Post by stevek192 on Aug 30, 2015 10:19:29 GMT
A tough game on paper and so it proved to be as we lost our long unbeaten away record and yet for long periods of the first half Orient whilst being neat in possession didn't really create anything and had they not been gifted two goals it could well have been a completely different result as at 2-0 down you are always leaving yourselves open to a hammering by trying to get back in the game.
Chapman 8.5 MOM
At least 4 very good saves and all low down which for a giant is pretty good. Don't agree with those who have criticised him in earliar games. Feel a lot more confident with him between the sticks and has a presence about him. DC needs to get the Goalkeeper situation sorted out and quickly as we don't want monthly loans which reach their maximum and then have to find a new keeper. Either we can make him permanent or turn our attention to somebody we can make permanent. Chesterfield may not want to sell, Chapman may not want to come permanent DC may not think he is the answer but a decision must be made soon and acted upon.
Lyttle 4
Felt very sorry for him on his debut but a famous quote came to mind.."There is a time and a place" but yesterday was neither the time nor the place. was very clear early on that he was going to be lost in the wing back position and should IMO have been substituted long before the error for the second goal. I know some will say it would wreck his confidence but better to make the right decision and put your arm around him than allow him to make another very poor decision and kill the game off. Oh and for those who say it was a dubious penalty..forget it..it was blatant.. a two handed push BEFORE heading clear is disastrous especially when you have a referee who had given clear indications before that decision that he was a "homer". His time will come because there is talent there and how he reacts to this setback will be important.
J. Clarke 7
Another good performance. Looks at home either at right back or centre back and is the best signing DC has made this season and looks like someone who can go further in the game but i very much hope it is with us. Missed an absolute sitter in the second half which was the only blemish on his performance.
Lockyer 8
Another immense performance from Tom who is brimming with confidence to an extent that he has eradicated the poor passing which was my real criticism of his game last season. Tackled hard,was strong in the air and read situations so well in what was particularly in the first half a very good defensive performance if you could take away the two goals.
Parkes 6 I have marked Tom down for his part in the second goal which really was poor defending.That apart he had a reasonable game against good opponents who showed good physical strength and clever movement and passing. Was always willing to bring the ball out with confidence and compete but really must improve his heading from set pieces in the opponents half as he rarely gets his headers on target!
Brown 6
Defensively sound and did a good job but going forward did not have the influence which he has had in other games. Too often held onto the ball too long and was then either forced to pass back or just lost the ball or gave it away cheaply. I still think he is a better full back going forward than a wingback.
Sinclair 4
Usual effort but not much quality in his game yesterday.Too many misplaced passes and didn't really get in the game enough. At least he did try when not playing to his best which unfortunately couldn't be said about Ellis.
O. Clarke 3
A very poor performance after his recent good performances. Seemed totally lost to the game and was rightly substituted. Midfield was the area where I really think we missed out yesterday as it is important that if Lines is making those runs at the defence that the other two midfielders sit in and maintain good discipline and are sharp. Ollie had one of those games yesterday where everything past him by.
Lines 6
Cannot agree with those who said he was poor yesterday as for me in the first half especially he was the best midfield player on view and was constantly the one who emerged with the ball and ran at Orient. have to admit his delivery was mainly poor from dangerous situations and i can't quite see why the Manager lets him control all these situations. It very much seems to me that a lot of supporters prefer the all out effort and energy to a bit of class on the ball.
Harrison 4
Felt sorry for him because he is not a targetman and like Easter has to waste a huge amount of energy chasing around trying to get the ball from four defenders who,in Orients case were very good at keeping the ball. IMO because of this he is then not getting into positions where he can do what he is good at and gets frustrated far too easily.
Easter 6
like Harrison but could not really fault Easters effort but too much of his game is wasted by lack of support. Would love to see him in an attacking team rather than having to feed on scraps
Subs: Montano 6
Looks very skillful and could be an ace card if we can bring him into the game. Trouble is that DC does not seem keen to go to 4-4-2 and so is going to get little game time. Certainly livened us up attacking wise when he came on and looks an intelligent player.
Monakana 5
Is the complete opposite to Montano in that is very quick and is more direct but has less skill and tends to sometimes run into opponents but there is definitely something there and perhaps we may see more of both wingers in coming weeks.
Taylor
6 the problem we have at the moment is that Matty seems much better coming off the bench than when he starts games and this is giving us a problem that none of our strikers have really cemented their place in the team and none of them are looking like 20 goal a season striker but in all honesty the way the team is set up is not going to score a lot of goals but is based on not conceding.
DC 3 Sorry but when you report on every game there are going to be large variants and for me today DC's inexperience cost us the game.It is easy to say after the event but away to the team who are top is not the time to blood a youngster and then not to rectify the error early on is even worse but for me the biggest error was either sticking by the formation or not having sufficient "wingbacks" to have 3-5-2 as your main formation. I said in one of my earlier reports that the big problem we have is if either Brown or Leadbitter get injured because we have three wingers who are a total waste of time playing 3-5-2 . We clearly needed to have cover for both Brown and Leadbitter if we were going to use that as our main formation.
