66% possesion and 2 shots on target.

[Easy 10]

Its the points dropped against these teams which has been our issue all season

Dead right.
If we had picked up the points we should have done against the lower sides, we would be planning our Premiership stadium trips by now.

Still some football to be played yet though.

Its a massively competitive division though.

We've taken 6 points off Leicester, 4 points off Burnley, 4 points off QPR. Does that mean we *should* be taking more points off the lower teams ? Ideally yes but it just doesn't work like that in the Championship. If we'd taken LESS points off the top teams (as expected) but taken more points off the flotsum at the bottom then we'd be in pretty much the same place.

I'm taking nothing for granted against Blackpool / Yeovil either. They're fighting for their lives, and Yeovil in particular have come up with some surprise results this season.

Anyone can beat anyone in this league. We've done cuffing brilliant to be where we are IMO.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

I'm taking nothing for granted against Blackpool / Yeovil either. They're fighting for their lives, and Yeovil in particular have come up with some surprise results this season..

Absolutely this. I watched todays game thinking that Yeovil and Blackpool may well give us very similar games to Huddersfield who parked the bus at the back but broke dangerously, not helped by some very average defending by us. Throw in an ineffective Ref and the next two games could be tough (hope I'm wrong of course). We need to be ruthless and batter them.

Hopefully we can get points in the bank and put more pressure on our play off rivals. I don't really want us to be going to Forest needing 3 points, especially as they now have many of their long term injuries returning, so may well be a bit more of a handful than of late.

 

[Beach Hut]

We were tentative today and lacking the killer instinct.

I think the goal we conceded was a keeper error however teams will make it hard and Huddersfield used every trick in the book to frustrate us by waisting time so to a certain extent you could call that a complement as to how we have moved on.

 

[severnside gull]

We started too slowly and never really got a grip on the game against a side who set up to frustrate us. We need to come flying out I f the gates and maintain a high tempo passing game. If we do we will be fine.

 

[Surf's Up]

Yeovil will certainly park the bus, they've been doing it all season. Blackpool may try to park it but by all accounts they're not very good at anything at the moment and Forest, well, Forest are Forest. So I make that a possible seven points.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

This is pretty much what happened. The communications between he defence - including TK - was very poor for the first 5 mins, and we were punished and had to contend with the time wasting from 50 mins.

The time wasting was possibly the worst I've seen, from players, coaches and, worst of all, ball boys. There was one point when the ball went out for a goal kick that the ball boy took so long to get up over the ad hoardings and fetch the ball (to throw to the keeper stood waiting no more than 15 yards away), that Ulloa ran from the half way line to pick the ball up himself and pass it to the keeper. If the 4th official had accounted for all of this then there should've been at least 10 mins extra. I know all ball boys do it to some extent when the home side is trying to run down the clock, but today's effort during the 2nd half really took the piss. Refs can and will book players for time wasting, but something needs to be done to stop it being done by the ball boys; people pay good money to watch 90 minutes of football, not some ginger tosser sloping after a ball with all the enthusiasm of Kevin the teenager having been told to tidy his room.

This.

It was disgusting today.

But I actually blame the ref.

It is in his power to book a player for wasting time.
Failing to retrieve a ball is classed as wasting time.
Ball boys/girls are a luxury, not mandatory, and if the ball crosses the line, the nearest player has a responsibility to ensure that it is retrieved in a timely manner.

Utter shite ref.

And this.

We did need more urgency today. It seemed almost as though they were conserving their energy for Monday, but unfortunately we'll probably see more of the same then.

 

[OzMike]

Win the next two and we're in the play offs. That's my opinion anyway

Easier said.......................etc.
Every game should now be treated like a cup final now.
Two good games then we go missing again, we keep reverting back to this.

 

[The Wookiee]

Dead right.
If we had picked up the points we should have done against the lower sides, we would be planning our Premiership stadium trips by now.
.

Any team in any league can say that, that's football !!
At the beginning of the season, if somebody said to me we would be 6th with 3 games to play (2 being at home) I would of taken that !!

We don't have a divine right to win every game, we will lose some, we will play badly bu more often than not we will get something out of the game, hence our position.

 

[The Wookiee]

Easier said.......................etc.
Every game should now be treated like a cup final now.
:

Let's hope that doesn't mean he plays Brezovan in goal then !

 

[Dirty Dave]

Yeovil will certainly park the bus, they've been doing it all season. Blackpool may try to park it but by all accounts they're not very good at anything at the moment and Forest, well, Forest are Forest. So I make that a possible seven points.

With Yeovil currently 5 points from safety it's likely that going in to our game against them they will either already be down or have to win to have any chance of staying up.

So they certainly wont set up for a draw

 

[bobzam]

I blame our sluggish start - not for the first time we looked like we couldn't be bothered whilst they came out of the blocks gung-ho and got the goal they probably deserved. That gave a team who were still threatened with relegation something to sit back and defend with the odd counter attack. After good wins against Leicester and charlton it was back to normal ways, no width, no intensity and no imagination. A few half chances and draw was probably the fairest result. We always need to score early and if it goes the other way we are buggered. If we make the play offs (still hopeful) we will probably do well as those sides won't sit back and they're the teams we struggle against.

