Positives

[BramcoteRam84]

Roos - good at coming off his line and distribution but horrendous keeping for the first goal! That’s two mistakes in two games - not convinced

Lowe - considering he’s is very much left sided - outstanding performance. Definitely should be left back 

Keogh and Clarke look good.

Bielik is class but right now looks better in a back three - might adapt to midfield with match sharpness

Dowell and Lawrence mixed bag so far but both have quality.

Waghorn done ok. With Marriott think that could be a formidable pairing 

Bennett did well tonight.

Holmes and Bogle to come back, Marriott fully fit, Knight continues to develop. Wisdom when fit will offer serious competition for the back three along with Evans. There are definite positives.

Even the negatives can be overcome. Malone will be better suited to wing back and Jozefzoon - just don’t play him! Just leaves the Roos problem.

Thought it would be a slow start and it’s starting to prove it. Inevitable. But there is a decent team in there somewhere and I’m confident Cocu has the ability to find it. Think 3-5-2 is the way to go though

[Mick Brolly]

More chance of getting a florist ticket Thursday.

[RiddingsRam]

Jason Knight really is going to be a player can't express how highly I rate him . Everytime I've seen him play . 

Bileik is a class above . 

Marriott coming back to full fitness 

Holmes should be back soon 

Bogle should be back soon

Oh and me moving three rows forward in the South stand has gave me an excellent leaning post for when we are losing . 

COYR 

 

[GrimsbyRam]

Positives? Only four months before we can get some decent attacking midfielders in!

[Anon]

1 hour ago, Dcfcsr92 said:

Bielik doesnt look class? very comfortable on the ball and won alot of tackles, clarke at fault for what?  When you got tom lawrence and zoon doing fck all all game! We signed zoon as a man who would attack his full back now couldnt run against the wind! Waghorn offers alot but when has no service/ anybody forward with him its a incredible hard job and you dont get the respect thats credited too because  foke like you just see what he does in 1 game where players like lowe tw@ting it 30 yards away from him whats he ment to achieve?! 

You watched a different game to me then. I have no doubt that Bielik is a quality player, but his performance in the first half was absolute dog dirt. He gave away possession needlessly and didn't win his battles in the middle of the park. He looked way better as a centre half, which is a shame because I was hoping he'd replace Huddlestone.

Jozefzoon is limited but he used what he does have well tonight. He constantly made ground down his flank because he frightened the Bristol players with his pace. I'm more than happy for him to take a safe pass backwards when he's already made 15-20 yards and the pass is literally to a player on the edge of the area.

Waghorn didn't get much service, but when he did his touch was absolutely appalling and he was often not on his toes and allowed a centre back to nip in and make the interception.

[GrimsbyRam]

Just now, Anon said:

You watched a different game to me then. I have no doubt that Bielik is a quality player, but his performance in the first half was absolute dog dirt. He gave away possession needlessly and didn't win his battles in the middle of the park. He looked way better as a centre half, which is a shame because I was hoping he'd replace Huddlestone.

Jozefzoon is limited but he used what he does have well tonight. He constantly made ground down his flank because he frightened the Bristol players with his pace. I'm more than happy for him to take a safe pass backwards when he's already made 15-20 yards and the pass is literally to a player on the edge of the area.

Waghorn didn't get much service, but when he did his touch was absolutely appalling and he was often not on his toes and allowed a centre back to nip in and make the interception.

Don’t agree. He was the only bloke that looked a class apart. He cannot help the static nature of the players in front of him...actually that is unfair to Lowe who also played well out of position

[Anon]

3 minutes ago, GrimsbyRam said:

Don’t agree. He was the only bloke that looked a class apart. He cannot help the static nature of the players in front of him...actually that is unfair to Lowe who also played well out of position

Why isn't Tom Huddlestone afforded the same leniency by most on here regarding static players in front of him? Huddlestone has been rightly criticised for his performance tonight, but in the first half there was little difference between his and Bielik's contributions. They were both ponderous on the ball, they both misplaced passes and turned over possession, they were both bullied by the little lad with the ginger mop top.

Bielik was much, much better after the break, but I'm not going to lie to myself about his first half performance just because of his price tag.

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

I wasn’t there. Very positive. 

