Back from the game - Coventry (H)

[readingbedding]

If Coppell had left we would be lower than 3rd.

That we'll never know.

WHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

A Wall can be just a smuch a hindrance as it is a blocker in some cases. I mean if you gave Fox a free shot from the same position, no wall with Hahnemann stood in the middle looking straight at it and let Fox have that floaty shot, you would be seriously annoyed if that goes past you. By making a wall and standing on the other side, it leaves a massive target, he knows if he gets it over the wall it's in. Loads of people called the goal and i must say Hahnemann's positioning was very very poor. The free kick was excellent and he put it right in the top corner but i feel we helped him do it.

But with no wall, you'd still have players in and around the penalty area, blocking the keeper's view of the ball - a free kick is not a penalty with all other players conveniently moved out of the way. At least having a wall organises your defence of the kick.

That said, Marcus still left too much space on his left.

[BR2]

Just a few observations from the comfort of the settee-regrettably failed yet another fitness test so had to put up with a roaring fire.
Rosenior with nobody to mark was able to get forward more and after a couple of dire crosses improved considerably-he looks better when crossing on the stretch than when he has time.
Hunt put in one excellent cross early on and I was just starting to think he was getting back nearer last season's early form when he gets unnecessarily booked by an otherwise very lenient referee.
Cisse kept giving the ball way (picked up by the commentator) but vindicated himself with a good finish albeit totally unmarked.He overstretched in the second half and hobbled for a while but it was not picked up by the commentator.
As the game progressed the commentator made the point that Harper was contributing more and I lost count of the number of runs that he made into the box but nobody found him with a pass-with Marek in the side presumably we would see more passes threaded through but most people don't seem to think that a Harper/Marek partnership can work so it might never happen.
The other Hunt somehow scored two goals with the first being a major deflection and probably an own goal and the second by taking advantage of Hall not clearing the ball-I don't think he would cope in The Premiership but is a trier and without being very constructive has the knack of making things happen.

Talking of Premiership the game looked a couple of divisions below in quality but as is often said you can only beat what is put in front of you and as somebody else said earlier Coventry,like a lot of other teams,play a reasonable passing game (better than us in the first 20 minutes) but don't have the striking power or pace that we have when attacking.
Having scored twice in double quick time it never looked as though Coventry would ever get back in the game as there was no urgency and they seemed frightened to use width.
I have to say having watched a few Championship games on TV recently as well as some of the games with the lower Premiership sides involved football outside the top part of The Premiership is still very much hustle and bustle and whereas top players at top clubs deserve what they earn there are a lot of mediocre players around earning a hell of a lot of money.

[Wycombe Royal]

If Coppell had the bottle to select Marek, we'd win the league.

and

What may I ask, is so hilarious?

The stupidity of the comment, isn't that obvious?

[SLAMMED]

Why was Fox booed? I missed his crime...

he scored

[Alan Partridge]

A Wall can be just a smuch a hindrance as it is a blocker in some cases. I mean if you gave Fox a free shot from the same position, no wall with Hahnemann stood in the middle looking straight at it and let Fox have that floaty shot, you would be seriously annoyed if that goes past you. By making a wall and standing on the other side, it leaves a massive target, he knows if he gets it over the wall it's in. Loads of people called the goal and i must say Hahnemann's positioning was very very poor. The free kick was excellent and he put it right in the top corner but i feel we helped him do it.

But with no wall, you'd still have players in and around the penalty area, blocking the keeper's view of the ball - a free kick is not a penalty with all other players conveniently moved out of the way. At least having a wall organises your defence of the kick.

That said, Marcus still left too much space on his left.

Not if the defenders have a line on the 18 yard line as they do for other free kicks, just no wall giving Marcus a clear look at it. HAving said that, his positioning was so dump it would have gone in anyway!!

[rg6royal]

Why was Fox booed? I missed his crime...

he scored

And made some signals to the East Stand.

[RG30]

Watched the game on TV, thought we started poor and it was the wake up call we needed to go 1-0 down. Shocking positional sense from Marcus for the goal. Great character by the team to get on level terms so soon after, Sky said it was 4 mins 40 seconds. The goal got a very fortunate deflection but soon after we started to take control and it was an impressive finish by Cisse who has to go down as the most improved player of the season by a country mile. Duberry should have done better with his free header just before half time. Second half, we looked comfortable and scored at the right time to see the game out.Thought are defending at set plays yesterday was shaky, didn't seem they were clear at the first time of asking. Reality was we should have won by a bigger margin, S.Hunt had his decent opportunity in the first half and was wrongly ruled offside.

Big result yesterday, the players and staff were fully aware of the implications of the weekend's results. Only Burnley I believe won in the top half of the league and now 4 points behind Birmingham with a far superior goal difference, makes the 20th Dec pre Christmas clash very exciting indeed.

[brendywendy]

thought we played well after their goal, controlled the game, but it wasnt the greatest spectacle

thought we sat deep, but in their defence, we didnt vs the 5 in the middle of southampton, and look what happened
coppell asked them to let them play across the middle, a hit them when they gave it away, and the gameplan looked like it worked to perfection

thought harper made some lovely cross field passes(albeit sideways), and a couple of crucial blocks in our area
cisse gave the ball away early but grew into the game, scored a great finish after being fed a ball by "no end product"kebe(LOL)
thats yet another game where this guy feeds others with unmissable chances, yet strap will still be saying how shit he is.

nhunt was lucky with the 1st, battled hard for the second, and played well over all, doyle had two people climbing all over him all night

doobs and ivar were solid, no chances were allowed to develope, other than a non free kick or tworosi superb, and stretch did well to cope with having the still inneffectual hunt ahead of him-effort still 110% but hes not getting any breaks with his decision making or run of the ball.

marcus was slow for the free kick, but the wall maybe let him down.

