Match Thread Most liked posts in thread: Away V Exeter City Saturday 6th February 1.00pm (with Poll)

We haven't kept possession at all well this game. I think we needed that dominant midfielder in the window.

 

Gifted them the game. Defensively atrocious, don’t rate the right back at all, AOC been poor for last 2/3 games, as for Hornby, the less said the better, far too hesitant. Nothing going forward in terms of sustained pressure, a lot of hoof ball. All runs come to an end but this is ending on a bit of a whimper.

 

Hornby’s distribution poor.

 

No great shakes this we’ve been decent for 7/8 games let’s not be too down beat . We was due one wasnt we ? These aren’t a bad team at all I’ve watched a few of there games this season and there decent enough . We’re missing a few players . First game for a few . No panic needed

 

We were second best no doubt about that, but as you know it will be the usual suspects with their "the bubble has burst" crap

 

You just knew it the usual suspect out in force as soon as we get a negative result. This was always going to be a tough game made a lot harder with some of our best players out injured.
We lost to a very unlucky penalty decision.
There were some positives Vernham looked good first half and I think Crankshaw also looks lively. Exeter deserved their win but it’s not the end of the world

 

Small margins. If that pass from Sutton had found Vernham they'd have been 3-1 down. He under hit it. They went up the other end and equalised. We always looked second best after that. We stopped passing it about and started hoofing. Our shape and control fell apart.
The run had to end some time. Not the end of the world, given the number of experienced players missing.

 

Hey guys, does anyone remember what happened the last time we lost at Exeter at this time of year and everyone thought our play off dreams had died????.....
Just saying like;-)

 

The game had five goals but it was a strange 90 minutes neither side showed quality even the penalty was powder puff.
We've lost but it's not the end of the world.
Evans, Rowe, Cook,and Clarke missing today but didn't Cooke play well Motm for me ran his socks off no wonder he tired second half.

 

It’s a good illustration as to why we’re better taking our time before making a decision over T&S. 1 bad result doesn’t undo the good work they’ve done, but why make a decision based on 8 games when we can decide over 15, 20, 25 games? We’ll get a better idea of what they’re about the more we see this side.

More poor than good today, but it happens. The slightly broader concern for me is that I thought we were average (at best) against Barrow too. We need a better performance in the next game.

 

I too am perplexed by the long ball up to a single striker. We did the same with Lowe against Barrow. It tends to gift possession away and put us on the back foot. I’d like to see us go back to retaining the ball and playing balls into runners in behind.

Stevens has yet to convince me what his strengths are. If Clarke or Evans are fit on Tuesday I could see one of them returning to the starting line up.

Final point, the sheer amount of changes seem to cause a bit of chaos and we lost our structure. Defeat will remind us that it won’t be a cake walk and should push us on again hopefully.

 

Yet that made no difference to how the starting eleven played today. We now have a squad capable of dealing with injuries, today we just didn't play well. Nevr really tried to get the ball down and play and playing with no recognised striker our tactics just played into their hands. Not the end of the world, you always get results where you've had a bad day at the office, just don't want many more.

 

I dont think stevens would have started today without the last minute dropouts. I cant see him being any more than an impact player unless he makes better decisions on the ball. I also think FCD struggled badly because he had stevens in front of him, who gives him nowhere near as much protection as someone like clarke. I think when we have those guys back we need to start one from them and one from crankshaw/vernam out wide. Let Rowe/Novak/Cook compete for the centre forward spot, as anyone dropping deeper means moving cooke, who is playing out of skin and running games for us at the moment.

 

We lost because we did not change FCD at full back who was getting skinned all the game by a winger that was sending in great crosses, Had we changed and took FCD off and stopped the crosses we would have stopped the second goal and penalty and won the game, We lost because we changed to late after the damage was done

 

The midfield areas were a quagmire for us, but not them?

 

Crankshaw, Vernham and Cooke had no problem running with the ball when our defence actually decided to use the ball to feet. Unfortunately this wasnt utilised enough.

 

That makes no sense at all. So it's alright to go long but we were missing 3 players who could necessitate that strategy. Well you don't go long then do you? I've already pointed out to you that there were two very good team goals scored on that pitch, Exeters went through over half dozen players. Please don't tell me you couldn't play passing football when I clearly saw you could. For once our game management wasn't up to scratch, Trueman said so after the game. We didn't respect possession by simply giving them the ball back far too often. The tactics didn't work, we won't win every game, just make sure we win the next two or three.

 

His challenge made the referees mind up, having said that their other two goals we very poor, two headed goals from a couple of yards out, poor set piece defending, especially their second where Bowman had a free header.

 

Certainly did. Played over the top of him many times and his man ran off him. Said it to my son at half time that it was obvious they were targeting him and getting behind him...said FCD and Stevens weren't working and needed to bring Canavan on, AOC to right back, Donaldson on and Vernam to right instead of Stevens..