[GrimsbyRam]

19 minutes ago, Anon said:

Why isn't Tom Huddlestone afforded the same leniency by most on here regarding static players in front of him? Huddlestone has been rightly criticised for his performance tonight, but in the first half there was little difference between his and Bielik's contributions. They were both ponderous on the ball, they both misplaced passes and turned over possession, they were both bullied by the little lad with the ginger mop top.

Bielik was much, much better after the break, but I'm not going to lie to myself about his first half performance just because of his price tag.

Because in my view there was a massive difference between the two. Bielek played forwards. You are entitled to your opinion just saw it differently 

[OoooMarkWright]

I think this thread shows how people’s pre-conceived thoughts can skewer the actual performances seen on the pitch today.

I was really looking forward to seeing Bielik play today but he was bang average first half. Lost countless tackles, gave the ball away and looked a little slower than I was expecting. I’m not saying he won’t come good as I’m sure he will, but far from a class act today. He had a cigar on 2nd half so looked better but a little worried on his midfield performance. He’ll get fit and be much better I’m sure.

Also Roos. He had nothing to do, wasn’t at fault for the goals and yet still gets questioned - weird.

The midfield is a massive issue, as it was last season too. The balance is nowhere near right at the moment. 

Martiott and Lowe were the big positives after today, as well as the imperious Keogh!

 

[Duracell]

There weren’t actually very many negatives - just a couple of big, frustrating ones. Namely that the goals were completely of our own doing and that we lacked in the final third.

Everything else was okay to good. Bar Malone, the defence didn’t put a foot wrong and distributed calmly and effectively. The midfield were there to receive it and made the right choices in the middle of the pitch - and that’s why we dominated possession.

Malone made two catastrophic errors which is why we lost, but he wouldn’t have made those errors if he had a winger close to him. Lack of width is a problem for us at the minute.

Waghorn wasn’t an outlet tonight and the wingers spent their evening doing convincing impressions of an out of form Gary Teale, but it’s not all doom and gloom.

I genuinely believe we’re on to something. Get the ball out wide, get Marriott and Holmes fit and be patient with Dowell and we’ll be competitive. Anyone coming back from tonight with a long list of things wrong is looking for trouble which isn’t there.

[Dcfcsr92]

5 hours ago, Anon said:

You watched a different game to me then. I have no doubt that Bielik is a quality player, but his performance in the first half was absolute dog dirt. He gave away possession needlessly and didn't win his battles in the middle of the park. He looked way better as a centre half, which is a shame because I was hoping he'd replace Huddlestone.

Jozefzoon is limited but he used what he does have well tonight. He constantly made ground down his flank because he frightened the Bristol players with his pace. I'm more than happy for him to take a safe pass backwards when he's already made 15-20 yards and the pass is literally to a player on the edge of the area.

Waghorn didn't get much service, but when he did his touch was absolutely appalling and he was often not on his toes and allowed a centre back to nip in and make the interception.

He litually made about 15 yards once keogh and bielik made more yards then him and zoons delivery is awful

[rammieib]

7 hours ago, ColonelBlimp said:

I'm sorry to disagree but Lowe was very average on the right side 1st half, not really his fault, they all were.

On the left though, very good, should definitely play there instead of Malone.

3 at the back with Keogh on the right will have to do til  Bogle returns. 

Keogh was excellent tonight i thought, Zoon needs to get that cross in earlier and better.

Waghorn and Marriott together worked well, Bielik was good as was Clarke.

Lawrence was good in patches as was Bennett.

Hudz and Dowell both a bit slow and ploddy.

If zoon does cross it, it’s either on the floor or goes behind the goal. He’s a fraud of a player.

[EtoileSportiveDeDerby]

1 hour ago, rammieib said:

If zoon does cross it, it’s either on the floor or goes behind the goal. He’s a fraud of a player.

A bit harsh... but your comment re. crossing is spot on. He tends to run at the defender, does not or cannot get passed him, gets so close to the defender the only decent option he is left with is to pass it on the floor, usually to someone 5 to 10 to his left further away from the goal than he was. He could perhaps watch a few Beckham videos step away from defenders  wip a few early balls in. He made a very good career out of this and all strickers who played with him loved him for it.

[Tamworthram]

9 hours ago, ColonelBlimp said:

I'm sorry to disagree but Lowe was very average on the right side 1st half, not really his fault, they all were.

On the left though, very good, should definitely play there instead of Malone.

