[Statesideowl]

Bleeding Dingles, this weekend gets better

[peiowl]

another feffing derby game not to look forward too 

You wouldn't want those Millwall fans showing up would you imre? They are a bunch of hooligans from what I hear.

[Imre varadi]

Prefer 6pts to the 1 we will probably get against barnsley ?

[St Charles Owl]

Like the others said, I thought Wembley was a superb facility, our seats were high up but the view was excellent. The Wednesday fans all stood for most of the game and we really showed our collective passion for the full game. While I don't like the band, they did a good job to get everyone started in unison and there were times when the whole end was bouncing!!

As for the team, we just seemed to have no pace to get into space and our movement up front wasn't there. There were many times when Bannan or Hutch had the ball and simply had no options to be able to pass the ball forward, and when we did get it forward we did it slowly, so they were always back to defend. We did have a couple of breakthroughs but our chances were limited to set pieces!!

It is frustrating that we didn't make the most of our opportunity, Hull were better but not by that much, they just made more of their possession, we did little with ours. Our full backs didn't get forward enough and when they did Hull did a good job of exploiting the space they left behind them. Wallace was particularly poor for me. Helan was brought on to push their full back back and to use his pace, but he sat way too deep, almost alongside Pudil at times, Bannan was waving his arms at one point telling him to get forward rather than coming back for the ball. I will harp on about one of Imre's favorite topics, but we still have not found a replacement for Antonio that would have been able to get in behind them yesterday, and his pace would have scared them stiff.

Hooper also was poor and FF seemed flat. Hooper first touch was awful and like the rest his critical passes were not great. He offered no threat up front at all, won few headers and generally didn't contribute at all.

As I said yesterday, it's something to build on, it's another step forward, we now have to do what Boro, Watford and Leicester all did after losing in the final and grab an auto place. That won't be easy though, Newcastle and Villa will spend big, they need essentially new teams, but will they gel quickly or at all? Norwich will be up there as they will retain the bulk of their team. None of the teams coming up will challenge but Wigan do still have some money. It's going to be tough, so we in turn need to be tougher, especially in midfield and up front.

[Statesideowl]

Pretty much see and saw it the same way, SCO!

I said before the game that Hull will be looking to exploit the holes behind our LB & RB as they counter. Were looked too shaky at times, off the pace. It's over now and we have to swallow that bitter pill.
As you say there's going to be a lot of Clubs with financial clout to all be of the same mentality. We blew a great opportunity but must now rally. I have no doubts DC will continue to invest. We just need to let the right players go and get the right players in, pronto!

It's time to start planning for promotion!

[Jacko The Flopsy Piglet]

Apart from the atmosphere created by the Wednesday fans the rest of the day was a bit rubbish. The day started poorly when our Inter City Owl coach from Meadowhall hadn't even arrived when 14 others had all left. Apparently the driver was late back from France the night before and wasn't allowed to drive in time for the 10 a.m. Departure time! The journey after that on a Bank Holiday Saturday was horrendous. I don't think we went more than 10 minutes at a time at full speed before hitting the back of another queue! Was supposed to be meeting various people before the match to dish out tickets and catch up with friends but that all went out of the window as we only got in the coach park at 4 p.m.

Finally got in the ground just before kick off and quickly was extorted for a slice of pizza and a drink and a programme. The atmosphere was buzzing round the ground and inside it was electric. In the Wednesday end at least! I'd heard that Hull had sent tickets back but I was astonished at how few fans they'd brought and all the empty seats. An absolute scandal for a Championship Playoff Final! After all the hoops we had to jump through to get tickets it was really annoying to see all the empty blocks of seats. Even then, you might have thought those Hull fans that did turn up would have looked like they were there to enjoy themselves. For most of the game I really forgot they were even there. The noise and energy from the whole of the Wednesday end was fantastic even though we didn't have much to cheer about on the pitch.

I'm not sure what happened to our team but Hull did a good professional job and deserved to win the game. Thanks to Westwood we stayed in the game for more than an hour and as someone has already pointed out he got fingertips to the goal and on another day might have got enough on it to divert it up enough to complete the save. Definitely our best player on the day. None of our other big players showed up and Huddlestone, Livermore and Diame completely overran our midfield. I think a bit more physicality in midfield is probably our biggest requirement for next season, despite the fact that I love watching Lee and Bannan most of the time. Against teams with big physical midfields we have a tendency to struggle, especially away from home, and look shaky from set pieces. Having said that, if we could have put some decent balls into the box instead of feeding their keeper or front defender we might have been able to force something to drop for the front two. Although, the way Hooper played for most of the game I'm not confident he would have put anything away if it had fallen to him.

The Wednesday fans were still going strong after the match and tried their best to lift the players who were clearly gutted at the end. Again, forgot all about the Hull fans and even the presentation as we sang and cheered the whole squad as they came over to acknowledge us. Some of the Hull fans outside were a bit graceless, revelling in victory right in the vicinity of the Wednesday fans which caused a few choice words to be given back to them! Got back on the coach and got the benefit of being one of the last ones there by being one of the first ones out of the coach park. Took nearly an hour to get back to the M1 but after that flew back up to Meadowhall to arrive by 11.30. In bed, exhausted, just after midnight.

Don't feel too down about losing yesterday as I know we can play better and too many players just had a real off day. It's been the most enjoyable season for so long and some of the football has been great to watch. Clearly we are not the finished article yet but if we can buy well in the summer I'm hopeful for next season.

