Hands on

It is difficult to criticise selection when we never know the full story. Who has been unwell. Who is carrying an injury. It is easier to criticise the tactics and shape but then again players don't always do what they have been told and as there is another team out there we might not be able to do what was planned. What is much easier is to look at where is we are now after the last four games and without doubt a promising recovery has been thrown away because whatever the selection, shape or tactics were we have started gifting goals to the other team. Even Johny who was magnificent has started making mistakes - he might have saved the goal yesterday but the mistakes and gifting were made before he had the chance. Momentum is everything - look what we have done for Plymouth. We are now where we have been for the last two years and that is in a relegation battle. Wellens said he would take it five games at a time - 2 points from 5 is not very good. Something has changed and it isn't just the Doyle 'illness'.

We just seem to have stopped playing football although we did have more strikes and more strikes on target than the Shrews. What can not be contested is that we gave away the last four goals scored against us through stupid errors.

Agreed it seems they are paulbearers!

Comedy of errors BP not just one but at least they can only score one goal at a time. Now the 'fight' back.

Silva on bench for Leicester. No doubt if they got their act together McEleney could have been but he might not be fit. I wonder what happens if we keep on losing by giving away goals.

I did plan on going but the last two performances have persuaded me otherwise. As the goal was scored when I went for a 'natural break' on Saturday I'm hoping we will win this 4 1... Lose and 20th beckons. Interesting to see who starts - might as well use McEleney as a sub. Bryan looked a bit end of termish Saturday even though he got MOM for an under par display so he might not be there.

I think you will find that Holloway has played well as an impact substitute but poorly when he either starts on his own or in partnership with Davies. When Davies came on the first thing they did was to go for the same ball. They want to occupy the same space and when together neither is doing what he wants to do. Davies has the better stats not simply because he takes the penalties but because he as a striker at least tries to strike. Holloway hit one shot yesterday which was well saved and then he falls over in injury time instead of laying the ball off to Tope. As a striker he is an embarrassment. As someone you lump the ball up to up field he can do a job but can he find one of a players or hold up the ball - yes he did last season - no he didn't yesterday. On the impact of the Pauls I think we are less up and at them by passing through teams and more long balls. Jack picking up the ball from the back four and passing it forward is not where I want him to play. Nor do I want to see him running everywhere demanding the ball and being ignored by his team mates. I want to see him where he can pass to our 'strikers' or take a strike himself. The substitutions yesterday made that unlikely.

Well how many different views can you have. First half we were on top. Surely everyone agrees however not a single striker in the team. Great corners from Gardener just watched as they passed by. Holloway - What do you do for a living? Professional footballer. What position do you play? Striker. How many goals do you score? Embarrassed silence. How many did you score last season? Embarrassed silence. How many have you scored this season? Embarrassed silence. Its just a joke. The answers are none and one. Second half. Much the same except Hunt shields ball to Johny who is running out and then stops. Their striker (someone who scores goals) chips the ball over Johny. Here we go again.... Substitutions second half leave us with the strikers Davies and 'Holloway' and Byrne in midfield. Byrne proceeds to occupy every part of the pitch where he can't make an impact on the game demanding the ball from everyone that has it. Flynn playing positively gets a penalty. Davies (striker) fluffs the penalty which is 'saved' but not held and manages to score on the second attempt. We manage a draw. 5 points from the last six games puts us in 19th position. As I have said before top six this year is just a dream. We are now in a relegation battle having fallen apart since the two Pauls joined us.

Started Saturday and hope you saw how that turned out. Can't play those two up front again today. Would love to see them win us a game but with their backs to goal and Holloway always looking for someone to mark him so he can lean on them so he doesn't get free kicks can't see it. Why he plays so differently when he comes on as a substitute I don't understand. Sad to say I'm not really looking forward to the match today like I was a month ago. It has gone wrong and yes I blame the Pauls.

I suspect McEleney is the only replacement we will get for Doyle. Wellens has to think in terms of building for the future rather than trying to chase the now impossible top six spot. However the first priority, once again, is 23 points from the remaining 22 games something our current post Pauls form has not produced. Keeping Bryan or replacing him is the first priority. Presumably we need the thing that now looks like it will always be just round the corner to happen or at least for AL, if he is, to continue to pay for some of our players.

