Post by stevek192 on Nov 18, 2018 11:15:15 GMT
The disastrous home form continued yesterday as a goal shy Bristol Rovers failed again to take enough of numerous good chances created especially in the first half. Just 2 victories in 9 home League games and only 7 goals scored is certainly a recipe for a season that in all honesty could end in relegation. Thankfully there is a long way to go but the signs and statistics are there for all to see and they do not point to us ever "dusting ourselves down" in fact yesterdays performance was another performance covered in the cobwebs that have haunted our entire season so far- missing chances, giving lack lustre opponents too much time on the ball, failing to get enough players in the box, questionable tactics, awful goals conceded I could go on such is the predictability within our performances.
looking at our squad is it just coincidence that players who have scored goals in reasonable amounts - Reilly, Payne, Rodman, Nichols all struggle to even get going under DC ? If Nichols was the only striker to suffer a goal drought then I would say fair enough but nobody resembling a striker really looks like scoring most of the time!
DC has managed to put together a squad that just has too many similar standard players in it and swopping them over is far too easy to not affect a performance. and his tinkerings that have served him well have deserted him this season and there is a total failure on his part to find any consistency whatsoever and a struggle to play players in their most comfortable positions. Of our nine home games we have only played one of the top 8 sides and four of them have been against teams immediately around us!! What really adds to our problems is that if we sacked DC I do not have any faith whatsoever in our owners to get a better replacement such is the position we find ourselves in. We have IMO failed to produce over one half of decent football in pretty much every game home and away this season and yesterday was a good first half but a pretty awful second half where the substitutions actually managed to make things worse.
Bonham 5.5 Looked a bit shaky at times and probably should have done better on the first.
Leadbitter 5 Got up and down well but his inability to put in a decent cross regularly ruins his good work and also leads to him getting caught out on occasions and when he has Matthews in front of him as after the substitution he is left constantly back tracking as Matthews defensively is a total waste of space and caused more problems than he solved.
J. Clarke 6 Did OK but lacks Lockyer's reading of the game and also any pace. Got caught in possession on a couple of occasions and didn't do enough to prevent the second goal but yet again had to change with the formation when Craig was substituted. the problem now is that the change to three at the back works one week but fails miserably the next and yesterday was one of those days where it changed us from looking comfortable at the back to shaky and unpredictable.
Craig 6.5 did Ok with not much going past him and was really sacrificed for the change to three at the back. I find it a joke that the ideal Captain IMO cannot even lead the team when Lockyer isn't playing.
Martin 7 I thought he looked class and had his best game for our club. Lot stronger than Kelly and IMO did nothing wrong.
Bennett 5.5 In and out of the game. unlucky with one shot that hit the bar but should have put away one or two other chances in the box. He can be very wasteful with the ball but there again he can be our most skilful player that has the ability to excite which is a commodity we are pretty short of.
Lines 5 Hero last week and villain this week. The penalty was a good save but too similar to last weeks effort which no doubt the Scunny keeper saw and read. Worst still was his free kick from a great position near the end that sailed in the air from the off. really feel he should leave most deadballs to Sercombe. Like Ollie Clarke he struggled to really get in the game often enough but I put that down to the way DC gets the team to play with far too much of our midfielders time spent back with defenders.
O. Clarke 5 First thing he is not and will never be Captain material as he struggles to get any consistency in his own performance. Looked totally lost for long periods as the play bypassed him and should have been replaced by Upson who for me provides more controlled football. One good shot which the keeper parried and a few direct runs were his only contribution and he is one of those players who one week looks a class act and the next plain average. I would like to see Upson get a run of three or four games to see what he can contribute.
Sercombe 8 MOM getting back to his best but having to spend far too much time out wide instead of in the middle whilst DC perseveres with the Ollie Clarke/Lines partnership in the middle. Scored a wonderful goal with a great strike and had another strike that brought a world class save from the keeper when it looked a goal all the way.
