....sorry, I really cba to document the full game. I'll summarise and rate the set of useless twits.
Absolutely dreadful.
Team selection and shape did not work. That is an understatement. The pitifully weak duo of Chong and Cannon continue to show nothing at all. Two slow and unadventurous midfielders. Riedewald playing as a 3rd centre back which just allowed them extra men in midfield. Bizarre but alongside the shape and selection, we simply did not look arsed one bit. Lost tackles, did not run and did not do the basics. Out run, out fought, out thought.
Blackburn wanted it more and were quicker, more determined and realised our weaknesses. We actually missed a good chance through Cannon after 30 secs but then it went to pieces.
The goals were laughable. 1st was onside. The lad who ran through was played on by Hoever (other one was off) but came through us being wide open after Hamer lost it. 2nd was hilarious from Burrows who let his man walk go past and just stood there. Free shot. Saved. Free cross. Free header. Saved. Tap in as we stood and thought about what we might have for supper. Felt sorry for Davies. They looked like scoring every time they attacked. Just ran through a static, slow midfield and square defence. Third was same story. Cross as Burrows stood again and Tanganga just got beat to the ball.
Subs should have been made after 20 mins. Make a statement for me?
We make 4 changes and it's better - could not be worse but Blackburn just sat back, banked up and we just moved it side to side repeatedly without going anywhere. The players remained in a set shape. Few times we came out of this, we created a couple of things and Burrows scored after a decent shot from Hamer and good work from Cannon.
However, it was so slow and pedestrian and too many touches and we seem to just hope Hamer or Seriki can find a yard and a shot or cross. There is no clear plan how we are trying to break teams down. It us depressing to watch that and easy to defend against. Blackburn keeper made a few saves but they saw it out comfortably.
It was a dreadful performance and the fans rightly booed em off half and full time - those that were left. They announced the crowd as 25k but it was nowhere near this. Credit Blackburn who did what they had to for first win at Lane since 1994 (Shearer scored twice) I think?
Ratings :
Davies 4/10 - Let in 3 but he made a few decent saves and totally exposes on 2nd. 1st he does not really even cover the goal making it easy to go round but he was given no protection all half.
Hoever 2.5/10 - Careless on the ball and played man onside for first. He did look our most athletic player though! A poor loan signing.
Burrows 2/10 - Yes, he scored but his defending throughout was abject. They attacked him at will. Hamer did not help but one on one defending he is horrific. Better 2nd half at least.
Tanganga 1.5/10 - Dire. Awful touch, crude fouls and does not react to situations. 3rd goal what is he doing? Countless other errors and cant believe how bad he is on the ball. He is quickly turning into another disastrous signing.
McGuiness 3/10 - Static and they ran through us but thought Tanganga should have gone before him. He showed with tricky forwards, he struggles. Not sure he was our worst player though?!
Riedewald 1.5/10 - Ended up in this weird centre half position, even when we were 2-0 down. Never came off it and saw us have none of the ball. I don't get the fuss over him personally. Another slow, unfit player who does not pass forward and takes too many touches.
Rothwell 1.5/10 - Just stood in the centre circle and never got hold of the ball. Twice gave it away and nearly put them in. Had to play in the middle often on his own, due to the ridiculous shape. Had improved bit back to poor standards.
Hamer 4/10 - Our best player in that he at least passed it forward or tried things but his poor play contributed to the first goal. Some dreadful tackles and easily could have been sent off. He did have a few shots including on the goal but barely saw him last half hour. Number 20 for them was nearly as fat and out of shape as him! Did not defend at all and left Burrows to deal with stuff - he couldn't!
Chong 1.5/10 - He is laughably bad. Slow, weak and hates contact. He is so timid. Had one decent run but often just ran down blind alleys. He has no awareness or football brain. An awful signing.
Bamford 2/10 - Worse than Cannon tonight. Ball never stuck and he did not really offer much at all. Little service though.
Cannon 2.5/10 - He missed a really good easy chance and then never imposed himself. Just too weak and does not react. No anticipation and he is another that can't deal with physical stuff. He did set up the goal and had a header wide and a shot bit his overall game is completely lacking. Needs moving on. He is not the answer.
Subs
Peck 4/10 - Least got stuck in but he was careless on the ball and too slow to move it on. Saw some fight though.
Arblaster 4/10 - Tried to get on the ball and move it but too many sideways/backwards but he did not hide. Passes were too slow though and behind players. One good block.
Bindon 5/10 - Might have been our best outfield player! Low bar mind. He came out with the ball, showed a few clever skills and ended up as overlapping centre back. Got a whack but keot going.
Seriki 4/10 - Least tried to get down the right. Put a few decent balls in but got crowded out as they realised he was our main outlet.
Wilder 1.5/10 - Poor selection, poor tactics, poor coaching. No idea what we were trying to do first half? Players also looked disinterested and seemed to have downed tools and were not even running at times. He has a huge job to change a lot of personnel but also to come up with a better tactical plan. We have no idea how to get through teams or create things. It's hero ball or nothing. Worry when Hamer and maybe Brooks go, where we get any creativity from.
Ref was garbage too. Wilder was right on him.
Sorry, that's it. Nothing else to say. A waste of an evening. We have a massive amount of work to do thus summer. I wouldn't care if I never laid eyes in the majority of players after this season. Set of absolute unlikeable dross on the whole. 21 losses. More than anyone apart from Wednesday. A bunch of losers. Most need to be gone. Somehow.
Wilder will get start of next season but there are big questions against him for me? I am not sure he has that x factor anymore that he used to have. He will get the summer but we need to see something different in hie we play even if the personnel is massively changed round. We need a clear identity to how we play.
