|
|
Post by stevek192 on Aug 8, 2015 19:42:24 GMT
Thankfully a season is not won or lost on the first day and surely this is not a sign of things to come. Yet again a big crowd were provided with a very poor performance as a powerful and well organised and professional Northampton side were deserving winners although we could have got an undeserved win had Taylor and Harrison taken the only gilt edged chances created. Our midfield looked totally lost with Lines playing surprisingly deep when I thought the whole reason Lockyer was selected was to allow Lines to play more forward. Montano was starved of the ball and Sinclair is not a winger so we found ourselves with very little attacking intentions and even less accurate passing. In fact it was a total mess and often looked like Men v Boys.
Mildenhall 5 Looked very slow moving to me and maybe the years have caught up with him. One very good save but a couple of misunderstandings with his defence and kicking was awful.
Leadbitter 5 Average game,tried to provide an outlet down the right but caught out a few times.
Clarke 6.5 My man of the match. Looks a very good signing and had to cover for a very shaky Parkes on a few occasions and distribution was generally good.
Parkes 4 For some reason starts a season looking very rusty. Kept needing an extra touch and then hoofed it anyway. rarely found a team mate with his passing and looked very pedestrian. You wouldn't have thought that him and Mildy had met each other before
Brown 4 For me didn't look fit and was well below par. Apart from one move in the first half where he linked with Montana this was a poor performance particularly coming forward.
Lockyer 3 Not a midfield player in a million years but made to look worse by the fact that Lines seemed to start off behind him most of the time which meant we had no central attacking midfielder. Has not played there in any of the pre season matches therefore to me it was just a DC finding a place for him in the team.
Lines 4 Not a bad first half but played far too deep and got deeper and deeper leaving us with no presence in the midfield. His dead balls were the worse I have ever seen him deliver. Better to come I am sure.
Sinclair 5 Can't fault his effort but i am sorry to disappoint people but he is not and will never be a winger and his workrate was just lost in the wide position. Stupid early booking and for me became more and more lost and just drifted away as the game passed him by.
Montano 3 Could we actually have found a worse winger than Balanta? I hope not but not much to write home about on his performance today. I think he was not at all helped by the Managers tactics today. If the Manager has not sent players out to hoof the ball forward then why do they do it.
Easter 4.5 Started very well but really needs to get a decent service and it is very hard to do anything when your marker towers above you and so does most of the balls.
Taylor 3 Lost us the game by failing to take an easy opportunity-again. Didn't really do much with the general play so when a forward isn't contributing generally then has to take a chance when it comes along. for me he should have been taken off at half time.
DC 3 Selection, tactics and substitutions IMO totally wrong today. He is entitled to a bad one but was not helped by the players performance but sorry cannot accept that the players continually hoofing aimlessly is beyond his control and Taylor and Lockyer seem to have to be selected no matter what. Playing Lockyer in midfield set out as a defensive intention and a draw looked the best we were likely to achieve after the first 15 minutes. Substitutions for me are to change a game whereas the three made today just seemed to be like for like. Harrison for Easter, Monakana for Montano, and Bodin for Taylor did nothing to change either the formation or the way we were playing and although I very much back DC to be a success lets hope he got all the mistakes out of the way today. We played totally into the hands of Cresswell who was the outstanding player on the pitch.
Referee 5 Pretty poor but not to blame for the defeat.
Northampton 6.5 Professional,well organised but we played just as they hoped we would but I would expect them to be in the top 10..
The truth is we can only get better and i am sure we will.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2015 19:52:13 GMT
i dont think dc intended for us to play long ball but northampton pressed the ball very well and we wernt able to cope with this.
i felt brown and easter wernt match fit and on the day lines lacked the mental courage to get on the ball in the opponents half.
it reminded me of the eastleigh and braintree home games last season ,in both those games the opposition pressed us very high up the pitch and like today we struggled to deal with it.
|
|
|
|
Post by stevek192 on Aug 8, 2015 19:58:33 GMT
I would agree with your comments 1973 however Northampton played EXACTLY as I thought they would but we were a mess in midfield and to be honest looked to have no real plan or discipline to play as a team. My worst fear is that most teams we play in this League will press us high up the pitch but my consolation is that DC will get braver with his selection and will go for teams more rather than put up a defensive shell.
|
|
|
|
Post by o2o2bo2ba on Aug 8, 2015 20:04:56 GMT
I hope DC will be more ruthless in his player placing too.
