marhar

Never been a season ticket holder but this has made me think, i take my two boys when i can and they enjoyed it, i think we all enjoyed regular football during March with the golden ticket. Tempting. The Bury offer is actually a bit of a bonus too as living in Whitefield my kids often get free tickets there through school/football and to be honest I just enjoy going watching live football

you mean this accurately described save (courtesy of the bbc):

Shefki Kuqi headed Taylor's free kick onto the crossbar and Cherries keeper Alex Cisak did well to claw Shaun MacDonald's follow-up off the line.

cheers Lukers, need to work on my skim reading!

when you say 'had to leave', he wasn't injured again was he?

What 'type of player' does turning down a job make him?

 

People turn down jobs all the time, in every profession, the same as people change jobs if they're offered better pay. I don't understand why footballers get so much stick for it.

I know what the original poster is saying, but as you say although it's the answer we may not have wanted it's probably best for all parties. I'd rather someone turn us down rather than take the money and not want to be here

I thought our following was very 'young'...lots of groups of u18s.

 

Might just have been where I was sat, and the fact it is a very close game to travel to, but it was good to see the plenty of youngsters following the team.

I was sat next a big group of fans in this age group, a great bunch of lads too, knew their stuff and having a laugh. Good to see

According to Dickov, the referee admitted their player handballed it in first half, but he didnt deem it to be intentional. Yet the ref saw us handball it in their box in second half and deemed it intentional when it bounced up onto our player?

It's bizarre - he kept pointing to the inside of his wrist when he was explaining it to the players so he obviously saw it, but how can it be unintentional? It was above his head and defending a cross, not like it was smashed at him from a yard

I'm a black sheep of the family, should be a Bolton fan by rights so support them too. For some reason the first game my dad took me to was Latics, they've been my team since

must be Jordan Rhodes

PD says there was not much wrong with that performance?

Thats so very; very worrying

 

It was awful from start to finish

On Tuesday I came away being disappointed at the result but not the performance. I thought we were excellent for 65+mins, played some cracking stuff and were good value for a result that sadly slipped away from us

 

Today on the othrr hand was just dire. From minute 1, we were hoofing aimlessly; playing :censored: percentage balls to know-one in particular, struggling to string 2 passes together and looking flat as a witches tit all over the park

Too many had shockers. Not just poor games; shockers.

 

We are devoid of creativity - feck knows where we'd actually be performance & result wise if Lee & Morais were playing at present. We lack bite. We lack drive. We lack pace. We lack ideas & plans. We have no movement.........

 

The Sheff Utd comeback was a flash in the pan & only papered over a wide crack for a few days

We have a side out there playing that isnt up to it. Too many poor players playing in roles that are key to the balance, shape & direction of the side

LB, CM, CM, LM & ST are all sub standard at present and when you have 5 of your 11 in shocking form or who are just plain shocking full-stop then you're in trouble.

 

But the most worrying thing of all is that the management think that was acceptable, and that nothing was wrong with that "performance"

Bingo

I think Cisak is the best since Gerrard, I must be one of the few that never felt at ease with Kelly. From directly behind the shot today it looked like it was one that took off, didn't look too dangerous when first hit but lifted on the way through

I've always found him to be exceptionally helpful and good to deal with. Sorry to see him go. Thanks for everything, enjoy retirement and win the battle. Good luck

I've no problem with this to be honest, he is MK's manager and will focus on them. By saying we played well in a way justifies their performance . If he feels they should have done better then that is all that matters really.

 

Just because we felt latics played well doesn't mean that he does.

To be fair I think he said we played the conditions better than them. But that was it!

That collection from Cisak near the end made sure we sealed the 3 points. Great keeping in those conditions. I think this lad has been an unsung hero this season

I agree, he had to watch the bounce on a terrible surface and then once he'd assesed it he was brave and decisive. He seems calm and assured, think he's going to be a really solid keeper.

So even in this short (so far) thread we have greatly differing opinions - yesterday's performance was either an utter shambles or a game in which we had many chances and crosses but came up against a decent side.

 

Player ratings mark players for a single performance and as such sometimes look harsh - did Cisak really deserve a 5? Granted from where I was sitting it looked a poor effort for the first goal but those in the Chaddy End may well see a different picture - was he unsighted? Did the ball swerve? He certainly had little chance with the second.

