Burton Albion (H) Sat 22nd April

[CBRammette]

2 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Jack O’Connell, Rams fan and actor 

He was at mk dons also

[Sufferingfool]

Aside from a disjointed first 10 minutes or so we looked a coherent unit out there today. The wingbacksi pushed up high in support of the front three and despite the need for an out and out striker we created chance after chance. Thought Burton defended very well and were never truly out of the game though we dominated. 
Had with me Boro and Palace supporting relatives who both commented on our energy throughout the game and the high number of balls we were getting in the box, 4 nil would not have flattered us. 
Knight was at his best at wingback, Roberts was excellent for periods and Sibley Didzy and ML work well up front.
A word for Curtis who I thought was finished…. that word is legend. 
Keep this up for two more games and we will enter the playoffs with just a sniff of a chance. 

[sage]

4 minutes ago, Sufferingfool said:

Aside from a disjointed first 10 minutes or so we looked a coherent unit out there today. The wingbacksi pushed up high in support of the front three and despite the need for an out and out striker we created chance after chance. Thought Burton defended very well and were never truly out of the game though we dominated. 
Had with me Boro and Palace supporting relatives who both commented on our energy throughout the game and the high number of balls we were getting in the box, 4 nil would not have flattered us. 
Knight was at his best at wingback, Roberts was excellent for periods and Sibley Didzy and ML work well up front.
A word for Curtis who I thought was finished…. that word is legend. 
Keep this up for two more games and we will enter the playoffs with just a sniff of a chance. 

I really think 4 nil would have very much flattered us.

As a performance its an improvement on our form of 3 weeks ago, but it wouldn't be good enough to get through the play offs.

We have had a run of playing some of the weaker teams and have drawn or won by the odd goal.

We need a 30% improvement to get past the likes of Barnsley and Sheff Wed.

[Bris Vegas]

12 minutes ago, sage said:

I really think 4 nil would have very much flattered us.

As a performance its an improvement on our form of 3 weeks ago, but it wouldn't be good enough to get through the play offs.

We have had a run of playing some of the weaker teams and have drawn or won by the odd goal.

We need a 30% improvement to get past the likes of Barnsley and Sheff Wed.

I lost count of the amount of blocked shots we had. Aside from Didzy, we don’t seem to have anybody who looks remotely confortable in-front of goal.

We probably had 50 attempts on goal in our last two combined home games. But how many of those did we really expect to score?

 

[Jourdan]

20 minutes ago, sage said:

I really think 4 nil would have very much flattered us.

As a performance its an improvement on our form of 3 weeks ago, but it wouldn't be good enough to get through the play offs.

We have had a run of playing some of the weaker teams and have drawn or won by the odd goal.

We need a 30% improvement to get past the likes of Barnsley and Sheff Wed.

A few weeks ago, you said you’d be amazed if we make the play offs. Now we are in the driving seat with two games to play.

Perhaps in that case, Warne and the players deserve credit for the turnaround?

Your default position seems to be we only succeed against weaker opposition, but as we’ve seen in recent weeks, nothing is a given.

Cambridge and Cheltenham beat Peterborough, Burton beat Barnsley and took points off Bolton, and even today Lincoln beat Wycombe.

Look at Sheffield Wednesday’s recent run that took them from comfortably top to lagging behind in third - a run of 1 win in 8 with dropped points away v Forest Green, Oxford and Cheltenham, the kind of games we have been ridiculed for winning.

Is it really as easy as you make out?

We’ve won back to back games, we’ve gone five unbeaten, our fate is in our own hands - why not enjoy it?

[Anag Ram]

I think yesterday’s game summed up where we are. We are about the sixth or seventh best team in the league, with enough talent to beat the lower teams but not enough firepower or strength in midfield to beat the top teams.

We should have seen off Burton more comfortably but right near the end Brayford missed a free header that could have derailed us.

Let’s face it, McGoldrick has single-handedly got us up there. No one else in the team looks likely to score. I keep hearing Sibley is a goalscorer yet he panics in front of goal, as does Collins, Dobbin et al.

Yesterday we had five at the back with two central midfielders who rarely want the ball beyond the half way line. That improved second half, but I can’t understand why we don’t use our passing skills more. Bird and Hourihane are more than capable of slick first time passing. If we can reintroduce that in the play offs, we really would have a chance.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d have taken our current position in a heartbeat at the beginning of the season. I just want us to capitalise on it, especially given the amazing level of support we’ve had.

