KeiranShikari
New Member
PANIC
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Yellow Fever
New Member
This was a test to break down a defensive side and we failed it, much like earlier in the season against Charlton or Reading. A good reaction against Millwall will restore my faith.
Yellow Fever
New Member
From bad to worse. Grabban has an ankle injury and is having surgery tomorrow.
KeiranShikari
New Member
Bugger.
I wonder if recalling Lafferty is an option.
I wonder if recalling Lafferty is an option.
Din
Well-Known Member
I literally hate this league 
We just massively lacked any sort of imagination or creativity tonight. Our quality in the final third was just absolutely dismal, especially when you consider how good it's been for the majority of the season. I think we desperately missed Tettey in the middle, because he allows Howson and Johnson to get forward, which they couldn't tonight. Sounds like Grabban could be out for a lengthy spell, which isn't good either. I thought that the only player who was any good tonight was Bassong, and he rightly got MOTM. He was the only player who actually prepared to travel with the ball, and try and push us up the pitch, despite the fact that he's a centre half.
I'm confident this is just a blip, like the Brentford game a few weeks ago, but we can't really go dropping any more points on Saturday now against Millwall. Crazy really to think the difference 3 days makes.
Credit to Wigan, who defended very well and were extremely hard to break down. Had they not got that early goal then it would've been a completely different game, but the fact is we were sloppy and did concede and Wigan then just parked the bus and invited us on to try and break them down, which we couldn't do. Hard to believe that they are in the bottom 3 really. I'd say they were better than the majority of teams that have come to CR, defensively they were one of the best.
Don't think there's any real need to panic just yet, but a defeat against Millwall and I will start to get very worried.
We just massively lacked any sort of imagination or creativity tonight. Our quality in the final third was just absolutely dismal, especially when you consider how good it's been for the majority of the season. I think we desperately missed Tettey in the middle, because he allows Howson and Johnson to get forward, which they couldn't tonight. Sounds like Grabban could be out for a lengthy spell, which isn't good either. I thought that the only player who was any good tonight was Bassong, and he rightly got MOTM. He was the only player who actually prepared to travel with the ball, and try and push us up the pitch, despite the fact that he's a centre half.
I'm confident this is just a blip, like the Brentford game a few weeks ago, but we can't really go dropping any more points on Saturday now against Millwall. Crazy really to think the difference 3 days makes.
Credit to Wigan, who defended very well and were extremely hard to break down. Had they not got that early goal then it would've been a completely different game, but the fact is we were sloppy and did concede and Wigan then just parked the bus and invited us on to try and break them down, which we couldn't do. Hard to believe that they are in the bottom 3 really. I'd say they were better than the majority of teams that have come to CR, defensively they were one of the best.
Don't think there's any real need to panic just yet, but a defeat against Millwall and I will start to get very worried.
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G
GJP
Well-Known Member
I wonder if AN will be thinking he should have started with Dorrans central, Johnson to the left and Hoolahan off Jerome.
GazzaTCC
Active Member
What a frustrating evening all-round. Wigan defended well after scoring early and we simply didn't have many ideas how to break down their well organised defence.
Eleven shots but only three on target and their keeper didn't have a meaningful save to make all night.
It's gone. We move on. Bring on Millwall.
Eleven shots but only three on target and their keeper didn't have a meaningful save to make all night.
It's gone. We move on. Bring on Millwall.
Gorlestongirl
New Member
. LOl. I know that is tongue in cheek, TM, but it is very reminiscent of the reaction of Arsenal, Man U and Spurs fans when we scored against them and hung on like grim death. Upsetting the bigger boys is one of the enduring pleasures of being a football addict. For us last night was awful last night; lacklustre performance, dreadful referee, subdued crowd and opponents desperate to avoid relegation. And I think we missed Grabban for his work rate pulling defenders all over the place, so that news sucks as well.. I have no doubt, however, that we will see a reaction on Saturday, and when we play Derby on the 14th.
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The Great Mass Debater
New Member
Id wondered that. I doubt it as they've probably paid a loan fee
The Great Mass Debater
New Member
If anything, my only consolation last night was that that was the beauty of this league - the fact that anyone can beat anyone else on their day. On paper this was a home win all day long.I literally hate this league
The unpredictability of this league gives everybody hope and keeps it competitive. We were purely victims of the league, and our rivals will also have similar slip-ups. Just need to take this one on the chin, as much as missing the opportunity to go second hurts like a smack in the nose
Canaryboy
Well-Known Member
Losing a game isn't always a bad thing, as long as we respond to it positively. Perhaps we didn't take this game quite seriously enough and that this will teach us a lesson going into the remaining fixtures.
Is really important that we beat Millwall now though, Ipswich (7th) play Brentford (6th) this weekend, and Watford (3rd) play Wolves (8th). We're actually only 5 points above Wolves.
Could say that every team in the top 8 is in contention for automatic, and could possibly include Forest in 9th as in contention for the play-offs.
Can't remember the table ever being this close at this stage of the season? Usually there is at least one team who have a clear lead at the top, surely it isn't normal for the team in 7th to be just 6 points from 1st place with almost a quarter of a season to go!
Any team from 1st to 7th only needs to go on a strong run over the next 11 games to have a chance of winning the league, and going on past form you'd have to say that we're one of the three or four most likely to do so.
Is really important that we beat Millwall now though, Ipswich (7th) play Brentford (6th) this weekend, and Watford (3rd) play Wolves (8th). We're actually only 5 points above Wolves.
Could say that every team in the top 8 is in contention for automatic, and could possibly include Forest in 9th as in contention for the play-offs.
Can't remember the table ever being this close at this stage of the season? Usually there is at least one team who have a clear lead at the top, surely it isn't normal for the team in 7th to be just 6 points from 1st place with almost a quarter of a season to go!
Any team from 1st to 7th only needs to go on a strong run over the next 11 games to have a chance of winning the league, and going on past form you'd have to say that we're one of the three or four most likely to do so.
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Yellowfuture
New Member
If we were going to lose a game, which we inevitably were, at least losing to Wigan is less damaging than losing to one of the teams around us.
Let's hope that there is a silver lining to last nights cloud, I suspect there will be.
Main concern is up front, Hoops taken off at half time, Grabban I suspect out for the rest of the season, all of a sudden our cupboard is looking a little bare.
Was good to see Morris given a run, didn't really have enough time to get into the game, not an easy one for your first senior game.
Let's hope that there is a silver lining to last nights cloud, I suspect there will be.
Main concern is up front, Hoops taken off at half time, Grabban I suspect out for the rest of the season, all of a sudden our cupboard is looking a little bare.
Was good to see Morris given a run, didn't really have enough time to get into the game, not an easy one for your first senior game.
Yellow Fever
New Member
I suspect that AN felt that Dorrans and Howson are more box to box players and that he needed BJ's defensive qualities. The switch was made to increase our attacking options and it worked because Wigan were protecting their lead rather than attacking. Dorrans is a classy player though, and was one of our highest ranked players in the Whoscored index for the match.
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