BFIT - Wycombe (H)

[Millsy]

Moore was imperious, easily MotM for me.

Given that Joao now has two/three men on him the entire time, maybe we should start Puscas over Meite, he would do well in the extra space. Can't believe that I'm saying it, but we need to see more of Aluko.

Interesting point.

Also interesting that we now have two players who need 3 men on them. João and Ejaria.

Take your eye off one of these players and you're going to concede. Keep them both marked and we have other players to score.

Colin did a good job keeping João under control but Ejaria had two shots only just wide, very dangerous.

Against Wycombe and João scores a goal, Ejaria gets a penalty turned down and has good shot wide again.

Keep tabs on these players and you then free up the likes of Meite to miss a free header or Puscas as you say.

I'd be shiting myself if I was trying to set a team up against Reading tbh.

(Btw I counted FOUR decent crosses this game by us. Good improvement. )

[JR]

Joao's got 6 goals. He's just had a mare, working his way back from a dislocated shoulder and he still won the game.

No way he doesn't keep playing.

I’m bringing in Puscas for Meite

[Zip]

One thing you don’t see now is teams running through us in the centre of the pitch. It happened an awful lot when Kelly and Swift were in midfield. We really look strong defensively in that part of the pitch.

[Lower West]

As for the next game I’d bring in Esteves but not to replace Holmes. I do think the latter has been so influential to our defensive abilities but it’s obvious he lacks going forward. In Esteves’ cameo he showed why he should play but equally there were a couple of moments which didn’t inspire supreme confidence in his defensive capabilities,

Probably lacking match fitness and sharpness. Sharing the load 60/30 minutes is beneficial to both players. With so many games coming up. Management of the players is key.

[Lower West]

Moore was imperious, easily MotM for me.

Given that Joao now has two/three men on him the entire time, maybe we should start Puscas over Meite, he would do well in the extra space. Can't believe that I'm saying it, but we need to see more of Aluko.

Interesting point.

Also interesting that we now have two players who need 3 men on them. João and Ejaria.

Take your eye off one of these players and you're going to concede. Keep them both marked and we have other players to score.

Colin did a good job keeping João under control but Ejaria had two shots only just wide, very dangerous.

Against Wycombe and João scores a goal, Ejaria gets a penalty turned down and has good shot wide again.

Keep tabs on these players and you then free up the likes of Meite to miss a free header or Puscas as you say.

I'd be shiting myself if I was trying to set a team up against Reading tbh.

(Btw I counted FOUR decent crosses this game by us. Good improvement. )

Fill the midfield and play a high line/pressing game. We are struggling to apply any meaningful pressure in or around the oppositions penalty box.

[royalp-we]

Unbelievably proud of how we came through that. The better teams will come to hurt us and throw players forward. Wycombe set up to mimic us in that first half and did a bloody good job of it. Full credit to Ainsworth.

I wanted us to keep a consistent team for tonight. But I wouldn’t blame Pauno to change one or two for Rotherham.

If anything tonight has shown that if you just hold in there and play your game whilst keeping the defence tight, the chances will come. Would probably give Esteves, Aluko and maybe Tetek starts on Saturday. Keep to the game plan, it’s certainly working right now.

[Zip]

Unbelievably proud of how we came through that. The better teams will come to hurt us and throw players forward. Wycombe set up to mimic us in that first half and did a bloody good job of it. Full credit to Ainsworth.

I wanted us to keep a consistent team for tonight. But I wouldn’t blame Pauno to change one or two for Rotherham.

If anything tonight has shown that if you just hold in there and play your game whilst keeping the defence tight, the chances will come. Would probably give Esteves, Aluko and maybe Tetek starts on Saturday. Keep to the game plan, it’s certainly working right now.

Can’t see Tetek making the squad.

[royalp-we]

Unbelievably proud of how we came through that. The better teams will come to hurt us and throw players forward. Wycombe set up to mimic us in that first half and did a bloody good job of it. Full credit to Ainsworth.

I wanted us to keep a consistent team for tonight. But I wouldn’t blame Pauno to change one or two for Rotherham.

If anything tonight has shown that if you just hold in there and play your game whilst keeping the defence tight, the chances will come. Would probably give Esteves, Aluko and maybe Tetek starts on Saturday. Keep to the game plan, it’s certainly working right now.

Can’t see Tetek making the squad.

Just think Laurent needs a day off tbh

[URZZZZ]

Said last year the best teams have a strong base to the team, your cool, calm heads

When you have players like Rafael, Morrison, Laurent, Rinomhota etc, you can afford for your others players like Meite, Ejaria to have off days like today

Last year, for the majority of it, the balance of the team seemed all wrong. Paunovic has it spot on so far. With time, hopefully the attacking creativity will improve

[URZZZZ]

Three points clear at the top is fantastic but that was a struggle

Rafael. 7 Important save near the end
Holmes 5 Solid defensively but offered nothing going forward
Morrison 7 Rock solid again
Moore 7 An assist and one missed header apart rock solid
Richards 6 Really poor first half but much better after the break
Laurent 6 Quiet but good positioning
Rinomhota 6 Generally good but occasional poor passes
Ejaria 7 One lovely cross, great link up play but poor shooting
Olise 8 MoTM Lovely vision and smashing passing
Meite 4 Love Yaks but missed a sitter and got in the way of an Ejaria chance
Joao 6 Gets an extra mark for a brilliant goal but very poor first half

Semedo 7 Gave the side much needed energy and tempo
Esteves 7 Stylish and looks the part

Not sure how Joao gets a 6 for scoring the winning goal and Ejaria gets a 7 who did oxf*rd all but slow the game down most of the time. He really pissed me off tonight.

