AFCB v Brentford Match Reports

[PJ]

Agree, Rosenior assembled the worst squad of players I can ever remember. Conference level at best where most ended up.

This squad has talent in abundance and is playing some of the most pleasing football since Callaghan's period , it just needs more fine tuning to turn possession into goals which I believe will come..

To be fair Leroy's budget (and Wally's even more so) was tiny.
I'd guess the present budget is 3 times what it was under Leroy and 4 or 5 times what Wally had.

[TW1Bee]

Just seen Harry's goal on SKY sports news and have to say it's up there with the Ukraine's goal last week and Marcelo's for RM last night.

[scruff puppy pup]

Tranmere had six shots last night ,four on target and won 3-0 .We can have 22 and score 0 or 1

Yeovil's bubble has already burst, I expect Tranmere's to do so soon as well.
Preston, on the other hand, are starting to move up.

[IslandBee]

... but AFCB fans were complaining about their diamond and how they couldn't cope when we changed to 4-4-2!

Yes, that's what I said as well - a diamond formation is not the way to counter 4-4-2

[Markybee]

Just seen Harry's goal on SKY sports news and have to say it's up there with the Ukraine's goal last week and Marcelo's for RM last night.

Marcelo's took a defelection that totally deceived Hart. Wasn't all that

[alexcavell]

It was an interesting game in terms of the spells in which each side was on top, and unfortunately Rösler can only blame himself for the poor show in the first half. It's becoming all too familiar away from home this season.

I'm not one for negativity, but I feel we should be setting ourselves high standards and we're not reaching them at the moment. If we want to get out of this division (especially in a more open league this season), the management have to make the right decisions and be ruthless - and indeed the same goes on the pitch for the players.

The stats are clear: at the end of last season we played the 4-4-1-1 system away from home 5 times, winning 3 of these games (Preston, MK Dons, Chesterfield) and only losing once (Stevenage). This season we have abandoned that successful system, and in our 5 away games so far we have won 0, drawn 3 and lost 2. We have the personnel, but if we needlessly tinker with the system we shouldn't expect improved results.

I understand that Bournemouth had previously been employing a similar diamond system, and maybe we were caught out by the return of Marc Pugh to the Bournemouth side yesterday who gave them more width. As a result, our full-backs were horribly exposed yesterday in the first half and both allowed their resultant poor defensive performances get to their attacking game, with Bidwell becoming notably frustrated and uncharacteristically careless on the ball.

We lined up with Forshaw at the top of the diamond, Adeyemi on the right side and Diagouraga and Douglas taking turns sitting deepest. We started the game on the back foot, and went in front against the run of play from the Francis own goal from Forshaw's ball in the box. However after we scored the play seemed to switch in our favour, with Douglas heading wide when unmarked and El Alagui just failing to connect properly when latching onto a poor back-pass. Bournemouth then went up the other end and scored though from Tubbs' header into the bottom corner from 18 yards, and took control for the rest of the half.

Fortunately Grabban still can't finish, and he put 2 excellent chances wide from good positions in the area. Unfortunately he clearly dived to win the penalty, with Moore not seeming to make any contact. Half-time came at a good time for us, with Bournemouth putting us under a lot of pressure, especially from the wider areas where the full-backs had no cover.

In the second half we came out in a 4-4-2, with Adeyemi on the right and Forshaw on the left, though Adeyemi moved inside and Forshaw switched to the right when Forrester replaced Diagouraga. The change in formation had an instant effect, with Bournemouth finding it harder to make space and our full-backs looking more comfortable. The change also led to an improved second half performance from Forshaw, who was largely anonymous behind the strikers in the first half. From the wings he had more time and space to get possession and make things happen - Forrester meanwhile on the other side caused havoc with a superb performance and excellent finish. I'm not sure why he was left out after a top performance against Orient, but we can't afford to rest players against the better sides and certainly shouldn't need to in September and when our last game was 5 days ago.

After we got the equaliser, it looked for a while like we would go on and win the game, such was the momentum in our favour. Bournemouth did have a couple of very good chances up the other end though, with Moore making some superb saves, pushing one goal-bound shot onto the post and saving well from a one-on-one and an unmarked header. In the last few minutes neither side really seemed to go for it, with our cause not being helped by a very disappointing substitute appearance from Hayes, who looked like he'd already played a full 90 minutes just 10 minutes after he came on. He's come with great reviews from fans at Charlton, Wycombe, Scunthorpe, etc and has played well when I've seen him before - I don't know what's gone wrong? He looks good on the ball, but disinterested off it.

Good performances though from Dean who was commanding at the back and Donaldson who put in a great shift upfront (perhaps should have scored but worked very hard), as well as Forrester and Moore as previously mentioned. As I've posted elsewhere, Craig did alright but we need to set ourselves high standards, and unfortunately he's not been meeting them with his performances. He looks a downgrade on Eger and certainly Osborne to me so far. Douglas and Diagouraga both did OK, but you'd expect more from players with their experience. Adeyemi, though not always effective, was industrious and tried to put his mark on the game.

[North London Bee]

Tranmere had six shots last night ,four on target and won 3-0 .We can have 22 and score 0 or 1

2 were penalties though!!

[Wooburn Bee]

You obviously haven't read/heard Uwe's interview then. Forrester starts Saturday and apparently he already knows who the other 10 starters are too

Kevin will be one of those also.

