Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 18, 2021 Administrator Share Posted February 18, 2021 all kick-offs 15.00 (GMT) unless stated Friday 19th February, 2021 Watford vs Derby, 19.45 Saturday 20th February, 2021 Bristol City vs Barnsley Cardiff vs Preston Coventry vs Brentford, 12.30 Huddersfield vs Swansea Millwall vs Wycombe Norwich vs Rotherham Nottm Forest vs Blackburn QPR vs Bournemouth Reading vs Middlesbrough Sheff Weds vs Birmingham Stoke vs Luton Saturday 20th February, 2021 Accrington Stanley vs Shrewsbury Burton vs Sunderland Doncaster vs Hull Fleetwood vs Charlton Gillingham vs Bristol Rovers, 13.00 Ipswich vs Oxford MK Dons vs Northampton Peterborough vs AFC Wimbledon Portsmouth vs Blackpool Rochdale vs Plymouth Swindon vs Crewe Wigan vs Lincoln City Saturday 20th February, 2021 Barrow vs Morecambe Cheltenham vs Bradford Crawley vs Colchester Exeter vs Grimsby, 13.00 Leyton Orient vs Port Vale Mansfield vs Cambridge Newport vs Forest Green Salford vs Carlisle Scunthorpe vs Harrogate Southend vs Bolton Stevenage vs Walsall Tranmere vs Oldham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Hewitt 1,282 Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Expecting a tough game against Preston, but if we manage to win and Bournemouth slip up, we have a great chance to put pressure on them as we have them next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2,206 Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 It's interesting looking at the teams that have picked up form since January or in the last couple of games. Norwich, Swansea, Watford, Cardiff, QPR and even Derby to an extent have all brought in a decent amount of players in the January window. I don't want to bring Derby into this too much as their upturn in form is also down to Rooney, but all of these teams have brought in 4-5 players in January and you're seeing at least 2-3 of these players playing in every other game since the window closed. All of these sides have had either a slight or fairly large upturn in form that has or is propelling them up the table. Brentford on the other hand made only one new signing and that was Winston Reid, just looking at that it's no surprise that we've dropped points in our last two games after going on a 21 game unbeaten run and a 4 game winning streak as one of the main reasons I believe we've dropped points is due to tiredness. We brought Reid in because we only had two fit centre backs and needed the organisational value that he brings, as well as the talent. But he hadn't played a lot of football this season and so we've had to slowly bleed him into the team, unfortunately for us the game he made a start was the game that Ethan Pinnock needed a rest as Pinnock made two fairly clear errors for Barnsley's goals on Sunday and he's played the most minutes this season out of any of our players. My opinion is that once Reid and Pinnock can play together regularly our defence will tighten up again. This then leaves our midfield, we didn't bring anyone in because we were confident with our options. As it is our go to is Janelt with Jensen and Dasilva playing ahead of him, currently we only have Ghoddos and Zamburek to cover however Zamburek is more of a bit part player and Ghoddos is more attacking. We do have Emiliano Marcondes but he injured himself in January, Christian Norgaard has been coming back from an injury since October and he keeps getting close and then prolonging. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks we should see Pinnock and Reid playing together with Marcondes and Norgaard coming back. Mads Bidstrup who we signed from RB Leipzig has recently come back from a long-term injury and I think the intention is to give him immediate game time as he was on the bench last night after only playing 1 game since returning from injury for the B Team. Once Marcondes and Norgaard are back we then have two extra players covering for midfield and it stops us having to rely on all of our wingers and forwards to consistently play to relieve pressure on the midfield. Our preferred front 3 is Canos, Toney and Fosu at the moment. We have Mbeumo, Forss and Ghoddos ready to come on too. Because Ghoddos is covering midfield right now it puts more pressure on Bryan Mbeumo to play who is struggling for form at the moment and is low on confidence. Even if we just have Marcondes back, it frees up Ghoddos who can then play more minutes as a winger than a midfielder/forward, which means we don't have to put as much pressure on Mbeumo to perform which could be the break he needs. Since Jansson got injured our defence has fallen apart, we've played 13 games without him now and conceded 17 goals. In the prior 13 games that he played we conceded 9. What has got us out of jail in the previous 7 or so game prior to the Barnsley game is that our strike force has been phenomenal. The reason the defence has fallen off a cliff there is not just down to Jansson, but because we don' have Norgaard to help organise things. When Norgaard comes back the defence will be much better. Toney has been racking goals up left, right and centre and both Canos and Fosu have really found their feet this season, Ghoddos too. However what was shown at Barnsley is that if we don't score, we lose. And even with QPR, if we don't score more than 1 goal, we still lose. If we hit 2 past you we're probably going to hit 3 or 4. And we've done that regularly, but these are two games now where we haven't. Mads Bech Sorensen has shown that if he plays every now and then alongside Jansson or Pinnock he is composed and a good back-up, if you rely on him heavily cracks begin to appear. And that is why Reid was brought in, to reduce the amount of games Mads is playing and to bring a sense of organisation back to the defence that Jansson brought. Potentially towards the end of this season we may have Reid, Sorensen, Pinnock, Goode and Mads to rely on and that's great for the run in, great for defensive structure. But at the moment the squad is stretched and we're just starting to come back to a place where it is at full strength. So really, we have just gone through a tumultuous period where we are playing twice a week every week due to our League Cup and FA Cup involvement, have played the last two months with 2 fit centre halves and Mads Sorensen who is only to be used as back up & has played every game, we've played with 2 key midfielders injured leaving our squad rotation light and come away with 9 