BFTG - Leeds

[Pepe the Horseman]

Isn't that kind of your field, Ginge?

[Platypuss]

Probably a gopher job so wouldn't have any input into the format or content.

[Royal Ginger]

Isn't that kind of your field, Ginge?

Sort of, but i'm a hard-core "shake them by the ankles for every penny" money grabber type.

[paddy20]

My main concern was Clarke described it as a point won rather than 2 points lost. If we are to be happy with a draw at home against an average team then our ambitions have dropped considerably. Bar Sa the attack was miserable. We rarely had more than one player in the box so any crosses were easily defended by the 5 Leeds defenders.

[melonhead]

"brand new team thrown together over a summer, missing goal scorers, and pacey wingers, fails to create much or score any"




Clarke is ensuring the defence is solid, and then hopefully adding flair and creativity from there.
add a striker, some more quality on the wings etc and we will be fine.

we lost to that lot after being mugged last year, so a point is an improvement.

[RG30]

We had 48 hours more rest than Leeds though

[melonhead]

ok. thank you for that.

[Forbury Lion]

Family zone for Families. Next week I hope they open Moaning Tw*t Zone. Plenty of Nobbers can move in there!

I thought they already had that zone in Y26?

The hot air balloon cannisters without the hot air balloon above them were incredibly hot and I was in G4 a whole block over and 7 rows back. There were families sat at the front right beside them.

The video/song wasn't as bad as expected but it belonged in Eurovision rather than at a football match. As a one off I'm not too bothered, but please don't play it again.

Couldn't hear what Lady Sasima was saying in her speech, but the more I see and hear of her the more I like her.

The game - My first change to see the new signings in action and there are promising signs, The fact that it was a 0-0 draw probably helps emphasise to the board that we need a striker. A clean sheet from a side with effectively 2 new central defenders and a new goalkeeper is a positive. It's early days, but I recall Pardew building our team from the back and then when that was sorted we became much more attack minded.

[handbags_harris]

Having seen the highlights there is no other conclusion I can draw from the first minute challenge on HRK that it was a denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity. HRK beats Bamba to the ball, he hasn't knocked it too far in front or wide and, had he not been hacked down by a desperate all-or-nothing lunge, would have caught the ball and had just the Silvestri to beat in a one-on-one situation (and I'd have backed him to score). Bamba had no option but to throw himself into the challenge knowing the consequences and got lucky on a bottled decision from a young and inexperienced ref obviously not wanting to make a controversial decision.

Other than that, defences on top, Leeds no more than average, Reading no more so but I'd expect us to improve when our options aren't so stifled by injuries to our wide players. Understandably lacking creativity on the flanks, not sure we can really hope for much more given the injury situation. What I can't understand is why people insist on saying Williams and Quinn are playing wide when they're clearly lining up in a narrow central midfield three? The width should be offered by HRK and Blackman but with both pulling into central positions it invariably left Williams and Quinn attempting the creative work on the flanks.

In many ways I wish the moaners would look at the game in the context of who we have available and playing rather than from the same position every week. If we had a full squad of players and played 4-4-2 with natural wingers providing width and with a creative option in the middle and still didn't create then I'd understand the basis for moaning. As it was we had no natural wide players fit so we were always going to struggle to create from there, but if we're solid at the back and don't concede then we're at least giving ourselves a fighting chance. It wasn't pretty yesterday, but it wasn't that bad either. Plenty of positives from a defensive POV to take from it.

[3points]

If we had a full squad of players and played 4-4-2 with natural wingers

we don't even have the 2, let alone any wingers.

SC clearly isn't a wingers type guy. Expect it to be a 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1 or 4-2-3-1 all season. Only width coming from the full backs

[Esteban]

If we had a full squad of players and played 4-4-2 with natural wingers

we don't even have the 2, let alone any wingers.

SC clearly isn't a wingers type guy. Expect it to be a 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1 or 4-2-3-1 all season. Only width coming from the full backs

Bit of a waste buying a winger then really.

[3points]

If we had a full squad of players and played 4-4-2 with natural wingers

we don't even have the 2, let alone any wingers.

