Had a shocker. Where was he for their first goal? Bamba tried to cover for him leaving Hooper free only have to put jump Gunnar. Nearly scored an og. That double header was embarrassing. Never makes an effort to come forward. Richards surely has to come in next game. Incidentally surprised NW left it so long to make changes. Thought our 2nd half display deserved a draw even if Bamba was suspiciously close to being offside. As for Zahore, how can he score if not given any chances? City need to adapt their play to get the best out of him. ps. Yesterday's result at Millwall just again shows how unpredictable this league is.
Agree about Peltier. Said on the matchday thread that he needs to spend some time on the bench as a defensive option. He's never had the ability to get forward down the right on the overlap. We've been lucky Mendez has troubled opposition left backs on his own without support. Jazz is the obvious answer as a replacement but I'd also give Manga a go. He's quick and strong and would add pace getting forward as well as getting back behind the ball if we're turned over. The Zahore situation is far more complex. The guy can be (and has been) a match winner but he needs to play off team mates. He can't do that when they're 30 yards away. It's not that he's playing badly, it just that the midfield as a whole have been off colour this last couple of games. Bryson is class, but I've liked the look of Damour from the start of the season. Maybe it was wrong to switch him out recently instead of a tiring Ralls or even Gunnar who looked off the pace yesterday.
Agree on Peltier. First half ML broke forward into their half, got blocked and turned for support. Peltier should have followed up but was still on the edge of our box. Richards would have been there. As for the double header? Doh!!! He needs a rest as does Zohore. He was lethargic from the start.
As just posted on the match thread, perhaps playing Ward up front with Zahore would free him up some space.
On the Peltier issue, I just had a look back at their goal on the vid - you don't always realise live at the time how it came about. Peltier was ball watching half way inside our half and Reach ran straight into the hole that he'd left behind him. Bamba had no option to come out wide to close him down. Gunnar tried to run back to cover for him in the middle. In came the cross from Reach, and with no Bamba to challenge him in the air. Hooper had a free header. Poor positional play from Peltier who's only real attribute is defending - he can't do anything else.
Looks like Paterson is back as an option to Peltier. Played this afternoon in the Dev squad 4-0 win at Burnley. He also played 45 mins last week for the Dev squad against Hull so he should be about ready to go.
