From the Red Button

[pommpey]

Piss poor.

First half, we seemed reluctant to come past the halfway line and attack. No movement off the ball. Back line slow in coming out. Pedestrian and a real showing of the garbage we had thought had been purged from the club.

Second half we couldn't even pressure and threaten their goal. Cross after cross all game. Norwood's supposed distribution was fantastically shit all game and no one in the box was positioned right to apply the finish.

As has been said, if Birmingham were anything better (and they weren't … at all) we would have been three down and chasing shadows.

Henderson 6/10: Only a low mark because he had fuck all to do really
Baldock 6/10: Made attempts to get down the flank but he either gets isolated (because of no movement around him so he has to carry) or he gets easily robbed
Basham 7.5/10: Good game. Deserved of his MotM
O'Connell 6/10: Looks tired and cumbersome
Egan 5.5/10: Somehow turned from someone ready to show the critics where they were wrong to showing them their doubts were actually right
Johnson 4/10: First real game, but he looked way out of his depth out there. Anything which came to him ended up at a dead end. Stevens, for all his limitations, is currently a better choice
Fleck 6.5/10: Busy, but can't run the midfield on his own. I've said that before when he's played with L. Evans
Norwood 5.5/10: Almost cost us the game. It's okay pinging balls about all over the shop, but when your close game is pissola, maybe you need to have a word with yourself. Good player, but tonight was a downturn
Duffy 7/10: Put in a shift and looked the only threat for us until he was oddly and wrongly subbed
Clarke 5/10: He's finished, Chris. Sorry, but he offers nowt for us any more
Washington 2.5/10: Fuck me. WHY?

Subs

Sharp 6/10: Grafted in the 15 or so minutes we had but had zero suppy
Woodburn 3/10: Looks another player who needs Liverpool style players around him to be the vaunted player people say he is. So what the fuck is he doing at BDTBL?
McGoldrick 6/10: Am I mistaken, or does it look like his legs are going?

Wilder 4/10: Poor

Crowd - silent. Don't blame them

That's two ditched points tonight which would have had us tucked up behind Brentford. But now we have three or four fancied teams breathing down our necks. Best Wilder has it out with the team before Preston and stops experimenting. I don't know what we did to beat Villa 4-1 (we played fucking well is the answer) but tonight we looked abysmal and very much Adkins.

Sort it out you fuckers.

pommpey

 

[Weasel]

Fair assessment but I would totally disagree with you about Egan. Thought he was solid. Him and Bash were the only ones in red n white tonight who can look at themselves and think they did well imo.

 

[Harry's Game]

Spot on about Washington.

Spot off about Egan.

 

[Rodley]

Miles off on Egan there.

 

[pommpey]

Oh, and as an addition - that red and white shirt looks black and white on telly

Will increase Egan's mark if I forget his positional performance at corners and the few spooned clearances

pommpey

 

[HolmesfieldBlade]

Egan was excellent and won everything

 

[Blade56]

Fair assessment but I would totally disagree with you about Egan. Thought he was solid. Him and Bash were the only ones in red n white tonight who can look at themselves and think they did well imo.

Technically correct as Henderson wasn't in red and white but he was class, could have been 0-3 but for his saves

 

[Trigger Blade]

Henderson made an excellent full length save in the first half and a good one from Jota near the end. With Blackman we wouldn’t have kept a clean sheet. Henderson got us the point tonight.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Henderson made an excellent full length save in the first half and a good one from Jota near the end. With Blackman we wouldn’t have kept a clean sheet. Henderson got us the point tonight.

Why bring Blackman into it?

You don't know whether we would or wouldn't.

 

[JOEYDEE]

Piss poor.

First half, we seemed reluctant to come past the halfway line and attack. No movement off the ball. Back line slow in coming out. Pedestrian and a real showing of the garbage we had thought had been purged from the club.

Second half we couldn't even pressure and threaten their goal. Cross after cross all game. Norwood's supposed distribution was fantastically shit all game and no one in the box was positioned right to apply the finish.

As has been said, if Birmingham were anything better (and they weren't … at all) we would have been three down and chasing shadows.

