Exeter City v Carlisle Utd matchday thread

[SEA Grecian]

That was Difficult to gauge, was City good or are Carlisle absolutely awful…..I’d suggest a mix of the two….fair play to anyone who travelled from Carlisle to watch that.

Thought the new lad did ok , some nice touches , drifted in and out a bit like you would expect.

The win was better than the performance but there does look like a bit more confidence is starting to creep back in….

I still found it a difficult watch as we play too slowly in possession but it’s nice to see us score at the 6th attempt this season.

add a striker or ideally 2 and we will finish mid table - this is a poor league and there are some very poor sides.

It's also not easy when you've been booked inside 5 minutes of your debut!

 

[CREDYGRECIAN]

It's also not easy when you've been booked inside 5 minutes of your debut!

he looked exactly what you would expect from a premier league academy player , very neat & tidy in possession.

time will tell but i’m sure he and the manager will feel he’s had a good start there

 

[denzel]

Early days eh? I guess everyone will be very relaxed about the speed of our business then if it's not realistic to expect anything much the first week. Think people were jealous of the speed rather than the player.

He did hit the post though

 

[BigBanker]

No. Because they could've done more sensible business more slowly. The sole benefit of doing it early would be to have him in training and then playing this specific match. Have a look back through all the shaking anxiety on here about only getting one attacking player over the line in the first week. If Armstrong turns out to be great, they could still have got better value by waiting a bit to see what the auction was looking like.

It's not the sole benefit. As I said, the other benefit of bringing him in early is it prevents him going elsewhere later in the window (as clubs like us get increasingly desperate).

You're telling me that if the bloke scores 10 goals between now and the end of the season, keeping them up, you won't accept that it was a good idea to bring him in when they did?

 

[Antony Moxey]

First game since we lost at home to Wigan in the league, and apart from nearly losing my toes to frostbite thought it a thoroughly entertaining afternoon. Didn’t mind the tippy tappy stuff as it looked like it was for a reason rather than expecting to find an opening for a Hollywood ball. Thought everyone worked extremely hard and was particularly happy with the performances of Cole, Aitchison, Cox and Harris, but really no-one had a bad game although after his superb early block to deny a certain goal Jules seemed to be going through the motions until his withdrawal.

A final word though Hartridge and his nice new haircut - why did he think it a good look to try and emulate Dec from Ant and Dec in their PJ and Duncan days? Unless of course he did it as a rallying cry for the battles ahead: ‘right lads, let’s get ready to rumble’.

 

[arthur]

Well, we were a post away from not winning. Against the hapless Carlisle. That won't stop the Happy Clappers.

My deepest condolences for your profoundly disappointing afternoon. Never mind, there's always the hope that we'll lose next week..

 

[hillview red]

Sinisalo - Didn't have a lot to do. One terrible pass accompanied by a Carroll slip nearly cost us big time in the first half. Don't think he could do anything with the goal.
Sweeney - Generally tidy and solid. His lack of pace nearly got exposed late on as Carlisle piled forward down our right.
Diabate - Won his battle with Armstrong. Strong performance with occasional dodgy distribution and touch.
Hartridge - Excellent bounce back game post-Reading.
Jules - Made a great last ditch tackle in the first half (not sure how we ended up so short in the first place for that moment) but... really struggled with general play. Looked a little lost, his touch was poor, often checked back and seemed to be a bit lost. Unusual as he has been performing better recently.
Carroll - Thought he was excellent and benefitted from 3 runners ahead of him enabling him to pick out more incisive passes. The drop off and lack of control in the game when Tom went off was significant.
Cole - Took his goal well having just skied won into Alphington (still rising I think ). Works really hard but feel there's more to come in terms of delivery and decision making.
Rankine - Ready... Steady... Go! Couple of great moments mixed in with moments of huge frustration. The league 1 Raheem Sterling (with less goals and assists). There's a player in there and he offers a threat but very raw.
Harris - Missed 2 good chances and made a shocking challenge for a yellow early on BUT... grew into the game and was outstanding in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. We have a player. Makes intelligent runs, good passer, the signs are promising!
Cox - Continues to improve. Hold up play excellent considering his age and size. Keep running and got the goal he deserved. Well done Sonny!
Aitchson - Occasionally made a poor decision but works so hard and knits the play well. Great shot which led to the 2nd goal.

Subs
Wildschut - worked hard and has something about him. Excellent tactical yellow and good chat with the ref after to waste more time
Taylor - he runs around and works hard... But is really ineffective. I know he has had terrible injuries but not sure league 1 is his level.
Scott - Another tactical yellow but simply offers nothing. Once again though, he ran on the pitch really quickly.

Overall - huge 3 points. Well deserved. A more dynamic front 3 enabled Carroll to control the game and solid performances at the back just about got us over the line.

 

[JW57++]

First game since we lost at home to Wigan in the league, and apart from nearly losing my toes to frostbite thought it a thoroughly entertaining afternoon. Didn’t mind the tippy tappy stuff as it looked like it was for a reason rather than expecting to find an opening for a Hollywood ball. Thought everyone worked extremely hard and was particularly happy with the performances of Cole, Aitchison, Cox and Harris, but really no-one had a bad game although after his superb early block to deny a certain goal Jules seemed to be going through the motions until his withdrawal.

A final word though Hartridge and his nice new haircut - why did he think it a good look to try and emulate Dec from Ant and Dec in their PJ and Duncan days? Unless of course he did it as a rallying cry for the battles ahead: ‘right lads, let’s get ready to rumble’.

A good summary of the game, I feel, but I disagree on your view of the haircut.

 

[edwin_price]

It's not the sole benefit. As I said, the other benefit of bringing him in early is it prevents him going elsewhere later in the window (as clubs like us get increasingly desperate).

You're telling me that if the bloke scores 10 goals between now and the end of the season, keeping them up, you won't accept that it was a good idea to bring him in when they did?

I'm telling you they could've got a much better player for the same money if earliness was lower on the priority list. They could've got the same player for less if they'd waited and offered a bit more than their rivals. If he scores 50 goals and wins the balloon d'or, blah blah blah. Come back if and when he does. What if James Scott does, we'll all look very silly, won't we. Looks like a waste of money to me. That's 1 goal for him in what? 15 games now?

 

[BigBanker]

I'm telling you they could've got a much better player for the same money if earliness was lower on the priority list. They could've got the same player for less if they'd waited and offered a bit more than their rivals. If he scores 50 goals and wins the balloon d'or, blah blah blah. Come back if and when he does. What if James Scott does, we'll all look very silly, won't we. Looks like a waste of money to me. That's 1 goal for him in what? 15 games now?

I'm not backing him to do well, just agreeing with Tavy that you can't judge whether it was good business after one just game.