Done by the dark arts today….
Done by the dark arts today….
…….and the ref !
From minute one they spoiled that game today. But my gripe is with that incompetent so called ref who fell for everything they did - tactics like theirs are spoiling football for me.
We were poor, clearly today but just imagine watching that lot week in week out.
Why book their keeper ? No way would he have given him a second yellow so what’s the point ? Sending the p rat off would send a message !!!
From minute one they spoiled that game today. But my gripe is with that incompetent so called ref who fell for everything they did - tactics like theirs are spoiling football for me.
We were poor, clearly today but just imagine watching that lot week in week out.
Why book their keeper ? No way would he have given him a second yellow so what’s the point ? Sending the p rat off would send a message !!!
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
That's what we are doing!!

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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
They were an ugly side, but you’re going to face that and have to find a way to get the better of teams that set up this way.
We need to be looking a lot closer to home.
We need to be looking a lot closer to home.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Not having that we were absolutely woeful
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Just glad that teams are coming to play against like that; if they put a bit of effort in most sides could probably walk away with 3 points against us at the moment.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
We were done by backwards passes, players not being able to complete simple 5 yard passes, zero movement, zero patterns of play. We got extraordinarily lucky with the offside goal, we deserved to lose today.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
No.Bowclaret wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 3:33 pm…….and the ref !
From minute one they spoiled that game today. But my gripe is with that incompetent so called ref who fell for everything they did - tactics like theirs are spoiling football for me.
We were poor, clearly today but just imagine watching that lot week in week out.
Why book their keeper ? No way would he have given him a second yellow so what’s the point ? Sending the p rat off would send a message !!!
Refs in the League have always been crap.
Lower-table teams will always come to a supposedly bigger team and try to timewaste and spoil.
The trick as one of these supposedly bigger teams is to show your quality so that weak officials and spoiling opposition don’t become a factor, and we abjectly failed to do that today.
Re: Done by the dark arts today….
We can actually thank one official for keeping us in the game in the first half. Not quite sure how he called that offside.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
The trick is also about getting that early goal and ensuring the opposition dont go down that route...and our current set up looks nothing like doing that..
We seem to be setting up for a season of smash and grabs.
We seem to be setting up for a season of smash and grabs.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Even if they were playing a spoiling game they looked far more dangerous than us coming forward.Bowclaret wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 3:33 pm…….and the ref !
From minute one they spoiled that game today. But my gripe is with that incompetent so called ref who fell for everything they did - tactics like theirs are spoiling football for me.
We were poor, clearly today but just imagine watching that lot week in week out.
Why book their keeper ? No way would he have given him a second yellow so what’s the point ? Sending the p rat off would send a message !!!
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Little to do with any 'Dark Arts' today.
We can't pass. Don't move/find space. Sideways/backward passing that reduces our tempo. When we did get forward we totally lacked ideas or belief.
Hopefully, we'll start to gell sooner rather than later or, we could be in for a long season.
We were very, very lucky not to lose today.
A marginally better side than Preston would have buried us.
We can't pass. Don't move/find space. Sideways/backward passing that reduces our tempo. When we did get forward we totally lacked ideas or belief.
Hopefully, we'll start to gell sooner rather than later or, we could be in for a long season.
We were very, very lucky not to lose today.
A marginally better side than Preston would have buried us.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
He repeated his trick in the second half mind and managed to miss a fairly clear pen for the blatant tug on Foster.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
To a certain degree, you allow yourself to be a victim of the dark arts depending on how you approach the game. Preston by and large had the most dangerous chances let's not forget. But after an hour, they very quickly spoiled the game. And we gave them that opportunity by being so passive for an hour. You can't turn up for the last 10 mins with loads of urgency and expect Preston not to use every trick in the book to get over the line.
If we'd have been braver earlier, we might score a goal. And then guess what, they have to chase the game and you get more opportunities. And no dark arts either. Being cautious plays right into blackburns, Prestons, Portsmouth hands. They would hate seeing a number 10 like flemming start at the expense of hannibal
If we'd have been braver earlier, we might score a goal. And then guess what, they have to chase the game and you get more opportunities. And no dark arts either. Being cautious plays right into blackburns, Prestons, Portsmouth hands. They would hate seeing a number 10 like flemming start at the expense of hannibal
Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Correct although, if it’s the same one I’m thinking about, it was on Anthony.
Suprised Foster had a shirt left though the amount of times it was gripped by the centre half throughout the game.
Re: Done by the dark arts today….
And maybe Hanninal playing where Brownhill does.willsclarets wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 3:52 pmTo a certain degree, you allow yourself to be a victim of the dark arts depending on how you approach the game. Preston by and large had the most dangerous chances let's not forget. But after an hour, they very quickly spoiled the game. And we gave them that opportunity by being so passive for an hour. You can't turn up for the last 10 mins with loads of urgency and expect Preston not to use every trick in the book to get over the line.
If we'd have been braver earlier, we might score a goal. And then guess what, they have to chase the game and you get more opportunities. And no dark arts either. Being cautious plays right into blackburns, Prestons, Portsmouth hands. They would hate seeing a number 10 like flemming start at the expense of hannibal
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
In fact I don't understand PNE's attitude. If they'd kept at us in the second half as in the first half they could surely have won. We certainly weren't going to win.
Re: Done by the dark arts today….
That was my opinion as well. Similar to Pompey home game. Had they continued to play their game they would have won.
The officials need to remember that football is meant to be entertainment. As poor as we were, and we were horrendous, the referee fell for every single time-wasting tactic from the first minute. Why talk to the GK four times before booking him? He must have wasted 4 or 5 minutes in the first half on his own, and the officials have the gall to only add 2 minutes on.
Then the second half was a complete and utter farce. The PNE players were hitting the floor like it was the battle of the Somme. Falling over at every touch, sitting on the floor every time the ball went out for a throw in, and fouling every time we looked like we might actually be getting a head of steam up. They slowed the game down at every opportunity. I genuinely don't think I've watched 45 minutes of football with as little actual football as that today, and I've been watching us for nearly 40 years!
We were garbage, but PNE and the officials were a disgrace to football in the second half.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
I don’t even know why they started doing it. If anything they were getting on top of us and probably could have gone on to win it. It was obviously the pre match tactic to break the game up to stop us getting something at the end but they probably could have got more from it, we were that bad.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Preston were frustrating rolling around on the floor after every tackle.
That being said, they were far more entertaining than we were and probably deserved all three points.
That being said, they were far more entertaining than we were and probably deserved all three points.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Some folk in Claret and Blue are stealing their wages.
Not good enough for The Championship and the tactics are dire.
Promotion? We'll be lucky to stay in the top 10
Not good enough for The Championship and the tactics are dire.
Promotion? We'll be lucky to stay in the top 10

