Post by stevek192 on Oct 7, 2015 10:31:52 GMT
I must admit straight away that I went to the Mem last night up beat at the last two away performances but worried that with three players missing DC might revert to the 3-5-2 or what I consider to be the failed wing back system. Helped on his way by the three absentees I really was worried that he would tinker too much and that it would be a case of 2 steps forward and 2 steps back.
I need not of worried as although there were 4 changes the basic essence of the team structure was there . There were two wide men Bodin and a chance for Montano to show what he can do. A return for Leadbitter in place of a rested or possibly injured James Clarke and Parkes replacing Lockyer. In midfield Lines replaced Mansell who I assume was rested in continuing his return from injury. Matty Taylor and Easter got a chance to continue building their blossoming partnership. There was an interesting bench with two youngsters Lyttle and Kilgour and Mildenhall, Ollie Clarke and a returning Blissett. So with what i considered a good attacking selection from DC we took on the current leaders - our best friends from Wycombe!!
Before I start my assessment of our players can i first say that although Wycombe made 4 changes from Saturday only Marcus Bean was left out of the squad (probably a similar case to Mansell) so in effect it was a very strong line up and possibly apart from Bean the line up they would have selected had it been a League game after a home defeat especially as one of the replacements was Jason Banton a player who I was hoping we might have signed when he surprisingly was released by Plymouth.
Nicholls 8 Couple of outstanding saves and apart from one slip which was quickly recovered performed very well ,looking very safe and controlling his area well. The speed at which he moves and make decisions alone would give him a the nod over Mildenhall in my mind. A very good performance coming after Saturdays mistake.
Leadbitter 7 His pace gives him an advantage over James Clarke for me and last night it was needed as Wycombe were very quick moving and skilful. Stuck to a difficult task well and got forward a few times as well. I would think about sticking with him for the next game as Clarke has fallen below his early season form in the last couple of games.
Parkes 7 Much better performance from him last night and more like the Parkes from last season ,perhaps the kick up the ass has done him good. One outstanding run forward that should have ended up in the net (but he is a defender!!) and some good blocks and tackles and was much better in the air. Hasn't done himself any harm with that performance but would have Lockyer back next game.
McCrystal 7.5 Pick of the defence although his lack of real pace did show a couple of times but we won't come up against many players with the speed and skill of the Wycombe forwards. Mac controls the defence so well and sticks to his task and its great to have him back and playing so well. Nothing fancy but exactly as you see on the label,can be relied upon to clear the ball and man mark.
Brown 7 Had a very tough job to contain his winger particularly in the first half but stood up well and got forward well in the second half. There are few full backs fitter than him at this level and he did little wrong considering he was up against a very good player.
Bodin 8 This bloke oozes class and i really hope we seal a deal for him at least to the season end and hopefully at that time we will want to extend it to 2 year deal. Has the ability to keep the ball close to his feet and give his team mates time to9 come forward.His inclusion has made the biggest difference to us in the last three games. Deserved a goal and should have had one when clean through. He showed good pace and loads of tricks with a willingness to shoot from distance. Very close to Man of the Match for me and if he had scored that goal probably would have got it.
Lines 6.5 Glorious pass for Matt Taylor's class goal and kept things ticking over offensively but his defensive work is just not good enough and too often he allows players to go past him. He can and I am sure he will do better and his time will come again but for me it is back to the bench next game because Sinclair with Mansell is a much more hard working unit.
Sinclair 8.5 What can you say about this man that has not already been said. Like the Beatles song he is here,there and everywhere. Always setting a good example pressurising the opposition and prompting with many short accurate passes and a couple of excellent runs down the wing to add in to a complete midfielders performance. Would have been many peoples Man of the Match and I couldn't argue with them but for me Easters Class edged it for me.
Montano 6.5 I actually see a player here and I see him forcing his way into the team at some point. Is very pacy and shows the ability to beat a man and I thought he did well not only on the wing but when he came inside. Should have scored a goal but definitely showed enough to suggest he can do a job when called upon. Is very attack orientated in that he doesn't have a good defensive game but at the moment I would play Gosling ahead of him.
Taylor 8.5 His best game of the season and the quality of his goal cannot be denied. His movement all night was superb and he is at last cementing his place in the side and building what looks like it could be a very good partnership with Easter. Considering his height he wins a lot in the air and it was a shame he didn't bury his header in the second half. Another player who for many would have been Man of the Match but that really shows the quality of some of the performances last night.
