My take ...

[Bell4]

Yeah frustrating is the word, pretty much how I saw the game a nothing contest settled by another Basham error. Hecky might say there isn't much wrong but you could write a bleeding essay on what is not quite right. We were playing a poor team at the bottom of the league yet Hecky sets us up to stay behind the ball and gets narked when asked after the game why the wing backs hardly crossed the half way line? Let's be right the defence will never have an easier game than last night and looked comfortable until Basham has a brain fart. That is after we lose the excellent RND to yet another hamstring pull how many have the squad suffered this season already, it is unacceptable we have to be doing something wrong with player conditioning, do they even warm up before the game? You have to ask why is JLT on the bench if he wasn't fit enough to replace RND instead we move a struggling Osborn into defence and bring on a weedy McAtee who looks like the runt of the litter.
Not one shred of a physical presence in that midfield last night not one, as for giving games to Man City's youths we may as well play our own kids for all the impact Doyle and McAtee had on the game good technical ability but weak as piss, defensive midfielders they are not. I can't remember us winning a second ball all game and every tackle ended with a Coventry player getting the ball. So much for those who say we wouldn't miss Sander Berge, without him we don't have anyone who can put their foot on the ball and keep it for more than two seconds
Going forward well we didn't Baldock on the few occasions he got forwards dithered on the ball and let defenders block the cross or turned and passed backwards at least that was more than the hopeless Osborn did. You just have to feel sorry for McBurnie and Ndiaye fighting a lone battle up from without a shred of service from midfield who at best played hopeful balls into the box or at worst booted it in the general direction of the Coventry goal like a Woodhouse under 11's team would, maybe that's a disservice to Woodhouse under 11's.
Substitutions, why bring anyone on with five minutes remaining I'm baffled as to why JLT or Brewster didn't get a look in last night try as I might I can't work out what Hecky's plan was if he did actually have one, he needs to smarten himself and the team up sharpish or this season will peter out to a mid table bore fest.

Really great read

 

[Bell4]

Sharp 5 / 10, nearly spat my tea out. He did nothing.

I get that he’s a legend and everything, but Brewster should’ve been on 20 minutes earlier just to run at their shaky defence.

Bringing Sharp on in any game suggests we either need someone to win fouls in dangerous areas (or fall over and win nothing) or we’re peppering the box and no one is finishing the chances.

Last night was neither, so a completely pointless sub, far too little far too late.

To be fair I think Pommps may be aggregating Billy’s mark since the International restart ?

 

[Bladesthorpe]

Another frustrating loss for us, this time to the team anchored at the foot of the table. Just let that sink in. A few weeks ago we were in an unassailable position, points clear and goals in hand and starting to think we'd piss this league. We were playing pleasing, positive, forward moving football and made teams fear us home and away. What could go wrong? Normally our return from the dreaded international break comes with a drop in form which slowly recovers, but this time the drop is a plummet. Two points from fifteen is actually relegation form and many teams around us have the notion we have bottled it and are easy to shut down and beat, and tonight's match was evidence of that. Yeah, yada-injuries-yada-unlucky-yada-fucking-yada. Again, we had a raft of ex Premier League players out there including some who have been in the Kotex Team of the Week for the past ten years. Big fucking deal. What matters to me is that we win, or at least we don't fucking lose. We nearly lost against Blackpool and very much lost tonight. Hecky has a team in crisis once again so yeah, nice bloke and all that but we have come full circle now, downward spiral with nowt much that looks like a glimmer of hope.

The first thirty five minutes were shockingly uninspirational. We looked badly assembled with no visible on pitch plan of attack and massive gaps between the forwards, midfield and backline. When we did venture forward we looked like we didn't know what to do with it in such high altitudes and McBurnie/N'Daiye once again ran their arses off feeding off scraps or digging out anything that looked like a chance. We barely got round the back or into space or looking like we were putting Coventry under undue pressure. Their keeper, splendidly kitted in white barely got his kit soiled, see also Davies at the other end. It was typically United. We lose RND to yet another fucking hamstring problem - this time it looks like a tear so we are talking February before he's back on the bench for twenty minutes - and the pretty abject Osborn left to deal with the muscular and imposing Dabo. It was like watching a chihuahua take on a mastiff. We ended the half 'okay' but still without anything to count for. Coventry simply 'dealt with us' and stopped us playing by containing any threat. And that disconnect between midfield and the front was so fucking evident. It was a passing line they just filled with bodies forcing the pattern into tippy-tappy tedium.

Second half we switched on and for ten minutes we looked a bit like earlier season United. Norwood hits the bar with a freaky free kick and McB strikes the post with N'Daiye forcing a save from a tight angle. Up the other end Coventry tried and as the game bled out Bash, who'd dealt with Goykyeres quite well up to that moment puts in a shocker of a tackle and up steps that man Waghorn, one of many people we play and fail to stop scoring, to slam in the penalty. Davies also managed a save which woke him up but going the other way - even with a clearly out of condition Fleck on the pitch, and Sharp on for Basham we looked toothless, pointless and ready to accept defeat. It was just what we deserved.