Need back 2 back home wins now though...

 

[Icy Gull]

Not the greatest result but better than Reading or Bournemouth by a distance. Let's see what unfolds today between Watford and Ipswich. Have to love this division.

 

[scousefan]

Not the greatest result but better than Reading or Bournemouth by a distance. Let's see what unfolds today between Watford and Ipswich. Have to love this division.

I think we have to support Watford and cross everything that they can beat Ipswich. If that happens we will have got out of gaol! Personally I thought we needed to win yesterday against a poor team. We need to make sure we increase our scoring chances in the next three games. Otherwise it's inevitable that we will drop too many points.

On a side note. I have never seen time wasting like yesterday before. The ball boy deserves MOM for Huddersfield!

 

[Turkey]

Generally positive after yesterday. I thought our players looked a class above and Huddersfield had to work very hard to stop us creating much. Worst time wasting I've seen in a long time, everyone does it, but that was on another level. Thought the ref was rubbish and didn't give us much protection either. We were comfortably the better team but as is often the case if they defend well you're always susceptible to a set piece or a cock up at the back. If we play like that against Blackpool and Yeovil I'd expect both to crumble tbh.

 

[bhawoddy]

Generally positive after yesterday. I thought our players looked a class above and Huddersfield had to work very hard to stop us creating much. Worst time wasting I've seen in a long time, everyone does it, but that was on another level. Thought the ref was rubbish and didn't give us much protection either. We were comfortably the better team but as is often the case if they defend well you're always susceptible to a set piece or a cock up at the back. If we play like that against Blackpool and Yeovil I'd expect both to crumble tbh.

It was reported during the second half that Huddersfield were more likely to score a second than brighton were to get an equalizer.

Hardly a shot on target all game. Doesn't sound like we were that good.

 

[Turkey]

It was reported during the second half that Huddersfield were more likely to score a second than brighton were to get an equalizer.

Hardly a shot on target all game. Doesn't sound like we were that good.

They probably went closer. They had a free kick which forced PIG into a class save and there was a cock up at the back that we got away with. So you could argue they were more likely to score.

My view though - and this despite having been a negative ******* all season - was that we won the 50/50 balls and we dominated the ball. We put them under a lot of pressure, ok the keeper didn't have to make many saves but they had to defend very well and we kept pushing and pushing and winning corners. I felt a goal was coming for us there was only so long they could hold out.

Personally I think the shots on goal stat is a load of bollocks anyway. The number of times this season we've had woeful efforts on goal that count as a shot is ridiculous. There's room for improvement for sure but us dominating a team like that hasn't really happened much under Oscar and Huddersfield are better than Blackpool/Yeovil.

 

[Dan Aitch]

Yesterday reminded me of those FA Cup games where you see Premiership vs. a much lower division team. As great as the Premiership team are against teams that play similar possession-based football, at a similar level, there's just something about the 'park' team that they can't beat down.

In other words, I'm starting to think that we're playing at too high a level for the arse-end of the division teams; as illustrated by our performances against Leicester, Barnsley and Huddersfield. Great against the good, struggling against the poor.

Come on, Watford!

 

[nwgull]

They probably went closer. They had a free kick which forced PIG into a class save and there was a cock up at the back that we got away with. So you could argue they were more likely to score.

My view though - and this despite having been a negative ******* all season - was that we won the 50/50 balls and we dominated the ball. We put them under a lot of pressure, ok the keeper didn't have to make many saves but they had to defend very well and we kept pushing and pushing and winning corners. I felt a goal was coming for us there was only so long they could hold out.

Personally I think the shots on goal stat is a load of bollocks anyway. The number of times this season we've had woeful efforts on goal that count as a shot is ridiculous. There's room for improvement for sure but us dominating a team like that hasn't really happened much under Oscar and Huddersfield are better than Blackpool/Yeovil.

This is accurate, and I think most people who went yesterday would agree: the shots on goal stat really didn't reflect our dominance and attacking intent after that bad first 5 mins yesterday. We had loads of ball in their half, but with 11 men behind the ball and plenty of timewasting and cynical play - I counted 6 yellow cards for them - it was always going to be hard to get that final ball in.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I'm starting to think that we're playing at too high a level for the arse-end of the division teams; as illustrated by our performances against Leicester, Barnsley and Huddersfield. Great against the good, struggling against the poor.

I wouldn't read too much into the Leicester result. Most of their team looked and played like they were still 4 times over the drink-drive limit that night. We were lucky to play them when we did - had they still needed points for promotion to the Premier League they'd have rolled us over.

 

[Dan Aitch]

I wouldn't read too much into the Leicester result. Most of their team looked and played like they were still 4 times over the drink-drive limit that night. We were lucky to play them when we did - had they still needed points for promotion to the Premier League they'd have rolled us over.

How about Leicester at home then, or QPR?