| Everything but the goal - Report on 15:46 - Sep 23 with 5063 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Thanks as ever, Clive. Cracking report. |  |
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 16:06 - Sep 23 with 5020 views | ManinBlack |
The positives are a clean sheet away on Sky and not giving Brum 6 points again this season. The downside is it is three games against them without a goal and they are hardly the best team in the league.
It is the lack of goals that will send us down in the long run. Looking at the current half times with newly promoted Ipswich scoring 3 and Plymouth 4 against Blackburn and Norwich, two clubs who we have struggled to beat over the years. They appear to be making it look easy. This will be Plymouth's third home win in four games.
With 20 home games left if we continue with a ratio of one win in 19, then two wins in the remainder of the season will take us down no matter how well we do away from home. The home form must drastically improve but won't if we create little and convert even less. I am not optimistic as I think Ainsworth is getting what he can out of them but it's not enough if they don't have the ability to score. |  | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 16:16 - Sep 23 with 5001 views | Esox_Lucius |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 16:06 - Sep 23 by ManinBlack |
The positives are a clean sheet away on Sky and not giving Brum 6 points again this season. The downside is it is three games against them without a goal and they are hardly the best team in the league.
It is the lack of goals that will send us down in the long run. Looking at the current half times with newly promoted Ipswich scoring 3 and Plymouth 4 against Blackburn and Norwich, two clubs who we have struggled to beat over the years. They appear to be making it look easy. This will be Plymouth's third home win in four games.
With 20 home games left if we continue with a ratio of one win in 19, then two wins in the remainder of the season will take us down no matter how well we do away from home. The home form must drastically improve but won't if we create little and convert even less. I am not optimistic as I think Ainsworth is getting what he can out of them but it's not enough if they don't have the ability to score. |
Samaritans are good with helping people in similar states of mind to you. |  |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 16:37 - Sep 23 with 4945 views | Match82 |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 16:06 - Sep 23 by ManinBlack |
The positives are a clean sheet away on Sky and not giving Brum 6 points again this season. The downside is it is three games against them without a goal and they are hardly the best team in the league.
It is the lack of goals that will send us down in the long run. Looking at the current half times with newly promoted Ipswich scoring 3 and Plymouth 4 against Blackburn and Norwich, two clubs who we have struggled to beat over the years. They appear to be making it look easy. This will be Plymouth's third home win in four games.
With 20 home games left if we continue with a ratio of one win in 19, then two wins in the remainder of the season will take us down no matter how well we do away from home. The home form must drastically improve but won't if we create little and convert even less. I am not optimistic as I think Ainsworth is getting what he can out of them but it's not enough if they don't have the ability to score. |
Swansea 3-0 up vs Sheffield Wed who look to be in a whole heap of trouble |  | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:24 - Sep 23 with 4825 views | Antti_Heinola |
Thanks Clive.
Got to say, there were no 8/10 performances for me but as you say it’s pointless debating those things. I thought we were ok and worked hard with a base of 6/10 with a good sprinkling of 7s. Goals are going to be our real problem this season, and i can’t see either any of the players sorting it or the manager being able to affect it, but am extremely grateful that he’s turned a corner with regards to attitude and application. Thought Dykes’s header was better than described. If Illy gets injured god help us. Nail on head about Cook. Great signing and would’ve been crucial in so many ways if we’d got him first time around. |  |
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:29 - Sep 23 with 4802 views | OldPedro |
I said something similar about Cook to my son while we were watching the game on tv last night - where would we have been as a club if Cook had signed for us instead of Forest and we had not ended up with Sanderson |  |
| Extra mature cheddar......a simple cheese for a simple man |
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:34 - Sep 23 with 4788 views | ManinBlack |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 16:16 - Sep 23 by Esox_Lucius |
Samaritans are good with helping people in similar states of mind to you. |
Insightful. I am sure your comment will suddenly see a vast improvement in results... | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:41 - Sep 23 with 4772 views | mart_Goblin |
Watched on a dodgy feed from Sicily and thought we were good value for a point although, the feed which flip flapped between Sky coverage to the EFL coverage, who gave the R’s no credit whatsoever and said we lacked any attacking worth, which annoyed me . I thought Chair and Smyth looked sharp and our fitness is certainly improving . Finished both matches this midweek very strongly I thought. Cook and Begovic immense i agree. Little mention for Dozzell. Doesn’t do everything right but quietly, which is part of the problem, he is improving with every game |  | | |
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 18:00 - Sep 23 with 4680 views | Northernr |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:24 - Sep 23 by Antti_Heinola |
Thanks Clive.