 

[G STAR RAM]

9 hours ago, David said:

If my aunty had wheels she’d be a bike

Why does she need wheels? Cant she just identify as a bike anyway in these crazy times?

 

[Caerphilly Ram]

1 hour ago, Anag Ram said:

 

Yesterday we had five at the back with two central midfielders who rarely want the ball beyond the half way line. That improved second half, but I can’t understand why we don’t use our passing skills more. Bird and Hourihane are more than capable of slick first time passing. If we can reintroduce that in the play offs, we really would have a chance.

 

 

I agree with some points in your post, we could do with more composure in front of goal, especially of late. BUT, despite McGoldrick being our best goalscorer and the only one with the confidence and shooting boots at the moment, to suggest he’s single-handedly scoring those goals does his teammates a great disservice. And for all the wasted chances we have seen this season, without the goals those players you name (and others) have scored throughout the season, we wouldn’t be the 6th or 7th best team in the league we’d be way out of it. It is a team sport, for me it’s always got everything to do with the whole playing staff across the whole season.
 

Regarding yesterday’s game I must have been seeing things when Roberts and Knight were in the box at different points crossing, passing and having attempts at goal. Or Bird being fouled in their box for the penalty (granted that was from a set piece), or in the first half when he won the ball in midfield, stroked a pass out to wing, made a lung bursting run into the box to take a through ball from Roberts by the touchline and cut it back for Sibley to hit to target with an good bit of defending taking the sting out of his shot. Or Hourihane combining with McGoldrick and Sibley in a slick move that saw Sibley cross for NML, or earlier in the game combining with NML who crossed for McGoldrick for our first chance. There were times when we played it long, and it was aimless, and there were times when we played it long and it led to a chance. One attempt on goal even came from us passing it across the back line first like the Rams teams of the last few years.
All of which is available to see in this nice little highlights package;

And aspects of that play were evident against other teams recently like Exeter and MK Dons. There’s been some poor stuff recently, no doubt, but look for it and you’ll see evidence of some very good stuff too. Regardless of how lowly we may perceive the opposition to be, it’s a competitive league at times and we’ve forcibly strung a few ok performances and results together.
I’m hoping we continue building momentum on this mini run, keep a mix of playing it short and long, and we’ll do well these next two games and with any luck see a couple of different goalscorers back on the scoresheet too! 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Caerphilly Ram

[i-Ram]

8 hours ago, Sufferingfool said:

Aside from a disjointed first 10 minutes or so we looked a coherent unit out there today. The wingbacksi pushed up high in support of the front three and despite the need for an out and out striker we created chance after chance. Thought Burton defended very well and were never truly out of the game though we dominated. 
Had with me Boro and Palace supporting relatives who both commented on our energy throughout the game and the high number of balls we were getting in the box, 4 nil would not have flattered us. 
Knight was at his best at wingback, Roberts was excellent for periods and Sibley Didzy and ML work well up front.
A word for Curtis who I thought was finished…. that word is legend. 
Keep this up for two more games and we will enter the playoffs with just a sniff of a chance. 

Wingbacksi? I hope he offers better value than Bielik and Jozwiak. Bloody Poles, coming over here, with their high energy, fixing our taps, and using up our supermarket fridge capacity with spicy sausage and Tyskie.  Bloody Poles.

Edited April 23, 2023 by i-Ram

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

Take the 3 points and move on. We are still not convincing and are relying heavily on DMcG but a win is a win. 

If we can get into the play-offs then you never know. The best team doesn’t always get to the final or win it - us beating Leeds, Hull and QPR beating us for example. 

A big shout out to Fozzy by the way. Playing on the right hand side of the 3 when you are very left footed can’t be too easy but he played a couple of cracking balls with his right foot and never looked in too much trouble.

 The way we defended the long throw yesterday and picked up the first ball after was testament to the whole team. Compared to the panicky defending I saw from Liverpool on MOTD we were very solid.

Move on to next Saturday. COYR 🐏

[CBRammette]

7 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

I lost count of the amount of blocked shots we had. Aside from Didzy, we don’t seem to have anybody who looks remotely confortable in-front of goal.

We probably had 50 attempts on goal in our last two combined home games. But how many of those did we really expect to score?

