Match Day Thread NCFC vs Wigan Athletic, Aug 6th, 12.30 k.o.

On the plus side, I thought Nunez looked great and created space for both Cantwell and Rashica.

Pukki also unlucky not to score, and Hernandez is unchanged (really dynamic, causes chaos, terrible final decision)

 

Here's a surprise for everyone -- my City MOM award this afternoon goes to Kenny McClean. The Wigan Maclean also played well.

 

Just so. We'll have to wait and see how Sara and Núñez develop but with Giannoulis out now I'm very pessimistic now about promotion. The tactics still seem the same as we pass it around in midfield while their defence organises a double block of 8 or 9 players. Onel made a difference when he came on but got little support and Pukki got precious little to work with yet again. Feeling very down after that.

 

Kenny picked up in the 2nd half. He was anonymous in the first. Cantwell and Aarons were my standouts. Cantwell for effort and Aarons for his goal. Omobamidele was also very good.

We looked a good team for 25mins. Then a Gibson shocker bursts the bubble.

Liked the look of Nunez, without him really shining. Sara looks an absolute beast (in stature at least!). We looked 10x more dangerous with Onel on, although, as always, his final ball was poor.

5/10 overall performance. Worryingly, Wigan are one of the worst teams we will play, and we still didnt beat them.

 

Hernandez was excellent Tod did well Max was very good

 

Correct, but he was in the right place at the right time defensively so often in that second half and, as others tired, kept driving us forward. I think there's a good chance we would have lost but for him.

 

At least we were trying to play football. Not sure Wigan tried once. Other than their goal, which we gave them, they were awful. Id much rather play how we did and get a draw than how they did. I know they have 2pts from two, but on that showing, Wigan are going down.

We looked like we could get better, they looked like they had nothing at all.

 

If whether we get promoted or not is dependant on Giannoulis, then we aren't going to get promoted whether he's available or not.

Agree that Hernandez made an impact when he came on, as did Sergeant.

My patience with the argument that Pukki gets little support is starting to wear thin. He had several chances today that he really should have done better with. He just needs a goal to get him going.

Not a great fan of Cantwell over the last couple of seasons, but I thought he did ok today. As did Nunez and Sara and I'm hoping they along with Hayden will shine in the coming months.

Gibson looked poor as did Rashica at times.

Mclean, AO & Krul looked solid and I'd agree with Robbie's view that McLean was probable our MoM.

I thought it was a massive improvement on our last game. Just need a couple of wins to get us on the front foot and challenging for promotion.

 

Good of you to acknowledge Sargeant, many fans have written him off and immediately lambast his performance without judging it on merit. I thought he did well today, almost had an immediate impact when he won the ball and played a good through ball for Pukki. He was a handful and pressed well

 

He was much better today, especially second half, not sure id go as far MOM, Max edges that one for me

 

Yes, Max looked back to his best. The Champs seems to suit him much more than the PL, and not only for the obvious reason that the opposition is much weaker. He thrives on the front foot; he's much weaker when he has to spend a lot of his time defending. I thought he was also one of our better players against Cardiff (not saying much, I know).

 

Agreed, although if I have to pick fault I felt there were several times he should have perhaps played the ball up the line for Rashica to stretch his legs but he opted to carry it instead. I preferred seeing Rashica on the right ahead of him, he looked more natural, although his end product left a bit to be desired, besides the short ball to Aarons for the goal

 

That's certainly not what DS intends. Faffing around at the back and in midfield is exactly what he doesn't want, and why we've signed Sara and Núñez, both of whom have the ability to move the ball swiftly forward, either by accurate passing to players already in advanced positions, or by carrying the ball forward themselves.

 

I felt the same after the game but did not really want to say it out loud, given that we are only 2 games in. Defeat to Brum in the Cup and I will not be looking forward to the next league game at Hull

 

Smithball is uncomfortable viewing even at this level.


Ingredients or something though

 

Are we expecting too much of Pukki? Prolific in Championship and decent in EPL. Hugill seems out of favour, unless Pukki injured and Idah seems to have gone to ground unless injured. Perhaps we need another striker? One goal in two games coming from a full back. We presently sit in 21st place in league with this feeling of “we will get better”.

 

We have needed a new striker and centre back for 3 seasons but we just buy and sell midfielders.

 

How much Farkeball did we see during the 2017-18 season? If I remember rightly it was six games into DF's second season before we saw it in all its glory.
As I recall, in that first season, what we mostly saw was a far from comfortable team trying, not very successfully, to play out from the back; and giving everyone the jitters in doing so, accompanied by cries of "Just put your foot through it" and "Get it forward for ff's sake". (It did improve a bit after Leitner's January arrival mind ..............).