Henderson 6/10: Only a low mark because he had fuck all to do really
Baldock 6/10: Made attempts to get down the flank but he either gets isolated (because of no movement around him so he has to carry) or he gets easily robbed
Basham 7.5/10: Good game. Deserved of his MotM
O'Connell 6/10: Looks tired and cumbersome
Egan 5.5/10: Somehow turned from someone ready to show the critics where they were wrong to showing them their doubts were actually right
Johnson 4/10: First real game, but he looked way out of his depth out there. Anything which came to him ended up at a dead end. Stevens, for all his limitations, is currently a better choice
Fleck 6.5/10: Busy, but can't run the midfield on his own. I've said that before when he's played with L. Evans
Norwood 5.5/10: Almost cost us the game. It's okay pinging balls about all over the shop, but when your close game is pissola, maybe you need to have a word with yourself. Good player, but tonight was a downturn
Duffy 7/10: Put in a shift and looked the only threat for us until he was oddly and wrongly subbed
Clarke 5/10: He's finished, Chris. Sorry, but he offers nowt for us any more
Washington 2.5/10: Fuck me. WHY?

Subs

Sharp 6/10: Grafted in the 15 or so minutes we had but had zero suppy
Woodburn 3/10: Looks another player who needs Liverpool style players around him to be the vaunted player people say he is. So what the fuck is he doing at BDTBL?
McGoldrick 6/10: Am I mistaken, or does it look like his legs are going?

Wilder 4/10: Poor

Crowd - silent. Don't blame them

That's two ditched points tonight which would have had us tucked up behind Brentford. But now we have three or four fancied teams breathing down our necks. Best Wilder has it out with the team before Preston and stops experimenting. I don't know what we did to beat Villa 4-1 (we played fucking well is the answer) but tonight we looked abysmal and very much Adkins.

Sort it out you fuckers.

pommpey

Reluctant like for you there pommpey,unfortunately a lot of what you said is spot on ( apart from Egan).
The difference in performance when compared to the Villa game is staggering .
Maybe our squad depth is not quite what we thought it was ?

 

[pommpey]

Reluctant like for you there pommpey,unfortunately a lot of what you said is spot on ( apart from Egan).
The difference in performance when compared to the Villa game is staggering .
Maybe our squad depth is not quite what we thought it was ?

Fair shout. I just didn't see Egan doing half of what others on here did, but that's just an opinion, not the law. Some games he seems pretty solid. I think last night of he was up against a pretty focussed strike force (and Brum were shitola) he would have been in trouble. Mind you, so would JO'C who I thought looked very lumpen and Collinsesque.

Very frustrating night. Plenty of swearing at chez pommpey

pommpey

 

[super_pig]

Fair shout. I just didn't see Egan doing half of what others on here did, but that's just an opinion, not the law. Some games he seems pretty solid. I think last night of he was up against a pretty focussed strike force (and Brum were shitola) he would have been in trouble. Mind you, so would JO'C who I thought looked very lumpen and Collinsesque.

Very frustrating night. Plenty of swearing at chez pommpey

pommpey

JoC hasn't been the same since the Brighton bid IMHO

 

[finlaytheblade]

Piss poor.

First half, we seemed reluctant to come past the halfway line and attack. No movement off the ball. Back line slow in coming out. Pedestrian and a real showing of the garbage we had thought had been purged from the club.

Second half we couldn't even pressure and threaten their goal. Cross after cross all game. Norwood's supposed distribution was fantastically shit all game and no one in the box was positioned right to apply the finish.

As has been said, if Birmingham were anything better (and they weren't … at all) we would have been three down and chasing shadows.

Henderson 6/10: Only a low mark because he had fuck all to do really
Baldock 6/10: Made attempts to get down the flank but he either gets isolated (because of no movement around him so he has to carry) or he gets easily robbed
Basham 7.5/10: Good game. Deserved of his MotM
O'Connell 6/10: Looks tired and cumbersome
Egan 5.5/10: Somehow turned from someone ready to show the critics where they were wrong to showing them their doubts were actually right
Johnson 4/10: First real game, but he looked way out of his depth out there. Anything which came to him ended up at a dead end. Stevens, for all his limitations, is currently a better choice
Fleck 6.5/10: Busy, but can't run the midfield on his own. I've said that before when he's played with L. Evans
Norwood 5.5/10: Almost cost us the game. It's okay pinging balls about all over the shop, but when your close game is pissola, maybe you need to have a word with yourself. Good player, but tonight was a downturn
Duffy 7/10: Put in a shift and looked the only threat for us until he was oddly and wrongly subbed
Clarke 5/10: He's finished, Chris. Sorry, but he offers nowt for us any more
Washington 2.5/10: Fuck me. WHY?

Subs

Sharp 6/10: Grafted in the 15 or so minutes we had but had zero suppy
Woodburn 3/10: Looks another player who needs Liverpool style players around him to be the vaunted player people say he is. So what the fuck is he doing at BDTBL?
McGoldrick 6/10: Am I mistaken, or does it look like his legs are going?

