saintant

We have to sort out this habit of playing poorly in the first half of matches and it shouldn't be difficult. Come out of the traps from minute one and look to put our opponents on the back foot. Shouldn't matter who they are because most times, even if they try to match our front footed approach, we should have enough to get the upper hand. We won't always and will still lose games but it's got to be a better way forward than these plodding, uninspiring first half performances we are seeing.

Maybe will improve when Larin is back but I don't think it's as simple as that.

Agree. Princewill is 21 and is a big 6'3" unit with some pace. Surely it must be worth giving him a start and if he struggles he's no different to Mubama and can be subbed off......presumably to be replaced by Mubama. I think the least you'd get from him is effort and 100% commitment which I'm not seeing from our Man City loanee.

Not sure we'll sign a centre back. We have Stephens, Wood and Abbott so will probably rely on them until Schlotterbeck is back.

We are at our best when playing many more vertical passes and flooding men forward quickly. Our fall off in form coincides with us sinking into the bad old habits of playing too many passes sideways and backwards and most of these passes are pretty pointless. We have gone back to playing the game slowly giving opponents time to regroup. I'm hoping this will change when Caspar Jander is back in the side partnering Downes with Azaz ahead of them. Right now we are not a good watch but still in a decent position.

Played some very good passes. Defensively maybe he could have done better at times but he was playing out of position at right back. Looked like he was fouled when the late corner was swung in but that goal was down to the Villa keeper.

Well, we know what one poster on here feels about sons-in-law.

His pathetic attempt to get on the end of the ball from JWP was a classic example of how half hearted this guy is. He was neither switched on or determined enough to get in front of defenders and get a touch which would have ended in a certain goal. Zero strikers instinct shown.

Not a bad shout.

Nah, that was never a penalty nor even a good shout for one.

Not an excuse because we weren't good enough but the ref bottled two big decisions. Firstly he wrongly calls back play for a foul on Wellington when he had already played advantage - Dobbin picks the ball up and goes past the player already on a yellow and he's pulled back from a dangerous attacking position. How the ref can claim he's gone back to the original foul on Wellington is just abdicating responsibility not least because obviously the free kick nearer their goal is an advantage. He then fails to give a blatant penalty for a clear handball right at the end probably because it was so near to full time so he again bottles it.

I think we need Jander fit asap so we can get back to a midfield two of him and Downes. He's as big a miss as Larin and we forget how good a player he is.

Yeah, they might be glad to have him next season when all their superstars leave.

I'm probably miles off the truth here but he looks to me like a player who's heart is not in it. If that is the case he either wants away and is aware of offers or is still not over getting kicked out of the Play-Off Final or both.

He needs to be doing a lot better because he's yet to demonstrate why we paid good money for his services. I was expecting to see some stand out performances with him playing a major role for us but he's been a huge disappointment. Him and Fellows are both underwhelming and should be shining in games at this level. We need them to massively up their output because they should be two talents who we can rely on but right now they are both missing in action.