I would rather be inside the box and play Davies up top with Byrne as a proper number 10 behind him then 4 4 Johny. I then expect Byrne not to stray more than five yards into our half and would expect him to hit another of those great strikes from outside the box. Alternatively clone 9 Bryans and play him in every position with Johny still there for the fun he makes. Argh more snow.

We will know if he just returns to Preston and isn't sold. Hope it isn't true. Get well soon if it is.

The paddock in front of the Ford stand was home for my son and I. Some bloody idiot knocked it down let it fester and built the great white elephant on it. Turn back the clocks. Lets be sensible the Chaddy End needs money spending on it and too many people like the RRE. Onwards not backwards...

It now seems that we have seen the last of Doyle. I assume the really funny stunt was before he contracted the virus because if not he looks very well on it. My take on his exclusion is that he is as good as sold and we have been encouraged not to play him. Wellens created an entertaining side as a care taking manager that was also successful. Once he got the gig he maintained the excitement but was sadly less successful. With the successful completion of his team with the two Pauls we have rather quickly fallen off the rails. I doubt if this sequence of events is just a coincidence. I stand by my view that having lost all momentum we are once again in for a difficult few months. We could stand losing Byrne and we might survive without Doyle but if we lose Bryan, who on yesterdays showing could play in any position at this level (yes probably even goal keeper), we will struggle. Byrne has played well for us in patches but he does have issues. Rather than playing two up front Wellens et al could have played Byrne behind a lone Davies or Holloway as a number 10 with no defensive duties. We could then have had Fane and Gardener with two wide men for the four in midfield. Davies and Holloway seem to cancel each other out, both with their backs to goal and plainly nothing came of their efforts even though Davies should have hit the target with his shot and scored from the header.

P.S. 2017 was a crap start for us and now looks like being a crap finish!

Well that is how you go from a potential top half team to a looking over the shoulder team in three games. We are now 11 off 6th and only 4 off 21st in 18th. Have we been here before? Have we been anywhere else for some time? Why has the team gone to pot now we have the full management team? Two goals they scored. The first a Bryan/Hunt mistake. The second a Byrne mistake. For the more aware members amongst a question. When has the Davies/Holloway partnership ever resulted in a win? My view a case of wrong selection and wrong game management. Can we beat Bristol Rovers?..................

We would actually be in the hunt if we had taken the opportunities offered over the last month like winning away at Plymouth. Starting 2018 in the top half would have made the playoffs a difficult but possible outcome. We needed two points a game and not one.

If he doesn't sign its all a bit Corney.

Well what difference would it make to be 11th.

I suppose they want it opened on a wet and cold Tuesday night when fewer people will attend to make it safer - spoilsports - but there is nothing those who put in all the effort can do. Thanks for your hard work.

Just imagine a manager and an owner who plan ahead and replace people before they leave rather than waiting to the last possible moment. Hang on this seems to be happening.......... Looks more like a shoe in for Byrne so you can understand why McEleney is happy to come to us.

Johnson will take Bristol City to the premiership unless a better option comes along. He is without doubt focussed primarily on his own future and a great publicist. What was the first thing I heard this morning when the alarm woke me up - Lee Johnson's men........ The good thing and why I wanted him to take the long road here is that his success is based on the success of the teams he manages and he is proving to be very good at that. In Richie Wellens I see another possibility, if he stays long enough and gets the support from whoever owns the club, but don't be surprised if he leaves when a better option presents itself.

You can't get into the top six on home form alone as only 36 points available. In fact when you start thinking about it we would have to sign more players and keep all that we have to rise up to the dizzy heights of 6th. Lets just enjoy the football until January the 2nd when Bryan, Doyle and Byrne leave us.

Brilliant. We will forgo the Rising Sun for a couple of pints. Thanks.

Our form post Shez gives us 70 points which is 3 or 4 short. The useless Northampton have beaten Walsall so I would suggest it was our total dominance that made them look so bad. If Boundary Park becomes a fortress you never know although I accept much depends on January and Abdallah.