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Post by stevek192 on Dec 7, 2014 0:19:42 GMT
For those who witnessed today's game I am sure most went away cursing the inability of our team to pick the right final ball whether this be the pass or cross to create a goal or the final shot at goal to put it in the net. In truth this game should have been put to bed in the very early stages and definitely in the second half but to be fair to Welling they do have a very good home record and in honesty the condition of the pitch did not help a side trying to play football. In my opinion all through the game it looked like one of those games that we would do everything but score and then Welling would score a goal completely out of the blue. They did have their moments where this could have happened but thankfully it didn't and I am sure DC is feeling as frustrated as us fans that we cannot turn good possession into goals. You wonder if he is trying too hard to find the answer now by changing formation and also personnel on a regular basis and is his making 3 substitutions a sign that he has made a mistake in the first place. Constant changes cannot lead to good understandings or bring about a striking partnership but looking at it another way how many players have actually put a strong case for keeping the same players? At least I would say that DC is willing to change things unlike Ward who would always wait until the magical 70th minute to make changes irrespective of how poorly we were playing. Spiess 6.5 A very good debu. Looks confident and made two good saves accompanied by good distribution throughout. Thankfully one carelessly dropped ball near the end did not ruin a competant debut. Lockyer 7 Much better game from Tom today and unlucky not to score his first goal of the season with a header that was cleared off the line. Defended manfully and there was also a much improved passing performance. McCrystal 7 Gave a solid performance in a back three that gave little away. When Mark plays the game within his limitations he is a very good defender at this level. Parkes 7.5 Another commanding display by Tom and thankfully we can say that defence is not our problem area with three clean sheets on the trot. Brown 8 A very good all round display and shows tremendous fitness to be able to overlap so often and yet still remain solid with his winger rarely getting the better of him. Sinclair 6.5 Not so effective as a wide man as compared to central midfield but is the usual move by DC to accommodate Clarke in midfield. Can't help feeling that there were a few too many accumulative changes todayand we lost the understanding and effectiveness that the Mansell/Sinclair partnership has given us. Mansell 8 MOM Never stopped prompting from start to finish. Played most passes simply and well and kept us moving forward Clarke 6.5 A very mixed game with some good moments but also gave away possession cheaply at times. IMO the three man midfield will only work with two wingbacks and to keep changing will not bring about consistency in the midfield area. Ollie Clarke does bring a bit more attacking threat to the midfield but at a cost particularly if the wingers are forfeited. Balanta 5.5 Don't feel it really worked playing him in the "hole" and in doing this I believe we suffered not only with the loss LDV but the loss of Balanta as well. Ironically he was brought off when he was probably in the middle of his best spell of the game and actually starting to create something with his delightful running at the opposition. I still feel he is a little off full match fitness but personally I would have taken off Clarke and put Balanta out wide and Sinclair back in the middle. Goldberg 5 An exciting start to the game but failed to take a good chance early on and did not have enough good possession to influence the game. Like Taylor for me he spends too much of his time running the lines and dropping deep rather than playing off the shoulder. Blissett 5 Apart from a good header down in the first half not much went right for him Gosling 6.5 A good performance from the substitute and created a few opportunities but also missed the best chance of the second half. His appearance coincided with Lee Brown making in roads down the left hand side and it was with their partnership that came the best chance of winning the game. Wall 5.5 Another good free kick and a header just over but trying to find a striking partnership is something that DC is not finding easy and constant changing is not helping. Taylor 5 Can't recall any real influence on the game . Referee 5 Fussy but a little better than some we have had. DC 5 It's all about opinion but without knowing the full circumstances as regards fitness of players it is difficult to mark his decisions in terms of both the formation selection and the personnel. I tend to think that you learn more about the possibility of partnerships by trying different things in stages. ie the partnership of Blissett and Wall had about 5 minutes and within a 10 minute spell all three attackers had been removed without really having a great deal of good service. Anyway to conclude there is no real need for the negativity which is evident on this forum. If we are in the mix come January 3rd then it will not be a bad first 4 months. Barnet's 9 point lead is hardly insurmountable and to say that if teams win their games in hand we will drop right out of the Play offs is little short of ridiculous as some of these teams games in hand will be against each other and any team in this league is capable of beating each other but come to think of that statement how many teams are actually beating us?  