 

Also - I don't think that anyone would argue against the low mark for Adeyemi - he had a bad game. But then so did Simpson (contributed nothing to the game) and MVoto who looked as nervous as a schoolboy - this guy is a confidence player and when it goes...

We also witnessed Kuqi put in a lackluster display - contrast his game yesterday against his performance last week. And Chris Taylor spent too much of the game tackling back and playing deep - not where we need him.

 

But for me there is no getting away from the fact that yesterday was a poor performance - I left the ground extremely disappointed - too many players had poor games and overall we lacked shape and ideas. Granted we had many crosses into the box - but the all seemed to flash across the box with no final touch.

 

What was missing yesterday is simple to explain - we lacked tempo and shape and too many players went missing. Adeyemi and Simpson do not look the part for me and we cannot play without a recognized left back.

 

A chance to put it right next week at Exeter - we seem to have more idea away from BP.

 

Not a shambles but not very good either.

I think there were elements of both in the same game so it's a matter of what you focus on. I thought we were unlucky to be behind at half time and were very poor in the second half. Credit Brentford though, I think they old-manned us a bit, breaking up any momentum with a series of 'injuries' and a lot of time wasting which the referee was too weak to stop. I think the Cisak rating is very harsh, I was sat behind the goal and haven't seen a replay to say whether it swerved or got a nick on it, but it did fly through a ruck of players so Cisak will have seen it very late. And he didn't look far from saving it.

I agree the decision to start with Clarke right back was poor, hopefully Diallo will be back in next match and Mellor given a go in the middle.

I'm with you on that, was surprised Diallo didnt come back in with Lee switching back to the right. Clarke looked ok at full back, but two attacking full backs would have been better

I thought Simpson did ok, one of the few that tried to get the ball down and play, helped his full back out. I won't try to defend Adeyemi though

I'd not do it at all.

Me neither

Reckon there'll be a couple of changes from Sat after Dickov's comments about not liking what he saw from the stand at Col U.

 

Clarke dropped for M'Voto. Maybe Winchester + Norwich guy in centre mid with Wes on the bench? Kuqi up front with Reid.

Clarke won't be allowed to play by Huddersfield

Tierney, Makin and Eardley are all fullbacks who came through at latics, deemed to be "gash" and then gone on to bigger things elsewhere. Full back is one of the hardest positions to master as there are defensive and attacking attributes required, you are also often up against the opposition's quickest and trickiest players. If you make a mistake it usually results in them getting round the back (oh er missus) and often results in a goal.

 

It is very rare for a young kid to come into any first team and be the finished article, it can take several seasons and quite a lot of beastings for the player to develop into a well rounded and solid fullback. Regularly I have seen teams target our fullbacks, pump balls into their area and have the winger, full back and central midfielder on that side all press on to the lad. Winchester was a victim of this on a miserable Tuesday night last season.

 

When this happens, our winger needs to drop back and help out a the very least, possibly another midfielder has to chip in and stifle the opposition's tactics and this is something we are not very good at. Plus for the last few years we've had pretty attack minded wingers that regularly are too far up the pitch when we haven't got the ball to provide a decent shield for our fullbacks. I fully understand why Penney didn't want our full backs to cross the half way line, he wanted them to concentrate on the defending parts of their game and leave the fancy stuff to the midfield.

 

Of our current full backs, Lee is doing ok, he had a cracking season last year and got a pretty good balance of attack and defence, he is better going forward than backward but his defensive game was more than adequate for most of last season. Black is similar in that he is pretty good going forward but he is a few seasons behind Lee with regard to his defensive game. He has made some strides forward in this and then has had a dip, which happens with young kids, but he is definitely progressing. I'm happy with him there at the moment, think that he still needs taking out of the firing line occasionally, as with all young kids and Diallo can step in here, every player benefits from competition.

This is a great post, and not just because I was a full-back

Very sad to see this news, have seen him keep goal against us a number of times over the years. RIP, thoughts with his family & friends

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14723925.stm

Two great goals, shame about M'voto, didn't look a particularly bad challenge but their player made the most of it and the referee reacted like a kid on Christmas morning

Ed Upson, what a brilliant name, we sound like we could do with him

Simple ideas are often the best - took my kids to the Blackpool game and they loved the poster programme, great idea, cheap so I bought them both one and now I've got Paul Black and Matt Smith competing with Messi and co on their bedroom walls