The Curse of St Mary's

Obviously we will miss Bazuna distribution but I see it as a positive in the respect we are far less likely to keep fannying around with it across the back with McCarthy in goal as he's just not good with the ball at his feet. This will hopefully encourage us to get the ball up the field quicker which was evident on Tuesday albeit against a team that was not interested really. The true indicator will be against Leicester and Leeds who will press us and we won't have as much of the ball.

I've got Preston to win 1-0 at 20/1 which is decent odds. Plus got them at 15/2 to win. Don't worry lads my bets rarely come in 😬

Adams is the only striker we have that can hold it up and be a focal point. Mara is absolute pony and not someone you want when defending a slender lead. He's far too lazy and lightweight for that.

I think the biggest challenge the players have tonight is playing in a flat atmosphere. Preston fans will be very low in numbers and home fans will need the team to play in a high tempo from the start otherwise the players will need to draw inspiration from within which is a worry for me. It will be a bonus if Sekou Mara is banned as he is truly woeful. Hopefully would mean Che stays on the pitch longer and we can manage games properly throughout the full 90+ mins.

This is the difference. Watch these two saves from the Ipswich keeper against Boro which won them a point. There is no way Bazuna would have saved either of them, certainly the first save. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/pa41igJ3MwAuSE6y/

You don't bring Mara on when you only have a one goal lead and lost control of the game. RM needs to stop this madness. Mara is utter crap and so bloody lazy. Even RM recognised that his cameo on Tuesday was awful yet still gives an opportunity today. Truth be told if Ross Stewart was fit then Mara wouldn't even make the bench.

Once again beaten low down to his left side. Should have saved the second when you see it from behind the goal view. He has a definite weakness on that side.

Obviously the intention was for Ross Stewart to spearhead the frontline and I have no doubt a fit Ross Stewart would have banged in the goals and we'd probably be further up the table because of it. January was the opportunity to bring a striker in knowing RS was out and Che won't be signing a new contract but we decided to bloat the midfield / wide areas instead. Mara should have been the fall guy and a new striker to come in and make a meaningful contribution but for whatever reason RM and Wilcox/SR didn't agree which will come back to haunt them I suspect. I'm not sure playoffs will suit us. Can these players handle the big moments in both boxes? Man for man we should win the playoffs especially if it's Ipswich that drop into it alongside Norwich and WBA. Teams finishing 3rd or 4th have predominantly gone on to win promotion in recent times.

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His inconsistent selection policy must cause some disharmony amongst the squad plus the fact we have a bloated squad in midfield and attacking positions. To drop Adams today was senseless. He could have dropped him after Boro game and no one would have questioned it. For me his two biggest failings are his blind faith in Bazuna and his obsession with shoehorning Stephens into the side.

Interesting Martin said in the presser today that players underperforming will be dropped. Bazuna seems to be immune from this thinking which probably grates with some of the squad. KWP seemingly dropped because of the mistake against Boro and generally poor game by his standards yet Bazuna underperforms most weeks but still gets selected.

Martin's two biggest failings have been his blind faith in Bazuna and shoehorning Stephens back into a side that went 25 games unbeaten largely without him starting most of those games. We were relatively solid defensively during that run. We now have a bloated squad especially in attacking positions. I don't think Sulemana had done anything to warrant starting against Boro but got zero minutes last night yet Edozie stunk the place out when he came on. The inconsistency in RMs selection policy must grate with some of the players.

The difference being Leeds went toe to toe with a full or near full strength Chelsea team. We lost 3-0 to a bunch of academy players bar a few

Proud of losing 3-0 to a team made of mainly fringe and academy players? Wonderful

That Liverpool side would get relegated from the PL over course of a season imo so the fact we lost 3-0 is a poor show. Yes we missed gilt edged chances but Liverpool didn't have to work hard for their goals. Subs were awful. Mara is so bloody lazy and has no technical ability to run with the ball so why play him out wide FFS? We lost all creativity and purpose once Sulemana and Edozie went off. Yes there end product is woeful but at least they offered some form of attacking threat.

Sorry to hijack an unrelated thread but has anyone received Plymouth tickets in the post yet?

There's no masking that performance other than the fact we got an unbelievably lucky point. That was just pitiful especially second half. The fringe players were totally inept. We created bugger all really in terms of presentable chances which was criminal given how much possession we had. Mara looks so out of his depth it's unreal. Holgate individually wasn't at fault for goals but clearly he weakens us on the whole. Charles was awful. Taking Downes off instead of him was ridiculous unless it was for Charles "heading threat" from set pieces.

I agree. Yes Rotherham was a freak result but there was no excuse for the team taking their foot off the pedal in the second half which they did. RM can present all the stats he wants but we didn't win that game because of ourselves not because Rotherham scored a 1 in 10 goal.

The first half was excellent. Second half despite taking foot off the gas we still completely dominated and created enough to win the game easily. I'm not happy with the second half performance but it was still miles ahead of Sunderland, Leicester, Ipswich and Boro albeit against much weaker opposition

We were made to pay for lacklustre second half. First half was excellent and we should have been 3 up really. Second half we reverted to type (pedestrian). The problem is when you concede you then need to suddenly find a higher gear. We should have carried the first half into the second half but we didn't and we got punished by a freak goal out of nothing.

I don't know the exact number but it is frightening how many chances we have conceded in the last four matches. The percentage caused by our own mistakes will be even more freigtening. Today for example Downes plays a pathetic ball into the box admittedly but all of a sudden we have a 4/5 v 2 counter which Boro cocked up in truth. The ease in which the opposition are making and converting chances are inexcusable. To be fair we look absolutely clueless going forward as well too so it's all rather a big bloody mess. Players look totally joyless and robotic. There is no character or spark.

Edozie for Arma and I would have been pretty content with the line up. All the creativity will have to come from Fraser.

That line up is so ridiculously left field it may actually work 😂 Seriously though this a tragic line up. That angry fan behind the home technical area is going to blow a gasket tonight 😬

Yeah maybe but SAA was poor v QPR. Tbf that QPR left back was excellent and did a number on Edozie in the second half as well. I though Sullemana was awful the other night so I don't think he's ready to start yet.

Logically speaking bednarek and harwood-bellis would be the chosen pairing but if RM persists with playing KWP and Manning in these "inverted fullback" roles then any team with pace would kill us on the counter as both CBs are slow and will get totally exposed. Holgate is a liability with the ball and just isn't very good in general. He has to play Charles at CDM even if Downes is fit. Id go with this line up. Bazuna KWP (actually at RB) Bednarek THB Manning or Larios (left back) Charles (CDM) Stu Charly Edozie Fraser Adams