Ejaria should have had an assist for a brilliant cross to Meite. He was in on goal following brilliant link up play with Joao but Yaks got in the way. He put in a very good cross which fell for Semedo who should have done better. So yeah three of our best moments came through him.

When he plays at a high tempo, he’s dangerous and tough to handle. The problem is he doesn’t do it enough, too much dawdling on the ball, twisting in and out

The most frustrating thing is if you rewind 10/11 months, people are saying the exact same thing about him. His decision making is what is stopping him from becoming a much better player, but then I guess he wouldn’t be playing for us if that was the case

[Snowflake Royal]

Joao's got 6 goals. He's just had a mare, working his way back from a dislocated shoulder and he still won the game.

No way he doesn't keep playing.

I’m bringing in Puscas for Meite

Puscas would be awful wide right

[Snowflake Royal]

Said last year the best teams have a strong base to the team, your cool, calm heads

When you have players like Rafael, Morrison, Laurent, Rinomhota etc, you can afford for your others players like Meite, Ejaria to have off days like today

Last year, for the majority of it, the balance of the team seemed all wrong. Paunovic has it spot on so far. With time, hopefully the attacking creativity will improve

There's a lot to be said for this. At 0-0 or 0-1 I feel this team are still capable of picking up points and scoring goals.

[Sutekh]

The youtube game highlight is here

[Franconian Royal]

Don't usually post on here a lot, but let me give my 5p worth:

1st half: We were bullied a bit too much by Wycombe. We didn't have very good movement off the ball. Ejaria was fouled for a pen. How the ref / liner didn't see it, I'll never know. To me it was blatant that the defender committed himself and Ejaria was fouled. Meite should have scored with that header. I don't know what he was trying to do (perhaps trying to guide it in rather thump the header in).

2nd half: Well, whatever Pauno said at HT, went down a treat, we seemed to come out much better and the movement was sharper as well. Esteves looks really good. Tim and Mick said it in commentary: he took a ball on the halfway line and made it look so 'flamboyant' the way he controlled it. As others have already said, the subs made a difference. Semedo looks like an Ejaria (leggy) but without the locks (not being racist here). João took his goal really well. Strong to hold off the defenders and then the finish was really good. Hit hard and through the keeper. Olise and Ejaria played better 2nd half.

For Saturday, I'd like to see Semedo and Esteves start. Meite needs to have a rest. Can Esteves play as a winger? He looks good, then we wouldn't have to drop Holmes, who looks really good. I would play Semedo and Olise and let Ejaria have a rest. He looked like he had a case of bad cramp.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Radio 5 said Reading were by far the better side in the second half, having been frustrated in the first half.

This is exactly the case.

First half Wycombe had higher intensity and nullified us somewhat, but the way they played is nowhere near sustainable for 90 minutes.

We looked much slicker after half time and were beginning to create threats, and I’ve no doubt that had that goal not come at that point it would have not long after. Wycombe’s plucky spirit saw them have a go, but aside from the one chance they didn’t really have a sniff.

There’s a different kind of pressure for games like yesterday evening, and I’m delighted we got the win however it came about. Yeovil 2014 and Burton 2017 are examples of how these types of games can go wrong.

Most games we will come up against teams who themselves are quite expansive, this will give us more opportunity to play towards our strength of quick counter attacking.

[Millsy]

Yeah again we see the evidence of Pauno's half time chats. I wonder if he's a bit of a hairdryer or more of a positive motivator.

[NewCorkSeth]

Closer than it should have been, especially in the last 10. Not playing like champions elect yet but the results keep coming.

As already commented both subs improved the team significantly and both should start on Saturday. Some decent football played while they were on. First half atrocious again. It is possible to win matches in the first half someone should tell our lot.

Being a bit sharper especially from the off and we could be having a really good season. Though Watford is the only real test we’ve had so far.

The reason we're top is boro beat Bristol. We drew with them. Cardiff and Boro have also been a challenge.

Barnsley were excellent first half. Wycombe made it tough.

Big +1. I think every game has provided us with a test so far apart from Derby and Derby was the first game.

Without sounding like I am getting carried away i think Blackburn is going to be a good test for us. They are scoring quite a lot so should be difficult on the defenders and our strikers will have to continue to capitalise on their few chances.

[NewCorkSeth]

Matt Joy on twitter reported Pauno shouted "we came here to play football" at one of Wycombes "injured" players last night in the first half. Love him.

[Sanguine]

We got the win. The rest doesn't really matter. We aren't going to play well every week, and this was 'one of those games'. But as per the second post on the thread, there was a definite improvement after the break (or arguably after 35 minutes or so).

Esteves looks a terrific acquisition. Excited to see more from him. Semedo looks decent too, very direct, quick, eager to get on the ball. Feel like the ball bounced off of him a lot, I didn't quite see the 7/10 that a lot are granting him.

Meite. Sorry, seems a lovely chap, but I've not understood Meite since he joined us. His finishing isn't improving. His work-rate has, but his end product is so often lacking. Just don't get it.

[Sanguine]

1st half: We were bullied a bit too much by Wycombe. We didn't have very good movement off the ball. Ejaria was fouled for a pen. How the ref / liner didn't see it, I'll never know. To me it was blatant that the defender committed himself and Ejaria was fouled.

Ejaria was waiting and waiting for any kind of physical contact. He got it and then fell over. There was no trip.