| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis 23:04 - Nov 11 with 2917 views | unstableblue |
First off I thought today was a pivotal game, we needed a win and a performance ahead of the international break, after some below par performances (we so should have beaten Rotherham).
But let us pause and just reflect on this season, what a remarkable start, no one could believe it would be this positive. P16 W12 (twelve!!) D3 L1
In some ways we’ve had a minor dip in form whilst still piling on the points. And Leicester have mildly faltered. Sadly Leeds, Saints, Boro look to be coming strong.
But Town are seeing players coming through to strengthen even before the January window… Taylor, Harness, Taylor, Axel, Baggot, Scarlett.
It bodes well.
Swansea were a challenge today, have we seen a bad team yet (if we ignore Sheff Weds and Rotherham)? They start fast and score early, the record showed that. Yet Town let them come on to them, and allowed a good cross and a quality header - 0-1.
And the Swans did look quick on the ball, something unexpected. But town like a bit of adversity. And in Davis (back in form) and an excellent Taylor had some real weapons.
Clarke was struggling (he really improved, hopefully the aliens return Williams soon). And look I know no one wants to hear it but our best player Broadhead is getting marked out of form. He’ll come good. But today he wasn’t a threat.
Chaplin started a bit wobbly too… but grew nicely into the game. And space seemed to open up for him… possibly as The Swans focussed on Broadhead and Hirsts hold up play, which continues to be a real asset
Still the team needed a boost to really get going and on 17mins MOTM and Luongo rival Taylor was fed by Chaplin some way out of the box - and he absolutely wallops it into the back of the net. Just wow - bazooka. We will see more of these I am sure.
Then, despite Swansea having significant possession Town went into goblin mode… what is good about this league is that the opposition often come to score/win.. and the Welsh team had four pushed right up for most of the half… this gave us the chance to break in waves. For me Town should have had 3 or 4 further first half goals… the best perhaps a Hutchison run and pass across to Broadhead… but it was a poor cross beyond our Welsh international. An offside that looked on. And Hutchison and Hirst being well saved, the former should have done better. We did get a goal in this purple patch, and it was actually an excellent finish from Chaplin - great for the new father to score - well set-up by Hirst.
Second half started well and Davis was purring now. We had multiple corners and set-pieces and it was getting a bit handsy in the area. This led to a foul on Taylor on the edge of the box - penalty, slow decision aided by crowd outrage. A first Town penalty of the season which Hirst dispatched - who knew he was the nominated taker?! Given our lack of joy on pen decisions.
We then changed the guard… and it was great to see Burns back, and tearing apart again. He looked very strong and effective. And that physicality and experience has been sorely missed. You forget how bloody quick.
Scarlett is getting much better at pressing.
Then a driving run was brought down and a second yellow saw red for Cullen of the Swans on 69. It was a correct decision.
But the swans weren’t going to lay down and roll over. They kept pushing even with 10. And the last 20mins weren’t as comfortable as they should have been. And a superb solo run, which was woefully defended by Clarke and Wolfie, saw a goal from the excellent Bournemouth loanee Lowe - one to watch.
But Town saw it out much to the relief and joy of the Portman Road faithful - I thought the atmosphere was pretty good.. with a rare pocket of singing in the Churchman Upper.
A much needed win and (in part) performance.
A lot still to learn and work on in the international break… but with a squad pushing for a place… we go into a very tough run in a good place.
What a time to be a Town fan.