Davies 5/10: Practically fuck all to do but palm a shot away which seemed not to be going in and pick the ball out of the net after Waghorn's penalty
Baldock 6/10: Got up the flank well and pressed but the interplay between him, Doyle and Anel was flaky and untidy at times
Anel 7/10: a good outing for him. Shows composure on the ball and defends well. We'll be lucky to have him this time next year
Egan 6/10: He still plods and is somewhat static. Dealt with multiple threats tonight but that's not saying much. the Coventry front line wasn't quite the same as it was in March in the same fixture
Basham 4/10: Loses a good two marks for that tackle. Up to then I felt he had Goykyres pretty much muzzled but his judgement, pace and agility is fading. Bloke is a fucking legend, but its ashame to see him struggling
RND unmarked: I am appalled we have lost another player ... and such a key one this time ... to a common denominator injury. This is becoming beyond a joke now. The conditioning staff need to get their thumbs out of their arses and find out what the fuck is happening here with conditioning of physiology and pre-game preparation for this level of loading
Osborn 2/10: Struggling in LCM and struggling further in LWB. He puts shitloads of energy into doing and creating fucking nothing. Improved marginally in the second half but not by much. Osborn to me is a L1 or below standard player in a league well above his capability. He'd do well in the Scottish Leagues where that level of energetic fuck-all-ness is like fucking catnip to the sweary kilted hoardes. He's today's Stefan Scougall or Ryan Flynn.
McAtee 4/10: Largely ineffective and still showing signs of 'boy in man's league' levels of return
Norwood 6/10: Some good, some bad. There were times when you were willing him along to play that pass, make that challenge and then you're saying 'Fuck's sake Norwood' as he telegraphs or dawdles and gets robbed. But he's always done that and got in the Team of the Week or Ballon D'Or or summat. I don't care. As people say 'when he plays good, we play good. When he plays bad, we play bad'. So he's inconsistent, then? Tonight he was characteristically both. Managed his trademark row Z attempt on goal.
Doyle 6.5/10: Does a hell of a lot of unmerited heavy lifting in that midfield for such a young lad. Undeservedly subbed for Fleck.
N'Daiye 6/10: Busied himself trying to create and dig stuff out of the turf. But like always, he gets the ball when he shouldn't, twists past one, drops the shoulder past another and goes past yet another and is into space with options. He's the only person capable of doing this in our squad because Basham doesn't any more. But then he's greedy and tries to beat two more and suddenly a good attacking chance is over.
McBurnie 7.5/10: A good performance from him in a game of few chances. unlucky with the post hit and didn't shithouse. Ran his socks off and looked a lot fitter and 90 minutes capable. Just needs to stay out of trouble.

Fleck 4/10: Barely saw him and for me a stupid substitution.
Sharp 5/10: Tried to muck in and get busy but it was all over by then

HJ&SMcC 4/10: Poor substitutions. Robinson on the bench as a practical direct sub for RND or Bash out wide left and he leaves Osborn on to struggle like fuck for 90 and get nothing. Khadra unused despite recent performances and Brewster too. Brings Fleck on. What the actual fuck?

Just as an aside, I am a bit sick of the 'we'll make the playoffs' mentality now. We know what happens in the playoffs, so for me we should be demanding automatic. We have ex-PL players in the team and should, if we have the ambition and yearning for success we ought to have, be seeing players out there performing like PL players if we ever dream of playing there. How much of tonight's - or the past month's performances - say 'Premier League'? How many players in that team tonight would you actually say would put in a night of grit and endeavour under the floodlights in front of the Sky Cameras against say Everton, Brighton of Leicester City? If its 'all of them' I'd say you're fucking deluded. We'd get fucking hammered. If it's two, we'd possibly scrape the playoffs. If it's 'none', then we are where we are, sliding down the league into mid-table mediocrity after a great start to the season. And other results haven't half been favourable to us of late. We are now a loss against Norwich and some not so favourable results on Saturday from ending up ninth or tenth. Hoist that in.

pommpey

Agree with you that Basham had defended well until that crazy tackle.

 

[bakeblade]

Another frustrating loss for us, this time to the team anchored at the foot of the table. Just let that sink in. A few weeks ago we were in an unassailable position, points clear and goals in hand and starting to think we'd piss this league. We were playing pleasing, positive, forward moving football and made teams fear us home and away. What could go wrong? Normally our return from the dreaded international break comes with a drop in form which slowly recovers, but this time the drop is a plummet. Two points from fifteen is actually relegation form and many teams around us have the notion we have bottled it and are easy to shut down and beat, and tonight's match was evidence of that. Yeah, yada-injuries-yada-unlucky-yada-fucking-yada. Again, we had a raft of ex Premier League players out there including some who have been in the Kotex Team of the Week for the past ten years. Big fucking deal. What matters to me is that we win, or at least we don't fucking lose. We nearly lost against Blackpool and very much lost tonight. Hecky has a team in crisis once again so yeah, nice bloke and all that but we have come full circle now, downward spiral with nowt much that looks like a glimmer of hope.

The first thirty five minutes were shockingly uninspirational. We looked badly assembled with no visible on pitch plan of attack and massive gaps between the forwards, midfield and backline. When we did venture forward we looked like we didn't know what to do with it in such high altitudes and McBurnie/N'Daiye once again ran their arses off feeding off scraps or digging out anything that looked like a chance. We barely got round the back or into space or looking like we were putting Coventry under undue pressure. Their keeper, splendidly kitted in white barely got his kit soiled, see also Davies at the other end. It was typically United. We lose RND to yet another fucking hamstring problem - this time it looks like a tear so we are talking February before he's back on the bench for twenty minutes - and the pretty abject Osborn left to deal with the muscular and imposing Dabo. It was like watching a chihuahua take on a mastiff. We ended the half 'okay' but still without anything to count for. Coventry simply 'dealt with us' and stopped us playing by containing any threat. And that disconnect between midfield and the front was so fucking evident. It was a passing line they just filled with bodies forcing the pattern into tippy-tappy tedium.

Second half we switched on and for ten minutes we looked a bit like earlier season United. Norwood hits the bar with a freaky free kick and McB strikes the post with N'Daiye forcing a save from a tight angle. Up the other end Coventry tried and as the game bled out Bash, who'd dealt with Goykyeres quite well up to that moment puts in a shocker of a tackle and up steps that man Waghorn, one of many people we play and fail to stop scoring, to slam in the penalty. Davies also managed a save which woke him up but going the other way - even with a clearly out of condition Fleck on the pitch, and Sharp on for Basham we looked toothless, pointless and ready to accept defeat. It was just what we deserved.

