Home v Oldham August 17th

You’re wrong. He carried the ball a few times and won a couple of corners and allowed Mellor to cross at least once. He did ok when he came on.... as others have also admitted.

 

Agree scannell was generally poor apart from his goal but for me Patrick was woeful when he came on. All pace and no ball control, you can call it unpredictable but but for me it shows he isn't good enough.

 

It was a pleasure watching Donaldson and Vaughan today, they were both outstanding.

We also defended very well today, with O'Connor and BRE continuing their fine looking partnership. On that form, Paudie might have to wait longer than he anticipated, to make the starting X1. Good headache for Bowyer to have.

However, as we know, the midfield needs strengthening for sure. First half bypassed Palmer and Devine. Devine was much better in the 2nd half. If we are to play 4-4-2 though, we need an enforcer as one of the central midfield players to try and break play up a bit more when the opposition have it.

Nice to walk away from VP though for a change with a nice victory in the bag

 

Not for me, more of the usual Bambi on ice stuff. Each to their own though.

 

And leaning back when attempting a shot and hitting the upper Kop is good enough? That is also a basic skill (just as is ball control) and he messed up.

Yet he gets a clean pass whilst the other gets criticised AGAIN

 

Didn’t someone (Jon?) refer to Donaldson as Bambi on Ice and I wouldn’t say he was poor?!

 

Just out of interest, why are you so incensed someone is criticising a player you referred to only yesterday as Omari Craptrick?

 

I gave him a right gob full for that, it was an easy set if he’d bothered to get his head up.

 

Well what a strange game that was.

Nice to see us being clinical in front of goal and converting our chances.

I thought Oldham looked quite decent attacking, though strangely they hardly had any shots on goal, despite easily running through our midfield on many occasions.

I would have been happy at 1-1 at half time as I think they deserved something from their attacking play.

I doubt many other teams will come to VP and be as open as they were.

I don't get this Devine love in. He was bang average today. As for Palmer. His dead ball delivery HAS to improve.

A fully fit Scannell will be worth another 10+ goals a season.

CW is as good a crosser of the ball as you will see. Barring injuries he has to be one of the first names on the teamsheet now.

Its nice to win whilst still playing at 80%

Finally JV and CD take a bow guys. You lead the line perfectly and JV tracking back to midfield to start attacks was great to see.

JV was my MOTM.

GB said he wants more players in within 48 hours. Lets hope its at least one nasty midfielder who can get on the ball and make things happen. Akpan has had his chance and failed miserably.

 

Yes we win free kicks but have no player who can help us take advantage - today we again wasted free kicks. Against teams who are harder to breakdown we will need to score from set pieces at times to give us a chance of getting all 3 points.

 

For all the areas that we agree still need strengthening, thinking back to last seasons 'help yourself' centre back problems its hard to believe Paudie cant get in at present - fantastic to have him, Everton and AoC providing each other with competition. One real plus point GB deserves credit for

 

We are just going to have to wait until Patrick's brain starts talking to his feet.
Will have some player then.
We may have some wait though, which is a shame as another Hiwula/Devante Cole would be a useful addition for this team.

 

A’OC made a bad error midweek but he for me has been superb so far in comparison to last season.

Reads the game very well. Maybe found his level?

Armband gate still over him and he has to keep going to put it behind him but another who maybe is thriving off of some serious competition for his place?

BRE is a breath of fresh air too at the back. Can see why Accrington wanted to hang onto him

 

He is athletic, very fast and has a good shot on him. His attitude is good, he gets stuck in and is well motivated. He just doesn't read the game quickly enough or see a pass. There were 2 occasions, once to McCartan and one to Donaldson when a quick pass would have seen them through on goal. I am not sure it can be coached. He was a nuisance against tired legs when he came on though.

 

A typical 442 performance today less possession but more threat. I Think Wood deserves to hold his place. I thought he did well last year when he played left midfield and again today his crossing was good and got back and defended as well.

 

Although we won I thought we were poor up until our second goal Devine was poor and central midfield is still our weakest point, Vaughn was MOTM for me looked good at defending corners, so in a way a good win which hopefully boosts confidence

 

Funny how a bantam talk thread makes you feel like we lost the game.

 

I think a lot of this is not really knowing what we beat in comparison to other teams. Yes, we should have had 5 but will we come up against other teams who play 3 carthorses in central defence yet still keep a high line?

 

So the draws may not have been as bad as people made out as we don’t know what we came up against?

 

Don't know. Saw game 1 and the opposition's only aim was to stop us scoring. Know nothing about game 2 as Like a lot of others, I was a long way away but ask again at Christmas. If previous seasons are a benchmark, our first 11 should by then be a bit different.