Wilder 4/10: Poor

Crowd - silent. Don't blame them

That's two ditched points tonight which would have had us tucked up behind Brentford. But now we have three or four fancied teams breathing down our necks. Best Wilder has it out with the team before Preston and stops experimenting. I don't know what we did to beat Villa 4-1 (we played fucking well is the answer) but tonight we looked abysmal and very much Adkins.

Sort it out you fuckers.

pommpey

Fleck 6 and half ? he had a shocker worst player on the pitch Norwood not far behind on 2ND half performance

 

[Trigger Blade]

Why bring Blackman into it?

You don't know whether we would or wouldn't.

Because he was our keeper last season and I’m making a comparison.

Of course it’s only my opinion, but based on what I’ve seen of the two of them, Henderson is a better keeper and he will be responsible for us picking up more points this season than Blackman (who I liked) did last season and last night’s point was one of those.

 

[Caseh]

I agree with a lot of scores, but I think you're way off on others... I had Egan as our MotM, seemed to get on everything, and a few times found himself dragging Bash and JoC back into position.

Fleck and Norwood were far and away the worst players for me. So slow and lethargic on the ball! I got nervous every time either of them get the ball in the second half, hoping they'd just hit it out of play so they couldn't do more damage.

On the + side... Theyre both quality players and I don't think we will ever see that from them again.

 

[I should coco]

Egan 5.5/10: Somehow turned from someone ready to show the critics where they were wrong to showing them their doubts were actually right
Johnson 4/10: First real game, but he looked way out of his depth out there. Anything which came to him ended up at a dead end. Stevens, for all his limitations, is currently a better choice
Clarke 5/10: He's finished, Chris. Sorry, but he offers nowt for us any more
Washington 2.5/10: Fuck me. WHY?

Did you just make these ratings up while you stared at the red button?

You are supposed to keep an eye on the screen you know.

 

[pommpey]

Fleck 6 and half ? he had a shocker worst player on the pitch Norwood not far behind on 2ND half performance

Yeah. Fleck's game and productivity seems to be based on the positioning and availability of the players around him in that they are there to give/receive the ball or start a run which drags players out to create a gap for him to run on into with the ball. Last night, Norwood seemed to be in his own little world sat in front of the back four and then firing crossfield passes at Baldock /Johnson, or Duffs was too far away to make any difference for him. The whole midfield seemed disjointed and unbalanced, which is where I think we lost the impetus to get past Brum and into their danger areas. Wilder's whole philosophy appears to be grounded in that 3-5-2 strategy whereby the back three are mobile enough to support the attack, the wingbacks play in a narrow strip up and down the flanks and the midfield outpass the opposition. Not sure what the plan is up top, because to me at the moment it's 'feeding off scraps', which is borne out by the mount of goals the defence and midfield get in games, and situations like last night where we didn't really get one shot on target all game which had the crowd off their seats.

pommpey

 

[AWetFlannel]

People saying that he's got Egan wrong, what about a 7 for Duffy?

Add to that the comments that players are 'finished' (that won't come back to bite will it?) or that legs have gone. I'm giving this a 7.5/10 flounce.

 

[kingcurrie]

A very disappointing performance . I agree that Henderson saved us a point we really didn't deserve . I also think that Basham , Egan , Baldock and Duffy did reasonably well , but that's about it . I just don't understand why Wilder made so many changes ( Fleck for Lundstram was the only one necessary ) . So what if there's another game on Saturday - why not put out your strongest team and then deal with the next game when it comes ? Of the five changes only Baldock put in a decent performance . I was pleased to see Fleck on the teamsheet but he was poor and I'm not sure he was fully fit . Johnson was also poor - he put in some crosses but apart from one they were not accurate or threatening . As for the front two they were the most baffling selections . Washington looks a long way short and Clarke put in another uninspiring performance - Wilder's faith in him is misplaced and it is becoming a problem . Hopefully we will see Sharp and McGoldrick back up front on Saturday - or perhaps Woodburn in a striking role . I think Freeman and Stevens should return as well . And if Norwood puts in another performance like he did last night ( although it is his first bad one ) we will need Paul Courts back sooner rather than later .

