I thought we were loads better

I get that in general it's still ***** but it was refreshing to see us with some actual attacking intent for once, especially second half. I find it staggering ppl cant see an improvement but that might be my Conor tinted glasses.

Watters/MDG/Nwakali/O'Keefe & Russell can all get in the bin mind.

 

I think it's in part because we've played teams in 19th, 23rd, 18th and 17th respectively, so were naturally going to create a few more chances despite how ponderous our attacking still looks. Pass down the wing, check back, pass into middle, pass out to wing again, over/under hit a cross, get carved wide open with a simple ball back up our end of the pitch. Repeat ad nauseum.

 

Struggling a bit Liam. Pattern of play still looks identical to me - I suspect that's mainly because Conor was already the driving force behind the majority of stuff we did, as everyone I've spoken to with any visibility of the workings of the club seems to take the view that Clarke was bone idle and contributed very little to actual coaching sessions. I thought it was typical of loads of home games this season where we've had the majority of possession but been ponderous and slow in attacking and the opposition have had the best of the clear cut chances despite only having about 35% possession.

The one thing I'll give him credit for is the half time subs helped a lot, but bringing Lewis on and moving Humphrys away from where he'd been our main attacking threat just killed us.

Agree about Russell and MaxG though. Absolute toilet footballers.

 

It's definitely this.

I know you love him from his time previously and what he did for us, but it's a real leap I think.

 

I agree...I like conor...first half yesterday it felt like collins sideways passing was back. Second half loads better playing 4 at the back. Okeefe can't play on left, he won't go forward and passes back. When he was on the right 2nd half he was loads better. HUMPHRYS for me was MOM...He has to play out wide and as a winger. He defended great and attacked.
Unfortunately the problem still is our defenders are poor and make errors. We need a solbaurer again. Roberts is ok/good but all the rest are poor

 

Don't get me wrong, it's still not great, but I just cant help but feel like there's at least some improvement in terms of pace, intent & seeming like they actually know what's expected. First goal unlucky but like you said, a change that seemed to actually work.

See your point on Humphreys but thought he was blowing already so made little difference. We had 4 actual attacking players on the pitch for a good spell, too. It felt odd.

Still think he gets the gig.

 

I suppose its nice to dream, innit.

 

Clarke's team won 3 of his last 5 games. How is failing to win 4 games, all against relegation threatened sides, an improvement?

I just don't get it.

 

Yeah, but I bet the underlyings are better.

 

Oh absolutely.

I want him to win the last 6 games by an aggregate of 25-0 and we give him a 10 year deal.

We can dream.

 

I thought it was just me. Even after we equalised, I thought we were moving the ball around well, when normally we **** ourselves, sit back and let the other side back in the game. Defensively, we are still very frail, and to me that's down to personnel on the pitch. We did end up losing, from Exeter's only meaningful venture into our half in the second half, and as usual, it was an error of our own doing. I certainly saw an improvement overall though.

 

You find it "staggering" that people can't see an improvement?

I find it staggering that you find it staggering.

(btw you are not allowed to find it staggering that I find it staggering that you find it staggering.)

I see no team improvement at all. It has deteriorated, despite a few tweaks in positioning and personnel here and there.

Nor has one player's performance improved. A few have got noticeably worse.

It's too early in my opinion to say yes or no to CH as coach and he may produce some green shoots before season end, but for now it's not rose tinted glasses you're wearing so much as a blindfold.

 

Let's run away together Archey and live in our rose tinted Conor dreamland.

 

I think the issues that happened last night have been the issues all season and even before.

We have had periods in many games this year (ok many may be stretching it) where we’ve looked ok but then prove to be undone by individual mistakes and then play poorly as confidence seems to quickly dissipate.

Last night we looked better with Connell on but then succumbed to yet another individual error.

I don’t think things have changed under Conor apart from the lack of head gear on the head coach.

The fundamental issues seemed to be the DoF thinks we have a top 4 squad whereas the league suggests not.

Maybe he’s judging it solely on the wage bill…

 

I think it’s becoming clearer now that we ought to go for Warne, allow him to bring his own assistant with him and have CH as their understudy.

 

I think they call it 'attacking intent' and I saw it tonight and last Saturday..

 

It's no better and no worse than what we were seeing previously. Where I will give him credit is that he's 'achieving' this with a team that's becoming increasingly reliant on the academy products, rather than the established first-teamers, who he has not been afraid to omit, or the dross that was recruited in January, essentially as 'bodies'.

The results are meaningless to our fate for the season, so the only real positive we have left is to discover what we have with some of these youngsters. I've already seen enough of Flavell, for example, to think that he was worth developing in preference to the two external loans we brought in. Hindsight says we had enough within the squad in Killip, Smith and Flavell to not require either of these, and I doubt our season would have been adversely impacted had we done so.

 

Personally I thought there were some positive signs. There are some big issues of course. The defence looks like a broken colander at times, players look positionally stupid sometimes, first touch is often poor, movement is still often poor, players still make poor passing decisions and/or move into wrong positions, we have no-one up top to play to and some of the players look weak and hide too much. However, having said that there were periods where the intent looked better (in spite of the above comments) and one or two players look to have potential. Flavell looks confident and may be decent in the long-term. DKD, for me, was the best player on the pitch. Lewis looked keen when he came on and seemed to have some idea what he was trying to do.
I'd get rid of quite a few of the players though (if possible) as they are too error prone, not good enough or simply not really interested enough.
So still quite crap overall, but one or two positives.

 

Ah, thats true, maybe Dyson is correct and there *is* a significant improvement

 

Going forwards we look better with a back 4, especially at home and I’d be looking to build around that into next season. Hopefully getting a left footed player back from injury at LB will give better balance. I’m desperate for them to give us some hope.