The other error IMO is sending out on loan the only six foot striker we have without IMMEDIATELY replacing him. We just keep replacing like for like and DC clearly does not yet know who his best two strikers are. Would like to see a bit more attacking adventure by pressing opponents defenders by pushing forward and harassing them rather than letting two strikers waste their energy chasing around with no hope of winning the ball.
Crowd 8
Very good turnout considering the difficulty to actually get to Orient and made ourselves heard despite being outnumbered but Orient fans were not really vocal or numerous considering their position.
Ref 1 For the one decision he got right-the penalty! Gave very early indications that decisions were not going to go our way and really did not do much right.The penalty was definite but if you are going to give it then there has to be consistency but to then not give an even more blatant push by an Orient player right under your nose loses total respect. A match full of mystifying decisions and incompetence which would not have gone amiss in the Conferance or should I say National League.
Leyton Orient 8 Best team we have played by a long way but DC played into their hands. A strong,expensive,experienced team who are willing to pressurise opponents at every opportunity,are streetwise and who look to play good football and pass the ball with confidence but in truth the first half was a very even game which maybe we were even shading with Lines runs from the midfield but you can't afford to gift good opponents a 2-0 lead on their own patch.
I actually very much enjoyed the game which was ruined by naivety because the first half was definitely not a 2-0 down performance where in all honesty we looked just as likely to score as Orient but the trouble was at 2 up your opponents gain in confidence but also you have to try to score and the game then opens up and that is when we have problems in a 4-4-2 where our midfield gets outnumbered. We still however should have scored a couple of goals with the chances we did have but just as easily could have lost by a bigger score had it not been for Chapman.
The rumour going around was that we won't be signing anyone before the deadline which is disappointing as we definitely need a targetman especially if we are going to have to change to a 4-4-2 by necessity. i very much look on yesterdays game as a game where the best side won but we could easily have got something out of the game. i worry that against the better sides we are not going to get a lot playing the DC way of not pressurising high up the pitch but there are a lot of teams in this division where we will be able to dominate the midfield and are capable of getting 1-0 wins. it could be very much an up and down season and i think who we do sign will very much decide whether we are chasing a play off spot or a mid table battle.
Personally I think Mansell should get his first game next week and therefore both Ollie Clarke and Sinclair could miss out if we go for 4-4-2 with two wingers. In truth Sinclair is not a winger and I think Gosling would just edge it over Monakana with Mantano on the other side. Up front I would start with taylor and Easter but would much prefer to see a tall player up there to compete as I fully expect oxford to play like Northampton. I am very much relying on DC's ability to bounce back from a poor result and hope we can sneak a 1 goal win .
Chapman 8.5 MOM
At least 4 very good saves and all low down which for a giant is pretty good. Don't agree with those who have criticised him in earliar games. Feel a lot more confident with him between the sticks and has a presence about him. DC needs to get the Goalkeeper situation sorted out and quickly as we don't want monthly loans which reach their maximum and then have to find a new keeper. Either we can make him permanent or turn our attention to somebody we can make permanent. Chesterfield may not want to sell, Chapman may not want to come permanent DC may not think he is the answer but a decision must be made soon and acted upon.
Lyttle 4
Felt very sorry for him on his debut but a famous quote came to mind.."There is a time and a place" but yesterday was neither the time nor the place. was very clear early on that he was going to be lost in the wing back position and should IMO have been substituted long before the error for the second goal. I know some will say it would wreck his confidence but better to make the right decision and put your arm around him than allow him to make another very poor decision and kill the game off. Oh and for those who say it was a dubious penalty..forget it..it was blatant.. a two handed push BEFORE heading clear is disastrous especially when you have a referee who had given clear indications before that decision that he was a "homer". His time will come because there is talent there and how he reacts to this setback will be important.
J. Clarke 7
Another good performance. Looks at home either at right back or centre back and is the best signing DC has made this season and looks like someone who can go further in the game but i very much hope it is with us. Missed an absolute sitter in the second half which was the only blemish on his performance.
Lockyer 8
Another immense performance from Tom who is brimming with confidence to an extent that he has eradicated the poor passing which was my real criticism of his game last season. Tackled hard,was strong in the air and read situations so well in what was particularly in the first half a very good defensive performance if you could take away the two goals.
Parkes 6 I have marked Tom down for his part in the second goal which really was poor defending.That apart he had a reasonable game against good opponents who showed good physical strength and clever movement and passing. Was always willing to bring the ball out with confidence and compete but really must improve his heading from set pieces in the opponents half as he rarely gets his headers on target!
Brown 6
Defensively sound and did a good job but going forward did not have the influence which he has had in other games. Too often held onto the ball too long and was then either forced to pass back or just lost the ball or gave it away cheaply. I still think he is a better full back going forward than a wingback.
Sinclair 4
Usual effort but not much quality in his game yesterday.Too many misplaced passes and didn't really get in the game enough. At least he did try when not playing to his best which unfortunately couldn't be said about Ellis.
