Match Day Mega Thread

Thought we deserved the 3 points but I’m not convinced that the changes made us any better. Barring Styles wonder goal I didn’t think any of them offered more than who they replaced & id hazard a guess that had we stuck with the same side we’d have probably edged this game too.

I expected a more impressive performance today. I didn’t think Cosgrove, Dodgson or O’Keeffe played anything like what they did second half on Tuesday & despite a good start & a great goal I thought Styles got worse the longer the game went on & was giving possession away cheaply in the second half.

Still think there’s no stand out sides & the leagues wide open. With our strength in depth we’ve got to fancy ourselves over many of the smaller sides doing well currently but I could honestly see us finishing anywhere in the top half. I think it’s that wide open. I can’t see any sides running away with it like the top 4 did last year.

 

I think it shows how good we are. Not even in top gear but fifth in the league.

 

I we beat all the crap we'll go up automatic with 30 wins and 15 defeats.

 

Beating the poor teams and losing to the good teams, that's the opposite of what we used to do in the Championship/Second Division.
This league has got some bad teams in it, but every win has to be appreciated, because its not always a certainty that we'll beat them.
And after the Portsmouth result the other night, I'd have been delighted at the offer of winning today 1-2.

 

My concern is that I’m not really seeing much progress. Have no idea what our identity is supposed to be

 

I think that the way of playing, at least in theory is:

Solid, organised and hard to beat away from home.

Open and expansive at home.

Away we've looked extremely turgid with a lot of sideways and backwards passing, but the results and the goals against column speak for themselves. We've put away a lot of our chances as we've got a lot of quality going forward at this level. Hopefully we'll start to looking easier on the eye once the players gel a bit more.

At home has been a bit more problematic. The defence is still nowhere near solid enough for us to play a high line and get away with it (hence why we're playing quite deep away, which is not great to watch but has so far proved effective). We've played some excellent attacking football in spells, but it's been very hit and miss. McCart has looked generally solid but uninspiring. Shepherd looks much the better player to me. Hopefully De Gevigney is going to offer something different once he gets up to speed. Lopata has done incredibly well considering where he's come from, but his positioning often looks quite suspect. I'm sure this will improve given time, but it won't happen overnight. Not sure where we go with this as I can't see a quick fix, but luckily that's Neill Collins's problem to sort out, not mine.

 

Personally I think McCart is nowhere near the standard needed. Williams has been criticised for his defensive mistakes for years and lopata is a big bruiser but with awful positioning sense. Collectively it's a recipe for disaster.

Throw in a midfield that hasn't got a tackle between the lot of them and Collins has got a hard job ahead of him

 

we are going up- it will be like last season with weaker promotion rivals

By november & december we will have established a settled backline

Lopata & french man will be really finding their feet

Collins will have his regular teamsheet

Few decent loans or signings in january

By spring we will be ripping the league apart

 

Having slept on it I don’t actually feel any happier than I did at the game itself. I’m really underwhelmed. Without Liam Roberts the table would look very different and I do worry our luck will run out at some point.

The one saving grace is we do seem to have the ability to score a goal out of nothing.

I think it’s the first time I’ve come away from an away win and actually felt really p1ss3d off!!

 

I have havent left a home match this season feeling bouyant and that includes the first when we scored 7. Currently I see a bunch of players, but not a TEAM. There is something missing and I am not sure it's just Connell.

 

Was one of the subs for concussion? We had 6.

 

Come on whos hi jacked your computer

 

We don’t yet if we have weaker promotion rivals though do we