v Brentford (A) - Matchday Thread

[BriggRam]

I predicted a battling 2-1 loss, very happy with a well earned point

[Anag Ram]

It was a battling performance last night and showed a degree of doggedness which was often missing under Cocu.

However we cannot kid ourselves that we are going to go flying up the league. We remain utterly toothless in attack and anyone who scores a goal against us will have a 90% chance of winning.

There is no creativity in midfield. Shinnie and Knight do the ugly stuff well and Bielik plays too deep to be able to effect the killer pass.

Up front we have no one who can cross a ball and no one likely to score by cutting in to shoot. CKR is so isolated it’s amazing he keeps going. He busts a gut to get on the ball and then has to wait and wait before he has anyone to pass to.

I can understand the safety first approach for now. We had to transition from a side scoring no points to one that can grind a few out here and there. But relying on opponents not scoring can only last so long. We will at some stage need to gamble on more creative players to win matches.

I think we look like a team that can’t get to January soon enough and am delighted we’re on the upward trajectory. I think the team and the manager deserve credit for the past few weeks.

 I just hope that we haven’t forgotten how to play the football we saw last season.

[Archied]

7 hours ago, DCFC27 said:

Well that’s shown you. The recovery run and tackle by Lawrence when they had a man free at the edge of the box proves it. Like I said he works his socks off but lacks the quality of a player like Ince Vydra etc. With Lawrence and Joz you have two good standard wingers who will work all game.  Don’t you feel a right numpty. 
 

Agree Lawrence works hard , for me his problem going forward is always his first touch ,he is always struggling to get the ball back under control

[Brammie Steve]

It's many a long day since a 0-0 game has been so intriguing and entertaining.

Even neutrals would have enjoyed the commentary.

I look forward to watching the matchday relived!

[Tombo]

15 minutes ago, Archied said:

Agree Lawrence works hard , for me his problem going forward is always his first touch ,he is always struggling to get the ball back under control

To an extent yes but sometimes its very deceptive. Sometimes the first touch looks really heavy and draws the player to him, and the second and third beats the man.

I'm not saying he draws in defenders with a deliberately loose first touch but sometimes it works in his favour if he has the edge mentally to adapt and improvise when his first touch lets him down.

[Norman]

8 hours ago, DCFC27 said:

Well that’s shown you. The recovery run and tackle by Lawrence when they had a man free at the edge of the box proves it. Like I said he works his socks off but lacks the quality of a player like Ince Vydra etc. With Lawrence and Joz you have two good standard wingers who will work all game.  Don’t you feel a right numpty. 
 

So he got dropped, and now started to do what he should have done for the last 10 games. 

I can't honestly believe you think Lawrence has not had the kick up the arse he deserves. Good management by Rooney. 

But hey, 45 mins of effort. At last. 

[DCFC27]

1 hour ago, Archied said:

Agree Lawrence works hard , for me his problem going forward is always his first touch ,he is always struggling to get the ball back under control

Agreed his first touch often slows us down, he’s better when he’s being played in behind rather than to feet. 

[DCFC27]

16 minutes ago, Norman said:

So he got dropped, and now started to do what he should have done for the last 10 games. 

I can't honestly believe you think Lawrence has not had the kick up the arse he deserves. Good management by Rooney. 

But hey, 45 mins of effort. At last. 

No fella don’t twist it, my point is he works hard and he’s always doing doggies up and down but people see him make rash decisions when he’s going forward and can’t see past that. He’s still poor going forward, I just think if your playing a team like Brentford who will move the ball around fast and your wanting someone to press and track back then he’s your man. As is Joz.  Whether he then scores a goal or makes the right pass instead is a different matter entirely.  
Now we have competition for place on the wings with Holmes Joz Lawrence and Ibe he might stay more focused. 
Also he’s the most booked player we’ve had over the past season or two, which just shows you he works back. 

[G STAR RAM]

9 hours ago, Barney1991 said:

Someone said perfectly the other week when we had clement if we had gone for a warnock or allardyce or dyche then we would have been up already.

I notice that the people that use this argument have all of a sudden started omitting Hughton from their list of experienced managers that will guarantee promotion from this division, is there any reason why???

[Srg]

It was a performance, that at times, probably beat the extremely low bar we’ve set ourselves this season - particularly with some of the domination, whilst messing up every chance we had to actually create something, during the first half.

I can understand bringing in the experience, but the fact we played so positively made playing the likes of Davies, Shinnie and Forsyth questionable as they’re not great at the football side of stuff. 

I think if we want to create more, we need to drop Knight into Shinnie’s position and go with someone like Ibe, or even Lawrence behind the striker. Love Jason Knight but his game is all action getting over the pitch, he’s not going to drop a shoulder, play a one-two and create chances.

Brentford are a good team, and I’d have snapped your hand off at a draw pre-match. We just need to figure out how to stop being so wasteful when we get to the final third - and it’s not even poor shooting. Just poor decision making, like Holmes picking out the only defender between him and Jozwiak, or getting it on the edge of the box a couple of times and some how conspiring to pass it backwards to a Brentford player. Just basic stuff, not asking for a miracle here.

It is better, but we need points. That gap to Coventry is already large enough. Still don’t want Rooney here. 

[Gone]

Great result I’d have took a point before kick off. Still worried about the lack of goals in the team, absolutely desperate for a goal scoring CF. 

[Anag Ram]

8 minutes ago, Srg said:

It was a performance, that at times, probably beat the extremely low bar we’ve set ourselves this season - particularly with some of the domination, whilst messing up every chance we had to actually create something, during the first half.

I can understand bringing in the experience, but the fact we played so positively made playing the likes of Davies, Shinnie and Forsyth questionable as they’re not great at the football side of stuff. 

