Match Thread vs. Chesterfield 20.02.21 [NL]

[queenslandpie]

We are a strong resolute defensive outfit and to be title winners we need more goals, although that's the hardest thing to do in football.

A lot of teams at this level will respect us to the point that they will let us play football because we will pass them and dominate them with our possession and exploit gaps. As someone said earlier in the thread we are the Man City of non-league to some clubs at this level.

When we come up against sides that are not afraid to have a go at us such as Cheaterfield today, Boreham Wood and other games like Harrogate in the play off final that's where it can break down. Our game relies on passing, dominance and possession and relies on all players to be on it. Today too many were not on it so again it becomes a perfect storm where the end product is little to no attacking threat in the final third.

Part of me does think we were a bit nervy and maybe were were waiting for Cheaterfield to make a mistake as well the more the game went on so we could nick an equaliser. We need to create our own luck in future games by forcing more corners, getting the ball into good areas in the final third and test the keeper far more often or if we cant do that we need to be clinical in front of goal when we do get a chance or two a game.

If I was a gambling man I would have put money on us losing today. It was predictable. Chesterfield are a team on the up with a manager who clearly knows what he is doing who had studied us carefully and knew how to rumble us and executed his game plan perfectly. They got up us, ruffled a few feathers then like a number of the better teams comfortably soaked up our clueless possession. Let's hope that Roberts is back soon and back to his best as well, as it is quite clear there is little way of unlocking teams when we play to the style Chesterfield dictated we play to today. As I have said for a while play offs will probably happen but we aren't very cohesive and haven't looked much chop at all in the 2 games this week. One lucky away win one deserved home defeat from the biggest budget in the division. He better hope he gets 3 points at stuttering Stockport or the knives will be out again.

[the_anticlough]

So many problems with today's performance...

Are you going to be able to play out from the back when your full-backs are Kelly-Evans and Miller and your CM is the 39-year old Michael Doyle?

Didn't the Dagenham game show you can thrive at home with just one holding midfield player?

When things clearly aren't working, you are allowed to change things right?
It was ludicrous to ask Miller and the rest of the back four to play Russian roulette keep-ball across our own box all game long - that's where the bulk of the game seem to be played...

Ardley must be one of the guys who goes nuts if he finds that any of his stuff has been moved or something...he gets wedded to things for the sake of it and doesn't have the flexibility to take radical decisions when they are needed. But to be fairer to him, when maybe your two best players (Rodders and Wooters) have absolute stinkers, it's not going to end well anyway.