Post by stevek192 on Sept 30, 2018 9:10:07 GMT
After last weeks win it was very important that we followed it up by getting at least a point at Bradford and trying to get confidence and an undefeated run going. When things are not going particularly well I go back to the old way of thinking of winning home games and drawing away however in our present circumstances we really need to start winning some of the winnable away games as well and yesterday was a case of two points missed and one point gained. Overall I felt we did enough to win the game but there again we could so easily have lost it. I don't think we will get away with a more blatant penalty than the Craig handball in the last few minutes but in truth it would have been robbery and totally undeserved for a battling performance.
Bonham 7 Another accomplished performance for our current number 1.The bloke is always completely aware of the situation and I will use the Lockyer error as an example of this - lockyer slips and Bradford player clean through Keeper runs out and narrows the angle well and forces the striker to shoot and the ball strikes the post. Now I lay odds that had that been Smith or Slocombe in goal they both would have watched as an opponent ran in and tapped the rebound into the empty goal and we would have been 1 down with no blame on the keepers. The difference with Bonham is he was alive enough to the situation to turn and get back and dive on the ball and we survive at 0-0. His handling was excellent throughout and he made a few saves but unlike at Luton was not over worked but just did a good job.
Partington 6.5 Good to have him back in the team and did a reasonable job without being spectacular. He is another good all rounder to have around and although he lacks Leadbitters pace he crosses the ball better and is more reliable in his defending. It is however a tight call between him, Leadbitter, and James Clarke but I hope that DC makes his mind up and sticks with one for a few games.
J. Clarke 6.5 Did all that could be asked of him. Unspectacular but efficient.
Lockyer 5 Made two awful mistakes the second which would have gifted Bradford a goal but for the post and an alert keeper and looked very shaky before his injury.
Craig 7 Kept a steady head and showed great leadership qualities after Lockyer went off and kept Doyle pretty quiet and provided good cover for the tested Kelly.Ok it should have been a penalty near the end but had he not been on the spot and got away with it that would have been 1-0 game over so it was a great bit of defending! there again he does always put his body on the line and the number of times he uses all his experience to cushion a ball to safety I feel he is well worth his place in the side.
Kelly 5 Attacked well and put over a couple of excellent crosses which should have at least resulted in an effort on goal and how his shot in the second half went wide I shall never know as I was right behind it and it was going into the far corner of the net and swinging in but then took a savage swing the other way and went the wrong side of the post-it looked a goal all the way. Defensively he was second mess far too many times with their tricky winger who although he looked the best player on the pitch I am unsure if that was down to his ability or the inexperience of the player marking him. Probably a mixture of the two however Kelly did on a lot of occasions do well but was just skinned too many times overall.
Upson 7.5 MOM For me he was our best player on the ball and sprayed some lovely passes both left and right and stood out in the middle of the park. very unlucky early on with a strike from 25 yards that hit the inside of the post and somehow evaded any of our players around goal. Won the ball or kept control of the ball in tight situations and the combination of him, Ollie Clarke and Sinclair worked well. Was he better than Lines? Probably yes but is a different type of player and doesn't bring the ball out as fast as Lines but probably uses the ball better. On yesterdays performance I would have him in the team but who do you leave out as Lines , Ollie Clarke, Sinclair and now Sercombe can justifiably stake claims. Dc's problem for me is that none of the midfielders are really wide players and we end up playing very narrow and lack pace in our attacks. I look at both Lines and Upson and think with their ability to spread the ball we do need at least one wide player playing to get behind oopponents.
O. Clarke 7 Kept battling away and keeping up his recent good form. gave the ball away cheaply at times but we are starting to get a consistent performance from him. Upsom just edged the MOM for me for his creativity and control of the midfield but Ollie was not far behind him.
Sinclair 6.5 Effort and commitment personified but really should have scored when the ball was laid back to him inside the area. it was such a good lay back that deserved a goal. There again unlike Nichols he is not a striker so would have been a bonus! Opponents must hate playing against them because he just keeps coming back, challenging and winning balls he shouldn't and really being a total nuisance to the opposition. Good all round game.
Nichols 5 Some good touches and worked hard but should have done better with a half chance in the first half and that is the crux of the problem he is in the side to either assist or score a goal and over a long period and again yesterday has done neither. I am all for keeping a winning team but for how long can DC continue playing him when it is clear to see that we are struggling in the final third ands surely we have to eventually give Jacubiak a number of games to see what he can do as he had more shots in his 5 minutes on the pitch than Nichols did all game.
