Exeter City v Bristol Rovers match day thread

[Mid Devon Grecian]

I didn’t think we were bad today. Their goal came against the run of play and we were all over them until that went in.
It’s very predictable how we play and KMT did a job on us just slowing the play down all game.
GC needs to have a rethink, perhaps get the two wide attackers and the CF closer together.
Niskanan is very ineffective, he runs around a lot but doesn’t do anything.

Can’t agree with your assessment. We were totally predictable. Rovers kept the ball very well after taking the lead. We had little guile to respond to going behind.

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

Not sure why we persist with a boy centre forward who today did not earn his keep especially the one-on-one clear through which should be 'meat and drink' to a decent finisher.
( Memories of Kellow, Banks, Curtis, Beer etc)
City were hugely frustrating as usual in a game they should have won, but with all our chances and once again lady luck deserting us, plus a refs interception giving Rovers their goal, the overall outcome is back to pre Xmas.
Rovers did not deserve to win that game, very fortunate, but typical City!

Cox did more than his replacement.

 

[Fareham Grecian]

It works when we're away from home because teams push on and leave space for our counter attack.

At home teams sit off push on Carroll and Cole and watch us run out of patience when we lose it.

It's been happening for months but there's still no change.

You may be right generally but I didn’t think that was the case at Barnsley. They didn’t push on, we didn’t counter - we just went at them from the first whistle. And look what happened!

 

[Grecian Max]

I didn’t think we were bad today. Their goal came against the run of play and we were all over them until that went in.
It’s very predictable how we play and KMT did a job on us just slowing the play down all game.
GC needs to have a rethink, perhaps get the two wide attackers and the CF closer together.
Niskanan is very ineffective, he runs around a lot but doesn’t do anything.

It’s interesting because you say we weren’t bad, but then everything else in your post points to something else

I do get you though, we don’t have bad footballers - they can kick a ball adequately enough. We do sometimes look alright - but are weighed down with these patterns of play that must be being trained into them.

 

[ECFC-GC]

Cox did more than his replacement.

Neither received brilliant service but doing more than your replacement does not justify selection when the end product is zero for both.

 

[STURTZ]

Could have gone either way, no way this side are going down.
Matt Tatlor probably did his homework better and made hay once they had gone 0:1 up.
We'll be much better once our newbies are given a proper introduction to the team.
Big mistake conceding early but glad we were caught trying to get that first, all important goal.

 

[Grecian Max]

Could have gone either way, no way this side are going down.
Matt Tatlor probably did his homework better and made hay once they had gone 0:1 up.
We'll be much better once our newbies are given a proper introduction to the team.
Big mistake conceding early but glad we were caught trying to get that first, all important goal.

I agree we probably won’t get relegated, the actual squad is definitely good enough - the base level of player should keep us up

I’m not convinced we’ll be doing it in a particularly stylish or combative fashion though

Happy enough if we hold onto our status - long term… another season or three of this is going drag

 

[edwin_price]

I've been a big critic of Caldwell and still not convinced I've been wrong in the longer term... But I think it's reasonable to criticise the match in the context it sits in, which, slightly differently from the rest of the drab home defeats, is on the back of 6 points out of 6 on the road, from one excellent and one outstanding performance.

Think giving the likes of Niskanen a bit of slack for a sloppy game is fair enough, given he was fantastic in both those games, IMO. Likewise, "Caldwell-ball" will get a shoeing, but that first half against Barnsley looked to me like Caldwell-ball done well, rather than a tactical departure. If we're getting it right sometimes, that'll hopefully be enough to stay up and enough entertainment...

Hopefully we can start getting it right more often and squeeze out points and wins here and there when it's not working. As for Harris/Eisa not starting, I believe Harris is coming back from injury and Eisa hasnt had a lot of game time? There's also the argument that our reigning player of the month has earnt the shirt until it's taken off him?

Also, wasn't there today, so...

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

Could have gone either way, no way this side are going down.
Matt Tatlor probably did his homework better and made hay once they had gone 0:1 up.
We'll be much better once our newbies are given a proper introduction to the team.
Big mistake conceding early but glad we were caught trying to get that first, all important goal.

In our next seven games we play Peterborough home and away, Wigan away, Derby at home, Lincoln away and Fleetwood at home.

We're currently five points above the relegation zone.

I can't see us picking up many points From those seven games. If you think we're anywhere near safe yet, even with the new players on board, you're deluded.

The new signings are going to have to really hit the ground running. From what I saw of Eisa today, he'll definitely need some time to get up to speed. Alli has stepped up two leagues and is carrying a knock so he'll need some time too.

 

[Red Devon]

Thought we started the game very well but once Rovers had taken the lead they held a very tight grip on affairs for the rest of the match which saw us fail to create much in the way of chances…That said Sonny Cox really should have scored with his one big moment of the game….Would like to see Harris and Eisa start on Tuesday against Peterborough as somehow we still need to make more happen in the oppositions penalty area if we’re going to pull away from the scrap at the bottom of the table.