Exeter City (H) League 1 Tuesday 25/10/11.

[Neuromantic]

Some people are saying we should have won and played well... is this true?

True or not, this should have been a home win - nothing less.

We are going down.

Pointless club at the minute until that leach sods off.

[BathSaddler]

If that result does not get the alarm bells ringing I don't know what will.

Exeter must have had a boost from their 3-1 win at the weekend, but even so, JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Weak strikeforce, weak midfield, weak squad.

[Torbaysaddler]

OK ..... let's all agree that the present squad is crap.... but please vent your spleen at the reasons for it , 'cause I'm sure that those guys out on the pitch are trying their hardest. The problem goes higher ..... time to bring out those balloons

[kevin]

Time to search to see if we can find 4 worse teams over the season.

Straw clutching mode.......................any of the others in administration ?

[Welsh_Saddler]

Onwards and downwards...... and for Saturday we welcome the Dongs, who at least will have a depleted side - they had one man sent off tonight. Do you get the impression that I'm clutching at straws here?

Oh for the joys of mid-table mediocrity :roll:

[Surrey Saddler]

Was going to aim the zimmer frame in the direction of Bescot on Saturday......but now I am not. :( :cry:

[derbysaddler]

Right, the board need to act, if they believe in Smith they must now release funds to let him bring players to get us out of this mess before we end up stuck at the bottom by December. Midfield and upfront we are just not good enough for this level at the moment. Blame Smith for signing these players if you want but i'll bet he didn't have a pot to p*ss in in regards to funds in the summer. Every summer we gamble on a collection of miss fits that hopefully will good enough, it may have worked years ago but sure isn't anymore, are we now reliant on other clubs hopefully been much worse or going to admin nowadays? wow, spot on strategy that.

[latviancheese]

You cant blame the budget when you lose to Exeter really.

He's the manager, its his team, and his team is playing like a bag of piss.

When your in form player is Alex Nicholls your in trouble.

[derbysaddler]

You cant blame the budget when you lose to Exeter really.

He's the manager, its his team.

When your in form player is Alex Nicholls your in trouble.

I doubt we could afford Nardiello for a start. You can blame a budget that is about as competitive as a wet lettuce.

[BathSaddler]

OK ..... let's all agree that the present squad is crud.... but please vent your spleen at the reasons for it , 'cause I'm sure that those guys out on the pitch are trying their hardest. The problem goes higher ..... time to bring out those balloons

I'm completely aware of that, Torbaysaddler, that's why I have only attended one home match since the selling of Scott Dann [vs. Preston the other week - what a false dawn that was]. With respect, we need a bit more than a few balloons.

[Registered Saddler]

OK ..... let's all agree that the present squad is crud.... but please vent your spleen at the reasons for it

In the summer, Smith signed Grof, Beevers, Sadler, Chambers, Hurst, Gnakpa, Peterlin and Jarvis and gave pro contracts to Jones, Bowerman, Deards and Butlin. That's half a squad, of whom only four of which are getting in the team at the moment at two of those - Hurst and Peterlin - have spent their fair share of time on the bench. If the budget is thin then why waste money on players who aren't up to it? We don't need multiple bench warmers. But I don't buy this nonsense about the budget being small. It isn't any smaller than Exeter's or Tranmere's for example.

[Registered Saddler]

You cant blame the budget when you lose to Exeter really.

He's the manager, its his team.

When your in form player is Alex Nicholls your in trouble.

I doubt we could afford Nardiello for a start. You can blame a budget that is about as competitive as a wet lettuce.

Why on earth not? Exeter's turnover is £2m less than ours. Don't be silly, of course we could afford Nardiello.

[SheffieldSaddler]

Why when Hutchings was manager we blame the manager?
Why when Smith is manager we blame the budget?
You couldnt write it, people need to take their rose tinted specs off asap!

[latviancheese]

You cant blame the budget when you lose to Exeter really.

He's the manager, its his team.

When your in form player is Alex Nicholls your in trouble.

I doubt we could afford Nardiello for a start. You can blame a budget that is about as competitive as a wet lettuce.

Probably not a lot more, if any than Macken.

[SheffieldSaddler]

My god, Exeter are absolute rubbish.
Drawn 1 and lost 5, and havent even scored away from home yet!
Jesus, even Dean Smith cannot manage to lose this one.
Can he? :roll:

Well yes.

[kevin]

Oxford Utd 5 - 1 Plymouth


Robert Hall and James Constable scored two apiece as Oxford beat Plymouth Argyle with an impressive performance.

[latviancheese]

Youve got the wrong board mate.

[wednesburysaddler]

oh my god just got back from match and feel like ive been robbed.
was looking forward to a nice tues evening and took advantage of link up offer

how did we not win that one ???

exeter had 2 shots and they both went in and both westlakes fault in my opinion
we hot just about every part of the bar and post but it just wouldnt go in.

we are in the relegation dire now no disrespect to exeter who are a poor side they BEAT us.

i just dont know whats going wrong were no further forward now than under hutchins apart that when we get beat now we are playing better!!!

again down to the budget we cant bring anyone decent in but im at a loss with this club at the moment.