Easter 8.5 MOM my Man of the Match for an all round good performance that really oozed with class. From the moment he fouled the centre half early on to let him know he was there Easter looked totally up for it and scored a superb second and like Matty T could have had at least another goal. His movement and ability to bring others into the game is really coming to the fore now and he is looking fitter each game. We could have an excellent attacking force here now and well done to DC for sticking with them and i see Ellis having a difficult time to get his place back.
O Clarke 5 Did OK but not IMO good enough if we are to be a promotion chasing team as for me he gets lost in the midfield and leaves us open particularly if played in there with Lines. I would be looking for another midfielder in the January window if we are serious about chasing promotion to challenge Mansell.
Blissett Not long enough to mark but great to see him back in the squad as he definitely offers something different and IMO can be a handful. Good to see DC put his arm around him when it took about 10 minutes for the ball to go out of play to make the substitution and was unlucky not to get a clear header on goal.
Lyttle Too "little" time to make an assessment.
Crowd 6 It was a good crowd for a JPT second round match and a reasonable atmosphere.
Referee 5 Allowed Wycombe to get away with far too much. Lenient to the extreme and saw decisions very strangely at times but did try to let the game flow.
Wycombe 7 Oh how i wish we had signed Jason Banton when available but on the night both wingers shone and Wycombe for all I dislike them are a good team and most of the time play football the right way.Their attack although they didn't score are up there with the best in the division and it is easy to see that their pace all over the team is the reason why they sit top of the League.
DC He is IMO going in the right direction and I wouldn't bet against his prediction to get us in the promotion hunt. Kept to the 4-4-2 which has served us so well recently and we could have won by a lot more which considering the opposition says a lot.
So we are in the Area Quarter finals of the JPT and it really is a shame we don't have a game Saturday although IMO it is the correct decision to cancel the game and this is reinforced because it has been seen time and again that no matter what the standard of opposition you will rarely win both games against a team you play two matches running.
To conclude this was an excellent performance that was a great advert for League 2 and the JPT and both teams played their part in making it without doubt the most entertaining game seen at the Mem this season and great value for a tenner. Just a shame that more people were not there to see it as it was definitely a case that you would want to come back for more!!
Personally for the next game I would go for
Nicholls
Leadbitter Lockyer McCrystal Brown
Bodin Sinclair Mansell Gosling
Taylor Easter
Subs Mildenhall J Clarke Blissett Lines Harrison Parkes Montano
I need not of worried as although there were 4 changes the basic essence of the team structure was there . There were two wide men Bodin and a chance for Montano to show what he can do. A return for Leadbitter in place of a rested or possibly injured James Clarke and Parkes replacing Lockyer. In midfield Lines replaced Mansell who I assume was rested in continuing his return from injury. Matty Taylor and Easter got a chance to continue building their blossoming partnership. There was an interesting bench with two youngsters Lyttle and Kilgour and Mildenhall, Ollie Clarke and a returning Blissett. So with what i considered a good attacking selection from DC we took on the current leaders - our best friends from Wycombe!!
Before I start my assessment of our players can i first say that although Wycombe made 4 changes from Saturday only Marcus Bean was left out of the squad (probably a similar case to Mansell) so in effect it was a very strong line up and possibly apart from Bean the line up they would have selected had it been a League game after a home defeat especially as one of the replacements was Jason Banton a player who I was hoping we might have signed when he surprisingly was released by Plymouth.
Nicholls 8 Couple of outstanding saves and apart from one slip which was quickly recovered performed very well ,looking very safe and controlling his area well. The speed at which he moves and make decisions alone would give him a the nod over Mildenhall in my mind. A very good performance coming after Saturdays mistake.
Leadbitter 7 His pace gives him an advantage over James Clarke for me and last night it was needed as Wycombe were very quick moving and skilful. Stuck to a difficult task well and got forward a few times as well. I would think about sticking with him for the next game as Clarke has fallen below his early season form in the last couple of games.
Parkes 7 Much better performance from him last night and more like the Parkes from last season ,perhaps the kick up the ass has done him good. One outstanding run forward that should have ended up in the net (but he is a defender!!) and some good blocks and tackles and was much better in the air. Hasn't done himself any harm with that performance but would have Lockyer back next game.
McCrystal 7.5 Pick of the defence although his lack of real pace did show a couple of times but we won't come up against many players with the speed and skill of the Wycombe forwards. Mac controls the defence so well and sticks to his task and its great to have him back and playing so well. Nothing fancy but exactly as you see on the label,can be relied upon to clear the ball and man mark.