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

A very disappointing performance . I agree that Henderson saved us a point we really didn't deserve . I also think that Basham , Egan , Baldock and Duffy did reasonably well , but that's about it . I just don't understand why Wilder made so many changes ( Fleck for Lundstram was the only one necessary ) . So what if there's another game on Saturday - why not put out your strongest team and then deal with the next game when it comes ? Of the five changes only Baldock put in a decent performance . I was pleased to see Fleck on the teamsheet but he was poor and I'm not sure he was fully fit . Johnson was also poor - he put in some crosses but apart from one they were not accurate or threatening . As for the front two they were the most baffling selections . Washington looks a long way short and Clarke put in another uninspiring performance - Wilder's faith in him is misplaced and it is becoming a problem . Hopefully we will see Sharp and McGoldrick back up front on Saturday - or perhaps Woodburn in a striking role . I think Freeman and Stevens should return as well . And if Norwood puts in another performance like he did last night ( although it is his first bad one ) we will need Paul Courts back sooner rather than later .

You were doing well until "Woodburn in a striking role"...

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I think it was one of those games when too many good players had an off-day. I thought we played reasonably well first half and put a lot of balls into their box which, with more alert strikers, should have led to a goal, or two. I thought Johnson did o.k. tbh, considering that's his first full game and is getting to know the team and how we play. I appreciated that he was always looking to ping the early cross in and he made some good ones - and showed a fair bit of pace. He doesn't look fully on the mark yet but I'm ok with what I saw from him.

I thought Washington blew a good opportunity for a regular starting place last night. He's got a bit of pace, but he was nowhere near play for most of the time he was on the pitch. Some of the things I read about Washington by PoshBlade and the stuff posted by Roy from QPR fans started to register in my head, watching him last night. Early days yet, but I was concerned for his future watching that display last night!

Basham was excellent. I also thought Egan did well - he wins most things in the air and he had a cracking header on goal which brought a fine save from their goalie. I thought O'Connell looked really hesitant at times and didn't want to go forward with it. Norwood was awful second half in particular - that was a big factor as well.

For me, we dominated in the first half hour, threw plenty of crosses into their box, but had no one on the end of them and seemed to run out of ideas. I said this before half-time. And sure enough the game petered out. Brum will feel unlucky not to have scored having hit our post twice and then seeing Omar Bogle make a fabulous clearance off our goal line when it was easier to score.

A draw was a fair result imo. Neither team deserved anything better.

The nice thing was, the draw takes us up into the play-offs, Wednesday lost, and we probably won't play that bad again on saturday against an even poorer Preston team.

 

[kingcurrie]

Yes . I know I'm being optimistic . But like a lot of others I did think Woodburn was an exciting signing . And so far we haven't seen anything from him . Perhaps we never will . He's still very young and seems a bit lightweight especially for the physical demands of the Championship . I don't think he's strong or experienced enough for the midfield where he would have to replace Duffy - and we don't want that . So why not give him a chance upfront ? We've nothing to lose ( except the game of course ! ) and he couldn't be worse than Washington and Clarke last night . We could start him beside Billy Sharp , with McGoldrick ready to come on if necessary .

 

[Bert]

Bert thought Duffy was poor last night, it seems that he can only last an hour at most. He needs to get fitter or be replaced. Fleck probably wasn't fully fit so can be excused for going missing in the second half.
Norwood's free kick was a Port Vale/Kozluk flashback, idiotic ball high into the Kop.

 

[pommpey]

People saying that he's got Egan wrong, what about a 7 for Duffy?

Yeah. Why not? In a side where the front two looked fucking hopeless throughout the first half, Duffy in the CAM role looked the only area where we were likely to score from. And given Norwood was busy bouncing driven passes off the shins and chests of the two wingbacks when he wasnt putting gash crosses in and Fleck wondering where the rest of the midfield was, I'd say for fifty or so minutes he looked our best player

Add to that the comments that players are 'finished' (that won't come back to bite will it?) or that legs have gone. I'm giving this a 7.5/10 flounce.

And I'd agree, if you knew what the fuck a flounce was. Leon has gone something like 800 minutes of Championship football now and not scored. That's a poor return for someone who is a 'picks himself' choice. Most of our goals come from midfield and with Wilder swapping the other striker role between a selection of players - none of whom you'd call consistent - I'd say that Leon's days are numbered unless he can find his form again. It's true that he feeds off half chances and the like, but he's a big lad and has proven to be not only tenacious and chases things down but in the right place at the right time in the past. Yesterday he was anonymous. And McGoldrick looked off the pace, simple as that.

