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Thread: Cheltenham

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    2,957

    Cheltenham

    Just written a long rant about this game and the battery went on my phone. Probably a good thing!
    Nevertheless, I am getting a bit fed up of football by numbers and without passion. We seem to have forgotten how to attack. I can't tell who is being reined in by management and who hasn't got the appetite.
    Perry seems to have lost it and we make little progress down that side. Mind you, I am getting very worried about Powell. He seems heavy and ponderous. None of the driving forward of last season. Perhaps he needs a spell on the left (his preferred side) while Charlie takes the right and gets outside his marker.
    I won't say anything about Finney except to say we need 11 players with passing ability.
    Whatever, we need tactical change. The opposition have worked us out and there is not enough individual initiative to break the system.
    Time to let the players have a bit of freedom on the pitch.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    641
    We got what we deserved, no imagination, no forward movement and nobody willing to drive at the Cheltenham defence. The only positve was Porter scoring.
    Re Powell, I think that he is a confidence player and at the moment he hasn't got any. Like last season as soon as he gets on the scoresheet he will improve. My biggest worry is Perry who eveytime gets the ball looks to pass sideways or back. Where's the drive from last season?
    One last moan- have we employed the same Throw-in coach as twenty years ago. We seem totally lost at throw ins, especially in our own half.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
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    1,772
    DA should not be blaming this defeat by the ref not sending a player off the pitch and is below the belt imo. We seem to have dipped severely in form since we beat Peterboro and the discussion should be why? Maybe its because we really are a L2 team that cannot even compete with another L2 team like yesterday?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
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    1,128
    He specifically said he did not blame the defeat on the ref's 2 worst mistakes of what he and Duff felt was a constant theme of the game, but unbelievably yesterday's referee Adcock is a Pro, usually working at Prem and Championship level, who describes himself on LinkedIn as "An accomplished, highly respected Professional Football Referee with extensive experience officiating at Championship and Premier level football matches in the UK as well as abroad, and one of only 18 “Select Group 2 Professional Referees” contracted to the EFL to officiate across the Sky Bet Championship."!!!!!! The worst ref DA and Duff had ever seen ..... Unwisely perhaps he publishes his mobile number & email on the internet too:
    "I can be contacted on:

    ☎ 07929 639732
    james.adcock@hotmail.co.uk"

  5. #5
    I wouldn't worry about the League 2 - League 1 difference, on that showing Cheltenham will be in League 1 next season. They were just better then us all over the pitch, they closed us down as soon as we tried to move forward. Their wingers were able to go past our defenders with ease. It was like watching the Alex/Posh game....only in reverse.
    The only time we seemed to get behind them was when Lowery & Dale came on, but even then they were closed down really quickly.
    It's the sort of game we could have done with Callums' magic, and it seems we're really missing Mandron.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    475
    Quote Originally Posted by MikeSB View Post
    DA should not be blaming this defeat by the ref not sending a player off the pitch and is below the belt imo. We seem to have dipped severely in form since we beat Peterboro and the discussion should be why? Maybe its because we really are a L2 team that cannot even compete with another L2 team like yesterday?
    Completely agree with your comments about a severe dip in form. But it is so difficult to know where to start. 2 weeks ago our manager said on the official site that he was pleased with the promising start we had made, and was confident that there was more to come. Last week he gave a rating of B for our start in League1 plus his view that we were becoming a power at this level, Don`t know what team he has been watching but it is certainly not the Alex. My own rating would be F-.

    I think there is a strong possibility that a lot of our players have lost their confidence. This is going to take time to overcome. I am completely baffled by the recent team selection and tactics. Our midfield is so short of energy and effort that when the opposition attack they simply go missing, leaving Wintle and Ng totally exposed with no cover. I appreciate that Finney and Lowery are still young players, but really they are simply not good enough. Hopefully they will come good in the future.

    Recently one of our posters kindly reminded me of a Mr. Morse comment "Lowery is one of the first names on the team sheet". I would like to return the favour and remind him of the incredible Mr.Morses`s comment re Lowery on Saturday. "He needs resting. In recent games he has been jaded". Could that mean he has been poor? And then in the Cheltenham game when our manager made changes in our midfield who did he bring on, first Finney and then Lowery. You really could not make it up.

    Unfortunately it seems that Ainley`s injury could be serious which will limit our midfield options. For me Finney and Lowery should not be considered in our midfield. We have to strengthen in that area, So what options do we have? Suppose the easiest option would be to put Johnson at right back and move Ng into midfield. Second option would be to give Regan Phillips a run in the team as right midfield. Final option would be a loan player who is a genuine midfielder with a strong engine. Have to admit that I do not know the rules re loan players. Is it possible to bring one in at this time of the season?

    Very easy for me to air my views, but unless DA recognises that he has got it badly wrong nothing is going to change.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Posts
    709
    Quote Originally Posted by gazan View Post
    Just written a long rant about this game and the battery went on my phone. Probably a good thing!
    Nevertheless, I am getting a bit fed up of football by numbers and without passion. We seem to have forgotten how to attack. I can't tell who is being reined in by management and who hasn't got the appetite.
    Perry seems to have lost it and we make little progress down that side. Mind you, I am getting very worried about Powell. He seems heavy and ponderous. None of the driving forward of last season. Perhaps he needs a spell on the left (his preferred side) while Charlie takes the right and gets outside his marker.
    I won't say anything about Finney except to say we need 11 players with passing ability.
    Whatever, we need tactical change. The opposition have worked us out and there is not enough individual initiative to break the system.
    Time to let the players have a bit of freedom on the pitch.
    I have not posted in a while but after watching the game on Saturday I have felt compelled to put pen to paper so to speak. There were only 2 positives in my humble opinion Offord and Dale when he came on. Artell has made 3 excellent signings Mandaron, Daniels and Beckles and he has been exceptionally unlucky to have them injured all at the same time, however this has only helped to highlight how weak the remaining squad members are, his other 2 signings Zanzala didn’t even get on in front of an 80% fit ageing Porter tells you all you need to know and I had hoped Murphy would have been a good signing but sadly he looks a light of his former self and very disappointing. Defensively we look awful NG is a clown and needs some time out of the team as he is not showing either the form of the past or the attitude to be captain.Pickering is doing OK and looks sound, the remaining fit Center halves are useless (except Offord best center half the club has produced) I agree with Lukour the midfield department does need some help and I did not think that would be the case at the start of the season. And with only 1 decent striker at the club and he is injured (Porter passed it) Zanzala looks poor and Powell overweight ( although I would not say that to his face as he is a big lad) Artell is very predictable same 11, same formation, same subs and continues to flog the same players to death in a season when we are playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday it comes as no great surprise the lengthy injury list Artell is to blame for this. A busy January coming up desperately needs to ship out 3 or 4 players and bring 2 or 3 in or we will be heading straight back to league 2
    Last edited by Wartman; 30-11-2020 at 10:00 PM.

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