Swindon Town v Peterborough United Official Matchday Thread

[suttonred]

They were running forward and didn't expect it going right through the middle of them. It was a defence splitting pass, unfortunately not at the right end.

[Batch]

Massimo should have buried his, unfair to lump all the blame on Reis. Coops said post-match that all the players volunteered, so Reis was unfortunate.

Mas tried to bury his , he just stuffed it. I don't blame Reis for losing, I do blame him for trying to be too clever with his shit penalty. It wasn't unfortunate, it was plain crap. If he'd smashed it and missed he'd have got the same sympathy.

[ronnie21]

Several have commented on a lack of fitness for the last 20 minutes, not surprising really when you consider we have no training facilities now, Liddington is out of bounds and we appear to be training on HALF of a 3G pitch courtesy of a local school - whatever happened to the Calne idea?

[Batch]

They put a fuck load of effort in for 70 minutes though. We were tired, but that doesn't make us unfit.

[tans]

whatever happened to the Calne idea?

Either one of two things.

1) It was a figment of Jed McCrorys imagination

or

2) It costs money. And we dont have any

[A Gent Orange]

Whatever happened to the Calne idea?

Like the roof on the bank and the Town End bar, it seems to have been pure Jed.

[ronnie21]

Like the roof on the bank and the Town End bar, it seems to have been pure Jed.

That roof will happen, after all Jed told us on more than one occasion that planning permission had been applied for!!  Like Jed, a fucking joke!!

[herthab]

Not disappointed at all if I'm honest. Thought we played really well for most of the game and if it hadn't have been for that individual mistake that gifted them their goal...
Some of the comments after the game on the radio and social media are baffling, what a load of fucking idiots.

[JoeMezz]

Just got back, haven't bothered to read through so apologies if I repeat...

First half, cracking, good game of footy to watch and whilst we weren't as good as we have been (Kasim and Luongo are not playing like they did at the start of the season), we were still miles better than the last game I went to (fucking Oldham). Best team we could have put out under the circumstances, played very well, Posh looked poor. Should have had a penalty obviously, but that's probably been said over 9000 times so I won't go into it.

What I will go into is the fucking appalling refereeing on display in the rest of the match. Even in comparison to the stuff we have to put up with week in week out, tonights offering was one of the worst refereed games I've ever seen.
-Advantage? Never heard of it.
-Seeing which player touched the ball last before it went out? Nah, fuck it, let's just give it to Peterborough, they're losing...
-Player gets stamped on repeatedly after a corner? Eh, give the free kick against him, it's probably his fault, giving a penalty would be too much like hard work.
-Booking for real offences instead of petty things just to assert your authority because you're a tiny tiny man who obviously has feelings of inadequacy in the crotch department? You get the jist...

Fucking useless, and the linesmen were just as bad. Should be happy with a job well done when the brown envelope stuffed with cash falls through their letterboxes tomorrow.

Back to the football, and whilst we should have been two/three up by half time (Pritchard missed a couple of opportunities to put people through on goal and shot instead, not surprising with the Sky cameras there, and also missed a free kick in the first half he normally would have buried from that distance), I was happy at the break, hoping we'd come back out firing and score another to kill the game off.

Whilst we didn't park the bus in the same way that I heard some people moaning about on Radio Wiltshire driving home, the attacking threat was a little diminished in the second half- partly because Posh had had time to regroup.

Danny N'Guessan would have got my MoM tonight- he ran his balls off, and was obviously knackered by the 65th/70th minute.  Cooper had no real options to replace him when he was forced to take him off, and I can understand why he waited. Gladwin should have gone into the middle instead though and pushed another player forward (Pritch with Luongo/Thompson on the Wing maybe?), and he had absolutely no time to get into the pace of the game before he was being booed by the usual cunts.

Posh's goal, for those of you radio-bound tonight, came about because Murphy was trapped by a Posh player just outside of the box and so passed it back to Kasim and Luongo who were coming towards him. The pair of them watched it roll past each other and Posh picked it up and stuck it in the back of the net. Not Murphy's fault IMHO as he was being quite heavily molested.

Penalties... Oh don't talk to me about penalties. I have decided after tonight and Brentford to never watch them ever again. Anyone who thinks Reis is shit because he missed one penalty can go and do one. Massimo should have buried his, unfair to lump all the blame on Reis. Coops said post-match that all the players volunteered, so Reis was unfortunate.

Stupid competition anyway...   

I stick by my 'Win JPT, not quite make the playoffs' prediction from earlier in the season, but will be pleasantly surprised if we do make the playoffs. Let's just kill off games when we're in the ascendancy from now please, okay boys?