[swiftyboy]

Oxford Utd 5 - 1 Plymouth


Robert Hall and James Constable scored two apiece as Oxford beat Plymouth Argyle with an impressive performance.

That's it Kev. Rub it in ;-)

[Graydon48]

Why when Hutchings was manager we blame the manager?
Why when Smith is manager we blame the budget?
You couldnt write it, people need to take their rose tinted specs off asap!

Spot on Sheff.
Come on Belgian lets see your balanced response.

[swiftyboy]

And another! Losing at home! Kak

What are you on about? another goal?

I'm physic Cully

Told ta! ;-)

[SheffieldSaddler]

Why when Hutchings was manager we blame the manager?
Why when Smith is manager we blame the budget?
You couldnt write it, people need to take their rose tinted specs off asap!

Spot on Sheff.
Come on Belgian lets see your balanced response.

Would be first if he did mate!

[Sadsfan]

That was not good. We showed some early promise, but apart from some long range efforts didn't create clear cut chances. Ok so we hit the post twice but they were speculative efforts. Exeter created far better clear cut chances but wasted them, we could have lost 5-3. There were times when we were attacking and the movement was non-existent and we ended up going sideways or backwards, nobody really made any runs or seemed to want the ball. My personal take on this is that Hutchings put together a decent team but couldn't manage them and Smith came in and organised them. I would imagine the budget is pretty much the same as last year but Smith has put together a worse team.

[Darth Vader]

Fairly decent first half, shocking, clueless, useless, annoying second.

God knows how Grigg didn't score right at the end, mind, it really did look harder to miss.

Massive respect to the Exeter fans btw, what a fantastic following in terms of noise and numbers, fair few of us were saying 100-200 max will make the trip, way off, looked around 400.

[longdogs]

20 minutes to go.... Claude Gnakpa on for Jamie Paterson

And that was one if the least productive substitutions I can ever remember - Paterson off, Gnapka on at right wing and Hurst moved to left wing to accommodate him : Gnapka did absolutely *nothing* in his 20 minutes. Really - nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hurst had had a decent game on the right, but once he'd been shifted to the left he did nothing either.

Please, someone who was there, convince me that that was a good substitution, cos I think it was an awful decision.

[boringteacher]

20 minutes to go.... Claude Gnakpa on for Jamie Paterson

And that was one if the least productive substitutions I can ever remember - Paterson off, Gnapka on at right wing and Hurst moved to left wing to accommodate him : Gnapka did absolutely *nothing* in his 20 minutes. Really - nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hurst had had a decent game on the right, but once he'd been shifted to the left he did nothing either.

Please, someone who was there, convince me that that was a good substitution, cos I think it was an awful decision.

Agreed - Gknackered looked really shite to me. Paterson was doing a headless chicken act, but it was superior to our new star signing.

[priestley_saddler]

What a thoroughly frustrating night. If that match had ended at 1-1 I'd have come on here gutted that we hadn't won, as with the chances we had we should have...and then we went and lost!!! How did that happen?

To be fair it was a decent game, contributed too by the appalling weather conditions and two teams who were poor defensively, and it proved to be our downfall.

We started well and looked as dangerous as we've done all season, Nicholls hitting a rasping shot which their keeper almost managed to let slip through his legs. But yet within a minute of that we were behind. Their player had the ball, Westlake closed him down to a point (more on this later***) and basically invited him to shoot from distance. So he did, and he scored. A finish reminiscent of Tranmere's opener on Saturday.

We weren't behind for long, a poor goal kick was headed forward by Hurst for Nicholls to run on too and his finish was clinical. 1-1, damage undone. We should have been infront a couple of minutes after when Hurst had a shot from a similar position to Nicholls goal, only to see it cannon back off the inside of the post. We hit the post again in the second half when Macken curled one from the edge of the area (on first viewing it looked like it was going about 6 yards wide), which swung back brilliantly but cannoned away again off the outside of the post.

We looked the more likely winners but you could just sense we were equally capable of losing it and so it turned out. Their player went wide left to pick the ball up, Manny went with him while Westlake covered in the middle, but he left Manny dawdling behind him and hit a shot which I think Butler tried to clear but it went in off Wacka. It was down the 'away' end though so will have to see it again.

Still we shouldn't have lost as with the final kick of the game Taundry curled one in which Grigg rose to meet. It was one of those where commentators say "It just needed any touch and it was a goal", well he did touch it and still somehow managed to not get enough on it. It was the sort of chance Jorge used to miss regularly in his later years before falling to his knees with his head in his hands, if that makes it clearer for people to visualise. He'd have been better leaving it for Butler who was running in behind.

*** Now, this closing down business. What are we playing at? It was like watching the supporters team (I play in that team so can say that, and am guilty of exactly this!!), whereby we would close down the man on the ball to a point, until we were about two yards away from him. And then wouldn't get any closer, and wouldn't put a tackle in. It was almost as though they were scared to tackle in slippery conditions incase they picked up a booking. It cost us both goals and something that needs sorting out. For the most part we've been solid in defence which we've needed to be with our lousy attack. If the defence suddenly goes Pete Tong we are in trouble.

