Match Thread: Wycombe (a)

[G STAR RAM]

3 minutes ago, Curtains said:

Terrible result last night. 
 

Leaves Bolton with the advantage for 2nd now IMO

 

I'd say opportunity rather than advantage.

There's no substitute for points on the board at this stage of the season. 

Looking at the run ins I wouldn't bet against Peterborough accumulating more points than Bolton.

[Curtains]

Just now, G STAR RAM said:

I'd say opportunity rather than advantage.

There's no substitute for points on the board at this stage of the season. 

Looking at the run ins I wouldn't bet against Peterborough accumulating more points than Bolton.

I think Collins will do it for Bolton.  
Great signing from Bristol Rovers 

[Leeds Ram]

I don't see Bolton beating Portsmouth and Peterborough but I can see Peterborough winning their last 5. I think they'll edge us out by a point or two in the end. We'll look back at this game and Northampton being the clinchers. Maybe we'll win in the playoffs but I'm far from confident. We possessed no composure and second half ran around like headless chickens. Poor game management from the coaches and the players who needed to keep their heads and stick to the formula which has won us 12 away games this year. 

[Curtains]

Portsmouth need to do Derby a favour now after last nights terrible result at Wycombe after also blowing up at Northampton 

[Kinder]

I didn’t realise how bad CBT’s miss was as we were up the other end. Just seen the “highlights” and that was shocking.

[jimtastic56]

1 hour ago, kevinhectoring said:

I think NML can complete a full season - despite being 31, having a big frame and being a high intensity player. but not if he’s overplayed. It a question not of too many matches, but of too many minutes. 

Perhaps he should have gone on International duty to re-charge his batteries a little . He has always been a 20 game a season player and will be 34 by the time his contract ends . Warne must have a strategy for getting the best out of him .

[Shuff264]

18 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Really?!

Cross should have come earlier and been played on the ground.

CBT should still do better.

Takes an extra touch here when the ball should be played.

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

12 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

If the pass had been as good as it should have been he wouldn't have even needed to think about it.

However, as the pic above shows he had enough time to do whatever he wanted if he was worried he might not get a good connection. 

Just a complete lapse of concentration or lack of confidence.

Or a right footed player, playing as an inverted winger who gets a sitter on his weaker foot?

Call me old fashioned but....next season, if we still have PW - with his get it wide and get crosses in philosophy - I'd like to see a left footed left winger and a right footed right winger a) for getting decent crosses in and b) for scoring back post sitters!

[Archied]

12 minutes ago, Curtains said:

Terrible result last night. 
 

Leaves Bolton with the advantage for 2nd now IMO

 

Peterborough are more of a worry given the fixtures 

[kevinhectoring]

54 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

My recollection is he missed a very easy chance, all this laying the blame on Washington is just that, an excuse for CBT being poor.

Raheem Sterling and Mo Salah miss a handful of those every season.
 

Imagine what CBT is looking at. First he doesn’t know whether W will shoot or cross. (What he does know is, he should have crossed 2 seconds earlier. ) Then the ball is hit pretty hard, inside of the foot, so it has swing. It is aerial. ( This type of ball is now necessary because W is releasing the ball too late. ) Then, the ball is coming between the keeper - who almost reaches it with his right hand - and the defender. Distracting. And - critically -  it is hit so as not to be a volley but instead to be a half volley; except half volleys come in various sizes, ranging from yorkers to long half volleys, and more precision is needed than when hitting a volley. Oh and because of the angles CBT is having to travel more quickly then he was when he should have received the ball.
 

I expect xG had it at well above a 50% chance. I’d agree it’s above 50 but in this div not by much at all. 
 

Looking forward to your laughing emoji 

[Sparkle]

1 hour ago, Rich84 said:

NML hasn't scored since Exeter away, 12 games, or assisted since Bristol Rovers away, 6 games.

Looks like he's ran out of steam, the same as last season, but with CBT not getting going there's little alternative tbh. Clearly CBT is a confidence player, and following that miss he was a waste of a shirt, along with Washington and Collins, which surprised me re Collins, very quiet, but have no time for Washington,  he's been poor all season.

Yet what has happened to him? Someone moved him basically from his best position and decided to make him captain to give him something else to think about - NML is one of those who you leave in his best position and just concentrate on playing 

[YouRams]

2 minutes ago, Ian Buxton's Bat said:

Or a right footed player, playing as an inverted winger who gets a sitter on his weaker foot?

Call me old fashioned but....next season, if we still have PW - with his get it wide and get crosses in philosophy - I'd like to see a left footed left winger and a right footed right winger a) for getting decent crosses in and b) for scoring back post sitters!

