| It’s the hope that kills you innit? 14:38 - Jan 13 with 2327 views | clive_baker |
I mean, we’re going down. We scrapped to a win against Rotherham but let’s be honest, they’re sh1t and so are we. 2nd half was dire, backs to the walls stuff...at home...to Rotherham. It’s a little bit ominous for matches against better opposition. Collins was an absolute man mountain at the back, and seemed to get the best out of Chambers and Pennington too. Difficult to know what to think of the other new signing tbh, I wasn’t impressed with Quaner at all. He looked like a lump, but pretty immobile and his touch was dire. Keane was sharper, looked to make things happen and did really well for the goal to release Sears on the left and then get himself into the right areas. The less said about Dawkins the better.
BUT...it’s a win isn’t it? And that’s all that really matters. For me we needed 10 of them, and now it’s 9, with all eyes now on Ewood Park. A couple more additions of the Judge / CCV mould and get Huws, Dozzell, Bishop fighting fit and knocking on the door and, contrary to my first sentence, you just never know. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 14:48 - Jan 13 with 2267 views | MrTown |
Hard to disagree with a lot of what you said about the match, but there is no need for the first couple of sentences after such an upbeat day yesterday.
Back 4 were rocks, Quaner I agree didn't quite look at the level of Keane, but none have really played much. I worry playing two in midfield that we will get overrun against better teams.
Defend well for the rest of the season, keep things tight, and we will always be in with a shout in games, something we haven't been doing all season before yesterday. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 14:55 - Jan 13 with 2249 views | Dubtractor |
You're posting has been absolutely spot on recently CB, agree 100% with everything you've said there. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 14:57 - Jan 13 with 2230 views | LeagueOne |
| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 14:55 - Jan 13 by Dubtractor |
You're posting has been absolutely spot on recently CB, agree 100% with everything you've said there. |
It's absolutely spot on. If we play like that against anyone else we'll lose. It's a good win, but we're not staying up. It's impossible to get that sort of form out of the squad we have. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 15:06 - Jan 13 with 2181 views | Pecker |
A solid weeks training with our new signings and potentially a few others coming in and then who knows, we might be a half decent side. We only need mid table form to get out of this and I do not think that is impossible. Keep the faith to keep us up. |  | | |
| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 15:08 - Jan 13 with 2178 views | Harry_Palmer |
Based on that performance alone it is difficult to see where 9 more wins are coming from, however we will improve on that I'm sure.
for me, we need to play either Quaner or Keane up top and return to a 3 man midfield as it was in the middle of the park where we lost control of the game.
A trio of Skuse, Bishop, Huws would give us a much better balance imo and enable us to retain possession a lot better.
It's going to be tough but if the key men get up to speed fitness wise and stay fit we might just be able to surprise a few. The problem is we don't have time & PL must get the formula right quickly. We have to win at least one of these next two away games. |  | | |
| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 15:32 - Jan 13 with 2069 views | Keaneish |
Thought Quaner did OK. Good strength but yeah, movement was dire. Keane playing off him worked quite well although I'd like to see Harrison given a run in that role for a few games. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 15:46 - Jan 13 with 2016 views | Mullet |
Next two are away to Lambert's old clubs with the scum to come. You can bet he'll have fire in him for all three - it didn't work at Stoke and won't for all of those. But yesterday is a great starting point.
We've lost and played "well" and it clearly added to the degradation of belief and performance. Maybe winning and winning crap with all these players yet to get to know one another is a sliding doors moment?
Everything is against. We should by rights go down based on what's gone before, but teams rarely have half a season of consistency let alone a full one in this league. It's a battle of who can be less erratic.
We need to match Rotherham in all bar 3 or 4 games it seems. This could be the most condensed Championship yet in terms of points distribution. We've still got Wigan, Preston, Brentford and Bolton to go to. While we can't drag any of them in we can start to pull them together by taking any points there at all. Suddenly feels tight again innit. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 15:55 - Jan 13 with 1980 views | Garv |
I missed the first 20 minutes but Quaner was exactly the focal point we've needed! Made the ball stick and then Keane played off him well. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 15:58 - Jan 13 with 1968 views | bontcho |
This is where we’ll see how much better PL is than PH. PH had a couple of decent results or performances but didn’t build on it, in fact the team went backwards (eg Hull after Swansea win). I bet PL will drill his XI over the coming week and players like Quaner will be closer to match fitness. I wonder if away one of the wingers will drop out and Bishop or even Huws will come in? |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 16:05 - Jan 13 with 1935 views | homer_123 |
Disjointed, even in the first half. We played way better in the first half against Milwall. However, not surprising considering the changes.
Second half was indeed backs to the wall but with Skuse, Chambers, Collins and especially Pennington, we held out whereas before we would not have.
It's still an incredibly tall order but at least we have something to build on. |  |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 16:08 - Jan 13 with 1918 views | clive_baker |
| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 15:46 - Jan 13 by Mullet |
Next two are away to Lambert's old clubs with the scum to come. You can bet he'll have fire in him for all three - it didn't work at Stoke and won't for all of those. But yesterday is a great starting point.
