, if giving away daft fouls in the process. Quite why he was hooked, I have no idea
Norwood 7/10: Another improved performance. Between him and Doyle they marshalled the midfield on their own
Berge 3/10: The invisible man. Really hope people get the fucking message now
NDaiye 6.5/10: Dogged, determined and denied as he can't do this shit on his own
Sharp 4/10: Another one who, despite all his efforts, is just ineffective now in a game like this. His weak effort in the first half being case in question
McAtee 6.5/10: Despite some spirited runs, failed to impose and get round their pretty timid defence
Jebbison 7/10: Made us look an entirely different prospect, if again, ineffective
Bogle 5/10: Too late for any effect. Should have been on twenty minutes earlier. Absolutely no idea what the formation was by that time, mind
HJ&SMcC 4/10: Rescued a draw from the humiliation and gathering feeling we'll fuck this chance up. We won't of course ... but games like tonight are unwarranted and avoidable if he instils that oft mentioned killer instinct we have always lacked. No idea what formation he was meant to be playing late on but one point is better than zero. Play the kids next week vs Miwaw and get this lot back on the basics. And fr fuck's sake board, sign some fucking players, eh?
pommpey
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