I just got sat down to put this thread together and saw the news about Sam going to Preston.
As i said on the "Sams gone" thread, what is the point of him signing a one month loan extension if Man U can recall him and then loan him to another club.
It isnt as if they wanted him back to play for themselves.
I never did like Man Utd.
Anyway, i will no doubt be continuing to comment on Sams departure on the other thread so i will do the match thread anyway.
On Saturday the lads showed their commendable team spirit in coming back from 2-0 down to force a draw.
If Ronaldo or Messi had scored the goal that Copps did then it would have made headlines.
As it was, the FL Show barely mentioned it, instead focusing on what had happened to Oldham.
Nathan Tyson strengthened his claim for a starting spot against Bristol and i hope he is given the opportunity.
As everyone except Steve Cotterill knows we were unlucky not to win the first game and we go to Ashton Gate having only ever won two games there so we know it will be tough for us to get a victory.
This will be made even harder by Matt Smiths' burst of ten goals in five games and the fact that City won 4-0 on Saturday.
There is of course a massive incentive for both teams as they look to progress to Round Four.
The winners of course have a home tie against either West Ham or Everton which i am told will be on Sunday 25th January as the live televised game at 2pm.
This is worth £250,000 to the winners of our replay.
I hope this is an incentive for TB to back PD's judgement on whoever he wants to bring in as a replacement keeper in time for this game.
As an aside, if we do lose this game we won't have a fixture on the weekend of the fourth round because of course we were due to at home to Bristol City.
After the recent run of form by us which is now 3 defeats in 15 games, i have noticed that the "Dickov bashers" haven't had much to say about him.
More notably, only a few have acknowledged the improvement in performances and fortunes but then again i didn't really expect it.
During the text posted on the Oldham match thread i picked up on a comment by Aussie who was lamenting the lack of shots on target by our boys in the match.
Of course, after he posted we salvaged the point and took our shots on target to 4 in the match.
This got me thinking, how many shots on target do teams generally have during a game.
I spent a few minutes looking (and yes Mooligan - i did go out) and found to my surprise that of the 24 teams in our division, only five had more than four shots on target, and one of them only had five.
I then looked a teeny bit further and saw that Man City with all their wealth of talent only managed two on target and the mighty Man Utd didnt even get one on target.
In fact, there was only one shot on target in the whole game between Man U and Southampton.
This shows to me how organised defences are in general.
As soon as a ball is put into a danger area, in the main it is cut out or a defender makes a good block to prevent a shot being made.
Every week at games i hear fans imploring players to shoot from distance but as a rule long range shots go wide or over the bar.
This is why managers want their teams to keep possesion and try to pass pass pass until a good chance can be carved out.
Obviously now and again a long range shots finds the target but the stats prove that generally they dont.
Most goals are scored from inside the six yard box.
Oh well, back to the game, will we have a decent keepr with us in time to play?
If so i can see us snatching a win but i think it will be in extra time.
BRISTOL CITY V ROVERS REPLAY THREAD
posted on 14/1/15
Just watched the BBC Highlights. 78 seconds long, 25 seconds showing Bristol's goals, 53 seconds showing their celebrations, 0 seconds devoted to the rest of the game. No wonder some footballers (not JET to be fair) develop elaborate rituals to mark these events. No wonder the BBC's reputation is declining. They no longer seem to even try to be balanced in their coverage. We think we did have nearly half the possession and the same number of shots on target.
posted on 14/1/15
...I think...
posted on 14/1/15
I see we had 4 shots to their 5 on target
posted on 15/1/15
I see what you mean about the BBC don.
Pathetic really.
For their first goal the bloke who headed towards goal from the corner got away from Andy Butler far too easily.
Bywater would be a decent keeper for us.
posted on 15/1/15
In contrast to the BBC website highlights, the ones on Player (with a decent commentary too) must be derived from BBC or BT Sport and are better that the usual "Perform"-produced ones.
They show that we were not outclassed. The difference was a combination of perhaps 3 things. We have no forward of JET's strength and ability and there were several instances of bad decision-making, so we looked quite polished football-wise, but there was a lack of an edge.
They seemed to work hard and we no longer seem to back-peddle, we try to regain possession when we lose the ball.
What was sometimes lacking was the mutual understanding, the short inter-passing which they always practiced in the O'Kelly warm-ups.
Marosi looked a bit small for a modern goalkeeper. Size isn't everything, but a big goalie needs to push his own defenders out of the way in some situations like when JET barged through everyone for their first goal. I think Johnstone would possibly have stopped both of their goals simply because of his size and strength. Whether Steer would have been big enough is debatable, but I see that Bywater is 6'3" and well-built.
You'll never guess where he was born. Oldham! He seems to have had quite colourful life.
posted on 15/1/15
I was hesitant to criticise Marosi don but as you have mentioned it so will i.
I thought he could have done much better with the strength of touch he got to the second attempt on the first goal.
A better keeper would have got the ball either away or over the bar.
The second goal only came about because we had thrown caution to the wind in the attempt to equalise.
Had it still be 0-0 that situation would not have arisen.
posted on 15/1/15
We can't go on like this, agreeing about everything .
posted on 15/1/15
posted on 15/1/15
Unfortunately it happens too often Don, you'll be giving Hound five stars next.
posted on 15/1/15
I just checked and someone has.
Cheers NY.