Reilly 5.5 Worked hard but needs somebody alongside him to work with as a pair. I do not really see Nichols being his ideal partner but I do see him as more likely to score goals than Nichols.
Subs:
Broadbent 6 Came on and did a reasonable job but like too many of our players sometimes seems unaware of players around him and makes silly errors. That said perhaps he does deserve a run in the side at the expense of Lockyer who too does make errors too often. If he doesn't play we will never know if he can overcome this and the only way to gain experience is by playing.
Sercombe 7 Great to see him back and livened us up in the final third with three shots. A sharp Sercombe would have got a shot away earlier on one occasion and probably scored but was twice unlucky with the keeper making a good save and the other blocked for a corner. The problem now is DC because he is our most likely player to score and for me should be on the team sheet in central midfield with others fitted around him rather than him being fitted in the team out of position. This for me has been a clear weakness in DC's team selections.
Jakubiak NOLE 6 Did more than Nichols in the short time he was on and unlucky not to give us a last ditch win with a strong run and shot at goal that was saved low down.
Crowd 8 Tremendous atmosphere considering both teams position in the League.
Ref 6 Did Ok without being outstanding. There were decisions both ways that were questioned but at least he wasn't a homer and decisions were even. Missed a blatant penalty with the handball from Craig but many refs we have had recently would have given it even if they hadn't clearly seen it!
Bradford 5 Can see why they are in the position they are in as they look a pale shadow of the team we have previously played there. In fact in many ways they looked even worse than the team which came to the Mem last season but perhaps that is being unfair on our team as I have said this a few times this season about teams who after they have played us have gone on to get some good results. Their number 7 was probably the best player on the pitch and Eoin Doyle was very well marked out of the game by us and did very little.
DC What is it about our Manager that cannot just keep a winning team? We will never know if it would bring us more victories because he just won't do it. It is almost as if he feels he has to change something to put his name on it! There was some good football played yesterday and Upson spread some lovely passes but without real width we cannot make the most of this although both Partington and Kelly delivered a couple of good balls in. The continued selection of Nichols bewilders me and it is almost as if he is waiting to say "I told you so" and yet week after week there is nothing visible to show that Nichols is anywhere near going to deliver one goal let alone the 10-15 at least we are due. We definitely lack physical presence in the final third and pace out wide however we can't do anything until January now and the silence at the top of our club makes me wonder if there will be anything we can do in January.
So we move on to another tough game on Tuesday against a Rochdale side who we rarely beat away and yet I fancy we might get a result there this time. What team will DC select? I haven't a bloody clue but you can bet your life it won't be an unchanged one! UTG
Bonham 7 Another accomplished performance for our current number 1.The bloke is always completely aware of the situation and I will use the Lockyer error as an example of this - lockyer slips and Bradford player clean through Keeper runs out and narrows the angle well and forces the striker to shoot and the ball strikes the post. Now I lay odds that had that been Smith or Slocombe in goal they both would have watched as an opponent ran in and tapped the rebound into the empty goal and we would have been 1 down with no blame on the keepers. The difference with Bonham is he was alive enough to the situation to turn and get back and dive on the ball and we survive at 0-0. His handling was excellent throughout and he made a few saves but unlike at Luton was not over worked but just did a good job.
Partington 6.5 Good to have him back in the team and did a reasonable job without being spectacular. He is another good all rounder to have around and although he lacks Leadbitters pace he crosses the ball better and is more reliable in his defending. It is however a tight call between him, Leadbitter, and James Clarke but I hope that DC makes his mind up and sticks with one for a few games.
J. Clarke 6.5 Did all that could be asked of him. Unspectacular but efficient.
Lockyer 5 Made two awful mistakes the second which would have gifted Bradford a goal but for the post and an alert keeper and looked very shaky before his injury.
Craig 7 Kept a steady head and showed great leadership qualities after Lockyer went off and kept Doyle pretty quiet and provided good cover for the tested Kelly.Ok it should have been a penalty near the end but had he not been on the spot and got away with it that would have been 1-0 game over so it was a great bit of defending! there again he does always put his body on the line and the number of times he uses all his experience to cushion a ball to safety I feel he is well worth his place in the side.
Kelly 5 Attacked well and put over a couple of excellent crosses which should have at least resulted in an effort on goal and how his shot in the second half went wide I shall never know as I was right behind it and it was going into the far corner of the net and swinging in but then took a savage swing the other way and went the wrong side of the post-it looked a goal all the way. Defensively he was second mess far too many times with their tricky winger who although he looked the best player on the pitch I am unsure if that was down to his ability or the inexperience of the player marking him. Probably a mixture of the two however Kelly did on a lot of occasions do well but was just skinned too many times overall.
