Angell Delight
Life President
On the whole I don't think people need go overboard with negativity. We played an extremely competent side who in truth are the only team to have outplayed us so far and when you're adjusting to life in a new division (and in particular the Championship where the step-up is huge) that doesn't really bode too badly in terms of the future. I think it's pretty obvious we won't be in the top half but I personally am quietly confident we'll still be in this division next season.
POSITIVES:
* Both full-backs had decent games, Francis in particular who I personally thought was our MotM by some distance.
* Hunt looked assured alongside Maher, just unfortunate they came up against such an excellent midfield pairing in McPhail and Scimeca today.
* Ricketts looked very good when he came on. What's important for him now (and he probably knows it) is to shed some more weight as if we can get some of his pace back he'll be a real asset and a pairing with Eastwood will help Freddy's game no end. His touch is great and he never gave the ball away when he was in possession - there did look to be slight glimpses of a partnership between him and Freddy too which is very promising.
* Hooper looked extremely good indeed when he came on and had 3 decent efforts, two of which could have resulted in goals had it not been for good saves.
* In the long run this defeat may actually be good for us, it's a learning curve at the moment and to be taken apart like that may actually stop certain players resting on their laurels. How we react to this defeat is all important.
NEGATIVES:
* Peter Clarke - my word what a dreadful game he had. It's quite clear that he is a really solid defender as there isn't one Blackpool fan that didn't rate him extremely highly but today he had a mare. Maybe he hasn't properly settled yet - he's still living in the hotel apparently and maybe also needs to adjust to the Championship (although to be fair most of our players do) but we look SO much more solid with Efe in the side and hopefully he will now start at Derby.
* The defending for the 3 goals was abysmal and the centre-backs have to shoulder the majority of the blame for that. They just completely switched off for the 1st goal and while you may be lucky in L1/L2 you won't get away with that in this league. The 2nd was like a carbon copy of the 2nd Norwich goal last week too, awful panicky defending. The 3rd was unfortunate for Francis but as regards the middle Clarke and Barrett went missing. We've conceded 6 goals in our last 2 home games and the defending for ALL 6 has been nothing short of a joke - if that continues we'll be dragged into a relegation battle, if it doesn't we'll be comfortably OK at this level. Sodje MUST start though.
* No width. At all. In the first 10mins JCR put a cracking ball into the box and then had another charged down for a corner and I thought to myself "Hello, we may be getting somewhere if he can keep this up" but sadly he didn't and they were the only 2 attempts at a delivery we saw from JCR all afternoon. There was no-one in the box when JCR put his only ball in today but before people come back with "our strikers don't get into the box so why should JCR put crosses in" they should think about the reason WHY our strikers don't get into the box for JCR and the reason for that is that balls never come in from him so they're not expecting it!! Therefore Freddy generally takes up his position on the edge of the box waiting for a possible ball inside from JCR which is far, FAR more likely than any kind of delivery. It is for this reason that we see the strikers getting into the box a lot more for Gower's deliveries i.e. when Paynter hit the bar today. To sum up yes we have no width - Gower is right-footed so always cuts inside (pretty predictable) and JCR never gets to the line. I just hope Cole does well at Northampton and comes back ready to challenge as if he does it'll solve a big problem for us - Cole left Gower right giving the side more balance and meaning more deliveries from the line which are far more difficult to defend against. It may work, it may not but it's definitely worth finding out as in general sides with width create far more opportunities in front of goal than sides that don't have any.
* Paynter - yes he gives 100% every game and he should be commended for that but he is NOT a Championship player. Now that's not his fault but everyone can see that when all our strikers are fit he should be 4 or 5th choice (given the way Hooper's been playing for such a young lad I would suggest 5th). The one thing that concerns me is that I believe Tilly is persevering with him over much better options due to the size of the transfer fee we paid - personally I don't give a stuff if we've wasted £200k on Paynter (it would be only Tilly's first error in the transfer market so I'm not gonna slate him for it) but the important thing is it's potentially costing us points and if we continue defending as we have those points could be the difference between survival and relegation at the end of the season. Another aspect that worries me is the complete lack of understanding between Freddy and Paynter. In effect it's probably been detrimental to Freddy's game as well and we NEED Freddy to have a good season if we are to do well, if Ricketts can get himself properly fit and a bit leaner not only would it mean we'd have a quality striker alongside Freddy it would also help Freddy's game a LOT. Eastwood's footballing brain is far superior to Billy's and he's too quick in the head for him - that's not Billy's fault but it's costing us without any doubt.
* The fans. And by that I'm not talking about the 99% excellent support this football club has, I thought the atmosphere in the West today was very good and the vast, vast majority got behind the team. No I'm talking about those who jeered Paynter off the pitch when he was subbed and also those who spent the ENTIRE game focusing all their energy into slagging off the referee and in particular the West Stand assistant. There was one guy in particular (West Stand Row F Seat 58 if it's anyone on here) who was an absolute disgrace to the officials and to a slightly lesser extent Paynter and in the end I informed him he might be better off supporting the side instead as I'd heard NOTHING positive in any way shape or form from him the whole game. Any season ticket holders around this guy have my total sympathy - there's no way I could put up with this bloke again. Let's get one thing straight yes the officials weren't the best we've ever seen at the Hall but we lost today because of our complete inability to stay switched on in our own penalty area and nothing else.
