Carlisle v Exeter City Matchday Thread.

[Max Payne 2]

That pass for the opener, I could just watch that all day long. Bloody beautiful finish too.

 

[1burnm]

Does seem that we are improving week on week as Matt Taylor finds players best positions and builds a team around those individual strengths. Strange I suppose that the same "group of players" doing it this season are the same players we had last year but I suppose the new players are putting pressure on the existing squad. Notable improvements in several players this time around and real purpose to the team.

Bring on the Argyle!

I think this formation is streets ahead of what he was trying last year. Back three works better than back four. Then Law and Lee Martin are more effective moving centrally than they were being used in wide positions. And they weren't bad out wide. Bowman is better with a partner and a player behind even though he missed loads of goals today. Because he likes to get onto short passes.

 

[IndoMike]

I think this formation is streets ahead of what he was trying last year. Back three works better than back four. Then Law and Lee Martin are more effective moving centrally than they were being used in wide positions. And they weren't bad out wide. Bowman is better with a partner and a player behind even though he missed loads of goals today. Because he likes to get onto short passes.

The problem is that if Ajose plays alongside Bowman you have to take out someone from the midfield/attacking midfield. I thought we might bring on Ajose instead of Bowman because.we were playing our football on the ground and Ajose is more suited to the kind of movement we had. But that's just a minor thought : think we are aware of who knows best. Arise Sir Matt !

 

[Grecian Max]

I think MT is underrated tactically - he’s come on a huge amount already. Deserves the plaudits. Also, vast majority of this team are his signings. Says a lot.

 

[IndoMike]

We've got a pretty solid defense, a mobile midfield stretched across the pitch with Law, Martin, Williams, Jake and Archie, and a hard-working but not prolific striker. It's clear that our goals are coming from midfield with this line-up. Doesn't matter : better than relying on one goalscorer as we did with Stockley.

 

[SEA Grecian]

Looking at the highlights isn't it great to see three or four players regularly in the opposing box when we are attacking, it happened plenty of times, it's great to have players who are fit and full of running.

Williams looked superb this afternoon, if he plays like that regularly (and it is a big if) he will be on the radar of bigger clubs pretty soon.

We all know how good Nicky Law is with the ball but the fact that he has now scored goals in the 85th, 89th and 90th minutes suggests he is pretty fit as well and keeps working hard to the game. I'm sure I've said this before but just imagine how good a player Ryan Harley could have been if he had a fraction of Nicky Law's work ethic.

As for Williams I'm sure he is on other club's radars already as there was a degree of surprise that he had dropped down to League 2 when we signed him. And while it's great for the club's finances that there are 4 players in the team at the moment who could potentially be sold on for a decent profit I just hope that we can keep this team together long enough to finally achieve something on the pitch. More specifically I just hope that we aren't forced to sell any players in January as that is what screwed us last season. Maybe Brentford could do the decent thing and sell on Watkins and that would give us the financial breathing space not to have sell any players on the cheap.

 

[SEA Grecian]

If you don't ask you won't get. I want us to batter everybody when the opportunity arises and it sounds like we should have won even more comprehensively than we did. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the win especially when a conversation I had this morning at work went along the lines of 'Id take appoint this afternoon' but when opportunities come to make a statement, make it. Don't be coy.

It's hard to disagree with that and Matt Taylor in his interview sounded disappointed we hadn't scored more. However, I'm just impressed by the progress we have made since the stuttering barely deserved wins against Macclesfield and Stevenage. We also seemed to have learned some lessons from last season; away at Carlisle last year the first-half was similar to yesterday but we hardly turned up in the second-half and had to settle for a point. The other game this reminded me of was the Grimsby home game where we battered the opposition in a similar way but somehow lost the game; it would have been very easy for heads to drop yesterday after the equaliser and for us to have conceded again but we showed the resilience and self-belief to stick to our game and make sure we got the win we deserved.

 

[SEA Grecian]

The problem is that if Ajose plays alongside Bowman you have to take out someone from the midfield/attacking midfield. I thought we might bring on Ajose instead of Bowman because.we were playing our football on the ground and Ajose is more suited to the kind of movement we had. But that's just a minor thought : think we are aware of who knows best. Arise Sir Matt !

It was hard not to wonder how many Ajose would have scored with the chances we were creating but would we have created so many chances if the Carlisle defence hadn't been distracted by the physical presence of Bowman.

 

[STURTZ]

Yes, even when he doesn't score Bowman's presence in the oppo's faces causes enough distraction to create space for our bustling attacking midfield Long may he remain fit (and not suspended!)

I think yesterday was our first game this season when we have scored three and won by more than one goal, that's progress.

 

[IndoMike]

It was hard not to wonder how many Ajose would have scored with the chances we were creating but would we have created so many chances if the Carlisle defence hadn't been distracted by the physical presence of Bowman.

Oh I agree he does all that But he's not going to play 90 minutes every match, I imagine.