Worrying that our strikers still aren't firing. Can't rely on Eustace to score the goals we need for safety.
Just home and beat the snow in extremely cloudy Bedfordshire! It was a scrappy game on a very poor pitch but you can;t complain about the result today even if we did get a bit nervous in the final 10 mins after they scored. The key reason we won today is that we hurried and bussled throughout. Though distribution teneded to be poor, we were first to the ball the majority of the game in defence and midfield. Eutace and Hogg really put a run in and Nyron and and Mariappa cleared most of the opposiiton attacks easily. Eutace's first goal was a great over head kick, not up to his Coventry effort last season but pretty close and the second was a good though the middle after Garner held is up, aided by a bit of hand I thought but no one was complaining! As I said, not a great game of football as all, mainly due to pitch and the fact that it was bloody freezing, I can see why a fair few Barnsley went when it was 2-0 with snow on the way!
although the fact of the matter is the garner/deeney partnership seems to be linking well to create chances. I'm not worried at the moment.
They are certainly not a partnership yet. Playing too far apart from each other due to the fact that Deeney drifts too far wide at times, a problem caused by playing a striker as a wide player too often. Garner needs to read the knocks downs more but I am sure that will come with time. In all honesty, I can not totally convinced with Garner yet. Nippy but not exactly pacey, small (but does jump well for a little buy) and certainly not a ball player like Sordell. He will do a job but unfortunately, he is no Graham or Marvin.
Not a good performance, two brilliantly taken goals by Eustace were the standout moments in a poor game Strikeforce looked blunt, midfield were good
More comfortable than the scoreline suggests.. Barnsley did manage to score with their only real effort on goal after we'd been pretty solid throughout without excelling. Good goals by Eustace and he worked well with Hogg. Deeney was decent up front but Garner had a tough time on his own once we made the change to take Alex K off.
A good three points, and I think we were good value for them as well. Barnsley didn't look to trouble us too much and the lad Perkins wasn't half as effective as he was at their place. Loachy looked fine, the ref didn't like his time wasting though! Hodson seems to be getting better every game and his confidence is shining through with his breaks forward. The rest of the back four were sound overall. Hogg was superb, he makes things tick and he and Eustace now seem very comfortable playing together. Eustace seems happy to play higher up knwoing that Hogg will do the horrible bits and do them bl0ody well. Alex whatshisname was raw, a bit one footed but he looks to attack when he gets the ball. Could be a good player in time, Murray was superb yet again. Garner and Deeney look like they have the makings of a partnership and are showing good awareness and levels of teamwork which is quite refreshing to see. Garner needs to calm down a bit though, he seems too desperate to score and is snatching at chances. If he calms himself down a bit then it'll come - it's early days for them as a partnership yet anway. A solid three points to have in the bag, I hope now we go to Forest and take the game to them and come away with the same outcome.
Two great goals from Eustace in what was a very bland game. Did anyone else think Eustace handled the ball just before scoring the second one? It looked like he controlled it with his hand, but it's about time we got a lucky break. 3 vital points, but the forward line needs improving for sure.
Good post, mate. It sounded comfortable until about the 80th minute when we decided to defend deep and almost shot ourselves in the foot! Not too sure why Dyche didn't break up the play in the last 5 minutes by bringing on Yeates or Emu!? No Yeates or Forsyth in the team and we seem to be winning games/playing ok. Hardly a surprise as both players are poor. Great to hear Murray did well again and good to see JE score a couple of goals to give us another three points. Florist next week is huge. If we go there and win or even draw, we've got a huge points advantage over the bottom three and can aim up the table. Big win today, well done to Dyche and the lads.
We actually dropped deep from about the 60th minute onwards which I though was a poor decision, Barnsley had offered nothing all game and im not sure why we felt the need to sit back so early. It it hadnt have been for a lucky break (handball) for Eustace's 2nd which came out of nowhere we probably would have seen a stereotypical 1-1 and two easy points dopped home performance today
Fair point. It did sound poor second half. We needed a spark second half to liven the game up and it never really came. We do lack either a striker or a creative player in midfield to make things happen as Michael Kightly did for us. I think Dyche needs two players on loan.
Sounds as though due to the poor pitch (bloody egg chasers) we couldn't play the attractive football that we have started of late. Notts Forest is going to be a very difficult game to predict due to the unfortunate death of the chairman, I should think that they will have the same management as they don't want two bad occurences at the club within a week. Deeney and Garner need time to work on their partnership and work on their finishing.
