BFTG - Clinging on to 6th place

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

What if it wasn't Reading players blocking his view? The penalty area was crowded at the time so I don't think moving his position would have helped and certainly nothing he could have done in that fraction of a second it took the ball to reach the goal.

I'm just saying that it looked a bit mince on the telly with him not moving at all, and then having the ball going past him fairly closely. You can't say that him moving or jostling to keep an eye on the ball wouldn't have helped. The shot was outside the box.

This suggests to me you have not played football much.

You are quite correct. I have, however over the last 4-5 years watched my son being coached 4 times a week in goal at Reading and now Fulham, so like to think I know a little bit about goalkeeping.

[maffff]

McCarthy was wrong-footed when he saw it. He was moving to his left just before it was cannoned in.

[The Rouge]

Also, it is all very well saying move if you cant see the ball properly but no keeper deliberately stays out of sight. Sometimes you are just unsighted for a split second.. and the guy hit it very early and hard.

[maffff]

Cracking goal, well taken.

Shame Morro was winded from his block before, that's where the gap came from and why Vardy was onside etc.

[stealthpapes]

A couple of random thoughts having been able to watch the game on tv...

I do not fault McCarthy for their goal. It was at the end of a scrambly play in/near our area where a bunch of players were out of position and chasing the ball, while screening him, he never saw it. Why two of our players did nothing to try to block that shot, they've must have known they had our keeper screened, by at least trying to stick out a leg, etc, is beyond me.

Secondly we did look good for long stretches. But Williams' lack of fitness due to playing despite not being fully fit and Leigertwood's lack of fitness from not playing much/horrible decision making leaving us with only 10 men at the end ensured a draw was probably the best we could have hoped for.

Why their player was not given at least a yellow for going right through the back of Obita with a knee, nor us being awarded a penalty for a clear handball in the box in the first half, or being given a corner at the dying moments of the first when we deserved one, didn't help. Not saying it was the reffing that cost us, but it didn't help and was very poor.

Our passing is poor. Instead of leading a player making a run into space the passers, usually not under any pressure, often played the ball behind the player making the run causing him to stop to collect the pass and thus killing any forward momentum we had for that play. Other than that we gave up the ball far too cheaply often with misplaced passes often times ending up going out of play.

Bottom line is we still looked very decent at times and this was much better than many of our recent (especially home) efforts...

WRT goal, they showed an extended shot of him telling the defence to press the ball immediately after the goal. Four players were close to the scorer but didn't commit or try to block.

In general, I enjoyed the game. Bit nervous at the end but we got a very well-earned point.

[Percy's Rocket]

Just one difference between their team of relative nobodies and ours IMHO.

They looked more organised.

[stealthpapes]

Yes.

Actually, that's a pretty good and precise summary of why this season has been frustrating. We have a superb squad for the level. We are still on course for , what, our tenth highest finish in our history? An extra few marginal gains - fitness, organisation, just small, basic things - would have seen us much nearer to competing for the top two.

Thank you.

[Libertine]

Fully agree. Leicester were very well organized and kept their shape well...us, while not horrific, much less so. There was a stretch in the early second half when I thought to myself watching Leicester "this is how I thought Adkins wanted us to play". I am not sure if the players just can't do it well, Adkins and the staff haven't trained them as well as they could have, or a combination of both. We played with heart, we gave a very good effort, but organized in our play we were not (compared to our opponents).

[Dave the rave]

How can a team still be this disjointed at this stage of the season? We've had injuries etc but still.

.

we've head injuries

I'm sorry about your situation but what goes on on the training field to show these levels of disjointedness.

[RoyallyFcuked]

We got a lucky break with Vardy's disallowed goal, which I thought should have stood but after that I thought we played quite well. Great header from Pearce. We were more of a threat in the first half and they didn't really look like scoring up until when they did.

The second half wasn't as good from us and if anyone was going to win it, it looked like they would. Thought Hector did very well and so did Gunter. McCleary had some flashes of brilliance but sometimes spoiled it. Pogrebnyak was poor, McAnuff even worse. Leigertwood looked off the pace but I didn't think his passing was actually too bad. Actually saw him make a decent pass forward 2 or 3 times (probably as many times as he did in the whole of last season). Overall though, a decent result and a deserved and well earned point.