The next 4 games could have a big influence on our season as I don't see Gateshead, Macclesfield or Torquay shutting up shop and that could just prove to be to our advantage. So my message to gasheads is show a bit more patience and particularly lets see what the January transfer dealings bring. I am sure that our Board will give DC the backing to do what is necessary and that could mean an experienced striker in the door and possibly a replacement for Della Verde if we lose him. decisions will of course have to be made on Martin,Walland Goldberg. I think there will be exciting times ahead and i certainly wouldn't even consider forgetting winning the Title. |
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Post by alloutofgas on Dec 7, 2014 1:09:08 GMT
As ever Steve, an excellent summary. I cannot work out why some on here expect us to be 10 points clear and promotion certainties. DC has rebuilt the team and at this stage of the season I am very happy at where we find ourselves
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Post by chrissyg58 on Dec 7, 2014 1:25:54 GMT
We played like a bunch of no hopers, we hoofed the ball, no skill no talent , there was few positives to be had out of a poor conference game,
Our keeper was superb, and mat taylor created more chances in his time on the pitch than the wrest of the team put together. Ok we will have all,the knitters
saying we gained a point , but if you cant beat teams like that , the god help us. I know i am going to get pelted with my comments , but open your eyes we are an ordinary conference team , with ordinary players who dont have the brain power to break down a s**t team,
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549 
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Post by Bridgeman on Dec 7, 2014 1:43:25 GMT
For those who witnessed today's game I am sure most went away cursing the inability of our team to pick the right final ball whether this be the pass or cross to create a goal or the final shot at goal to put it in the net. In truth this game should have been put to bed in the very early stages and definitely in the second half but to be fair to Welling they do have a very good home record and in honesty the condition of the pitch did not help a side trying to play football. In my opinion all through the game it looked like one of those games that we would do everything but score and then Welling would score a goal completely out of the blue. They did have their moments where this could have happened but thankfully it didn't and I am sure DC is feeling as frustrated as us fans that we cannot turn good possession into goals. You wonder if he is trying too hard to find the answer now by changing formation and also personnel on a regular basis and is his making 3 substitutions a sign that he has made a mistake in the first place. Constant changes cannot lead to good understandings or bring about a striking partnership but looking at it another way how many players have actually put a strong case for keeping the same players? At least I would say that DC is willing to change things unlike Ward who would always wait until the magical 70th minute to make changes irrespective of how poorly we were playing. Spiess 6.5 A very good debu. Looks confident and made two good saves accompanied by good distribution throughout. Thankfully one carelessly dropped ball near the end did not ruin a competant debut. Lockyer 7 Much better game from Tom today and unlucky not to score his first goal of the season with a header that was cleared off the line. Defended manfully and there was also a much improved passing performance. McCrystal 7 Gave a solid performance in a back three that gave little away. When Mark plays the game within his limitations he is a very good defender at this level. Parkes 7.5 Another commanding display by Tom and thankfully we can say that defence is not our problem area with three clean sheets on the trot. Brown 8 A very good all round display and shows tremendous fitness to be able to overlap so often and yet still remain solid with his winger rarely getting the better of him. Sinclair 6.5 Not so effective as a wide man as compared to central midfield but is the usual move by DC to accommodate Clarke in midfield. Can't help feeling that there were a few too many accumulative changes todayand we lost the understanding and effectiveness that the Mansell/Sinclair partnership has given us. Mansell 8 MOM Never stopped prompting from start to finish. Played most passes simply and well and kept us moving forward Clarke 6.5 A very mixed game with some good moments but also gave away