Match Thread vs. Woking 05.04.21 [NL]

[the_anticlough]

I missed the game on Saturday, only the 2nd league game this season (3-0 v Wealdstone was the first) so was after a clearer indication on how we played against Woking?

Was the midfield better? Did we play too ‘sideways’? I noticed we scored thrice when Knight came on, what difference did he make...and how? Is he a Luke Rogers kind of player?

Details please! Typical that I’ve missed the 2 most high scoring games of the year 🤷*♂️

I'll have a go

Was the midfield better? - Yeah, they're getting used to the midfield 5 now, Enzio and Barnett did a lot of good work.
Reeves was everywhere, even missing 2 easy headers on their 6 yard line. But O'Brien and especially Griffiths were poor IMO

Did we play too ‘sideways’? - Not like in previous games. They pushed up making us play backwards and back to the keeper too often. But there was none of the pointless passing like in the Aldershot game. The team were obviously under orders to be more positive.

I noticed we scored thrice when Knight came on, what difference did he make...and how? Is he a Luke Rogers kind of player? - It was strange (and fantastic) to see a mobile player like that flitting around and threatening to get in behind them (and actually doing so). He didn't actually play well though IMO and I think they'll have him on shooting practice this week, or at least boost his confidence in his shooting boots before Hartlepool

For me, a hidden highlight was Enzio's clever ball with the outside of his foot for Ellis' opener - there isn't another midfielder in the club who would've played that ball.

Knowles cool finishing and opportunism in punishing their mistakes was superb. Any other player we have might have messed up one or two of those - top class finishing

Back three looked like they'd been playing there all season (their goals were due to individual errors by Barnett and Griffiths I think), Chicksen and Rawlinson looked comfortable as the left and right sided defenders - very encouraging.

[jacobncfc]

I'll have a go

Was the midfield better? - Yeah, they're getting used to the midfield 5 now, Enzio and Barnett did a lot of good work.
Reeves was everywhere, even missing 2 easy headers on their 6 yard line. But O'Brien and especially Griffiths were poor IMO

Did we play too ‘sideways’? - Not like in previous games. They pushed up making us play backwards and back to the keeper too often. But there was none of the pointless passing like in the Aldershot game. The team were obviously under orders to be more positive.

I noticed we scored thrice when Knight came on, what difference did he make...and how? Is he a Luke Rogers kind of player? - It was strange (and fantastic) to see a mobile player like that flitting around and threatening to get in behind them (and actually doing so). He didn't actually play well though IMO and I think they'll have him on shooting practice this week, or at least boost his confidence in his shooting boots before Hartlepool

For me, a hidden highlight was Enzio's clever ball with the outside of his foot for Ellis' opener - there isn't another midfielder in the club who would've played that ball.

Knowles cool finishing and opportunism in punishing their mistakes was superb. Any other player we have might have messed up one or two of those - top class finishing

Back three looked like they'd been playing there all season (their goals were due to individual errors by Barnett and Griffiths I think), Chicksen and Rawlinson looked comfortable as the left and right sided defenders - very encouraging.

Pretty much all of this - I think it was the first early signs of the kind of football that Burchnall wants to play. We were still happy to keep possession and go sideways or backwards when it was the right option, but when there was a run in behind we were equally happy to play a quicker, longer pass in behind the opposition. There were also plenty of bad bits that told us what we already know, mind - that this isn’t the most balanced set of players with some obvious weaknesses.

Ultimately I think that the last couple of games have been really positive just because they’ve proven that the players haven’t jacked it in and are playing for the new manager, which should be enough to see us into the play-offs this year where you never know what might happen.

[ncfcog]

I'll have a go

Was the midfield better? - Yeah, they're getting used to the midfield 5 now, Enzio and Barnett did a lot of good work.
Reeves was everywhere, even missing 2 easy headers on their 6 yard line. But O'Brien and especially Griffiths were poor IMO

Did we play too ‘sideways’? - Not like in previous games. They pushed up making us play backwards and back to the keeper too often. But there was none of the pointless passing like in the Aldershot game. The team were obviously under orders to be more positive.

I noticed we scored thrice when Knight came on, what difference did he make...and how? Is he a Luke Rogers kind of player? - It was strange (and fantastic) to see a mobile player like that flitting around and threatening to get in behind them (and actually doing so). He didn't actually play well though IMO and I think they'll have him on shooting practice this week, or at least boost his confidence in his shooting boots before Hartlepool

For me, a hidden highlight was Enzio's clever ball with the outside of his foot for Ellis' opener - there isn't another midfielder in the club who would've played that ball.

