Pliskin

Vikings defence warning me 31 points for my fantasy team 😂

Stolarczyk Ricardo Faes Vestegaard Thomas Winks James Fatawu Ayew Mavididi Carranza “We’ll shit ‘em”.

“They’re here they’re they’re every ****ing where thermos flasks, thermos flasks”

One thing that really stood out yesterday was the sheer amount of blue rinses, purple fleeces and sketchers…… no wonder it’s ****ing bouncing…………

He will bag two against West Brom.

Despite tearing it up last time we were in this league?

I do agree with the point about Thomas. He’s got away with a lot mainly due to the poor standards int he final third in this league. Sakamoto turned him inside out at times albeit to no avail ultimately. I think VK might be worth giving a go, because his willingness to drive forward. I do think he would be slightly better than Thomas at this level. Thomas is a steady defender….. but I’m not adverse to dropping him for VK.

Well if being one of the best players on the pitch to you is average, then I’d hate to see what you consider good…… he wasn’t average….. what exactly about his performance did you think was average? The numerous ball recoveries? The consistent desire to show for the ball? The consistent desire to receive the ball in tight areas, the multiple times he managed to abase his marker and progress the ball upfield? The numerous passes into the channels, and quick passes into the channels? The multiple free kicks he won, and the only player two have a couple of decent shots, one forcing an excellent save? and I’d suggest you pop to specsavers. They’ve got a deal on at the moment.

Far too late. He should have come on with Monga, Cov were vulnerable at that moment and that extra pace in that moment would have helped stretch their back line. But he really needed to leave James on for a bit longer to complement that. But he buggared it all up when he took him off and didn’t bring Daka on. Game lost its way after that moment and allowed Cov into the game.

He had some moments, it was just few and far between.

We did look a lot more comfortable today playing out from the back. Winks was dropping into that pocket to receive the ball, and it was moving a lot better than we see with Skipp and Soumare. I think if we play James along side Winks it may be even more fluid, because he has the ability to drive the team upfield. It was kind of right today, but there were still some areas that needed a rethink. Soumare and Ayew being the two for me. It was better today, but we can be even better I think. We also need to remember Marti has had a tough start, barely a pre season or a transfer window…… I think he’s done well, he’s tried to be pragmatic to ensure we stay solid whilst we’re building.

And this is precisely why he divides opinion. He gives off the impression he’s an asset because he works hard, Ayew’s skillset lend him to a specific scenario. Oxford he was brilliant because all of that work you talk about helped us to gain a point from that game…… but today, he did nothing to help us offensively. He was as deep as ten yards in his own half today when the play was advancing. I don’t hate Ayew, he just frustrates me because I think a lot of his hard work, is actually causing us problems from an attacking sense. He simply has to start releasing the ball quicker, he was (as well as Mavididi) one of the main reasons play kept breaking down today. Working hard is all well and good, but you need a good end product to go with it, and he doesn’t provide that anywhere near enough.

When did they actually get caught though? They didn’t, both to me were comfortable today. I just think some people just can’t help but be negative about certain players. I didn’t think they did much wrong, and can only recall a couple of passes each that weren’t great, hut that was it. Both were comfortable today and dealt with everything fine. And, today was the first time we looked comfortable playing out from the back this season. Faes, Winks and Jannick all have to start.

I do wonder if some fans watch the games with their eyes closed.

It’s not so much Ayew himself, it’s what he is being asked to do. I do disagree with the idea he has been our best player, he fights for the ball and he’s had some successful dribbles, but it’s all in vain as it yields no end product. A lot of Ayew’s good work is battling for the ball 50 yards from goal, or running down blind alleys. He had a couple of half decent runs towards the end of the game, but rather than get his head down and running for goal, he just slows the play down and then ambles around. There are good parts to his game, and bad parts, what Marti needs to do is use him where he is effective, because today he wasn’t in my opinion… when Marti made the subs, it was crying out for Daka to come on and occupy those two defenders, get Mongo on too and drop Ayew into the ten and remove Soumare and play James there. Soumare although showed some nice turns again, was completely ineffective and his contributions rarely yield any end product. James was breaking lines with his runs and was pulling Cov players out of position. If he had made those changes and just kept James on for another ten to fifteen minutes I’m confident we would have won the game. The subs killed the momentum, they really did, and it just became a stalemate after that. But, it was largely much better, like I said in my opinion tactical mistakes prevented from winning the game today.

But it didn’t bother us at all? Coventry are one of the league better sides and they didn’t have our pants down? I thought the one area of our game today that was strong was the defence (up until Hamza came on). We were playing out from the back with ease, and that’s why Vestergaard, Faes and Winks all need to play together. I don’t understand where this criticism has come from today, yes it was a bit slow from the back, but until those late subs we were comfortable, and Cov didn’t trouble us at all. They didn’t really trouble us after albeit for a couple of half chances. The problem today was the Ayew as a 9, and Marti’s initial subs.

The frustration for me wasn’t felt Cov were there for the taking. They’re alright, but I didn’t think they were anything special at all. An okay championship side. I still maintain if Marti had made better subs, we would have won that game. It just killed the momentum of the game and made it easier for them to manage. I don’t think we were poor, I just feel Marti made some mistakes today that was the difference. But this is equally a good sign, because it means that we are definitely one of the better teams. We’re growing which is a positive.

Did they? At what points?

Rubbish. They were completely untroubled today, and both looked good.

Oh give over. He was excellent. He was winning the ball back, showing for it constantly, driving forward and moving the ball into the channels well and winning free kicks. It fell down today because of Ayew and his lack of ability to be a proper number 9.

What was crap about it? Other than a couple of tactical mistakes?

Neither Carranza or Daka have been properly tried yet. You can’t see it because Ayew changes the complete dynamic of the team when he plays. I mean he spent more time in our own half than he did up front, you’re never going to score goals if you’re doing that. Regardless of his desire to fight for the ball, he seriously harms the offensive part of our game. If we played an actual striker, our more creative players will have a chance to attacking players to actually gain momentum and create more chances. Ayew is a major problem for us.

He doesn’t bring anything. Runs like he is running on hot and in bare feet.

We need to stop playing Ayew, that’s what we need to do.

Today was his first clanger. He got us completely wrong when he made the subs, and he does need to rethink Ayew, because he’s ideal for some games and he’s a nightmare for others. I like Marti, I think he’s a good coach and I think he’s gone a lot right. But today was the day to be brave, and I think he choked a bit and made the wrong calls. As long as he learns from it and doesn’t do it again, o won’t mind.