It's not time to experiment, pre season was for that.
|
|
JeffNZ
Administrator
Jimmy Morgan
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,451 
|
Post by JeffNZ on Aug 8, 2015 20:08:19 GMT
My first (and probably last) game for quite a while and it was a huge disappointment.
I agree with all the above points. Our long ball tactics fell right into the arms (or head) of their #6, the best player on the pitch by a country mile.
Northampton were a good team but our total lack of ideas or Plan B must be addressed as a matter of urgency as it will cause us no end of problems this season.
|
|
|
|
Post by Westcountry Gas on Aug 8, 2015 20:17:55 GMT
Looking forward to Kaid Mohamed signing next week.
|
|
|
|
Post by 1unclealbert on Aug 8, 2015 20:25:32 GMT
Northampton aren't much good and never have been. Last time I saw them was at the mem when Forrester scored the only goal in another dull game.
We were quite good in the first half - poor in the second. DC's non-league trump card of throwing on subs to try & get something won't work in the FL unless the subs are FL seasoned.
As stated last season, the football league is for hard-cases. The non-league is really for pansies in comparison.
Let's hope we toughen up soon - August fixtures don't look good for us.
UTG
Viva Bobby Jones
|
|
|
|
Post by fanatical on Aug 8, 2015 20:53:19 GMT
Thankfully a season is not won or lost on the first day and surely this is not a sign of things to come. Yet again a big crowd were provided with a very poor performance as a powerful and well organised and professional Northampton side were deserving winners although we could have got an undeserved win had Taylor and Harrison taken the only gilt edged chances created. Our midfield looked totally lost with Lines playing surprisingly deep when I thought the whole reason Lockyer was selected was to allow Lines to play more forward. Montano was starved of the ball and Sinclair is not a winger so we found ourselves with very little attacking intentions and even less accurate passing. In fact it was a total mess and often looked like Men v Boys. Mildenhall 5 Looked very slow moving to me and maybe the years have caught up with him. One very good save but a couple of misunderstandings with his defence and kicking was awful. Leadbitter 5 Average game,tried to provide an outlet down the right but caught out a few times. Clarke 6.5 My man of the match. Looks a very good signing and had to cover for a very shaky Parkes on a few occasions and distribution was generally good. Parkes 4 For some reason starts a season looking very rusty. Kept needing an extra touch and then hoofed it anyway. rarely found a team mate with his passing and looked very pedestrian. You wouldn't have thought that him and Mildy had met each other before Brown 4 For me didn't look fit and was well below par. Apart from one move in the first half where he linked with Montana this was a poor performance particularly coming forward. Lockyer 3 Not a midfield player in a million years but made to look worse by the fact that Lines seemed to start off behind him most of the time which meant we had no central attacking midfielder. Has not played there in any of the pre season matches therefore to me it was just a DC finding a place for him in the team. Lines 4 Not a bad first half but played far too deep and got deeper and deeper leaving us with no presence in the midfield. His dead balls were the worse I have ever seen him deliver. Better to come I am sure. Sinclair 5 Can't fault his effort but i am sorry to disappoint people but he is not and will never be a winger and his workrate was just lost in the wide position. Stupid early booking and for me became more and more lost and just drifted away as the game passed him by. Montano 3 Could we actually have found a worse winger than Balanta? I hope not but not much to write home about on his performance today. I think he was not at all helped by the Managers tactics today. If the Manager has not sent players out to hoof the ball forward then why do they do it. Easter 4.5 Started very well but really needs to get a decent service and it is very hard to do anything when your marker towers above you and so does most of the balls. Taylor 3 Lost us the game by failing to take an easy opportunity-again. Didn't really do much with the general play so when a forward isn't contributing generally then has to take a chance when it comes along. for me he should have been taken off at half time. DC 3 Selection, tactics and substitutions IMO totally wrong today. He is entitled to a bad one but was not helped by the players performance but sorry cannot accept that the players continually hoofing aimlessly is beyond his control and Taylor and Lockyer seem to have to be selected no matter what. Playing Lockyer in midfield set out as a defensive intention and a draw looked the