Got to say, there were no 8/10 performances for me but as you say it’s pointless debating those things. I thought we were ok and worked hard with a base of 6/10 with a good sprinkling of 7s. Goals are going to be our real problem this season, and i can’t see either any of the players sorting it or the manager being able to affect it, but am extremely grateful that he’s turned a corner with regards to attitude and application. Thought Dykes’s header was better than described. If Illy gets injured god help us. Nail on head about Cook. Great signing and would’ve been crucial in so many ways if we’d got him first time around. |
I actually agree with you, there were no 8s. So here's how we ended up with three of them, because Martin's point about Dozzell above is linked to this.
There are a couple of players atm who are making the ratings very difficult - Kakay and Smyth. Because they're combining moments that are very good, mostly going forwards, with moments of rubbish, usually defensively. So how do you boil that down to a mark out of 10? I'd include Dozzell in that for the last two games as well - some of the stuff he did against Swansea very good, some of it complete toilet, so is it a 5/6/7?
As ever, there's an overall team mark which guides the ratings. Swansea I thought we were crap. 5. Maybe even a 4. Collectively. So even though Chair was good, man of the match, set up a goal, he's not getting higher than a 6 because it's a poor performance and result, and so we count everybody back from there.
Friday I thought was better. A 6 or a 7 performance collectively. So the majority of the marks will be in that region.
Originally the marks looked like this...
Begovic 7; Kakay 6, Cook 7, Fox 5; Smyth 6 (Adomah 65, 6), Dozzell 6, Field 7, Paal 6; Chair 6, Dykes 6, Armstrong 6 (Willock 75, 6)
However, like Martin I thought Dozzell had a good game, and I've been harsh on him in recent months so want to give credit where it's due. Great improvement and willingness under Ainsworth this year that I'm keen to recognise. Is Dozzell the same mark as Kakay last night? Nah, he's better. But is he as good as Cook and Field? Also no. But is Kakay a 5? I felt that harsh. And so basically because I thought Dozzell and Chair were worth a bit more, they got bumped up to 7s, and that meant the three outstanding players went to 8s. |  | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 18:18 - Sep 23 with 4619 views | distortR |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 18:00 - Sep 23 by Northernr |
I actually agree with you, there were no 8s. So here's how we ended up with three of them, because Martin's point about Dozzell above is linked to this.
There are a couple of players atm who are making the ratings very difficult - Kakay and Smyth. Because they're combining moments that are very good, mostly going forwards, with moments of rubbish, usually defensively. So how do you boil that down to a mark out of 10? I'd include Dozzell in that for the last two games as well - some of the stuff he did against Swansea very good, some of it complete toilet, so is it a 5/6/7?
As ever, there's an overall team mark which guides the ratings. Swansea I thought we were crap. 5. Maybe even a 4. Collectively. So even though Chair was good, man of the match, set up a goal, he's not getting higher than a 6 because it's a poor performance and result, and so we count everybody back from there.
Friday I thought was better. A 6 or a 7 performance collectively. So the majority of the marks will be in that region.
Originally the marks looked like this...
