Swindon Town FC v Brentford FC Official Matchday Thread

[RedRag]

Brentford penalty - Although a wild challenge by Luongo, the reason it wasn't a penalty, as anyone in the Arkells could tell you, was because the ball broke towards the Brentford player felled, from Douglas's left hand and a patently deliberate control of the hand at that.

We're not talking about some incident in the build up but the last touch of the ball before Luongo's tackle.  A shocking decision?

Unfortunately the ref was not in the Arkells but was in fact perfectly obscured by Douglas himself so he could not have called the handball.  No criticism of the ref on that decision therefore.

We will however need a very decent slice of luck on Monday to make up for the other key calls that went against us in what was otherwise a shocking display by the ref.

[fatbasher]

Here's another excuse that you may not have heard previously. A 1720 kick off is the worst timed kick off for parents of little people. Tea time and bed time routine period. And when I'd already missed last night's one due to going to the Wyvern, watching it on TV was the only option. And it saved me money, lovely.

This is the result of the sport being controlled by TV companies.

Wait till we're in the Premier league 

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

I can't believe how negative everyone is being.

We were the better side and Brentford did nothing aside from foul us and score their onky attempt on target when we should have had at lesst one penalty.

We looked solid at the back for the most part and Brentford are there to be beaten.  The pressure is on them in the second leg and given their capitulation last week and with Captain Douglas leading the way I fancy us nicking a win.

Admittedly my optimism ends there but I have fisting DMR to look forward to.

The fisting of DMR notwithstanding, I agree with this. Most people seem to be on a bit of a Debbie Downer and I can't see why.

We didn't play amazingly well but played reasonably well and would been good value for a one goal lead going into the second leg.

Just a couple of observations player-wise...

KMac - please in the name of all that is holy, stop playing Ferry on the right, it's killing him and it's killing me watching him. On Monday, swap Ferry and Alan Mac around and I'm sure we will look a vastly improved side. On the subject of Alan Mac, I don't think anyone's mentioned his world class tackle on the Brentford player bearing down on goal 5 minutes from time. That was fantastic.

Luongo - He's a strange one - he'll do something brilliant one minute and utterly crap the next. I thought his two major contributions summed him up really. A beautifully taken goal and a horrendously conceded penalty six (yes, count them, that's SIX) seconds from the end of stoppage time. Two of his three corners were laughably bad as well.

Whilst it was a complete kick in the balls to concede so late, I think it's probably done us a favour in terms of approaching the second leg.

In '04 when we lost the first leg 0-1 at home to Brighton, I perversely felt more confident of going down there and getting a result than if we'd won 1-0. As it was, we had to go down there and have a bit of a go and take the game to them. This is what happened and as we all know, we would have pulled it off had it not been for some random snooker player popping up in the last second and taking the tie to pens.

Had we been 1-0 up we would have gone down there and tried to be all cagey and clever like we were Juventus in the Champions League semi final and we would never even have made it to extra time. I reckon this is how we would have approached the game tomorrow had we been one up. As it is, we have to have a bit of a go, which of course is the right way to approach it.

I don't know about anyone else but I'm loving the fact that the first and second legs are so close together and we don't have 4 days to wonder what out fate is going to be. I personally think that these L1 play offs are a microcosm of the season as a whole which has been as tight as a gnat's chuff at the top end of the table. I would not be a bit surprised to see the tie decided by those dreaded pens. I hope we've been practicing.

[herthab]

If it gets to pens we're out. For all his strengths, when it comes to penalties Wes is no Phil Smith.

[herthab]

....and there manager's a fucking German.

[herthab]

....and their manager's a fucking German.

[joteddyred]

Be honest and admit that you haven't given him a ghost of a chance since he took over.

If football was as simple as extroverts are successful and introverts are unsuccessful then you might have a point.

That's not fair.  I was pleased when he was appointed and felt quite positive he'd see us across the line.  I only started to have doubts when he messed about with formations and played players out of position and I certainly wasn't alone there.  He's continued to play a loanee from Tottenham in central midfield and shoved Ferry into a position he's clearly not comfortable in.  Everyone else can see it, why can't he?  Ferry will probably play his last game for us tomorrow if fit.