Haven't Forest got a derby tommorrow (ironically with Derby)? I see this as more important than our game with them next week.
this will be yeates who has the best stats interms of assists and goals andforrsyth who is equal top scorer and who would appear to be a scapegoat for when the tean dont win. The comment that when he and yeates dont play everything is rosy is a bit short sighted!!!!the new guy alex c never beat his man once today and got no crosses which is is what everybody else seems to judge yeates and forsyth on, yeats is s good as anyone on his day but isnt a fans favorite. forsyth isnt and never was going to be a tricky winger but he can play wide left in my opinion when he doesnt get then ball in the air!!!he is young and goping through a huge change i his life and i remember a dundee fqan posting onn here that he thrived on confidence and the support of the fans. well he c ertaninly aint had that judging by these forums/ Murray has greta abilty and hope he doesnt suffer what Forsyth has had to suffer
Only my second chance to visit The Vic this season, the first being an awful 2-2 with Brum. Luckily I got a complimentary ticket as the the thought of paying £26 to see Watford v Barnsley is absurd. Wonder why attendances are low?? Anyway, I thought in the first half we were good, especially the midfield who worked tirelessly. Not a lot of creativity though which meant limited chances for Deeney and Garner who worked hard but didn't really threaten. Barnsley were good in the second half without creating much in the final third. We sat a bit deep with 10-15 to go and invited pressure but that might have been down to tiredness. I'd have liked to have seen us had a bit of a go at them more. Good three points though. Barnsley aren't that bad.
not great but we won & I thought that Eustace's legs had gone and he was too defensive to play alongside Hogg !
Not true, the pitch was fine. For the time of year I was very impressed with the state of it, apart from the rugby markings :dismay:.
I was told that the pitch was crap by a mate who went and I took his word for it. Sorry again Adders.
The pitch was pretty crap in my opinion, it may not have been overly muddy but it was pretty poor, another month of bad weather and rugby and it will be as bad as last year again
hey just an opinion. not saying they the answer and deserve crit when justified just trying to add a bit of balance.. agree forsyth not and out and out winger and yeats flatters at times. Forsyth def worth a try at left back.Murray has def added an edeg and alex needs to find his feet but will be asset to Watford. I also thing garner can be the man for watford
Forsyth would do better further forward than further back in my opinion, I think quick wingers would roast him at left back, I still feel he would be a great asset as a target man forward. As for Yeates, he is an enigma, on paper a brilliant player, in the flesh a very frustrating one, he can provide 5 minutes of brilliance coupled with 85 minutes of **** all
A deserved win.However it was an important one, as to beat teams around/below us as we have done in last two matches gives us so much more than expecting to beat/draw with the better teams like Brum and Reading(even though they were not that good). This time last year having had that 7 match winning run we had 7 more points after 1 less game. We then limped to well above safety, despite play off aspirations and with Graham/Cowie, at about a point a game. The injection of pace by the replacement of Yeates/****o (and occasionally Forsyth) has transformed the team even though Garner/Deeney do not look like goalscorers. We closed Barnsley down having done the same to Millwall and with that work ethic we can hopefully end up at 50+ points, which given our start and the relentless criticism of Dyche accordingly will represent a satisfactory outcome. Who knows if the impact of being "Sordell less" will mean others have an opportunity instead of both our players and the opposition thinking he is our only goal threat. Despite the statistics of Yeates as to goal assists i thought the crosses/corners were better today and as importantly as those statistics it meant that with the tracking back (due to pace) of both Murray and "Kalashnikov" meant we saw more forward threat from Hodson and Doyley (!) Whether by luck or judgement these changes mean we look more of a solid unit despite the typical panic in the last 5/10 minutes-Barnsley are no mugs so it was a good benchmark for our team with now no loans- we can look forward to the next few matches with daylight between us and position 22. COYH
Something I noticed in the first half today (which ive never seen before) was Murray occasionally dropping to right back and allowing Hodson to play at right mid for 5 minutes then swapping back An interesting tactic as I firmly believe Hodson is the best crosser in the squad
I heard that earlier and I don't reckon that is true, I'm certain we won Saturday/Tuesday only a couple of months ago.
Peterborough and then Brighton, both were at home. But it's definately the first time we won back to back this year :biggrin:
