Cheltenham

[lukcour]

I was excited and so pleased that once again being able to attend the games. What a let down. Have to agree with Wartman. it was dreadful and so boring. Our team was so sloppy, casual, and lacked commitment. League1 is not rocket science. You have to be competitive, close down quickly, and not give opponents time on the ball. We failed in each section.

And the players performances :- Richards- Solid and much improved. Good game. Ramsay and Abesisi- First 10 minutes nervous and unsure. After that they both put in a good performance. Believe they will do well. Daniels and Offord- Yes Daniels back pass was awful. In the 1st half every time Cheltenham attacked our penalty area it was sheer panic. Neither of them seemed to make any effort to work as a pair. Extremely poor, and we were fortunate to reach the end of the half all square. Cannot see that pair working. Murphy and Lundstram- Both poor in the 1st half and seemed off the pace. Yes Lundstram got the assist for our goal. Middle improved when MacDonald came on and Lundstram moved forward. Finney- produced his usual, nothing. Dale- Average. Needs to be physically stronger, and appeared to lack commitment. Ainley- Had some good runs but unfortunately they all ended up in dead ends. Will need time to adjust to this position and needs better support. Mandron- Worked hard for the whole game and took his goal well, Good game. Long- Would be unfair to be critical. Wide is not his position. MacDonald- Was ok.

Think we were fortunate that for most of the 2nd half Cheltenham wne more defensive and appeared happy to settle for a draw.

Have to say the pairing of Daniels and Offord was scary, and the supporters were far from pleased. Two points I would like to make. Could never understand why we released Lancashire. Last season he was our most consistent, cool, and reliable CB we had. Sass-Davies who I have always rated highly would probably be better asking to leave. Do not think he will ever get the chance he deserves. For me signing at least 3 new CB`s is essential.

[CroutonRouge]

I was excited and so pleased that once again being able to attend the games. What a let down. Have to agree with Wartman. it was dreadful and so boring. Our team was so sloppy, casual, and lacked commitment. League1 is not rocket science. You have to be competitive, close down quickly, and not give opponents time on the ball. We failed in each section.

And the players performances :- Richards- Solid and much improved. Good game. Ramsay and Abesisi- First 10 minutes nervous and unsure. After that they both put in a good performance. Believe they will do well. Daniels and Offord- Yes Daniels back pass was awful. In the 1st half every time Cheltenham attacked our penalty area it was sheer panic. Neither of them seemed to make any effort to work as a pair. Extremely poor, and we were fortunate to reach the end of the half all square. Cannot see that pair working. Murphy and Lundstram- Both poor in the 1st half and seemed off the pace. Yes Lundstram got the assist for our goal. Middle improved when MacDonald came on and Lundstram moved forward. Finney- produced his usual, nothing. Dale- Average. Needs to be physically stronger, and appeared to lack commitment. Ainley- Had some good runs but unfortunately they all ended up in dead ends. Will need time to adjust to this position and needs better support. Mandron- Worked hard for the whole game and took his goal well, Good game. Long- Would be unfair to be critical. Wide is not his position. MacDonald- Was ok.

Think we were fortunate that for most of the 2nd half Cheltenham wne more defensive and appeared happy to settle for a draw.

Have to say the pairing of Daniels and Offord was scary, and the supporters were far from pleased. Two points I would like to make. Could never understand why we released Lancashire. Last season he was our most consistent, cool, and reliable CB we had. Sass-Davies who I have always rated highly would probably be better asking to leave. Do not think he will ever get the chance he deserves. For me signing at least 3 new CB`s is essential.

The forty yard pass man is unfortunately at odds with club. I just hope he sees sense and listens to DA instead of his agent. The lad is a class act and was sorely missed yesterday.

[gazan]

Glad to be back but the performance wasn't worth waiting 18 months for. Not a display you would want to put on in front of a good crowd. Hopefully some of the newcomers will give the team a second choice.
We played right into their plans. They restricted play to about 25 yards around the half-way line and we did everything to fit that pattern. 2 ways to beat that formation: either hit the back line early with accurate balls behind them or break between the lines by driving through them. Unfortunately you also need pace. What we got was the worst of last season without any of the good bits. 4-3-3 is not going to work with the approach we used yesterday. There was no penetration down the sides (often not even attempted). We were slow and very predictable out from the back. Cheltenham gave us 30 yards to play with... and that's what we did .. played with it instead of using it to our advantage.
In terms of individuals, Richards had a decent game. Ramsey was slow to start and made all our rave reviews look silly. But then he recovered and played not too badly. I was a bit disappointed with Rio. Defensively he did well with a couple of crunching tackles. But going forward....well, he didn't! Him and Offord seemed to have a little passing game of their own. Daniels was doing okay and then a series of poor passing put him in a difficult position which he dealt with well at first but then hurried his next pass which was too hard and inaccurate, unless you're name is Williams. This error threw him for about 30 minutes after this. Of the 2 CHs Offord looked relatively calm and did a decent job of clearing up at the back.
For me, the midfield was the big problem. We didn't seem to have one, at least for 60 mins of the game. Murphy was too slow and Cheltenham read all of his turns on the ball. Lundstram puffed away and , at least, was responsible for setting Mandron up in site of goal twice. When pushed further forward by the introduction of McDonald (who put in a sound few minutes), Lundstram had more impact on the game. As for Finney, even in a charitable mood, I can only say ineffective. He didn't even get into a goalscoring position, which is supposedly his defining attribute.
I can't remember Dale having such a quiet game. He was hardly in it until the last 10 minutes. Mandron was the pick of the bunch for me. Making runs, trying to hold up the ball, scoring a very well taken goal. But where were his support and service? Having such a flat mid three created that old Alex downfall, the yawning gap, between midfield and forward(s). Ainley made a few charges at the opposition in the first 15 minutes but was then cancelled out. He is not a winger, he likes ( and thrives on ) taking the ball from midfield and running between the lines. Unfortunately, the current formation and players available do not allow for that. I'm afraid that Ainley is only ever going to be an either/or in a midfield 3 and the 'or' is Finney. Where was Long?
We need real variety in midfield: a defender/distributor; a ball carrier and creativity. Saturdays 2 main MFs were too similar and, I'm afraid, Finney didn't count. Unfortunately, the creative component is receiving career blowing advice from his agent.

