BFTT Bournemouth

[paddy20]

Cut out the errors and we’ve a decent side. Easier said than done of course

Motm Richards who was excellent

Agreed.

This has the makings of a decent playoff side, with an outside chance of a top 2 finish.

Big improvements on last season, onwards and upwards. The luck of the first 9 games is being paid off with bad luck now. Overall it’s a talented hard working side who will provide us with some entertaining and probably successful football this season.

Exactly- it’s still a very young team so the trajectory is going to go upwards. Richards, Olise & Rino will continue to get better

The senior players are the issue. Joao has proved throughout his career that he is lazy...is that really going to change at 27, especially now he has such a good reputation with the fanbase. Will Cabral improve? Not really, although cutting out his errors will improve us

But the blend and balance of the squad is much improved and I thibk there’s lots of positives

Joao is the type of player we have missed in the last 2/3 seasons. We don't want a hard working CF we want a player that can forge chances out of nothing. I don't care if he does nothing all game but scores. Cabral just gets overconfident sometimes - still one of the best keepers in the division (apart from his kicking). I agree still lots to be positive about, after all we were probably playing the best team in the division and we proved how good we could be in the first half - a long way from last season

[Hound]

Yep and other thing I’d say is we’re quite good to watch nowadays as well. That’s certainly been missing for a while

[URZZZZ]

Holmes at RB is OK if you’re looking to snatch a 1-0 or hold them out

But whilst he did get the assist against Watford, I feel there’s a distinct lack of presence offensively at RB when he’s played there. Arguably our three least creative games this season have been Watford, Boro and Wycombe (certainly the first 60 minutes) which coincided with his spell there at RB

Obviously by the same token that’s three games there and three clean sheets too, and he’s a better option at this point than Esteves who’s giving away goals and low in confidence (Millwall A is hardly the place to regain confidence) but still wary of Holmes as a RB (certainly for the longer term depending on Yiadom and Araruna)

[CountryRoyal]

Holmes at RB is OK if you’re looking to snatch a 1-0 or hold them out

But whilst he did get the assist against Watford, I feel there’s a distinct lack of presence offensively at RB when he’s played there. Arguably our three least creative games this season have been Watford, Boro and Wycombe (certainly the first 60 minutes) which coincided with his spell there at RB

Obviously by the same token that’s three games there and three clean sheets too, and he’s a better option at this point than Esteves who’s giving away goals and low in confidence (Millwall A is hardly the place to regain confidence) but still wary of Holmes as a RB (certainly for the longer term depending on Yiadom and Araruna)

Esteves has contributed jack all going forward as well tbf, and quite frankly I think we need to focus on the defence first. Think I've seen something that in the last 5 games we've conceded the most goals in the entire league. The football league.

Get Holmes in, get harder to beat, build from the back and go from there.

[leon]

Yep. Got to stop conceding all those goals. It’s fcuking ridiculous.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yep we've got more than enough creative players to score goals without Esteves.

We're not going to win anything conceding 3+ every game.

[Hound]

Esteves isnt creating going forward atm either. Think its partly a confidence thing but he is playing it safe

I'd happily bring him back in a few games time, but feels like Holmes is a good fit for the Millwall game and then we can go from there.

[paultheroyal]

Yep, Stacey really is excellent. Wonder which idiots let him go.

Same ones who let Antonio go no doubt, oh and Jake Cooper.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Yep, Stacey really is excellent. Wonder which idiots let him go.

Same ones who let Antonio go no doubt, oh and Jake Cooper.

I can understand Cooper and Antonio to an extent, they were both well down the pecking order and needed first team football.

We had way better wide options than Antonio at the time and Cooper didn't fit in with how Stam wanted to play, and to be fair we finished 3rd that season

Weren't many grumbles on this forum either at the time

Stacey different story altogether though

[paultheroyal]

Yep, Stacey really is excellent. Wonder which idiots let him go.

Same ones who let Antonio go no doubt, oh and Jake Cooper.

I can understand Cooper and Antonio to an extent, they were both well down the pecking order and needed first team football.

We had way better wide options than Antonio at the time and Cooper didn't fit in with how Stam wanted to play, and to be fair we finished 3rd that season

Weren't many grumbles on this forum either at the time

Stacey different story altogether though

trust me - their were grumbles

[tidus_mi2]

I agree about getting Holmes in, since Esteves came in we have only kept one clean sheet, the 3-0 win over Rotherham, since then as has already been mentioned, we've conceded the most goals in the football league. I think it can't be understated how well Meite tracks back as well, I think going from Holmes + Meite to Esteves + Aluko has just been a disaster and has left us so defensively fragile down that side.