[Post edited 11 Nov 2023 23:12]
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| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 07:58 - Nov 12 with 2527 views | Bluespeed225 |
Loved the way that after conceding the early goal, without any change or screaming from the bench, the lads sorted it themselves. Swansea must’ve have wondered what they’d done, a bit like when Scotland went one up against Brazil in the 82’ World Cup! If we’d been 4-1 up at half time it wouldn’t have been unflattering. As you say, our squad could be ready for the challenge of December and January already. I’m sure the Management have their targets identified , but our squad have been set up a while now and know their roles so well. |  | | |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:11 - Nov 12 with 2319 views | Ewan_Oozami |
Taylor, so good, you named him twice? |  |
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| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:18 - Nov 12 with 2285 views | franz_tyson |
Strange thing about Broadhead is..... I can't remember when he had a really good game. But.. he has that ability to do incredible things now and again and he has contributed this season without hitting nowhere near top form. | | | |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:31 - Nov 12 with 2240 views | cbower |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:18 - Nov 12 by franz_tyson |
Strange thing about Broadhead is..... I can't remember when he had a really good game. But.. he has that ability to do incredible things now and again and he has contributed this season without hitting nowhere near top form. |
Broady looks tired to me. He could really do with a rest this international break but doubt he's going to get it. |  |
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| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:52 - Nov 12 with 2086 views | WeWereZombies |
Agree with a lot of that but have to say that I do not think Rotherham were a bad team. Limited, yes, but aware of their limitations and playing within those to the best of their abilities in a determined and fair, most of the time, way. |  |
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| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:56 - Nov 12 with 2051 views | Herbivore |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:18 - Nov 12 by franz_tyson |
Strange thing about Broadhead is..... I can't remember when he had a really good game. But.. he has that ability to do incredible things now and again and he has contributed this season without hitting nowhere near top form. |
He's had plenty of good games. He's been a bit off it over the last month but the early part of the season he was excellent, and not just with his goals but his all round contribution. |  |
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| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:59 - Nov 12 with 2019 views | unstableblue |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:31 - Nov 12 by cbower |
Broady looks tired to me. He could really do with a rest this international break but doubt he's going to get it. |
Wales camps must be quite intense of late given the results they need
Agree perhaps Broady needs a rest. He has been ill so may be recovering from that.
He is very heavily marked as he is so dangerous and opposition target him.
But I can’t remember a run from him or major contribution.
He was patchy before, what we meant by that was he still was contributing and dangerous. But less involved. Saturday looked a drop in form.
Hopefully it’s temporary. A phase. As someone says with Broadhead he may be inconspicuous and then he’ll score or provide an assist.
I’d still start him over Marcus despite his excellent form, but it’s getting close.
Perhaps the upcoming games will be better for Broadhead - as these bigger teams will be more focussed on their own games than us. | |
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| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 10:13 - Nov 12 with 1959 views | unstableblue |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:52 - Nov 12 by WeWereZombies |
Agree with a lot of that but have to say that I do not think Rotherham were a bad team. Limited, yes, but aware of their limitations and playing within those to the best of their abilities in a determined and fair, most of the time, way. |
I don’t disagree and wrong to put them in the Sheff Weds bracket
I guess the point I was making is every team in this league bar those two have really threatened us at times and look to be strong in areas. Rotherham have limitations.
I really do think if Town had gone up one more gear last week, and played anywhere near their best we would have comfortably won. But we were a little bit off.
I mean they just lost 5-0 to Watford with weak defending [Post edited 12 Nov 2023 10:23]
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| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 10:18 - Nov 12 with 1937 views | unstableblue |
Great vid from Kev Ellis on X
Jogged the memory banks for yesterday.
This was just after the Taylor megablast and shows Town cutting through the Swans with great play
We followed this with another 4ish great chances and the goal
Too many fans may remember the nervy end and Swans goal… but this passage was terrific | |
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| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 10:28 - Nov 12 with 1893 views | Herbivore |
| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 10:18 - Nov 12 by unstableblue |
Great vid from Kev Ellis on X
Jogged the memory banks for yesterday.
