Stevenage (H)

[Ani]

7 points in last three is more than 'good enough'. In two of those games refs have made potentially game changing errors against us. I thought the red in last game was explainable no idea how he gives a red today. 
Having bought in new players we need to find the right balance. A midfield 2 in a league where there are more 'workers' than 'players' feels light. That  IMO gives teams a way into games.

The creative players may have to rein it in, or get an extra body in there at times. 
Was surprised Doyle stayed on when down to 10. 
As mentioned this league is about being least shit. The frustration is we are stuck playing catch up as earlier in the season we really were shit  

[Take Hunt Off]

It wasn't great .Three points much needed .Doesn't always work picking too many attacking players & leaves us a bit light in centre mid.

Most of the first half we were purring with good movement even though our right side was a bit stuttering  with Maddison looking rusty & Jones hesitant. 

When decisions go against us we tend to panic, giving free kicks & corners away like confetti. Game management is poor.Two examples ,

Thomason was passed the ball with three Stevenage players close to him .He tried valiantly to keep the ball but was overpowered .Luckily the opposition didn't exploit the situation. Then right into the last minute of injury time Isgrove just needed to run the ball into the corner but managed to lose the ball.Again we weren't punished but Christ almighty we don't half encourage the opposition. 

Small details that game after game aren't adressed.

Anyway Santos & Baptiste take a bow both excellent today.

[Max Cherry]

16 minutes ago, jules_darby said:

The “facts” are that we won 1-0; the rest is your garbage opinion

wasnt great nor pretty but nowhere near as bad as you make out 

 

Spot on this guy would obviously like Evatt to have lost so he can stick the boot in like HughMungus Bell and the Riddler. weak and spineless he reckoned? Bollocks 

Certainly frustrating i give you that but i still see a team in there and reasons to be positive. 

[ianofcleveleys]

1 minute ago, radcliffewhite1 said:

Where does sarce fit in 

Not sure if he does, especially if Evatt wants Maddison and Afolayan in at same time, only place would possibly be in Delf's no 10 sort of role (he looked to have another niggle when he went off), wouldn't mind seeing him given a go there

[Biggish Dave]

6 minutes ago, radcliffewhite1 said:

Where does sarce fit in 

Replaces Delf. He did ok today but he's no natural no 10 and I'd expect Sarce to be better.

As someone mentioned earlier, we had 4 players making their 1st or 2nd start. It will take a few games yet but our quality is higher than it was 6 weeks ago

[Mantra]

Surprised to see a few thinking that was in some way a bad performance. We didn't set the world alight but compared to some of our performances in the first part of the season, that one was decent! 

Plenty of room for improvement sure but a new-look team today did well to grind out the win. Looked very positive first 15. Lost our way at times but nothing to be too concerned about, for me. Wonder whether Jensen will get a crack soon or if Evatt will stick with Gilks...

Best XI at the minute in my view is:

Gilks;

Jones, Baptiste, Santos, John;

Lee, Tutte, Thomason;

Gnahoua, Doyle, Afolayan.

 

Think people are being overly harsh on MJ Williams too - been better than Comley in that role by a long way! He's not glamorous but does the job he's given. Don't think Tutte deserved to be dropped though.

Sarcevic should push for a starting spot too but not sure who would drop out. MJ or Tutte have to play the DM role. 

Maddison needs to show what he's about sooner rather than later. A lot of hype around him, similar to Crawford but not seen much from either this season to justify their reputations.

Isgrove and Gnahoua look much more consistent than him. I'm guessing Maddison is one of those hit and miss players a bit like Ameobi, sometimes fantastic but when he's not, there's not much to his game.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

47 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Are you kidding, we deserved nothing we were crap.they outplayed us all over the pitch, we’re weak, spineless and clueless and lucky as well today. Until we can put teams like this to the sword we’re going nowhere I’m afraid.

Bollocks. 

[Ani]

3 minutes ago, Take Hunt Off said:

It wasn't great .Three points much needed .Doesn't always work picking too many attacking players & leaves us a bit light in centre mid.

Most of the first half we were purring with good movement even though our right side was a bit stuttering  with Maddison looking rusty & Jones hesitant. 

