Ratings @ Wealdstone

[the_anticlough]

Slocombe 7 - Very solid, a good all round game including a few good saves
Richardson 5 - Off it tonight, ineffective and error prone
Brindley 7 - Did his usual thing. Very good distribution, one or two errors with tackles and positioning though.
Lacey 6 - We need more from him, can he drive us from the back in games like this? Little sign of it. We got crappy long balls instead
Cameron 7 - Tried to drive us on. Good game. Did the most to contain their physical forwards
Chicksen 6 - Did OK. But you won't win promotion trusting your attack down one flank to a limited full-back.
Palmer 8 - Felt sorry for him. Does his job so well, why can't others do theirs?
Vincent 5 - In that midfield role, we need the ball to stick when it's played to him. It didn't
Roberts 6 - He could've been subbed at HT just as easily as Vincent, but did a lot better in the 2nd half
Rodrigues 5 - Off night for sure, I still wouldn't have taken him off though, when you need a bit of magic to win the game.
Wootton 5 - Very poor, didn't pose their defenders any problems at all

Subs
Brunt 5 - Ouch, doesn't look like he cares yet. just stands around mainly
Parsons 5 - Tried hard, but it's awful to see a player with almost no left foot at LWB
Sam 6 - Not on for too long, was in a great position but Woots didn't play him in for the winner.

Overall, a poor and frustrating performance. We don't have the personality, assertiveness and consistency to impose ourselves on inferior opposition like Wealdstone. I fear it's already cost us a shot at 1st place

[laddo]

I'd agree overall with those ratings. Bar 3 or 4 players the rest of the starting XI were below or well below par.

I'd push Slocombe up to 7.5 didn't have a huge amount to do but the much maligned shot stopper did everything right and made a couple of good saves.

Palmer was our best player composed and unlike the majority of the side not wasteful in possession.

[maddogslater]

That's very disappointing, but we've heard it so many times before

[BanjoPie]

Sometimes you have have too many good players and when they are not always in the starting 11 they can become disillusioned - hope IB hasn’t gone too far with bringing in even more players!

[laddo]

Where do you get that impression from? How big is our squad compared to others?

[Notts78]

We don’t have a big squad. What we have is a largely young squad, which has pros and cons. Oh for a JoB type last night.
The game had a feeling of first game of the season where the teams cohesion wasn’t where it needed to be. Players weren’t as good as they have been. When you are a passing team things can go wrong so easily against the ‘low block’. It’s the last point we have struggled with most. We need a genuine target man - which IMO Wootton is not. Someone we can throw own when plan A isn’t working. No, not Denton, but of the ilk.

[ThaiPie]

We don’t have a big squad. What we have is a largely young squad, which has pros and cons. Oh for a JoB type last night.
The game had a feeling of first game of the season where the teams cohesion wasn’t where it needed to be. Players weren’t as good as they have been. When you are a passing team things can go wrong so easily against the ‘low block’. It’s the last point we have struggled with most. We need a genuine target man - which IMO Wootton is not. Someone we can throw own when plan A isn’t working. No, not Denton, but of the ilk.

Wouldn't a genuine target man require a complete redesign of the style of play?

[macstop]

Goalkeeper was man of the match for me.

[BigFatPie]

Can anyone suggest why Kyle Wootton seems to be so ineffective in away games?

[Notts78]

Wouldn't a genuine target man require a complete redesign of the style of play?

It’s called plan B. If we can’t pass through or around them, then bombard them.
We can be very predictable and rely on moments of magic.