best we were likely to achieve after the first 15 minutes. Substitutions for me are to change a game whereas the three made today just seemed to be like for like. Harrison for Easter, Monakana for Montano, and Bodin for Taylor did nothing to change either the formation or the way we were playing and although I very much back DC to be a success lets hope he got all the mistakes out of the way today. We played totally into the hands of Cresswell who was the outstanding player on the pitch. Referee 5 Pretty poor but not to blame for the defeat. Northampton 6.5 Professional,well organised but we played just as they hoped we would but I would expect them to be in the top 10.. The truth is we can only get better and i am sure we will. Can't disagree with any of this excellent summary - and totally agree about Clarke who looks a real find (based on one game) What worried me was the lack of pass and go which was a feature last season and today was the complete opposite of our first home game last season. Not my favourite last season but we missed Monkhouse. |
|
Thatslife
"Decisions are made by those who turn up"
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 669
|
Post by Thatslife on Aug 8, 2015 21:27:19 GMT
I thought Leadbitter had a good game both defending and tried to attack down the flank. Was my MOTM. I ,like most people was confused by DC'S tactics, I think he was hoping our strikers would pick up the second phase ball, after their giants headed out the hoof ball.
His post match interview he said he was worried about their wide men, hence Sinclair out on the wing, if that was the case why didn't he play Lock yer out there and Sinclair in the middle, confusing to say the least. I think Lines poor game was down to missing Mansell's support. We all know Lockyer is no midfield player so why play him there. Playing players out of position contributed to our relegation to non league.
Maybe put it all down to DC's first game as a league Manager (I hope so anyway)
|
|
c4h10
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 476
|
Post by c4h10 on Aug 8, 2015 22:00:20 GMT
Excellent summary, SteveK. That was definitely the game that I watched. Hope your words get back to DC one way or the other.
|
|
Royal Blue
Michael Smith
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 296
|
Post by Royal Blue on Aug 8, 2015 22:27:47 GMT
Looking forward to Kaid Mohamed signing next week. What's this, Westcountry? EDIT: Just caught up with James McNamara's tweets earlier today about him training with us. Not sure we've got the budget to be offering any permanent contracts unfortunately, but it'll be interesting to see what happens as I'm sure his wage demands wouldn't be too high. |
|
harrybuckle
Always look on the bright side
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 5,418
|
Post by harrybuckle on Aug 8, 2015 23:16:29 GMT
DC out ....shock horror yet another league defeat
GET REAL what a lot of cobblers
they did a job on us ...stronger, streetwise and better at keeping the ball
Let us back Taylor and DC ....support there are 45 games left
|
|
|
|
Post by stevek192 on Aug 8, 2015 23:39:41 GMT
Harry Buckle,
Who has said DC out?
It is a report on a game as I saw it. If you saw it differently then fine,tell us your findings, thats what a forum is about. I am sure we will play quite a few teams who will play the same way as Northampton did. Most teams in this division have strong players, a striker who will score goals and players who have experience in this division. I feel today we worried too much about them and set up to stop them..this does worry me as we have players who can worry the opposition so let's set up to attack them.
Stuart sinclair will never be a winger,Lockyer is not a good midfield player and if you are going to hoof the ball all afternoon then Easter,Taylor, Harrison or Bodin aren't going to win much and there is little point in playing with wingers. Northampton actually played a lot of big boot but they had the striker to hold the ball up and battle.Their midfield really had little competition because ours was a mess with no discipline and far too defensive.
I am sure DC will get it right but today IMO he got a lot wrong.As I said all the first game is ,is 3 points same as every other game.Things are not won or lost today.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2015 0:13:54 GMT
people have been critical of lockyer and sinclair but what about lines? his set pieces were poor,,he never got on the ball in there half and i saw him pull out of at least 2 tackles? i never sinclair or lockyer do that
|
|
bs14gas
Robin. S. Layer
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 462
|
Post by bs14gas on Aug 9, 2015 0:16:12 GMT
Steve has said it all. The same cluster fluck of wrong players in wrong positions, and bad tactics for those players that got us relegation.
