Bianoic

Normally pretty positive and upbeat about us but found yesterday’s second half incredibly disappointing and almost painful to endure. Especially after that first half when it was everything one could have asked for and more.
Would love to have known what went on at half time to have led to such a change in attitude. It was almost as if we were determined to keep trying to shoot ourselves in the foot until we actually  did ! 
 
I find it baffling that we think it will be a successful tactic to give the ball to Davies and Shinniesta to start off our moves upfield. That is not either of theirs’ game and never will be. Wasn’t it Clough senior who instructed ball winners like those two to just win it and then give it to someone who was capable of doing something with it ? And as for this bizarre six yard kick off routine that we persist with, the less said the better !
Thought Tom was really lively first half and the goal was brilliant. But until he becomes a true team player, and takes opportunities to give the ball to teammates in much better positions, he will struggle to fulfil his potential. Although very surprising at the time, his exclusion from the Wales Euros squad his probably understandable on that basis.
Same goes to Ravel to some extent too. And it would be great to know why he didn’t get subbed off in the second half too, when he was clearly suffering and effectively we were reduced to playing with ten men at times. 
On the plus side, there were plenty of really good performances yesterday. Byrne was so much better than the Boro game. Bird, Jags, Fozzy, Joz all had really good games to me.
So all in all, a little bit downbeat unfortunately. Mainly due to the lack of common sense and logic displayed by both the team and the management in the second half.
And, of course, because it was Forest. You do wonder if they ever be more “there for the taking” than that !
 

@Ellafella used the word balletic to describe his performance in his player review and it is exactly that. The way he moves, finds space, it is never rushed, very precise, he knows what to do with the ball. After watching him twice i understand why some people in the game have rated him very highly. he just needs to improve his fitness/save himself to last the whole game and pick passes in the the last 20  minutes of the game when everybody is tired and matches are won.

Roos 5- Poor distribution, seemed quite nervy. Made one amazing save cancelled out by one poor error. The poor distribution drops him below average. 
Byrne 7.5- Defensively very very good. Should’ve stopped the cross for their goal though. Attacking wise he didn’t offer much today, nor were his corners very good. MOTM for me.
Forsyth 7- Solid game. Great assist, defensively he’s still not brilliant, nor is he very good in the air. Now without Kazim he’s basically playing a wide target man role which so far has been pretty unsuccessful, struggled to win a lot of Roos’ goal kicks.
Davies 7- Decent. Nervy start but not much I can fault him on really.
Jagielka 7- Same as Davies really. A couple of nervy moments but generally quite solid at the back.
Bird 6.5- Amazing first half. Second half was very sloppy. But to be fair unlike some others at least he was trying to make something happen.
Shinnie 6- Fairly anonymous game from Shinnie. Barely affected play first half, second half his stamina came to fruition and he started to carry the ball forward a bit more. Didn’t offer much to the team in the end though. Whenever Bielik’s back I’d drop Shinnie. 
Morrison 5.5- Harsh but I thought he was bad. Selfish. Decision making terrible. Wasted quite a few decent opportunities for us.
Sibley 6- Had very little effect on the game. He’s just better through the middle, simple as that. He huffed and puffed and almost got an assist though.
Jozwiak 7- Actually thought he played quite well in the end. Grew into the game after a meh first half. Carried the ball well and was positive in his play.
Lawrence 7- Was good but clearly not 100%. Great finish. 
Stretton 6.5- Should’ve been subbed on much earlier in the game. We needed a natural striker in the box at times today. In the end didn’t have much of an impact, though he could’ve won it for us. 
 

Those two twits on SSN’s transfer show.
Twit 1  (Referring to Ronaldo) “ His preferred move was to Manchester City” Less than 10 seconds later “And now he’s got his dream move back to Old Trafford” ?
Twit 2 With the urgency of an announcement of Covid being a thing of the past and everlasting world peace declared “I got a text, I got a text yesterday afternoon at 15:44 saying Manchester City was his destination”
I’ve never seen two people so full of their own self importance as these two. Oh for the phantom flan flinger to appear out of nowhere. 

Not opening the ticket office, not selling season tickets and not communicating with fans is really having an effect on ticket sales (and hence revenues). Who'd have thought?

This is one of those times when I’m talking to a person I just nod ?

Bird will play regularly in the Premiership one day & have the best career of the 3 - his composure & range of passing is already good and with increased physicality & game management as he matures, he'll be too good for this level in time
Sibley is a hard one to call as he has undoubted impact potential but his lack of pace as well his slight physique may hold him back from the top level. The rest of his game (first touch/decision making/goal to chance ratio) needs to be very good for him to play in the Prem. I suspect he may spend his career somewhere between the two divisions (bottom half Prem/top 6 Championship)
Knight will end up as a good Championship midfielder. Decent in a variety of areas & great stamina/fitness but not exceptional at one thing - needs to improve technically & his decision making to move to a higher level. Maybe more physicality also

To my mind it's two things. Will doesn't decisively effect the game enough. He's an amazing team player but does not score nearly enough goals or get enough assists.
Then, I never felt he was quite the same after his injury. 
I loved watching Will play as he was such an intelligent, skillful player who always knew what he was going to do with the ball before it reached him. But not affecting the game is why I think Giles Barnes in his wonder season looked a better academy product and would have had the world at his feet had he stayed fit. And Louie Sibley's attacking abilities and ball-striking make him potentially better than Will too. Let's hope it's Louie's breakthrough season where he scores 15-20 goals from midfield.

I was just thinking that we could do with another keeper, funnily. You're tinpot if you have more strikers than goalkeepers. 

This. 
Like a mardy 8 year old. 