Davies 5/10: Practically fuck all to do but palm a shot away which seemed not to be going in and pick the ball out of the net after Waghorn's penalty
Baldock 6/10: Got up the flank well and pressed but the interplay between him, Doyle and Anel was flaky and untidy at times
Anel 7/10: a good outing for him. Shows composure on the ball and defends well. We'll be lucky to have him this time next year
Egan 6/10: He still plods and is somewhat static. Dealt with multiple threats tonight but that's not saying much. the Coventry front line wasn't quite the same as it was in March in the same fixture
Basham 4/10: Loses a good two marks for that tackle. Up to then I felt he had Goykyres pretty much muzzled but his judgement, pace and agility is fading. Bloke is a fucking legend, but its ashame to see him struggling
RND unmarked: I am appalled we have lost another player ... and such a key one this time ... to a common denominator injury. This is becoming beyond a joke now. The conditioning staff need to get their thumbs out of their arses and find out what the fuck is happening here with conditioning of physiology and pre-game preparation for this level of loading
Osborn 2/10: Struggling in LCM and struggling further in LWB. He puts shitloads of energy into doing and creating fucking nothing. Improved marginally in the second half but not by much. Osborn to me is a L1 or below standard player in a league well above his capability. He'd do well in the Scottish Leagues where that level of energetic fuck-all-ness is like fucking catnip to the sweary kilted hoardes. He's today's Stefan Scougall or Ryan Flynn.
McAtee 4/10: Largely ineffective and still showing signs of 'boy in man's league' levels of return
Norwood 6/10: Some good, some bad. There were times when you were willing him along to play that pass, make that challenge and then you're saying 'Fuck's sake Norwood' as he telegraphs or dawdles and gets robbed. But he's always done that and got in the Team of the Week or Ballon D'Or or summat. I don't care. As people say 'when he plays good, we play good. When he plays bad, we play bad'. So he's inconsistent, then? Tonight he was characteristically both. Managed his trademark row Z attempt on goal.
Doyle 6.5/10: Does a hell of a lot of unmerited heavy lifting in that midfield for such a young lad. Undeservedly subbed for Fleck.
N'Daiye 6/10: Busied himself trying to create and dig stuff out of the turf. But like always, he gets the ball when he shouldn't, twists past one, drops the shoulder past another and goes past yet another and is into space with options. He's the only person capable of doing this in our squad because Basham doesn't any more. But then he's greedy and tries to beat two more and suddenly a good attacking chance is over.
McBurnie 7.5/10: A good performance from him in a game of few chances. unlucky with the post hit and didn't shithouse. Ran his socks off and looked a lot fitter and 90 minutes capable. Just needs to stay out of trouble.

Fleck 4/10: Barely saw him and for me a stupid substitution.
Sharp 5/10: Tried to muck in and get busy but it was all over by then

HJ&SMcC 4/10: Poor substitutions. Robinson on the bench as a practical direct sub for RND or Bash out wide left and he leaves Osborn on to struggle like fuck for 90 and get nothing. Khadra unused despite recent performances and Brewster too. Brings Fleck on. What the actual fuck?

Just as an aside, I am a bit sick of the 'we'll make the playoffs' mentality now. We know what happens in the playoffs, so for me we should be demanding automatic. We have ex-PL players in the team and should, if we have the ambition and yearning for success we ought to have, be seeing players out there performing like PL players if we ever dream of playing there. How much of tonight's - or the past month's performances - say 'Premier League'? How many players in that team tonight would you actually say would put in a night of grit and endeavour under the floodlights in front of the Sky Cameras against say Everton, Brighton of Leicester City? If its 'all of them' I'd say you're fucking deluded. We'd get fucking hammered. If it's two, we'd possibly scrape the playoffs. If it's 'none', then we are where we are, sliding down the league into mid-table mediocrity after a great start to the season. And other results haven't half been favourable to us of late. We are now a loss against Norwich and some not so favourable results on Saturday from ending up ninth or tenth. Hoist that in.

pommpey

Ndiaye is doing all his good work in positions that can't really hurt the opposition.
We need to get him further up the pitch like the end of last season.

 

[Alan Birchenall's hair]

Bash got away with one earlier. Should have been 2 pens. Truth is that in the last 5 games, we probably only deserved to lose at Stoke. The others were really all stalemates which we've come out on the wrong side of. But similarly, many games earlier were the same, but we managed to come out on the right side (Preston, Swansea, Millwall etc). Not that it wasn't a shit show.....
And another Grandad at centre-half (Mcfadzean) had a stroll in the park. Fuck's sake, he was a shit slow scuffler when he was 25. And now he's 35. He's no Jagielka, but found it just as easy as Jags did.......

 

[bakeblade]

Another frustrating loss for us, this time to the team anchored at the foot of the table. Just let that sink in. A few weeks ago we were in an unassailable position, points clear and goals in hand and starting to think we'd piss this league. We were playing pleasing, positive, forward moving football and made teams fear us home and away. What could go wrong? Normally our return from the dreaded international break comes with a drop in form which slowly recovers, but this time the drop is a plummet. Two points from fifteen is actually relegation form and many teams around us have the notion we have bottled it and are easy to shut down and beat, and tonight's match was evidence of that. Yeah, yada-injuries-yada-unlucky-yada-fucking-yada. Again, we had a raft of ex Premier League players out there including some who have been in the Kotex Team of the Week for the past ten years. Big fucking deal. What matters to me is that we win, or at least we don't fucking lose. We nearly lost against Blackpool and very much lost tonight. Hecky has a team in crisis once again so yeah, nice bloke and all that but we have come full circle now, downward spiral with nowt much that looks like a glimmer of hope.