[winchester_royal]

The stupidity of the comment, isn't that obvious?

I don't see the stupidity of the comment tbh.

[Ian Royal]

The stupidity of the comment, isn't that obvious?

I don't see the stupidity of the comment tbh.

It's that people are assuming a player who has done very little would suddenly make us world beaters. Even if his plus side of his game is as good as many think he still has plenty of negatives to his game.

There is no way we'd be above Wolves if Marek had been in the team for the last 5 - 6 games. Lets not forget he spent most of the opening games injured.

[Archie's penalty]

The stupidity of the comment, isn't that obvious?

I don't see the stupidity of the comment tbh.

It's that people are assuming a player who has done very little would suddenly make us world beaters. Even if his plus side of his game is as good as many think he still has plenty of negatives to his game.

There is no way we'd be above Wolves if Marek had been in the team for the last 5 - 6 games. Lets not forget he spent most of the opening games injured.

Totally agree Ian. Let's give Wolves a little credit. They have been playing some great stuff and deserve to be top at the moment.

[PEARCEY]

We eventually controlled the game but Cisse and Harper didn't do it for me. Harper improved after an anonymous first half but Cisse's distribution in the first half was woeful. We were overly reliant on creativity along both flanks.
If Matejovsky is as good as some believe he really ought to be in the starting line-up now.

[Ian Royal]

Indeed Archie.

I bet if you calculated the points dropped since Marek's been available it wouldn't take us to 48 points.

Doesn't look like he was fit when we played QPR. Which means we'd still only be on 45 points even if he'd won us Saints, Burnley & Cardiff single handedly.

[winchester_royal]

I don't remember saying I agreed with the comment, just that it was, IMO, a valid comment. He is a gifted player, and as of yet we have not seen the best of him.

However he is not strong enough to play CM in this league, and we may well see the back of him in Jan, as he won't want to sit on the bench and watch his international chances fade away.

[winchester_royal]

Indeed Archie.

I bet if you calculated the points dropped since Marek's been available it wouldn't take us to 48 points.

Doesn't look like he was fit when we played QPR. Which means we'd still only be on 45 points even if he'd won us Saints, Burnley & Cardiff single handedly.

He said that we would win the league, not that we would currently be top.

HTH.

[Ian Royal]

I don't remember saying I agreed with the comment, just that it was, IMO, a valid comment. He is a gifted player, and as of yet we have not seen the best of him.

However he is not strong enough to play CM in this league, and we may well see the back of him in Jan, as he won't want to sit on the bench and watch his international chances fade away.

Saying it's valid is showing agreement.

How is it a valid comment? You just said he isn't strong enough to play CM in the champ! Where are we going to play him? Goalie? How is he going to make the difference if he can't play in this league?

Our problems are a fragility in defence and midfield. Not creating chances. He is not going to provide us with better defensive strength so he's not likely to improve us much.

[winchester_royal]

I don't remember saying I agreed with the comment, just that it was, IMO, a valid comment. He is a gifted player, and as of yet we have not seen the best of him.

However he is not strong enough to play CM in this league, and we may well see the back of him in Jan, as he won't want to sit on the bench and watch his international chances fade away.

Saying it's valid is showing agreement.

How is it a valid comment? I've just shown we couldn't be ahead of Wolves even if he'd played and you just said he isn't strong enough to play CM in the champ! Where are we going to play him? Goalie? How is he going to make the difference if he can't play in this league?

Idiocy.

Look at my previous post.

[Maguire]

Indeed Archie.

I bet if you calculated the points dropped since Marek's been available it wouldn't take us to 48 points.

Doesn't look like he was fit when we played QPR. Which means we'd still only be on 45 points even if he'd won us Saints, Burnley & Cardiff single handedly.

As he's said, the original poster said "we'd win the league", not that we'd be top at the moment.

Anyway, its not something to be taken absolutely literally - what he means is that he rates Marek above our other midfielders, is frustrated at his omission, and that we'd be a better team for his inclusion.

It's a valid enough opinion.

[Archie's penalty]

Indeed Archie.

I bet if you calculated the points dropped since Marek's been available it wouldn't take us to 48 points.

Doesn't look like he was fit when we played QPR. Which means we'd still only be on 45 points even if he'd won us Saints, Burnley & Cardiff single handedly.

As he's said, the original poster said "we'd win the league", not that we'd be top at the moment.

Anyway, its not something to be taken absolutely literally - what he means is that he rates Marek above our other midfielders, is frustrated at his omission, and that we'd be a better team for his inclusion.

It's a valid enough opinion.

I think it's a valid opinion. I just don't agree with it. As Ian says our problems are in defence not attack. Marek doesn't improve us on that front so doesn't deserve to be in the team.

Someone said on another thread that what we need is a tough tackling attacking midfielder. I totally agree with that. It just comes down to our failure to replace Sidwell. We seem to have replaced everyone else from the 106 squad more than adequately.