Post by stevek192 on Oct 8, 2014 10:11:14 GMT
Have to be honest and say I genuinely felt it was a worst performance than Saturday. Same failure to kill opponents off by missing good chances,same failure to pressurise poor opponents and same failure to click as a team and yet.........it's 3 points to give us a very respectable 28 points which is only 4 points behind the leaders so it is very difficult to criticise and I wonder is it a case of sides bringing us down to their level because generally I would say that the better the team we have played then generally it has been a better performance and just good enough to get a result against those opponents.
Common signs in the Conference have been the frustrating referee performances and the willingness of opponents to concentrate mainly on defending what they start out with and the lack of any real stand out players. Truth is that no matter who you are playing and how you are playing a one goal lead is always going to be a precarious position right to the last minute as it only takes one moment like Saturdays game for the opponents to get something out of the game. Last night could have been the same when a very poor Dartford hit the underside of the bar.
Mildenhall 6 Didn't have a great deal to do but a couple of good saves and good general handling of the ball but very poor distribution throughout (if only he had Puddys distribution qualities or Puddy had Mildys general keeping ability but I don't suppose you are going to get the complete package at this level and in truth I wouldn't swap Mildy for any other keeper in either the Conference or the division above and from what i have seen of our friends over the river,their keepers either (any of them)!!!
Lockyer 6.5 A very sturdy performance including a brilliant last gasp tackle in the second half (if it was him who made the tackle as wasn't absolutely sure!) He seems to be improving in the position but I do wonder if he should be playing in the centre and Daryl Clarke should have been aiming to improve the defensive qualities of the unlucky Leadbitter who is definitely by far the better of the two on the offensive. Reminds me somewhat of Michael Smith situation where initially he was not a very good defensive player but the Manager stuck with him and he became a very good defender. I do not agree with what has happened and that Leadbitter played very well at Lincoln and is "rewarded" with a place in the stands and not even in the squad.
Trotman 8.5 My Man of the Match last night with another commanding performance and IMO the only player who came near to him for MOM was Sinclair.
Parkes 5 I've given him a middle of the road mark because although overall his general defending was very good and probably worth a 7.5 , his use of the ball was absolutely poor and worthy of a 3.5. His problem is that this is becoming a regular occurence and at Eastleigh probably cost us 2 points and I am getting to the stage where I wonder if we should be playing Lockyer with Trotman in the middle and leadbitter at right back BUT at the end of the day as a team we are not conceding many goals so don't touch what isn't broken as a unit is possibly a good decision.
Lee Brown 6.5 Is certainly bringing more consistency to his performances and I believe he has improved this season but of course that may be down to not playing against so good opponents. Was given no help whatsoever from the ineffective Martin last night so we depended more on Lee to provide the attacking threat down that side and I( think he succeeded.
Sinclair 8 This man is becoming a star and showing IMO that he could step up to a higher level. I do think by playing him out wide we are losing out in the centre of midfield but cannot criticise any aspect of his performance last night.Effective passing, willingness to run everywhere, great in the air for his size and a tiger in the tackle-What more can you ask from a player? Wouldn't have argued with him getting MOM but for me Trotman just sneaked it.
Mansell 5 His worse performance of the season but I have given him a 5 because I don't think a lot of it was down to him as the team by passed the midfield for the majority of the game and generally he and Clarke were outnumbered. A silly booking was thrown in!
Clarke 5.5 Like Mansell not effective as the central midfield was bypassed for most of the game and it maent a lot of running with no real inflence on the game other than a few moments and a tremendous shot.
Martin 4 A couple of good crosses were IMO the sum total of his performance last night. I actually rate him quite highly but he certainly blows hot and cold and last night was blowing bloody freezing!!! I actually feel that he should be pushing right up on his full back and concentrating completely on attacking the full back and getting crosses in as in all honesty Lee Brown did not need him last night dropping back.
Taylor 7 Hard working BUT he is there to score goals and is not doing this. Reminds me so much of the Chris Beardsley syndrome but more mobile. Sorry but I like him as a general footballer but as a striker you can't get MOM for just running around and just scoring a penalty. Had one wonderful moment in the first half when he cleverly beat his player and broughta good save from the keeper but he really needs to work WITH Cunnington and take up good positions on the last man.
Cunnington 7.5 Felt he had a really good game last night and put everything into the game. Chased every ball and I think his fitness is building up. Won the penalty and in general gave their defenders a hard time whgich is all you can ask for from a targetman. We really need to take advantage of this by finding him a partner who reads his game and gets near him. Faded towards the end of the game and at that stage he probably should have been replaced by Monkhouse who did a very good job in the position at Lincoln.
Harrison 5 Not one of his better substitute appearances but to be fair to him not helped by the fact that we had reached the stage where we seemed quite willing just to hold on to what we had and that could again,like Saturday have cost us a point.
Monkhouse 4 - Not sure if he touched the ball in the time he was on..probably did but was totally ineffective IMO.
Referee 5 Standard poor referee at this standard.
