[Statesideowl]

------------Westwood----------
Hunt--Turner--Lees--Sasso--Pudil
----Wallace---Lopez---Matias
----------Joao----Forestieri

Dawson, Palmer, Semedo Wiggings, Mcgugan, Lee, Nuhui

I wouldn't mind seeing a line-up like that with Lees as Sweeper, Hunt & Pudil bombing forward down the flanks.

I could see CC going more like.

------------Westwood-------
-----Turner--Lees--Loovens--
---Hutchinson(DM)--Semedo (DM)
Wallace(RM)-----------------Helan/Pudil(LM)
-------------Matias(AMF)-------------
----Joao(FW)-----------Forestieri(FW)

I think I'd prefer the 5-3-2

[Owlkev71]

More questions, than answers.

Poor first half, good 20 minutes start of the 2nd half, then hit by 2 counter attacks

Joao had a half chance after a couple of mins but was deflected for a corner. From then on Boro controlled the half, Price made 2 good stops before Reach smashed in from 8 yards from a corner.

A switch to 2 up top with Nuhiu on for Wallace, got Wednesday going in the 2nd half, Lopez firing just wide from 20 yards the being denied from a free kick from 25 yards. The good start to the half bore fruit on 64 mins when Matias 's shot was deflected in. The good work was undone 3 mins later when Boro broke away and a ball played down the left found Fabbrini who went in on goal and slotted past Price. Lees when went close with a header before Boro broke again when Stuani found some space down the inside right and slotted clinically past Price into the corner. Boro nearly added a fourth in injury time put Price finger tipped a header on to the post.

Price 7 -  Made 3 good saves, had no chance with any of the goals.

Hunt 2 - Beaten too easily too often, poor positional play as-well, seemed to want to play CB
Lees 5 - Not found the form of last season yet
Sasso 5 - Mixed bag
Wiggins 4 - Struggled at times although he was up against Downing

Lopez 5 - Poor first half, played well for 25 minutes 2nd half then got subbed.
Hutch 4 - Injured again
Lee 7 - Probably our best player, good energy
Matias 4 - Yes he got our goal, but he didn't do anything else
Wallace 3 - Never in the game

Joao 5 - Bright first half, faded 2nd half

Semedo 5 -  Broke up some attacks, then tried some Sheridan style passes, which didn't work
Nuhiu 5 - Actually won some headers.
Sougou 4 - No real impact

Possession
Owls 49-51 Boro

Shots
Owls 10-13 Boro

On Target
Owls 4-5 Boro

2 weeks off for CC to sort a few things out, formation and tactics definitely need a tweak. I personally like 1 up front, but its just not working at the moment. We switched to 2 up top in the 2nd half and with a lift in the tempo caused Boro problems. With the players he has bought in 352, 3412, 442, 4411, diamond shape are all possibilities.

One rumour heard at the ground today was May off to Toytown for £500,000.

Some good signings this week, Turner, Pudil and Forestieri, I think they all stand a chance of starting our next match after todays performance.

1 gripe from today, after 5 mins we had the ball on the half way line on the right and we passed it backwards to one of our defenders which brought groans from some of the crowd. Yes I want to see attacking football like everyone else but F**k me, 5 mins into a game

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

quite drunk tonight. will give my sude of things tomorrow

[peiowl]

I got my boo boys all primed and ready to deliver today. Thank goodness for social media.  Couldn't have done a better job if I'd been there in person.

[Maddix]

Personally, I can't see Forestieri pulling up any trees

I'll get me coat

[Was Wereham Owl]

My thoughts , and as usual I was not there, but ..
We have to give it time , lets not forget how bad the last 20 years have been, give it time guys , frustrating I know, but !!..
New Chairman, Manager and team to be fair and it needs to gel, preseason hype has got us ALL in a state, maybe not this season, but I am certain our chairman didn't waste £30 million + to be a championship side, we WILL be in the promised land, patience is a virtue, this season for me is a rebuilding season, and hopefully next time round we can be there or thereabouts, have some faith .. shit game, shit result, but last season we were ALL saying " build slowly" and all of a sudden we want it NOW .. a little unfair on everyone concerned at S6 really

[Maddix]

Time is one thing we don't have. When the new TV deal kicks in the EPL will become a closed shop and promotion and relegation will cease to exist in the way it was meant to be. The 3 promoted teams will get relegated and the 3 relegated teams will get promoted and eventually the EPL and Sky will decide that there's no point in it. They will cut it to two, then one, then a play off, then bugger all. After a while they'll make a sop to the mug punters and pretend to re-introduce it whilst still favouring their preferred teams.