The first thirty five minutes were shockingly uninspirational. We looked badly assembled with no visible on pitch plan of attack and massive gaps between the forwards, midfield and backline. When we did venture forward we looked like we didn't know what to do with it in such high altitudes and McBurnie/N'Daiye once again ran their arses off feeding off scraps or digging out anything that looked like a chance. We barely got round the back or into space or looking like we were putting Coventry under undue pressure. Their keeper, splendidly kitted in white barely got his kit soiled, see also Davies at the other end. It was typically United. We lose RND to yet another fucking hamstring problem - this time it looks like a tear so we are talking February before he's back on the bench for twenty minutes - and the pretty abject Osborn left to deal with the muscular and imposing Dabo. It was like watching a chihuahua take on a mastiff. We ended the half 'okay' but still without anything to count for. Coventry simply 'dealt with us' and stopped us playing by containing any threat. And that disconnect between midfield and the front was so fucking evident. It was a passing line they just filled with bodies forcing the pattern into tippy-tappy tedium.

Second half we switched on and for ten minutes we looked a bit like earlier season United. Norwood hits the bar with a freaky free kick and McB strikes the post with N'Daiye forcing a save from a tight angle. Up the other end Coventry tried and as the game bled out Bash, who'd dealt with Goykyeres quite well up to that moment puts in a shocker of a tackle and up steps that man Waghorn, one of many people we play and fail to stop scoring, to slam in the penalty. Davies also managed a save which woke him up but going the other way - even with a clearly out of condition Fleck on the pitch, and Sharp on for Basham we looked toothless, pointless and ready to accept defeat. It was just what we deserved.

Davies 5/10: Practically fuck all to do but palm a shot away which seemed not to be going in and pick the ball out of the net after Waghorn's penalty
Baldock 6/10: Got up the flank well and pressed but the interplay between him, Doyle and Anel was flaky and untidy at times
Anel 7/10: a good outing for him. Shows composure on the ball and defends well. We'll be lucky to have him this time next year
Egan 6/10: He still plods and is somewhat static. Dealt with multiple threats tonight but that's not saying much. the Coventry front line wasn't quite the same as it was in March in the same fixture
Basham 4/10: Loses a good two marks for that tackle. Up to then I felt he had Goykyres pretty much muzzled but his judgement, pace and agility is fading. Bloke is a fucking legend, but its ashame to see him struggling
RND unmarked: I am appalled we have lost another player ... and such a key one this time ... to a common denominator injury. This is becoming beyond a joke now. The conditioning staff need to get their thumbs out of their arses and find out what the fuck is happening here with conditioning of physiology and pre-game preparation for this level of loading
Osborn 2/10: Struggling in LCM and struggling further in LWB. He puts shitloads of energy into doing and creating fucking nothing. Improved marginally in the second half but not by much. Osborn to me is a L1 or below standard player in a league well above his capability. He'd do well in the Scottish Leagues where that level of energetic fuck-all-ness is like fucking catnip to the sweary kilted hoardes. He's today's Stefan Scougall or Ryan Flynn.
McAtee 4/10: Largely ineffective and still showing signs of 'boy in man's league' levels of return
Norwood 6/10: Some good, some bad. There were times when you were willing him along to play that pass, make that challenge and then you're saying 'Fuck's sake Norwood' as he telegraphs or dawdles and gets robbed. But he's always done that and got in the Team of the Week or Ballon D'Or or summat. I don't care. As people say 'when he plays good, we play good. When he plays bad, we play bad'. So he's inconsistent, then? Tonight he was characteristically both. Managed his trademark row Z attempt on goal.
Doyle 6.5/10: Does a hell of a lot of unmerited heavy lifting in that midfield for such a young lad. Undeservedly subbed for Fleck.
N'Daiye 6/10: Busied himself trying to create and dig stuff out of the turf. But like always, he gets the ball when he shouldn't, twists past one, drops the shoulder past another and goes past yet another and is into space with options. He's the only person capable of doing this in our squad because Basham doesn't any more. But then he's greedy and tries to beat two more and suddenly a good attacking chance is over.
McBurnie 7.5/10: A good performance from him in a game of few chances. unlucky with the post hit and didn't shithouse. Ran his socks off and looked a lot fitter and 90 minutes capable. Just needs to stay out of trouble.

Fleck 4/10: Barely saw him and for me a stupid substitution.
Sharp 5/10: Tried to muck in and get busy but it was all over by then

HJ&SMcC 4/10: Poor substitutions. Robinson on the bench as a practical direct sub for RND or Bash out wide left and he leaves Osborn on to struggle like fuck for 90 and get nothing. Khadra unused despite recent performances and Brewster too. Brings Fleck on. What the actual fuck?

Just as an aside, I am a bit sick of the 'we'll make the playoffs' mentality now. We know what happens in the playoffs, so for me we should be demanding automatic. We have ex-PL players in the team and should, if we have the ambition and yearning for success we ought to have, be seeing players out there performing like PL players if we ever dream of playing there. How much of tonight's - or the past month's performances - say 'Premier League'? How many players in that team tonight would you actually say would put in a night of grit and endeavour under the floodlights in front of the Sky Cameras against say Everton, Brighton of Leicester City? If its 'all of them' I'd say you're fucking deluded. We'd get fucking hammered. If it's two, we'd possibly scrape the playoffs. If it's 'none', then we are where we are, sliding down the league into mid-table mediocrity after a great start to the season. And other results haven't half been favourable to us of late. We are now a loss against Norwich and some not so favourable results on Saturday from ending up ninth or tenth. Hoist that in.

pommpey

I can only assume he brought on Fleck to give him minutes, so he can start him on Saturday.
Hecky had settled for a point at that stage.

 

[Harry's Game]

Spot on about Osborn, shocking footballer

 

[Blade59]

Trouble with Osborn he is a nice lad, will not let anyone down and try and do what you ask hin to. He just does not affect games to any positive degree. The modern day Steve Charles.

 

[Ralph Blade]

I think I would have enjoyed The Repair Shop more last night than that boring load of crap.

I’m fed up with our players over playing passes and their horrendous long range wildly inaccurate shooting.

From some of the games recently, it might seem like the opposition have less chances but they appear more dangerous with what they have.