3 at the back with Keogh on the right will have to do til  Bogle returns. 

Keogh was excellent tonight i thought, Zoon needs to get that cross in earlier and better.

Waghorn and Marriott together worked well, Bielik was good as was Clarke.

Lawrence was good in patches as was Bennett.

Hudz and Dowell both a bit slow and ploddy.

I think you're being a tad generous with Hudz and Dowell. Not only were they a "bit" slow and ploddy their decision making and passing were "a bit" poor.

As for Zoon, I'm all for giving players a chance and being patient but how many chances is he going to get?

[RadioactiveWaste]

You learn more from your failures than your successes.

Cocu was absolutely fuming behind that calm exterior in his post match. Especially as they only reacted after going a goal down.

Bristol are a decent side. And I think they felt they really had a point to prove after we won down there in the final few games last season.

It's still early days - time to put things right.

[cheron85]

10 hours ago, desirelines said:

There are 126 points left to fight for 

I mean it's dreadful that we just lost a game when we only have another 42 games of the season to go... We could be 5 whole points off the leaders after tonight... Dreadful...

? (not an eye roll at you btw...)

[erathirea]

Agree on Bielik. His eye for the pass is definitely there, just needs a couple of other players on his wavelength.

In general, build up play was fast and slick, but the last ball was lacking in too many situations.

I can understand the frustration with Lawrence, but at least he wasn't afraid to try and take on his man - yes, it wasn't a better game for him, but with a player like that you'll have frustrating moments to go with the great ones.

We are missing Bogle's width on the right hand side, particularly as the more I see him, the more convinced I am that we need to be shot of Jofefzoon... and I'm not convinced in Bennett as a starter. Tries hard, but not the right sort of player. Hopefully Paterson can cover that issue.

I think criticism of Dowell is a little harsh. He kept trying the clever final ball, but credit to BC, they defended very well and kept getting a foot in, but again, he was trying.

 

Overall, I would say that it was disappointing to lose, of course, but the way we lost seems to be more about things not quite "clicking" rather than poor players/performances. Defensive errors will reduce as we get used to playing the way Cocu wants us to play, and it could be argued that every goal we've conceded this season so far is down to defensive errors. 

[nogbad van 50]

10 hours ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

Roos - good at coming off his line and distribution but horrendous keeping for the first goal! That’s two mistakes in two games - not convinced

Lowe - considering he’s is very much left sided - outstanding performance. Definitely should be left back 

Keogh and Clarke look good.

Bielik is class but right now looks better in a back three - might adapt to midfield with match sharpness

Dowell and Lawrence mixed bag so far but both have quality.

Waghorn done ok. With Marriott think that could be a formidable pairing 

Bennett did well tonight.

Holmes and Bogle to come back, Marriott fully fit, Knight continues to develop. Wisdom when fit will offer serious competition for the back three along with Evans. There are definite positives.

Even the negatives can be overcome. Malone will be better suited to wing back and Jozefzoon - just don’t play him! Just leaves the Roos problem.

Thought it would be a slow start and it’s starting to prove it. Inevitable. But there is a decent team in there somewhere and I’m confident Cocu has the ability to find it. Think 3-5-2 is the way to go though

Agree with a lot of that and I think we should come to terms with the facts that 1) we’ve got a new manager who’s only been here just over 6 weeks 2) we had a disjointed pre season in Florida that seemed to be a jolly but was the first time Cocu had met the players 3)we were disadvantaged in the transfer market due to the date of the play off final and the fact that Cocu wasn’t totally au fait with the squad’s strengths/weaknesses.

Watching last night’s game showed that for this season we can make do with Roos,Keogh,Clarke,Bielik,Marriott,Waghorn and Lawrence( Just!) but Malone and Jozefzoon need to be moved on as soon as is possible.

Lampard’s loans were successful last season but as for his signings of Evans,Malone and Jozefzoon,oh dear! and I remain to be convinced by Holmes,despite his industry.

In view of what he’s inherited I think Cocu will do well to get us in the top ten this season but,with Rooney arriving in January and some productive business in the next transfer window,i’d expect us to finish the second half of the season strongly once the manager’s ideas and potential new signings have bedded in.

As for the present,get Bogle back,Lowe,Shinnie and Marriott in and I think we’ll be ok.

[jimbo jones]

Positives - plenty for everyone to moan about.