A brilliant display in foul weather. Richards, Rino and Moore were excellent. Meite, Swift and Ejaria were decent for spells, but all drifted in and out. Special mention for Puscas who put in a decent shift and deserved his goal for effort (if not for quality output) and Olise certainly grew into the game. Also loved the tram journey home being told how the ref won it for us!! Lovely

Definitely played alright. Not our best display but we were easily good enough to win today in poor conditions to play football. Puscas looked a lot better with more players around him.

Wednesday were also tosh so let's not get carried away. Still a great result though! My 4th visit to Hillsborough and the 4th time we've won there.

Not true if you listen to their fans on the tram......they were the more dangerous team!!

Not true if you listen to their fans on the tram......they were the more dangerous team!!

Like their fans, dangerous, as in a bunch of massive weapons?

Not true if you listen to their fans on the tram......they were the more dangerous team!!

On Owlstalk they were spouting on pregame about how shit they are, how Chansiri, Monk and the players can all do one and how they are going to get relegated even if they don't get a points deduction for dodgy accounting because they are utter dogshit.

Post game they were banging on about how shit they are, how Chansiri, Monk and the players can all do one and how they are going to get relegated even if they don't get a points deduction for dodgy accounting because they are utter dogshit, and how we were shit but the ref won it for us.



I did like the "Great advert for a 10 year season ticket" train of thought though.

I've got a tip for Wednesday... if you don't want to lose and have players sent off, try having some decent attempts to score - 3 on target and nothing much of real threat I can recall - a couple of delightful crosses to empty patches of pitch I suppose - and foul slightly less obviously and cynically, in less crucial parts of the pitch.

If your player gets tackled fairly, and then grabs the legs of the player who did it as they are running away towards goal with the ball, you're going to get a yellow card every single time the ref sees it. All game they were hugging, obstructing, pulling, tripping and so on.

Thought the ref was mostly fine, though we probably should have had a penalty earlier and maybe could have got another card. Ref was certainly a lot better than the absolute clown against West Brom.

Cabral - 6 bugger all to do, but clean sheet.
Yiadom - 6 not as influential going forward as he often is but perfectly ok... does get unnecessarily aggro at times though, walked into someone deliberately, a too footed lunge again.
Richards - 6 a bit loose to start with but grew into the game
Moore - 7 the usual good performance
Morrison - 7 same
Swift - 7 good showing as deepest midfielder, which was a bit bizarre
Olise - 6 fine performance but a few small errors, and nothing particularly spectacular
Rinomhota - 7 high energy, didn't see him doing a lot of defensive work which I'm going to take as a positive, because if it goes unnoticed it means few mistakes
Meite - 7 great run for the goal
Ejaria - 7 stunning turn and pass for Meite's goal - really should have scored himself as well though, got in trouble a couple of times unnecessarily too
Puscas - 7 much better hold up play and more involved, got a touch for a somewhat fortuitous goal

Adam - 6 obligatory daft shot, but otherwise fairly tidy
Baldock - 6 running as usual and a decent penalty
Masika - 6 looked high tempo and pacey, but little opportunity to shine in his time

It was a solid, efficient performance and we looked worth the win, but the sending off certainly made it secure and much more comfortable.

Final score was flattering. We didn't start the game well . Don't think that their keeper touched the ball in the first 15 minutes. The goal settled the nerves. Sending off killed Wednesday completely. Second goal and we were cruising. Job done.

For a gate of 22k. The home fans were very quiet from the off and seemed resigned to a poor display. Something most certainly amiss at Wednesday. Not a happy ship currently.

Further promising signs. Though still some woefull wayward passing decisions. Felt sorry for Swift. As too often there's a lack of movement upfront. Which results in a speculative pass that results in possession being conceded. Finally signs of Puscas and Meite linking up. Puscas looked a far better player for it. No longer totally isolated.

What to make of Ejaria? Doesn't participate in the pre match shooting practice. Doesn't cross the ball. Has a limited passing range. Ok can dribble in circles and win freekicks. Getting players booked and sent off. Occasional goal and assist. Is this enough contribution if we aspire to a top 6 finish next season?

A few results today there were not expected to say the least, don`t you just love storm Dennis, us, Luton winning at Boro, Barnsley stuffing the cottagers by 3, and Wigan drawing at Cardiff.
I still see negative comments after a 3-0 away win, sometimes I despair. we lose and its Bowen out, we win by 3 goals and its not convincing enough,
F*ck I love football fans !!!

Wasn’t at game, apologies for posting on here: Yeah, but, despite my son loving Monk for deploying his medical team on our behalf previously, they weren’t exactly sh!t hot on home ground. And why the oxf*rd couldn’t we deploy today’s team last Wednesday, when we looked like Aldershot against WBA?