POSITIVES:
* Both full-backs had decent games, Francis in particular who I personally thought was our MotM by some distance.
* Hunt looked assured alongside Maher, just unfortunate they came up against such an excellent midfield pairing in McPhail and Scimeca today.
* Ricketts looked very good when he came on. What's important for him now (and he probably knows it) is to shed some more weight as if we can get some of his pace back he'll be a real asset and a pairing with Eastwood will help Freddy's game no end. His touch is great and he never gave the ball away when he was in possession - there did look to be slight glimpses of a partnership between him and Freddy too which is very promising.
* Hooper looked extremely good indeed when he came on and had 3 decent efforts, two of which could have resulted in goals had it not been for good saves.
* In the long run this defeat may actually be good for us, it's a learning curve at the moment and to be taken apart like that may actually stop certain players resting on their laurels. How we react to this defeat is all important.
NEGATIVES:
* Peter Clarke - my word what a dreadful game he had. It's quite clear that he is a really solid defender as there isn't one Blackpool fan that didn't rate him extremely highly but today he had a mare. Maybe he hasn't properly settled yet - he's still living in the hotel apparently and maybe also needs to adjust to the Championship (although to be fair most of our players do) but we look SO much more solid with Efe in the side and hopefully he will now start at Derby.
* The defending for the 3 goals was abysmal and the centre-backs have to shoulder the majority of the blame for that. They just completely switched off for the 1st goal and while you may be lucky in L1/L2 you won't get away with that in this league. The 2nd was like a carbon copy of the 2nd Norwich goal last week too, awful panicky defending. The 3rd was unfortunate for Francis but as regards the middle Clarke and Barrett went missing. We've conceded 6 goals in our last 2 home games and the defending for ALL 6 has been nothing short of a joke - if that continues we'll be dragged into a relegation battle, if it doesn't we'll be comfortably OK at this level. Sodje MUST start though.
* No width. At all. In the first 10mins JCR put a cracking ball into the box and then had another charged down for a corner and I thought to myself "Hello, we may be getting somewhere if he can keep this up" but sadly he didn't and they were the only 2 attempts at a delivery we saw from JCR all afternoon. There was no-one in the box when JCR put his only ball in today but before people come back with "our strikers don't get into the box so why should JCR put crosses in" they should think about the reason WHY our strikers don't get into the box for JCR and the reason for that is that balls never come in from him so they're not expecting it!! Therefore Freddy generally takes up his position on the edge of the box waiting for a possible ball inside from JCR which is far, FAR more likely than any kind of delivery. It is for this reason that we see the strikers getting into the box a lot more for Gower's deliveries i.e. when Paynter hit the bar today. To sum up yes we have no width - Gower is right-footed so always cuts inside (pretty predictable) and JCR never gets to the line. I just hope Cole does well at Northampton and comes back ready to challenge as if he does it'll solve a big problem for us - Cole left Gower right giving the side more balance and meaning more deliveries from the line which are far more difficult to defend against. It may work, it may not but it's definitely worth finding out as in general sides with width create far more opportunities in front of goal than sides that don't have any.
* Paynter - yes he gives 100% every game and he should be commended for that but he is NOT a Championship player. Now that's not his fault but everyone can see that when all our strikers are fit he should be 4 or 5th choice (given the way Hooper's been playing for such a young lad I would suggest 5th). The one thing that concerns me is that I believe Tilly is persevering with him over much better options due to the size of the transfer fee we paid - personally I don't give a stuff if we've wasted £200k on Paynter (it would be only Tilly's first error in the transfer market so I'm not gonna slate him for it) but the important thing is it's potentially costing us points and if we continue defending as we have those points could be the difference between survival and relegation at the end of the season. Another aspect that worries me is the complete lack of understanding between Freddy and Paynter. In effect it's probably been detrimental to Freddy's game as well and we NEED Freddy to have a good season if we are to do well, if Ricketts can get himself properly fit and a bit leaner not only would it mean we'd have a quality striker alongside Freddy it would also help Freddy's game a LOT. Eastwood's footballing brain is far superior to Billy's and he's too quick in the head for him - that's not Billy's fault but it's costing us without any doubt.
* The fans. And by that I'm not talking about the 99% excellent support this football club has, I thought the atmosphere in the West today was very good and the vast, vast majority got behind the team. No I'm talking about those who jeered Paynter off the pitch when he was subbed and also those who spent the ENTIRE game focusing all their energy into slagging off the referee and in particular the West Stand assistant. There was one guy in particular (West Stand Row F Seat 58 if it's anyone on here) who was an absolute disgrace to the officials and to a slightly lesser extent Paynter and in the end I informed him he might be better off supporting the side instead as I'd heard NOTHING positive in any way shape or form from him the whole game. Any season ticket holders around this guy have my total sympathy - there's no way I could put up with this bloke again. Let's get one thing straight yes the officials weren't the best we've ever seen at the Hall but we lost today because of our complete inability to stay switched on in our own penalty area and nothing else.