Somehow we are still "clinging on to 6th place". Lets hope we still are after 4 more games. URZZZZZ

[RoyallyFcuked]

Anyone who says McAnuff is a good player, leader or whatever is just wrong.

I really do not understand the constant abuse for Jobi - do you fail to see the defensive side that he brings to the team?

yes I fail to see the "defensive" side he brings to the team.

He can't cross, can't dribble, can't shoot, can't pass and just points at other people to do the jobs he should be doing.
If I was able enough to collect the highlights of all of the good things that Jobi has done this season compared to the bad things I think you'd see how sh*t he is

True story, couldn't agree more. He was the same last season. People on here say they can't understand the abuse he gets, but he doesn't get anywhere near as much of that as he does people saying how great he is and constantly defending him. That's the bit I don't understand. Completely deluded.

[KDRF]

Saw a few people slating Ledge, did nobody notice the calming influence he had on our game when he came on? also for the 10 minutes after he came on we actually put a few passes together and had something like 80% possession, shame he got sent off or things may have been different.

[Mr.Swainey]

McCarthy did well except for the goal.

I thought McCarthy had a superb game. Not sure what he did wrong for the goal?

He let it in without diving: it was a massively unnecessary error. If he had been awake he would have stopped it.

I sat directly behind the goal, quite high up and I struggled to see it cannon into the back of the net, let alone McCarthy seeing it through a crowded penalty area.

[No Fixed Abode]

I think you'll just miss out. Ipswich will get the last play off spot.

[semtex1871]

I think you'll just miss out. Ipswich will get the last play off spot.

Let's hope so.....

[stealthpapes]

Classic Kes.

[Unbelievable Jeff]

McCarthy did well except for the goal.

I thought McCarthy had a superb game. Not sure what he did wrong for the goal?

He didn't do anything wrong - I think people think cos he didn't dive he was at fault. Fact is Hector (or was it Obita) should have stopped the shot coming in instead of turning his back.

I would personally put Williams at fault due to the poor header clearance which he handed to Leicester on the edge of the box

[RoyalBlue]

McAnnuff - His attitude when he messes up is to be frustrated, drop his shoulders and appear to give up, A stark contrast to many of the other players whose immediate reaction to messing up/losing the ball is to chase it down and try to do something about it..... Not a great example from a Captain as it sets the tone.... He's the complete opposite of Chris Gunter and that's why Gunter should be captain from the next game on.

I'm beginning to think that some people don't know what McAnuff looks like.

IMO the above description couldn't be further from the truth. I can think of many occasions when McAnuff has lost the ball and/or made a mistake and has then raced back/worked his butt off to recover the situation. On one occasion this season, that eagerness to put things right led to him deflecting the ball past McCarthy - maybe he should just have given up as you wrongly accuse him often doing!

McAnuff was everywhere. Anybody looking to auto-bash Jobi needs to compare 5 minutes of Jobi's game with 5 minutes of Drenthe's to see the workrate and contribution - it remains a shame that he is often remembered for a bad cross or a misplaced pass when he does it no more often than any other - it's just the dangerous position he gets himself into that makes a lost pass all the more disappointing - but hey, he got himself into that position which is more than can be said for our other options.

Spot on. Even one of those critical of his performance last night acknowledged that 'nothing he tried last night came off' i.e. he was trying to be creative and open up opportunities for the team.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

I think you'll just miss out. Ipswich will get the last play off spot.

Unfortunately Brighton more likely looking at the run ins - although like us they do have a tendancy to mess up games which look nailed on wins...

[AthleticoSpizz]

Whilst Jobi was outpaced on occasions last night...his effort (as always) could not be faulted.

Like RoyalBlue....I sometimes wonder if a lot of the criticism (of him) is a case of mistaken identity....those lairy boots all look the same dont ya know.

For the pillocks that intimate that every game should be his last one....be careful what you wish for.