Begovic 7; Kakay 6, Cook 7, Fox 5; Smyth 6 (Adomah 65, 6), Dozzell 6, Field 7, Paal 6; Chair 6, Dykes 6, Armstrong 6 (Willock 75, 6)
However, like Martin I thought Dozzell had a good game, and I've been harsh on him in recent months so want to give credit where it's due. Great improvement and willingness under Ainsworth this year that I'm keen to recognise. Is Dozzell the same mark as Kakay last night? Nah, he's better. But is he as good as Cook and Field? Also no. But is Kakay a 5? I felt that harsh. And so basically because I thought Dozzell and Chair were worth a bit more, they got bumped up to 7s, and that meant the three outstanding players went to 8s. |
I think you're over-thinking it, mate. I just give players I like more then players I don't.
Simple but effective. So Field always scores highly because I like the cut of his jib, Fox, not so much.
Re Kakay and Smyth, the righthand-side should be called 'the curate's egg'. Christ knows what's hatching down there at any given time. |  | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 18:39 - Sep 23 with 4558 views | Northernr |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 18:18 - Sep 23 by distortR |
I think you're over-thinking it, mate. I just give players I like more then players I don't.
Simple but effective. So Field always scores highly because I like the cut of his jib, Fox, not so much.
Re Kakay and Smyth, the righthand-side should be called 'the curate's egg'. Christ knows what's hatching down there at any given time. |
The ratings occupy so much of the feedback we get on match reports, we do therefore put a lot of thought into it.
This post has been edited by an administrator | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 19:31 - Sep 23 with 4416 views | daveB |
It's interesting how we react differently to Tuesday and last night when the results are the same. Not saying it's wrong just an observation.
I actually thought the performances attacking wise were similar, lots of effort but not much quality in both games but a lot of praise for last night and pile of poo on Tuesday. I thought scoreboard pressure affected us the other night and we rushed things too often whereas last night Dozzell took a bit more time on the ball and used it a lot better.
i thought the main difference between the 2 games was at the back, we were a lot better at the back last night and defended properly, Swansea only attacked 3/4 times all night but caused us problems every time but last night we looked pretty solid and when they did get through Begovic was at his best. |  | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 19:55 - Sep 23 with 4348 views | DejR_vu |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:34 - Sep 23 by ManinBlack |
Insightful. I am sure your comment will suddenly see a vast improvement in results... |
Ooh, careful, he’ll down-vote you  | |
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 20:05 - Sep 23 with 4335 views | ParkRoyalR |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:24 - Sep 23 by Antti_Heinola |
Thanks Clive.
Got to say, there were no 8/10 performances for me but as you say it’s pointless debating those things. I thought we were ok and worked hard with a base of 6/10 with a good sprinkling of 7s. Goals are going to be our real problem this season, and i can’t see either any of the players sorting it or the manager being able to affect it, but am extremely grateful that he’s turned a corner with regards to attitude and application. Thought Dykes’s header was better than described. If Illy gets injured god help us. Nail on head about Cook. Great signing and would’ve been crucial in so many ways if we’d got him first time around. |
On our goal-scoring, my take is we do not create anywhere near enough quality chances in open-play (and I'm not comparing to our Ebere Eze to Jordan Hughill days of plenty) and our set-pieces offer zero.
I'm sure we scored a good run of goals and had a decent winning streak when Chair was away at the last African Nations Cup, although admittedly we did'nt retain possession so well, but you don't need to monopolize possession to score goals.
We had maybe two chances last night?
Field's shot was very weak for the first and with Dykes's header, did'nt think there was enough power on the cross to go for the near-post, so thought he took the right option to head back across goal, just did'nt manage to direct close enough to the corner and away from Ruddy, giving him the chance to make the save.
We need to create more chances but hopefully a returning Colback and fully fit Chris Willock will make the difference. | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 20:26 - Sep 23 with 4299 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 18:00 - Sep 23 by Northernr |
I actually agree with you, there were no 8s. So here's how we ended up with three of them, because Martin's point about Dozzell above is linked to this.
