[lesgeo]

The real problem is that Sarfend showed us that gorgeous, old-time fourth division football.
They were only interested in closing us down and giving us no room to move – which they did very well. They stopped the prospect of any footballing skills being able to be used. Their one mindset was to be destructive.
Sadly we did not seem capable of coping with a side whose tactics were that negative and so, whenever we won possession, out came the big hoof upfield.
I truly hope that they do not gain another point this season.
Let us have them out of the league! – Bye bye. Good riddance.
Urgh. Nasty!

[lesgeo]

Looks like we are back to last Autumn when putting out a real team looked rather tricky.
CBs against the Bradford attack? – Defeat beckons.

[lesgeo]

Well, I rather like kick n rush football.
Today was truly joyful for me.

[lesgeo]

Taylor.

[lesgeo]

Hurst got a consistency out of him that no end of managers have been unable to extract from Hakeeb.
Cox has certainly not got the best out of him.

Two things that worry me about Neil’s approach are:
1) Eisa and McAtee are two of our best half dozen players and we saw them side-lined at the start of the season and apparently poor relationships developing. With Hammill it was obvious who was wrong. In this instance – I simply do not know.
2) However, I do strongly suspect that systems played and messed around with could feasibly be part of the problem.

[lesgeo]

Thoughts:
I won’t blame the keeper for their goal.
Generally well reffed with a few odds and ends to niggle me.
Why so little ball reaching Gilliead until the last 15 minutes?
Effort levels were significantly higher than intelligence levels.
Disciplinary issues apart, Eisa has not been worth a place for more than half a dozen games.
McAtee looked bright.
Teddy looks better than I’d been expecting.
Loft was not at his best tonight but little ‘clean ball’.

[lesgeo]

Come on, MKI – get serious!

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alcazar

[lesgeo]

The whole feel of the game changed for the better when Spence came on, today.

[lesgeo]

Clarke was close to being my MOTM today. Very professional. The slower pace in the middle suits him.
He is a better CB than FB.
Bedeau played well. The way the Orient goal came about was the only fly in the ointment in our defence, today.

[lesgeo]

Your list makes a lot of sense, CT.

I understand Clarke ‘works cheap’ and is a useful backup at CB. So maybe. But I do need to be convinced.
Bedeau is improving would keep if he takes a sizeable pay cut.
McGahey and KVV, for me, need, somehow, to show that injuries are not likely to be a future problem. A fit McGahey is a mega asset. KVV too.
Hallam – a combination. Pay cut and medical proof.

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cassidystash

[lesgeo]

We could so easily lose five or six of our better players. Almost like starting from scratch.

2 users thanked author for this post.

StainlessIron, alcazar

[lesgeo]

Observations:
I have always supported Abo Eisa but good games are currently as rare as rocking horse poo. Not worth a start – must be dropped and made to work his way back into the team. It’s like playing with 10 men. Interesting how Tom Newey mentioned Abo bottling an important challenge.

Hippo put in a better stint than Eisa, IMHO.

Lumping the ball upfield is not actually a tactic, Neil.

Thought that Karacan was largely absent. Loft was not given a single good pass.

Thought the defence could not be criticised all that much but the midfield was poor. (Who could possibly know whether the forwards were poor or not?)

I do accept the need for Cox to rest better players in this crowded fixture list.

I made Exeter the third best side I’ve seen at the SVS after Cheltenham and FGR. Credit to them – they did a number on us.

[lesgeo]

Well.
If anyone doubts the value of Gilliead to the team – that first half should have disabused them of the thought.
In general, it is not lack of effort but rather the absence of intelligence issue which I thought had been addressed.

[lesgeo]

Fact or guess?

[lesgeo]

A well-deserved point.
The lads worked really hard and supported each other constantly.

[lesgeo]

Thoughts:
Clarke was a weak link most of the game but did a decent enough job at CB later on.

One of Bedeau’s better performances. Gritty and no bloopers.

In three of the last four games Eisa has looked like a little boy lost.

Best performance so far from GK.

Gutsy performances across the team. Scrapped for everything.

Green saw little ball up front but put in a shift and made the goal.

Kev looking better by the game.

I said to Mrs LesGeo at the three quarter mark, “I’ve seen a lot of games over the years where a side batters another but fails to score. So often the odd goal then goes to the side under the cosh.” Smirk. (It’s usually been us as the victims!)

A defensive performance which worked has been a rarity for the manager.

