Back from the game - Swansea (A)

[swansea jack]

Hmmm, strange game. Felt like an academy youth game with a goal equating to 10 passes as neither team knew what to do in the last third.

Livened up after the 'handbags' in the second half and you seemed to fall to pieces somewhat after Buck brought Harper on as we dominated the last 25 minutes and should've scored at least once. I'd forgotten how much of the time he spent pointing

Not quite sure what the penalty was for but Federici made a good save from a poor attempt. He actually made a couple of decent saves throughout the game and one excellent tip-over from a header which was then ruled offside. Probably your man-of-the-match. That Robson-Kanu kid looks good although the end product needs tweaking.

Neither team will make the playoffs on this performance and we both need some more experienced players, especially up-front as goals are going to be a big problem.

[Alan Partridge]

Cheers s_jack, how do you feel about your own prospects having lost 3 key cogs of your team possibly 4 with bodde going, and also you new manager, early thoughts?

[PEARCEY]

Fair summary SJ. You must be disappointed with whats happened at the Liberty over the summer. I was looking at the team sheets tonight and the Swans looked there for the taking. Both sides are trying to play football the right way but are lacking in self-belief at the moment.

[wolsey]

Both sides are trying to play football the right way but are lacking in self-belief at the moment.

Sad really - competing to be this year's Doncaster. (Although having said that, i think I would be quite happy if we achieve their final position)

[Royalwaster]

Fair summary SJ. You must be disappointed with whats happened at the Liberty over the summer. I was looking at the team sheets tonight and the Swans looked there for the taking. Both sides are trying to play football the right way but are lacking in self-belief at the moment.

LOL - but then you looked at our team sheet and thought otherwise ...

[andrew1957]

Well that really was a poor attacking performance - barely a shot on goal and Swansea Jack's summary is very fair. I hope I am wrong but without some re-investment we are going to struggle this season - as I think are Swansea.

At least Federici is beginning to silence the doubters.

[Royalwaster]

It's quite scary really - ever since January, watching Reading, you just can't see where the next goal is going to come from. That's pretty much the opposite of before Xmas, where you felt even if we went one goal down, we'd score one or two sooner or later. And with no proven strikers on the pitch it only gets worse - you can't really blame Church coming into a side with no real confidence of being able to score a goal against Championship opposition.

[Woodcote Royal]

The good ship Jolly Rodger needs a sharp end

[andrew1957]

It's quite scary really - ever since January, watching Reading, you just can't see where the next goal is going to come from. That's pretty much the opposite of before Xmas, where you felt even if we went one goal down, we'd score one or two sooner or later. And with no proven strikers on the pitch it only gets worse - you can't really blame Church coming into a side with no real confidence of being able to score a goal against Championship opposition.

The main difference was that S Hunt was awesome before Christmas and then decided to go on holiday for the second half of the season. Our problem now is finding someone to replace his assists (his corner deliveries early season were very consistent) and someone to replace Doyle's goals.

[Royalwaster]

It's quite scary really - ever since January, watching Reading, you just can't see where the next goal is going to come from. That's pretty much the opposite of before Xmas, where you felt even if we went one goal down, we'd score one or two sooner or later. And with no proven strikers on the pitch it only gets worse - you can't really blame Church coming into a side with no real confidence of being able to score a goal against Championship opposition.

The main difference was that S Hunt was awesome before Christmas and then decided to go on holiday for the second half of the season. Our problem now is finding someone to replace his assists (his corner deliveries early season were very consistent) and someone to replace Doyle's goals.

But it's more than that - it's that feeling of no confidence whatsoever in the final third. It's gone - but then it might come back again suddenly. Look at CP last season - I remember when they came to us, they hadn't scored a goal from open play and their fans were shitting themselves wondering where the goals would come from. They scored 2 that day and lost, but after that they seemed to do OK. Here's me hoping ...

[weybridgewanderer]

Federici - 9 kept us in it, best player on the park
Rosenior - 7 hot and cold, some sloppy first toucjes but did make a couple of saving tackles
Mills - 2 worst player on the park
Bertrand - 6 didn't offer enough going forward
Pearce - 6 needs to become a championship captan quickly
Cisse - 5 ear;y doors did the defensive midfield part but seened to get lost
Henry - 5 struggled to get into the game
Robson-Kanu- 6 same ans henry, couple of OK runs
Karacan - 5 didn't really boss the midfield
Davies - 4 didn't influence and hooked at half time
Church.- 4 compleet alck of service


now, were we playing 4-2-3-1, 4 4-1-1, 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-2-1-1?

[southsideroyal]

At least Pearce didn't turn his back on a ball that was still in play to yell at the other members of the team this time around.

[Jackson Corner]

This was worrying against a team ripped apart by Boro on Saturday, we were second best all over the park. Feds was excellent and will need to be on this showing. Never mind the play offs we looked a relegation outfit out there tonight, we failed to have one attempt on goal and never looked a threat at any point during the game. For what it's worth here are the ratings.

Federici - 9 Brilliant a couple of outstanding saves
Rosenior - 6 Did ok defensivley, poor distribution never had achance to get forward
Mills - 3 Have we rally paid 2 million for this clown? All over the shop, on this game has the potential to be our worst ever signing
Bertrand - 5 Not a patch on Stretch did ok never had the chance to go forward
Pearce - 6 OK spent most of the night covering for the useless Mills
Cisse - 5 Some good tackles but to many sloppy passes that just gave the ball away
Henry - 5 One decent run but from the opening games I'm not sure he is up to this level
Robson-Kanu- 5 See Henry
Karacan - 5 Worked hard but so do I and I'm not earning anywhere near as much as him
Davies - 5 OK but no final product
Church.- 3 Again looks way out of his depth poor first touch and never looks likely to have a shot let alone score

Overal it looks like we are in for a long season. You cannot let the likes of Doyle, Lita Hunt, and Bikey go and replace them with kids and expect them to challenge.

[Royalwaster]

This was worrying against a team ripped apart by Boro on Saturday, we were second best all over the park. Feds was excellent and will need to be on this showing. Never mind the play offs we looked a relegation outfit out there tonight, we failed to have one attempt on goal and never looked a threat at any point during the game. For what it's worth here are the ratings.

.

From the match reports, I don't think Swansea was ripped apart by Boro - apparently played good possession football, but conceded three, one of which was a terrific goal.

[Tadleys Finest]

TBF Duck Dodgers has indicated that he needs to dip into the transfer market for a quality striker.. just wish he'd hurry up before we are cut adrift. I heard this morning we are the only team in the league without a goal (in the league obviously) .. im free saturdays and will score 15 in the fizzy pop if he is interested.. Mr Mad would like me as im bloody cheap and love the club.

[swansea jack]

Cheers s_jack, how do you feel about your own prospects having lost 3 key cogs of your team possibly 4 with bodde going, and also you new manager, early thoughts?

I don't get to many games as I live in Sydney but the general feeling is that this will be a season of consolidation.

My concern is that, following a few more poor results, the fans will get on the players backs and the confidence needed to play the way we due will be lost and we'll end up hoofing it all over the place. The likes of Sheff Utd, WBA, Newcastle, Preston, Palace and (even though I hate to say it) C*rdiff have the Championship grit needed to grind out results and we look a little lightweight. However, the last two seasons have been a breath of fresh air and we need to give Sousa time to play his way.

Bodde will be off at some point and we need Pratley back to get a bit more bite in centre mid. Dobbie looks a good signing but I'm not sure he's strong enough to play the lone striker. I'm a little concerned with our lack of height as Dyer, Gower, Britton & Dobbie are all 5ft nothing - with your height it almost seemed men against boyos at times.

Re: Boro - we certainly weren't ripped apart by them. A deflected goal, a gift of a pass from our centre back to Emnes (albeit followed by a cracking finish) and a poor defensive setup at a corner meant we lost 0-3. Boro deserved the win but we made it easy for them. The big difference between the teams was that they had the likes of O'Neill, who controlled the midfield, and Huth, who marshalled the defence, to rely on. Johnson also had an excellent game. Lita was a little anonymous.

We almost appear to be in a similar situation although you have a little more cash than us...

[CMRoyal]

TBF Duck Dodgers has indicated that he needs to dip into the transfer market for a quality striker.. just wish he'd hurry up before we are cut adrift. I heard this morning we are the only team in the league without a goal (in the league obviously) .. im free saturdays and will score 15 in the fizzy pop if he is interested.. Mr Mad would like me as im bloody cheap and love the club.

Rodgers identified his targets at the beginning of the summer - I can't believe it's he who needs to hurry up.

[CMRoyal]

Well I certainly hope he doesn't intend to spend £2million on a striker who is as useless as Mills..
I assume we are lining up the £2M offer for Bas Savage as we speak.

Come on, give Mills a bit of time. He had a dodgy game. That does not make him useless.

[Vision]

Well I certainly hope he doesn't intend to spend £2million on a striker who is as useless as Mills..
I assume we are lining up the £2M offer for Bas Savage as we speak.

Come on, give Mills a bit of time. He had a dodgy game. That does not make him useless.

Of course it does, this is HobNob. Never mind the fact this is his first league start and he's had no pre-season to speak of.

Anyone remember Matt Upson's first game(s) for us? Absolute toilet.

[Royal Lady]

We didn't spend £2 million on Upson though.