poitier

I thought Fletcher gave Mings probably the most difficult game he has had for us, which is credit to Fletcher.

7 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

You say he ran the channels and put pressure on full backs, when? I recall hkm running into channels once or twice with a centre back and despite having a yard or two headstart was still beaten to the ball, 

I think on both occasions when he did that he could comfortably have got there first, but he let the defender come in with no option but to put the ball out for a throw in, wasting some time and getting us up the pitch. I don't think that was bad play at all, but I can see why people may have thought he should have got there first.

19 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Agreed on all of this.  He kept things ticking over in the middle though so not a bad performance.

Don't use 'the Westwood phrase' unless you want it all to kick off big style.

I don't rate him defensively but he has done quite well last few games. I can see him making a tackle before the season is finished if he carries on like this.

He seems like a pretty safe pair of hands so far without having to do anything spectacular.

He was very safe and assured today, think the worst I could say is he put a kick straight into touch near the end, so pretty much faultless.

This guy is just a total dude, be devastating if he isn't here next season.

He was lucky not to give a needless penalty away and had some moments of hesitancy in the second half, but overall he did very well under pressure in very testing conditions and playing on his wrong side. 

Thought he made a difference when he came on yesterday, I'd like to see him in a more central position in a two with Abraham seeing as how 433 isn't working.

I think Tuanzebe has been a massive loss too, we have really missed his pace at the back and his ability to bring the ball out from the defence into the midfield.

We have obviously tried to shoehorn him into a position that he isn't suited to in order to keep his set piece ability on the pitch. It is a shame that he hasn't been able to adapt to it, as that is a reasonable plan, and I don't entirely blame Hourihane because that obviously isn't his game. I'm perhaps a bit surprised, given how bad we have been lately, that things haven't been changed up and he has been able to play his more natural position.

24 minutes ago, 7392craig said:

The problem is, shouldn’t a decent manager be able to get a tune out of the players he has? I’m not saying win the league or anything, but be as terrible as we are? It’s not going to work if he needs to sign 7 or 8 players in the summer to make us competitive. Because we simply won’t be signing that many players.

Yes, certainly I would have expected him to have got more out of them, and if they arent the sort of players that he likes to work with then I would have expected to see more change in the formations/tactics used etc, as I said, it is very disappointing.

I wouldn't be so sure that we won't be seeing 7 or 8 come in, we will need a fair few just to fill the gaps that are left, yes some of that can be done with our own youth, but I think there will be a fair injection of new talent. 

15 minutes ago, TRO said:

not being rude....but have you watched him...

I have kept an eye out for him, but don't often spot him.

How can a central midfielder have so few touches of the ball in a game, it defies logic. Wasn't it something like 12 touches in the first half?

I won't judge Smith until he has brought his own players in over the summer, but you can't help but feel terribly disappointed in how little he is getting out of this team. I agree that it is a little strange to let so much of the young talent go out on loan, given that it was highly likely we would end up in this scenario where our season is already over and all we have is to try and build something for next season.

The commentator said that Smith signed ten of the starting team for Brentford, so I'm hopeful that given the summer to rebuild we will see much improvement.

He was a cause for concern all evening, ponderous and lethargic.

To be fair to the ref last night, he wasn't afraid to make the big calls about whether the ball was moving when we took a free kick in our own half (about 4 times).

Looks like he has lost a yard of pace and will never be the player he was, unfortunately.

5 minutes ago, praisedmambo said:

Sheffield United aren't shit. I don't think this game is the one to draw conclusions from.

I'm drawing the conclusion from another game gone and two points further away. We probably need to make up 9 points from 45 to play for.

1 minute ago, Jareth said:

Not sure the players will agree. 

Well I hope not, but have they got the balls to back that up?

Made a couple of decent fouls, but his inability to pass forwards is crippling.

Great comeback, but for me that is the end of our season.

I like him, he wasn't particularly good tonight but showed some desire and does create chances.

Very good, him and Tuanzebe could be a hell of a partnership.