 

Its perhaps all the criticism they read from fans about players who do score - makes them overly nervous. Players are human - do you not think the desperation to claw back form could have affected them?

[BuckoBeast]

8 hours ago, CBRammette said:

He was at mk dons also

I used to have a ST behind him and his mates. There was about 4 or 5 of them, proper lads 😂 used to celebrate like crazy. Unfortunately it was in the PL season and they used to enjoy ‘let’s pretend to score a goal’ 

[Ram-Alf]

8 hours ago, sage said:

I really think 4 nil would have very much flattered us.

As a performance its an improvement on our form of 3 weeks ago, but it wouldn't be good enough to get through the play offs.

We have had a run of playing some of the weaker teams and have drawn or won by the odd goal.

We need a 30% improvement to get past the likes of Barnsley and Sheff Wed.

The improvement would be someone other than McGoldrick scoring, Barkhuizen at the end should have scored, If a playoff place is cemented after the Portsmouth game...that 30% will be much needed 

[TuffLuff]

Full credit to Warne, i don’t think many of us would have combined Hourihane, Sibley and McGoldrick but I thought our best play came when those three combined. Hope he keeps playing them because they could be our best chance of competing IF we make it to the play offs.

Also was impressed with his game management. Second half I think we were all getting a little frustrated by our passing from one wing to the other but I think Warne, or someone, noticed how narrow Burton were in the first half. We went a bit wider and made them chase around from one side to the other at start of the second half and we had those 3 or 4 corners in a row where Hourihane and NML played it short and forced them out to chase again, which caused the penalty. Bit of luck maybe, but it’s smart play that our game in recent weeks has lacked

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

16 hours ago, hintonsboots said:

The Lino kept telling him the back of his socks were ripped.

Or that not every pass from 10 yards needs to be hit at 50mph

[Crewton]

I don't think 4 goals would have flattered us - their keeper pulled off a number of excellent saves and we had many blocked shots and near misses - but the clean sheet was a little fortunate because both Carayol and Brayford should have scored.

A 3 goal winning margin would not have been unfair.

[Ram-Alf]

16 hours ago, hintonsboots said:

The Lino kept telling him the back of his socks were ripped.

Is this a new fashion statement, Are they seconds from War on Want or are they aero dynamically suited to make a player go faster when the wind sweeps round...I really don't see a benefit, Like those nose plaster thingies...comical suggestions accepted 👍 

[sage]

14 hours ago, Jourdan said:

A few weeks ago, you said you’d be amazed if we make the play offs. Now we are in the driving seat with two games to play.

Perhaps in that case, Warne and the players deserve credit for the turnaround?

Your default position seems to be we only succeed against weaker opposition, but as we’ve seen in recent weeks, nothing is a given.

Cambridge and Cheltenham beat Peterborough, Burton beat Barnsley and took points off Bolton, and even today Lincoln beat Wycombe.

Look at Sheffield Wednesday’s recent run that took them from comfortably top to lagging behind in third - a run of 1 win in 8 with dropped points away v Forest Green, Oxford and Cheltenham, the kind of games we have been ridiculed for winning.

Is it really as easy as you make out?

We’ve won back to back games, we’ve gone five unbeaten, our fate is in our own hands - why not enjoy it?

 

14 hours ago, Jourdan said:

 

I enjoy our wins but you have to look at the bigger picture. My point about beating weaker teams and losing to strong one's is very much valid and not altered by your tangent of talking about other teams.

I was rather taken by surprise at how poor Bristol Rovers and Exeter are. The latter having no fit centre forwards certainly helped our cause.

Two clear reasons for our upturn are Bird coming back and shielding the back 4 (I'd like to see how many we concede per game, with and without him) and Warne finally getting tactics right when we are leading. The only times we look like conceding in open play was when we overcommitted.

 

[Mikeyboy1963]

4 hours ago, Crewton said:

I don't think 4 goals would have flattered us - their keeper pulled off a number of excellent saves and we had many blocked shots and near misses - but the clean sheet was a little fortunate because both Carayol and Brayford should have scored.

A 3 goal winning margin would not have been unfair.

But where would the 4 goals have come from? The Sky stats tell the true story - clear cut chances 0 and 0. Just a dodgy penalty separated us. 

[alram]

22 hours ago, Rich3478 said:

Not at the least is it? Four points be more than enough!

you think we will get top 6 with just 3 more points? no chance IMO