There are a couple of players atm who are making the ratings very difficult - Kakay and Smyth. Because they're combining moments that are very good, mostly going forwards, with moments of rubbish, usually defensively. So how do you boil that down to a mark out of 10? I'd include Dozzell in that for the last two games as well - some of the stuff he did against Swansea very good, some of it complete toilet, so is it a 5/6/7?
As ever, there's an overall team mark which guides the ratings. Swansea I thought we were crap. 5. Maybe even a 4. Collectively. So even though Chair was good, man of the match, set up a goal, he's not getting higher than a 6 because it's a poor performance and result, and so we count everybody back from there.
Friday I thought was better. A 6 or a 7 performance collectively. So the majority of the marks will be in that region.
Originally the marks looked like this...
Begovic 7; Kakay 6, Cook 7, Fox 5; Smyth 6 (Adomah 65, 6), Dozzell 6, Field 7, Paal 6; Chair 6, Dykes 6, Armstrong 6 (Willock 75, 6)
However, like Martin I thought Dozzell had a good game, and I've been harsh on him in recent months so want to give credit where it's due. Great improvement and willingness under Ainsworth this year that I'm keen to recognise. Is Dozzell the same mark as Kakay last night? Nah, he's better. But is he as good as Cook and Field? Also no. But is Kakay a 5? I felt that harsh. And so basically because I thought Dozzell and Chair were worth a bit more, they got bumped up to 7s, and that meant the three outstanding players went to 8s. |
Flawless thinking and I feel a bit schooled now. Sorry, I know how difficult the ratings are and (unnecessarily) contentious, so didn't mean to poke the hornet's nest! All makes total sense and agree with you as well - several players making ratings very hard at the moment.
You could always bring in half marks just to make your life even harder :) | |
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 20:52 - Sep 23 with 4223 views | distortR |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 20:26 - Sep 23 by Antti_Heinola |
Flawless thinking and I feel a bit schooled now. Sorry, I know how difficult the ratings are and (unnecessarily) contentious, so didn't mean to poke the hornet's nest! All makes total sense and agree with you as well - several players making ratings very hard at the moment.
You could always bring in half marks just to make your life even harder :) |
I feel bad for making light of player ratings.
I've managed to piss off 50% of the people I've interacted with today! [Post edited 23 Sep 2023 21:00]
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| Everything but the goal - Report (n/t) on 20:52 - Sep 23 with 4223 views | nix |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 19:31 - Sep 23 by daveB |
It's interesting how we react differently to Tuesday and last night when the results are the same. Not saying it's wrong just an observation.
I actually thought the performances attacking wise were similar, lots of effort but not much quality in both games but a lot of praise for last night and pile of poo on Tuesday. I thought scoreboard pressure affected us the other night and we rushed things too often whereas last night Dozzell took a bit more time on the ball and used it a lot better.
i thought the main difference between the 2 games was at the back, we were a lot better at the back last night and defended properly, Swansea only attacked 3/4 times all night but caused us problems every time but last night we looked pretty solid and when they did get through Begovic was at his best. |
I agree with all of that, particularly the scoreboard pressure affecting us on Tuesday after going 1-0 down so early on.
Just to add Sky had a caption for both teams after they had gone down a goal with the number of wins they had. Birmingham hadn't won any in (from memory) 40-odd games when they had gone behind and we hadn't in 20-plus games. There were a sprinkling of draws for both teams. It seems like the Championship is a really difficult league to come back to win in after going behind. [Post edited 23 Sep 2023 20:57]
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| Everything but the goal - Report on 23:09 - Sep 23 with 3909 views | Match82 |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 17:24 - Sep 23 by Antti_Heinola |
Thanks Clive.
Got to say, there were no 8/10 performances for me but as you say it’s pointless debating those things. I thought we were ok and worked hard with a base of 6/10 with a good sprinkling of 7s. Goals are going to be our real problem this season, and i can’t see either any of the players sorting it or the manager being able to affect it, but am extremely grateful that he’s turned a corner with regards to attitude and application. Thought Dykes’s header was better than described. If Illy gets injured god help us. Nail on head about Cook. Great signing and would’ve been crucial in so many ways if we’d got him first time around. |
I agree with the point about the Dykes header. Was textbook like you're taught, head it downward to bounce on the goal line, needs a very good save from the keeper to keep it out then, regardless of whether it's in the middle of the goal or to the side. Unfortunately it got one. | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 23:25 - Sep 23 with 3890 views | Hunterhoop |
All the comments about Kakay and the right hand side.