[Wooburn Bee]

It was an interesting game in terms of the spells in which each side was on top, and unfortunately Rösler can only blame himself for the poor show in the first half. It's becoming all too familiar away from home this season.

I'm not one for negativity, but I feel we should be setting ourselves high standards and we're not reaching them at the moment. If we want to get out of this division (especially in a more open league this season), the management have to make the right decisions and be ruthless - and indeed the same goes on the pitch for the players.

The stats are clear: at the end of last season we played the 4-4-1-1 system away from home 5 times, winning 3 of these games (Preston, MK Dons, Chesterfield) and only losing once (Stevenage). This season we have abandoned that successful system, and in our 5 away games so far we have won 0, drawn 3 and lost 2. We have the personnel, but if we needlessly tinker with the system we shouldn't expect improved results.

I understand that Bournemouth had previously been employing a similar diamond system, and maybe we were caught out by the return of Marc Pugh to the Bournemouth side yesterday who gave them more width. As a result, our full-backs were horribly exposed yesterday in the first half and both allowed their resultant poor defensive performances get to their attacking game, with Bidwell becoming notably frustrated and uncharacteristically careless on the ball.

We lined up with Forshaw at the top of the diamond, Adeyemi on the right side and Diagouraga and Douglas taking turns sitting deepest. We started the game on the back foot, and went in front against the run of play from the Francis own goal from Forshaw's ball in the box. However after we scored the play seemed to switch in our favour, with Douglas heading wide when unmarked and El Alagui just failing to connect properly when latching onto a poor back-pass. Bournemouth then went up the other end and scored though from Tubbs' header into the bottom corner from 18 yards, and took control for the rest of the half.

Fortunately Grabban still can't finish, and he put 2 excellent chances wide from good positions in the area. Unfortunately he clearly dived to win the penalty, with Moore not seeming to make any contact. Half-time came at a good time for us, with Bournemouth putting us under a lot of pressure, especially from the wider areas where the full-backs had no cover.

In the second half we came out in a 4-4-2, with Adeyemi on the right and Forshaw on the left, though Adeyemi moved inside and Forshaw switched to the right when Forrester replaced Diagouraga. The change in formation had an instant effect, with Bournemouth finding it harder to make space and our full-backs looking more comfortable. The change also led to an improved second half performance from Forshaw, who was largely anonymous behind the strikers in the first half. From the wings he had more time and space to get possession and make things happen - Forrester meanwhile on the other side caused havoc with a superb performance and excellent finish. I'm not sure why he was left out after a top performance against Orient, but we can't afford to rest players against the better sides and certainly shouldn't need to in September and when our last game was 5 days ago.

After we got the equaliser, it looked for a while like we would go on and win the game, such was the momentum in our favour. Bournemouth did have a couple of very good chances up the other end though, with Moore making some superb saves, pushing one goal-bound shot onto the post and saving well from a one-on-one and an unmarked header. In the last few minutes neither side really seemed to go for it, with our cause not being helped by a very disappointing substitute appearance from Hayes, who looked like he'd already played a full 90 minutes just 10 minutes after he came on. He's come with great reviews from fans at Charlton, Wycombe, Scunthorpe, etc and has played well when I've seen him before - I don't know what's gone wrong? He looks good on the ball, but disinterested off it.

Good performances though from Dean who was commanding at the back and Donaldson who put in a great shift upfront (perhaps should have scored but worked very hard), as well as Forrester and Moore as previously mentioned. As I've posted elsewhere, Craig did alright but we need to set ourselves high standards, and unfortunately he's not been meeting them with his performances. He looks a downgrade on Eger and certainly Osborne to me so far. Douglas and Diagouraga both did OK, but you'd expect more from players with their experience. Adeyemi, though not always effective, was industrious and tried to put his mark on the game.

Great post

[blunstone]

Yes, a year in charge and I've never changed my belief that he's the German equivalent of Leroy Rosenior, nice guy but not a football manager. My Peterborough supporting mate pointed out similarities between Posh and Brentford both managers came in under the present owners of both clubs and though Posh are in a far worse predicament than Brentford, the Posh chairman is sticking by Darren Ferguson because it was him who appointed him, thats why I think Uwe will be here until the end of the season.

darren ferguson does have a track record; uwe is building his reputation.
and is it such a bad thing to stick with the manager you have chosen? sounds like an act of faith to me.
if fans hired and fired no manager would last more than a few months

[sonofabee]

darren ferguson does have a track record; uwe is building his reputation.
and is it such a bad thing to stick with the manager you have chosen? sounds like an act of faith to me.
if fans hired and fired no manager would last more than a few months

Agree - Uwe has his own team now and should be given time to see how they perform.
How can people have decided after 7 games and sat mid table that he has to go?
By that reckoning Sheffield Utd should have sacked Danny Wilson for not being top and unbeaten.
We haven't started as well as some of us hoped but I genuinely believe the signs are there that we're close to being a top 6 team. UR needs to wise up quickly and decide on his best team and formation, cut out silly mistakes and we'll win far more than we lose playing attractive football.

I say give him longer but out of interest wonder who would fans offer as a better bet to get us up while playing entertaining football?

[Les Beeavinu]

darren ferguson does have a track record; uwe is building his reputation.
and is it such a bad thing to stick with the manager you have chosen? sounds like an act of faith to me.
if fans hired and fired no manager would last more than a few months

Matthew Benham's a fan.

[hypa123]

Matthew Benham's a fan.

With the difference that he can put his money where his mouth is. And does.