Back from the Game, Northampton Town 24th August

[Big Foot]

Last night was - rather ironically - the kind of game we could've done with Rasiak

[PEARCEY]

Last night was - rather ironically - the kind of game we could've done with Rasiak

....thats part of the problem. With 3 smallish strikers theres not much physical presence in the box now. Rasiak didn't pull up any trees but he was at least an option to what we have.

[Big Foot]

Last night was - rather ironically - the kind of game we could've done with Rasiak

....thats part of the problem. With 3 smallish strikers theres not much physical presence in the box now. Rasiak didn't pull up any trees but he was at least an option to what we have.

Hence the bumping of this thread

[Mid Sussex Royal]

We have not seen the present complete lack of any ambition to improve things at board level since the days of Frank Waller in 1970's early 80's.

In terms of available funds McD is worse off since any manager probably since Maurice Evans.

[PEARCEY]

We have not seen the present complete lack of any ambition to improve things at board level since the days of Frank Waller in 1970's early 80's.

In terms of available funds McD is worse off since any manager probably since Maurice Evans.

That sadly is true which is why McD deserves our patience and support. I doubt he is very happy about all of this.

[Lower West]

What is apparent is that Williams doesn't have a right foot nor Pearce a left foot. So when a an opposition player cuts inside from the right wing we are very noticably exposed.

Kelly and Hunt were obviously well short of match practice.

Scrap playing wingers for the moment. Lets have a more solid midfield with some invention. Then give Kebe a more central strking role alongside Church or a match fit Hunt.

[Hoop Blah]

Who do you suggest plays in this mythical solid midfield?

[SteveRoyal]

Who do you suggest plays in this mythical solid midfield?

I think the first choice would remain the same as the end of last season: Tabb, Howard and Sig. Kebe and McAnuff on the wings.

[Arch]

Who do you suggest plays in this mythical solid midfield?

I think the first choice would remain the same as the end of last season: Tabb, Howard and Sig. Kebe and McAnuff on the wings.

So, not 4-4-2 then?

[weybridgewanderer]

Anyone in the UK wanting to relive the nightmare, and see exactly why we don;t sell feds and use hamer instead can watch the lowlights here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 944666.stm

[Royal Lady]

What I couldn't understand on Tuesday night was how Northampton always seemed to be given a lot of space and a lot of time on the ball - as a layman (or woman) I would have thought that closing players down quickly and better man-marking was the first thing they should be doing. I don't think Williams is that bad from what I've seen so far, but one criticism I have of him, as noticed more on Tuesday, was that he seems to take his eye off the ball and isn't very good at anticipating where his team mates are going to be sending the ball.

[Scarface]

What is apparent is that Williams doesn't have a right foot nor Pearce a left foot. So when a an opposition player cuts inside from the right wing we are very noticably exposed.

Kelly and Hunt were obviously well short of match practice.

Scrap playing wingers for the moment. Lets have a more solid midfield with some invention. Then give Kebe a more central strking role alongside Church or a match fit Hunt.

LOL Pearce is left footed, that shows what a poor player he is!!

[Scarface]

Anyone in the UK wanting to relive the nightmare, and see exactly why we don;t sell feds and use hamer instead can watch the lowlights here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 944666.stm

The best keeper we have is Anderson, so I'd still sell Federici.

[pea]

Andersen has the most potential but experience is everything in that position.

[Alan Partridge]

Anyone in the UK wanting to relive the nightmare, and see exactly why we don;t sell feds and use hamer instead can watch the lowlights here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 944666.stm

It is a bizarre mistake. The first bit of it, ok he's on the stretch with a wet ball so you can slightly excuse that. I think he's looked up to see if he can start an attack quickly and simply taken his eye off the ball. It's a bad one.

I've only seen Hamer a few times, he had a decent game down at Torquay but he doesn't convince me. He's not a big lad physically and i've seen him drop routine crosses fairly regularly. He almost seems to go half hearted at them, half concerned about getting whacked by a striker.