EDIT: Oh, forgot to say, Cooper's a far better manager than people give him credit for and whilst we should not be deferential to him we should be fucking happy we have him and are still in with a shout of the playoffs instead of being like, oh I don't know, Bristol City, a club with much bigger resources and spending power who expected to ping straight back up but are still fighting relegation. I for one am more than happy with what he's done and want him to stay.

I like his attitude on the radio, and he doesn't make any bones about the fact he's not Ranger's biggest fan. Anyone remember how Jed used to say Ranger behaved better if you kicked him in the arse from time to time? Cooper may well be like he is about Ranger because of that.

That's probably best post I've seen for a while. Murphy got a little unlucky, and wrong footed Kasim, probably because he didn't look up as he played the pass. Think play-offs has to be a target, but surely not quite good enough.

EDIT: Agree with ref comments 100%, he was absolutely atrocious, and the standard of referring is getting worse, throughout the whole country.

[pauld]

I could score a penalty and I am fucking atrocious at playing football.

I could score a penalty against the best goalie in the world. I could also be an atrocious goalie (which I am) and save a penalty from the best striker in the world just by the sheer luck of getting in the way. I might not even have to save because the best penalty taker in the world could hit the cross bar.

Of course being able to kick a ball will improve your odds but all professionals should be quite good at that by default.

It's a lottery.

By the same token, then, you could score a worldy from open play by sheer luck (e.g. slicing it into the top corner when you meant to smash it low and hard). Maybe 1 time in 100. But, as you put it, "being able to kick a ball" and working hard in training to improve your technique, will greatly enhance your chances of doing so. By your argument, we could save a substantial amount of money on the wage bill and on hiring coaches etc and just field 11 vaguely fit blokes who can run around a bit because the rest of it's just a lottery.

[pauld]

I think penalties are like many disciplines in many sports. You can practice the mechanics all you want but it's different under pressure.

Yes and that's just as true of (for example) a striker breaking through one-on-one with a keeper, all the time in the world to pick his spot etc. In training, he'll nail it 9 times out of 10 but in a match situation, , will he hit it sweet or will the pressure get to him? Just because pressure plays a part, doesn't mean it's not a skill. All the more reason to train for it actually, so that it becomes more automatic, less chance of letting the pressure get to you.

[Bob's Orange]

Losing on penalties is never pleasant but its 'only' the JPT and so the disappointment of losing only really lasted a few moments to be honest.

First half I thought we generally bossed the game. Assombolonga had a swerving shot that Wes did well to save but apart from their right winger who got into good crossing positions, the Posh didn't actually look very dangerous.

I thought Pritchard looked good, still a bit greedy but definitely more positives than negatives. L.Thompson and Kasim were tidy in midfield and DNG was superb up front on his own, he looked strong, willing and came off the pitch absolutely drained. Troy and Ward nice and solid at the back, still not sure about Branco, he's very raw and not afraid of a challenge but I stick by the fact he's a bit of a bomb scare.

60 minutes we sat back deeper and deeper and it was too long for us to hold out. Murphy, who I thought looked promising playing (I presume) out of position played a sloppy pass and Assombolonga was never going to miss.

Of the subs, Gladwin as Sonic correctly said, looked like he had won a prize to play 10 minutes of a professional football match! Reis did slightly better and put in a belter of a cross that was begging to be finished.

Pens, meh. Did Reis really try and bend the ball into the top corner? Quite a bizarre effort.

Of course we should have had a penalty and them down to 10 but it wasn't given and we should have been braver and tried to finish the game. DNG was a whisker away from doing it and the Posh were definitely there for the taking and we paid for being too cautious.

Hopefully this will be the catalyst to try and end the season strongly. I think we have a squeak of the play-offs if we can put a run together starting with Orient away. I'll be at Brisbane Road so no doubt we'll be hopeless again!

[Bob's Orange]

Yes and that's just as true of (for example) a striker breaking through one-on-one with a keeper, all the time in the world to pick his spot etc. In training, he'll nail it 9 times out of 10 but in a match situation, , will he hit it sweet or will the pressure get to him? Just because pressure plays a part, doesn't mean it's not a skill. All the more reason to train for it actually, so that it becomes more automatic, less chance of letting the pressure get to you.

Or it could hit a bobble.

[pauld]

That's probably best post I've seen for a while. Murphy got a little unlucky, and wrong footed Kasim, probably because he didn't look up as he played the pass.

Simple lack of communication - put a name on it! It does happen unfortunately with players not used to playing with each other, but he could still have given him a shout.

[Batch]

Didn't look like they left out to each other to me. More that Murphy played the perfect pass for the posh. Hey ho.

I think Murphy looks a good prospect and has a good work ethic. I hope he isn't scapegoated for it by our fans. I don't think he will be.