If you don't believe me look at the history of Super League and Sky in tandem.

[Imre varadi]

------------Westwood----------
Hunt--Turner--Lees--Sasso--Pudil
----Wallace---Lopez---Matias
----------Joao----Forestieri

Dawson, Palmer, Semedo Wiggings, Mcgugan, Lee, Nuhui

I wouldn't mind seeing a line-up like that with Lees as Sweeper, Hunt & Pudil bombing forward down the flanks.

I could see CC going more like.

------------Westwood-------
-----Turner--Lees--Loovens--
---Hutchinson(DM)--Semedo (DM)
Wallace(RM)-----------------Helan/Pudil(LM)
-------------Matias(AMF)-------------
----Joao(FW)-----------Forestieri(FW)

I think I'd prefer the 5-3-2

so your saying that price is utter poopoo then !! Great minds think alike statesider !! he was possibley the shitist signing of the lot !! but everyone went on the fence with that !! i personally think that Joao will nead at least a season untill hes up to it !! and we should bring in May straight away !! forrestiwiblah might be ok ? but like maddix another great mind thinks !! he may also be a load of shit !! bring May back sack carlos and bring in wilkinson i say !!! the defence is shit again and we nead a coach who knows both ends of the pitch maybe carlos should phone up Sg ? that might have been the best thing , but chop up tuna was as drastic as Imre when he chopped up sg !!

---

1-3 Matias.

AAHHD

23,500

I get a   for correct score and scorer!!!!

No, I wasn't at Hillsboro booing nuhiu. I was at A Farmers' market flogging my books. Much better way to spend a morning.

wanker !!

---

And back to the point consiliwillio brought up !!! its xxxx disgracefull that wankers booed the team or the coach manager thingy today after 5 xxxx games !! and imre will send out his henchmen to chop the fcukers up dont worry consilio !! terrible treatment !! and it makes me xxxx laugh after all weve suffered nearly 2 seasons of shite and im sure the same wankers never even mumered ? this sounds to me like the old English brigade with there passion off seeing all things English !! can you imagine ?? woy or mow ??? wankers consilo correct !!!

[madsteve]

Five Games, Five Points

We are three points off the Playoffs and two points above relegation.

Too many fans are over reacting because for some reason they think that we should be in the top two because we have spent a few million. Even now, we are competing against eight teams on parachute payments who will have budgets of more than double our budget. Middlesbrough are not one of those sides but they still have a budget well ahead of our & allegedly Stewart Downing is on over £60k per week.

Maybe we should be looking at Boro as a role model for what we need to achieve. In a season and a half, Karanka has moved them forward from being an average SBC team to genuine promotion contenders. There was a slight improvement in his first half season in charge. Last season, they reached the Playoffs. This summer, the changes have been fine tuning and it is clear that they are operating as a team and will probably be as good as any team we face this season.

We are still at the first phase of that development. We have upgraded our playing squad but it will take us months to work out our best team, formation and style. Next season should see us challenge. If we get lucky, who knows, things might happen a bit quicker but to expect it, is too much.

I was ashamed at the behaviour of some of our fans yesterday. Booing during the game can only reduce our chances of a good outcome. The booing at half time was bad enough but the booing of Wiggins each time he touched the ball towards the end was shameful. These people are not supporters. The clue is in the word and booing does nothing to support the team.

Boro started brightly and left us sorely exposed particularly on our right side with Hunt looking lost and Wallace giving little support. We could learn a lot from the movement of Reach, Fabbrini & Kike, who kept our back four confused with intelligent movement. Price made a couple of fantastic saves to keep us level until close to half time, Reach was given too much space in the box & Boro took a deserved lead.

The second half was much improved and we dominated play & created a few chances. Lopez fired just wide, Lee hesitated too long when cleverly put clear against the keeper and Matias levelled the scores when his shot went in courtesy of a deflection.

At this point, it was as though we got carried away and over committed. We had a corner & within 15 seconds, Boro had scored. A couple of poor attempted challenges & they were through on our goal. After that, Boro just picked us off as we attempted to equalise again, Wiggins being at fault for the third goal.

