nzlatic

Winchester was arguably MOM at brentford. Playing in midfield. He's extremely comfortable on the ball and I don't really care that he's not built like a brick :censored:house. It's a hang up of too many in the English game.

True. And then there's their manager moaning about Oxley not getting sent off despite the ball being in the stands by the time he threw himself over the keeper.

I think it shows how dismal the last few years have been that we're singing opposition players names for nothing. Yes he was a quality player in a poor team and I loved watching him, yes he respected the club and the fans and appreciated the chance he got here. But he achieved precisely fook all so not really worthy of all the chanting in my view.

I avoided coming on here after the game because I didn't fancy reading a load of knee jerk posts from people who only surface after a loss. But I have to agree with everyone's assessment. Appalling performance. I defended Plummer after brentford as I thought he did ok against a tough player in Donaldson but yesterday he was terrible. These prem reserve players just don't look ready to play tough matches in front of tough crowds. They've probably got loads of ability in training but they just aren't ready or mentally capable of coping. Few positives elsewhere either. The odd occasion we got a decent cross in the strikers weren't attacking the ball and the midfield were sat on the half way line. No urgency to get up in support. The movement or lack of is very worrying. Whoever is on the ball is just left to it. We look comfortable on the ball and can pass it well, but there was just no urgency. Massively disappointing as Colchester were one of the worst teams I've seen and they beat us comfortably.

I feared the worst when I'm sure I heard Warnock say at the start: "Well, I've obviously not watched either team". But then I guess without going to see both teams live, how could he? He also sounded like he was going to be very biased toward Mansfield at the start but if anything it was the other way. You can tell he just loves football too, although he's quite a negative person. By that I mean he dwells on everything that goes wrong, sympathising with the team or the player, but just came across as a bit of a moaning old bloke. Still, thought he was pretty good though and much more honest and football fan-like than other pundits who just trot out irrelevant clichés. Also enjoyed Dickov, he looked pretty sheepish as if admitting he'd dropped a bollock by passing over Philliskirk in the summer!

Really disagree, as the game went on he came out to catch/punch more and more. Couldn't really fault him last night.

True. If Sydney had closed him down better, if Kusunga hadn't been dominated or if Oxley had come out fisting then it would probably not have been a goal. But LJ has probably been through all that with them.

I don't get to many games, so when I do it's interesting to see how my thoughts on the game and the players stack up against others who's opinions I read week in week out. My take on the game is that after a pretty even but uneventful first half we were the better team in the 2nd and should have won. Plummer is getting a raw deal but it must have been a bit of a culture shock to him on Saturday. He had Donaldson all over him for the whole match which would be hard to deal with for many more experienced left backs at this level. I thought he handled it reasonably well and wouldn't write him off just yet. Maybe we should have had Grounds at left back if we knew Brentford would try this tactic. The defence in general did pretty well - I really like watching Kusunga. Quality player. There were the odd lapse in concentration but again I'd cut them a bit of slack given the team is still relatively new. Mellor - there was definitely something wrong with him so I wasn't shocked to see him subbed. I just thought he looked totally uncomfortable playing in that position but there's obviously more to it than that. Winchester coming on made a huge difference and I agree with Prozac that he was our best player. Yes he made the odd mistake but one of the refreshing things about him was that even after making a mistake he never shied away from wanting the ball, always looked comfortable in possession and looked to take people on. I was pretty shocked to see a thread dedicated to him questioning him being on the field at all. Shame he made a total balls up with the 4 on 1 - he should have run straight at that defender and played in someone either side but looked in 2 minds whether to take it on himself or pass. In the end he did neither. He put some great crosses in later on though that just weren't read by the strikers - either they hung back when the ball went across the face or vica versa. Korey Smith is class. Wes did well in a rough midfield battle and Petrasso showed promise but just didn't get enough of the ball. Philliskirk is a definite starter for me with those around him rotating as the opposition or fitness dictates. In the end we were just a bit of cohesion away from the 3 points. The foul on Philly denied a goal scoring opportunity in my opinion even though there was a covering defender so should have been red. Philly was going to have a shot on goal and the foul was deliberate and cynical. For him then to score the winner was gutting. Not sure if I'd blame the keeper for that - it was a great ball in. Probably should have been closed down quicker though - was poor winger's defending. Maybe with a bit of luck we would have won - the possible sending off, the header cleared off the line (I seemed the only one to shout handball!). Finally, the manager... I put his reaction when walking off down to just abject disappointment. He looked how I imagined the majority of us felt - totally dejected. The lads played well and on balance of play deserved a win against one of the teams at the top end of the division and he looked like he took defeat to heart as much if not more as the rest of us. In fact, most of the squad had the same look. They do look like a unit though, that's a massive positive. When we lose the ball there's little sulking, just a desire to win it back. I thought his substitutions were very positive with a view to winning the game, not just settling for a point which would be the attitude of the majority of the managers around. I hope he sticks with this ethos and we don't regress like we did under Dickov where we lost that attacking intent. There are a lot of positives about the club at the moment and a lot of promise on show. A word of congrats to the beeb who surpassed themselves with the "highlights" on the FLS, deciding to show a header off the bar that the ref had already blown for a foul instead of the one off the line or the possible red card. At least Sky showed some more action but still missed those 2 key latics moments.

