Just Back.

I'll keep it short cos the missus is out and I need a coffee.

What a load of shit, especially the 1st half. Obviously a very welcome 3 points but we ain't playing well, struggling even. Reid looks lost up top on his own. Adams needs to drop him or change the formation to suit him. The only real plus was the goals, and that we are scoring from midfield.

Oh dear, I suppose the old adage. 'if you can win while you're playing like cnuts' is the best thing to be said by the sounds of it.

Not exactly "like cnuts" Les but we certainly made hard work of it and were hanging on for dear life again towards the end.

Well I wouldn't put it like that but I'd share the same sentiments. The atmosphere has been better.

AstiSpumante wrote:

I'll keep it short cos the missus is out and I need a coffee.

What a load of shit, especially the 1st half. Obviously a very welcome 3 points but we ain't playing well, struggling even. Reid looks lost up top on his own. Adams needs to drop him or change the formation to suit him. The only real plus was the goals, and that we are scoring from midfield.

Exactly. That was the key to last seasons failure to go up, many of us said that the sale of Hourihane would be far more costly than the £200kreceived and so it proved. People like Carey who can turn shitty games and performances into shitty wins are worth their weight in gold and it looks as if DA has uncovered a couple of gems in the aforesaid and Jervis. Argyle won a pile of games just like tonight when Sturrock won the title in 2001/2 when people like Friio and the centre backs contributed more than their share-tough shit to the teams that lost those games back then and tough shit to Barnet tonight-unlucky.

Sounded like we should have been hammered out of sight by a FAR superior Barnet side. Very very worrying. But certainly not unexpected.

BRENT OUT NOW

Welcome though the 3 points are the team performance was a shocker.

Make no mistake: Barnet bossed this one from tip to tail and they'll be wondering how they lost all the way home. They were worthy leaders at half-time and we were lucky that they weren't out of sight - not least when their lad was booked for diving when, from where I was sat, it was a nailed on penalty.

Having Boateng and Simpson sit deep just didn't work at all; Nelson barely won a header all night; nobody seemed able to either control a ball or pass it to a team mate; at no stage did we string a few passes together; Jervis even deliberately passed it to one of their players (Barnet were in Royal Lilac hoops...); McCormick's kicking was erratic. In short it was a horror story all over the pitch.

In the second half their big #9 muscled his way through between Hartley and Nelson and, with the goal at his mercy, hit the inside of the post and the rebound flashed across the face of the goal to their left winger who seemed certain to score but Mellor (?) cleared off the line. It really should have been 0-2. 20 seconds later Jarvis laid off a perfect little wall pass to Carey who curled a beaut into the top left corner. 1-1.

Sawyer, probably our best defender tonight, then lined a ball for Wylde, probably our best attacker, to scamper with. He pinned his ears back and ran. Got a cross in which fooled everyone but Jervis who scored very tidily. 2-1.

They were our only 2 properly threatening moments in a game I can't recall us even winning a corner in.

Brunt came on as sub and did good old fashioned Triggering up front to at least retain possession a couple of times, won some headers and the odd free-kick which was far more, the goals apart, than anybody else did up-front.

The battering continued. They smashed one against the corner of post and crossbar that looked a cert to go in and some how we panicked and blethered our way to the final whistle.

"Park the bus" indeed. Very canny from Mad Dog before the game. God alone knows what he'll say about it afterwards.

I don't buy in to this scratchy, bitey, blood-and-snotter Luggyist vision of the performance. I recognise one of those when I see it. This wasn't one of them. It was a disaster waiting to happen and I have no idea how we avoided it.

Make no mistake: if we don't improve we'll get found out.

But we weren't beaten, we won which must be dissappointing for you Freathy, Barnet were a crap side until they were 2-1 down and then they played some great stuff, last season we would have lost this game but the difference in this team is they don't give up.
Before anybody mentions Barnet hitting the post twice, three times of whatever, tough shit, the objective is to miss the posts and stick it in the net, poor finishing.

When all's said and done we're sitting second and just 1 point off the leaders. Incidentally our opponents on Saturday Crawley won 3-0 away tonight, I feel we'll need an improved performance to come away from that one with a win.

Just discovered that Bondz N'Gala was playing for Barnet. He hasn't shrunk any.