Such an obvious thing you've pointed out that I've never really thought about. We get doubled up on down that left but part of it is the time they're taking to turn back on their right foot.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Now that it's not in our hands anymore, I expect the team to go back into "good" mode.

But the thing with it being out of our hands, is until our rivals drop points themselves, there's little we can do about it, beyond winning our last 3 and hoping.

If it comes to play offs I don't back this team, I think they'll blow it.

2nd is not done, but we're needing help from outside to do it.

[Srg]

5 minutes ago, YouRams said:

Such an obvious thing you've pointed out that I've never really thought about. We get doubled up on down that left but part of it is the time they're taking to turn back on their right foot.

Inverted wingers are just modern football. So few teams play with left footed on the left, right footed on the right like 15 years ago. Coincided with the shift towards goals coming from those players, rather than strikers in a lot of top teams.

Think we can analyse that miss until the cows come home but it doesn't really matter. It was a crap miss, one he wouldn't miss if you gave him another 10 goes at it. It's football, it happens. He won't need telling. It's Warne and the team's job to ensure his head doesn't drop over it because we will need him if we're to do this.

5 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

Yet what has happened to him? Someone moved him basically from his best position and decided to make him captain to give him something else to think about - NML is one of those who you leave in his best position and just concentrate on playing 

Whilst I agree, I think Warne would have left him there if he could. We had an injury crisis, he was trying to polish a turd of an attacking force.

Edited April 11 by Srg

[YouRams]

1 minute ago, Srg said:

Inverted wingers are just modern football. So few teams play with left footed on the left, right footed on the right like 20 15 years ago. Coincided with the shift towards goals coming from those players, rather than strikers in a lot of top teams.

For it to be effective though it's got to be getting to them quicker, and part of that problem is we don't have a CM Infront of Adams and Smith that can pick that pass quick enough.

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

2 minutes ago, YouRams said:

For it to be effective though it's got to be getting to them quicker, and part of that problem is we don't have a CM Infront of Adams and Smith that can pick that pass quick enough.

We don't HAVE a CM in front of Smith and Adams

[Srg]

2 minutes ago, YouRams said:

For it to be effective though it's got to be getting to them quicker, and part of that problem is we don't have a CM Infront of Adams and Smith that can pick that pass quick enough.

Certainly could do with more creativity, but a lot of it is more indecision and overthinking it. League One players, I'm afraid.

[G STAR RAM]

21 minutes ago, Shuff264 said:

Cross should have come earlier and been played on the ground.

CBT should still do better.

Takes an extra touch here when the ball should be played.

Agreed

[DavesaRam]

So having calmed down (again), here we go: First half I was ok with the Rams, because we had been competent overall, aided by Wycombe's terrible start. They were awful. Even so, we should have been 2 or 3 nil up. But most of our threats came from a long hoof upfield (the only times we played through the middle?), but there still were some concerns. We did have one move of very slick, one-touch passing which sliced them wide open, I think ending up with NML trying to convert the rugby try! But after 30 minutes or so Wycombe seemed to change things up and were getting into the ascendency. This continued in the second half when they went up another ger, and we were left chasing shadows for much of the half. The highlight of the the half was Smith's performances, with 2 or 3 "Gorgeous George" through balls - delightful. What was he doing playing the ball through midfield? 

The real issue is yet again we treated midfield as though that is where you go to catch the plague. So yet again we find a way to play that works, and then we slither back to the tied and trusted methods which we have proved over and over again don't work. Our main gambit is still "get it wide and cross it in", and just as Northampton did, Wycombe simply doubled up on our wide men, and it was effectively game over. And when we did cross it, there was only 1 or 2 of ours in the box. Were we holding back to guard against Wycombe catching us on the break? Will they did anyway, because we only had 2 men in midfield. So having played with 3 in midfield and avoided the collapse which our crop of injuries should have brought us, we went back to 2 in the middle, and spent much of the match being over-run there.

Add in that a number of players yet gain didn't show up in a crucial match and in the end a draw was seemingly a good result. Only it wasn't. I wonder if the no-show performances is because the players know that no matter how hard they try, they are being asked to play in a way that doesn't work?

And for anyone who wants to have a go at people who have the temerity to criticise what is happening: as I said earlier in this thread, with this bunch of players it should be Portsmouth who are fighting for second place, not us.

[Crewton]

Sporting Life has CBT's chance at an xG of 0.85 rated as Massive. I think that's a little OTT and doesn't take into account the pace and trajectory of the cross from Washington. Remember that CBT is trying to stay onside and has to check his run slightly because Washington delays the pass. Consequently, he's stretching a bit when the ball arrives at pace and seems to land under his foot. It's a good chance missed, no doubt, but if Washington had passed when he should have along the deck, CBT would have no excuses.