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in 13 games. I think we've done really well there and a drop of in performance level is eventually expected. Getting to a period where we have a full strength squad fit and healthy is ideal, but at this point I'd happily take Pinnock and Reid playing consistently with Sorensen for cover and even just Marcondes back in the fold to help with the rotation on our midfield and strikers. Jansson and Norgaard being fit will be a dream come true. The next game for us is vital, Coventry at home, they've struggled this season and struggled recently. I'm not sure if Reid can play 2 games in a week, I hope he can as I want him alongside Pinnock on Saturday. For me we just need a solid defensive display, a clean sheet and 2 goals on the board. That will put us in good stead for the final block of games in February before we start to run into games that are sat-sat and can build up some fitness and regeneration for the final run in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 Toney rested, @Danny? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2,206 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 31 minutes ago, Stan said: Toney rested, @Danny? Injured at QPR apparently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 3 minutes ago, Danny said: Injured at QPR apparently Okay you need to inform us of these things earlier for Fantasy football purposes. Up your game Daniel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2,206 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 42 minutes ago, Stan said: Okay you need to inform us of these things earlier for Fantasy football purposes. Up your game Daniel. Club don't inform people about injuries until after a game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 5 minutes ago, Danny said: Club don't inform people about injuries until after a game Yeah should have had this info after midweek game mate. I'll let you off this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 This is karma, @Danny. The Spurs of the Championship blowing their opportunity of promotion. 2-0 down to Coventry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2,206 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 We are getting smashed, 3 changes about to be made. Dasilva, Dalsgaard and Fosu on. Coventry have followed in the lead of Barnsley and done a job on us so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2,206 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 If we even get a point from this game I'll be surprised, Henry just pulled his hammy. Coming off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas 3,827 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Ivan Toney FC are having a right old wobble. Mind you, it was nearly a year ago we lost to Forest, it all looked to be going 'Classic Leeds' and we then went on a great run. Better to do it now than late April into May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2,206 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 25 minutes ago, Lucas said: Ivan Toney FC are having a right old wobble. Mind you, it was nearly a year ago we lost to Forest, it all looked to be going 'Classic Leeds' and we then went on a great run. Better to do it now than late April into May. Essentially this, we are having a moment and it's not good. But it's important to remember how stretched the squad is and in 2 or 3 games we could be back to having a close to fully fit squad. The simple fact is we have gone most of the season without our best two defensive players, Shandon Baptiste hasn't started a game as well, we haven't had a recognised defensive mid in the starting eleven essentially all season. For us to still be second is a massive achievement, but we're paying the price now for that thinned out squad. If we get Marcondes and Norgaard into the team regularly then things will start to change for us, Pontus Jansson is back training and should be hopefully fit in a month. So we are on track to have most of the team back for the final 10 games or so, we just need to win a couple of games before then to keep up with Norwich and Swansea. But a fully fit team is vital for the play-offs or I think we'll drop off a cliff come then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Hewitt 1,282 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 1-0 up after two minutes. Moore penalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 5 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said: 1-0 up after two minutes. Moore penalty. Good start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 Good start again for Cardiff in 2nd half... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Hewitt 1,282 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Flew out of the blocks there. Murphy gives us our second shortly after the second half kicks off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber Pyfish+ 2,773 Posted February 20, 2021 Subscriber Share Posted February 20, 2021 We haven't played now since the 6th of February. I see our tactic now... don't play games and we can't lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 2 minutes ago, Pyfish said: We haven't played now since the 6th of February. I see our tactic now... don't play games and we can't lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 Even better for @Bluebird Hewitt - Swansea getting battered by Huddersfield now. Losing 4-1. Was 1-1 at HT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Hewitt 1,282 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Good to see. Brentford losing was bad, but Swansea getting twatted helps. Shame they still have two games in hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 Barnsley in great form right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Hewitt 1,282 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 PHILLIPS YOU SEXY FUCKING CUNT!!! TWO pens saved in one minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,384 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Administrator Share Posted February 20, 2021 Now 3-0! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Hewitt 1,282 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 4-0. Weak back pass saw Mark Harris (who only just came on) nip the ball off the keeper at a tight angle, kept his cool to fool the defender on the line and put it in the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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