Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:46 pm
Coming out of the ground deanonev said to me "Write that one up then.", quite a challenge. Whenever I write up a match report I always try to make it balanced, positives and negatives without going completely over the top either way. However, if the swear filter wanted to highlight all the expletives I wished to use to describe the shocking ineptitude of that performance then the filter would break and this post would be glowing in the dark!!
I'm struggling to find any positives to take out of the game at all, there was no pace, no penetration, no variation in our play. It was just hopeless. Its very early in the season for teams to have figured out how to beat us but that is what seems to have happened. Close us down when shooting from distance, defend with a high line as there's no pace to get in behind, close down the centre backs when they have the ball, and we resort to hoofing it to players who can't win it and we lose posession and are back on the defensive. There is no Plan B for when Plan A of 'keep it tight and try to nick a goal' doesn't work. There was a sense of inevitability about the result the second their goal went in as you just couldn't see us scoring. We went for it in the last 5-10 minutes but it wasn't enough.
The worst part though is when you look at just how poor the opposition were. They were the worst team we've played this season other than Bournemouth and they will struggle. On Saturday I said Manny Smith always struggles when teams put their best striker on him and I stand by that, providing their striker is any good. Tonight he wasn't and as a result Manny got MOTM (correctly IMO) without playing any better or worse than he did in the last two games. That to me epitomises how poor they were.
I don't think its a lack of effort on our part, it just isn't good enough in terms of quality and all the other things that win you football matches.
Grof - The only other MOTM contender and continues to impress. Made a few decent stops tonight and was beaten by a Butler deflection, which Butler harshly gave him a verbal blast for.
Beevers - Wherever Chris Kamara dreamed up the phrase "They're defending like beavers" it wasn't from watching him. Was caught out numerous times in the first half, including one shocking piece of defending when he went with Butler to close down Butler's man leaving his own man completely free; a man who was duly picked out before squandering a shooting opportunity. Not sure why Westlake wasn't in the 16 but he surely will be back on Saturday.
Sadler - He doesn't seem to be affected by the shocking football being played around him and just plods on in his usual reliable manner. Solid.
Butler - A post above said he should have been sent off but I'm not sure. The man he was by went down off the ball late in the game but I didn't see Butler do anything, infact I didn't think he was close enough to him to make any sort of contact with him, but I guess we'll see. Was probably our biggest goal threat coming up from set pieces.
Smith - Sponsors MOTM and probably mine too, kept their striker in his pocket for most of the game. He may not have been up against much but you can only beat what's there and he played adequately tonight.
Chambers - Huffed and puffed but didn't really get anywhere, is crying out for support in central midfield.
Taundry - If anything he epitomises our season so far. Early season promise resulting in optimism for the future and higher than average expectations before returning to the usual below par performances we've come to expect. Like the team, has been pap since Tuesday and I'd replace him with Peterlin on Saturday unless we make a loan signing first.
Hurst - Someone else who may be better off in the centre of midfield. Seems to have a good engine and does carry the ball well, but is painfully slow for a winger. The highlight of the night was the woman next to me having a pop at some random old bloke who spent the whole game slagging him off to the exception of all the other rubbish.
Martin - Made such an impact I've even forgotten his name and had to look it up else I'd have called this section New bloke. He doesn't offer anything different. The only thing that makes it obvious that he's a replacement for Gnakpa is that he's tall and goal kicks are aimed at him. Hopefully he'll improve.
Grigg - Annonymous but because he was starved of service. Had our best chance when forcing their keeper to make a smart save from a header immediately before he was replaced.
Jarvis - Personally I'd have replaced Jarvis instead of Grigg as Grigg looked more likely to do something to get us back into the game. Had one shot from the edge of the box with the outside of his boot that went out for a throw in.
Subs
Nicholls - If one thing screams 'we have problems' its the fact he was the best option we had on the bench. That said, he did ok when he came on.
Paterson - Replaced Grigg and went upfront but I'd have preferred to see him out on the wing, although that may be because that's where he played everytime I seen him. Looked lively but the ball wouldn't quite drop for him.
Peterlin - Didn't have any time to make an impact on the game. If no loan signings come in I'd bring him in for Taundry on Saturday.
Also a quick comment on the atmosphere tonight, which felt like an early round JPT tie against Barnet. I'm having to miss the Scunthorpe match on Saturday to attend my step-sisters wedding. For weeks I've been giving her grief for getting married at 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of the football season, but right now I feel like she might just be doing me a favour.
EDIT: One thing I forgot to point out, we are STILL picking up numerous stupid yellow cards for dissent. Macken did it on Saturday, his second of the season, and Taundry did it tonight. For crying out loud, just shut the fudge up lads!!
Last edited by
priestley_saddler on Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