If we have Meite back we could definitely play Esteves at RB but if he's not back we've got to stick Holmes there, our losing streak has coincided with both Esteves starting at RB and Meite being out, Moore also getting injured didn't help at all but despite Moore being back we still shipped 4 on Saturday, albeit to a very good Bournemouth side.

[Hound]

yes absolutely on Meite. He is a beast at getting back and helping out. Its possibly the one reason I'd consider keeping Esteves in to see how he gets on with him in front of him

Mentioned elsewhere that Richards was ace, but having Ovie in front of him helped loads. Similarly to Meite he gets back and defends very well

[leon]

Kind of missing the point everyone blaming an 18 year old for our diabolical form. The team needs to take responsibility. Every player has been substandard.

[Zammo]

No one was saying anything derogatory at half-time (for obvs reasons), so I'm laying the blame squarely at the manager's door for this one.

Game management.

[Snowflake Royal]

Kind of missing the point everyone blaming an 18 year old for our diabolical form. The team needs to take responsibility. Every player has been substandard.

Of course it's a whole team thing.

And Rafael is getting plenty of stick too.

Of the four goals we conceded there were two clear individual errors and those were keeper and RB. And it's far from the first error leading to a goal from either.

It's unlikely to be a coincidence that we've started shipping loads of goals since Esteves has come in. He's got no positional discipline.

Holmes didn't look convincing at RB, but he did show he can do the defensive work in the position. Which is what we miss.

[Old Man Andrews]

Shocked you haven't offered up Tennai Watson as a RB solution.........

[SnowballRG19]

Esteves may appear to be a useful scapegoat but the main reason
for the change is a change in Pauno's orders.

We are not simply shutting down for third minutes and roping a dope.

That "opening up" started at Blackburn and the warning signs were there despite our victory

[SCIAG]

Yep, Stacey really is excellent. Wonder which idiots let him go.

Same ones who let Antonio go no doubt, oh and Jake Cooper.

I can understand Cooper and Antonio to an extent, they were both well down the pecking order and needed first team football.

We had way better wide options than Antonio at the time and Cooper didn't fit in with how Stam wanted to play, and to be fair we finished 3rd that season

Weren't many grumbles on this forum either at the time

Stacey different story altogether though

Antonio and Cooper weren’t up to the standard we required (although Cooper was absolutely suited to the way Stam played, it is the way he’d been playing his whole career).

Stacey probably was up to the standard, but McCleary and Beerens were both in great form, Meite was very promising (although sent out on loan), Harriott was good, and we’d just signed Popa and Barrow. In hindsight, we were right to add Barrow and Meite but Popa was a flop, Harriott was no better than Stacey and Fosu, and Beerens and McCleary were never the same again. Stacey could have been back-up to Gunter but that wouldn’t have led to many starts. Maybe choosing Barrow, Meite, Stacey and Fosu as our wingers and Stacey also as second choice right back would have worked - but it would have been extremely bold to get rid of McCleary and Beerens after the play off final.

Constant managerial turnover is a really mixed bag for young players. It can shake things up and give players a chance they wouldn’t otherwise have got (think of Scott Davies, Liam Kelly, Tennai Watson, Josh Barrett) but can also mean that a promising player doesn’t get the chances they deserve. When Stam came in he fell in love with Kelly and Watson and some of the younger centre backs, but wasn’t enamoured with Stacey, Fosu, Kuhl, Tanner, etc. Fortunately for him, two of those had their careers destroyed by injury but two of them have proven themselves perfectly capable.

So yeah, Stam was the idiot who let Stacey go. Antonio was McDermott. Simon Cox was Coppell. Sometimes it happens.

[Norfolk Royal]

Seen a few criticisms of Moore's part in their fourth goal. Don't think he was at fault really. Only thing you could say is that he should have ignored Cabral and hoofed it into the stand but then everyone would have asked why he did that.

Think he was right to stand back a bit once the keeper was on it as the ball might have broken and he could have cleared up rather than diving in and maybe both of them getting gubbed.

He no doubt expected the keeper to blast it away not start playing keepy uppy.

[Snowflake Royal]

Seen a few criticisms of Moore's part in their fourth goal. Don't think he was at fault really. Only thing you could say is that he should have ignored Cabral and hoofed it into the stand but then everyone would have asked why he did that.

Think he was right to stand back a bit once the keeper was on it as the ball might have broken and he could have cleared up rather than diving in and maybe both of them getting gubbed.

He no doubt expected the keeper to blast it away not start playing keepy uppy.

Yeah, only thing he could do is position himself to have a chance to intervene if the ball breaks loose.