This was just after the Taylor megablast and shows Town cutting through the Swans with great play
We followed this with another 4ish great chances and the goal
Too many fans may remember the nervy end and Swans goal… but this passage was terrific |
We were largely excellent yesterday, one of our best performances of the season. Only really marred by two lapses that bookended the game and us not being as clinical as we should have been. Genuinely could have been 5 or 6 for us yesterday and it wouldn't have flattered us. | |
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| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 10:37 - Nov 12 with 1840 views | unstableblue |
| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 10:28 - Nov 12 by Herbivore |
We were largely excellent yesterday, one of our best performances of the season. Only really marred by two lapses that bookended the game and us not being as clinical as we should have been. Genuinely could have been 5 or 6 for us yesterday and it wouldn't have flattered us. |
I think a 5-0 pasting of someone is close
That first half spell should have ended 4-1 not 2-1, that’s how good the chances were
As I said this had a lot to do with Swansea pushing to take the lead again
I think a lot of fans are focussing on the last 20mins and the wobble against the ten men, so haven’t left the game thinking it was a brilliant performance | |
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| Thoughts on our resilience and ability to bounce back on 14:23 - Nov 12 with 1618 views | unstableblue |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 07:58 - Nov 12 by Bluespeed225 |
Loved the way that after conceding the early goal, without any change or screaming from the bench, the lads sorted it themselves. Swansea must’ve have wondered what they’d done, a bit like when Scotland went one up against Brazil in the 82’ World Cup! If we’d been 4-1 up at half time it wouldn’t have been unflattering. As you say, our squad could be ready for the challenge of December and January already. I’m sure the Management have their targets identified , but our squad have been set up a while now and know their roles so well. |
Good point about the lads sorting themselves out after the early goal - our bounce-back-ability
Which is a superb trait.
Some thoughts on why we continue to do this:
- squad culture… I don’t think they pay lip service to the purpose of ‘run towards adversity’
- the Portman Road crowd is good these days, they believe, they back. I was in the singing area for the Plymouth game and we barely broke a song following Whitaker’s goal
- we have such a defined identity and system of play, that the players can drop back into that with ease, allowing players to regroup and build pressure
- opposition teams are being instructed and implored by their managers to press early and start very strongly, to stand a chance against McKenna ball… the problem is, that it’s not sustainable, it fades, see Bryn, see Swansea after 20 mins… and the space just opens
- Town players know the strength of our bench, the chance it gives, they can run themselves into the ground, a 2-0 deficit is manageable | |
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| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 14:44 - Nov 12 with 1567 views | farkenhell |
| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 10:18 - Nov 12 by unstableblue |
Great vid from Kev Ellis on X
Jogged the memory banks for yesterday.
This was just after the Taylor megablast and shows Town cutting through the Swans with great play
We followed this with another 4ish great chances and the goal
Too many fans may remember the nervy end and Swans goal… but this passage was terrific |
I watched yesterday's match with the Swansea i-follow commentary. Both commentators were extremely complimentary about us. Waxed lyrical about Taylor's goal and described the 20 or so minutes afterwards as "a tornado", which I thought was very fair.
The co-commentator btw was Alan Curtis, who also scored a worldie for Swansea at PR in the 80s. | | | |
| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 16:06 - Nov 12 with 1473 views | unstableblue |
| Video footage of Town just before goblin mode on 14:44 - Nov 12 by farkenhell |
I watched yesterday's match with the Swansea i-follow commentary. Both commentators were extremely complimentary about us. Waxed lyrical about Taylor's goal and described the 20 or so minutes afterwards as "a tornado", which I thought was very fair.
The co-commentator btw was Alan Curtis, who also scored a worldie for Swansea at PR in the 80s. |
Good to hear!
I looked on the Swansea message board retrospectively, and the live comments from the last 25mins of the first half was fear they were going to get annihilated | |
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| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 17:14 - Nov 12 with 1395 views | GeoffSentence |
| Match Thoughts - bazooka, remarkable start, Broadhead is more than patchy, Davis on 09:31 - Nov 12 by cbower |
Broady looks tired to me. He could really do with a rest this international break but doubt he's going to get it. |
He has just come back from a sickness bug, probably not fully fit yet. |  |
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