Nichols 5.5 Missed a great opportunity with just the keeper to beat in the first half and his problem is not his general football ability but the fact he is a striker and the main job of a striker is to score goals and in truth there are no signs whatsoever that he will score goals
Payne 5.5 The crowd are not helping our present scapegoat with the home faithful and his very touch is now deserting him although he did win the penalty. He should have done better with a couple of half chances in the first half but did lose out far too often in the aerial contest but to me he probably never has been the sort of striker who wins a fair percentage of aerial balls.
Subs: Matthews 3 Awful, his passing of the ball is questionable and his defensive qualities are non existent. another signing who for me is inconsistent and lacks quality.
Jakubiak NOLE Personally I am not sure that he is up to the standard required but I would like to find out by him being given a fair run.
Rodman NOLE One run but needs to be given a fair run of games but like Montano, Moore and Balanta before him is unlikely to be given regular appearances as we keep changing from wingbacks to wingers.
Crowd 5.5 Quiet but reasonable numbers in the circumstances and as usual impeccable in the Rememberance celebrations. The home form has done little to create an atmosphere and there is almost a predictability that we are not going to score many goals which makes every game a knife edge, tense affair..
Ref 5 Couldn't see whether the goal was offside and I have reached the stage where I am thinking that maybe it is not all the referees fault as surely they can't all be that bad. I suppose when you are struggling it seems like the world is against you and you are playing against the Officials as well as the opponents.
Scunthorpe 5 looked exactly what their league position suggests , they are a team in danger of relegation and have a slightly better chance than us of getting out of it. certainly a team that we should have been two or three up at half time but instead find ourselves struggling to beat and eventually losing out by the odd goal which has happened far too many times this season .
DC- 3 Substitutions made us worse and to me he no longer has the inspiring influence he once had on his players. Most players appear devoid of any confidence and a sign of this is the number of straightforward errors made by the players in their general passing and more importantly in their shooting. Payne, Nichols, Lines and several others all had reasonable chances to score in the first half but failed to hit the target. The main problem seems to be an inability to have two good games on the trot when it comes to attacking play and all DC can come up with is that we will dust ourselves down and go again. Well Darrell it is not good enough- you brought these players in and we have as almost one coach to every two or three players and yet there are times when we look like the players have never met each other before.
So we move on, dust ourselves down and attempt to improve on another terrible record under DC- the FA Cup. Goals are so hard to come by that it is impossible to predict how we will do. On the evidence of last week if we can manage to keep all 11 on the pitch then we should win but who knows - When you can't put your chances away or play for longer than one half there is always a chance of an upset however poor the opposition and our home record hardly can fill us with Confidence! UTG
looking at our squad is it just coincidence that players who have scored goals in reasonable amounts - Reilly, Payne, Rodman, Nichols all struggle to even get going under DC ? If Nichols was the only striker to suffer a goal drought then I would say fair enough but nobody resembling a striker really looks like scoring most of the time!
DC has managed to put together a squad that just has too many similar standard players in it and swopping them over is far too easy to not affect a performance. and his tinkerings that have served him well have deserted him this season and there is a total failure on his part to find any consistency whatsoever and a struggle to play players in their most comfortable positions. Of our nine home games we have only played one of the top 8 sides and four of them have been against teams immediately around us!! What really adds to our problems is that if we sacked DC I do not have any faith whatsoever in our owners to get a better replacement such is the position we find ourselves in. We have IMO failed to produce over one half of decent football in pretty much every game home and away this season and yesterday was a good first half but a pretty awful second half where the substitutions actually managed to make things worse.
Bonham 5.5 Looked a bit shaky at times and probably should have done better on the first.
Leadbitter 5 Got up and down well but his inability to put in a decent cross regularly ruins his good work and also leads to him getting caught out on occasions and when he has Matthews in front of him as after the substitution he is left constantly back tracking as Matthews defensively is a total waste of space and caused more problems than he solved.
J. Clarke 6 Did OK but lacks Lockyer's reading of the game and also any pace. Got caught in possession on a couple of occasions and didn't do enough to prevent the second goal but yet again had to change with the formation when Craig was substituted. the problem now is that the change to three at the back works one week but fails miserably the next and yesterday was one of those days where it changed us from looking comfortable at the back to shaky and unpredictable.
Craig 6.5 did Ok with not much going past him and was really sacrificed for the change to three at the back. I find it a joke that the ideal Captain IMO cannot even lead the team when Lockyer isn't playing.
