[madsteve]

Another Season but Same Problems

I remember saying when the fixtures were announced that this was our most likely defeat in our opening six matches. We are fine at home and can lift ourselves for tough away matches like Norwich but we seem to struggle to compete against the "lesser" teams away from home. This was similar to last season's games at MK, Charlton & Bristol City - we were outplayed and the game was lost before we got started.

We were without Lees, which stretched our defensive resources further with Semedo partnering Hutchinson at the back. Fletcher replaced Joao up front with FF back on the bench.

We were quickly on the back foot with Westwood making an early save in a one on one before Burton soon took the lead when Hunt lost his man in the box. We equalised when Hooper put away the penalty after Hutchinson was pulled in the box. Burton went back in front within a minute of Semedo departing with injury when Irvine was given a free header six yards out.

FF appeared at half time for Abdi. Nuhiu replaced Hooper but we lacked movement up front after that and Burton always looked the more likely scorers with COG bossing our back line. Bannan forced one good save but Westwood was still the busier keeper. It was little surprise when Dyer made it 3-1.

After that, we created a few chances with both Fletcher & Nuhiu guilty of missing from good positions.

Westwood - 6 - couple of big saves
Hunt - 4 - total liability defensively
Semedo - 6 - good while he lasted
Hutchinson - 7 - only one to emerge with any credit
Pudil - 5 - struggled defensively
Abdi - 6 - did simple things well
Lee - 6 - better when dropped deeper
Bannan - 6 - lots of touches but apart from one shot, to little effect
Wallace - 6 - bright early but faded
Hooper - 6 - scored penalty
Fletcher - 5 - struggled
....................................................
Palmer - 5 - bullied by COG
FF - 6 - took a while to find touch
Nuhiu - 5 - lacked movement

Stat Attack:

Goals: 1 - Hooper

Assists: None

Touches: 95 - Bannan, 69 - Pudil, 58 - Hutchinson, 53 - Hunt, 51 - Lee, 50 - Palmer, 49 - Westwood, 43 - Abdi, 42 - Wallace, 34 - Fletcher, 32 - Semedo, 30 - FF, 21 - Hooper, 18 - Nuhiu

Tackles: 5 - Bannan, 3 - Lee, Palmer, FF, 2 - Hunt, Abdi, 1 - Semedo, Hooper, Fletcher, Nuhiu

Interceptions: 5 - Bannan, 4 - Hutchinson, 2 - Semedo, Pudil, 1 - Hunt, Lee, Abdi, Palmer

Clearances: 4 - Hutchinson, Pudil, 2 - Westwood, Palmer, 1 - Semedo, Abdi

Attempts: 3 - Fletcher, 1 - Pudil, Wallace, Bannan, Hooper, Nuhiu

Attempts On Target: 1 - Bannan, Hooper, Fletcher

Key Passes: 4 - Wallace, 1 - Lee, FF

Dribbles: 2 - Lee, FF, 1 - Nuhiu

Dispossessed: 3 - FF, 2 - Hunt, Abdi, Fletcher, 1 - Bannan

Bad Control: 5 - Wallace, 3 - Hooper, 2 - Abdi, 1 - Bannan, FF

Crosses (Accurate in brackets): 12 - Wallace (6), 2 - Pudil (0), FF (0), Palmer (1), 1 - Hunt (0), Nuhiu (0)

Passing Accuracy (Total Passes in Brackets):

96% - Semedo (27), 90% - Hutchinson (49), 89% - Lee (45), 86% - Wallace (22), 84% - Abdi (32), 83% - Bannan (80), 80% - Hooper (15), 79% - Pudil (52), 75% - FF (16), 70% - Hunt (33), 69% - Fletcher (26), 63% - Palmer (24), 57% - Nuhiu (14), 49% - Westwood (33)

We are still good at home so let's not throw out the baby with the bath water. If we play our best side, we should be able to beat Leeds on Saturday. CC needs to find a formula to win more away matches & sort it quickly.

[Owlkev71]

Vincent Sasso being linked with a move back to us in the Star this morning.

[Imre varadi]

To me its just made no sense not signing sasso 4 weeks ago ? hes great back up knows the squad and you need a settled defence although Hunt has to go hes feffing shocking we have to buy a top quality RB and get rid of vemingey aswell why the hell are we keeping him ? if hunt doesnt play palmer does he just sits on the bench ???

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4m_0dJWeGU plamer and hunt say no more feffing shocking both of them

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fArWRvDa3MQ he almost said palmer is shit , but not quite !!

[Owlkev71]

Being fair to Palmer, he had only been on 20 seconds for the 2nd goal, though he was at fault for the third.

I doubt we concede those first 2 goals if Lees is playing.

[Statesideowl]

Where the xxxx was Vermijl? he can play anywhere across the back. There seems to be a consistent theme of all eggs in one basket.

After the Hull game we all said we needed Defenders and MF. Nothing happened over the summer and here we are. Desperate for players. It's no use releasing a statement saying we're only looking for the right players. If that were the case this would have been in the pipeline since the Hull game.
This is the year we're supposed to celebrate our 'Birthday Promotion'. I don't see effort/finance.

We're snapping up Free's and cheaps. And after this past week all I can see is a lack of ambition. Sasso shuld have never left

And use players like Vermijl instead of shoehorning players like Seme in. xxxx me Carlos

The next 2 weeks are critical for me. How the Club acts in the coming fortnight will shape the entire season.

Palmer isn't good enough for the Club anymore. He should have been replaced, this is part of our problem. It's no good having crap sat on the bench.

Abdi. the only real signing of the season... This, from a Club again talking about promotion. 4th game of the season on Saturday against bitter rivals. I wonder if we'll see some necessary action?

[Owlkev71]

Dielna, Vermijl, O'Grady were all options despite our varied opinions of them.

[Statesideowl]

The fact options are available, and we're shoehorning players in like Hodgson does Rooney pisses me off frankly, and you deserve to lose for doing it.

There's a lot I'm disappointed about regarding the Club currently. Also, why is it always Wednesday that teams such as Burton always make records against? I'm bored of that, going to start betting on it as I nail it 90% of the time.

[Daffodils on the piano]

DC keeps quoting the fairplay rules, but surely we are making enough to bring in a couple of decent defenders,our first three games have been on Sky and more to come so where is the extra income going.

[madsteve]

DC keeps quoting the fairplay rules, but surely we are making enough to bring in a couple of decent defenders,our first three games have been on Sky and more to come so where is the extra income going.

Really don't make much on live matches in this division. Invariably clubs lose more money from reduced crowds than they gain from TV fees.

[Statesideowl]

I think they get around 1M for a televised Prem game. Championship would be significantly less I'm sure.