O. Clarke 3
A very poor performance after his recent good performances. Seemed totally lost to the game and was rightly substituted. Midfield was the area where I really think we missed out yesterday as it is important that if Lines is making those runs at the defence that the other two midfielders sit in and maintain good discipline and are sharp. Ollie had one of those games yesterday where everything past him by.
Lines 6
Cannot agree with those who said he was poor yesterday as for me in the first half especially he was the best midfield player on view and was constantly the one who emerged with the ball and ran at Orient. have to admit his delivery was mainly poor from dangerous situations and i can't quite see why the Manager lets him control all these situations. It very much seems to me that a lot of supporters prefer the all out effort and energy to a bit of class on the ball.
Harrison 4
Felt sorry for him because he is not a targetman and like Easter has to waste a huge amount of energy chasing around trying to get the ball from four defenders who,in Orients case were very good at keeping the ball. IMO because of this he is then not getting into positions where he can do what he is good at and gets frustrated far too easily.
Easter 6
like Harrison but could not really fault Easters effort but too much of his game is wasted by lack of support. Would love to see him in an attacking team rather than having to feed on scraps
Subs: Montano 6
Looks very skillful and could be an ace card if we can bring him into the game. Trouble is that DC does not seem keen to go to 4-4-2 and so is going to get little game time. Certainly livened us up attacking wise when he came on and looks an intelligent player.
Monakana 5
Is the complete opposite to Montano in that is very quick and is more direct but has less skill and tends to sometimes run into opponents but there is definitely something there and perhaps we may see more of both wingers in coming weeks.
Taylor
6 the problem we have at the moment is that Matty seems much better coming off the bench than when he starts games and this is giving us a problem that none of our strikers have really cemented their place in the team and none of them are looking like 20 goal a season striker but in all honesty the way the team is set up is not going to score a lot of goals but is based on not conceding.
DC 3 Sorry but when you report on every game there are going to be large variants and for me today DC's inexperience cost us the game.It is easy to say after the event but away to the team who are top is not the time to blood a youngster and then not to rectify the error early on is even worse but for me the biggest error was either sticking by the formation or not having sufficient "wingbacks" to have 3-5-2 as your main formation. I said in one of my earlier reports that the big problem we have is if either Brown or Leadbitter get injured because we have three wingers who are a total waste of time playing 3-5-2 . We clearly needed to have cover for both Brown and Leadbitter if we were going to use that as our main formation.
The other error IMO is sending out on loan the only six foot striker we have without IMMEDIATELY replacing him. We just keep replacing like for like and DC clearly does not yet know who his best two strikers are. Would like to see a bit more attacking adventure by pressing opponents defenders by pushing forward and harassing them rather than letting two strikers waste their energy chasing around with no hope of winning the ball.
Crowd 8
Very good turnout considering the difficulty to actually get to Orient and made ourselves heard despite being outnumbered but Orient fans were not really vocal or numerous considering their position.
Ref 1 For the one decision he got right-the penalty! Gave very early indications that decisions were not going to go our way and really did not do much right.The penalty was definite but if you are going to give it then there has to be consistency but to then not give an even more blatant push by an Orient player right under your nose loses total respect. A match full of mystifying decisions and incompetence which would not have gone amiss in the Conferance or should I say National League.
Leyton Orient 8 Best team we have played by a long way but DC played into their hands. A strong,expensive,experienced team who are willing to pressurise opponents at every opportunity,are streetwise and who look to play good football and pass the ball with confidence but in truth the first half was a very even game which maybe we were even shading with Lines runs from the midfield but you can't afford to gift good opponents a 2-0 lead on their own patch.
I actually very much enjoyed the game which was ruined by naivety because the first half was definitely not a 2-0 down performance where in all honesty we looked just as likely to score as Orient but the trouble was at 2 up your opponents gain in confidence but also you have to try to score and the game then opens up and that is when we have problems in a 4-4-2 where our midfield gets outnumbered. We still however should have scored a couple of goals with the chances we did have but just as easily could have lost by a bigger score had it not been for Chapman.
The rumour going around was that we won't be signing anyone before the deadline which is disappointing as we definitely need a targetman especially if we are going to have to change to a 4-4-2 by necessity. i very much look on yesterdays game as a game where the best side won but we could easily have got something out of the game. i worry that against the better sides we are not going to get a lot playing the DC way of not pressurising high up the pitch but there are a lot of teams in this division where we will be able to dominate the midfield and are capable of getting 1-0 wins. it could be very much an up and down season and i think who we do sign will very much decide whether we are chasing a play off spot or a mid table battle.
Personally I think Mansell should get his first game next week and therefore both Ollie Clarke and Sinclair could miss out if we go for 4-4-2 with two wingers. In truth Sinclair is not a winger and I think Gosling would just edge it over Monakana with Mantano on the other side. Up front I would start with taylor and Easter but would much prefer to see a tall player up there to compete as I fully expect oxford to play like Northampton. I am very much relying on DC's ability to bounce back from a poor result and hope we can sneak a 1 goal win .