What i would say in his defense is, the two years he's played every week at clubs he's done very well. He spent literally all of last season on the bench, so to come in here and there is difficult, especially for a young keeper. I imagine he is feeling double the pressure also on the back of Federici having a poor game so it was his chance to impress, he is out of contract at the end of the season and Reading have 4 keepers that could all present a case to be the regular keeper here.

The bad thing now for Hamer is he won't get another chance now. Federici will return for the league matches, there is no next round of the Carling Cup and Federici last season played in the FA Cup. You are only as good as you're last game, so where Federici might play well on Saturday and everyone forgets his howler, the last thing anyone will think of Hamer and his chances to play were 'well he was shocking against Northamtpon'

The previous round he was man of the match for Reading down at Torquay, lots felt he should or might get a go in the league side and now he should be bombed out! The life of a goalkeeper.

[LWJ]

What is apparent is that Williams doesn't have a right foot nor Pearce a left foot. So when a an opposition player cuts inside from the right wing we are very noticably exposed.

Kelly and Hunt were obviously well short of match practice.

Scrap playing wingers for the moment. Lets have a more solid midfield with some invention. Then give Kebe a more central strking role alongside Church or a match fit Hunt.

LOL Pearce is left footed, that shows what a poor player he is!!

So why does he play on his right foot..

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Just seen the highlights. Terrible defending for the goals and the Hamer mistake is inexcusable.

[Wax Jacket]

nice work AP

[Arthur Pint]

Fair point AP, sometimes I think it needs to be pointed out that the Goalkeeper is the last line of defence, it's the responsibility of the rest of the team to block shots and crosses so that he is put under unnecessary pressure. I haven't seen Hamer's performance against the Cobblers but if he failed to do the basics then, he does need to shoulder the blame, but if his defenders haven't closed down and marked properly then maybe they should be looked at (not that we need any more threads telling us how bad Alex Pearce and Marcus Williams are).

I saw Jamie Ashdown let in an absolute howler for Pompey in their opening game of the season, yet my overriding memory of him was the great run of a dozen games he had in our team just before he left, which bears out your point that as a goalie you are judged very much on your last performance.

[Snowball]

Having watched the game live and now a few times on vid

I think our two CBs did OK and Mills did very well

They cleared countless long balls and looked solid. Mills stopped a certain goal in extra time, scored two EXCELLENT goals

He's unlucky to have the OG attributed to him. The FB was skinned too easily and the low-hard cross come very quickly as Mills moves to attempt a block.


Seemed to me there were a few things wrong. The full-backs were being beaten too easily, too often
and we seemed to drop back, defend deep and allow Northampton time on the ball, when we should have
been in their faces. There were long patches where we looked outnumbered in midfield.


Having said that we scored three, hit the bar, hit the post, had one good penalty turned down and what looked like a definite pen turned down.

Their defenders made some fine stops and their keeper had a blinder.

Our first goal was a horrible individual double-mistake, and you can't afford mistakes like that. The keep' didn't have a good first 90
flapping at a few... That sort of uncertainty in defence is contagious. I thought the keeper should have done better on the second goal also.


I'd brought a guest along. Like me, he thought we looked to be cruising towards a 4/5 goal win (Mills goal was superb) then
"just let in a silly goal"... We thought then we'd win 4-1 or 5-1, but it was one of those nights when the minnows were going
to have their moment. At half-time, when it was still 1-1 we decided it would be 4-1 or "a silly 2-2". We got the latter.

These things happen, but look at ALL our goal conceded this season and almost all are silly individual mistakes or "bad luck"



Scunthorpe....... first goal was a ricochet off a Reading defender
Scunthorpe....... from their POV a good header... not great marking
Portsmouth....... a wicked deflection at the near post.Unlucky?
Forest............. a crazy error by Federici
Northampton.... Double dropped ball by keeper. His fault alone
Northampton.... Keeper spilled ball from low cross
Northampton.... another wicked defelection for an OG

I think we DO have concerns at FB, Kelly looked to be re-injured (great save BTW)
and Griffin hasn't quite been the same, needs that hamstring fully sorted. LB issue are obvious, but Williams may settle and improve.

Personally I think Mills-Pearce as a partnership is not too bad.