Onwards and upwards.

[Imre varadi]

you muppet flopys next time dont ever go with a wednesday organised pile of shite get either your own mini bus ? or stay in a travel lodge in london ? it only costs 30 quid with feffing breakfast ? tell the boss to go and xxxx himself im sure he wont pay you anyway for a day off ? some right feffing fruitcakes in this world who live and learn the hard way ?
maybe oneday ill sit down with peiowl and he can right you a book about how todo life !!

[madsteve]

So Wigan, Burton & Rotherham it is next season then.

Travelled by train to the match & couldn't help commenting that the last time I went by train, we were playing Dagenham & Redbridge. Quite a step up.

Arrived in good time and bumped into Chris Waddle and had a photo taken with the maestro while trying to down a bratwurst sausage.

CC picked the expected team & went 442. We started brightly or at least Hull started nervously but we soon faded with Bannan isolated on the left & Wallace on the right while Lee & Hutchinson were outnumbered in CM. This left FF & Hooper isolated up front.

We had plenty of possession in our own half but it invariably broke down without us creating a meaningful chance. Bannan, Wallace & FF all played well below par & gave the ball away too easily & too often. In fact Bannan hasn't played well since his suspension. He played much better when he was playing twice per week but two matches in four weeks seems to have left him under cooked. The same could be said of a few other players as well.

In truth, we were clearly second best on the day, partly down to CC's tactics and partly down to the fact that our potential match winners didn't turn up.

Westwood - 9 - saved us from a heavy beating
Hunt - 5 - just not quite good enough
Lees - 6 - solid but lacked protection
Loovens - 6 - solid but lacked protection
Pudil - 5 - had little positive influence
Wallace - 4 - poor quality & faded badly
Lee - 5 - not up to usual standard
Hutchinson - 6 - steady if unspectacular
Bannan - 5 - not helped by 442 tactics, showed signs when it was too late
FF - 5 - the odd spark but not played in his best position
Hooper - 5 - not helped by 442
....................................................
Helan - 5 - added little
Nuhiu - 5 - added even less
Joao - on too late

CC adopted the tactics that had worked so many times by starting 442 & going to keep it tight until half time. That part of the tactics worked but we were already getting over run in the second half when he brought on Helan, presumably to give us some pace. It never worked and surely Joao would have been a better option. Hard to be too critical because this tactic has worked several times but I feel we need to be more positive from the start if we are to move forward again next season.

Stat Attack:

Goals: 0

Assists: 0

Touches: 73 - Loovens, 70 - Lees, 67 - Bannan, 48 - FF, 45 - Westwood, 43 - Hutchinson, 41 - Hunt, Pudil, 38 - Lee, 32 - Wallace, 30 - Hooper, 13 - Helan, 5 - Nuhiu, 3 - Joao

Tackles: 3 – Pudil, Bannan, 2 – Hunt, Loovens, Hutchinson, Lee, FF, 1 - Wallace

Interceptions: 6 – Loovens, 4 – Hutchinson, 2 – Lees, Bannan, FF

Clearances: 9 – Loovens, 7 – Lees, 2 – Hunt, Pudil, 1 – Wallace, Hutchinson, Helan

Attempts: 4 – FF, 2 – Wallace, Bannan, 1 – Lees, Hutchinson, Helan, Joao

Attempts On Target: 1 – Lees, Wallace, FF

Key Passes: 2 – Hooper, 1 – Lees, Wallace, Hutchinson, Lee, FF, Helan

Dribbles: 3 – Hooper, 2 – Hunt, 1 – Hutchinson, Lee, Bannan, FF

Dispossessed: 5 – FF, 2 – Joao, 1 – Lees, Hooper

Bad Control: 3 – Hooper, 2 – Hunt, 1 – Westwood, Loovens

Crosses (Accurate in brackets): 7 – Wallace (1), 4 – FF (2), 2 – Hunt (0), Helan (0), 1 – Pudil (0), Lee (0), Bannan (0),

Passing Accuracy (Total Passes in Brackets):
94% - Hutchinson (34), 90% - Lees (59), 89% - Helan (9), 87% - Loovens (53), 84% - Lee (31), 79% - Bannan (58), 79% - Hooper (19), 70% - Pudil (33), 68% - FF (28), 67% - Hunt (30), 57% - Wallace (21), 45% - Westwood (29), 40% - Nuhiu (5)

Playoffs are all about winning. There is £170m for the winners and just a few scraps for the losers. We start level with Burton, Rotherham & Barnsley next August and we need to get out of the blocks quickly in every match to make sure that we make the automatic places next season. We were clearly one of the best six sides in the division (and three of them have now gone) so we should achieve at least that again next season as we still have upward momentum. We need to make it next season while we still have that momentum.
A year ago, I was close to quitting after Stuart Gray’s dire brand of football. This season has been a revelation and there is every reason to expect a good challenge for the PL next season. Just hope I get to see some of it.

[Owlkev71]

Never a good sign when our centre backs have the most passes

Never thought we would be playing Burton except in the FA Cup!

Next seasons fixtures are announced on the 22nd June.

The season starts August 6th.

[Imre varadi]

Derby
Middleborough
Burnley
QPR
Hull (po winners)
Forest
_____________________
Huddersfield
Mk dons
Rotherham
________________

Wednesday 8th

seem to have found the problem behind our playoff loss !! maddix ban him for life to the muppet league !!