SC clearly isn't a wingers type guy. Expect it to be a 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1 or 4-2-3-1 all season. Only width coming from the full backs

Bit of a waste buying a winger then really.

expect GMac and Hurtado to play an attacking two supporting the striker, as HRK and Blackman were meant to do on Saturday. SC has used GMac in that role a couple of times at the end of last season

[Extended-Phenotype]

"brand new team thrown together over a summer, missing goal scorers, and pacey wingers, fails to create much or score any"




Clarke is ensuring the defence is solid, and then hopefully adding flair and creativity from there.
add a striker, some more quality on the wings etc and we will be fine.

Tbf, this is the beans of it.

Build from the back. Shore things up until the cavalary arrives. Got some creative types (apparently) on the way. Get a decent striker and we might forge a decent side.

But a lot hinges on whether Hurtado and Fernandez are any good and whether we actually bother making a realistic offer on a new forward. Oh and Clarke finding some logic in his management.

[Maneki Neko]

In many ways I wish the moaners would look at the game in the context of who we have available and playing rather than from the same position every week. If we had a full squad of players and played 4-4-2 with natural wingers providing width and with a creative option in the middle and still didn't create then I'd understand the basis for moaning. As it was we had no natural wide players fit so we were always going to struggle to create from there, but if we're solid at the back and don't concede then we're at least giving ourselves a fighting chance. It wasn't pretty yesterday, but it wasn't that bad either. Plenty of positives from a defensive POV to take from it.

I agree with this man here.

[Hoop Blah]

Giving him till Christmas is ridiculous. We don't want to be one of those clubs who chop and change manager willy nilly, we need stability.

Agreed. Just for the record, my comment about giving Clarke until Christmas wasn't meant to say we have to judge him and boot him out if we're not ripping up the division, more that we really shouldn't be picking apart his progress until after that point.

Having said that though, if we really are dogshit with no light at the end of the tunnel then that might all go out of the window!

[PeterReadingborn59]

SC will have Paolo and Alex in the squad, Khunying Sasima Srivikorn is quoted as saying RFC are still trying to add a striker and if the potential loans occur the squad will be almost unrecognizable from last season. With the additional players we should see what SC will do, as the current defensive approach will not get RFC near the play-offs due to the lack of goals.
Blackman seems more driven and some believe HRK put in a shift, with their new motivation it would be good to see HRK or Blackman in a central position as neither are wingers.

Certainly RFC looks a lot better this season with the new owners who seem committed to take RFC to a new level.

I welcome the efforts made to jazz up the prematch and half-time periods, if they seem a bit over the top, at least they are a talking point and show the owner's commitment to the club. Let's hope the team can get on a scoring and winning trail to real improve the atmosphere and return the team to the Premiership with a squad that can hold its own.

[floyd__streete]

I cannot remotely be bothered to scan through 7 pages of navel gazing astonishment that cLOLarke hasn't managed in any way to improve our goalscoring capability, suffice to say that in his 14 league home matches in charge we have mustered 7 goals

Birmingham, meanwhile, continue to improve under Rowett. We should be kicking ourselves that we didn't bin off Adkins two weeks earlier.

[bobby1413]

suffice to say that in his 14 league home matches in charge we have mustered 7 goals

Birmingham, meanwhile, continue to improve under Rowett. We should be kicking ourselves that we didn't bin off Adkins two weeks earlier.

That is a pointless statistic as it's a new season and we have signed numerous players all of whom have barely warmed up. We also have two new and by the sounds of them, exciting players who have signed and weren't ready for the first two games.

The squad has improved on paper, they haven't even had their chance to fully perform.

I agree with some others that we can't judge properly until 6-10 games into the season, when they've had an extended amount of time to gel and play.

[Bacon Double Cheese]

Hinton gets up from his seat, opens a door and walks out only to find he has walked into a stationary cupboard

Can't be arsed to read through all this but has anybody bothered to point out that cupboards don't often move?
HTH

[CountryRoyal]

Yes it's a bit crap watching us celebrate a shot on target but we can't be surprised that we haven't become this massive goal threat we all want to be.

That was supposed to happen under Adkins, and didn't. We knew Clarke was going to be more defensive and we haven't really added anything new to the attack yet.

Poster few posts up is right. Build from the back. Id rather keep it tight and keep picking up points until wr have wingers again. To start a season with 3 wingers injured already is a bit unfortunate.