Match Thread Swindon Town (H) @ 15:00 5th March

Looks like Hughes rates Gareth Evans so we will be seeing more of him and hopefully soon Ridehalgh,Vernam and Walker coming back.
Dont know what Hughes can do with our non scoring strikers/forwards.
Elliott needs to get a game at some stage, but dont expect much.

 

I agree the performance today was sustained over a longer period once again though fitness seems to be a real problem with some of the players notably Cook

 

Overall, promising performance. expected result. you miss as many chances we do in any league an you will get punished sooner or later

An observation I made of our defence today

Paudie an Songo. Are good players….individually. Il elaborate. Paudie is good in the air, commands the defence to some extent (something is better than nothing considering the situation we are in)

Songo, throws his body on the line. Has found himself in positions to make goal line clearances numerous times this season

However, They are not compatible as a defensive partnership. They do not complement one another at all. There are certain aspects of the game that both lack, pace an ball carrying being examples

Foulds was as poor i’ve seen from him today. Don’t know whether the Mansfield game has had a knock on effect or what, but he was poor overall. Swindon targeted his side in the first half. He was struggling to make simple passes. Was failing to read moments where he needed to make overlapping runs. Was getting caught out of position too many times and was leaving Paudie, and his lack of pace, heavily exposed on the counter

Hendrie went into his shell after the first 15 minutes. Was not getting close to his man. Was backing out of challenges. The first goal came from his flank an it was down to nobody, notably him and Songo, not closing the Swindon Left Winger down

As for Bass. People are saying that O’Donnell should be brought back into the team. Il be perfectly blunt about this, Those of you who think this way are naive an have short memory. OD is abysmal. Il rejog a few memories. OD never comes off his line. He always gets beat at his near post. He is heavily sceptical to shots from outside the box. And the most important factor, he inspires his defence with 0 confidence. Bare in mind our downturn in form last year coincided with OD being brought back into the team. Our defence is a walking shit show right now, Adding OD to the mix is throwing fuel to the fire

and im not gonna sit here an act like Bass is the second coming of Jordon Pickford. The challenge he made at the end was downright naive. But my main issue with that scenario that unfolded was the incompetence of the entire team in the last 5 mins. Swindon has half a dozen corners an free kicks close to our box. The ball goes in, gets kicked or knocked away, an our team is so bloody slow to come out and press. so the ball ends up going back into our box. time and time again. and all it took was for one ball to get reflected an for the entire team to be switched off to the danger. And before anyone mentions fatigue, Robinson, Sutton an Daly were all brought on and non of them came rushing out to any second balls in those last 5

Bass may of come out naively, but the defence shouldn’t of allowed the swindon player to get into that position with the ball in the first place. As for that save he made, it was a world class one in my opinion that OD would of had no chance in saving. Bass aint great, but he’s the best keeper we have on the books at this moment in time

A special shout out to Evans. I think he was fantastic. Kept that midfield very composed an took his goal well. Got stuck into some challenges an ran his socks off. Cooke was great. His dribbling abilities are very impressive. Its a shame he’s not one to favour shooting when the chance presents itself. I believe his best position may be an 8 rather than behind the striker

Lavery also played well. Its nice to see a player up front who can read the game well, or better at least than whoever else we have available in that position

 

Paudie lost the ball countless times Jon and add to that a couple of times where he got lucky.

You know I'm not his biggest fan anyway but he's OK at kicking and heading it. The problems arose because all of a sudden he thinks he's evolved into Dean Richards.

If Hughes wants to play that way we need at least two, mobile centre halves that can actually pass a ball otherwise we'll be caught out time and time again.

 

Just confirms that the lot of you watched a completely different game to the other 15,000 at the ground.

The defence was an absolute disaster zone and coupled with a very good performance from 3 of the 4 midfielders there were multiple credible options for the MOTM award.[/QUOTE]

 

I know it’s just social media and shouldn’t matter, but could you ever imagine a Gary Jones ever liking an opponents post like this after losing 5 on the trot? Another player I can’t wait to see feck off, spineless beta.

 

If that's true and it's his real account he needs removing from the team with immediate effect and giving him a helping shove through the exit door at the end of June.

 

Poor lad thinks growing it out will hide the receding

Bit odd of him taking a swipe at us but it all makes sense in the end. He's a Chelsea fan. It was 7 years ago, but I'm wondering if he saw some clips of it on the big screen? Visiting here and seeing all that claret and amber must've brought it all back to him Anyway he's known as weirdo with attitude problems, hasn't taken to getting released by Villa very well but he does look a talent and will probably be in League One next season

Don't know what Watt is doing liking his post about us. Maybe letting him know he's seen it/taken note? Very odd behaviour if you're passionate about playing for the badge...or even have an ounce of competitive spirit

 

He clicked on like by mistake. Easily done. He unliked it straight away. Posted an explanation on Twitter saying he would never disrespect the club in this way.

I believe him.

 

I hope you follow suit….wink , wink.!

 

Fair enough, best letting it go then fair play to him for addressing it.

 

No he wasn’t. Watched full 90 and a loss was not deserved. We could have been 4-2 up at half time. The difference between Hughes and Adams…..

Hughes has given certain players their belief back…. Evans for one on that showing and Gilly.

 

Absolutely agree. I shouted nooooo when he set off.

 

Bang on.

 

Id love to meet him on a dark night.

 

Thought McKirdy just came across as a poor man’s Jimmy Bullard.

 

I didn’t like the result but I enjoyed the match. Which tbh I haven’t done for some considerable time. MH has certainly rolled up his sleeves. In a week he made our midfield click which I thought was impossible. Check. Defence needs more work, it will take time. Strike force if you can call it that requires additions. He needs to go shopping in the out of contract players.

The sheer fact that we cannot take even half our chances puts our defence under pressure. We should have been . 2/3 goals the good by half time.

As I say it was great to watch, and it feels like we are at least a football team now, which we haven’t been for most of the season. Onwards and Upwards.

 

Oh and we appear to specialise in poor refs coming to VP.

 

Obviously disappointed with the result but not too upset as I thought for the 1st time in a while , we deserved something against one of the better teams. I thought Evans was mom and he , Cook x 2, Watt, Lavery and Gillead looked energetic and really up for it and allowed to express themselves. A bit of luck and we would have taken the lead in the 2nd half for we certainly caused Swindon some problems. 3 weeks ago, I really thought relegation was coming, not any more. Providing Mark gets backing, he will have a busy summer and I am sure he would not have come to us if he did not genuinely think he could do something. After all, I can't see him coming due to being skint.