Exeter City v Charlton Athletic Matchday thread.

[grecIAN Harris]

Look at their forwards: May and Kanu start. Ladapo and Aneke on the bench and Wickham injured. Wonder how much in wages that lot cost. Competing with that is so difficult for us and solving the problem for next season won't be easy either. Let's not pretend otherwise.

I couldn't give a monkeys about what they've got, it was about what they did, or didn't do, today with what they've got. Today Charlton were poor and very uninventive without any intervention from us. We should have won today on today's performance. Oh, and they are still below us for a reason also.

 

[The 3 United's]

I couldn't give a monkeys about what they've got, it was about what they did, or didn't do, today with what they've got. Today Charlton were poor and very uninventive without any intervention from us. We should have won today on today's performance.

True, but what could we have done with forward choices like that; probably better than them. Also, to put it in perspective, they've been on a really good run and are currently a L1 form team and yet we competed with them and probably could have/should have won the game.

 

[CREDYGRECIAN]

They was a poor side….yet another home opportunity missed there has been so many this season….

the games i’ve seen at SJP this season i’ve been shocked at how poor the opposition sides have been and that includes Charlton & Pompey both ex premier league….

the standard in league 1 this season compared to what i saw last season seems worse.

When we went 1-0 up Charlton was all over the place, he wasn’t clinical enough IMO at 1-0 up we went into comfortable mode and it ended up costing us 2 points in the end when in reality they hardly had a kick.

 

[Bridgy 81]

the games i’ve seen at SJP this season i’ve been shocked at how poor the opposition sides have been and that includes Charlton & Pompey both ex premier league

Fair enough, but neither of those clubs have been in the Premier League for some time.

 

[CREDYGRECIAN]

Fair enough, but neither of those clubs have been in the Premier League for some time.

i understand that and its got zero relevance in reality to their current league standings but those two are “big” clubs at league 1 level and you would expect more quality in there play.

 

[grecIAN Harris]

True, but what could we have done with forward choices like that; probably better than them. Also, to put it in perspective, they've been on a really good run and are currently a L1 form team and yet we competed with them and probably could have/should have won the game.

They've been on a good run yet they're re still below us in spite of the run that we endured from October through to December. You can point to what you like, they aren't all that clever, as their style of play and inability to execute it to anything remotely like effective today showed, and we should have beaten them. All this "I'd have taken a point" and variants of us nonsense.

 

[grecIAN Harris]

i understand that and its got zero relevance in reality to their current league standings but those two are “big” clubs at league 1 level and you would expect more quality in there play.

Why? Both have been basket cases in terms of finances in recent years. Yes, they can afford more we can, but I don't know that they've got the financial clout to match the likes of Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday from last season. The fact Pompey signed Sparksey shows this to some extent

 

[MJP_Exeter]

They've been on a good run yet they're re still below us in spite of the run that we endured from October through to December. You can point to what you like, they aren't all that clever, as their style of play and inability to execute it to anything remotely like effective today showed, and we should have beaten them. All this "I'd have taken a point" and variants of us nonsense.

In the end a draw was probably the fair result, but we where probably the luckier to come away with the point in the end. Yesterday was a really poor and largely boring game, two sides trying to play a way which neither are particularly great at and Charlton where a seriously awful side who lacked quality and effectiveness. Stats wise Charlton had just shy of twice our shots (9-17) and three times our efforts on target (2-6).

Again the issue is our effectiveness on a game, first five mins we looked great, but once we scored we offered nothing in an attacking sense in the remaining 40 mins of the first half. Bar great defending from Purrington on the line, we would've gone in level at half time. 2nd half whilst we had a few half chances I never really felt we'd would get a second goal and always felt vulnerable to an equaliser and probably worse.

Whilst we competed well, Charltons lack of efforts (decent chances) where down to how poor they where rather than exceptional play and defending from us.

Wildschut looked out most likely player to create something, Cox had zero service.

Whilst I am happy we got a point, Cheltenham has become a must not lose just to maintain the gap and not have last minute looking over the shoulders.

 

[Grecian Max]

I didn’t go yesterday so can’t comment on the game other than my mate said a lot of things that sound similar to what’s being said on here.

I had to go and watch Swindon v Notts for a business meeting (yep) and wow… that level is far below what we’ve been witnessing this season. Two comedy gold goals too (check them out if you have 3 mins spare)

It was an interesting comparison in a few ways. The terrible pitch, the crumbling ground, the lack of care in the details - we have a lot to be proud of. We might be smaller but the experience at SJP is so much smarter, cleaner, well organised and presented.

Football wise the quality of our players is some steps ahead, as you’d expect. Having watched a season of us passing it around with ease the kick and rush stuff stood out. Perversely the ridiculous moments provided more entertainment than a lot of our pre-season-esque knockabouts.

If GC could add just a bit of (good) chaos to our attacking play and make it a bit more fun that would be great. Certainly, he has built a side of very capable League 1 quality footballers - anyone who doubts this or thinks we are overachieving with the players at our disposal should check out a League 2 game

Oh and put £20 on Swindon going next year. It’s a clusterfuck.

 

[fred binneys head]

I came down for the game yesterday and actually enjoyed it, we played some nice stuff and defended like Trojans. Cheick was unlucky with their goal, but a draw was a fair result.

I don’t see that our slow build up play after we scored is a tactic from SGC, it’s just what the players do and it frustrates SGC. We started brilliantly but whenever we score we then slow the pace down, Carroll played pretty well but he’s the main culprit. Woods doesn’t do that.

Yanic did well as did Niskanen actually, still needs a better final ball but it was better today and he defended really well.

Two situations annoyed me today and are good examples of my frustrations with this team at times. First was a time in the first half when Carroll got the ball just outside his area after we won a tackle. He had 20 yards of space ahead of him to run into at pace, but his instinct was to stop and look sideways to his right. He slowed it down, made the sideways pass and we slowly built again against an opposition who had regained their shape - he’s hard-wired to play slow, patient football and as much as he has shown quality at times this year, I think we need to replace him if we want to score more goals.

The other example was in the last few minutes, I think it was Allí (who looked very raw, being kind) who broke down the left and pulled a great ball across the 6-yard line. Where was Eisa? Stood stationary on the 18-yard line FFS - he should have been breaking his neck to get to the goal. I can see why MK let him go.

Finally, I said it after the Peterborough game, and I’m sorry to say it, but I’m not convinced by Sonny. He isn’t strong enough to play the ‘holding the ball up’ game and he doesn’t make the clever runs enough, or have enough pace, to play the ‘nippy, tricky forward’ game. Again, too often he also gave the ball away when not under any pressure. The next Ollie Watkins? No chance. He’s young though, I just need to see more evidence that he can improve so I’ll back him from the stands but the jury’s out for me at the moment, I hope to be proved wrong.

Plus it was windier and colder than I’d dressed for. Bloody weather.