Upson 7.5 MOM For me he was our best player on the ball and sprayed some lovely passes both left and right and stood out in the middle of the park. very unlucky early on with a strike from 25 yards that hit the inside of the post and somehow evaded any of our players around goal. Won the ball or kept control of the ball in tight situations and the combination of him, Ollie Clarke and Sinclair worked well. Was he better than Lines? Probably yes but is a different type of player and doesn't bring the ball out as fast as Lines but probably uses the ball better. On yesterdays performance I would have him in the team but who do you leave out as Lines , Ollie Clarke, Sinclair and now Sercombe can justifiably stake claims. Dc's problem for me is that none of the midfielders are really wide players and we end up playing very narrow and lack pace in our attacks. I look at both Lines and Upson and think with their ability to spread the ball we do need at least one wide player playing to get behind oopponents.
O. Clarke 7 Kept battling away and keeping up his recent good form. gave the ball away cheaply at times but we are starting to get a consistent performance from him. Upsom just edged the MOM for me for his creativity and control of the midfield but Ollie was not far behind him.
Sinclair 6.5 Effort and commitment personified but really should have scored when the ball was laid back to him inside the area. it was such a good lay back that deserved a goal. There again unlike Nichols he is not a striker so would have been a bonus! Opponents must hate playing against them because he just keeps coming back, challenging and winning balls he shouldn't and really being a total nuisance to the opposition. Good all round game.
Nichols 5 Some good touches and worked hard but should have done better with a half chance in the first half and that is the crux of the problem he is in the side to either assist or score a goal and over a long period and again yesterday has done neither. I am all for keeping a winning team but for how long can DC continue playing him when it is clear to see that we are struggling in the final third ands surely we have to eventually give Jacubiak a number of games to see what he can do as he had more shots in his 5 minutes on the pitch than Nichols did all game.
Reilly 5.5 Worked hard but needs somebody alongside him to work with as a pair. I do not really see Nichols being his ideal partner but I do see him as more likely to score goals than Nichols.
Subs:
Broadbent 6 Came on and did a reasonable job but like too many of our players sometimes seems unaware of players around him and makes silly errors. That said perhaps he does deserve a run in the side at the expense of Lockyer who too does make errors too often. If he doesn't play we will never know if he can overcome this and the only way to gain experience is by playing.
Sercombe 7 Great to see him back and livened us up in the final third with three shots. A sharp Sercombe would have got a shot away earlier on one occasion and probably scored but was twice unlucky with the keeper making a good save and the other blocked for a corner. The problem now is DC because he is our most likely player to score and for me should be on the team sheet in central midfield with others fitted around him rather than him being fitted in the team out of position. This for me has been a clear weakness in DC's team selections.
Jakubiak NOLE 6 Did more than Nichols in the short time he was on and unlucky not to give us a last ditch win with a strong run and shot at goal that was saved low down.
Crowd 8 Tremendous atmosphere considering both teams position in the League.
Ref 6 Did Ok without being outstanding. There were decisions both ways that were questioned but at least he wasn't a homer and decisions were even. Missed a blatant penalty with the handball from Craig but many refs we have had recently would have given it even if they hadn't clearly seen it!
Bradford 5 Can see why they are in the position they are in as they look a pale shadow of the team we have previously played there. In fact in many ways they looked even worse than the team which came to the Mem last season but perhaps that is being unfair on our team as I have said this a few times this season about teams who after they have played us have gone on to get some good results. Their number 7 was probably the best player on the pitch and Eoin Doyle was very well marked out of the game by us and did very little.
DC What is it about our Manager that cannot just keep a winning team? We will never know if it would bring us more victories because he just won't do it. It is almost as if he feels he has to change something to put his name on it! There was some good football played yesterday and Upson spread some lovely passes but without real width we cannot make the most of this although both Partington and Kelly delivered a couple of good balls in. The continued selection of Nichols bewilders me and it is almost as if he is waiting to say "I told you so" and yet week after week there is nothing visible to show that Nichols is anywhere near going to deliver one goal let alone the 10-15 at least we are due. We definitely lack physical presence in the final third and pace out wide however we can't do anything until January now and the silence at the top of our club makes me wonder if there will be anything we can do in January.
So we move on to another tough game on Tuesday against a Rochdale side who we rarely beat away and yet I fancy we might get a result there this time. What team will DC select? I haven't a bloody clue but you can bet your life it won't be an unchanged one! UTG