Martin 7 I thought he looked class and had his best game for our club. Lot stronger than Kelly and IMO did nothing wrong.
Bennett 5.5 In and out of the game. unlucky with one shot that hit the bar but should have put away one or two other chances in the box. He can be very wasteful with the ball but there again he can be our most skilful player that has the ability to excite which is a commodity we are pretty short of.
Lines 5 Hero last week and villain this week. The penalty was a good save but too similar to last weeks effort which no doubt the Scunny keeper saw and read. Worst still was his free kick from a great position near the end that sailed in the air from the off. really feel he should leave most deadballs to Sercombe. Like Ollie Clarke he struggled to really get in the game often enough but I put that down to the way DC gets the team to play with far too much of our midfielders time spent back with defenders.
O. Clarke 5 First thing he is not and will never be Captain material as he struggles to get any consistency in his own performance. Looked totally lost for long periods as the play bypassed him and should have been replaced by Upson who for me provides more controlled football. One good shot which the keeper parried and a few direct runs were his only contribution and he is one of those players who one week looks a class act and the next plain average. I would like to see Upson get a run of three or four games to see what he can contribute.
Sercombe 8 MOM getting back to his best but having to spend far too much time out wide instead of in the middle whilst DC perseveres with the Ollie Clarke/Lines partnership in the middle. Scored a wonderful goal with a great strike and had another strike that brought a world class save from the keeper when it looked a goal all the way.
Nichols 5.5 Missed a great opportunity with just the keeper to beat in the first half and his problem is not his general football ability but the fact he is a striker and the main job of a striker is to score goals and in truth there are no signs whatsoever that he will score goals
Payne 5.5 The crowd are not helping our present scapegoat with the home faithful and his very touch is now deserting him although he did win the penalty. He should have done better with a couple of half chances in the first half but did lose out far too often in the aerial contest but to me he probably never has been the sort of striker who wins a fair percentage of aerial balls.
Subs: Matthews 3 Awful, his passing of the ball is questionable and his defensive qualities are non existent. another signing who for me is inconsistent and lacks quality.
Jakubiak NOLE Personally I am not sure that he is up to the standard required but I would like to find out by him being given a fair run.
Rodman NOLE One run but needs to be given a fair run of games but like Montano, Moore and Balanta before him is unlikely to be given regular appearances as we keep changing from wingbacks to wingers.
Crowd 5.5 Quiet but reasonable numbers in the circumstances and as usual impeccable in the Rememberance celebrations. The home form has done little to create an atmosphere and there is almost a predictability that we are not going to score many goals which makes every game a knife edge, tense affair..
Ref 5 Couldn't see whether the goal was offside and I have reached the stage where I am thinking that maybe it is not all the referees fault as surely they can't all be that bad. I suppose when you are struggling it seems like the world is against you and you are playing against the Officials as well as the opponents.
Scunthorpe 5 looked exactly what their league position suggests , they are a team in danger of relegation and have a slightly better chance than us of getting out of it. certainly a team that we should have been two or three up at half time but instead find ourselves struggling to beat and eventually losing out by the odd goal which has happened far too many times this season .
DC- 3 Substitutions made us worse and to me he no longer has the inspiring influence he once had on his players. Most players appear devoid of any confidence and a sign of this is the number of straightforward errors made by the players in their general passing and more importantly in their shooting. Payne, Nichols, Lines and several others all had reasonable chances to score in the first half but failed to hit the target. The main problem seems to be an inability to have two good games on the trot when it comes to attacking play and all DC can come up with is that we will dust ourselves down and go again. Well Darrell it is not good enough- you brought these players in and we have as almost one coach to every two or three players and yet there are times when we look like the players have never met each other before.
So we move on, dust ourselves down and attempt to improve on another terrible record under DC- the FA Cup. Goals are so hard to come by that it is impossible to predict how we will do. On the evidence of last week if we can manage to keep all 11 on the pitch then we should win but who knows - When you can't put your chances away or play for longer than one half there is always a chance of an upset however poor the opposition and our home record hardly can fill us with Confidence! UTG
