Brighton, 0-0

[fox58]

Ahem, couple of great chances for own goals when they panicked durinmg the second half.....

I think they looked shaky at times.

i sense some more low player ratings coming soon

 

[beaumontfox]

I don't mark players down cos they might've scored an own goal, 9/10 times that happens cos they try and block a shot etc.

I'll mark them down for poor distribution and at times non-existent marking though!

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

The only good thing I could say about tonight's performance was that every pass by our team went to a player in a City shirt!

We were slow, not enough pace and energy. No plan B for Howard being out. No passes from midfield through to Dickov to try his trademark turn and volley. Passes went out wide but came back to the edge of the box. No-one taking the ball to the byeline. Dyer has lost his pace and magic from earlier in the season. Only skinned a player once. I could go on. At least we did not lose, but Brighton were a poor team who came to get a point and succeeded.

 

[Brauny Blue]

If someone had offered you that lge table at the start of the season.........

 

[beaumontfox]

Dickov was totally marked out of the game by his opponent imo.
Very ineffective I thought.


I did think Cleverley had a far better game than he did on satdee.

 

[David Gwilliam]

All credit to Brighton. They came for a point and defended superbly. The trouble is that it made it a very dull game.The match showed how much we miss Howard when he is out. I don't think it will be easy to get cover for him though. Clubs will only loan us players if they think they will get games and not just be sat on the bench. Do we have any young strikers worth giving an opportunity to?

 

[Boy Genius]

If someone had offered you that lge table at the start of the season.........

What would you have done with it? Just how many chairs could you get around it?

 

[beaumontfox]

Can someone who can be arsed to work it out tell if it might be possible for us to be promoted mid-March?

 

[Graz]

Can someone who can be arsed to work it out tell if it might be possible for us to be promoted mid-March?

There are 30 points available between now 11th March (date of our game against Tranmere). Only 9 games, so 27 points available beyond that.

So if we were to get all 30 points, and our rivals got no more than 10 points each in that time, then yes, we could win the league in mid-March.

Basically, if we get 17 points more than each of our rivals between now and mid-March, we'd be promoted. I think....

 

[spionfox]

Who thinks we need a new striker or have the old boys Hayles and Dickov got anything left?

We need a new striker - however, Hayles did more in his 15 minutes than Dickov managed in his 75.

 

[fox58]

Can someone who can be arsed to work it out tell if it might be possible for us to be promoted mid-March?

it is possible to get 100 points by the end of March we have 13 games to play so even dropping a few points here and there it could be done 9 wins out of the 13 would give us 88 points

 

[Graz]

Get a new striker in. If we don't, I'd like to see some of the strikers from the academy given a go (when we're sure of promotion though really)

 

[spionfox]

I did think Cleverley had a far better game than he did on satdee.

I think he is a poor substitute for Davies. Misplaced passes, zero positional sense and a little bit of 'headless chicken' at times.

The potential is there but he hasn't proven anything to me yet and seems to be slipping back each time I see him.

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

90 points should be good enough for automatic promotion so win 9 and draw 3 and we should be celebrating at home against Colchester on March 21!

(Waits for Boc or Jeff to tell me that in 1921 someone came third with 97 points)

 

[fox58]

I think he is a poor substitute for Davies. Misplaced passes, zero positional sense and a little bit of 'headless chicken' at times.

The potential is there but he hasn't proven anything to me yet and seems to be slipping back each time I see him.

he did appear to shrink when the crowd groaned when he misplaced a pace or knocked the ball straight into touch, but that is part of his learning curver.

does anyone else think he looks like Hume from a distance in the number 7 shirt

 

[bocadillo]

90 points should be good enough for automatic promotion so win 9 and draw 3 and we should be celebrating at home against Colchester on March 21!

(Waits for Boc or Jeff to tell me that in 1921 someone came third with 97 points)

It would have been impossible. Only 2 points for a win then, so even if you won every game you would only have 92 points.

 

[SJN-Fox]

The only good thing I could say about tonight's performance was that every pass by our team went to a player in a City shirt!

But then so did theirs !

 

[Granite Fox]

Morrison was really good and Mattock was when he came on (gave us more options going forward than Berner who was solid).

Cleverley and King took a while to get going (30 mins) but were better after this. Cleverley tries too hard to make things happen sometimes, you can't play one-touch football and ambitious passes all of the time and hope they all come off. I am sure he will improve.

Hayles made a big difference when he came on - won a few headers and played well with his back to goal.

Can't understand why people would boo unless it was at the ref for not giving the penalty near the end.

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

I imagine the boos were frustration that it looked so easy to win the the game if they had upped the pace like they did for 5 mins after we had hit the crossbar twice in 5 seconds.

 

[Leigh]

Idiots near us booed, but then they are always slagging someone off during the game.

If I didn't know where you sit I'd swear you were sitting near me! The people behind me spent the whole game slagging off Howard - only to realise 10 minutes before the end that he wasn't playing and then to cover their mistake by saying how much better Dickov was and moaning that he'd been taken off. And then they booed at the end of course.

Still not impressed by Cleverly but possibly he's still getting used to the team/league. After years of poor midfields it felt a bit same-old-same-old again with Davies gone though so he's certainly no replacement.