So in those cases let junior season ticket holders buy 1 child ticket and 1 adult ticket. Adult season ticket holders only get 1 each.

Totally agree with this. The FA should control what matches are selected for tv based on what's best for the game and the clubs, not advertising revenue. Will never happen though as the tv companies won't bid as high for the rights if they can't guarantee showing man utd every chance they get.

Bloody hell, I've had some dodgy kebabs in my time but that's quick!

Even if we could sell online I'd rather we stuck to the queuing in horizontal rain method. Sorts the wheat from the chaff. Online is just too pot luck for me and much more open to touts. If part timers (like me) were willing to stand in that for 5 hours they'd earned their ticket.

On a more general note, on the video he describes calling the ref a "f*cking w*nker" to try and get a booking. The fact that this doesn't even get him a yellow, let alone instant red card is a pretty sad reflection of the game really. Granted, it's a very minor point in the context of all this, but it was just something else that stood out for me.

Totally agree with this. I'm sure something will come out in future about behind the scenes. Over 200 (just) once in 4 innings and some of the methods of dismissal are embarrassing. And the foot goes off the gas repeatedly in the field.

I'm pretty sure this is an accurate stat... Since 1966 the only "top" nation we've beaten in a knockout game of any tournament (ie final group game or knockout stages) is Spain in 96. And that was on pens after a :censored: 0-0. And they were :censored: then anyway. Just highlights how little we've achieved in our history. Saying that though, this draw has got me excited. Can't wait for the tournament now, should be a belter. Play some of the young uns Roy and let em go for it.

Can't see it being us, the odds on us conceding/losing wouldn't make it worthwhile! (When article was being put together of course) Held in the midlands, concede a lot of goals, I know who my money's on.

No Mills or kusunga so there has to be 2 changes. Unless you mean you'd rather keep the CB pairing so same number of personnel changes but one less positional change? Id still go for Lanzoni at CB as that would mean 3 of the defence will have played together a few times in some form at least. Decent problem to have though as I'd be happy with either.

Winchester or Smith at RB with Lanzoni at CB and Grounds going back to LB?

As he isn't playing, hopefully you're able to put your efforts into supporting the team rather than compiling statistics to use in an argument against our own players.

So you've read the dossier then to know its full of theories that anyone could do?

Compiling an impressive dossier on each of our players was what got Lee Johnson the job wasn't it? So we've already got a coach like that at BP. I don't know if he'd improve us or not but I would guess there isn't a great deal left in the budget for extra coaches, if there is I'd rather it go into the defence where we're struggling with a lack of numbers.

I wasn't saying that he has to chop and change, just that I'm willing to allow him time to experiment.

People want him to pick his best team and stick to it. Yet ask everyone on here what the best team is and you'd struggle to get 2 people to agree. For me it's a transition season with a new manager learning the ropes and a young team mostly on settled contracts. If we click by January and have a late run to the play offs then that's a bonus. If not then I'm confident we'll do enough to stay up relatively comfortably. If we're having the same discussion in 12 months time then that's when to start to worry.

Don't get that. Why can you listen to live commentaries on radio 5 and 5 extra but not local bbc radio online?

Despite far too many years of demoralising results I still get excited whenever we kick off. So the more games we play, the better. It's not that much more action for the players to cope with. Add to that the fact that it's normally cheap to get in and the incentive of getting to Wembley without having to beat anyone from the leagues above and it's a "keep" from me.