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Post by stevek192 on Apr 14, 2019 9:48:13 GMT
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Post by stevek192 on 2 minutes ago
OK it wasn't pretty yesterday but who expected it to be? You had one team who were playing pretty well their final card for the season with an abysmal away record and the other needing the three points badly to instil confidence going forward with an atrocious home record and a crowd that were as nervous as every players first touch! That said nobody can argue that it wasn't exciting and nail biting or that there was any lack of motivation or effort in the players. We tend to forget when supporting a team that there is pressure in every touch of the ball when things are not going well and once you make a bad mistake your confidence is hard to pick up. There is no doubt that every player out there gave 100% but it is twice as difficult when you do not have enough attacking players in the side and then go a goal down. I am not blaming the Manager because in truth he has done bloody well to get the amount of points we have on the board. whether or not we deserved to win yesterday who cares? The fact is we did and there have been many occasions this season where we have done more than enough to win and have lost. We can be thankful that GC has brought about the best away record I can remember in a long time which is just as well because of home results in general but he also did what DC just couldn't and that was to find a striker who knows where the net is.
Bonham 7 Back to form and maybe his jittery spell recently will enable us to actually sign him! Came for pretty well everything and dealt with it confidently and no chance with the goals other than I would in a way blame him for the second goal because his clearance should have gone out of play well into the opponents half instead of halfway in ours keeping us under pressure.
J. Clarke 5 Awful game from start to finish which is very unusual but allowed their wide players far too much room all game and was badly at fault for the second goal. Wholehearted but for me is a player who is well worth keeping as covers every defensive position but not good enough to be first choice in any of them.
Lockyer 6.5 Passing ability will always let him down but strong defensively which is what he is there for and unlucky not to score a goal. Too often he does not organise his fellow defenders and this is noticeable when opponents break quickly and are in acres of space- he is not and never will be a Captain on the pitch.
Craig 7 The best of the back four. marshalling well and winning most headers. Should be captain as he is the man who is barking out orders and trying hard to keep everyone organised and on their toes but it is tough when quite a few players are naïve when not in possession.
Holmes-Dennis 6 Caught far too often defensively but great going forward and has that extra bit of class on the ball. Great cross for the winner and shows so much quality on the ball. With a close seasons traing behind him I think next season we will see the best of him and he could well be Player of the year next year but would rather he was pipped by......Jonson Clarke-Harris!!
Upson 7 Stuck to his task well and got in a number of good challenges. As the holding midfielder he is the best we have with a disciplined approach which is why he is a mainstay of Coughlan's team. We really need to have a faster player alongside him as we really lack pace across the entire midfield and because of that we look pedestrian.
O. Clarke 7 Best game for weeks. Still looked lost in spells as did most of our midfield but a brilliant goal and some strong runs and much better passing in a strong performance. I really think that the midfield as a unit loses out because there is no balance between creativity and defensive qualities.
Ogogo 6 Battled for everything but too often was chasing shadows. He does have bite in his challenges and got forward well at times but we really need to find the best combination and definitely wouldn't want to watch a midfield trio of him, Upson and Ollie Clarke too often next season especially at home!
Sercombe 6.5 A very mixed 95 minutes as he struggled to impose himself first half but improved in the second. brought a good save from the keeper with a distance strike and a couple of good corners especially the one from which we scored the first goal.
Nichols 6 Unlucky to be substituted and I felt GC got that wrong. in the first half he held the ball up really well at times and showed a fair amount of skill. I would like to see him again next season when hopefully we will have more pace about us around him.
Clarke-Harris 9 mom Can't say any more superlatives about this man than a real " Roy of the Rovers" in every way. Has everything that you could want for your main striker. Body strength,the ability to beat a man and hold up the ball, thunderous shot ,eye for a goal...oh and he can head goals too!! Superman and the reason we will be staying up. The secret is now to hold on to him and get in 5 or 6 more quality players to make him want to stay and try to get this club in the Championship.
Subs: Sinclair 5.5 came on and gave his usual performance .
Rodman 5.5 showed a lot of neat touches and a bit of pace. We actually played our best football of the game when he came on and for about 15 minutes where we finally started to retain possession and pass the ball with confidence.
Jakubiak Nole Great run which created the winner so he did a good job and should have come on earlier.
Crowd 7 Kept with the team- just!! I am not sure that would have been the case had Clarke-Harris not equalised when he did. Doubt if many of the home support had much left in the way of nails at the end of the game. Quality wise it was lacking but nobody can say it wasn't exciting come the end.
Ref 5 Got most of the bookings right for our players however seemed reluctant to book the opposition and was hardly helped by his linemen who gave some atrocious decisions.
