I’ve given myself a bit of thinking time on the journey back home before posting anything.
Hemmings - it probably was the wrong decision not to recall him, simply because he would be another option and number in the squad to call upon, but does anyone slagging the club off for not getting him back here honestly believe he would be the answer?
Would our position be much better if Hemmings was in the side?
This, remember, is the same player that many were slagging on when in the side last season, complaining that he didn’t move, only scored in the checkatrade etc etc
I don’t think he would have made that much difference, I don’t think he’s a bad player, but I also don’t think he’s the saviour he’s being made out to be.
Karl Robinson - anyone who thinks this is down to him and is blaming him for losing the games we have done, or saying there’s been no improvement is, in my opinion, clueless.
Tonight that side worked hard, created chances, got into a lot of good areas out wide etc which are vast improvements on where we were before his arrival.
Where I saw the main difference tonight though, was that we looked solid for most of the game, Eastwood made two good saves but on the most part we looked comfortable defensively.
The shape was good, we pressed in twos and threes and generally made it difficult for fleetwood to create good opportunities.
We defended set pieces well enough, an area that has been extremely hurtful to our chances this season. We even looked like scoring from a couple.
Players effort - I keep seeing that we have players who don’t care and aren’t putting In the effort because they won’t be here next season. I disagree, I think every player who wasn’t out there tonight worked hard, we just don’t have the quality to be able to see games through at the moment.
Wes Thomas is one who seems to get this accusation levelled at him more than others, but on numerous occasions he was tracking back and helping out down our left side. He also ran the channels well enough and managed to win us some good possession in forward areas. What he will never do is be a target man so when we ask him to do this it’s not going to work.
Tonight’s game - not a huge amount to add really to what’s already been said, controlled parts of it and never really felt like they were going to lose it. I’ve expressed my reservations before but Rob Dickie deserves a mention, probably should have scored but defensively I thought he was excellent again.
My main hope is that the players are able to forget how they are feeling after losing a game in that manner and go into Saturdays game with some confidence, which after that performance they should.
