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Post by Lobster on Sept 13, 2021 11:16:58 GMT
Such basic goals, like ones you'd see in the West Cheshire League. At least if you watch the Gloucester hammering the weekend before they were beaten by some good strikes.
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Post by Blockhead on Sept 13, 2021 11:36:21 GMT
Just look at Simon Grand for the first two goals. Absolute embarrassment.
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Post by cityboy5705 on Sept 13, 2021 11:50:19 GMT
Just look at Simon Grand for the first two goals. Absolute embarrassment. love the guy to pieces gives his all but time waits for no man and sadly looks like a season too long for grand
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Post by dmcnally on Sept 13, 2021 12:01:43 GMT
If they don’t trust Askew defensively then they should’ve looked elsewhere instead of signing him.
If they do, then play him there. The over complications are infuriating.
Williams, for his quality on the ball, was targeted by Chorley & Cardwell and I’m not sure he won a header against him. Livesey had much more success from Chorley’s long balls. From crosses... different story - how you can have four centre halves on the pitch yet get utterly embarrassed time after time is incredible.
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Post by Harry Lime on Sept 13, 2021 15:12:02 GMT
If they don’t trust Askew defensively then they should’ve looked elsewhere instead of signing him. If they do, then play him there. The over complications are infuriating. Williams, for his quality on the ball, was targeted by Chorley & Cardwell and I’m not sure he won a header against him. Livesey had much more success from Chorley’s long balls. From crosses... different story - how you can have four centre halves on the pitch yet get utterly embarrassed time after time is incredible. Spot on. Unfortunately Williams will be targeted now. He's not won a header against Rhead or Cardwell. Not surprising really. But you can't lose every header as a centre half. He's a decent player who should have a good career though. B+J said it will be horses for courses over team selection. Maybe he shouldn't have played in the Alfreton game? I've said before I think B+J are over thinking it. I think they're trying to prove their good coaches and create a pure football team. But they've lost their identity. They always say "you know what you get with our teams". Not now we don't. I think B+J are too loyal and maybe too close to some players. If they were the opposition manager playing against us, they'd fancy their chances. We've 3 or 4 players out of position. No balance in midfield. No one running in behind to stretch the opposition, so they can push up and close down our ball players in midfield. Crosses always cause us problems. Equally worrying is the fact we can't get on the ball and move it. 2nd half v Alfreton and 1st half Chorley we just got overrun. Often your best players don't make the best team.
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Post by Rio Doherty on Sept 15, 2021 13:29:20 GMT
Sorry it’s took me a few days to write my report as I’ve just got over from a very heavy cold (as if I haven’t been punished enough by watching that tripe on the pitch 😏), but here goes anyway!
Depressing watch once again on Saturday. A gutless, spineless, and inept performance as we couldn’t even get the simple basics right which really worries me. We have two defenders with a combined football career of about 40 years and the fact they, alongside our other defenders and goalkeeper didn’t know how to stop crosses, win headers, catch crosses, or man-mark the opposition is really alarming. From our managers down to our players, they all have to take responsibility for that horror show because on the management side, our team selection and tactics were baffling. How we started with probably our worst attacker in Darren Stephenson on his own up front is flabbergasting, when we had some great attacking options such as Anthony Dudley, James Hardy, and George Waring on the bench. The match was lost when that line-up came out in my opinion, because we got what we deserved for setting up defensively right from the start. Our players need to have a long hard look at themselves too because there was no fight, ambition, or determination on that pitch at all, which is the bare minimum of any team. It was as if we picked 11 random strangers out of a lucky dip because our lack of awareness, communication, and leadership made it seem like our players had never played with each other before. Chorley fully deserved the win on Saturday as they were a constant threat from set pieces, they were dominant for the whole match, while even when they were cruising at 4-1 they still wanted to push on even more, which is something that is lacking in our side.