It's a real shame that Onyeka is injured, he might have offered some spark upfront.
I assume Long and MacFazdean will get their chances on Tuesday night.
Still thinking, where are the goals going to come from.

[whosbrianwilson]

Can't understand that our only permanent signings were all on the bench.

[out0lunch]

I was excited and so pleased that once again being able to attend the games. What a let down. Have to agree with Wartman. it was dreadful and so boring. Our team was so sloppy, casual, and lacked commitment. League1 is not rocket science. You have to be competitive, close down quickly, and not give opponents time on the ball. We failed in each section.

And the players performances :- Richards- Solid and much improved. Good game. Ramsay and Abesisi- First 10 minutes nervous and unsure. After that they both put in a good performance. Believe they will do well. Daniels and Offord- Yes Daniels back pass was awful. In the 1st half every time Cheltenham attacked our penalty area it was sheer panic. Neither of them seemed to make any effort to work as a pair. Extremely poor, and we were fortunate to reach the end of the half all square. Cannot see that pair working. Murphy and Lundstram- Both poor in the 1st half and seemed off the pace. Yes Lundstram got the assist for our goal. Middle improved when MacDonald came on and Lundstram moved forward. Finney- produced his usual, nothing. Dale- Average. Needs to be physically stronger, and appeared to lack commitment. Ainley- Had some good runs but unfortunately they all ended up in dead ends. Will need time to adjust to this position and needs better support. Mandron- Worked hard for the whole game and took his goal well, Good game. Long- Would be unfair to be critical. Wide is not his position. MacDonald- Was ok.

Think we were fortunate that for most of the 2nd half Cheltenham wne more defensive and appeared happy to settle for a draw.

Have to say the pairing of Daniels and Offord was scary, and the supporters were far from pleased. Two points I would like to make. Could never understand why we released Lancashire. Last season he was our most consistent, cool, and reliable CB we had. Sass-Davies who I have always rated highly would probably be better asking to leave. Do not think he will ever get the chance he deserves. For me signing at least 3 new CB`s is essential.

SOunds like we need a midfielder who can spray the ball 30 t0 40 yards. A bit of creativity.

[AstonAlex]

Seems like most of us are on the same page, or at least the same chapter! Need some pace and passing in the midfield as those that played on Saturday were all a bit too similar; it would be unwise of me to mention someone training with the Under 23s but I will anyway!!

The other thing that disappointed me even more on Saturday was the fans who had either not read the Club’s advice and rules on COVID or chose to ignore it. The first thing on the list was fans instructed to wear masks under the main stand but the majority weren’t, and I certainly wasn’t going to venture back there at half time for my usual coffee. Come on chaps, if you can’t be bothered to think of yourselves then think of those.more vulnerable. It’s about 5 minutes from the turnstiles to your seat - not a lot to ask surely - or does the club have to employ extra stewards to enforce it?

[lukcour]

Sounds like we need a midfielder who can spray the ball 30 to 40 yards. A bit of creativity. Very subtle comment AA. Could you actually be hinting at a certain player who has had 141 appearances? If you are not clear let me help. That is the experienced player that to be fair can only be defined by his stats (accepted practice with all established players). Unfortunately his stats are beyond poor.

I would suggest that it would be nice if you could instead give your support to our possibly new star prospect, Josh Lundstram who after 1 game already has one assist.

[AstonAlex]

I try to support all of our young prospects, regardless of whether they have had good matches or not. Indeed, if you’d read my opinion more closely you would have seen that I credited our improvement after the substitution that pushed him further forward into Finney’s position. It is a bit rich accusing me of not supporting our young players given your withering assessment of TL even when he’s scored or assisted himself. However, let’s not be petty eh? Lundstram had a promising game, not his fault he was part of a very stodgy midfield lacking in pace prior during the first half - you said exactly the same thing.

[out0lunch]

Sounds like we need a midfielder who can spray the ball 30 to 40 yards. A bit of creativity. Very subtle comment AA. Could you actually be hinting at a certain player who has had 141 appearances? If you are not clear let me help. That is the experienced player that to be fair can only be defined by his stats (accepted practice with all established players). Unfortunately his stats are beyond poor.

I would suggest that it would be nice if you could instead give your support to our possibly new star prospect, Josh Lundstram who after 1 game already has one assist.

Not sure what you mean, just seemed from your post that was what seemed to be lacking