When decisions go against us we tend to panic, giving free kicks & corners away like confetti. Game management is poor.Two examples ,

Thomason was passed the ball with three Stevenage players close to him .He tried valiantly to keep the ball but was overpowered .Luckily the opposition didn't exploit the situation. Then right into the last minute of injury time Isgrove just needed to run the ball into the corner but managed to lose the ball.Again we weren't punished but Christ almighty we don't half encourage the opposition. 

Small details that game after game aren't adressed.

Anyway Santos & Baptiste take a bow both excellent today.

Agree on the game management, they quickly caught on to letting centre halves have the ball and then chasing down the full backs. We kept doing it and the Thomason incident you mention came from one of these. 
 

 

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

10 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Think people forget this is Division 4 football we are watching.

 

Aye, I stumbled across highlight from one of our Championship matches last week and even though we were a poor team at that level the basic quality of our players was miles ahead of what we're watching now.

[masi 51]

38 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

You watched the match, take your rose tinted off and let’s just be honest. That second half was a disgrace and we were out passed, outfought and outthought and how they didn’t at least equalise is down purely to luck and bad finishing. 

like us against crawley.....swings and roundabouts

[Guest]

With better players around sarce should come back much stronger and show us what he’s capable of (he showed signs already) 

[Biggish Dave]

These would have gone above us with a win. They are now 6 behind and we have 2 in hand

Nothing to brag about but makes the 1st target of staying up much easier

[QFPants]

First double of the season?

[Biggish Dave]

Just now, QFPants said:

First double of the season?

Yes, I think so

[Biggish Dave]

Just now, QFPants said:

First double of the season?

Come to think of it, prob the 1st in 2 or 3 seasons

[superkev]

46 minutes ago, W.cramp said:

Yep,  come on here and the usuals are moaning at 3 points .   Were you expecting a city style performance today?     Yes it's a hard watch but 3 points is exactly that.    

I believe some people think we should be carving a chance out every time we go forward. 

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

I'm still unconvinced by us but we've gone 7 from 9 in the last three matches.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

Just now, Mantra said:

Surprised to see a few thinking that was in some way a bad performance. We didn't set the world alight but compared to some of our performances in the first part of the season, that one was decent! 

Plenty of room for improvement sure but a new-look team today did well to grind out the win. Looked very positive first 15. Lost our way at times but nothing to be too concerned about, for me. Wonder whether Jensen will get a crack soon or if Evatt will stick with Gilks...

Best XI at the minute in my view is:

Gilks;

Jones, Baptiste, Santos, John;

Lee, Tutte, Thomason;

Gnahoua, Doyle, Afolayan.

 

Think people are being overly harsh on MJ Williams too - been better than Comley in that role by a long way! He's not glamorous but does the job he's given. Don't think Tutte deserved to be dropped though.

Sarcevic should push for a starting spot too but not sure who would drop out. MJ or Tutte have to play the DM role. 

Maddison needs to show what he's about sooner rather than later. A lot of hype around him, similar to Crawford but not seen much from either this season to justify their reputations.

Isgrove and Gnahoua look much more consistent than him. I'm guessing Maddison is one of those hit and miss players a bit like Ameobi, sometimes fantastic but when he's not, there's not much to his game.

Agree there.

Was very good against Morecambe. Was a bit slower to the ball at times today, and gave it away at times, but he was still there, covering and battling for the ball.

Biggest issue for me today, was maddog thinking he was KdB. Just play it simple occasionally, pass and move and build the play.

Halfalion worked bloody hard, but lacking an end product at times, and Fonz not influential either.

Didn't manage to sustain attacks for a great length of time, and some poor final balls too.

Can't help thinking that the weather affected them to an extent, and I don't think the pitch is what it could be.

They were reasonable in defence, didn't give the new lads much time and worked it quite well at times, without too much threat.

Doyle worked his spuds off without much service. Needs support quicker at times- he isn't Kevin Davies. His clearance at the end in defence and the effort where he almost stole in and lobbed the keeper were testament to his commitment. He was bent over and blowing out of his arse at one point.

He's as committed as anyone in the team.

[Johnnyrotten]

4 minutes ago, Mantra said:

Surprised to see a few thinking that was in some way a bad performance. We didn't set the world alight but compared to some of our performances in the first part of the season, that one was decent! 