Bradford 6 How have they got themselves in this mess? Obviously by not playing with the same conviction as they showed yesterday on a more regular basis. Like our supporters they deserve a lot better.
GC- Well did he get it right or no? The result says he did and we must be happy with that. The lack of pace or balance in the side is not down to him- more down to the previous managers signings last summer and he has; I believe; got the best out of the players most weeks so if he does keep us up as seems likely now he has succeeded and deserves the chance to build a more exciting team. IMO most of the team are more than capable to be either in the team or squad players but just need the balance of five or six creative ,pacier players.
So we move on to an Easter period where IMO three points will see us safely in this division next season with two games to spare. Whether they will come Friday or Monday or even both I am not sure. In truth I expected that a win yesterday would see us six points outside the zone but other results whilst not being that bad has left us 5 points outside of it and that may even be enough but on saying that if we do now go down then it will be deserved! UTG
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 10:03:46 GMT
No, it wasn't a ''great cross'' for the 3rd goal, all he did was smash the ball along the ground, it wasn't even aimed at anyone, it was the movement of JCH getting across the defender that made the chance.
How you can use the word ''unlucky'' in the write up for Nichols is just comical. Were you at the game? If so, can I remind you of the chance in the first half when a corner was deflected on to their keeper, Nichols is right there and somehow gets his legs tied in knots rather than sticking his right boot out to tap the ball home? He was back to his bad old ways yesterday, contributed nothing worthwhile at all and could have been hooked after 10 mins when it was obvious he was going to have one of those days, again. You did see him not being able to get involved in play at least 4 times because he was literally walking back from an offside position? He was dire!
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Post by stevek192 on Apr 14, 2019 10:49:51 GMT
Your opinion Bamber, to which you are entitled and yes I was there...were You?
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Post by laughinggas on Apr 14, 2019 11:01:53 GMT
Watching highlights, after being at the game, you can see THD look up and see JCH. Looks like he meant it. Nicholls shirking, probably in more direct challenges in first half than some in mid field in first half, ok some giving fouls away. I would say he picked up more balls in midfield in first half than any other player. But as you say, get away many shots away. Also once he was put out wide and later taken off JCH was a forlorn figure living on scraps.
Just watched goal cam. Ball was played straight to JCH, did not have to move across the defender.
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Post by stevek192 on Apr 14, 2019 11:32:03 GMT
Exactly as I saw it Laughinggas, JCH did not have to break his stride. it was a great cross.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 11:37:45 GMT
Your opinion Bamber, to which you are entitled and yes I was there...were You? No, I just guessed that Tom got his feet in a tangle in front of their keeper, something you obviously managed to miss and that he couldn't even manage a trot to get back into an onside position. Once he even controlled the ball whilst around 5 yards behind the last defender, it was incredible to watch. Maybe the difference is that I wasn't just watching the ball?
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Post by alloutofgas on Apr 14, 2019 12:14:14 GMT
Your opinion Bamber, to which you are entitled and yes I was there...were You? No, I just guessed that Tom got his feet in a tangle in front of their keeper, something you obviously managed to miss and that he couldn't even manage a trot to get back into an onside position. Once he even controlled the ball whilst around 5 yards behind the last defender, it was incredible to watch. Maybe the difference is that I wasn't just watching the ball? Have to agree with Bamber, I was watching the game from on high yesterday and Nicholls was his usual abysmal self. Anyone but him would have buried that chance. Jakubiak, Reilly or Telford if we still had him. He just ponces around with his floppy hair, ‘I’m amazing’ attitude and every time he steps onto the pitch we are at a disadvantage. One of the worst players we have ever had, his record speaks for itself, two goals in what, 74 appearances? Striker? He’d possibly knock a few in for Bristol Telephones but I wouldn’t bet on it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 12:19:40 GMT
I’ve tried to see positives from Nichols for a long time but the fact is he is way out of his depth. He provides no threat at all and spends most of his time hiding from the ball, truly a boy amongst men.
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eppinggas
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Post by eppinggas on Apr 14, 2019 12:31:19 GMT
Nilgoals. Dog poo and the goal scoring record (well lack of it) speaks for itself. I remember people were taking the p*ss when he finally broke his duck in October 2017. He hasn't scored from open play since. That was 18 months ago. He's added just 1 pen (and missed another). Part of the Rovers DNA - acceptance of mediocrity.