Price - 7 - kept us in game in first half
Hunt - 4 - terrible first half, stabilised a bit second half
Lees - 6 - best of a bad back four
Sasso - 5 - struggled at times
Wiggins - 4 - looks off the pace
Lopez - 6 - not involved first half but looked good second half until subbed
Hutchinson - 6 - looked good but injured early
Wallace - 4 - contributed nothing
Lee - 6 - bright apart from poor spell after missing good chance
Matias - 5 - missing first half, goal
Joao - 6 - best player first half but faded
......................................................
Semedo - 6 - solid but poor distribution
Nuhiu - 6 - controlled ball better
Sougou - 5 - didn't get involved

In many ways, it was a game of two halves. First half, we weren't at it but second half, we were much better. There is a danger that we might draw the wrong conclusions from this. We adjusted the formation. We brought Nuhiu on. However, the biggest difference between the two halves was that Lopez & Matias got involved in the game. First half, both were on the periphery, watching the game go by. In the second half, Lopez was running the game & making things happen while Matias at least made a nuisance of himself.

I read one fan say we should return to 442. That would throw away so much to return to the style of AI, DJ & SG. The key now is flexibility & Boro showed that as their players showed a willingness to play all over the pitch to benefit their side. If Matias & Wallace had shown the same movement as Reach & Fabbrini then we might have won this game. Formations will be flexible. There will be times we play with one striker & times we play with two strikers but movement & flexibility are key.

Some fans have said that Nuhiu turned the match. Undoubtedly Nuhiu played better than he has in previous matches. He controlled the ball better & his passing wasn't as bad as previously. His arrival gave us another option - hitting it long.

We need more patience. It will be a bumpy road but we will get there. We have five points from the first five matches. Hopefully we will get more points from the next five matches. In my view, the season only really starts after the first International break when the transfer window has closed.

Wiggins looks to be a poor signing but CC did say that he is two weeks behind the rest of the squad. This season, Helan has been far better and much improved. We still lack leadership on the pitch. Maybe Michael Turner is that man. Not sure.

Lopez & Matias have got to get more involved. Both look quality at times but they have to do more, more often. Joao looked stronger yesterday & was our only threat in the first half. Hutchinson looked good but injured himself going for a ball that he couldn't possibly reach. If he only had a brain.

Most Attempts:

Lopez 2
Wallace 2
Joao 2

Most Attempts On Target:

Lopez 1
Lee 1
Matias 1
Joao 1

Most Tackles:

Lees 4
Hunt 4
Sasso 2
Lee 2
Joao 2

Most Interceptions:

Hutchinson 5
Lopez 5
Sasso 3
Wiggins 3

Most Dribbles:

Matias 1
Joao 1
Nuhiu 1

Passing Accuracy:

Wiggins 83%
Lopez 81%
Matias 79%
Lee 77%
Semedo 74%
Sasso 72%
Joao 71%
Hutchinson 70%
Lees 65%
Hunt 61%
Nuhiu 57%
Wallace 50%
Price 43%
Sougou 0%

Key Passes:

Wallace 2
Joao 1
Lee 1

Total Touches:

Lopez 58
Sasso 56
Lees 54
Semedo 49
Hunt 43
Lee 42
Price 40
Wiggins 34
Matias 31
Joao 31
Nuhiu 27
Hutchinson 16
Wallace 15
Sougou 5

CC has two weeks now to make the team more cohesive before the next block of matches. Hopefully there will be an improvement. For now, I am happy with the intentions but want to see a lot of improvement in the execution.

There seem to be two camps - those who think we will get promoted (this group is getting smaller) and those who think we are going about things the wrong way & want 442, SG, cheap seats (& presumably JOC) back because everything is terrible. The truth (as ever) is somewhere in between.

This isn't the worst Wednesday team ever, that wasn't the worst performance for years & the world hasn't come off its axis. We are a "work in progress." Only three of our starting eleven yesterday were at the Club last season - the least for any club in the top four divisions. A lot of fans struggle to understand how this will affect us over the opening couple of months. There is a lot of work to be done in terms of finding the best formation and how to make Matias more effective. There have been three more new signings not playing yesterday & possibly more to come so it will take a while before we are anywhere close to a settled side.

Let's look at it in five match blocks. We need to be getting ten points from each five match block for automatic promotion and at least eight for the Playoffs. I will be looking for at least seven points from the next block of five matches, gradually increasing so that we are getting eight points plus per block in the second half of the season.

Enjoy the International Break & Transfer Deadline Day then we come back refreshed to visit Burnley.

[peiowl]

What's wrong with a bit of booing? I've gone to a lot of trouble to get this organized all  the way from PEI. Spider Knuckles and Basher Baz will not be pleased at this criticism.

Boo the Noopoo is their motto. :laugh: