MATCHWATCH : Bournemouth (h)

[Zip]

We have technically gifted players but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

[Snowflake Royal]

We have technically gifted players but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

Actually, Yiadom is our most fouled player.

Ovie is 3rd per game. 4th total, 4th per 90 mins and 4th minutes per foul

Yiadom makes top 10 in the league by total, otherwise we're nowhere.

[bcubed]

We have technically gifted players but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

Agree re gifted players and the style we play. It is good to watch when we’re attacking. The first half against Bournemouth we looked really good and with a bit of luck (or quality?) would have taken the lead.

But against many Champ teams we are not afforded the luxury of playing this way. I have often thought and said, that we do badly against classic Champ teams, who are physical, bigger than us and press us the whole game. We could also benefit from picky refs like those in the Prem. if only we could get there!

[Hound]

As a STH yes I go to games. Haven’t missed a home game this season. In those home games we were very poor v Bristol City, dire v Blackpool, very poor for the first 60 v Posh, average and at times under the cosh against a poor Barnsley side, average last night, decent v Preston, ok v QPR, good v Boro.
We are 16th. This is worse than achieved under Bowen.

For the record, I've watched every league game this season. Missed a combined total of maybe 80 minutes due to stream issues or running late.

I'm assuming SCIAG thinks we're top half because he's seen fewer games than that.

I’m baffled by his comments. I would say our results have been better than our performances. One fairly comfortable win in the end v Posh whilst the other five wins could easily have gone the other way.

Think we are roughly where we should be based on performances. Had the odd game which we were a bit unlucky/silly error cost us in I think - Stoke, QPR mainly. At times we've looked very good, others very very poor.

I'm pretty sure we'll get a lot better if and when we get players back. Not sure if this is over-optimistic but could potentially have Tetek, McIntyre, Rino, Halilovic, Azeez, Hoilett and Araruna all back after the intl break (ie 2 games time). Will make a lot of difference.

[Hound]

We have technically gifted players but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

Agree re gifted players and the style we play. It is good to watch when we’re attacking. The first half against Bournemouth we looked really good and with a bit of luck (or quality?) would have taken the lead.

But against many Champ teams we are not afforded the luxury of playing this way. I have often thought and said, that we do badly against classic Champ teams, who are physical, bigger than us and press us the whole game. We could also benefit from picky refs like those in the Prem. if only we could get there!

I think we need to adapt the way we play in midfield. Its just too intricate in the wrong positions. Its scary the amount of time we lost possession inside our own half.

Whether thats because there isn't an option further forward I'm not sure. Its not 'playing out from the back' which is the issue - we actually do that well now Southwood is in - its the next block up where we turn over time and again. I think the midfield and defence play too close together or something like that.

[South Coast Royal]

I think Hound has summed things up quite well in his postings this morning although his listing of those who might return is hardly awe-inspiring apart from the numbers game in that the manager would then be able to step away from playing the same 11 every game.
It's Joao and Meite that we are missing so badly from last season rather than the much of a muchness that we now otherwise have in the squad.

Yesterday IMHO there were 2 major differences between the 2 sides and they are major.
Their goals were scored by 2 of the leading strikers in The Championship last season, we have George Puscas rather than 2 successful goalscorers in Joao and Meite.

The second difference is that Bournemouth could take off 3 young players who have done quite well for them this season, 2 of them because they had been booked and 1 who had taken a few knocks.
In their place came 3 more experienced players who had cost around £10 million between them whereas our options, apart from the fairly inexperienced Holmes, was a group of kids.

As for individual players last night I thought that Ejaria was a real threat in the first 30 minutes and then for the rest of the game nearly everything seemed to be down our right-side where poor old Andy Yiadom had to do everything and although his crossing to (? anybody there?) is iffy there can be no doubting his attitude.

Moore didn't do so badly in the main but he got in the way of Southwood for their first and backed off far too much for their 2nd-I wouldn't be averse to Tom Holmes starting ahead of him.

Swift?
Where would we be without him?
This morning for the first time I am fearing relegation with us effectively probably on 13 points after a 6 point deduction leaving us 4th from bottom with difficult games coming up against Millwall and Birmingham, both strong in the air from set-pieces.

If Swift goes in January I fear that we will have had it as Joao and Meite will no doubt still be unavailable, we won't be able to bring anybody in of note and by then will probably have more injuries.

Even if we can bring players in during January this current 11 may have to turn out for another 10 games before the year end with the odd few extra being available.
Are they strong enough physically and mentally to keep us away from relegation?
Who knows?

As for Pauno he clearly has no faith at all in the youngsters and I didn't really understand his comment about it being "dangerous" to play them-maybe he used the wrong English word.
I don't see any point in changing the manager now -it would be the same small available squad to deal with , still with a non goal-scorer playing up front and I seriously doubt if a new man at the helm would get more from these available players.
Most managers are intransigent when it comes to changing things and Pauno clearly sees our best method to be a passing side but let down by having to play a non-striker and defenders who have concentration issues.

Apologies for the length of the post that might be tolerated as last night's game was one of the 2 fixtures that really matter to me (living in the hot bed of football that is Bournemouth!!) and this morning am feeling disappointed rather than angry about the result but angry that those that have been running the club have allowed us to become what we now are, a club that may well get relegated and could be playing Swindon and Oxford again next season.

For those that said relegation might be a good thing after relegation from the Premier League and might be saying or thinking the same now-just look at Ipswich, Pompey, Sunderland, Wigan and co.-it's not easy to get back up when on that slide.

[Royal_jimmy]

Anyone know what the punch up in Y26 was about?

[windermereROYAL]

Anyone know what the punch up in Y26 was about?

There were Bournemouth fans in there, or thats what I`m hearing.

[Royal_jimmy]

Then if they had their heads kicked in then they can't have any complaints

[Zip]

We have technically gifted players but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

Actually, Yiadom is our most fouled player.

Ovie is 3rd per game. 4th total, 4th per 90 mins and 4th minutes per foul

Yiadom makes top 10 in the league by total, otherwise we're nowhere.

I did notice Yids was fouled a number of times last night.
He also conceded a fair few fouls too. I can’t fault his commitment.

[CountryRoyal]

As a STH yes I go to games. Haven’t missed a home game this season. In those home games we were very poor v Bristol City, dire v Blackpool, very poor for the first 60 v Posh, average and at times under the cosh against a poor Barnsley side, average last night, decent v Preston, ok v QPR, good v Boro.
We are 16th. This is worse than achieved under Bowen.

For the record, I've watched every league game this season. Missed a combined total of maybe 80 minutes due to stream issues or running late.

I'm assuming SCIAG thinks we're top half because he's seen fewer games than that.

I’m baffled by his comments. I would say our results have been better than our performances. One fairly comfortable win in the end v Posh whilst the other five wins could easily have gone the other way.

On the away front, we were awful against Coventry, even saying Huddersfield gives me PTSD and whilst the result was good, the performance against Cardiff was appalling.

The idea that we’ve had 2 “bad games” is just as nonsensical as him thinking we’d be better off playing with 10 men than trying to influence the game in any possible way at all.

[Snowflake Royal]

We have technically gifted players but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

Actually, Yiadom is our most fouled player.

Ovie is 3rd per game. 4th total, 4th per 90 mins and 4th minutes per foul

Yiadom makes top 10 in the league by total, otherwise we're nowhere.

I did notice Yids was fouled a number of times last night.
He also conceded a fair few fouls too. I can’t fault his commitment.

His judgement is occasionally suspect, but yeah, as commited as they come. LOVED the rocket he gave TDB when he committed a really stupid foul in their box.

[Zip]

For the record, I've watched every league game this season. Missed a combined total of maybe 80 minutes due to stream issues or running late.

I'm assuming SCIAG thinks we're top half because he's seen fewer games than that.

I’m baffled by his comments. I would say our results have been better than our performances. One fairly comfortable win in the end v Posh whilst the other five wins could easily have gone the other way.

On the away front, we were awful against Coventry, even saying Huddersfield gives me PTSD and whilst the result was good, the performance against Cardiff was appalling.

The idea that we’ve had 2 “bad games” is just as nonsensical as him thinking we’d be better off playing with 10 men than trying to influence the game in any possible way at all.

Agreed.

[CountryRoyal]

We have technically gifted players but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

Agree re gifted players and the style we play. It is good to watch when we’re attacking. The first half against Bournemouth we looked really good and with a bit of luck (or quality?) would have taken the lead.

But against many Champ teams we are not afforded the luxury of playing this way. I have often thought and said, that we do badly against classic Champ teams, who are physical, bigger than us and press us the whole game. We could also benefit from picky refs like those in the Prem. if only we could get there!

I think we need to adapt the way we play in midfield. Its just too intricate in the wrong positions. Its scary the amount of time we lost possession inside our own half.

Whether thats because there isn't an option further forward I'm not sure. Its not 'playing out from the back' which is the issue - we actually do that well now Southwood is in - its the next block up where we turn over time and again. I think the midfield and defence play too close together or something like that.

So often we ignore the sensible, basic option which would retain possession, to then dribble into a congested area on the touch line, or try and beat 5 players and lose it (Ovie) or go on a marauding run and lose it (Moore). When it works it looks great but we’re not good enough to make it work all the time. We don’t do the basics.

We play like we are trying to put the cherry on the cake but we haven’t even made the cake yet.

[Doolittle]

You lads can argue all you like but we’re just not very good.

And when we make the same tactical mistakes over and over again that screams shit management.

I’m so utterly unconvinced with our set up.

This. Too many players of a similar type, coupled with an inability to adapt his gameplan to suit our only experienced & fit striker. Puscas would be scoring his fair share if we either: (a) played someone alongside him, (b) played earlier balls to hit his runs sometimes, or (c) had the option if a genuine winger, who can run at defences at pace.

[3points]

I know we’ve had to cut academy players dramatically due to financial reasons, but it does feel like the heart of the U23s hasn’t been ripped out over the past couple of summers. Sure we’ve had some progress into regular first team squad members or departed for better things, but other “older” players have also been let go who, perhaps, would be getting some game time. I’m not that close to the academy squads over the past couple of seasons but it now seems like we have a very inexperienced U23 squad now compared to previous years. Again, perhaps RTG going on but surely a Josh Barrett or Jordan Holsgove or Sam Smith would be more first team ready than Clarke, Osario, Camara, etc?

Interested to see other people’s view who are closer to the academy set up than me

[windermereROYAL]

I know we’ve had to cut academy players dramatically due to financial reasons, but it does feel like the heart of the U23s hasn’t been ripped out over the past couple of summers. Sure we’ve had some progress into regular first team squad members or departed for better things, but other “older” players have also been let go who, perhaps, would be getting some game time. I’m not that close to the academy squads over the past couple of seasons but it now seems like we have a very inexperienced U23 squad now compared to previous years. Again, perhaps RTG going on but surely a Josh Barrett or Jordan Holsgove or Sam Smith would be more first team ready than Clarke, Osario, Camara, etc?

Interested to see other people’s view who are closer to the academy set up than me

Brentford don`t even have an U23 side, they closed their academy a while back, they just a have a top class recruitment team on board, i firmly believe we`ve been a far bigger team over the years but now they have left us behind.

[3points]

I know we’ve had to cut academy players dramatically due to financial reasons, but it does feel like the heart of the U23s hasn’t been ripped out over the past couple of summers. Sure we’ve had some progress into regular first team squad members or departed for better things, but other “older” players have also been let go who, perhaps, would be getting some game time. I’m not that close to the academy squads over the past couple of seasons but it now seems like we have a very inexperienced U23 squad now compared to previous years. Again, perhaps RTG going on but surely a Josh Barrett or Jordan Holsgove or Sam Smith would be more first team ready than Clarke, Osario, Camara, etc?

Interested to see other people’s view who are closer to the academy set up than me

Brentford don`t even have an U23 side, they closed their academy a while back, they just a have a top class recruitment team on board, i firmly believe we`ve been a far bigger team over the years but now they have left us behind.

they do have a B team though (or that’s my understanding). Their B stream is looking for undervalued players and larger academy cast offs.

I’m not wedded to any particular structure but with a Cat 1 academy (and P&S issues) I’d be expecting 3-5 players a year being properly blooded and then sold on at a profit. But that hasn’t been our policy really and have been caught out with the Olise, Richards, Loader contract positions

[karbota]

We have ONE technically gifted player but we play in such a risky way. Tight, short passes to marked players which don’t actually take us very far
Ejaria most be one of the most fouled players in the League. Unfortunately he seems to be most often fouled inside our own half and not inside the opposition’s penalty box where his trickery so rarely hurts the opposition.

Corrected for you, and he will be gone in January!.

[karbota]

You lads can argue all you like but we’re just not very good.

And when we make the same tactical mistakes over and over again that screams shit management.

I’m so utterly unconvinced with our set up.

Almost a sensible post (cut out the expletive). Great that we have some common ground here, time to bring back a British manager and players.