I think if we want to create more, we need to drop Knight into Shinnie’s position and go with someone like Ibe, or even Lawrence behind the striker. Love Jason Knight but his game is all action getting over the pitch, he’s not going to drop a shoulder, play a one-two and create chances.

Brentford are a good team, and I’d have snapped your hand off at a draw pre-match. We just need to figure out how to stop being so wasteful when we get to the final third - and it’s not even poor shooting. Just poor decision making, like Holmes picking out the only defender between him and Jozwiak, or getting it on the edge of the box a couple of times and some how conspiring to pass it backwards to a Brentford player. Just basic stuff, not asking for a miracle here.

It is better, but we need points. That gap to Coventry is already large enough. Still don’t want Rooney here. 

I think the frustrating thing is that Brentford are a good team but they played poorly for them last night and were there for the taking had we shown more care in attack.

Anyone watching the highlights will realise we were lucky. What the highlights don’t show is how much they gave us the ball. We need players like Ibe, Sibley and Stretton on the pitch to give us that goal threat. And we should use CKR as a battering ram for an hour and give Waghorn half an hour .

Substitutes have no chance to make a difference in ten minutes or so.

[Srg]

1 minute ago, Anag Ram said:

I think the frustrating thing is that Brentford are a good team but they played poorly for them last night and were there for the taking had we shown more care in attack.

Anyone watching the highlights will realise we were lucky. What the highlights don’t show is how much they gave us the ball. We need players like Ibe, Sibley and Stretton on the pitch to give us that goal threat. And we should use CKR as a battering ram for an hour and give Waghorn half an hour .

Substitutes have no chance to make a difference in ten minutes or so.

Waghorn should be embarrassed that CKR holds the ball up better than him at 35 years old on the 80th minute blowing out his arse. Just confirms further than Waghorn is more use out wide. 

Forgot to mention Kornell McDonald. Looks like he could be a useful edition. Great energy and confidence. Was unlucky not to win a penalty. 

[Mucker1884]

It's been a while since I was still engrossed in the game right up to the final whistle.

 

I'll take that as a positive, for now.

[Spanish]

9 hours ago, Nuwtfly said:

We had no shots on target and escaped defeat thanks to the crossbar...we played like that under Cocu a lot, Roy! ?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with a point there and was impressed by some of the things we did. Credit to Rooney for getting us doing the simple things better and for being a lot more resolute. But this isn't a world away from what got us into this mess in the first place.

I still think we ultimately need a new driver at the wheel. 

Not convinced yet we need to change.  The Rooney haters will hold steadfast to their views and it will take an incredible amount of evidence to change their opinions.  Play ok then it is "the same as what Cocu would have done or that is the benefit of having Mac here", which is solely based on a desperate need to avoid giving Rooney any praise whatsoever

[Nuwtfly]

1 minute ago, Spanish said:

Not convinced yet we need to change.  The Rooney haters will hold steadfast to their views and it will take an incredible amount of evidence to change their opinions.  Play ok then it is "the same as what Cocu would have done or that is the benefit of having Mac here", which is solely based on a desperate need to avoid giving Rooney any praise whatsoever

If you're referring to me there as a Rooney hater who will avoid giving him any praise whatsoever, please see the second paragraph.

[Ram-Alf]

33 minutes ago, Srg said:

 

 

It is better, but we need points. That gap to Coventry is already large enough. Still don’t want Rooney here. 

I think I understand your thinking, Building blocks are now inplace after a partial demolition job by our previous manager, I see a more steeliness in this squad that wasn't there a few weeks ago, Players now know what their jobs are, We're missing that pivotal striker who can score 15-20 a season and those that can come up witht the 10s and 5s and so forth.

I'm in the Rooney camp of give him and SM the job, I wouldn't want a new face to come in and dismantle what is being built and the players starting all over again...but it's not my call, That is down to others.

[Barney1991]

2 minutes ago, Nuwtfly said:

If you're referring to me there as a Rooney hater who will avoid giving him any praise whatsoever, please see the second paragraph.

Couldn't agree more with the original post about shots on target and mot being to similar to cocu we just look more solid at the back and had more luck last night. If they had there shotting boots on it could have been easily 3 nil 0r 4 nil. Clarke with the block for a certain goal that he should have buried they missed an open goal hit the top of the bar and missed another sitter. So while we are heading in the right direction I think we still looked a million miles away from even top 6 to anything above 14th and that's not where I want to this team.

[Barney1991]

2 minutes ago, James Pond said:

I think I understand your thinking, Building blocks are now inplace after a partial demolition job by our previous manager, I see a more steeliness in this squad that wasn't there a few weeks ago, Players now know what their jobs are, We're missing that pivotal striker who can score 15-20 a season and those that can come up witht the 10s and 5s and so forth.

I'm in the Rooney camp of give him and SM the job, I wouldn't want a new face to come in and dismantle what is being built and the players starting all over again...but it's not my call, That is down to others.

Even if we got this 15 to 20 pivotal striker we just don't create enough chances for them to even bag 10 a season. 

[Norman]

1 hour ago, DCFC27 said:

No fella don’t twist it, my point is he works hard and he’s always doing doggies up and down but people see him make rash decisions when he’s going forward and can’t see past that. He’s still poor going forward, I just think if your playing a team like Brentford who will move the ball around fast and your wanting someone to press and track back then he’s your man. As is Joz.  Whether he then scores a goal or makes the right pass instead is a different matter entirely.  
Now we have competition for place on the wings with Holmes Joz Lawrence and Ibe he might stay more focused. 
Also he’s the most booked player we’ve had over the past season or two, which just shows you he works back. 

If you think Lawrence's workrate and tracking back has been acceptable over the last 10 games then I'm not going to bother to reply to you. 

He got DROPPED. For not doing the basic requirements.