Apparently Fergie said that he was going to give this team the full 90 minutes and, apart from subbing a tired looking Tommy Rowe with Ben Khemis in the second half, he was almost as good as his word.
Marosi
Blair Alcock Butler Andrew
Whiteman Mason Coppinger Rowe
Marquis Mandeville
It looked like a 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond which - after the 3-5-2 game against Derby - was a bit of a surprise.
Wednesday played with front players like Fletcher/Forestieri/Winnall but for me their best player was Ross Wallace who supplied the first half deep cross that Winnall nodded in. Unsurprisingly, against a side that were 90 minutes from the Prem, it took Rovers a long time to get into the match but their goal, when it came, was a beauty. Another deep left wing cross, this time from Andrew who was outstanding, and Mandeville popped it in the net.
Late in the second half after multiple subs by Wednesday they got the winner. Having tried to walk it through the middle and been frustrated by the Rovers defence time and time again one of their players flicked a ball over the back four, a forward ran through and chipped the ball over the advancing Marosi.
Marquis played with a lot of intensity and looked much sharper than last week. Mandeville was a constant threat and has huge confidence playing out of tight spots. He was pulled down twice earning two score-able free kicks. Ben Khemis has sumptuous ball skills and awareness but there is more fat on a chip and he may struggle against physical sides.
No cards, no obvious injuries and a confident looking side.
Wednesday
posted on 27/7/17
Nice one Albi, thought Marosi was at fault for the 2nd goal. Thought Butler was brilliant, Andrews just gets better, Marquis was back to his old self, Mandeville could be our main man this season. If we don't get that Khemis signed soon he'll be playing for a championship team, he's that good, that's why I believe Fergie is only playing him as a sub, so it keeps him out of the limelight.
posted on 27/7/17
Thanks. Much more informative than the newspaper reports. Goodwin is the only one I really trust. It's pleasing to hear that Mandeville is fully effective again and scoring goals and I had been a bit worried about the lack of mention of Marquis till now. Ben K had obviously been praised by DF, but again I was not absolutely sure of him and until now I was wondering whether he was just the best of a number of indifferent options.
I imagine that Marquis's deal was probably why they could not accommodate Taylor's salary expectations, but as I said before we ought not tot be adding another injury-prone player to the squad.
Although Andrews sounds an impressive addition, which was much needed, they are skating over the continuing failure to sign another defender and we must hope that every effort will be made to develop Wright and Garrett. They were recruited for their potential and you wonder whether there could be a weakness in the ability to coach defenders.
posted on 27/7/17
Cheers. You do have to bear in mind that I only have one eye and, being older than dirt, I do miss stuff. Although I wasn't much taken with Garrett playing on the left last season he didn't look to be in any real trouble in the centre left position at the back against Derby although, like the other two CBs, he got nowhere near Keogh to stop his header. Wright clearly has promise but doesn't look as assured as the older central defenders. He needs time, patience and yes, good quality coaching.
posted on 27/7/17
My thoughts are on the derby theme
posted on 28/7/17
How many games did Garratt play for us last season?
posted on 28/7/17
I see the club have parted company with their physio. "Injuries" may well "happen", but they do seem to be occurring at rather an alarming rate, something which has caught my attention recently. You might well expect that there has to have been some examination of the capability of those whose responsibility it is to assess and maintain fitness, so that this event may not be unconnected.
Perhaps it was overdue, but the irony is that this was Saunders' appointee who I quoted as having credit for maintaining the fitness of the team who took the League 1 title!
posted on 29/7/17
Difficult to know what DF's thinking was putting out a reasonably strong defence, but the rest half strength. Perhaps he thought they might hold Chesterfield which I suppose they just about did until the 10 mainly squad players collapsed in the last 20 minutes.
Obviously there is no depth in the squad and it is worrying. The pre-season, all-important in Ferguson's opinion, ends just about s badly as possible.
posted on 31/7/17
Kiwomya looking bad news