Was weird watching the match normally I’d be furious conceding a last minute goal but I was completely calm like I was absolutely resigned to it. Always thought on paper this squad looked exciting, the disappointment is that they’re just not good enough. Every starting 11 we have is just full of players that don’t fit in to the style or even the position half the time like a patchwork quilt of unadulterated sin. As for Mowbray always said give him until new year, hands up it’s the same old song and dance and it’s time for him to go. Was probably time to go for a while but I’m more forgiving than most. We all know it’s unlikely Mowbray will go anytime soon as the owners don’t really give a shit and there’s a sincere lack of true responsibility for those not performing.

I always thought Dack had a year extension we could invoke. Very worrying nonetheless you can argue a lack of funds all you want but letting several multi million pound players leave for nowt is financially irresponsible. Those players would need replacing which would cost way more money in transfer fees, agents fees and admin than it would an extra 5-10k a week. I’m sure it’s not as straight forward as that but this should be a priority and not have been left on the backburner for so long. This could and should have been dealt with by now. 

I turned off in disgust after the red card and pen, I decided to brave the second half and I’m glad I did. That was some effort. Gallagher ran himself absolutely ragged and he has to be my MOTM. Buckley looked shaky as owt at first but grew into his role and got us up the pitch with some excellent passing from RB. Nyambe and Ayala were excellent and even Amari Bell looked good. That was a hell of a fighting spirit from a group of players who clearly give a shit. Good stuff. 

I feel like the back four is way too narrow and the midfield aren’t picking up their men going back. We’ll get punished if we continue like that 

Great performances from Brereton, Armstrong, Johnson and Wharton. Wharton’s passing did look a bit iffy but he also threaded some really impressive balls in between the lines alongside his questionable lofted balls forward, which tells me it may not so much be technique and more decision making which comes with games which I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing more of him this season. Impressive.

That was depressing 

3 minutes ago, Darrenbot said:

Have any of the local reporters actually ever asked him straight out  what he's doing putting him on the wing all the time?

Sharpe made the point then the squad started skryking if I recall 

Has Mowbray ever given a justification for Gally on the wing? A rational? Anything because we all sit here stumped week in week out seeing a very clear problem that he’s blind to (well one of many things he’s blind to)

I felt a bit for Tom Trybull, in essence he was being asked to do a two man job and cover in DM for the marauding fullbacks. Last night you had Corry Evans ineffective in some bizarre midfield position I couldn’t make sense of what his role actually was, wasn’t defensive cover (which it should be) wasn’t assisting attack or even box to box just a strange static role. Because of how ineffective the midfield was trybull was overworked and the lack of shielding saw reading taking a run at our centre backs way too frequently. The players might not have all been available last night but you must adapt to the 11 on the pitch having Evans do anything other than DM tidy work is like asking a dog to play the banjo.

Three utterly abysmal goals to concede. I can’t comprehend the absolute brainlessness. Lenihan blatantly being targeted. 

Weird performance last night, some good build up play and chances created but classic lacking a killer edge and weak at the back. I don’t know about anyone else but despite the many chances we had I never felt for a minute that we’d put them to the sword. But two of the hardest games out of the way. Young Elliott looks like he’s got a real touch of class and I’m very excited to see him play more. Trybull only had about twenty minutes but he managed to look more useful than Corey Evans has since his return, I like how quickly he looked to release the ball compared to Evans tepid dallying. We need Douglas ASAP, the guy might not be the best defender in the world but I’m sure as shit he’ll be better than Bell defensively and leagues apart going forwards. Glad Brereton was back on form as well, aside from the goal he was winning free kicks, only one of the front three who could do anything remotely close to hold up and made a nuisance of himself, he could be very useful this season.

This is doing the rounds, does anyone actually know our sell on fee for Raya?

Tyrhys Dolan had a great cameo changed the game showed some great skill and opened up some pockets of space that honestly I don’t think any of our other players could bar maybe dack. Yeah he lost the ball for Bournemouth’s winner but that’s the risk these players carry. If our shape was good Dolans loss of possession would have amounted to nothing so really harsh to blame him, blame the shite midfield shape. I don’t even think our back four were that bad the midfield shape absolutely ruins us and the way it’s set up means we will always concede goals even if we had great championship defenders. Also thought Kaminski looked pretty good not much he could have done for the goals, looked comfortable on the ball played sweeper efficiently and that one save was incredible. 