Walker - I think he was playing to orders on his distribution, as a lot of his goalkicks were taken short to one of his defenders. At least it did away to hoofing it straight to their centre back. Couldn't save the first one and I think he was impeded by Butler for the winner.
Westlake - I would say his place is under threat, as the winner on Saturday and both goals tonight came down his side. Allowed their man to shoot for the first goal and was out of position for the second. Poor game from him.
Sadler - Probably the pick of the defenders without really excelling, as solid as anyone and good on the ball.
Smith - Didn't have a bad game to be fair, he seems to be trying to avoid hoofing it quite so often, which can only be good. Doesn't have the confidence yet though with possession so ends up going back to Wacka a lot. The big blot on his copybook was how he allowed their man to just waltz past him which contributed to their winner.
Butler - I thought it was his worst game for a while, and twice in the second half seemed to get directly in Wacka's way, which also contributed in part to the winner.
Taundry - Dreadfully poor. It got to a point where I think even he realised that there was no point him doing anything as he'd just cock it up anyway, and as a result appeared to stop trying.
Peterlin - I think he's the best central midfielder at the club (not the highest calibre competition in the world). Offers himself for the short ball on the defence and does his fair share of the ugly stuff too. Passing needs some work though as he does give the ball away from time to time.
Paterson - Is guilty of trying too much sometimes but that will come with experience. I really like him, the only player in the team who genuinely excites with the ball at his feet and is a good outlet on the left. I have a horrible feeling he's about to lose his place to Gnakpa. Memo to Deano: Don't do that!!!
Hurst - Proved once and for all tonight he's not a left winger, by being brilliant on the right for 70 minutes, and then gash for the last 20 on the left. Another argument for keeping Paterson in the team. Claimed an assist and hit the post, and his set piece delivery was decent too. Got sponsors MOTM, which was fair enough even though I'd have given it to Nicholls.
Macken - Still doesn't appear to be fully fit, but got 80 minutes under his belt. Played well and was unlucky to hit the post.
Nicholls - Very much a man in form, but as form is temporary. Will be interesting to see if it turns into genuine permanent class, I'll admit to being sceptical. Can't fault him tonight though, his finish for the goal was clinical and really put a shift in. My MOTM.

Subs

Gnakpa - He's someone I really really want to do well, but it just doesn't seem to be clicking for him at the minute. Deano seems to rate him but I don't think he's worthy of a place in the starting XI.
Grigg - Still don't know how he missed that header.

EDIT: As someone said above, big respect for the Exeter fans who were numerous and vocal. A bigger following than even the club expected as I think they'd have given them behind the goal had they known. Instead they ended up with blocks G, H and I in the family stand and there weren't many empty seats. Doubt we'd have taken that many there had this fixture been reversed.

Onwards and upwards, wouldn't be the least bit surprised if we beat the Dongs on Saturday.

[Darth Vader]

20 minutes to go.... Claude Gnakpa on for Jamie Paterson

And that was one if the least productive substitutions I can ever remember - Paterson off, Gnapka on at right wing and Hurst moved to left wing to accommodate him : Gnapka did absolutely *nothing* in his 20 minutes. Really - nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hurst had had a decent game on the right, but once he'd been shifted to the left he did nothing either.

Please, someone who was there, convince me that that was a good substitution, cos I think it was an awful decision.

I was f**king fuming when I saw Pato's number come up for Gnakpa's, absolutely clueless sub by Smith.

Hurst was cack all game and somehow got MOTM, oh how I laughed...

[Bristol Fan]

20 minutes to go.... Claude Gnakpa on for Jamie Paterson

And that was one if the least productive substitutions I can ever remember - Paterson off, Gnapka on at right wing and Hurst moved to left wing to accommodate him : Gnapka did absolutely *nothing* in his 20 minutes. Really - nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hurst had had a decent game on the right, but once he'd been shifted to the left he did nothing either.

Please, someone who was there, convince me that that was a good substitution, cos I think it was an awful decision.

Gnapka has proved to be a terrible signing. A shame - I was expecting him to be the pick of the summer signings, to be honest.

We've just got a poor squad. I remember how delighted some people were when Smith wouldn't take Richards back because he wanted to sign his contract a day after the offer expired. Well, principled it may have been, but boy could we do with someone of his quality now. Julian Gray, too. What a difference those two would make. We desperately need two midfielders - in those positions.

[WarsawPact]

Decent enough first half - we shaded it and created a fair few chances.

Second half, I don't think Exeter did anything different, we just became entirely too careless with the ball and slowed right up in midfield and attack giving the defenders little option for an 'out' ball.

Very disappointing.

ps.
Gray - yes please
Richards - no thank you. For every goal he scored or created, we conceded two as he watched the opposition waltz through the middle of our team. That's assuming your other central midfielder could drive the forklift truck needed to manoeuvre Richards around the pitch.


Matt Richards in action mode for Walsall: