Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Fair comment and agree that there are clear differences in the management styles. However, Tony Watt has added a dimension we didn't have before and Peeters would have been much more confident at finishing teams off and going for it had Watt been on his teamsheet. Luzon certainly appears to be more positive in his approach to games but how much of that is because he can be and how much is by his pure nature we can only speculate. Who's to say that teams won't learn how to play us with our new formation?
When Watt went off against Huddersfield, whi was brought on?
It could have been a defender. Or a defensive midfielder. But it was Eagles.
I think that answers the question about his "pure nature".
I went and was in a box with some 'premier league' fans. Aka Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool etc. It was interesting to hear their comments and reactions on our players and stadium and general style of play.
They loved the stadium and the pitch. Said it had a nice homely feel to it.
I intentionally did not talk about any of our players so that they could form their own opinions. It seems that they were all really impressed with Cousins and Gomez. They were surprised with some of the 'names' we had now. Such as DIARRA, TBH, Bikey, Johnson and Eagles. They loved Tony Watt. Least impressive was Wilson, Harriott and surprisingly Hendo and Vetokele. Apparently Fox is a tidy little player and Buyens appears as a water carrier player, whatever that means.
Was a funny moment when someone asked who is this winger, where is he from (Antonio) with most expecting like Brazil or Spain or something only for someone to Wikipedia it and state 'Wandsworth'.
General consensus was that if we could keep this set of players together and keep playing that style of football. Few improvements we should be at least battling the play offs.
My opinion was that Watt was excellent once again. Cousins absolutely outstanding and Gomez is superb for a 17 year old, he will be a star. I enjoyed box. Was a good experience and would recommend it.
COYR
Excellent post - thank you. Hendo was a bit shakier than usual in the air coz Forest had done their homework and they blocked him at every opportunity on corners, in particular and he missed the experience & protection he would usually get from Ben Haim, Johnson or Bikey. He is an excellent keeper and I hope they get to see him again when normal service is resumed.
Antonio dumped him into those hoardings to undermine him further as he could see he was struggling against him. Ref was weak not booking him which invited Lansbury to do the same on Diarra. It is shameful to play in this way and the ref has a duty of care that he failed to show.
Just on this apart from Antonio's snide challenge and on a very serious note, did anyone else see how close Wilson's head came to the metal handrail of the steps down to the pitch? His head missed there handrail by inches and the club H & S should have a serious look at how that area could be better screened off for player protection, that incident last night could've been far worse than it actually ended up
I spotted that and made the same comment as you. Those rails need covering with foam or suchlike.
Good spot and sincerely hope you pass your observations on to the club for them to action.
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Fair comment and agree that there are clear differences in the management styles. However, Tony Watt has added a dimension we didn't have before and Peeters would have been much more confident at finishing teams off and going for it had Watt been on his teamsheet. Luzon certainly appears to be more positive in his approach to games but how much of that is because he can be and how much is by his pure nature we can only speculate. Who's to say that teams won't learn how to play us with our new formation?
There's a lot more pressing under GL. Watt has been a Godsend. I am sure BP would've utilised him to a good degree as well. Cousins back in the center is working a treat (surprise eh?). This is one thing that really got my goat with both Powell and BP. Both put him out wide, mental.
The challenge now is what sort of team we will be left with for next season?
Henderson,
Solly, Gomez, Johnson????, Wiggins
JBG, Cousins, ????, ?????
Watt, Vetokele
I included Johnson because he's got a good chance of landing a contract if continues to play the way he has. I don't think we'll see Buyens, Bikey and Bulot again. Buyens and Bikey because I think they won't fit moving forward. Bulot I would like but can we accommodate him financially. Someone else said his wages are high
Late with post due to crazy work schedule. Just wanted to add that this team is showing us exactly why you don't write off anyone early on. Bulot was regarded as a flop months ago but you could see he had the ability (someone mentioned Fulham away) and possibly needed time to adjust to the rigours of Championship football and life in a new country. That takes time and now we are seeing some great stuff from him. I'm probably more happy with his defensive work as I knew he had the ability to score and make goals. He protected his full-back very well on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to seriously question Harriott's value to the squad after a couple of seasons where he just hasn't pushed on as we or he would have liked and I think this will rightly be Wilson's last season here.
Jordan Cousins - Take a bow, that was some performance! And Tony Watt at the end! I don't think many British players are capable of such close control in such a confined space and youngsters should actually watch this guy.
Great result. Just wish this run came earlier in the season, but at least we look well and truly safe.
To be fair to Peeters, opponents did find us out, but he didn’t have the tools to fix it. They realised that if they nullified our attack and won the midfield battle they stopped us. We lacked confidence in our own ability to score which forced us to play deeper, especially when we did score a goal so we then defended rather than went for another. Watt has changed the dynamic in that a) he compliments Vetokele and b) he is very direct with good close control. With Bulot and JBG , the attack is now a handful. But what Luzon has done, is play Cousins in the centre. Peeters had the opportunity to do this but didn’t and it brings energy to a position where we didn’t have it previously.
Also, we had a good start, but if you are winning games by the odd goal – it doesn’t take too much to start drawing or losing them. I always knew Watford would be up there for instance, because they have goals in them and can turn the close games into wins and win the not so close ones comfortably. With our attack nullified, opponents turned our close games into defeats for us.
What didn’t help either with Peeters was the zonal marking. Not saying it never works, but it didn’t work for us and cost us far too many important goals. It felt a bit like the England cricket team in terms of us failing to admit when we had got something wrong and changing it despite us conceding set piece goals week in week out.
Peeters had his qualities, but it does seem that Luzon is better.
Further adding to my point regarding Antonio. Once we showed him down the line his left foot was so bad I was embarassed for him. If you watch solly he always shows the winger on the outside its not hard to do. Gomez did exactly that and Antonio didn't show any threat.
Wilson was standing off way too much allowing Antonio time to get the ball and cut inside. Gomez was much tighter making Antonio to stay on the outside where he is much more ineffective. Well done Joe.
Whilst agreeing about Wilson, he was also hampered by Harriot offering no defensive support, he must have been so pleased to see Harriot hobbling off at half time only to spit his halftime cuppa out when finding out he was off as well.
surely if you know you are up against a very very rapid winger like Antonio who is going to do you for pace you intentionally don't get too close otherwise he'll skin you and he's gone, better you stand off a bit close down the angle and show him down the line especially when you know he has no left foot
Well, what finished Antonio off and made him switch wings was when Gomez got right in his face.
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Very vague reasoning that a lot of people seem to use to justify a manager's sacking. "Saw through his tactics". "Was he found out?" Sounds like a clever soundbite which actually means nothing
Bikey will still have a year left on his contract.
Would you have him in though? My team was as much aspirational as it was those that are available.
I would prefer the current partnership (providing we could keep TBH), but, Bikey said in the Newshopper at the end of last year, that several of the squad were playing with some sort of injuries. Maybe he was one of those, and it is possible that that was why there was a drop off in his performance. I did not go on Tuesday, but the consensus appears that he had a good game, so was it that he just needed some rest?
I think another year playing with Johnson and TBH will only be good for Gomez.
I believe the need to accommodate JJ in the early part of the season and the fact that Buyens is on loan from SL so had to be played was why we saw Cousins pushed out wide. Question now is when JJ gets back to fitness what Guy will do. As people have stated he has been brave enough to change things around exactly when they had to be and to play the strongest team he can at that time. Hopefully he will he be brave enough to say to JJ that perhaps the bench is the only spot for him in a matchday squad and unless there is an injury to Cousins, Buyens and now even Diarra he won't be figuring too much. I say this as a massive JJ fan too.
Comments
It could have been a defender. Or a defensive midfielder. But it was Eagles.
I think that answers the question about his "pure nature".
Hendo was a bit shakier than usual in the air coz Forest had done their homework and they blocked him at every opportunity on corners, in particular and he missed the experience & protection he would usually get from Ben Haim, Johnson or Bikey.
He is an excellent keeper and I hope they get to see him again when normal service is resumed.
The challenge now is what sort of team we will be left with for next season?
Henderson,
Solly, Gomez, Johnson????, Wiggins
JBG, Cousins, ????, ?????
Watt, Vetokele
I included Johnson because he's got a good chance of landing a contract if continues to play the way he has. I don't think we'll see Buyens, Bikey and Bulot again. Buyens and Bikey because I think they won't fit moving forward. Bulot I would like but can we accommodate him financially. Someone else said his wages are high
Jordan Cousins - Take a bow, that was some performance! And Tony Watt at the end! I don't think many British players are capable of such close control in such a confined space and youngsters should actually watch this guy.
Great result. Just wish this run came earlier in the season, but at least we look well and truly safe.
Also, we had a good start, but if you are winning games by the odd goal – it doesn’t take too much to start drawing or losing them. I always knew Watford would be up there for instance, because they have goals in them and can turn the close games into wins and win the not so close ones comfortably. With our attack nullified, opponents turned our close games into defeats for us.
What didn’t help either with Peeters was the zonal marking. Not saying it never works, but it didn’t work for us and cost us far too many important goals. It felt a bit like the England cricket team in terms of us failing to admit when we had got something wrong and changing it despite us conceding set piece goals week in week out.
Peeters had his qualities, but it does seem that Luzon is better.
I think another year playing with Johnson and TBH will only be good for Gomez.
Chris Powell (CA) 1 Billy Davies (NF) 1
Gary Brazil (NF) 0 Jose Riga (CA) 1
2014-15
Stuart Pearce (NF) 1 Bob Peeters (CA) 1
Guy Luzon (CA) 2 Dougie Freedman (NF) 1