Hope this helps lovey. Off you trot.

pommpey

 

[Northyorksblade]

Yeah. Why not? In a side where the front two looked fucking hopeless throughout the first half, Duffy in the CAM role looked the only area where we were likely to score from. And given Norwood was busy bouncing driven passes off the shins and chests of the two wingbacks when he wasnt putting gash crosses in and Fleck wondering where the rest of the midfield was, I'd say for fifty or so minutes he looked our best player



And I'd agree, if you knew what the fuck a flounce was. Leon has gone something like 800 minutes of Championship football now and not scored. That's a poor return for someone who is a 'picks himself' choice. Most of our goals come from midfield and with Wilder swapping the other striker role between a selection of players - none of whom you'd call consistent - I'd say that Leon's days are numbered unless he can find his form again. It's true that he feeds off half chances and the like, but he's a big lad and has proven to be not only tenacious and chases things down but in the right place at the right time in the past. Yesterday he was anonymous. And McGoldrick looked off the pace, simple as that.

Hope this helps lovey. Off you trot.

pommpey

It's a good thing you're not Deadbat if you can't take a bit of constructive criticism.

 

[pommpey]

It's a good thing you're not Deadbat if you can't take a bit of constructive criticism.

There's 'criticism' and then there's snarkiness. I don't mind if people disagree, but on here, it just HAS to get personal, doesn't it? Look at some of the comments against my markings. Most disagree on the Egan mark. Fair enough. Most are civil and respectful about it. Fair enough, again. Its like when people give Deadbat neat shit about his marks - he goes to a helluva lot of trouble to study the game and the players, get the chronology and events down and give it all to those who didn't get to see the game. So what if he thought Lundstram or Higdon was MotM. It's his take on it and why not just say, 'I disagree' rather than be a cunt about your different opinion. I'm expecting 'You weren't there/how would you know' next.

Opinions and arseholes. This is a forum, not the law. And we're all Blades, aren't we?

pommpey

 

[CarlMcBlade]

The trouble is when the likes of Norwood has a stinker(it happens). Everybody else has a stinker. The easy answer would have to replace him with Coutts but he isn’t available.

 

[8lade]

So who is to blame when so many players have an off night? Who is to blame when players don't seem to want to cross the half way line? Unless the players are disobeying the manager it has to be Wilder. Is he saying don't push on so much as they have pace which'll do us? And the players don't play their natural game. Or are we dependent on Norwood (shouldn't be with Fleck in there) and he's just too tired to carry the side. Rather than just say all the players played badly what is the root cause.

 

[Bayingblade]

Piss poor.

First half, we seemed reluctant to come past the halfway line and attack. No movement off the ball. Back line slow in coming out. Pedestrian and a real showing of the garbage we had thought had been purged from the club.

Second half we couldn't even pressure and threaten their goal. Cross after cross all game. Norwood's supposed distribution was fantastically shit all game and no one in the box was positioned right to apply the finish.

As has been said, if Birmingham were anything better (and they weren't … at all) we would have been three down and chasing shadows.

Henderson 6/10: Only a low mark because he had fuck all to do really
Baldock 6/10: Made attempts to get down the flank but he either gets isolated (because of no movement around him so he has to carry) or he gets easily robbed
Basham 7.5/10: Good game. Deserved of his MotM
O'Connell 6/10: Looks tired and cumbersome
Egan 5.5/10: Somehow turned from someone ready to show the critics where they were wrong to showing them their doubts were actually right
Johnson 4/10: First real game, but he looked way out of his depth out there. Anything which came to him ended up at a dead end. Stevens, for all his limitations, is currently a better choice
Fleck 6.5/10: Busy, but can't run the midfield on his own. I've said that before when he's played with L. Evans
Norwood 5.5/10: Almost cost us the game. It's okay pinging balls about all over the shop, but when your close game is pissola, maybe you need to have a word with yourself. Good player, but tonight was a downturn
Duffy 7/10: Put in a shift and looked the only threat for us until he was oddly and wrongly subbed
Clarke 5/10: He's finished, Chris. Sorry, but he offers nowt for us any more
Washington 2.5/10: Fuck me. WHY?

Subs

Sharp 6/10: Grafted in the 15 or so minutes we had but had zero suppy
Woodburn 3/10: Looks another player who needs Liverpool style players around him to be the vaunted player people say he is. So what the fuck is he doing at BDTBL?
McGoldrick 6/10: Am I mistaken, or does it look like his legs are going?

Wilder 4/10: Poor

Crowd - silent. Don't blame them

That's two ditched points tonight which would have had us tucked up behind Brentford. But now we have three or four fancied teams breathing down our necks. Best Wilder has it out with the team before Preston and stops experimenting. I don't know what we did to beat Villa 4-1 (we played fucking well is the answer) but tonight we looked abysmal and very much Adkins.

Sort it out you fuckers.

pommpey

I blame the pitch, Pommps!

 

[pommpey]

I blame the pitch, Pommps!

Yep. Bloody rubbish.

Pitch out!

pommpey