We've lost and played "well" and it clearly added to the degradation of belief and performance. Maybe winning and winning crap with all these players yet to get to know one another is a sliding doors moment?
Everything is against. We should by rights go down based on what's gone before, but teams rarely have half a season of consistency let alone a full one in this league. It's a battle of who can be less erratic.
We need to match Rotherham in all bar 3 or 4 games it seems. This could be the most condensed Championship yet in terms of points distribution. We've still got Wigan, Preston, Brentford and Bolton to go to. While we can't drag any of them in we can start to pull them together by taking any points there at all. Suddenly feels tight again innit. |
In a strange twist of fate, 4 of our next 6 are against Lambert’s former clubs (Blackburn, Villa, Nodge, Stoke). I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not really, I don’t suppose it’ll make too much difference. If we go down it won’t be through lack of effort I know that much. You’ve only got to see yesterday’s match to know what it means to everyone. I think the quality might still be lacking, but definitely not the desire. If the fact they’re Lambert’s old clubs gets him a bit of stick off their fans and helps cultivate a bit of a siege mentality among our group then perhaps that’s a positive.
Big chance over the next 2 weeks to bring in a new face or 2 and clear a handful out. On paper the defence looks stronger and we certainly have midfield options, particularly if Huws can prove himself as fit and worthy. Issue still remains up top, we’ve got quantity in Jackson, Harrison, Sears, Quaner, Keane but I’m not sure I would back any one of those individually to score 8+ goals from now on in which might be an issue. As others have said though, if we can keep it tight at the back it doesn’t matter where goals come from or how many of them, as long as we can find some wins.
Blackburn next, good side but again definitely one we should be taking to them and looking to win. | |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 16:18 - Jan 13 with 1886 views | clive_baker |
| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 16:05 - Jan 13 by homer_123 |
Disjointed, even in the first half. We played way better in the first half against Milwall. However, not surprising considering the changes.
Second half was indeed backs to the wall but with Skuse, Chambers, Collins and especially Pennington, we held out whereas before we would not have.
It's still an incredibly tall order but at least we have something to build on. |
Pennington’s contribution has gone slightly under the radar given Collins has rightly received all the plaudits, but he was excellent. Defended the back post very well on multiple occasions from balls over from Rotherham’s right hand side. Also got to bare in mind he was playing out of position, I thought he had a great game. The presence of Collins, as well as being a very composed and experienced defender, seemed to get the best out of those around him. He’s definitely a really positive influence. The glimmer of hope further forward for me is that fact yesterday was bound to be a little make shift and dishointed because there were so many new faces. Give them another week or 2 to settle in and learn each other’s game, and PL can find his best XI perhaps including a fit again Huws and we could be a different proposition for the next few months. | |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 16:22 - Jan 13 with 1859 views | homer_123 |
| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 16:18 - Jan 13 by clive_baker |
Pennington’s contribution has gone slightly under the radar given Collins has rightly received all the plaudits, but he was excellent. Defended the back post very well on multiple occasions from balls over from Rotherham’s right hand side. Also got to bare in mind he was playing out of position, I thought he had a great game. The presence of Collins, as well as being a very composed and experienced defender, seemed to get the best out of those around him. He’s definitely a really positive influence. The glimmer of hope further forward for me is that fact yesterday was bound to be a little make shift and dishointed because there were so many new faces. Give them another week or 2 to settle in and learn each other’s game, and PL can find his best XI perhaps including a fit again Huws and we could be a different proposition for the next few months. |
Hats off to Pennington by homer_123 12 Jan 2019 19:54The number of times he got his head or body on or in front of the ball second half, superb.
Collins was excellent but Pennington was my MOTM.
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| Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. (n/t) on 17:42 - Jan 13 with 1707 views | ScottCandage |
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| It’s the hope that kills you innit? on 18:11 - Jan 13 with 1650 views | LankHenners |
Of the next 7 games before the IB, 4 are against mid-table sides, 1's against Wigan who were just as cr@p as we were when we last played, 1's against Norwich which could go any way and the other is Derby at home.
The latter one is probably a loss although if we can maintain the spirit in the stands we could make PR a difficult place to come for the rest of the season. The 4 mid-table games (Blackburn, Villa, Stoke, Sheff Weds) could properly sink us or could inject a lot of belief that we're not dead yet (although tbh it's really only blind faith that's making me think we have a slither of a chance of a miracle). The worry is that whilst they're 'only mid-table', they're only just below QPR who very comfortably dispatched us twice.
The new signings, Collins in particular, do give us a better chance. Quaner looks like someone who's played about 30 mins all season but if he finds that sharpness quickly then he'll be useful as someone who can occupy defenders and make space for others. Lambert needs to pick one of him and Keane, mind, having no midfield other than a just returning Skuse and erratic Chalobah didn't do us many favours.
If Huws can get fit enough to play, even if he's not at full tilt, he's good enough to make us better on his own. Vital for us to get him in the team when we can. |  |
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