I saw more tweets from Gent fans surprised he was going for such a low fee and with good things to say. Naturally people will be bitter when players leave but ultimately only thing that matters to me is how he plays for us

I know the guys not played in the most illustrious leagues but nice to see us linked with someone with a few winners medals

Plenty of issues can crop up trying to sign a player sometimes you’ll miss out and it is what it is. But letting contracts run is absolutely unforgivable. I feel for the first time in a while we have a few cash cows letting contracts get down to one year is incredibly risky and very avoidable. We as a club can not afford to be lackadaisical like this.

4 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I don't really agree with this. We conceded a lot of goals this year - and while definitely the majority of the blame sits with a poor keeper and fullbacks Tosin was okay but not first rate defensively, he got beat in the air a few times and pulled out of position from time to time. If he stayed I would be fine with it, but there are improvements we could make there as we need to bring someone else into the team.

Oh for sure I’m not saying the guy is irreplaceable by any stretch of the imagination but I think he was our best defender this season. An experienced goalkeeper for communicating with the back four and a good sweeper style cb would be ideal to complement lenihans more gung ho approach. These players need to be bought quickly rather than the usual pissing about we do.

Some harsh words towards Tosin here, I thought he was our best defender by a fairly decent margin better than Lenihan and Nyambe who are thought of quite highly (generally). He will be missed by me , he didn’t bully strikers but he didn’t need to...apart from his passing he was pretty quiet which is good for a centre back. If you have a defender constantly making these blood and thunder tackles or last ditch body on the line sort of stuff it looks good in highlights but they’re generally shite positionally which I don’t think Tosin was. Victim of looking too laid back I think.

I will emphasise truly you don’t need anything better than solid at the back to get out of this division you just need a competent tactician. I am pretty sure better centre backs than Tosin would struggle here with our poor defensive tactics.

I think we should sign downing for another year under the assumption we change the way we use him. I feel he’d be a great bench option, good ball retention if we’re leading a game also option to bring on for good set piece deliveries and crosses if we need a plan b.

For a team like ours quality of signings is important to an extent but what’s more important for us is a quality system and set up on the pitch. You can sign whoever you like but ultimately if you can’t organise a defence or have a consistent system that does the job it won’t get you anywhere despite who you sign. 
 

It isn’t easy but there are plenty of good players out there to be found for this level of football for a low price. But until we find an identity as opposed to the confused inconsistent game we play right now it will get us no where. Individual players won’t do shit for us but a strong tactical system will. Tony Mowbray has had his moments good and bad but he’s not shown the tactical nous you need to progress on a consistent basis. So either he needs to stamp his authority and find a system that works or we need someone else that can. Until we do, whoever we sign will just be another body to fill a gap whilst we as a club meander. 

Brereton played well again and great finish from Gallagher. Big problem with Hayden today after a good debut was easy to spot, he did the simple things really well against reading today he took too long on the ball and wasn’t playing safe then he got done a few times which knocked his confidence. Manager should have told him keep it simple. Midfield shape still god awful as well. I hope Buckley plays more next season he has a real footballing brain and as a technical player is levels above most of the dross in the squad.

Our midfield shape is really frustrating again causing more issues. There is a clear lack of direction for the three in midfield, the gap between them and the back four is massive meaning they have a good shot at running the defence every time they go forward. But they are not providing enough going forwards to justify this at all

His appearance was brief but I can tell Vale has a bit of intelligence about his play, sweet strike aside (unlucky not to score) I feel like he picked up pockets of space really well which is usually a very good sign. I do think Buckley will end up being cream of the crop out of our youngsters, real football brain and good technique to boot.

Decent enough first half, that carter looks an imposing lad. Showed some tidy passing at the back too.

Awful first half. I don’t know why our midfield behaves the way it does sometimes. The three in midfield have these really strange phases during the game where they’re incredibly narrow, very close to one another and very static. Which means our attack gets piss poor support and the defence (particularly full backs) get shocking support as well. The worst thing is it seems like it’s by design. But why?