Come to think of it despite having 2 of the smallest players I have seen since Beresford was diddymanning up the wing for us they were a fairly ginormous side.

We got away with that big time. The first half wasn't great but we did look half decent when we got the ball down and played through them. Problem was we only did that a couple of times, it was aimless punts toward Reid who very rarely did anything with it, and possession was quickly surrendered.

They had one shot on goal and scored and we didn't look like scoring although Reid had a good chance right at the end of the half after being superbly found by Carey, but didn't get any power behind it and the keeper made a comfortable save.

Second half we should have been 2 down but instead were 1 - 1 after a class goal by Carey and then 2 - 1 up after a great block by Sawyer, great run by Wylde and great finish from Jervis.

Probably the only two bits of quality in the whole game.

Squeaky bum time at the end, the defence was exposed a number of times, there didn't seem to be any protection from midfield allowing Barnet to run at the defence and cause problems. But we held out somehow and got 3 points, which is what it's all about.

Carey was quality, hope we can hang on to him, Sawyer was strong and Boateng did well. No-one else had good games tonight, Luke's kicking was the worst I've seen.

Still, up to second, onwards and upwards as someone once said.

I was right in line with that shot from Reid right on half-time and it was going wide whether their 'keeper stopped it or not.

As a measure of how disjointed we were tonight my mate and I had the "was that a shot or a cross?" conversation about half a dozen times.

Graiser wrote:

But we weren't beaten, we won which must be dissappointing for you Freathy, Barnet were a crap side until they were 2-1 down and then they played some great stuff, last season we would have lost this game but the difference in this team is they don't give up.
Before anybody mentions Barnet hitting the post twice, three times of whatever, tough shit, the objective is to miss the posts and stick it in the net, poor finishing.

We are f***ing shit and won't be anywhere near the play-offs come the business end of the season

Freathy wrote:

Graiser wrote:

But we weren't beaten, we won which must be dissappointing for you Freathy, Barnet were a crap side until they were 2-1 down and then they played some great stuff, last season we would have lost this game but the difference in this team is they don't give up.
Before anybody mentions Barnet hitting the post twice, three times of whatever, tough shit, the objective is to miss the posts and stick it in the net, poor finishing.

We are f***ing shit and won't be anywhere near the play-offs come the business end of the season

Freathy Sir you are correct. We'll be 3 places away from the play-offs as we'll be 1st.

Quotes from DA

DA: "They (Barnet) didn't really trouble us. They got a break with the goal. We were out of position

DA: "We dominated possession in the first half. The amount of chances we had on goal was a lot

DA "A very good performance again from us. We created a lot of chances in the first half

Was he at the same game as us?

That's not how it sounded on the radio.

It's not how it looked from the box either. Worst performance in a long while and lucky to get a point, still we had the three points lets hope DA sorts it out for the next game.

Tgwu wrote:

Quotes from DA

DA: "They (Barnet) didn't really trouble us. They got a break with the goal. We were out of position

DA: "We dominated possession in the first half. The amount of chances we had on goal was a lot

DA "A very good performance again from us. We created a lot of chances in the first half

Was he at the same game as us?

WTF !! Del ? A polish you can't turd (to be re-arranged)

AstiSpumante wrote:

Tgwu wrote:

Quotes from DA

DA: "They (Barnet) didn't really trouble us. They got a break with the goal. We were out of position

DA: "We dominated possession in the first half. The amount of chances we had on goal was a lot

DA "A very good performance again from us. We created a lot of chances in the first half

Was he at the same game as us?

 WTF !!  Del ?   A polish you can't turd (to be re-arranged)

I think that Del has just rolled it in glitter.

Graiser wrote:

But we weren't beaten, we won which must be dissappointing for you Freathy, Barnet were a crap side until they were 2-1 down and then they played some great stuff, last season we would have lost this game but the difference in this team is they don't give up.
Before anybody mentions Barnet hitting the post twice, three times of whatever, tough shit, the objective is to miss the posts and stick it in the net, poor finishing.

Paul Sturrock once said that there is no point celebrating luck or whinging about it. It all works itself out evenly in the end.

We were due some good fortune after the penalties against Bristol Rovers (Brunt) and Mansfield (Carey's cross) weren't given.