Our left was far worse against Brum. Stansfield tore them apart and then quietened down when switched to their left/our right, which was down to both Kakay and Smyth doing a decent job on him. I thought Kakay had a decent game. I really think he gets more criticism than performances warrant.
I thought Fox and Paal were far worse. Paal had a stinker, in my opinion, when you factor in how bad his set pieces were (unusually to be fair). |  | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 00:11 - Sep 24 with 3817 views | distortR |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 23:25 - Sep 23 by Hunterhoop |
All the comments about Kakay and the right hand side.
Our left was far worse against Brum. Stansfield tore them apart and then quietened down when switched to their left/our right, which was down to both Kakay and Smyth doing a decent job on him. I thought Kakay had a decent game. I really think he gets more criticism than performances warrant.
I thought Fox and Paal were far worse. Paal had a stinker, in my opinion, when you factor in how bad his set pieces were (unusually to be fair). |
I thought Smyth was poor in defence, but also agree about Paal and Fox. | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 07:20 - Sep 24 with 3626 views | FDC |
Did anyone catch Smyth screaming "fúcking hell!" just before being subbed off, I'm not sure who it was directed at? |  | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 07:44 - Sep 24 with 3602 views | QPROslo |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 23:09 - Sep 23 by Match82 |
I agree with the point about the Dykes header. Was textbook like you're taught, head it downward to bounce on the goal line, needs a very good save from the keeper to keep it out then, regardless of whether it's in the middle of the goal or to the side. Unfortunately it got one. |
Possibly the camera angle but it looked to me that apart from being a bit too close to the Keeper, Dykes headed it down into the ground a little too steeply so it bounced up at a fairly comfortable Keeper hight for Ruddy to make the save. Not sure he'd have made that save if it had hit the ground closer to the goal line. | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 10:39 - Sep 24 with 3305 views | RsinWales |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 07:44 - Sep 24 by QPROslo |
Possibly the camera angle but it looked to me that apart from being a bit too close to the Keeper, Dykes headed it down into the ground a little too steeply so it bounced up at a fairly comfortable Keeper hight for Ruddy to make the save. Not sure he'd have made that save if it had hit the ground closer to the goal line. |
Spot on. Didn't notice it at the ground, but watching the highlights on Sky, that is exactly what happened. | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 11:04 - Sep 24 with 3240 views | PhilmyRs |
Good report, and pleased you raised the Albert sub. I was a bit worried on that one too but he actually did well and was a good move by Ainsworth. For all the plaudits he’s getting, and I’ve been pleased with him, Smyth and his final delivery is a slight concern. You have to get better quality into the box when you find yourself in some of the positions he’s been in of late. Albert was on a short period and showed the type of service you need to deliver for a striker like Dykes to thrive. Hopefully Albert will be able to use this final year to pass on some of these skills to Smyth. | | | |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 11:10 - Sep 24 with 3218 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Everything but the goal - Report on 11:04 - Sep 24 by PhilmyRs |
Good report, and pleased you raised the Albert sub. I was a bit worried on that one too but he actually did well and was a good move by Ainsworth. For all the plaudits he’s getting, and I’ve been pleased with him, Smyth and his final delivery is a slight concern. You have to get better quality into the box when you find yourself in some of the positions he’s been in of late. Albert was on a short period and showed the type of service you need to deliver for a striker like Dykes to thrive. Hopefully Albert will be able to use this final year to pass on some of these skills to Smyth. |
Agreed.
I also thought that Smyth was on a yellow and his head was gone a bit, he seemed angry about something. All told, a good substitution. | |
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