Exeter City Post Match Thoughts

[GlennMiller]

A deserved 3 points and some good individual performances. With a bit more luck we could have had another couple but, as usual, we let teams come at us late on and end up hanging on. Gore and McWilliams did well in midfield and credit to Hugill for leading the line after Etete's early exit.

The last 20 minutes were tense and this was compounded by Dawson clearing the ball long and seeing it come straight back on every occasion. We have to be more canny in our game management.

Finally, if you could have designed a player who fulfilled what we need to anchor the team, you'd have made Tom Holmes. Sensational debut and a great find - well done MH!

[RU66]

Just something lacking yesterday against not the strongest opposition. Most of the side couldn't fault but nothing on the bench to change it especially wide right & up front. It's just MH won't give certain players a chance who could. Going to take more to get the stay away fans back.

[Pocket rocket]

Typical thread after a win. Struggles to get 2 pages of posts.
Usual suspect wind up merchant trying to ruffle some feathers.
Some think we need these posters. Others think it's killing the site.

This exactly.
When we lose it’s a chance for certain posters to fill their boots. We win and nothing.
We are a new team in transition and it’s going to take time. We also aren’t able to put out our strongest side.
It’s not an excuse but relevant to the situation.
We played well yesterday and dug in when needed.
Hugill did ok yesterday but again same with Dawson the bitterness and anger clouds people’s judgement.
They aren’t my favourite 2 players but they also aren’t the anti-Christ like some would say.
I’ll be there next week let’s hope for another positive result.

[Brin]

Best game from Hugill for a long time. Unlucky not to score off his early header. Made up some great ground for his second attempt. The crowd were very appreciative to him when he was subbed. If only he could play like that more often.
Dawson- please give Cann a go in goal. Dawson commends absolutely nothing in his box. When he came out for once and caught the ball, the crowd mocked him to let him know.
T Holmes- what a deserved MOTM. Here?s hoping he stays fit. Unlucky not to score. Total commitment 10/10.
Great team effort and a well deserved 3 points.
I?ve said it before and I?ll say it again! We are over working the lads in training. Say hello to hamstring number 5. Get it sorted and lessen the over exertion in training.

[jakethemiller]

Three points, clean sheet what's not to like. Yes we were on tenterhooks again hanging on for the last bit but we're used to it aren't we.
The squad is in tranistion MH has to me played his cards well in recruitment. Look at the players in the sick bay and add them to that team yesterday, give them a few games to play together and we will have a squad capable of holding it's own well in this division.
Listening to Radio Dee Dah yesterday anybody would think Donny are the next Barcelona, look at last week were they much better than us? I think not and they have a settled squad with momentum behind them. so give MH and the lads some time i'm sure we'll get there.
Dawson. I know some of you think it's not a problem him being a Lino but to me it gives hesitancy to the rest of the defence.
James. Better game than last week played more forward which suits him better.
Jules. Steady, got caught on the the ball needs to sort that out.
Holmes. Immense, exactly what we needed, strong in both boxes, commanding and used the ball well. Welcome Tom.
Hall. A very good player took his goal well, hope the injury insn't serious.
Keleta. I think he's class, quick, can take a man on and causes problems. Again hope the injury isn't serious.
Gore. Had a much better game today, skillful and creative, he along with the 2 other midfielders put in a great shift. i was a bit suprised he wasn't played more forward when Etete went off.
McWilliams. Ran tirelessly, needs to concentrate on doing the simple things.
Powell. Again worked tirelessly got stuck in and plays well down the left with James, and although his corners were better still needs to sort the balls into the box. Nice to see him have a shot though we are lacking that.
Etete. Not enough game time to judge, hope he's not crocked.
Hugill. Bit better but Hugill is Hugill, unfortunately we have no choice at the moment
Plus side was seeing Spence and JJ back on the pitch. Spence showed more in the 15 minutes than he did when i saw him at Harrogate. JJ if he can keep fit gives us more pace and nuisance value up front,
Officials were awful again, the linos not flagging for off side is just becoming so tiresome and has shirt pulling officially been sanctioned as a valid tactic as the refs seem just to ignore it.

[Old_time_miller]

Having had to miss one game, it is, with some thought summed up like this, the game was pretty much like all the rest. Boring.
What a goal to break the monotony. I would guess we have had to wait to the end of the line for gemstone holmes. Without him, would we have scored? No.

The good and not so good are wholly apparent. Even if it is taking MH a long time about it. Perhaps with continually hands tied?
No point to keep picking over them individually. I would assume once all the old dead wood is gone it will improve.

Exeter were poor, we are a stuck record. Continually doing some things which do not work. Would you want to break your sweat to see a ball scream over or out? No nor would I.

Holmes, plays forward front foot and passed which opens them up. Like no other player so far. Top third split wide open and superb finish.

Need more like it. Or results will be sporadic.
He even got down the right and crossed himself once. What is he bionic?

[NorthWestCorner]

No he wasn?t. You sound like one of those moaning f#ckers sat behind me yelling for him to press the keeper knowing that as soon as he did the keeper would just pass it to the guy at the side of him.

In my opinion, he was. I?m not easily pleased by a couple of sprints over a 2.5 year period. JH is a waste of space, stealing money from the club. Muppets like you just can?t see it.

[Townerslovechild]

Best overall performance so far,in that we played ok for longer, not just 15 minutes here or there.
Exeter weren't very good, did Dawson make a save ?
Holmes and Gore really stood out, keep Dan on the set pieces, better than Powell.
McWilliiams,who I've never been sold on,was outstanding, reminded me of Will Vaulks, every team needs someone to do the dirty work.
The striker situation is worrying, can't see JJ managing 90 minutes, maybe take a punt on a free agent, must be loads of half decent forwards looking for work.
Even Huggy Bear did ok !
A small step in the right direction, keep it up lads.

[Derbymiller]

A late response to this as i was out all last night.
A lot of positives in that game, Holmes was very good, the overall team performance was a lot better. Powell work rate and ability to regain possession and general workload is out of this world, his personal stats must look fantastic, great to see him as captain as well. Gore and McWilliams also played well, that central midfield was a good unit.
Wonderful to see JJ back as well and he did well, clearly not match sharp yet and we kept a clean-sheet, even though we were hanging on a bit at the end.
Dawson is a weak link, he doesn't command his area and you can see the defenders don't have the trust of having a strong keeper behind them. Hugill, wasn't as bad as he has been, but I cannot go along with he had a good game. Firstly he should have seen red in the first half, he deliberately went into their no5 with his elbow raised, I watched it, he was very lucky. He still doesn't win enough headers and he is very slow and very static. His anticipation in the box as to where to go, is just not there. On at least two times in the second half if he had anticipated the ball being played into the near post he could have been there, but he was standing still. He was trying and credit for that, but if all we have is Hugill and JJ we will still struggle in the coming weeks to score goals and therefore win matches. I was pleased he was supported by the fans when he went off and I was part of that, because he needs encouragement on match days.
The injuries is another subject along with TS failure to put a contract in front of Powell, another Odoffin situation coming by dragging our feet.
A good result and a better performance, a draw away from home next week, would be a good step in the right direction.
We

[Scum-Triumphant]

What I liked about Powell yesterday was he didn?t just stand there and admire the passes he was spraying out wide. He got after it and was usually the first player to offer an option to the wide man on the ball.

James is our mr dependable. He isn?t spectacular but he is good on the ball and works hard.

Great to see Frecks back at NYS. One of the finest footballers to wear our shirt