Plays better as a deep lying midfielder against sides that don't press as it gives him the time and space to pick out a pass. Apart from the first 15 or so minutes where Swift looked a bit sketchy, Wednesday didn't seem particularly interested in pressing us

Wouldn't disagree massively with the ratings, but considering we just went away and won 3-0 to a team we have a poor record at in the last few years, would probably go a bit higher on a couple, including Ejaria and Puscas

Just to add, because I recall you saying you didn't rate Wickham, he looked pretty poor when he came on and looked slightly overweight too



Bit surprised to see we've picked up more points away from home now, our away form is usually poor. Only conceding 16 goals away from home in 17 is very impressive too, only conceding more than once three times away in these 17 games

Plays better as a deep lying midfielder against sides that don't press as it gives him the time and space to pick out a pass. Apart from the first 15 or so minutes where Swift looked a bit sketchy, Wednesday didn't seem particularly interested in pressing us

Wouldn't disagree massively with the ratings, but considering we just went away and won 3-0 to a team we have a poor record at in the last few years, would probably go a bit higher on a couple, including Ejaria and Puscas

Just to add, because I recall you saying you didn't rate Wickham, he looked pretty poor when he came on and looked slightly overweight too



Bit surprised to see we've picked up more points away from home now, our away form is usually poor. Only conceding 16 goals away from home in 17 is very impressive too, only conceding more than once three times away in these 17 games

Our away form has been excellent under Bowen. We lost 4 of the first 6 on the road this season. Bristol seeing the back of Gomes. Since that game in October, Millwall is our only defeat.

Plays better as a deep lying midfielder against sides that don't press as it gives him the time and space to pick out a pass. Apart from the first 15 or so minutes where Swift looked a bit sketchy, Wednesday didn't seem particularly interested in pressing us

Wouldn't disagree massively with the ratings, but considering we just went away and won 3-0 to a team we have a poor record at in the last few years, would probably go a bit higher on a couple, including Ejaria and Puscas

Just to add, because I recall you saying you didn't rate Wickham, he looked pretty poor when he came on and looked slightly overweight too



Bit surprised to see we've picked up more points away from home now, our away form is usually poor. Only conceding 16 goals away from home in 17 is very impressive too, only conceding more than once three times away in these 17 games

Our away form has been excellent under Bowen. We lost 4 of the first 6 on the road this season. Bristol seeing the back of Gomes. Since that game in October, Millwall is our only defeat.

Apart from Brentford

Wasn’t at game, apologies for posting on here: Yeah, but, despite my son loving Monk for deploying his medical team on our behalf previously, they weren’t exactly sh!t hot on home ground. And why the oxf*rd couldn’t we deploy today’s team last Wednesday, when we looked like Aldershot against WBA?
The main difference between WBA and Wednesday was WBA were a shit load better than Wednesday and pressed us high and hard most of the game which stopped us playing and forced errors.

Our away form has been excellent under Bowen. We lost 4 of the first 6 on the road this season. Bristol seeing the back of Gomes. Since that game in October, Millwall is our only defeat.[/quote]

Apart from Brentford[/quote]

Ah yep missed that. Still pretty good.

Wasn’t at game, apologies for posting on here: Yeah, but, despite my son loving Monk for deploying his medical team on our behalf previously, they weren’t exactly sh!t hot on home ground. And why the oxf*rd couldn’t we deploy today’s team last Wednesday, when we looked like Aldershot against WBA?

So you're asking why we looked worse against top of the league than compared to against a midtable team in free fall?

A better question is why we didn’t look or do better against a limited Hull team, rather than WBA. Too many teams come to the Madejski and sit 10 men behind the ball and defend deep. And that was the case with Hull. We aren’t good enough to break teams down that do this, and haven’t been for a number of years. It’s against these kinds of teams that you need as many creative and attacking players on the pitch, not 3 centre backs plus a deep laying midfielder.

Away from homes, team will attack us a bit more given us the opportunity to find space and create opportunities. Plus we’ve also started to do the “take the point” approach to away games which we haven’t necessarily done under previous managers.

Morrison, Swift, Gunter, Richards and Meite all played the full game against Cardiff four days earlier. Blackett played 90 mins, Pele played 60, Aluko about 90.

We failed to win that game due to one late mistake. Probably from mental and physical fatigue.

Morrison, Swift, Gunter, Richards and Meite all played the full game against Cardiff four days earlier. Blackett played 90 mins, Pele played 60, Aluko about 90.