Manager needs to stop playing Bash on the left side and use him for cover on the right.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

I hate playing Coventry. For the most part the matches are usually as dull as ditchwater and they are a bit of a bogey team we regularly slip up against - in fact they have the better record in this fixture. I agree with most of what you say Pommps. Basham has definitely lost something since his last lay-off and playing him in a back 4 or as LCB isn't doing him or us any favours. I wonder if Hecky and co. will blame Shirecliffe for RND's injury? Definitely something not right in the conditioning department. I have always believed that a settled defence is the foundation of league titles - neither of which we have had for some time. Like some incontinent geriatric we do not look capable of keeping a clean sheet. Osborn tries and tries but he is no defensive LWB. As for the substitutions they were very strange choices - Fleck for Doyle was very poor and Sharp instead of Brewster was definitely the wrong option. Bill has lost another yard of pace and in a game in which was crying out for pace up front he was chasing shadows. As for the play-offs talk, whilst I agree with what you say Pommps, even they look a bridge too far on the evidence of the last 5 games.

 

[Nah den]

I've not listened to the post match interview yet, but I'm baffled by the subs, or lack thereof. At 0-0 with lads clearly out on their arses, particularly upfront after chasing down hopeless long balls into channels all night, he brings on an unfit Fleck with 10 mins to go. We can make 5 subs.

They made 3 or 4 subs, Hecky has got to change it before 80 odd minutes. Fleck isn't going to change/win that game, of all the subs why bring him on. Their 35 year old clogger of a CH is on a yellow with 20 mins to go. Get someone on to run at him, commit him.

I hope there's some tactical reason for what happened last night that I'm missing rather than a lack of ideas/gumption.

 

[Snowflake]

Hes a poor man's wilder and its coming to fruition, he's clueless just carry on with the same shit hoping some miracle will happen. Our performances have been shite since Hull away and now we're being found out and hecky has no clue what to do.

It’s not him out on the pitch. The selected team was ok from what was available, but they were really poor and that is not Hecky’s fault: they are experienced and well paid professionals who should be able to perform better than that.
Without Berge we are looking talentless other than Ndiaye.

 

[Snowflake]

I think I would have enjoyed The Repair Shop more last night than that boring load of crap.

I’m fed up with our players over playing passes and their horrendous long range wildly inaccurate shooting.

From some of the games recently, it might seem like the opposition have less chances but they appear more dangerous with what they have.

Manager needs to stop playing Bash on the left side and use him for cover on the right.

...but who goes in at LCB ? Robinson is not match fit and I am not aware of any other left footed defenders in the squad.
We could play 4 at the back with Egan on the left of Anel, but the midfield 4 would have to be great to keep Norwich strikers unarmed !

 

[Espania blade]

I think we carrying more injuries than Heck'y admits to, hamstrings usually go when a player isn't quite mobile or fit enough to do the job, I think because our injury list returning players are being brought back to soon, if Fleck starts on Saturday he will be the next, you can see Egan is not 100%, having said that why oh why does he bring on Sharp when we need energy up the pitch, for me it was crying out for Brewster and as poor Khadra has been I would have brought him on as well.
People going on about Ndiaye, but he keeps running up blind alleys, Baldock has no end product, McBurnie can't sort his feet out we lack any sort of pace and ability in midfield, to be fair Doyle tries but he's young and can't carry our midfield and create attacking options as well, it don't look great right now!!

 

[RecordBreakers]

It’s not him out on the pitch. The selected team was ok from what was available, but they were really poor and that is not Hecky’s fault: they are experienced and well paid professionals who should be able to perform better than that.
Without Berge we are looking talentless other than Ndiaye.

Agree with most of that but managers can influence what happens on the pitch with good substitutions and change of tactics/formation there decisions can change a game massively.

 

[Snowflake]

Agree with most of that but managers can influence what happens on the pitch with good substitutions and change of tactics/formation there decisions can change a game massively.

I agree his substitutions or lack of them were baffling.

 

[RecordBreakers]

I agree his substitutions or lack of them were baffling.

I think ot was the same other week was it QPR? He just chucked as many attacking players on as possible towards the end and hoped something would happen and our shape went completely out of the window.

 

[robbiez666]

I agree his substitutions or lack of them were baffling.

we were having wave after wave of pressure in their half until they scored? They resorted to just hoofing it back to us. Why would you change that unless you had to?

Not really the kind of scenario for Brewster or Khadra given they were just putting men behind the ball.

Our two best players and most likely players were Ndiaye and McBurnie. Are you taking those off? And given the danger they posed on the counter, weakening the defensive areas?

 

[Keen Blade]

I can only assume he brought on Fleck to give him minutes, so he can start him on Saturday.
Hecky had settled for a point at that stage.

Settle for a point v bottom of league , that's Hecky's promotion plan.
Bringing on a recovering Fleck instead of Brewster or Khadra to try and score a winning goal is just bizarre.
Hecky will not get promotion with such cowardice.

 

[Charlieblade]

If the questions are directed at our midfield, and there are quite a few, Ollie Norwood and Jimmy Fleck are not the answer.

I know that many favour Norwood because we get results when he plays. It hasn’t happened since Berge got injured.

I am a big fan of PH, but he has always favoured Fleck when available, and Berge really did need a rest after 2 x full international appearances. The again, so does Egan?

 

[Varkanoid]

Doyle, Ndiaye and McBurnie were playing them on their own at times. In particular I thought Ndiaye was good, exceptional at times - shame he had to come so deep to do his best work. Certainly better than a 6/10 though.

I'm still fucking fuming at Basham. As soon as he realised it was Gyokres he shit himself and had some sort of full body aneurysm. Pathetic challenge.

What made it worse was his wagging of the finger no to the ref after the tackle.Part of the problem is he still thinks he is the Bash of 2 or 3 years ago and he isn't. A legend but not at the races.

 

[TJ blade]

The midfield is as weak as piss, Doyle &Mcatee are not what we needed in fact I rate arblaster better than both of them! They create fuck all and are to lightweight for this division, give Doyle credit for one thing though his corners are better than what we're used to, shame there's nobody who gets on the end of them. Last night was as bad as it gets Coventry we're fucking awful!!

