Pool Panel - Forest (home) Draw 2-2 and Brighton (home) Draw 1-1

Two home games in a week and two points to show for them, but the performances are showing a distinct improvement.  On Tuesday against Forest we again shot ourselves in the foot with poor defending but showed great resilience to turn it round only to drop two points through a lack of communication.  That repeated itself on Saturday as a shambolic goal allowed Brighton an undeserved foothold in the game.

However, all in all, I’m confident that a corner has been turned as we also played some excellent football going forward, only to squander numerous chances.   Without a doubt, we thoroughly deserved all three points on Saturday.  For me, it’s down to a lack of confidence, as the same players were scoring freely earlier in the season when confidence was high.  It’ll only take an early goal for us to go on and hammer someone soon.

A major distraction has been the unwanted speculation about Ollie’s future.  The sooner the likes of Blackburn, Burnley, Crystal Palace and even Ipswich appoint someone the better, so long as it’s not our man.  I see it as a case of unfinished business for Mr Holloway with us.  The team are on the cusp of returning to our earlier form and I genuinely believe that we can go straight up, and that he is the man to deliver that.

The sooner that is resolved, the better for the club and we can get back to winning matches in our customary exhilarating style.

STARMAN: Gary Taylor-Fletcher (Forest)

STARMAN: Elliot Grandin (Brighton)

Pool Panel - Burnley (a) Lost 1-0 ...

Although the final result shows another defeat, I thought that we acquitted ourselves better at Burnley, especially in the second half.  It’s frustrating that yet again we conceded to a back post header but at least we had our own chances, and if GTF had scored instead of the keeper making a wonder save, I don’t think anyone would have argued that we were value for a point.

It’s all too easy to get carried away as a fan, so every defeat seems the end of the world, while every victory is a sign that we are going to be champions.  If we take the positives from the game into the Forest match, then I’m sure we can turn round this slump in form and get right back into the promotion mix.

I’d like to see an unchanged side, as it seemed to take the first half for the team to settle into any kind of rhythm.  For whatever reason, we seemed to be taking time to size up situations, by which time, the moment had passed.  All too often we were seeing the right ball to play, but the execution was off. It all comes down to fine margins.  Earlier in the season we were slick and fast moving; now there is hesitancy.   Football the way we try and play is all about confidence, and at the moment we are just slightly off it.

Keep the faith and fully support the team on Tuesday night.

STARMAN: Matthew Gilks

Away Travel - Bristol City Away - 17th November

Bristol City Away – November 17^th

With the international break upon us, and the away trips immediately after being quite local, the next mini-bus planned is for the game against Bristol City on November 17th.  Please let Phil or Charlie know if you would like to attend and we will get in touch with arrangements closer to the time.  

The Burnley game is a 5.20pm kick off - a few of us were thinking about meeting in Leeds before hand and having a few drinks before catching the train to the game - please let us know if you would like to join.

 

Pool Panel - Hull (a) and Charlton (h)

A few weeks ago, Mr Holloway made the point that it would be the most consistent teams that would end up at the top of the table come the end of the season.  How maddening then, to play well at Hull, coming away with three valuable points, then abjectly surrender all three at home the following Saturday.

At Hull, we started brightly, playing neat attractive passing football and got our reward through a well taken goal from Matt Phillips.  We were good value for the lead but then let in a goal from nowhere as Aluko shot from distance.  Yet again, we came out sluggishly and were punished with a second goal, but had resilience and ability in abundance to fight back and prevail with a fantastic overhead kick from Dicko.

As a consequence, I went to the Charlton game knowing we’d be full of confidence  and capable of building on that.  In the first half that was borne out as we dominated possession but had nothing to show for it.  Yet again, we started the second half sluggishly, and yet again conceded from a setpiece, but this time were unable to get back into the game.  We seemed to lose balance as we threw forwards on to get it back, and ended up going long with absolutely no end product.

There’s a fortnight’s break to put it right, but for me, we need to stick with the patient passing game, not panic and go long.  When we keep the ball,we are a match for anyone but the team don’t seem to have the belief.

STARMAN: Gary Taylor-Fletcher

Well done Glynn!

CONGRATULATIONS TO GLYNN FOR COMPLETING HIS SPONSORED BIKE RIDE

FROM WAKEFIELD TO BRIDLINGTON.

A massive well done and pat on the back to Glynn, managed to raise a fantastic £700 for save the children.

We all wish him the best of luck for next year, hopefully the swelling will have gone down by then :-p

Pool Panel - Huddersfield (h) and Cardiff (a)

A bad week with two dispiriting defeats, characterised by a lack of what has worked well for us to date.  In both games we haven’t really got the ball down and kept the ball, allowing other teams to impose their game on us, rather than the other way round.  At least at Cardiff, we did start and finish OK but were undone by gift goals.

In  both games,we have made basic individual errors, gifting goals that have then had us chasing the game.  The usually impeccable Gilks has made a couple of uncharacteristic positional errors which hasn’t helped.  After the Reading game last season, we put emphasis on defensive solidity and it paid dividends as we immediately looked better, keeping a number of clean sheets, giving us a platform to go on and win games. 

I’d like to see us return to that mindset, starting at Hull.  We will always have a goal threat about us; if we can work well as a defensive unit when not in possession we can return to the convincing displays from earlier in the season.

Having said that, the season is only just beginning, so there is time to put things right; we remain only three points off the top despite our current blip, so there is no need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.  We have a good squad of players, and I’m sure the manager will get the best out of it.

STARMAN: Angel Martinez