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Post by alloutofgas on Apr 14, 2019 12:57:32 GMT
I can remember the abuse Steve White used to get at Eastville and could never work out why. Why the love-in with this waste of space? He was clapped off yesterday after another game of zero contribution. Before a game I say to my son, ‘is Nicholls going to score today?’ We look at each other and say ‘Noooooooo’ and we are inevitably correct. He is a relegation standard goal scorer, thank God for GC finding JCH.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 13:16:39 GMT
Agree with most of the posts on Nicholls,he may hold the ball up but at the end of the day he was signed as a striker and he is not fulfilling that requirement. As an aside Tom Eaves has turned down a new contract at Gillingham so will be available on a free.Who would you prefer out of the 2 Toms?
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Post by eppinggas on Apr 14, 2019 13:30:14 GMT
Agree with most of the posts on Nicholls,he may hold the ball up but at the end of the day he was signed as a striker and he is not fulfilling that requirement. As an aside Tom Eaves has turned down a new contract at Gillingham so will be available on a free.Who would you prefer out of the 2 Toms? Oh, THERE you are Padstow. Getting kind of tired of you ducking me man. Still waiting for that apology... Regards, Epping.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 13:33:18 GMT
Agree with most of the posts on Nicholls,he may hold the ball up but at the end of the day he was signed as a striker and he is not fulfilling that requirement. As an aside Tom Eaves has turned down a new contract at Gillingham so will be available on a free.Who would you prefer out of the 2 Toms? If someone can get Nichols fired up and if he can get himself into a gym through the summer and improve his strength a bit I would take him every day rather than Eaves.
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Post by eppinggas on Apr 14, 2019 13:35:55 GMT
Agree with most of the posts on Nicholls,he may hold the ball up but at the end of the day he was signed as a striker and he is not fulfilling that requirement. As an aside Tom Eaves has turned down a new contract at Gillingham so will be available on a free.Who would you prefer out of the 2 Toms? If someone can get Nichols fired up and if he can get himself into a gym through the summer and improve his strength a bit I would take him every day rather than Eaves. But this was suggested LAST summer. And nothing happened. Get rid.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 13:49:42 GMT
If someone can get Nichols fired up and if he can get himself into a gym through the summer and improve his strength a bit I would take him every day rather than Eaves. But this was suggested LAST summer. And nothing happened. Get rid. You know me, always looking on the bright side.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 13:55:51 GMT
Agree with most of the posts on Nicholls,he may hold the ball up but at the end of the day he was signed as a striker and he is not fulfilling that requirement. As an aside Tom Eaves has turned down a new contract at Gillingham so will be available on a free.Who would you prefer out of the 2 Toms? Oh, THERE you are Padstow. Getting kind of tired of you ducking me man. Still waiting for that apology... Regards, Epping. Don't hold your breath because it wont happen
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Post by o2o2bo2ba on Apr 14, 2019 14:08:43 GMT
Disagree with some stuff from op.
Agree with James Clarke score, but not evaluation.... for me, he's player of the season, makes a mistake yesterday for pretty much the first time and apparently he won't make the first team!(?)
Disagree with op comments on Upson and Nichols which I would like to see leave not just next season, but next match.
Both I thought were weak yesterday, upson I thought was poor v Coventry. His delivery from set pieces leaves alot to be desired, especially when we gain a set piece in dangerous places when on top of play....this just surrenders initiative..... although I will say upson did make a couple of regulatory tackles.
Nichols....well I've said all I need to say about that. It was contributory to DC demise, it's going to be the same for any further manager. He flatters to deceive, and all this tries hard/skillful player/holds ball up cr@p is gonna fade into insignificance because his goals to games ratio is woeful, and his assists isn't much better. In years to come I'm gonna struggle to justify his existence in a Gas shirt as he's easily statistically the worst striker in our history. If we play him as a regular next season, we will start every match with 10 men.
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warehamgas
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Post by warehamgas on Apr 14, 2019 14:34:39 GMT
Thanks Steve. Agree esp over TC and Ed Upson. 3 vital points. UTG!
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Post by eppinggas on Apr 14, 2019 14:37:29 GMT
Oh, THERE you are Padstow. Getting kind of tired of you ducking me man. Still waiting for that apology... Regards, Epping. Don't hold your breath because it wont happen So you falsely accuse me of saying something that I categorically deny. You then spend weeks trying to find something (anything) to back up your lie, and fail. It's really not hard to say "sorry, I made a mistake".
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 15:44:25 GMT
Don't hold your breath because it wont happen So you falsely accuse me of saying something that I categorically deny. You then spend weeks trying to find something (anything) to back up your lie, and fail. It's really not hard to say "sorry, I made a mistake". Already told you I found a like from you on a derogatory post on Harrison now found another from 2.5 years ago on an actual post by you so maybe you should apologise to me for calling me a liar
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