Just back, or still there

Quoted from forza ivano

personally i think if he'd done that and gone a bit more gung ho, then Chelsea would've got into double figures. it worked well against lincoln and palace last season, it's just several of last night's team were found wanting, plus we are very unlikely to meet a team with quite that level of quality

I’d rather lose 10-4 than 7-1.  

If you’re going to criticise the manager for not sticking to the same 11,12,13 players then you can’t knock him for not changing the team. How else are Whitehouse and Clifton going to come good as a unit.

Sure no one is immune from criticism. Whitehouse was at fault for goal number 5(?) when he should have just put his foot through the ball. Someone said we should have started with more technically gifted players, then mentioned Ogbu as one who should have started! He was like a headless chicken and had the ball control of ....well me.

The other factor is the injuries which forced changes to the back line can’t have helped.

Just accept we were outclassed.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

If you’re going to criticise the manager for not sticking to the same 11,12,13 players then you can’t knock him for not changing the team. How else are Whitehouse and Clifton going to come good as a unit.

Sure no one is immune from criticism. Whitehouse was at fault for goal number 5(?) when he should have just put his foot through the ball. Someone said we should have started with more technically gifted players, then mentioned Ogbu as one who should have started! He was like a headless chicken and had the ball control of ....well me.

The other factor is the injuries which forced changes to the back line can’t have helped.

Just accept we were outclassed.

You must be a very good player then. Do you do somersaults?

Just a few observations on last night as it's only midweek games I get the option of going to.

The Town fans were absolutely immense, to keep that level of song up for the whole ninety minutes as your team are getting a seeing to was something else.

Town tactics. We kicked off four times in the first half, and every time we did so it was played back and then punted down the pitch. We lost possession each time, so why did the manager advise them to try something different. To me that was more than a wee bit embarrassing. If you're playing the ball long, a Town player has only got a fifty fifty chance of winning the ball, and if he is successful, the chance of Town getting the second ball is only fifty fifty. You therefore have only a one in four chance of winning any such balls, against a good team it's a lot less. We should have tried to take the sting out of the game each time in such situations and played the ball across the back for a time.

Looking at the BBC stats we had 8 shots. For a team at our level away at Chelsea that's not bad going by any stretch of the imagination. When we got the game back to 2-1 we actually started to take the game a bit to them, and I was mightily impressed with the way we played. That daft penalty screwed everything up though.

Have to admit, I left about 4 minutes before the end to beat the traffic and any possible issues as I had to walk back to Earls Court for my hotel. We were only 6-1 down then and in all honesty I couldn't see the comeback on the cards.

Sad note. The night before a young Arsenal fan was stabbed to death after being chased on one of the stations when he was on his way to the game. There are still the psychopaths about who can make such a wonderful night as we had into something else. No mother should not expect to see her son again after going to a game.

The attempt at man to man marking was the reason for us conceding the first 2 goals. For the second Hess was actually running away from the man with the ball. If you mark man for man against class you are easily drawn out of any resemblance of formation and this is what happened. At several times it looked like bagatelle -we just didn't know where the ball was going

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Why?

Didn't they leave at 12:30? that's over 7 hours before kick-off...

And the coach probably set off 1 hour after the full time whistle?

Guess you expected London to be quiet?

No I didn’t expect London to be quiet hence why I’m a bit miffed that we didn’t set off a lot earlier like anyone with any sense did at about 1000. Aiming to arrive via the M4 at roughly 1700 was, at best, optimistic. Having never been to SB before I was hoping to have a look about and a couple of pints but I was forced into having to go straight in.

We were the last coach to leave because we’d parked miles away and an elderly couple couldn’t find their way back in the dark. Long term night closures of the A1 not factored in either. Looks as though we were lucky as one of the hired coaches gearbox went mammaries and we got back at the rather early 0430.

I haven’t travelled by coach in about ten years and yesterday reminded why I don’t bother with it.


*edit- also asked if there was any chance we could go down Laceby Road so I could jump out there and save myself a bit of time and money getting a taxi back. Driver said we wouldn’t be going that way and they wouldn’t do drops anyway. We went down Laceby Road and overtook another bus dropping people at Bradley Crossroads.

Quoted from Hagrid

Yeah tactics were wrong, clifton should never have started and he was at fault for the first. Was great to score but second half poor defending and exhaustion just cost us, we looked dead. Which is a wory with exeter saturday. Couldnt get the atmosphere going we was too spread out as support

Does not get any LOUDER OR BETTER THAN THIS are you sure you went????

https://youtu.be/9VvWapSJy0E

Assessing the team and tactics last night - and in the league - is difficult.  I have just watched the highlights on Quest.  Forest were equally thrashed by quality players.  They are 2 divisions higher.

I think we had all the effort in the world but lacked the confidence and/or courage to at least show some quality and ask them questions. We tried to avoid a thrashing which we got anyway.

Whitehouse and Clifton are, for Injury reasons etc, not giving us very much.  Whitehouse was nearest to the ball a few times last but they got to it first each time.  I know they  are quick but............

Ogbu should be at the Rugby World Club.  He is skilled at trapping the ball into touch.  Poor Hess having to do nearly everything.

Robson,Vernam and Cook can all offer some offensive skill and redress the “100% effort”  approach that we had.  Plus the only plan A “long for Hanson”.  We should have displayed more skill.

Max Wright came on and had 2 or 3 runs at pace.  Given more time he would have at least given them something to think about.  He always does well as a sub and creates chances.  One run past 3 or 4 Chelsea players would have worth the journey.  Why should we not expect this?  He is an unknown quantity and quality.

Crewe played football far closer to Chelsea than to us.  We could have drawn with them if we scored the pen.  They were however, much better than us.  I know Crewe were well-beaten by Villa.  But if they dominated the first 10 mins at BP, I think that they would have given Chelsea a better game than we did. A lot more adventurous.  Have a go.

Chelsea would have likely gained a much better appreciation of the footballing qualities of Div 2 players.

II would like us to move gradually to the Crewe skills rather than having Ogbu (why does he have his own song?) etc and only playing Plan A to Hanson all game, every week.  Max Wright fits this aim perfectly.

In the 1980s we were famous for our passing and football skills, even as a small, unfashionable northern club. The programme last night acknowledged this ironically.

Just got thinking that one name hasn't been mentioned...how much did we miss Waterfalls presence and experience last night??..we had 2 centre halves who have had very little playing time recently, one who had a crocked shoulder and the other a young lad who's only played against low level opponents...
So in no way can be disgruntled or upset about a defeat to a team that was made up of top level internationals and some of the brightest prospects in the English football..
And, we scored the best goal of the night... love to see him repeat that at BP Infront of a packed pontoon...👍⚽

Quoted from Heisenberg

Oh, and the journey home - my god, that was a nightmare.  Got to Cockfosters at 11:30pm, and the drive from there took 4 hours because the A1 exit on the M25 was closed, there was a sign saying the M1 was closed between junctions 8 and 9, so I had to take a diversion through St Albans to get onto the A1.  But that was nothing - on the A1 it just closed, had diversion signs that took you south by about 10 miles, then across to Cambridge!  All that added an hour.  I'll probably not travel home on the same night if we have a similar southern midweek fixture again.

The round closure south of Peterborough was ridiculous. Had to turn back south on the A1 only to head to Cambridge! We saw loads of people turning off into that village off the A1 wondering where to go. Fortunately I knew some of the roads around there and could cut out part of the diversion. After St Albans, the Peterborough, closure of the A1 exit at Newark was most unwelcome.