possession cheaply at times. IMO the three man midfield will only work with two wingbacks and to keep changing will not bring about consistency in the midfield area. Ollie Clarke does bring a bit more attacking threat to the midfield but at a cost particularly if the wingers are forfeited. Balanta 5.5 Don't feel it really worked playing him in the "hole" and in doing this I believe we suffered not only with the loss LDV but the loss of Balanta as well. Ironically he was brought off when he was probably in the middle of his best spell of the game and actually starting to create something with his delightful running at the opposition. I still feel he is a little off full match fitness but personally I would have taken off Clarke and put Balanta out wide and Sinclair back in the middle. Goldberg 5 An exciting start to the game but failed to take a good chance early on and did not have enough good possession to influence the game. Like Taylor for me he spends too much of his time running the lines and dropping deep rather than playing off the shoulder. Blissett 5 Apart from a good header down in the first half not much went right for him Gosling 6.5 A good performance from the substitute and created a few opportunities but also missed the best chance of the second half. His appearance coincided with Lee Brown making in roads down the left hand side and it was with their partnership that came the best chance of winning the game. Wall 5.5 Another good free kick and a header just over but trying to find a striking partnership is something that DC is not finding easy and constant changing is not helping. Taylor 5 Can't recall any real influence on the game . Referee 5 Fussy but a little better than some we have had. DC 5 It's all about opinion but without knowing the full circumstances as regards fitness of players it is difficult to mark his decisions in terms of both the formation selection and the personnel. I tend to think that you learn more about the possibility of partnerships by trying different things in stages. ie the partnership of Blissett and Wall had about 5 minutes and within a 10 minute spell all three attackers had been removed without really having a great deal of good service. Anyway to conclude there is no real need for the negativity which is evident on this forum. If we are in the mix come January 3rd then it will not be a bad first 4 months. Barnet's 9 point lead is hardly insurmountable and to say that if teams win their games in hand we will drop right out of the Play offs is little short of ridiculous as some of these teams games in hand will be against each other and any team in this league is capable of beating each other but come to think of that statement how many teams are actually beating us? The next 4 games could have a big influence on our season as I don't see Gateshead, Macclesfield or Torquay shutting up shop and that could just prove to be to our advantage. So my message to gasheads is show a bit more patience and particularly lets see what the January transfer dealings bring. I am sure that our Board will give DC the backing to do what is necessary and that could mean an experienced striker in the door and possibly a replacement for Della Verde if we lose him. decisions will of course have to be made on Martin,Walland Goldberg. I think there will be exciting times ahead and i certainly wouldn't even consider forgetting winning the Title. An excellent summary and really appreciated by myself and many others every time you post on here. And your absolutely right we STILL need to have patience with this team and the manager. Of course we'd like better we wouldn't be fans if we didn't....... |
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Post by holmesgas1 on Dec 7, 2014 9:23:25 GMT
We played like a bunch of no hopers, we hoofed the ball, no skill no talent , there was few positives to be had out of a poor conference game, Our keeper was superb, and mat taylor created more chances in his time on the pitch than the wrest of the team put together. Ok we will have all,the knitters saying we gained a point , but if you cant beat teams like that , the god help us. I know i am going to get pelted with my comments , but open your eyes we are an ordinary conference team , with ordinary players who dont have the brain power to break down a s*** team, Are you Tbone in disguise. Support the team, there 2nd or has that passed you by. UTG |
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Post by gasheadnaboo on Dec 7, 2014 11:55:01 GMT
It's more than likely going to be playoffs at best but if someone offered me that at the start of the season, with Higgs' record, I'd have been delighted! Even more so after Altrincham and Braintree. Provided our home form remains as strong as it has been, I don't mind dropping a few points away to the likes of Welling, as long as our form peaks around April/May  Still, no harm in hoping we see another post-Christmas fillip in form to leapfrog Barnet however!  |
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Post by Somerset Blue on Dec 7, 2014 13:56:52 GMT
Great write up as always and agree with your thoughts Steve.