 

[metalblade]

The midfield is as weak as piss, Doyle &Mcatee are not what we needed in fact I rate arblaster better than both of them! They create fuck all and are to lightweight for this division, give Doyle credit for one thing though his corners are better than what we're used to, shame there's nobody who gets on the end of them. Last night was as bad as it gets Coventry we're fucking awful!!

Got to agree one of them might look good in Man City's team where better players carry them but both making up a Championship midfield alongside Norwood ........ you're having a laugh Hecky they are not up to it boys against men especially McAtee. Maybe we have been spoilt by MGW but they don't come close yet all they do is restrict game time for our own young lads.

 

[Sean Thornton]

We appear to have a group of players individually desperate to achieve form. There is no leader out there (and Billy isn’t the answer).

Baldock and Basham look bewildered half the time, shoulders slumped and little self belief. We have a midfield at the moment where young Doyle is the main physical presence. It’s no wonder teams bypass it. We can’t rely on Fleck for that job due to injury record and age and like Norwood, little in the way of pace. That should have been looked at preseason. How many teams have success with a lightweight midfield?

Too many have fallen for the “best squad in the division” mantra. Too many of that squad are make weights unfortunately.

We’re stuck with this until January with injuries in all positions but one.

 

[ElephantBlade]

Another frustrating loss for us, this time to the team anchored at the foot of the table. Just let that sink in. A few weeks ago we were in an unassailable position, points clear and goals in hand and starting to think we'd piss this league. We were playing pleasing, positive, forward moving football and made teams fear us home and away. What could go wrong? Normally our return from the dreaded international break comes with a drop in form which slowly recovers, but this time the drop is a plummet. Two points from fifteen is actually relegation form and many teams around us have the notion we have bottled it and are easy to shut down and beat, and tonight's match was evidence of that. Yeah, yada-injuries-yada-unlucky-yada-fucking-yada. Again, we had a raft of ex Premier League players out there including some who have been in the Kotex Team of the Week for the past ten years. Big fucking deal. What matters to me is that we win, or at least we don't fucking lose. We nearly lost against Blackpool and very much lost tonight. Hecky has a team in crisis once again so yeah, nice bloke and all that but we have come full circle now, downward spiral with nowt much that looks like a glimmer of hope.

The first thirty five minutes were shockingly uninspirational. We looked badly assembled with no visible on pitch plan of attack and massive gaps between the forwards, midfield and backline. When we did venture forward we looked like we didn't know what to do with it in such high altitudes and McBurnie/N'Daiye once again ran their arses off feeding off scraps or digging out anything that looked like a chance. We barely got round the back or into space or looking like we were putting Coventry under undue pressure. Their keeper, splendidly kitted in white barely got his kit soiled, see also Davies at the other end. It was typically United. We lose RND to yet another fucking hamstring problem - this time it looks like a tear so we are talking February before he's back on the bench for twenty minutes - and the pretty abject Osborn left to deal with the muscular and imposing Dabo. It was like watching a chihuahua take on a mastiff. We ended the half 'okay' but still without anything to count for. Coventry simply 'dealt with us' and stopped us playing by containing any threat. And that disconnect between midfield and the front was so fucking evident. It was a passing line they just filled with bodies forcing the pattern into tippy-tappy tedium.

Second half we switched on and for ten minutes we looked a bit like earlier season United. Norwood hits the bar with a freaky free kick and McB strikes the post with N'Daiye forcing a save from a tight angle. Up the other end Coventry tried and as the game bled out Bash, who'd dealt with Goykyeres quite well up to that moment puts in a shocker of a tackle and up steps that man Waghorn, one of many people we play and fail to stop scoring, to slam in the penalty. Davies also managed a save which woke him up but going the other way - even with a clearly out of condition Fleck on the pitch, and Sharp on for Basham we looked toothless, pointless and ready to accept defeat. It was just what we deserved.

Davies 5/10: Practically fuck all to do but palm a shot away which seemed not to be going in and pick the ball out of the net after Waghorn's penalty
Baldock 6/10: Got up the flank well and pressed but the interplay between him, Doyle and Anel was flaky and untidy at times
Anel 7/10: a good outing for him. Shows composure on the ball and defends well. We'll be lucky to have him this time next year
Egan 6/10: He still plods and is somewhat static. Dealt with multiple threats tonight but that's not saying much. the Coventry front line wasn't quite the same as it was in March in the same fixture
Basham 4/10: Loses a good two marks for that tackle. Up to then I felt he had Goykyres pretty much muzzled but his judgement, pace and agility is fading. Bloke is a fucking legend, but its ashame to see him struggling
RND unmarked: I am appalled we have lost another player ... and such a key one this time ... to a common denominator injury. This is becoming beyond a joke now. The conditioning staff need to get their thumbs out of their arses and find out what the fuck is happening here with conditioning of physiology and pre-game preparation for this level of loading
Osborn 2/10: Struggling in LCM and struggling further in LWB. He puts shitloads of energy into doing and creating fucking nothing. Improved marginally in the second half but not by much. Osborn to me is a L1 or below standard player in a league well above his capability. He'd do well in the Scottish Leagues where that level of energetic fuck-all-ness is like fucking catnip to the sweary kilted hoardes. He's today's Stefan Scougall or Ryan Flynn.
McAtee 4/10: Largely ineffective and still showing signs of 'boy in man's league' levels of return
Norwood 6/10: Some good, some bad. There were times when you were willing him along to play that pass, make that challenge and then you're saying 'Fuck's sake Norwood' as he telegraphs or dawdles and gets robbed. But he's always done that and got in the Team of the Week or Ballon D'Or or summat. I don't care. As people say 'when he plays good, we play good. When he plays bad, we play bad'. So he's inconsistent, then? Tonight he was characteristically both. Managed his trademark row Z attempt on goal.
Doyle 6.5/10: Does a hell of a lot of unmerited heavy lifting in that midfield for such a young lad. Undeservedly subbed for Fleck.
N'Daiye 6/10: Busied himself trying to create and dig stuff out of the turf. But like always, he gets the ball when he shouldn't, twists past one, drops the shoulder past another and goes past yet another and is into space with options. He's the only person capable of doing this in our squad because Basham doesn't any more. But then he's greedy and tries to beat two more and suddenly a good attacking chance is over.
McBurnie 7.5/10: A good performance from him in a game of few chances. unlucky with the post hit and didn't shithouse. Ran his socks off and looked a lot fitter and 90 minutes capable. Just needs to stay out of trouble.