Plenty of room for improvement sure but a new-look team today did well to grind out the win. Looked very positive first 15. Lost our way at times but nothing to be too concerned about, for me. Wonder whether Jensen will get a crack soon or if Evatt will stick with Gilks...

Best XI at the minute in my view is:

Gilks;

Jones, Baptiste, Santos, John;

Lee, Tutte, Thomason;

Gnahoua, Doyle, Afolayan.

 

Think people are being overly harsh on MJ Williams too - been better than Comley in that role by a long way! He's not glamorous but does the job he's given. Don't think Tutte deserved to be dropped though.

Sarcevic should push for a starting spot too but not sure who would drop out. MJ or Tutte have to play the DM role. 

Maddison needs to show what he's about sooner rather than later. A lot of hype around him, similar to Crawford but not seen much from either this season to justify their reputations.

Isgrove and Gnahoua look much more consistent than him. I'm guessing Maddison is one of those hit and miss players a bit like Ameobi, sometimes fantastic but when he's not, there's not much to his game.

Some good points, worthy of comment:

Yes better than first few months - as we all know, that's not difficult, but still grateful that those days are gone.

First 15 minutes weren't that positive. Scored a great goal yes, but the comments on here before then were that we'd started poorly again, kept giving the ball away and Baptiste had to make a great block, Stevenage came out of the blocks faster.

That line up - I'd be more than happy with that, with MM, Sarce and Fonz as impact subs.

I disagree on Williams, I would have thought his job was to tackle and pass, looks short of quality in both areas.  We've got better players in the squad, no need to go back to the days of White and Comley, where we accept 2nd best.  There's no way MJ gets into the Stevenage or Morecambe midfields, they were simply better footballers and tacklers.

Agree on Maddison, no point denying he's disappointing so far, and if Crawford had some poor games they were never as poor as MM today, Crawford would always show some quality amidst the overhit worldy passes, but MM didnt do any of that.  

I'm warming to Isgrove, a busy player with a bit of quality.  And Arthur is well worth a place, we are weaker when he doesnt play.

 

 

[tomski]

4 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Bumper night for the one hotel in the town. Mad rush (including Jack Dearden) at last orders at 11.45pm. Turned out you could still buy ale after that, just it was from reception rather than the bar itself. 

Vague recollection of my Mrs (not so politely) shouting from the hotel window for @tomskiand I not to speak so loudly sat outside at about 1am 🤣

The George. Awooga

[jules_darby]

8 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I'm still unconvinced by us but we've gone 7 from 9 in the last three matches.

And would have been 9/9 if not for that shit decision on Tues

Its building blocks, don’t get the negativity by some 🤷🏽‍♂️

Edited February 13, 2021 by jules_darby

[gonzo]

Just now, jules_darby said:

And would have been 9/9 if nothing for that shit decision on Tues

Its building blocks, don’t get the negativity by some 🤷🏽‍♂️

Me nether. 

I really dont know what people expect.

[Dr. Feelgood]

30 minutes ago, Mantra said:

Gilks;

Jones, Baptiste, Santos, John;

Lee, Tutte, Thomason;

Gnahoua, Doyle, Afolayan.

Amazing really that we can show this & be debating Sarcevic, Isgrove, Delfonso, Darcy, Brookbank, Delaney, even Jackson & Williams plus probably a couple more.

... & we're 13th

Edited February 13, 2021 by Dr. Feelgood

[Ani]

5 minutes ago, jules_darby said:

And would have been 9/9 if not for that shit decision on Tues

Its building blocks, don’t get the negativity by some 🤷🏽‍♂️

Grow up. 😁😂🤣. 
 

I get and share the frustration about where we are but take last few games as sure signs of steps in the right direction  

[Burndens Bogs]

We are improving, slowly slowly catchy monkey. I know we’ve only seen him twice, but not reet impressed with Williams, not quick enough over 5-10 yards and chooses the wrong option too often. 5 minutes before he got sent off he bottled a 50/50 which pissed me off. Gethin Jones is just shite, much rather have Brocky there. Santos/Bap/Thommo/Dec John were immense today. Onwards & upwards, this team will get better.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Burndens Bogs