Quite funny that people come on here criticising people for being a little bit mean about the ‘commentator’, but there are literally 100s of threads that openly abuse the owner, manager and individual players!
 
I’d be more than happy to see all ‘abusive’ posts removed on the off-chance the individuals mentioned might see them. However, from what I’ve read on this thread, it mostly seems to be reasonable criticism of the persons work (which is in the public eye and thus open to critique).  I don’t know the man personally (I walked past him on the Cromford Canal path a few weeks ago but doubt that makes us friends) so would never comment on his personality. He might be a lovely man off air. However, it is fair to say that I find his ‘commentary’ excruciating.  That isn’t being abusive, it is merely a ‘review’ (much as I might a tv show or film). If I don’t like a tv show, I don’t watch it. As it is, I can’t listen to RD. 
 
I really don’t know where people get this ‘passion’ thing from. I assume it is from people who equate endless moaning and negativity as passion (perhaps reflecting and rationalising their own way of supporting the club?). Is it the shouting that equates to passion? Not for me. Noise is just noise.  Is it, as other people say, the way that every time the ball is in our half, the inflection in his voice makes you assume they’re about to score? I must admit that I often have the same feelings, but it isn’t passion.
My Dad can no longer go to the games due to age. However, he listens to RD and I can honestly say that when we talk about the matches, it’s like we were watching two different games. If the commentary gives you the wrong impression of what has happened, then it isn’t good commentary. But then, perhaps I’m not passionate enough?

Ed Dawes THINKS he is a modern day Graham Richards, that’s one of his many faults. He isn’t even in the same stratosphere as Graham. 

As someone has perfectly put It already, like a Mardy 8 year old. 

First game in 18 months and so my thoughts may be a bit over analytical from finally getting a right eyeful.
 
-So I was sat out the other end to our fans with some mates tonight. The biggest positive really was our fans tonight who were superb. They filled the stadium with atmosphere tonight and it’s exactly what the squad needs. I will maybe be slightly critical on one thing later, but I honestly thought they were fantastic 
-Seen people saying the first goal was Allsops ‘mistake’ and I’m not quite sure I’d go that far. The cross itself was the only bit of quality Sheff U mustered up all game and the striker got a decent header on it. Sure, it could’ve been better defended collectively as a team and maybe he could have been better positioned but I’m not gonna individually blame the keeper for that. It was a collective bad moment to me.
-My one slight criticism of our support was toward Bogle, not necessarily the booing because it put him off his game. If anything it was a genius crowd move, but I was sat at the other end hearing the ‘you’re a **** Ebosele’ chants and I thought ‘oooo that’s a bit on the nose’. Then a minute later he puts in a pearler of a cross and they are 1-1. I’m not going ott and saying it gave him a point to prove, but it felt like it gave him enough to overcome something in that moment. Again the away fans were superb, but it’s just one tiny aspect I thought at the time 
-Sibley was the best player on the pitch when he had no right to be all things considered.
-All our good play went through Jozwiak, those critical of him won’t care mention but the game changed once he went off.
-They brought on Fleck and Sharp and we brought on kids. They still created nothing aside from our error which I think says a lot.
-Slight little football crush on Stearman, he just loves football and defending.
-Forsyth deserves a bit of a mention, thought he was untroubled tonight. I’d say motm if it wasn’t for sibley
-United fans are a bit weird, both during the game and in the pub after, they are absolutely obsessed with Sharp and Wilder and can’t let go. Genuinely there was more crowd reaction for that scally kid evading stewards than anything on the pitch. Despite the win I’d be worried of the manner of that result tonight, they created so little against a second string side tipped for relegation.  A lot of the fans, and even some of the players didn’t really care until Billy Sharp was introduced
-The ref…he wasn’t great. Not necessarily in a way that he was getting decisions wrong all the time but I did think the ‘key’ decisions he tended to give them. Main example was the free kick for Sheff U when I think McDonald went for a shot and the defender got his foot their first. Just….no! Also Allsop got properly clattered with intent from one of their players and it was late. Was a booking all day if he caught on but didn’t do anything. Just those tiny little decisions that give a side some undeserved momentum in my book.
-Last one! All out young players look excellent one minute but al have that mistake in them. They aren’t developed to the standard we need just yet, they are fine and can do a job but we can only throw them in for so long before it has the opposite effect.
 

Don’t spoil the night buddy

It looked like one of our central defenders pointed directing to McDonald to play the ball back (straight into Sharp's path) when there was no one around the full back and he could easily have turned with it and brought the ball forward. All symptomatic of this disease of playing backwards as a first thought. So it wasn't all the youngster's fault, but of course it was mainly on him as he was facing our goal so should have seen Sharp lurking there.

Think both Coles and Bradley are better than Fletcher was. 
Fletch was more in the mould of Dawes. ??

Its amazing what you can find at Melton Mowbray on market day ……..

Balls. Missed that opportunity! Will keep an eye on the market next tine I’m there on a Tuesday!

Its amazing what you can find at Melton Mowbray on market day ……..

Its amazing what you can find at Melton Mowbray on market day ……..

Its amazing what you can find at Melton Mowbray on market day ……..

Its amazing what you can find at Melton Mowbray on market day ……..

Totally fair enough and good for you, sticking to your principles . 

It will be so great to welcome you back to PP . When the time is right and you are ready 
Thats what that pre match video about the passing of the 103 year old rams fan is all about 
It was really beautifull to see the reaction of the crowd to that. watched the away fans. Every one of them was clapping - well done to them. Up The Boro. On this occasion only …
 

If true, I would make job number one to extend Jag and Balds contracts pronto !

A German and a Pole? What could go wrong?