Mansfield

[gazan]

So what did we learn? Well, Davies still doesn't look to be much better than Booth. Zak is still a better CH than LB. Demetriou is an upgrade on McDonald. Maybe Rio should play further forward (but he did seem to be involved in a lot of the incidents in the game and WHAT A HEADER!) For me O'Riordan should have started. For an hour Powell was fantastic. As was Tracy for 50 minutes. Tabs never really got into the game. Long worked really hard and sometimes found it difficult to contain his frustration at the hesitancy of some of the players.
Overall, the Alex were much better with the ball than without it (no change there). There were some quite worrying moments with the defence when they were static and didn't close down space.
Certainly content overall. Obviously, we have to have some idea of how Mansfield compare with the rest of the division. They did look good in possession for the first 30 minutes but didn't look anything special after that. The Alex look like they could be quite exciting going forward but need to work on the sharpness at the back.

[Timmy58]

So what did we learn? Well, Davies still doesn't look to be much better than Booth. Zak is still a better CH than LB. Demetriou is an upgrade on McDonald. Maybe Rio should play further forward (but he did seem to be involved in a lot of the incidents in the game and WHAT A HEADER!) For me O'Riordan should have started. For an hour Powell was fantastic. As was Tracy for 50 minutes. Tabs never really got into the game. Long worked really hard and sometimes found it difficult to contain his frustration at the hesitancy of some of the players.
Overall, the Alex were much better with the ball than without it (no change there). There were some quite worrying moments with the defence when they were static and didn't close down space.
Certainly content overall. Obviously, we have to have some idea of how Mansfield compare with the rest of the division. They did look good in possession for the first 30 minutes but didn't look anything special after that. The Alex look like they could be quite exciting going forward but need to work on the sharpness at the back.

My take, for what it's worth, is that for the first half hour we were second best. Not by much but were flattered by a 2-1 scoreline at half time. We certainly began the fightback almost immediately after their second went in. Two goals that were poorly defended all round. Demetrio and Offord both showed failings in those two strikes. I agree about the keeper, although I will say that Arthur gave me the heebee geebies for the first few games. I suspect we were spoiled somewhat last year. Adebisi had a very good game and looks to me that he could prove to be a very good wingback for someone in time. ll the new players did well, Powell visibly tired after an hour (70 minutes in truth) but Tracey looked very good and will be a proper pain in the backside for defences this season. Whether he will score many is open to question of course.

All in all I think we look to be in for a better season than last although, of course, injuries will play their part as ever,