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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
I guess with the gulf in finances and talent between the two teams the PNE fans will be happy with the point but to me that's not an acceptable way to play in a derby. They were wasting time after seven minutes.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Also one guy in a cardiganRalphCoatesComb wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:38 pmSome folk in Claret and Blue are stealing their wages
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
I’d rather not see Anthony on the pitch. I don’t like to see our players jumping tackles. Is he a loan player?willsclarets wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:46 pmI wouldn't mind either pairing with Cullen tbh as long as we played a 10. Maybe flemming not fit to start today but could've played Anthony in the 10 more centrally with Sarmiento on the left.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
No idea who that could be

As has been said elsewhere, he had the rug pulled from under him after two games.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
I'd say after about 90 seconds. They had a goal kick which took up an eternity to take. Too early I admit for a ref to remonstrate but it set the tone for the remainder of the game.daveisaclaret wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:45 pmI guess with the gulf in finances and talent between the two teams the PNE fans will be happy with the point but to me that's not an acceptable way to play in a derby. They were wasting time after seven minutes.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
40 million wage budget to their 10-15 million
Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Not for me, we were done by a complete lack of ambition. We either didn't implement the managers tactics, in which case it sits with players. If that was/is the game plan, then Scott Parker needs to take a long hard look at himself.Bowclaret wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 3:33 pm…….and the ref !
From minute one they spoiled that game today. But my gripe is with that incompetent so called ref who fell for everything they did - tactics like theirs are spoiling football for me.
We were poor, clearly today but just imagine watching that lot week in week out.
Why book their keeper ? No way would he have given him a second yellow so what’s the point ? Sending the p rat off would send a message !!!
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
I disagree.Silkyskills1 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 5:30 pmI'd say after about 90 seconds. They had a goal kick which took up an eternity to take. Too early I admit for a ref to remonstrate but it set the tone for the remainder of the game.
Stop the game, tell him you are adding 1 minute on for this incident, and that if he does it again it's a yellow card, whether it's in minute 3 or later on.
Unfortunately this ref was weak, weak, weak, and wouldn't have had the guts to do that.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
We should be battering teams like this . Embarrassing
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Dark arts from the opposition - absolutely! Should we be miles better than that and taking them apart - too bloody right we should, IF we're serious about promotion!
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Preston were what you’d expect from a Heckingbottom side. Ref was embarrassing. We weren’t good. All things can be true.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Poor team selection Samiento and Flemming should have started along with
Laurent
Laurent
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
PNE were a disgrace with their "spoiling" tactics, yet they STILL managed to be the more likely to score of two poor looking teams. That, in theory, tells Parker something, but as an experienced player and manager I don't feel it's anything he really doesn't already know.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Just scoring a goal would have stopped time-wasting immediately and forced a positive reaction from PNE.Just a thought mind..
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Yep, amazing how quickly a keeper can shift the ball when they're a goal down.BigAlClaret wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 6:33 pmJust scoring a goal would have stopped time-wasting immediately and forced a positive reaction from PNE.Just a thought mind..
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Utter nonsense. We had 100 minutes to win a game and we didn’t look like doing it at all.
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Re: Done by the dark arts today….
Nothing to do with dark arts. We were sh!te the whole game. Granted they played a tough spoiling game, but we as a team chickened out , no fight, no desire, no ferkin idea.
Re: Done by the dark arts today….
It's right that Parker deserves our time and patience but there's been a line trotted out on here that we're going to come up against teams that will sit in against us and that line is now beginning to wear thin because
1) We havent exclusively played against times that will do that, eg Plymouth, and we still looked toothless.
2) we don't look like we've learnt anything. It's pedestrian, one paced, and our forwards are isolated with huge gaps between midfield and our lone striker that isn't equipped to play as our lone striker.
1) We havent exclusively played against times that will do that, eg Plymouth, and we still looked toothless.
2) we don't look like we've learnt anything. It's pedestrian, one paced, and our forwards are isolated with huge gaps between midfield and our lone striker that isn't equipped to play as our lone striker.