Fleck 4/10: Barely saw him and for me a stupid substitution.
Sharp 5/10: Tried to muck in and get busy but it was all over by then

HJ&SMcC 4/10: Poor substitutions. Robinson on the bench as a practical direct sub for RND or Bash out wide left and he leaves Osborn on to struggle like fuck for 90 and get nothing. Khadra unused despite recent performances and Brewster too. Brings Fleck on. What the actual fuck?

Just as an aside, I am a bit sick of the 'we'll make the playoffs' mentality now. We know what happens in the playoffs, so for me we should be demanding automatic. We have ex-PL players in the team and should, if we have the ambition and yearning for success we ought to have, be seeing players out there performing like PL players if we ever dream of playing there. How much of tonight's - or the past month's performances - say 'Premier League'? How many players in that team tonight would you actually say would put in a night of grit and endeavour under the floodlights in front of the Sky Cameras against say Everton, Brighton of Leicester City? If its 'all of them' I'd say you're fucking deluded. We'd get fucking hammered. If it's two, we'd possibly scrape the playoffs. If it's 'none', then we are where we are, sliding down the league into mid-table mediocrity after a great start to the season. And other results haven't half been favourable to us of late. We are now a loss against Norwich and some not so favourable results on Saturday from ending up ninth or tenth. Hoist that in.

pommpey

Spot on.

 

[Addison]

We appear to have a group of players individually desperate to achieve form. There is no leader out there (and Billy isn’t the answer).

Baldock and Basham look bewildered half the time, shoulders slumped and little self belief. We have a midfield at the moment where young Doyle is the main physical presence. It’s no wonder teams bypass it. We can’t rely on Fleck for that job due to injury record and age and like Norwood, little in the way of pace. That should have been looked at preseason. How many teams have success with a lightweight midfield?

Too many have fallen for the “best squad in the division” mantra. Too many of that squad are make weights unfortunately.

We’re stuck with this until January with injuries in all positions but one.

We've lacked physicality, pace and height in the midfield for 2 seasons. Berge is big but woeful in the air yet we are now seeing how much a loss he is as we can't win a second ball in the middle at the moment and his ability to retain the ball is missing. If Norwood is allowed time we play well so teams just press him out of the game now.

We were after Kone a 6 foot plus midfield player but only if Berge went. Coulibally is 6 foot plus but he's crocked along with the rest of the team and unlikely to feature. There's no money in January unless we sell but who would want to take any of our poorly conditioned injury prone players.

Having said all that the players are capable of much more than we have seen in the last 5 games. This is the managers biggest test so far. He has to get into the players to-day and tomorrow and challenge them to run through brick walls against Norwich, a Middlesbrough at Home type performance. If we can't deal with adversity there's only one direction we are going in.

 

[Lane Ender]

Another frustrating loss for us, this time to the team anchored at the foot of the table. Just let that sink in. A few weeks ago we were in an unassailable position, points clear and goals in hand and starting to think we'd piss this league. We were playing pleasing, positive, forward moving football and made teams fear us home and away. What could go wrong? Normally our return from the dreaded international break comes with a drop in form which slowly recovers, but this time the drop is a plummet. Two points from fifteen is actually relegation form and many teams around us have the notion we have bottled it and are easy to shut down and beat, and tonight's match was evidence of that. Yeah, yada-injuries-yada-unlucky-yada-fucking-yada. Again, we had a raft of ex Premier League players out there including some who have been in the Kotex Team of the Week for the past ten years. Big fucking deal. What matters to me is that we win, or at least we don't fucking lose. We nearly lost against Blackpool and very much lost tonight. Hecky has a team in crisis once again so yeah, nice bloke and all that but we have come full circle now, downward spiral with nowt much that looks like a glimmer of hope.

The first thirty five minutes were shockingly uninspirational. We looked badly assembled with no visible on pitch plan of attack and massive gaps between the forwards, midfield and backline. When we did venture forward we looked like we didn't know what to do with it in such high altitudes and McBurnie/N'Daiye once again ran their arses off feeding off scraps or digging out anything that looked like a chance. We barely got round the back or into space or looking like we were putting Coventry under undue pressure. Their keeper, splendidly kitted in white barely got his kit soiled, see also Davies at the other end. It was typically United. We lose RND to yet another fucking hamstring problem - this time it looks like a tear so we are talking February before he's back on the bench for twenty minutes - and the pretty abject Osborn left to deal with the muscular and imposing Dabo. It was like watching a chihuahua take on a mastiff. We ended the half 'okay' but still without anything to count for. Coventry simply 'dealt with us' and stopped us playing by containing any threat. And that disconnect between midfield and the front was so fucking evident. It was a passing line they just filled with bodies forcing the pattern into tippy-tappy tedium.

Second half we switched on and for ten minutes we looked a bit like earlier season United. Norwood hits the bar with a freaky free kick and McB strikes the post with N'Daiye forcing a save from a tight angle. Up the other end Coventry tried and as the game bled out Bash, who'd dealt with Goykyeres quite well up to that moment puts in a shocker of a tackle and up steps that man Waghorn, one of many people we play and fail to stop scoring, to slam in the penalty. Davies also managed a save which woke him up but going the other way - even with a clearly out of condition Fleck on the pitch, and Sharp on for Basham we looked toothless, pointless and ready to accept defeat. It was just what we deserved.

