Most liked posts in thread: Burton (H) - August 21st

Crazy as it seems I think the result was more important than the performance even at this early stage. Burton have themselves to blame for missing some great chances. I think we will get better but my gut feeling is that we are miles off being playoff contenders.

 

Just an observation. In the first half Scannel beat his man on several occasions and hit low crosses in to the near post. Unfortunately our strikers were nowhere near. I think when Scannel gets in that position one of them needs to anticipate and make a near post run

 

"Jus tekken it easy maaan!"

 

Agreed. Think Chicksen deserves some credit as well, he's come in for a lot of stick on here but put in a solid performance tonight.

 

This is a cliché but result was more important than the performance tonight. On balance a draw would've been fair we're lucky their finishing was woeful. But equally we also had some good chances.

My observations think midfield of Wright and Akpan are hard working but slow and a little negative for a home game (that said Wright laid on a peach of a through ball second half which Scannell should've done better with).

MOM Scannell by a mile ran himself to ground and gave their fullback a tough evening.

Doyle and Miller up top is more effective than a Doyle on his own and Payne in the hole. Miller works very hard.

Gibson tries to hard, one touch too many and loses possession. He has talent but needs to get the basics right.

Found it quite entertaining to watch and very happy we somehow found a way to win. We needed it

 

Don't disagree with most of what you say, but saying scanell could've got back more is a strange one for me. I thought part of what made his performance so great was the fact he got back whenever Burton attacked. He won so many balls from his willingness to get back.

 

We were decent enough tonight but still lots and lots to work on.

It's the second league game in a row where we've conceded 20+ shots on goal which suggests the midfield is far too open and weak. Wright and akpan need an understanding where one goes and one stays as far too many times tonight they were attracted to the same ball.

We still don't have a clear style of play. One minute we're playing nice triangles and the next we're booting it up to Doyle. So if that's the way we're going then we do indeed need a target man otherwise we won't win a header upfront all season. Miller works hard and works the channels well but I'm not sure he's good enough.

McGowan and O'Connor were good. A few sloppy moments from McGowan but he missed half a season last year so is still getting up to match fitness. But some top tackles in there too.

Scannell and Payne the standouts obviously.

Only 3 shots on target again isn't good enough and that side of our game needs big work.

 

I thought a major flaw in our play was Wright and Akpan sitting way to deep last night. Scannell regularly took 2 or 3 players with him leave a huge area behind our front 2 and we only filled that area once and on tgat occasion Wright put the ball through and we got a shot in. Akpan needs to learn to sit and patrol but not too far back especially if our full backs go forward and Wright needs to learn to fill that space and trust Akpan to do his job. The movement all night from Scannell Payne and Doyle showed they are a class above the rest, they know what they're doing and its upto the rest of them to make that step up in intelligence not for those 3 to dumb down their play. A decent lb a box to box midfielder and a decent front man who can hold it up and let Doyle play his correct game and we will be a good outfit in time

 

Funny how we perceive things isn't it? Burton newly relegated club lacking in confidence. Barnsley just down from championship world beaters. They actually got the same number of points last year.

 

OKAY I HAVE DECIDED.... WE ARE GOING TO GO OUT THERE TONIGHT AND WIN WIN WIN!!

Bradford 3 - 1 Burton

COME ON CIIIIITTTYYY!!!!

 

A good response from the players last, who all fought hard and worked their socks off.

Scannell was the stand out performer. He gave their left back a torrid time, and his work rate was phenomenal, ever willing to track back and help out Mellor and Riley.

Payne grew into the game more and more, and was far more effective when roving in a more central role. The dilemma for Collins is how to get the best out of him and still try and play 2 up front

I thought Wright had a much improved game, and provided the pass of the night in the second half, with that beauty to Scannell, which Scannell unfortunately wasted, blasting high and wide.

Akpan still worries me, hes a big enough unit not to shirk tackles, but he did so with a couple of 50/50's in the first half. He always looks too lethargic to me, maybe a current fitness issue, or is it just his style?

O'Connor the pick of the defenders, although I think Chicksen gets far too much over the top criticism from some at times.

Finally, the problem area, up front. Doyle not getting much of a sniff at the moment, reduced to a couple of speculative long range efforts that didnt trouble the keeper. Miller works his socks off, but is not very effective alongside Doyle, and I'm struggling to see where enough goals are going to come from for us to mount a serious challenge on the top 6. We are desperate for a much more powerful striker to work alongside Doyle, not Bruenker though! It would have been good to see Doyle alongside Wyke. Wyke is going to be a huge miss I think, and I cannot imagine how they will be able to bring anybody in on loan, experienced and good enough to do what he did for us.

I actually enjoyed last night, very open game, although we were fortunate on the night that Burton wasted a host of decent chances. Jake Buxton really impressed me for them in central defence, didnt realise he played for them.

The crowd were very supportive and loud at times, especially when we were digging deep to protect our precious 1 goal lead.

Lets hope we can follow this up with a more convincing performance against Wycombe, and more importantly another 3 points, which would give us a satisfactory 9 points tally from the first 5 games

 

Think Payne needs to be starting. Not been impressed with Akpan and Wright so far and I want to see 2 up top.

 

Jones has spoken more sense in 10 mins then that joker Thornton has in 4 years.

 

You're just boring now. I was at the match.Every player made mistakes tonight. Chicksen also made several crucial challenges, 2 particularly in the first half, but you are so blinkered all you see are the negatives.

 

Spot on. A wins a win but we can't carry on like that all season. Very little creativity and nothing sticking up top with Doyle. We need to make sure that we use the remaining loan window wisely to bring in a frontman along with some serious midfield leadership!

 

Looking forward to this.

Burton at 21/10 to win. You can't argue that backing against City is a wise thing to do right niw

 

Maybe Payne for Wright?

 

I am so glad I timed my trip over to take in the Shrewsbury match, and not the next ones... The team was raw, but did show determination and desire. We did ride our luck a bit, but then again we could/should have scored at least 1 if not 2 more ourselves. Even MC made the right changes at the right times. It was a promising start all round. Barnsley may well have been too tough a test this early, but Macclesfield and Southend were certainly winnable. We need to get that promise back, and as you (Jon) said, we don't have the luxury of too much time in which to do that.

RCB