Deja vu!
At least time to improve!! Come on DC this isn't rocket science - play players in their natural positions, with tactics that suit are strengths - yes that means no long high hope full punts to Taylor and easter!
|
|
harrybuckle
Always look on the bright side
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 5,418
|
Post by harrybuckle on Aug 9, 2015 5:55:21 GMT
Harry Buckle, Who has said DC out? It is a report on a game as I saw it. If you saw it differently then fine,tell us your findings, thats what a forum is about. I am sure we will play quite a few teams who will play the same way as Northampton did. Most teams in this division have strong players, a striker who will score goals and players who have experience in this division. I feel today we worried too much about them and set up to stop them..this does worry me as we have players who can worry the opposition so let's set up to attack them. Stuart sinclair will never be a winger,Lockyer is not a good midfield player and if you are going to hoof the ball all afternoon then Easter,Taylor, Harrison or Bodin aren't going to win much and there is little point in playing with wingers. Northampton actually played a lot of big boot but they had the striker to hold the ball up and battle.Their midfield really had little competition because ours was a mess with no discipline and far too defensive. I am sure DC will get it right but today IMO he got a lot wrong.As I said all the first game is ,is 3 points same as every other game.Things are not won or lost today. I know no one directly said DC out but it is a reaction to I feel criticism I did feel we missed Mansell and frankly some of league debutants froze as the weight of expectation in performing in front of a big expectant crowd got to them. The Cobblers were using everything to slow the game down and frustrate us. Agreed playing without natural wingers especially at home leads to creating little. I felt Gosling could have been introduced but DC wanted to keep our midfield and the subs failed to spark our play although I believe Harrison's late chance should have been taken. I am still a Taylor fan and given time him and Easter with better midfield support will be fine. |
|
Peter Parker
Global Moderator
Richard Walker
You have been sentenced to DELETION!
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 4,920
|
Post by Peter Parker on Aug 9, 2015 7:19:44 GMT
Couldnt go yesterday but out of better players, one has been injured (Brownb and one in Mansell was injured.
I like Sinclair and Lockyer, but Lockyer is a defender and Mansell is a better all round player with more experience then Sinclair and he will always be a big miss.
I do wonder if when fit we should look at a midfield.3 of Lines, mansell, Sinclair and maybe Taylor in a free rolw behind Easter and Ellis. Leadbitter and Brown can give us width. Mansell, Lines, sinclair.should offer enoug protection for this.
All in all. First game, a way to go yet. Wont be panicking just yet
|
|
|
|
Post by Bernard Briggs on Aug 9, 2015 7:21:27 GMT
Steve has said it all. The same cluster fluck of wrong players in wrong positions, and bad tactics for those players that got us relegation. Deja vu! At least time to improve!! Come on DC this isn't rocket science - play players in their natural positions, with tactics that suit are strengths - yes that means no long high hope full punts to Taylor and easter! Agreed. Northampton deserved to win yesterday, but Clarke made it easier for them than it might have been. |
|
|
|
Post by stroudblue on Aug 9, 2015 7:30:09 GMT
Have to agree on playing players out of position. There is some quality missing in midfield. Mildy I think, will be a liability this season.
|
|
|
|
Post by stevek192 on Aug 9, 2015 8:27:45 GMT
IMO neither Leadbitter or a semi fit Brown are good enough defending to go marauding down the pitch like we did sometimes last season. Also a bigger factor is if you are going to sign 4 wingers why then play with 5-3-2 which won't allow you to play any of them!!!!
Sinclair is a worker and very little else and this is totally wasted out wide.
Clarke appears to have a bit of pace so how about pushing up the pitch more and concentrate on marking the opposition and compacting the play.
Personally would start off (if Mansell isnt fit)
Mildenhall
Lockyer (better defender than Leads) Clarke Parkes Brown
Monakana Lines Sinclair Montano
Easter Blissett or Harrison
Probably for Tuesday start with Gosling in for Monakana as i doubt he will be allowed to play.
Would be better still if we signed a strong central midfielder to play alongside Lines as i have stated all pre season that if you are going to play with two wingers then you need a good experienced holding midfielder.
|
|