DC - 5 Average performance from the Manager in both substitutions and setting up the team I do not accept his "I didn't ask the players to defend deep but they get influenced by the crowd". Sorry Daryl but it is YOUR job to get them out of that and get them to play the way you want. This said, no one can complain at the results he is obtaining but for the blood pressure we must start to push up field quicker ,play more football and kill some teams off.
Common signs in the Conference have been the frustrating referee performances and the willingness of opponents to concentrate mainly on defending what they start out with and the lack of any real stand out players. Truth is that no matter who you are playing and how you are playing a one goal lead is always going to be a precarious position right to the last minute as it only takes one moment like Saturdays game for the opponents to get something out of the game. Last night could have been the same when a very poor Dartford hit the underside of the bar.
Mildenhall 6 Didn't have a great deal to do but a couple of good saves and good general handling of the ball but very poor distribution throughout (if only he had Puddys distribution qualities or Puddy had Mildys general keeping ability but I don't suppose you are going to get the complete package at this level and in truth I wouldn't swap Mildy for any other keeper in either the Conference or the division above and from what i have seen of our friends over the river,their keepers either (any of them)!!!
Lockyer 6.5 A very sturdy performance including a brilliant last gasp tackle in the second half (if it was him who made the tackle as wasn't absolutely sure!) He seems to be improving in the position but I do wonder if he should be playing in the centre and Daryl Clarke should have been aiming to improve the defensive qualities of the unlucky Leadbitter who is definitely by far the better of the two on the offensive. Reminds me somewhat of Michael Smith situation where initially he was not a very good defensive player but the Manager stuck with him and he became a very good defender. I do not agree with what has happened and that Leadbitter played very well at Lincoln and is "rewarded" with a place in the stands and not even in the squad.
Trotman 8.5 My Man of the Match last night with another commanding performance and IMO the only player who came near to him for MOM was Sinclair.
Parkes 5 I've given him a middle of the road mark because although overall his general defending was very good and probably worth a 7.5 , his use of the ball was absolutely poor and worthy of a 3.5. His problem is that this is becoming a regular occurence and at Eastleigh probably cost us 2 points and I am getting to the stage where I wonder if we should be playing Lockyer with Trotman in the middle and leadbitter at right back BUT at the end of the day as a team we are not conceding many goals so don't touch what isn't broken as a unit is possibly a good decision.
Lee Brown 6.5 Is certainly bringing more consistency to his performances and I believe he has improved this season but of course that may be down to not playing against so good opponents. Was given no help whatsoever from the ineffective Martin last night so we depended more on Lee to provide the attacking threat down that side and I( think he succeeded.
Sinclair 8 This man is becoming a star and showing IMO that he could step up to a higher level. I do think by playing him out wide we are losing out in the centre of midfield but cannot criticise any aspect of his performance last night.Effective passing, willingness to run everywhere, great in the air for his size and a tiger in the tackle-What more can you ask from a player? Wouldn't have argued with him getting MOM but for me Trotman just sneaked it.
Mansell 5 His worse performance of the season but I have given him a 5 because I don't think a lot of it was down to him as the team by passed the midfield for the majority of the game and generally he and Clarke were outnumbered. A silly booking was thrown in!
Clarke 5.5 Like Mansell not effective as the central midfield was bypassed for most of the game and it maent a lot of running with no real inflence on the game other than a few moments and a tremendous shot.
Martin 4 A couple of good crosses were IMO the sum total of his performance last night. I actually rate him quite highly but he certainly blows hot and cold and last night was blowing bloody freezing!!! I actually feel that he should be pushing right up on his full back and concentrating completely on attacking the full back and getting crosses in as in all honesty Lee Brown did not need him last night dropping back.
Taylor 7 Hard working BUT he is there to score goals and is not doing this. Reminds me so much of the Chris Beardsley syndrome but more mobile. Sorry but I like him as a general footballer but as a striker you can't get MOM for just running around and just scoring a penalty. Had one wonderful moment in the first half when he cleverly beat his player and broughta good save from the keeper but he really needs to work WITH Cunnington and take up good positions on the last man.
Cunnington 7.5 Felt he had a really good game last night and put everything into the game. Chased every ball and I think his fitness is building up. Won the penalty and in general gave their defenders a hard time whgich is all you can ask for from a targetman. We really need to take advantage of this by finding him a partner who reads his game and gets near him. Faded towards the end of the game and at that stage he probably should have been replaced by Monkhouse who did a very good job in the position at Lincoln.
Harrison 5 Not one of his better substitute appearances but to be fair to him not helped by the fact that we had reached the stage where we seemed quite willing just to hold on to what we had and that could again,like Saturday have cost us a point.
Monkhouse 4 - Not sure if he touched the ball in the time he was on..probably did but was totally ineffective IMO.
Referee 5 Standard poor referee at this standard.
DC - 5 Average performance from the Manager in both substitutions and setting up the team I do not accept his "I didn't ask the players to defend deep but they get influenced by the crowd". Sorry Daryl but it is YOUR job to get them out of that and get them to play the way you want. This said, no one can complain at the results he is obtaining but for the blood pressure we must start to push up field quicker ,play more football and kill some teams off.