Davies 5/10: Practically fuck all to do but palm a shot away which seemed not to be going in and pick the ball out of the net after Waghorn's penalty
Baldock 6/10: Got up the flank well and pressed but the interplay between him, Doyle and Anel was flaky and untidy at times
Anel 7/10: a good outing for him. Shows composure on the ball and defends well. We'll be lucky to have him this time next year
Egan 6/10: He still plods and is somewhat static. Dealt with multiple threats tonight but that's not saying much. the Coventry front line wasn't quite the same as it was in March in the same fixture
Basham 4/10: Loses a good two marks for that tackle. Up to then I felt he had Goykyres pretty much muzzled but his judgement, pace and agility is fading. Bloke is a fucking legend, but its ashame to see him struggling
RND unmarked: I am appalled we have lost another player ... and such a key one this time ... to a common denominator injury. This is becoming beyond a joke now. The conditioning staff need to get their thumbs out of their arses and find out what the fuck is happening here with conditioning of physiology and pre-game preparation for this level of loading
Osborn 2/10: Struggling in LCM and struggling further in LWB. He puts shitloads of energy into doing and creating fucking nothing. Improved marginally in the second half but not by much. Osborn to me is a L1 or below standard player in a league well above his capability. He'd do well in the Scottish Leagues where that level of energetic fuck-all-ness is like fucking catnip to the sweary kilted hoardes. He's today's Stefan Scougall or Ryan Flynn.
McAtee 4/10: Largely ineffective and still showing signs of 'boy in man's league' levels of return
Norwood 6/10: Some good, some bad. There were times when you were willing him along to play that pass, make that challenge and then you're saying 'Fuck's sake Norwood' as he telegraphs or dawdles and gets robbed. But he's always done that and got in the Team of the Week or Ballon D'Or or summat. I don't care. As people say 'when he plays good, we play good. When he plays bad, we play bad'. So he's inconsistent, then? Tonight he was characteristically both. Managed his trademark row Z attempt on goal.
Doyle 6.5/10: Does a hell of a lot of unmerited heavy lifting in that midfield for such a young lad. Undeservedly subbed for Fleck.
N'Daiye 6/10: Busied himself trying to create and dig stuff out of the turf. But like always, he gets the ball when he shouldn't, twists past one, drops the shoulder past another and goes past yet another and is into space with options. He's the only person capable of doing this in our squad because Basham doesn't any more. But then he's greedy and tries to beat two more and suddenly a good attacking chance is over.
McBurnie 7.5/10: A good performance from him in a game of few chances. unlucky with the post hit and didn't shithouse. Ran his socks off and looked a lot fitter and 90 minutes capable. Just needs to stay out of trouble.

Fleck 4/10: Barely saw him and for me a stupid substitution.
Sharp 5/10: Tried to muck in and get busy but it was all over by then

HJ&SMcC 4/10: Poor substitutions. Robinson on the bench as a practical direct sub for RND or Bash out wide left and he leaves Osborn on to struggle like fuck for 90 and get nothing. Khadra unused despite recent performances and Brewster too. Brings Fleck on. What the actual fuck?

Just as an aside, I am a bit sick of the 'we'll make the playoffs' mentality now. We know what happens in the playoffs, so for me we should be demanding automatic. We have ex-PL players in the team and should, if we have the ambition and yearning for success we ought to have, be seeing players out there performing like PL players if we ever dream of playing there. How much of tonight's - or the past month's performances - say 'Premier League'? How many players in that team tonight would you actually say would put in a night of grit and endeavour under the floodlights in front of the Sky Cameras against say Everton, Brighton of Leicester City? If its 'all of them' I'd say you're fucking deluded. We'd get fucking hammered. If it's two, we'd possibly scrape the playoffs. If it's 'none', then we are where we are, sliding down the league into mid-table mediocrity after a great start to the season. And other results haven't half been favourable to us of late. We are now a loss against Norwich and some not so favourable results on Saturday from ending up ninth or tenth. Hoist that in.

pommpey

Near enough with that report Pommpey.
The game was there to be won so he puts on the invisible man John Fleck brillant.
What more can you say about run around Osborn fucking shocking.
How long is he going to persevere with Boldock can’t tackle or mark does get into good positions but can’t deliver the final ball.
Please start Brewster these cameo starts aren’t doing him or us any favours
Gutted about RND

 

[robbiez666]

I hate playing Coventry. For the most part the matches are usually as dull as ditchwater and they are a bit of a bogey team we regularly slip up against - in fact they have the better record in this fixture. I agree with most of what you say Pommps. Basham has definitely lost something since his last lay-off and playing him in a back 4 or as LCB isn't doing him or us any favours. I wonder if Hecky and co. will blame Shirecliffe for RND's injury? Definitely something not right in the conditioning department. I have always believed that a settled defence is the foundation of league titles - neither of which we have had for some time. Like some incontinent geriatric we do not look capable of keeping a clean sheet. Osborn tries and tries but he is no defensive LWB. As for the substitutions they were very strange choices - Fleck for Doyle was very poor and Sharp instead of Brewster was definitely the wrong option. Bill has lost another yard of pace and in a game in which was crying out for pace up front he was chasing shadows. As for the play-offs talk, whilst I agree with what you say Pommps, even they look a bridge too far on the evidence of the last 5 games.

Could you explain why it was crying out for pace at the point Billy came on? Coventry were basically sitting deep so pace would have been no benefit? We had a lot of corners and balls were going into the box.

 

[Snowflake]

we were having wave after wave of pressure in their half until they scored? They resorted to just hoofing it back to us. Why would you change that unless you had to?

Not really the kind of scenario for Brewster or Khadra given they were just putting men behind the ball.

Our two best players and most likely players were Ndiaye and McBurnie. Are you taking those off? And given the danger they posed on the counter, weakening the defensive areas?

Leave them on and add another paces attacker. How was Fleck going to create a breakthrough ?
Timing of the substitutions was late in my opinion.

 

[BarcaBlade]

Sacked by November. Berge invisible.