Maybe you could add some pictures next week as there are clearly some who still don't get it !!
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Post by gashead01 on Dec 7, 2014 16:37:57 GMT
As ever Steve, an excellent summary. I cannot work out why some on here expect us to be 10 points clear and promotion certainties. DC has rebuilt the team and at this stage of the season I am very happy at where we find ourselves I am very happy at where we find ourselves ...................
massive loss in ldv though...he creates so many goal opportunties, and I cant see as we have anyone else that has that ability?? he was the difference in our last win against the league leaders.
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on Dec 7, 2014 16:40:01 GMT
Great write up as always and agree with your thoughts Steve. Maybe you could add some pictures next week as there are clearly some who still don't get it !! Yes and some of those 'not getting it' aren't even at the games !  |
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LPGas
Stuart Taylor
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,240
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Post by LPGas on Dec 8, 2014 8:18:12 GMT
We played like a bunch of no hopers, we hoofed the ball, no skill no talent , there was few positives to be had out of a poor conference game, Our keeper was superb, and mat taylor created more chances in his time on the pitch than the wrest of the team put together. Ok we will have all,the knitters saying we gained a point , but if you cant beat teams like that , the god help us. I know i am going to get pelted with my comments , but open your eyes we are an ordinary conference team , with ordinary players who dont have the brain power to break down a s*** team, You forget we are a Conference Team. Welling are a Conference team, sad but true |
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Post by michaelb on Dec 8, 2014 9:34:01 GMT
We played like a bunch of no hopers, we hoofed the ball, no skill no talent , there was few positives to be had out of a poor conference game, Our keeper was superb, and mat taylor created more chances in his time on the pitch than the wrest of the team put together. Ok we will have all,the knitters saying we gained a point , but if you cant beat teams like that , the god help us. I know i am going to get pelted with my comments , but open your eyes we are an ordinary conference team , with ordinary players who dont have the brain power to break down a s*** team, You forget we are a Conference Team. Welling are a Conference team, sad but true Also, It should perhaps not go unnoticed that are neighbours across the river with their potent fire power struggled to beat Telford , which goes to show a point at Welling might not be as bad as some think, and there really aren't any easy games. |
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GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
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Post by GasMacc1 on Dec 8, 2014 10:13:35 GMT
You forget we are a Conference Team. Welling are a Conference team, sad but true Also, It should perhaps not go unnoticed that are neighbours across the river with their potent fire power struggled to beat Telford , which goes to show a point at Welling might not be as bad as some think, and there really aren't any easy games. If you consider Rovers' FA Cup games between 1969-70 and 2011-12 against non-League clubs (whatever level), you'll find that we have prevailed on 18 occasions and been knocked out four times. So (ignoring replays), we've lost about one in five games to non_League teams, historically. This season, as a non-League team ourselves we have so far lost four out of 25 games in the Conference Premier League, roughly 1 in 6. So Darrell's Rovers team is doing better against tier 5 non-League opposition than the teams of Dodgin, Megson, Gould, Francis and Trollope! |
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Post by stevek192 on Dec 8, 2014 10:33:58 GMT
You only have to look at the FA Cup games this season and even just Saturday and yesterday and you will see that all apart from Dartford gave a good account of themselves.These teams are not easy to beat because they hassle you from start to finish and to them when they have a big crowd like is pretty norm against us it is like one of these FA Cup games. If you look at most of the games we have drawn we have been the better team and should and would have won the game if our players could take chances. Saturday we had at least six chances that should have been scored.
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LJG
Peter Beadle
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 969
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Post by LJG on Dec 8, 2014 10:56:24 GMT
We played like a bunch of no hopers, we hoofed the ball, no skill no talent , there was few positives to be had out of a poor conference game, Our keeper was superb, and mat taylor created more chances in his time on the pitch than the wrest of the team put together. Ok we will have all,the knitters saying we gained a point , but if you cant beat teams like that , the god help us. I know i am going to get pelted with my comments , but open your eyes we are an ordinary conference team , with ordinary players who dont have the brain power to break down a s*** team, Are you Tbone in disguise. Support the team, there 2nd or has that passed you by. UTG Why do people keep banging on about being second? We've played one more game than everyone else in the play off places two more games than everyone 7th - 10th and FOUR more games than Eastleigh in 11th. Guess what? Without kicking a ball we can be bumped down to 8th. Or has that passed you by? |
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Post by Curly Wurly on Dec 8, 2014 11:02:48 GMT
Thanks for the write up Steve.
From the commentary and reports, Speiss' performance seems a real positive and DC needs to be congratulated for picking the right replacement for the injured Mildenhall.
Of course, it would be great if we could sweep all before us, but it is not going to happen. It is a little disappointing that we weren't able to carry on from the game at the Mem when we really had Welling on the rack, but you only have to look at the poster that Welling produced before the game to realise the outlook of many of the smaller conference teams when Rovers come to town.
Although 2nd position may be a little flattering to Rovers, as teams have games in hand, we're definitely at the upper end of my expectations from the start of the season. IF we can get it right in the goal-scoring department, the play-offs are definitely on and if Barnet wobble, we are well placed to mount a charge for the title in the second half of the season.
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Post by Topper Gas on Dec 8, 2014 12:12:05 GMT
You only have to look at the FA Cup games this season and even just Saturday and yesterday and you will see that all apart from Dartford gave a good account of themselves.These teams are not easy to beat because they hassle you from start to finish and to them when they have a big crowd like is pretty norm against us it is like one of these FA Cup games. If you look at most of the games we have drawn we have been the better team and should and would have won the game if our players could take chances. Saturday we had at least six chances that should have been scored. Not sure you can compare Rovers to a league outfit as surely we are now a non league side ourselves, I can't see our games are like a cup game for them when they play the likes of Grimsby, Lincoln & Wrexham every week? The fact we can't score away from home is not because our players get hassled for 90 mins but due to the fact they are not good enough in front of goal. None of our strikers have a record of being high scorers in the Conference which tells it's own storey, we have a Div 2 defence, but an average Conference strike force now LDV's out injured. |
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Post by traveling_wilbury on Dec 8, 2014 13:12:09 GMT
Having been at the game on Saturday I thought we played reasonably well but kept resorting too often to the long ball and heading it up in the air whereas when we played it on the ground we looked a much better proposition other than not being able to score.
In response to an earlier thread I wonder if we're missing LDV more than Mildenhall as we no longer have that some one who can add a spark to the attacks.
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Post by Gwengers on Dec 8, 2014 13:32:36 GMT
My view on it slightly different.
Spiess 6 - Made a couple of good stops. Dropped a simple cross late on. Adequate if not commanding. Early days.
Lockyer 5 - Defensively adequate but just too poor with the ball, sometimes dangerously so. Not a natural right back and against teams that sit back is not comfortable enough driving us forward or moving into space.
McCrystal 6 - Solid performance.
Parkes 6 - Also solid, but distribution seemed ropey on occasions.
Brown 7 - Worked hard and got into good areas. Final ball lacking.
Sinclair 5.5 - Didn't offer much threat out wide. Could have had a penalty in the first half.
Mansell 8 - Agreed MOM. Captains performance. Should have the armband.
Clarke 4 - Didn't make enough tackles, poor on the ball, and didn't offer much in the way of service to the wide men or strikers.
Balanta 4.5 - Didn't really get into the game and was crowded out playing in the hole. Much more dangerous on the wing.
Goldberg 4 - Bright start but looked like a passenger most of the game.
Blissett 4.5 - Won a few headers but didn't hold it up. One good flick to create an opening for Goldberg in second half.
Gosling 6 - A bright subs appearance against an absent right back - but lacking the quality in the final third.
Wall 5.5 - Little impact but looked dangerous. A good free kick.
Taylor 5.5 - Offered more than Goldberg when he came on but didn't contribute enough to warrant a higher rating.
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