Thuram is a typical continental flapper - as someone mentioned earlier. just when we needed someone to catch the ball on saturday and relieve the pressure, he just flapped and put us under more pressure. I wonder if maybe we had a (very) dominant centre half (Cort) playing in front of him that he might become a bit more confident.
The main worry for me from Saturday was how ligthweight we were - you can just see when we play the likes of Wendy and Wall that they are just going to overpower us , by a mile too. On saturday, Poyet,Astrid,Reza,Nego and Lennon all playing in the same team was a huge problem which Wigan didnt really take advantage of - but i know plenty of teams that will.
Haven't read all of the other comments, much I agree with but may be repeating any points already said but here goes:
- Thuram has not cut his teeth at this level yet and it showed. Wigan's complete lack of finishing coupled with some decent defensive efforts stopped this from being a complete rout. It would be realistic to imagine that if Alnwick was between the sticks we could have walked away with at least a point, if not all 3. Their first goal was one any keeper from League 2 upwards would be expected to throw their cap on. It doesn't sit easy on my stomach to think that if we played this match on the other side of the transfer window and still had Alnwick, we would have gone home above Millwall.
- The 2nd goal was a well-taken free kick and if there is anyone to blame, it would be the wall, but you can't dwell too much on such things
- As such, we give away too many free kicks. We've received too many reds this season and gave away too much. I would say much of these were down to bad refereeing rather than poor discipline but it's still something we need to work on. The tackling yesterday was either too nervous or too sloppy and indeed our players injure themselves if they don't tackle properly.
- To be fair, holding onto a one goal lead for nearly 90 mins with Flappyhandski in goal was partly down to solid defending stopping Wigan getting too many decent opportunities on goal. I hope Powell takes away from this that we can't just sit back and defend if we go 1-nil up in the first 5 minutes, but given the players he had with him, he didn't have many other options, especially with Sordell looking particularly uninterested to carve out an attack once he got his opener.
Not an entirely wasted trip. We desperately needed a point, threw away 3 due to an unfortunate dip in fortune at the death but it gives Powell something to think about (and no, not a P45). We've got some new signings and that's better than none, especially now we've lost Yann and Stephens. We've got 7 days to forge a squad to take 3 points at the Valley and this is a game we should expect to win.
Watched the second Wigan goal on you tube wall nowhere far enough over for a left footer barely covering the post, I would have fancied myself to bend it around it.I appreciate you have the possibility of a right footer taking it as well, but both players were standing over it so need to cover both bases. Although jordan didn't help the situation.
Watched the second Wigan goal on you tube wall nowhere far enough over for a left footer barely covering the post, I would have fancied myself to bend it around it.I appreciate you have the possibility of a right footer taking it as well, but both players were standing over it so need to cover both bases. Although jordan didn't help the situation.
I'm still banging on about Thuram .. it's the keeper's job to line up the wall
Watched the second Wigan goal on you tube wall nowhere far enough over for a left footer barely covering the post, I would have fancied myself to bend it around it.I appreciate you have the possibility of a right footer taking it as well, but both players were standing over it so need to cover both bases. Although jordan didn't help the situation.
I'm still banging on about Thuram .. it's the keeper's job to line up the wall
This is true. How can you yell at and command the defenders, as is the goalie's job, when he's barely been here, barely played at this level and I imagine he hasn't got the greatest grasp of English either. Wall is at fault but it is the keeper's role to tell the defenders where to stand
Watched the second Wigan goal on you tube wall nowhere far enough over for a left footer barely covering the post, I would have fancied myself to bend it around it.I appreciate you have the possibility of a right footer taking it as well, but both players were standing over it so need to cover both bases. Although jordan didn't help the situation.
I'm still banging on about Thuram .. it's the keeper's job to line up the wall
It's quite disappointing all this negativity about Thuram. Yes I was surprised we sold Alnwick, esepcially after his performance at Huddersfield (which I went to)
Thuram is a good keeper, he proved that with his second half display against Boro (by all accounts). You can't have it both ways guys. Why don't we give the guy a chance to settle in and then if you're not convinced, make an informed point. Was he at fault for the midfield and defense defending ever deeper in the second half against Wigan ?? You could argue that they put him under too much pressure but I guess that doesn't work with your generalised Thuram baiting.
It's quite disappointing all this negativity about Thuram. Yes I was surprised we sold Alnwick, esepcially after his performance at Huddersfield (which I went to)
Thuram is a good keeper, he proved that with his second half display against Boro (by all accounts). You can't have it both ways guys. Why don't we give the guy a chance to settle in and then if you're not convinced, make an informed point. Was he at fault for the midfield and defense defending ever deeper in the second half against Wigan ?? You could argue that they put him under too much pressure but I guess that doesn't work with your generalised Thuram baiting.
Take your points but you could also argue that he put his defence under pressure by punching the ball straight back to the opposition instead of catching it (novel idea, I know) and allowing the team to regroup.
Take your points, but you could also argue that he put his defence under pressure by punching the ball straight back to the opposition instead of catching it (novel idea, I know) and allowing the team to regroup.
Fair enough on his technique, I went to Wigan and agree some of his decisions to punch didn't always seem to be the right ones. I am sure Ben will work on his catching and over time I hope he'll prove to be a reliable keeper for us. As i say tho, lets give him a fair crack before we start highlighting all his faults. If most were honest on here, I wouldn't mind betting that he is copping a fair amount of slack because most liked Alnwick and were gutted / surprised he was sold.
Fair enough on his technique, I went to Wigan and agree some of his decisions to punch didn't always seem to be the right ones. I am sure Ben will work on his catching and over time I hope he'll prove to be a reliable keeper for us. As i say tho, lets give him a fair crack before we start highlighting all his faults. If most were honest on here, I wouldn't mind betting that he is copping a fair amount of slack because most liked Alnwick and were gutted / surprised he was sold.
The problem is - highlighted on the 'How many points?' thread - we don't have the 'time' left this season to wait for him to become a 'reliable keeper' if we are to avoid relegation; which (with Hamer still injured) makes the decision to sell the in-form Alnwick for what must have been peanuts seem extraordinary.
I don't think we have the time to let him gel into the team. We're in mid-season in a relegation scrap. The back-four needs stability and a goalkeeper they know well. Ben Hamer.
Agreed. It is rare for teams to switch the Number 1 once during a season. To switch again after the halfway mark and when we're in the drop zone is really undesirable, especially when the change was probably forced upon SCP by RD. Even if Hamer were to magically be fit for Saturday it wouldn't be a quick and easy transition back to consistent keeping.
Comments
The main worry for me from Saturday was how ligthweight we were - you can just see when we play the likes of Wendy and Wall that they are just going to overpower us , by a mile too. On saturday, Poyet,Astrid,Reza,Nego and Lennon all playing in the same team was a huge problem which Wigan didnt really take advantage of - but i know plenty of teams that will.
- Thuram has not cut his teeth at this level yet and it showed. Wigan's complete lack of finishing coupled with some decent defensive efforts stopped this from being a complete rout. It would be realistic to imagine that if Alnwick was between the sticks we could have walked away with at least a point, if not all 3. Their first goal was one any keeper from League 2 upwards would be expected to throw their cap on. It doesn't sit easy on my stomach to think that if we played this match on the other side of the transfer window and still had Alnwick, we would have gone home above Millwall.
- The 2nd goal was a well-taken free kick and if there is anyone to blame, it would be the wall, but you can't dwell too much on such things
- As such, we give away too many free kicks. We've received too many reds this season and gave away too much. I would say much of these were down to bad refereeing rather than poor discipline but it's still something we need to work on. The tackling yesterday was either too nervous or too sloppy and indeed our players injure themselves if they don't tackle properly.
- To be fair, holding onto a one goal lead for nearly 90 mins with Flappyhandski in goal was partly down to solid defending stopping Wigan getting too many decent opportunities on goal. I hope Powell takes away from this that we can't just sit back and defend if we go 1-nil up in the first 5 minutes, but given the players he had with him, he didn't have many other options, especially with Sordell looking particularly uninterested to carve out an attack once he got his opener.
Not an entirely wasted trip. We desperately needed a point, threw away 3 due to an unfortunate dip in fortune at the death but it gives Powell something to think about (and no, not a P45). We've got some new signings and that's better than none, especially now we've lost Yann and Stephens. We've got 7 days to forge a squad to take 3 points at the Valley and this is a game we should expect to win.
Thuram is a good keeper, he proved that with his second half display against Boro (by all accounts). You can't have it both ways guys. Why don't we give the guy a chance to settle in and then if you're not convinced, make an informed point. Was he at fault for the midfield and defense defending ever deeper in the second half against Wigan ?? You could argue that they put him under too much pressure but I guess that doesn't work with your generalised Thuram baiting.
i think people are only giving an opinion on what they've seen so far , we can't pretend he wasn't pony with his abysmal punching
he may turn out to be amazing but he has been pretty pony so far and people not at the game want to know what he was like
Fair enough on his technique, I went to Wigan and agree some of his decisions to punch didn't always seem to be the right ones. I am sure Ben will work on his catching and over time I hope he'll prove to be a reliable keeper for us. As i say tho, lets give him a fair crack before we start highlighting all his faults. If most were honest on here, I wouldn't mind betting that he is copping a fair amount of slack because most liked Alnwick and were gutted / surprised he was sold.
Well thats happened but people still need to come out and have a moan saying we werent good enough?