We failed to win that game due to one late mistake. Probably from mental and physical fatigue.think you missed the point. I don’t think the cup game had much to do with it. It’s a common theme for us against lower table teams who sit very deep and don’t pressure the ball. We lack creativity in midfield and movement up front. We do not counter attack with pace when we get the occasional chance to do that against that type of team

Morrison, Swift, Gunter, Richards and Meite all played the full game against Cardiff four days earlier. Blackett played 90 mins, Pele played 60, Aluko about 90.

We failed to win that game due to one late mistake. Probably from mental and physical fatigue.think you missed the point. I don’t think the cup game had much to do with it. It’s a common theme for us against lower table teams who sit very deep and don’t pressure the ball. We lack creativity in midfield and movement up front. We do not counter attack with pace when we get the occasional chance to do that against that type of team
Not sure how you can say we lack creativity in midfield with Swift and Ejaria.

I don't think I've missed the point at all. Our performance against Hull is easily explained by fatigue.

Stoke, Barnsley and Birmingham are really the only disappointing results we've had against more limited teams and two of them were away. Maybe include Cardiff, but that's another away. And we only lost one of them. QPR were high flying when we played then, plus away.

think you missed the point. I don’t think the cup game had much to do with it. It’s a common theme for us against lower table teams who sit very deep and don’t pressure the ball. We lack creativity in midfield and movement up front. We do not counter attack with pace when we get the occasional chance to do that against that type of team
Not sure how you can say we lack creativity in midfield with Swift and Ejaria.

I don't think I've missed the point at all. Our performance against Hull is easily explained by fatigue.

Stoke, Barnsley and Birmingham are really the only disappointing results we've had against more limited teams and two of them were away. Maybe include Cardiff, but that's another away. And we only lost one of them. QPR were high flying when we played then, plus away.
Creativity we have in spades. Smart decision making we desperately lack. We are far more likely to score a goal through individual brilliance than well worked play.

think you missed the point. I don’t think the cup game had much to do with it. It’s a common theme for us against lower table teams who sit very deep and don’t pressure the ball. We lack creativity in midfield and movement up front. We do not counter attack with pace when we get the occasional chance to do that against that type of team
Not sure how you can say we lack creativity in midfield with Swift and Ejaria.

I don't think I've missed the point at all. Our performance against Hull is easily explained by fatigue.

Stoke, Barnsley and Birmingham are really the only disappointing results we've had against more limited teams and two of them were away. Maybe include Cardiff, but that's another away. And we only lost one of them. QPR were high flying when we played then, plus away.

I’d argue most of the teams we’ve played have been limited. The standard this season is pretty average.

3p makes a good point - for a midfield of supposedly creative players we don’t create enough. I think we have on occasion but not consistently. Our movement needs working on from receiving the ball in midfield to upfront.

It's about movement as a team and creating opportunities for our creative players. Case in point yesterday; no Ejaria assist without the Meite run.

Well quite.

Yes, Seth is spot on about decisions, as is the point about movement. There's certainly room for improvement and without Swift or Eharia or if they don't play well we do unsurprisingly look toothless.

But the argument that we can't breakdown weaker or middling defensive teams just doesn't really hold up when you look at our results under Bowen, especially with our creative dangermen available.

Not sure how you can say we lack creativity in midfield with Swift and Ejaria.

I don't think I've missed the point at all. Our performance against Hull is easily explained by fatigue.

Stoke, Barnsley and Birmingham are really the only disappointing results we've had against more limited teams and two of them were away. Maybe include Cardiff, but that's another away. And we only lost one of them. QPR were high flying when we played then, plus away.

I’d argue most of the teams we’ve played have been limited. The standard this season is pretty average.



That's the beauty of a competitive league. Where money alone doesn't determine the outcome far too often. More interesting to follow.

Well quite.

True, must be a training ground run

But the pass would have picked out Puscas, who was clever to leave it.

Maybe the pass was to Puscas, meant to be flicked on?

I've watched that on. Peculiar. The pass looks slow and as if defenders "should have" cut it out.

I think, except[t on some breaks, we play a little bit too slowly.

That means more defenders better placed and spaced.

Perhaps if we were a little quicker it would be easier to make a killer pass?

That was Swift's problem last season and Ejaria's this. Too many little touches, playing slow and watching for a big error to exploit or trying to force one where there's no room for it to come off.

There's really no reason for anyone to be trying to take on 3+ players, do 3 step overs or turn inside, outside inside again.

95% of the time it should be make your bit of space and exploit it, or if it doesn't happen move on and release the ball to someone else.

How big was the traveling support? We made loads more noise then the Wednesday 'massive'.

Can't wait to see them at work on Monday.

The Wednesday fans that is.......