Knowles cool finishing and opportunism in punishing their mistakes was superb. Any other player we have might have messed up one or two of those - top class finishing

Back three looked like they'd been playing there all season (their goals were due to individual errors by Barnett and Griffiths I think), Chicksen and Rawlinson looked comfortable as the left and right sided defenders - very encouraging.

It was a dreadful free kick for their second, luckily for them we had a 5'7" player covering the kick and he couldn't quite jump up to the 5'8" the ball was played in at meaning a perfect flick on to the far post where Sam was caught ball watching before the header back across found the goal scorer who had evaded both Ellis and Chicksen who were also . . . ball watching. I hope they spend some time on the training field defending set pieces this week because that is a definite weak spot for us.

[TSANHO]

I'll have a go

Was the midfield better? - Yeah, they're getting used to the midfield 5 now, Enzio and Barnett did a lot of good work.
Reeves was everywhere, even missing 2 easy headers on their 6 yard line. But O'Brien and especially Griffiths were poor IMO

Did we play too ‘sideways’? - Not like in previous games. They pushed up making us play backwards and back to the keeper too often. But there was none of the pointless passing like in the Aldershot game. The team were obviously under orders to be more positive.

I noticed we scored thrice when Knight came on, what difference did he make...and how? Is he a Luke Rogers kind of player? - It was strange (and fantastic) to see a mobile player like that flitting around and threatening to get in behind them (and actually doing so). He didn't actually play well though IMO and I think they'll have him on shooting practice this week, or at least boost his confidence in his shooting boots before Hartlepool

For me, a hidden highlight was Enzio's clever ball with the outside of his foot for Ellis' opener - there isn't another midfielder in the club who would've played that ball.

Knowles cool finishing and opportunism in punishing their mistakes was superb. Any other player we have might have messed up one or two of those - top class finishing

Back three looked like they'd been playing there all season (their goals were due to individual errors by Barnett and Griffiths I think), Chicksen and Rawlinson looked comfortable as the left and right sided defenders - very encouraging.

Good stuff, thanks for taking the time to do that....sounds promising, I’ll look forward to seeing them progress....or maybe I shouldn’t watch if they’re the kind of results we get when I don’t 😂🤦*♂️

[countygump]

Highlights:

Whether by accident or design, neither the small or larger player has any sound on it. Well for me it doesn't!



https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk...ntre/1-6405635

[LaxtonLad]

I'm surprised that last one wasn't flagged offside.

[Mapperleypie]

I'm surprised that last one wasn't flagged offside.

If you pause when the ball was played the right-back is playing Knowles onside, Knight is offside but he doesn't touch the ball. It's a rare marginal call that goes in our favour from a National League official.

[the_anticlough]

Ultimately I think that the last couple of games have been really positive just because they’ve proven that the players haven’t jacked it in and are playing for the new manager, which should be enough to see us into the play-offs this year where you never know what might happen.

Yeah, the table scares me though. I think we may be about to witness a strange phenomenon in the NL.
With no relegation, teams like Woking could be forgiven for mailing it in now.
The group of teams doing this will increase as the number of games left falls and one by one they fall out of contention, with the group still in contention (might be still 10 teams or so) winning most weeks, unless they're playing each other.

So with just a run-in of say 6 or 7 games left, our remaining play-off rivals might be winning easily and regularly. No room for slip-ups from us.

[Elite_Pie]

Yeah, the table scares me though. I think we may be about to witness a strange phenomenon in the NL.
With no relegation, teams like Woking could be forgiven for mailing it in now.
The group of teams doing this will increase as the number of games left falls and one by one they fall out of contention, with the group still in contention (might be still 10 teams or so) winning most weeks, unless they're playing each other.

So with just a run-in of say 6 or 7 games left, our remaining play-off rivals might be winning easily and regularly. No room for slip-ups from us.

Valid point, and the downside is that most of our remaining fixtures are against teams who still have a lot to play for. The upside is that these will be games that are often described as 'six-pointers', so we just have to do our bit to take advantage.

[the_anticlough]

Valid point, and the downside is that most of our remaining fixtures are against teams who still have a lot to play for. The upside is that these will be games that are often described as 'six-pointers', so we just have to do our bit to take advantage.

In our hands then.
Another reason to think the league will divide into contenders and 'mailers in' is the absence of fans to keep the 'nothing-to-play-for' teams going