Brown 7 Had a very tough job to contain his winger particularly in the first half but stood up well and got forward well in the second half. There are few full backs fitter than him at this level and he did little wrong considering he was up against a very good player.
Bodin 8 This bloke oozes class and i really hope we seal a deal for him at least to the season end and hopefully at that time we will want to extend it to 2 year deal. Has the ability to keep the ball close to his feet and give his team mates time to9 come forward.His inclusion has made the biggest difference to us in the last three games. Deserved a goal and should have had one when clean through. He showed good pace and loads of tricks with a willingness to shoot from distance. Very close to Man of the Match for me and if he had scored that goal probably would have got it.
Lines 6.5 Glorious pass for Matt Taylor's class goal and kept things ticking over offensively but his defensive work is just not good enough and too often he allows players to go past him. He can and I am sure he will do better and his time will come again but for me it is back to the bench next game because Sinclair with Mansell is a much more hard working unit.
Sinclair 8.5 What can you say about this man that has not already been said. Like the Beatles song he is here,there and everywhere. Always setting a good example pressurising the opposition and prompting with many short accurate passes and a couple of excellent runs down the wing to add in to a complete midfielders performance. Would have been many peoples Man of the Match and I couldn't argue with them but for me Easters Class edged it for me.
Montano 6.5 I actually see a player here and I see him forcing his way into the team at some point. Is very pacy and shows the ability to beat a man and I thought he did well not only on the wing but when he came inside. Should have scored a goal but definitely showed enough to suggest he can do a job when called upon. Is very attack orientated in that he doesn't have a good defensive game but at the moment I would play Gosling ahead of him.
Taylor 8.5 His best game of the season and the quality of his goal cannot be denied. His movement all night was superb and he is at last cementing his place in the side and building what looks like it could be a very good partnership with Easter. Considering his height he wins a lot in the air and it was a shame he didn't bury his header in the second half. Another player who for many would have been Man of the Match but that really shows the quality of some of the performances last night.
Easter 8.5 MOM my Man of the Match for an all round good performance that really oozed with class. From the moment he fouled the centre half early on to let him know he was there Easter looked totally up for it and scored a superb second and like Matty T could have had at least another goal. His movement and ability to bring others into the game is really coming to the fore now and he is looking fitter each game. We could have an excellent attacking force here now and well done to DC for sticking with them and i see Ellis having a difficult time to get his place back.
O Clarke 5 Did OK but not IMO good enough if we are to be a promotion chasing team as for me he gets lost in the midfield and leaves us open particularly if played in there with Lines. I would be looking for another midfielder in the January window if we are serious about chasing promotion to challenge Mansell.
Blissett Not long enough to mark but great to see him back in the squad as he definitely offers something different and IMO can be a handful. Good to see DC put his arm around him when it took about 10 minutes for the ball to go out of play to make the substitution and was unlucky not to get a clear header on goal.
Lyttle Too "little" time to make an assessment.
Crowd 6 It was a good crowd for a JPT second round match and a reasonable atmosphere.
Referee 5 Allowed Wycombe to get away with far too much. Lenient to the extreme and saw decisions very strangely at times but did try to let the game flow.
Wycombe 7 Oh how i wish we had signed Jason Banton when available but on the night both wingers shone and Wycombe for all I dislike them are a good team and most of the time play football the right way.Their attack although they didn't score are up there with the best in the division and it is easy to see that their pace all over the team is the reason why they sit top of the League.
DC He is IMO going in the right direction and I wouldn't bet against his prediction to get us in the promotion hunt. Kept to the 4-4-2 which has served us so well recently and we could have won by a lot more which considering the opposition says a lot.
So we are in the Area Quarter finals of the JPT and it really is a shame we don't have a game Saturday although IMO it is the correct decision to cancel the game and this is reinforced because it has been seen time and again that no matter what the standard of opposition you will rarely win both games against a team you play two matches running.
To conclude this was an excellent performance that was a great advert for League 2 and the JPT and both teams played their part in making it without doubt the most entertaining game seen at the Mem this season and great value for a tenner. Just a shame that more people were not there to see it as it was definitely a case that you would want to come back for more!!
Personally for the next game I would go for
Nicholls
Leadbitter Lockyer McCrystal Brown
Bodin Sinclair Mansell Gosling
Taylor Easter
Subs Mildenhall J Clarke Blissett Lines Harrison Parkes Montano
