In Peace - Honest View from an Owl

[One Love]

He is one of our more influential players!

No wonder we are under-performing.

 

[dingodan]

No wonder we are under-performing.

I guess there is some truth to that. We have other more technical players who really should be higher up the ranks in terms of influencing our games.

 

[fire&skill]

Thanks, OwlFan - but to be honest I don't give two HOOTS about what you think of our team.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Pushed over. He felt a hand on his shoulder and went for the free kick. Play the ball Ashley.

Watching from the back of the stand he was pushed over and the lino ignored the foul , he got up and then lunged in after the ball had already been dispatched by the Wednesday player. A few minutes earlier Barnes had been hacked down by Prutton who was shown a yellow card. The TV highlights show the angle from the main stand and the push looks minimal but from behind the goal it was more like a shove which the lino had a clear view of.

 

[Surf's Up]

Before the game when I saw the teamsheets I thought you'd murder us, you have some internationals as well as quality ball players but we know it didnt turn out that way. You lot seem to think your players just had a bad day and that may be true but I have to say, some of the touches and lay offs from your lads in midfield were just class and when they're on it, they must be a joy to watch. You are a much more sophisticated football team than we are (and thats not to play down our strengths which I'll come to) and Poyet has done a good job of building a team over time. I could watch Orlandi go about his work all day long, what a clever skilful player. But...Dave Jones did his homework yesterday and we did a good job on you for most of the game. We chased and harried in midfield and constantly made you play the ball back to El Abd who is clearly no great distributor an our shape was good all day. Man of the match was Giles Coke who was everywhere in midfield and deserved a goal. You lacked a bit of oomph, it was neat and pretty but until CMS came on we were always confortable, after which he did his usual terrorising of our defence for 20 minutes until we adapted and got hold of the game again.

Now ..our strengths...you've called us dirty and ugly and thats not true. We are a strong physical team with pace to burn and Helan and Antonio in particular would make a big difference to your side. Our full backs have licence to bomb on because we play 2 full backs in front of them in midfield and its working well for us. 6 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat in our last 9 says this team is adapting to the championship and should stay up with ease. Calderon should by now be beginning to recover from the twists and turns that Helan put him through, Helan was taking him for a run several times in the second half. Not many sides can cope with the pace we have and the support from our rb and lb means we get plenty of crosses over...Buxton in particular seemed to float over a barrel load.

The ref, you're annoyed with him and I guess you would be but he certainly wasnt a homer, a stonewall penalty on Lita not given, Ulloa very lucky to stay on, El Abd pushing his luck at times too. The Danny Pugh foul looked a yelow card to me and I was right behind it...it just seemed that your players and coaches wanted the ref to even things out. That said, it didnt look pretty on the FLS last night although the camera angle was poor. The difference between Pugh's tackle and Barned was that Pugh went for the ball but was late, Barnes saw red mist and took the player out, a red card all day long.

Got to say I thought that Bridge and Upson were a let down, in this league they should dominate, they didnt. Did Bridge ever get forward and overlap for you?

Overall I can see why you beat a lot of teams in this league, and also maybe too why promotion might just just a bit beyond you this year. I like your football (not the histrionics of some of your players though) an if Poyet just adds a bit more pace and strength to the obvious quality you'll go far.

Good luck for the rest of the season and if you want to get rid of Orlandi, send him our way please.

Playing physical teams who close us down high up the pitch and then break with pace has been a problem for us since we got back into the Championship. Leeds were the first team to do it last season and many teams now adopt this tactic at the Amex. Its a kind of backhanded compliment that Jones chose those tactics when Wednesday were playing at home but it doesn't disguise the fact that until we learn how to combat this effectively we'll remain a Championship side who play neat football but can be too easily bullied out of a game. Swansea have provided the template for combating these tactics and basically its down to player movement and passing the ball out of defense and moving it upfield much more quickly than we currently do. IMHO.

 

[mona]

Playing physical teams who close us down high up the pitch and then break with pace has been a problem for us since we got back into the Championship. Leeds were the first team to do it last season and many teams now adopt this tactic at the Amex. Its a kind of backhanded compliment that Jones chose those tactics when Wednesday were playing at home but it doesn't disguise the fact that until we learn how to combat this effectively we'll remain a Championship side who play neat football but can be too easily bullied out of a game. Swansea have provided the template for combating these tactics and basically its down to player movement and passing the ball out of defense and moving it upfield much more quickly than we currently do. IMHO.

Sir, that is spot on.

 

[Blues Rock DJ]

Before the game when I saw the teamsheets I thought you'd murder us, you have some internationals as well as quality ball players but we know it didnt turn out that way. You lot seem to think your players just had a bad day and that may be true but I have to say, some of the touches and lay offs from your lads in midfield were just class and when they're on it, they must be a joy to watch. You are a much more sophisticated football team than we are (and thats not to play down our strengths which I'll come to) and Poyet has done a good job of building a team over time. I could watch Orlandi go about his work all day long, what a clever skilful player. But...Dave Jones did his homework yesterday and we did a good job on you for most of the game. We chased and harried in midfield and constantly made you play the ball back to El Abd who is clearly no great distributor an our shape was good all day. Man of the match was Giles Coke who was everywhere in midfield and deserved a goal. You lacked a bit of oomph, it was neat and pretty but until CMS came on we were always confortable, after which he did his usual terrorising of our defence for 20 minutes until we adapted and got hold of the game again.

Now ..our strengths...you've called us dirty and ugly and thats not true. We are a strong physical team with pace to burn and Helan and Antonio in particular would make a big difference to your side. Our full backs have licence to bomb on because we play 2 full backs in front of them in midfield and its working well for us. 6 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat in our last 9 says this team is adapting to the championship and should stay up with ease. Calderon should by now be beginning to recover from the twists and turns that Helan put him through, Helan was taking him for a run several times in the second half. Not many sides can cope with the pace we have and the support from our rb and lb means we get plenty of crosses over...Buxton in particular seemed to float over a barrel load.

The ref, you're annoyed with him and I guess you would be but he certainly wasnt a homer, a stonewall penalty on Lita not given, Ulloa very lucky to stay on, El Abd pushing his luck at times too. The Danny Pugh foul looked a yelow card to me and I was right behind it...it just seemed that your players and coaches wanted the ref to even things out. That said, it didnt look pretty on the FLS last night although the camera angle was poor. The difference between Pugh's tackle and Barned was that Pugh went for the ball but was late, Barnes saw red mist and took the player out, a red card all day long.

Got to say I thought that Bridge and Upson were a let down, in this league they should dominate, they didnt. Did Bridge ever get forward and overlap for you?

Overall I can see why you beat a lot of teams in this league, and also maybe too why promotion might just just a bit beyond you this year. I like your football (not the histrionics of some of your players though) an if Poyet just adds a bit more pace and strength to the obvious quality you'll go far.

Good luck for the rest of the season and if you want to get rid of Orlandi, send him our way please.

Take it you weren't at the Amex for the 3-0 earlier in the season, then ?

 

[Willy Dangle]

I just can't believe he commented that Adam El Abd was pushing his luck.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Playing physical teams who close us down high up the pitch and then break with pace has been a problem for us since we got back into the Championship. Leeds were the first team to do it last season and many teams now adopt this tactic at the Amex. Its a kind of backhanded compliment that Jones chose those tactics when Wednesday were playing at home but it doesn't disguise the fact that until we learn how to combat this effectively we'll remain a Championship side who play neat football but can be too easily bullied out of a game. Swansea have provided the template for combating these tactics and basically its down to player movement and passing the ball out of defense and moving it upfield much more quickly than we currently do. IMHO.

Surprisingly those tactics worked, for a period, yesterday due simply to Bridcutt's removal. Less flaffing about at the back the ball being moved quickly up field and hay presto Wednesday on the back foot

 

[mona]

It was Helan who kicked out at El Abd, he missed but if the ref/lino had seen it he could have gone, it was a bit like the Beckham situation against the Argentinians. We were fortunate becauce both of them were running back to their positions and had their backs to the incident, so its probably unfair to blame them for that one.

Thats the thing about fans isnt it? We see the same incidents in a totally different way. From our perspective, Ulloa was cheating and throwing himself around all game, from yours it was Llera doing the fouling. Whatever way we see it, he could have gone although if he had, it would have been strange as he didnt really do one bad bookable thing in itself, just persistent niggling.

I can't agree about Barnes and I think most Albion fans see the sending off the same way, as clear a red as you'll ever see and its a strange argument to say Pugh's was a horror tackle but Barnes' wasnt a sending off...I dont think you can have it both ways.

I take your point about Bridge and the sending off must have tempered his attacking game. He should be a cut above in this league so maybe we were just lucky not to see it yesterday.

Thanks to those who've commented favourably on my post, you're clearly a good team, despite yesterday.

Barnes's challenge was an undisciplined disgrace. He's a player I normally stick up for but he let down the team and Poyet (let alone the 1100 away fans). With 11 on the pitch it could have been an interesting 2nd half.

 

[Surf's Up]

Surprisingly those tactics worked, for a period, yesterday due simply to Bridcutt's removal. Less flaffing about at the back the ball being moved quickly up field and hay presto Wednesday on the back foot

Precisely, just got to maintain it for 95 minutes. Interesting that it took Bridcutt's removal for it to happen though? Is he solely responsible for the pace at which we move the ball forward?

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Precisely, just got to maintain it for 95 minutes. Interesting that it took Bridcutt's removal for it to happen though? Is he solely responsible for the pace at which we move the ball forward?

No just that Poyet attacks by numbers not in numbers. (each player in defence/midfield has to touch the ball at least once before it can go past the half-way line)

 

[Owlfan]

I just can't believe he commented that Adam El Abd was pushing his luck.

With respect, we're always going to see some things differently arent we?
From my perspective he was constantly in the refs ear, he was pushing pulling Lita all over the place and was generally niggly.
I would admit that he pushed it less than Ulloa did, but he was still anoying to watch doing his thing.

Reading the forum, some of you feel that 1 or 2 of ours did the same thing and maybe we're both guilty of overloooking some traits of our own players.

 

[mune ni kamome]

Thanks, OwlFan - but to be honest I don't give two HOOTS about what you think of our team.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Two Hoots. I bet he's never heard that one before.

 

[CheeseRolls]

If you view this as a two legged affair, there were two comfortable home wins. Interestingly neither team has been particularly strong at home in terms if results.

For me the telling factor was the state of the pitches. The Amex was a bowling green and the zippy passing surface suited the home side.

At Hillsborough I was looking forward to the monster trucks at half time, it seemed like they had been out in previous games. Brighton's fullbacks tend to bomb forward with the ball, whereas Wednesday stretch the play with balls into spaces for players to chase. I can see why Wednesday fans really rate CMS as he will chase these balls all day. Not surprisingly the ball moved more effectively in the air than along the ground.

Gus needs to find a formation to combat this, we so nearly came unstuck on a similar surface at Blackpool.

 

[SeagullSongs]

Thanks, OwlFan - but to be honest I don't give two HOOTS about what you think of our team.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

I thought you were going to call him a 'twit' too.

 

[CT1]

Exactly the same game as the majority.

I know he's got some unfair stick in the past and still does from a few but the praise he sometimes receives on here is so over the top.

Well the majority seem to loath him. Maybe thats because the majority ball watch and don't see the work he does off the ball and the defensive work he does. Which is fair enough because obviously what goes on around the ball is more often the most interesting spectacle, but people need to fully recognize his contribution.