I was in Block S, right on the edge by T. There were a few guys giving it a go, I was giving it my best and enjoyed that part of things. Block T is a terrible spot to try and create an atmosphere tbf but I get why they did it. To be honest, even being right on top of the terrace, I thought it was way more drum than chanting for most of the game. Very few committed singers these days, grumble, grumble.
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Agree completely - I supported Dodds and I think he did his best with minimal experience as a full team coach and with the squad he was āblessedā with by the recruitment team !
Duff has been brilliant since coming in, and he has stabilised the ship (with the same squad but he does have far more experience)
With the shit show of the recruitment last year, personally I will be happy to write this season off as long as we remain in league 1. With Duff at the helm and with him having a proper say in recruitment for next season I would like to feel that we are in safe hands.
Letās take this season for what it is, anything better than a mid table finish will be a bonus in my world
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Fredās sex life apparently !
Wife went into ill-timed labour. Fred implicated but not sure there was much he could have done about it. Cāest la vie, apparently, but that stuff is just a vague, distant memory for me and my good lady.
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Overall I donāt feel too negative after today. It only reinforced what we already know about whatās required if we want to be a top 6 side. We tried, went too gung ho at the back and we got punished with the decisive second goal. Just a shame that whenever we look like really kicking on, we come unstuck.
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What bothers me with Fink:
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The half-arsed loping around the pitch unless he sees an easy chance coming his way, which is the only time he breaks into a proper run. I very much understand the āselective runningā of, say, Akinfenwa, who a) never had any pace anyway, and b) had a screwed knee. Fink does not have these excuses.
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The general lack of ābustleā and physicality against opposition defenders.
Even more annoying knowing that he could do it if he wanted to - note headed goal v Gillingham where he actually had to outmuscle the defender to win the header. But 9 times out of 10, he doesnāt even seemingly bother to try.
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Awful in the air, and I donāt mean the missed headers today which, if those were the only problem, I would have given him the benefit of the doubt.
No, I mean the bread and butter headers, trying to win the knockdowns, or just change the direction of play. His anticipation and sense of timing seem to be terrible, or I would go a step further and say he simply seems to duck out of them half of the time. Scott Kashket used to do this too, but he was a) tiny, b) made of glass, and c) scored in other ways so it never upset me as much with him.
Genuinely one of the most frustrating WW players I think Iāve ever seen.
I donāt mind the many crap players over the years whoāve tried to make up for it with sheer effort, or the many forwards weāve made to look crap by playing them in the wrong role - typically diddymen, or pure ball-to-feet players being played up front as a target man (Dale Taylor, Ali Al-Hamadi).
You can argue that Dodds would never have signed Fink to be a bustling target type either as MD had such disdain for such dinosaur physicality.
Here, given Finkās decent close control, and ability to lay off with ball to feet, I can see how he might have fitted into a Doddsball Utopia of endless short passes, he could either get into an advanced scoring position or lay it off to someone else.
But Duff demands workrate and physicality. That is not Fink.
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See I do disagree here. Ive seen many Wycombe strikers loaf around without trying, and Fink isnt one. He huffs and puffs, and puts himself about. Hes low on confidence, and thats affecting some things he tries. He isnt the answer, and thats a fault of the recruitment. I absolutely see him trying.
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This is the well elaborated and polite way of approaching the topic. If I had the patience, Iād pen a similar effort. Instead, Iāll resort to the simple āhe is absolutely shitā
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OK - well thatās your prerogative, everyone sees different things in different players, and disagreement in looking at these things is good and healthy.
But Iām not saying heās not trying at all, just not trying enough, or in the right places.
I genuinely mean this, and there is no sarcasm: would have been great for Dodds to explain exactly what his strengths are, why he signed him etc.
Which he never would have done as he was super-cagey with even very basic tactical stuff, but still.
And then Duff also, explaining how he is working with with Fink (I think he said he was trying to develop aspects of his game?), and the progress of that work. Again, weād never get that level of detail, but hey.
Letās not forget also, he has literally never been prolific at any of his previous clubs.
So maybe itās just all on us for suddenly expecting him to be a goalscorer, when he never has been in the past.
I canāt have been the only who one who assumed he was a physical target man type player when first encountering him.
But heās not that mould at all. Doesnāt look to have great ability on the ball either, but then itās the rough and ready of league 1 where you donāt have ages to do what you want.
I think the only solution is to play him every game going forward and judge in the summer if heās a route itās worth carrying on with or not.
Taking away the disappointment of losing, I didnāt think today was a bad performance at all, we created a good number of chances, especially in that purple patch at the start of the 2nd half, but we didnāt take them. No way you can miss chances like that against decent sides and expect to get a result.
Completely disagree with the comment above suggesting that Fink doesnāt put in the effort. Iām far from convinced heās good enough, but I donāt doubt his effort. His movement is actually very good at times, hence the number of chances he gets. That fact he keeps missing them though is a real concern. 3 clear chances today and heās not taken them. He did improve as the match wore on and certainly offered more than Woodrow who had a very poor game today.
Frustrated by the result more that the performance. Taylor Allen and Woodrow were poor, but there were enough decent individual performances not to be too downhearted. We go again Tuesday.
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Weāve not beaten an adult team with Fink starting up front. Heās been dragged in nearly every game. Weāve lost every other game. In what world does he warrant more opportunities for āconfidenceā. We are not a youth system. We are not a Sunday league team. We are a professional outfit, only a few promotions away from the best league in the world. Get real. Get this guy out. Heās useless. Hire some proper strikers. We have a billionaire in charge.
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how you are blaming Fink when Woodroa is the real problem., he is absolutely useless
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Id imagine the answer to those are:
Dodds had no say in signing him. He had no say in signing anyone. He was employed as a coach who could get the best out of players signed for him, and failed at it.
Duff is playing him because theres no other striking option.
I like Fink. I want him to succeed. Yet, we do desperately need a more confident, more reliable, and more prolific striker.
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Woodrow is at least 20x the player Fink is. Compare career league goals. Compare goals against adults this season.
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I donāt think thatās true, since Fink was directly recommended by Doddsā brother, no?
Woodrow is awful , he has had 1 good season in his career , he is crap and does not care , Fink will turn out better than him over timeā¦
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How many more chances does fink have to miss until you change your mind?
Crikey. Woodrow is evidently not a long-term solution to whatever problems we have but his reaction to being subbed and knowing heād fluffed his big chance showed he evidently does care.
As for Finkā¦I kind of agree with @frequentstander. We need to move on from willing players to be good because they try a bit and we feel a bit sorry for them. Weāre not a charity case and with the supposed back room knowledge, data, money, blah, available to us now we should be making much better choices about player recruitment.
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I have eyes , at least Fink is a threat, Woodrow must be the easiest player in league 1 to mark ā¦.I cannot believe a player can be that bad ā¦.genuine a Sunday league footballer would add more than him
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