Man of the match at Grimsby?

[Sussex on Leith]

Jakey was the only one who showed any ability or inclination to control a football, and he put himself about more than most. He should never have been subbed, Leon was a waste of space today. Admittedly not much space, but a complete waste of it nonetheless.

And can we please have a left back. For Christ's sake. Mayo was everywhere, and not in a good way.

Special mention to the fourth official for watching a two-minute brawl, three substitutions and the odd injury during the second half, and deciding there should be a whole two minutes of stoppage time for us to take on ten men with an outfielder in goal.

And even specialler mention for the ref, who decided it was all getting a bit nasty for his liking and we should only have about 30 seconds of said two minutes so he could toddle off home for a Valentine's night of bliss with his inflatable boyfriend.

 

[London Irish]

Well, McGhee was praising Virgo to the skies after the match. His is the opinon that counts. I think Virgo is one of these players that makes things happen wherever he plays, a fixture in the team for the rest of the season, interesting to see where McGhee settles on his best position, nothing wrong in trying to look for it.

It was great to see Robinson getting some game-time and showing promise, but people have to be realistic and not put too much pressure on a 17-year-old's shoulders. His time will come but the front-line that will give us a shot of the play-offs is Trev, Leon and Piercy.

It is worrying that Trev has dipped a bit from his impressive start but McGhee will have to motivate him and work on getting the service to him right.

The Plymouth game showed getting Piercy fit is going to be crucial. He appears to be one of our few players who retains composure in the opposition third. His threat also creates more space for Leon and Trev to exploit, and vice versa.

If McGhee sticks to 4-3-3, it looks as though that system leaves wingers like Jones and Hart out in the cold. That's a shame because both do have positive things to offer, a lot of energy and good movement on the flanks. The problem is that their final pass/crossing is too often below the required standards at the moment and that will probably cost them their places.

This home/away difference is the only thing I see undermining our play-off chances. We are very strong at home because the players seem to know every blade of Withdean grass and always get in the right position to break down opposition threats. Away from home, there appears more lethargy, more ball watching, more players not reacting quickly enough to what the opposition are doing. It is purely a mental thing. It must be doing McGhee's head in, because without our midfield problems being definitively sorted, the only way we are going to squeeze out victories and points is staying tight and not getting sloppy.

That said, I'm not overreacting to these 3 disappointing results. I was hoping for 5/6 pts from these fixtures, to end up with 1 is a setback, but at least not a crippling one. We were unfortunate and I thought could easily have gone through these 3 games unbeaten. Leon's penalty would have totally undermined Newell's 2nd half tactics against us at Luton and to concede a freak goal in that crazy last bit of the game as Grimsby today was also undeserved. That said, 3 draws is not good enough for the play-offs either.

But if you look at even how QPR have struggled recently, I just do not accept that this division is as rubbish as most on NSC appear to think it is. Losing a couple of monied sides like Cardiff and Reading does not depress the overall standard of the other 20+ clubs. We have no god-given right to be better than the other teams in this division, in fact with our terrible recent history and ground problems, we should be worse. The point has also been well made by El Presidente that the other relegated Div 1 sides have done much worse than us and they would probably like to have our playing problems.

Let's pray for Piercy's safe return for B'Mouth. The defence is solid but we need one of 2 great keepers back. McGhee will no doubt continue to tinker with the midfield. He has the option to go back to what worked against Plymouth with Watto or continuing to experiment either with Virgo or with one of the other squad players.

The next few games are now beginning to look make-or-break because we can't allow a gap to open up between us and the other 5/6 play-off teams. Let's keep positive and if we have criticisms of what McGhee is doing, keep them constructive with suggestions of what YOU would do with the injury problems he has to deal with.

 

[Yorkie]

London Irish

Nobody is putting pressure on Robinson's shoulders, his class shone through yesterday.

Grimsby were a dirty side yesterday. The ref on the whole was fair but I agree with Sussex on Leith about the added on time.

The amount of stoppage time for the WWE was about 5 mins

 

[London Irish]

London Irish

Nobody is putting pressure on Robinson's shoulders, his class shone through yesterday.

Grimsby were a dirty side yesterday. The ref on the whole was fair but I agree with Sussex on Leith about the added on time.

The amount of stoppage time for the WWE was about 5 mins

So is he ready to displace Trev/Leon/Piercy? That was the point I was making.

 

[Yorkie]

He can replace Trev with pleasure. He's another Rehman.

Seriously Robinson is great at making space for himself and running at everything. He can make as much of a nuisance of himself and draw defenders as any player.

Def my MoM yesterday.

 

[London Irish]

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, it would all fall apart after we lost Zesh Rehman

Poor old Trev. 3 goals and a penalty earned. He is being held to a high standard, but I guess that's fair given his previous acheivements and experience.

When he goes, won't we need McPhee's height and presence back rather than two little guys running around up front?

 

[Zebedee]

When he goes, won't we need McPhee's height and presence back rather than two little guys running around up front?

The two little guys could cause a lot of damage if only the rest of the team were good enough to pass the ball to their feet. The service that our front line gets leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[El Presidente]

I think people are being harsh on Leon. He was kicked up in the air constantly yesterday, and often had three men on him with no one to pass to, so took his punishment well. He did let the crowd get to him, but was regularly skinning their full backs with ease, only to be send flying by late tackles.

People are looking at Jake's performance through rose tinted glasses. Beating one defender on one occasion and putting in a half decent cross does not make him a world beater. He needs time to acclimatise to first team football though, and at least McGhee is prepared to give him that chance.

Virgo started poorly, and was in many respects playing as a sweeper in front of the back four. He won a lot in the air, but there was a total lack of creativity in midfield.

Kerry was truly awful, his positional sense was all at sea, and distribution non existent

 

[Another Berkshire Seagull]

Kerry's been crap for ages now...time to get jonah back at leftback....maybe not

 

[perseus]

As I have bored everybody for years. I said put Danny Cullip in midfield for his height and presence. Adam Virgo is the next best thing. Not exactly an anchor man I would have envisaged, but ....

 

[Falmer Dream]

Well, McGhee was praising Virgo to the skies after the match.

If that's true, we are in bigger trouble than I feared

 

[Falmer Dream]

front-line that will give us a shot of the play-offs is Trev, Leon and Piercy.

It doesn't matter who we play up front all the time we haven't got a midfield.

 

[Falmer Dream]

The two little guys could cause a lot of damage if only the rest of the team were good enough to pass the ball to their feet. The service that our front line gets leaves a lot to be desired.

That is spot on. Judging any of our forwards on yesterday's performance isn't really fair because our midfield is shit, but I think most people would say Jake outshone Leon and Trevor in this game. I felt very sorry for him trying to make an impression when the service was soooooo poor.

 

[Yorkie]

Everyone agrees that Mayo had a shocker again so who would you replace him with.

 

[Turkey]

Drop Benjamin for Robinson Yorkie! Are you having a laugh!! 3 goals in the last 4! Much needed height up front! Jake is a very good prospect but he isn't ready yet. Compare him to Hinshelwood or El-Abd. Those two have the body strength to cope but Jake will struggle like he did at Wycombe imo.

As for Leon, he's not convictive enough at the moment. On one occasion he got the ball just outside the area and then let the defender make the first move. He then went wide and nothing came of it. He should have had the confidence to create a bit of space and fire in a shot.

We're lacking confidence, as you said a few weeks ago Yorkie, and we don't have a settled team. You never know who's going to be playing where. McGhee is experimenting and whilst trying to get us up this year I think in the back of his mind he's just trying to learn our strengths and weakness so that we can have a real crack at it next season.

This season has been disapointing for two main reasons. 1, a change of manager distrupting it; 2, Injuries - Blackwell, Rodger, Oatway, Watson, Piercy, Roberts, Kuipers, Jones, Hart etc etc etc.

The goalkeeper and defence were a big problem yesterday. Jones' 2nd start for 33 months. They had no understanding and he couldn't/didn't organise the defence. They were edgy with him goal.

 

[Turkey]

Everyone agrees that Mayo had a shocker again so who would you replace him with.

Watson.

 

[Yorkie]

Benajmin didn't get to a single header yesterday (or if he I missed it) He was offside loads of times and stumbled all over th place.

His goal was a deflection off Charlie Oatway's shot

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

What formation did he play yesterday then?

 

[graz126]

think leon kept skinning their full backs then getting chopped down is very true, but surely he should be in the middle a little more. maybe this is why his goals have dryed up a little. i dont think looking at jake with rose tinted glasses is right either. he made lots of good runs, came deep for the ball, showed exellent control and constantly chased down their defenders and keeper. put in a good cross and nearly scored before being subbed.
i dont think he is totally ready for 1st team action every week as piercy, benjiman, knight and mcphee in my mind are all ahead of him, but if he continues with performances like that (my man of the match) then he will be dislodging one of the other 4 from 1st team at least.
must also admit i could not work out how there was only about 30 secs left to play after the sending off. as somebody said there was 5 mins before the scuffling. time zone shite again, mmmm.

 

[graz126]

What formation did he play yesterday then?

4. 1. 2. 1. 2 i think. or 4123