I can honestly see us playing for the draw tomorrow and hoping we'll win on penalties.  Risky tactic that doesn't work.  You've only got to see how many late goals we've conceded since he took charge.

Brentford penalty - Although a wild challenge by Luongo, the reason it wasn't a penalty, as anyone in the Arkells could tell you, was because the ball broke towards the Brentford player felled, from Douglas's left hand and a patently deliberate control of the hand at that.

We're not talking about some incident in the build up but the last touch of the ball before Luongo's tackle.  A shocking decision?

Unfortunately the ref was not in the Arkells but was in fact perfectly obscured by Douglas himself so he could not have called the handball.  No criticism of the ref on that decision therefore.

That's what the linesman is there for, but his only contribution appeared to be to award throw ins.  Utterly pathetic display by the officials.

[woolster]

....and there manager's a fucking German.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

....and there manager's a fucking German.

Speaking of which, player selection and tactics aside, I'm not getting this obsession some people have with KMac's perceived lack of passion or the fact that he doesn't jump up and down or wave his arms around enough.  Uwe Rosler is hardly the most demonstrative of managers but I doubt that Brentford fans are complaining.

Look at these examples...

Pensive Uwe...

[url width=470 height=300]http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/hounslowchron/jul2011/2/1/uwe-rosler-image-2-807030670.jpg[/url]

Happy Uwe...

[url width=470 height=300]http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/hounslowchron/jul2011/2/1/uwe-rosler-image-2-807030670.jpg[/url]

Sad Uwe...

[url width=470 height=300]http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/hounslowchron/jul2011/2/1/uwe-rosler-image-2-807030670.jpg[/url]

Angry Uwe...

[url width=470 height=300]http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/hounslowchron/jul2011/2/1/uwe-rosler-image-2-807030670.jpg[/url]

...and so on. You get the idea.

[Paolo69]

In KMac's defence he's pretty limited with who he can play on the right if we're criticising him for playing players out of position. I love Ferry but I can understand why KMac's picking the team as it is with the personnel at his disposal. Ferry and Luongo in the middle likely to be too lightweight. Paolo was lucky he had Richie!

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

I can honestly see us playing for the draw tomorrow and hoping we'll win on penalties.  Risky tactic that doesn't work.  You've only got to see how many late goals we've conceded since he took charge.

I would like to think that even KMac will be more positive than that - we shall see. I agree about Ferry, it's mind blowing that he persists in playing him there. I said earlier that him and Alan Mac should swap positions.

[ronnie21]

As for the crowd surely there were more than 10,500 there. All stand were full bar the arkells away section. Seems very strange to me. Reminds me of the diamond mike fake attendance days.

We had spare seats all around us in the DRS, and the Arkells had loads of seats available, probably only two-thirds full in the Arkells not including the away section that, predictably, had no cunt in there.

[Batch]

Ferry and Luongo in the middle likely to be too lightweight. Paolo was lucky he had Richie!

Absolutely too lightweight. I'd liked to have seen Ferry and Luongo  swap places but it's a bit late in the day to try things out.

But we can still do this. Absolutely convinced of the fact.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

We had spare seats all around us in the DRS, and the Arkells had loads of seats available, probably only two-thirds full in the Arkells not including the away section that, predictably, had no cunt in there.

I think, as has already been alluded to, people have said to themselves "OK, I can shell out £25 per ticket to go to the game or I can stay at home and watch it on Sky which I'm already paying for any way, why should I pay out even more" or if they don't get Sky, "OK, I can shell out £25 per ticket to go to the game or watch it down the pub for the price of a few pints which, even by today's astrnomical prices, will not equate to £25".

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Absolutely too lightweight. I'd liked to have seen Ferry and Luongo  swap places but it's a bit late in the day to try things out.

But we can still do this. Absolutely convinced of the fact.

I hadn't considered that - it was a bit short sighted of me really - I probably wouldn't be a very good manager

Agree though that we can do it, we can win the whole thing without any shadow of a doubt.