My complaints about reffing standards have clearly been reported back to The Referees’ Association and acted upon as we have had great back-to-back performances from the last two refs.

Why do our CBs break so easily?

For large portions of the game, when we were pushed back, we did not leave a man on the halfway line as an outlet. Okay – we didn’t concede last night, but this is not the way to approach the game.

Got the commentary from Cambridge by fiddling about with the audio.
Thought it was one of the better ones. I still prefer Mike White and Tom Newey – a good combination.

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bartonscorpion, mistertonmick

[lesgeo]

Bet it isn’t Rory.

[lesgeo]

Fortunately, I’m a very forgiving guy, BS.
Unfortunately, in my family I am surrounded by people with even cornier humour than that!

[lesgeo]

If he leaves at the season’s end – it will be a very hard hole to fill.

[lesgeo]

I thought Clarke was weak. Playing Roe makes more sense.

Best side I’ve seen since that FG team we saw a while back. Cheltenham look good enough for taking an auto promotion slot.

Ref was the best in a good while.

I was deeply suspicious that the ball for the first goal was crossed from behind the goal line. Howard’s instant reaction certainly seemed to suggest the same.

If Manny had not missed a sitter – we might have had a very different game. Their GK looked the real deal. Two terrific saves to stop us getting back into the match.

Sometimes though, you just have to say “we lost to a far better team.”
If we had scored, I reckon they would have simply turned up the gas and surely they would still have won.

[lesgeo]

There are plenty of issues with soft penalties – sure.
But what gets me even more is free kicks awarded for the most minor of contact all over the pitch: fouls given for the equivalent of a Paddington hard stare.
Is football to become the new basketball when contact is made?

[lesgeo]

I demanded Loft be dropped after one game in Autumn in which he hardly made a single pass but from that point on, I have consistently pointed out that the vast amount of problems he faced were usually being caused by poor systems of play and a lack of outlet balls.
3/10 in one game, yes. But can you mark a player down when he gets no clean ball and little movement alongside him? IF it ain’t his fault must surely get an average mark. ie) 6.

I doubt any player in the squad has worked harder but I’d still give it to Manny.
When I first saw him, it struck me that he was a great example of a player moving from non-league to league football. Probably nothing more.
I was wrong. This is a seriously good defender who is at least one division better than the division in which he now plays.

Even though Gilliead is such a superb player – as he has been messed about so much, I do not feel that we have seen the best of this terrific footballing unit. Even so – runner up IMHO.

[lesgeo]

After 32 years of writing up refs with marks, I chose the Covid period as my time to call it a day.
Rather wish I hadn’t, now.

[lesgeo]

When you have sat alongside a ref for decades – you learn a bit.
When you sit alongside someone, who for years, lined throughout the Premiership and in two cup finals as well as reffing in the Conference – you learn a whole lot more – especially when negotiating the final mark to be given.
If you sit with match assessors – as I have done on a number of occasions – you get into the thought patterns and do not make hasty decisions.
Your final sentence will apply to some, Ferrite, but I may respectfully point out that it is hardly applicable to me – someone who has had a working lifetime endeavouring to give fair and balanced assessments.

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inspector

[lesgeo]

Has anyone looked specifically at penalties for and against us this season?
How many dubious ones have we had? – How many dubious ones to the opposition?

My gut feeling is that there is a huge imbalance and to our significant detriment.

1 user thanked author for this post.

SDH57

[lesgeo]

Clinical finishing and decent defending won us the game. Super!

The other bits were not so good. It’s a long time since we have misplaced so many passes; there were often few outlets when a player stuck in possession was looking to find a man; movement off the ball was ponderous and the intelligence we have come to expect was sagging a bit. (And yes, I know it was windy.)
This game was about getting rid of the rustiness.
With players staying fit 7th in the league can yet become a reality.

Harrogate have a few good players – and that cheating forward looks a real find but overall, we should now be expecting to beat teams like that on a regular basis.

[lesgeo]

I thought two or three players looked as if they had a pound of lead in each boot.
The performance ought to be better on Tuesday. Good job we were only playing Harrogate, today.

[lesgeo]

I have been wondering the same for quite a while.

[lesgeo]

Foul weather in February, eh?
Funny what that would have done to the plans of those wanting ‘a mid-season break’.
Such plans almost always target January.
British weather is never easy to pin down.

[lesgeo]

Oops.

[Author]

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