Weather ruined slightest hope of football

This was a game that I could have predicted how it would go long before the kick off irrespective of the team selected on the day but made easier to predict by the negativity in the selection. For me the failure to attract any creativity or lack of it in our squad was the reason that yesterdays crowd was ridiculously low at just over 7000 when the opening home fixture would usually always attract nearer 10,000. Many will say that the trick is to keep the ball on the ground but how many games in those conditions do you actually see teams keep the ball on the ground? It is not easy to do when you play against a team where it is second nature to them to hoof the ball up to a man who for all his critics is brilliant at holding the ball up. I will go as far as to say that there is not a better centre forward in this division at that art.


I don't disagree with GC when he said we should have won because until the last ten to fifteen minutes Wycombe did very little to suggest they could get anything other than a point from the game. In fact despite not creating a lot we still deserved at least one goal for our efforts and defensively I thought as a unit we looked good especially considering it included four home debutants in the back four and goalkeeper. That said there is no excuse; in my mind; whatsoever for fielding three defensive midfielders in a home match against a team like Wycombe. For that alone  I am sitting on the fence over GC as Manager of our football club. I cannot at this stage forget his insisting "there were players who would walk straight in to the Mem", "Marguee signings", "gems" and his total failure so far to bring any that even near these descriptions. There are those who will defend him or blame the Owners but he knew when he said these words that he would not have a huge budget.
This said it is far too early to write off a Manager who kept us up last season and who on the evidence of what I have seen so far has managed to do a pretty good job of replacing defenders who left us "out of his control".

Anyway on to individual performances.

Jaakkola 6.5 Did nothing wrong,  If kicking is the only criticism that could be made against him then that can't be bad. He looked steady to me and given the wind which was so unpredictable in both its direction and force it was a good home debut and definitely a step up on Smith,Puddy or Slocombe and for me his distribution was not that bad either.


Little nole His signing was always going to be a risk based on his lack of involvement in the last year. and having to co9me off early in two out of his three appearances  is hardly the best start. Time will tell if we can get the best out of him.
Davies 8 mom Immense performance and though he lacks the pace of Lockyer it could be another great signing by GC as he is no doubt a leader and a calm influence on those around him and his use of the ball looks an improvement on Tom. Like giving negatives on new players it is the same as giving positives and too early to be anything other than wary as to their ability in just a couple of games. 
Craig 7.5 Typical Tony performance and further proof for me that either he or Tom Davies should be captain of this side. Strong in the air and in charge of most situations that occurred. 
Leahy 6.5 Competant performance and fail to agree with those who thought he was poor. Not much went past him and always looked to play a sensible ball and was usually available. What more do people want? for me some are just looking to criticise for the sake of it.
 
Upson 6 The best of what was a poor performance from the midfield unit. He might not be the quickest but I would love to see him with a couple of good midfielders alongside him to give the ball too. How Ollie Clarke stayed on the field is beyond me when he hardly put a pass to his own player all afternoon. 
Ogogo 5 Another Stuart Sinclair who covers a lot of ground, is 100% committed  but has no creativity whatsoever.
Sercombe 4 Only a four because of two free kicks which went very close otherwise a 3 and another hugely disappointing afternoon. 
Clarke 4 Probably being kind with a four. Terrible and should have been the player to come off. For me he just isn't a League 1 player on a consistent basis and has too many poor games but having said that with our lack of goal scorers we do tend to have to rely on his good record of scoring cracking goals and also at the present time we have little in the way of alternatives in the midfield. 


Nichols 3 Nothing complimentary to write. Was always predictable that he would perfo9rm this way against a physical side. 
Adeboyejo 6.5 Definitely has got something and would like to see him up front with Clarke-Harris next week. So unlucky with a great run and shot that hit the post that somehow managed to9 go across the goal and go out the opposite side. This is the sort of signing we should be making permanently with the chance that we can develop them for ourselves and not someo9ne else. 


Subs:Hare 7 Very impressed with his contribution after replacing Little early on. 
Clarke-Harris 5.5 Rusty but needed! 
Bennett nole

GC- Said all I want to say other than where was Tyler Smith? I would hope injured otherwise is he to become the latest in our line of graveyard loanees?


Crowd 4 Quiet and disappointingly low but in my opinion if we keep on playing three defensive midfielders the crowd will only continue to go down. 
Ref 4 Lots of poor decisions but if I had to chose between him and VCR it would be a resounding vote in favour of him! 
Wycombe 4 Typical Wycombe. Not going to set the division alight and likely to be down near the bottom-unfortunately we are not likely to be far from them.

So we move on to a match against Cheltenham. Anything can happen when you struggle to score goals and at present I have no confidence whatsoever that we will beat them although more confident against lower opposition than I was under DC!

My team for Tuesday
Jaakkola  
Hare   Davies   Craig (Capt)  Leahy

Rodman   Upson  Sercombe  Bennett

Clarke-Harris     Adeboyejo