The worrying parts for me is that Reuben is not flourishing in this team at all. After we apparently fought so hard to keep him this summer from the clutches of Pompey, it seems ridiculous to contemplate dropping him for Brunt, yet that must be the reality staring DA in the face. Even when Brunt isn't on the scoresheet, most of the time he's put in a decent shift for the team - with Reuben, if he isn't scoring, he's out of form and next to useless.

He's scored two goals this season and both have been put on a plate for him, unlike Jervis who is finding space cleverly on the counter, making his own goals and finishing tidily. We need to see more from Reubs pretty urgently. Although his tee up for Carey's goal was pretty neat tbf.

I hope we don't go back to the bad old days of playing badly at home. We were deservedly beaten by Portsmouth, flattered by 4-1 v Carlisle, disjointed against Gas and fortunate last night.

But we have 20 points already and they can't be taken away from us. Two points a game is very good news - if we get to 40 by Christmas we can really consider ourselves title contenders. As it stands at the moment, that looks a bit optimistic to me.

Freathy wrote:

Graiser wrote:

But we weren't beaten, we won which must be dissappointing for you Freathy, Barnet were a crap side until they were 2-1 down and then they played some great stuff, last season we would have lost this game but the difference in this team is they don't give up.
Before anybody mentions Barnet hitting the post twice, three times of whatever, tough shit, the objective is to miss the posts and stick it in the net, poor finishing.

We are f***ing shit and won't be anywhere near the play-offs come the business end of the season

We're second. F***king shit compared to what, Chelsea?
If we win and go top this weekend, will we still be f***king shit?

There comes a point when endless cynicism becomes tiresome.

ejh wrote:

Graiser wrote:

But we weren't beaten, we won which must be dissappointing for you Freathy, Barnet were a crap side until they were 2-1 down and then they played some great stuff, last season we would have lost this game but the difference in this team is they don't give up.
Before anybody mentions Barnet hitting the post twice, three times of whatever, tough shit, the objective is to miss the posts and stick it in the net, poor finishing.

Paul Sturrock once said that there is no point celebrating luck or whinging about it. It all works itself out evenly in the end.

We were due some good fortune after the penalties against Bristol Rovers (Brunt) and Mansfield (Carey's cross) weren't given.

The worrying parts for me is that Reuben is not flourishing in this team at all. After we apparently fought so hard to keep him this summer from the clutches of Pompey, it seems ridiculous to contemplate dropping him for Brunt, yet that must be the reality staring DA in the face. Even when Brunt isn't on the scoresheet, most of the time he's put in a decent shift for the team - with Reuben, if he isn't scoring, he's out of form and next to useless.

He's scored two goals this season and both have been put on a plate for him, unlike Jervis who is finding space cleverly on the counter, making his own goals and finishing tidily. We need to see more from Reubs pretty urgently. Although his tee up for Carey's goal was pretty neat tbf.

I know you like Brunt, but didn't he miss the sitter to end all sitters just a game ago?

Couldn't make last night (due to work) but sounds similar to the Bristol Rovers first half/ end of second half.

I'm not sure if this 4-2-3-1 works at home as Reuben is isolated and isn't really a lone striker. Can't we do what luggy did and play a variation of 4-4-2 at home and the 4-2-3-1 away?

McCormick's kicking was poor against Rovers too so could he be carrying a leg injury as its normally fairly decent?

Both goals looked decent strikes on the highlights.

Chemical Ali wrote:

Couldn't make last night (due to work) but sounds similar to the Bristol Rovers first half/ end of second half.

I'm not sure if this 4-2-3-1 works at home as Reuben is isolated and isn't really a lone striker. Can't we do what luggy did and play a variation of 4-4-2 at home and the 4-2-3-1 away?

McCormick's kicking was poor against Rovers too so could he be carrying a leg injury as its normally fairly decent?

Both goals looked decent strikes on the highlights.

We have taken the pressure off him by bringing in a very good supply line behind him but it seems he gets either marked out of the game by defenders or he just isnt interested to put the work in himself to make it work up frontl. Del Bhey has to address this issue asap with reid as the only other replacement in the squad who could play there is Brunt and he isnt exactly world class himself on his own up front or going score the goals reuben has for the last 2 seasons.