Our first half performance was absolutely diabolical. It was men against boys as our defending was Sunday League-esque given we didn’t know how to stop crosses or stay with our men. The 3-1 scoreline at half time flattered us because it could’ve been a whole lot more worse due to Chorley continuously pressuring us in our half. We had a couple of decent chances at the other end, but you could tell with how we performed that our players just put in a half-hearted shift, because we again just lumped the ball up rather than attempting to play some football on a decent pitch. Chorley’s first chance of the game came amidst a goalmouth scramble as Harry Cardwell headed just wide, while at the other end we went just as close with Declan Weeks blasting into the side netting. Just one minute later Harry Cardwell managed to make it 1-0 to Chorley this time, as he simply headed in at the far post with our defence failing to deal with both the cross and Cardwell himself. Darren Stephenson did well to find Josh Askew who launched an effort wide, before a Matty Williams header forced a simple save out of Chorley’s Matthew Urwin. Halfway through the half things got even worse for us with Ollie Shenton making it 2-0 to Chorley, as he easily stabbed in from a cross with our defence in sixes and sevens. Then, a Harry Cardwell header was a whisker away from making it three for the hosts, rightly producing a mini-meltdown amongst our away contingent. Eventually though, Harry Cardwell managed to secure his brace to make it 3-0 to Chorley, as following a great initial save from Louis Gray he pounced on the loose ball. With half time on the horizon a deft Williams shot went well wide from a wonderful Declan Weeks free kick. We did find a glimmer of hope before the interval though, as Dan Cowan headed home a cross at the back post for us to make it 3-1. In all honesty that goal flattered us, because we deserved to be on the end of a larger margin at half time, but that said at least it gave us something to shout about.
We were unable to mount a comeback however, because our showing in the second period was not an improvement on our first half shocker. Our sluggish habits continued given we still lumped the ball downfield, while Chorley were a yard quicker than us as in defence we really struggled. Only six minutes into the half things went from bad to worse for us, as Scott Leather bundled in from a corner to make it 4-1 to Chorley, thus making it game over. With the hour mark within sight Declan Weeks blazed well over from long range, while Chorley’s Connor Hall blasted over as well. Anthony Dudley almost found a consolation by smashing wide having done well to turn beforehand, while a James Hardy attempt was deflected behind for a corner by a Chorley body. Only one minute later our disastrous afternoon became even worse as George Glendon got sent off for us due to receiving his second booking of the game, therefore that will be a big blow for us in our next league game. Chorley almost made it five as Jacob Blyth hammered against the post, with Millenic Alli firing the rebound wide when it was easier for him to score. Meanwhile, Dan Cowan headed wide from a corner before a Declan Weeks volley from far out was caught by Matthew Urwin in The Magpies’ goal. Thankfully the encounter didn’t go on for any longer, as we were put out of our misery from an abject showing.
A shocking performance again from us with nearly all of our players performing nowhere near to their standards. In my opinion Dan Cowan is the only one who can emerge with any kind of credit, therefore he will be my man of the match. To be fair to Dan he netted his second header in the space of a week, so if our managers have plans of playing one up top against Darlington then they may as well stick him up there 🙂, as he is far more effective than the useless Darren Stephenson. The rest of our side though were woeful, including Stephenson who was really ineffective on his own up front, and how he played the full 90 is absolutely beyond me. Simon Grand was bad again, and you can definitely tell this is a season too far for him considering he was really struggling to chase loose balls, Chorley’s forwards beat him to every ball, while his distribution was very poor. As much as Grand was hard to watch, our managers need to be held to account as to why they placed Grandy out at left back rather than our only recognisable left back in Josh Askew, who is much more youthful and quicker. In midfield Luke Clark, Declan Weeks, and George Glendon never got into the game at all, with the latter two particularly disappointing because given they are generally two of our best players, they have been nowhere near their usual selves this season so they have to get a grip pronto. Obviously Gleno will have to miss our next league game now due to his red card, so let’s hope he will use this suspension wisely in order to learn from his lessons and to get his season kick-started.
Following the highs of our last gasp win against Alfreton Town in our outing prior to Saturday, it is a huge kick in the teeth to have that optimism sucked out of us again with us taking two steps back following the then significant step forward. I feel so sorry for our supporters who had to endure that on Saturday, because I see the same faces every week and it’s saddening that we are treated with dirge like Chorley, Kidderminster Harriers, and Curzon Ashton. That is three shockers in our opening six league games (equivalent to half), which is completely unacceptable so our squad need a major kick up the backside, otherwise some will be thrown out of the door. As for the lively debate about Bern and Jonno, I am still right behind them because I personally like to give it until we’ve played ten games until I make a full judgement, so I think it would be harsh if they were shown the door this early on. However, if we are still in a similar position after ten games, if we cannot record at least seven points against Blyth Spartans, Kettering Town, and Guiseley (which are very winnable matches), while if we are knocked out of the FA Cup then major decisions will have to be made. It is very interesting to note that there has been a deathly silence by the duo on social media so I hope all is okay with them, but what is more important is that we progress in the FA Cup on Saturday. Our next match is on Saturday as we play Darlington away in the Emirates FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round where it’s vital we kick-start our season. I would take a replay at the Deva all day long, but it’s crucial we do not lose as it’s important we go on a long-awaited cup run to give our club the lift it duly needs. For now though, I’m looking forward to watching our under-18 lads take on Irlam in the FA Youth Cup tonight, in what should be a nice distraction from our underperforming seniors.
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