Walsall vs Exeter City (FA Match day thread)

[Joshyd123]

Again, I'm also hugely disappointed. That midfield lacked so much tonight and I think I must be the only one who simply cannot see the hype with Chris Shephard? Seriously, what is there that's so exciting/promising about him? The fact he might hit puberty soon and have a growth spurt? No, no he won't, he's not good enough, end of.

Golbourne and Tully had shocking games aswell, their left winger Nicholls tore Tulls a new one for 115 minutes and Golbourne needs extra, extra, extra crossing/passing practise. His last minute delivery when we went 1-1-8 that went straight through to the Walsall keeper summed up his game, abysmal.

Duffy/Coles/Troy as a back three looked very sound and solid for the best part of the game though, but pushing Duffy to CDM again showed our lack of options on the bench and in the squad.

Also, gotta say how impressed I was with Frear aswell in his run out tonight and would rather him in the starting 11 than Sheps for the near future. Ran and ran, took his goal well despite the deflection and was unlucky not to score another at the near future just before full time. Impressive, but only one game so who knows if he can maintain that form come Saturday if given another chance?

O'Flynn looks seriously unfit still and Tis made his change about an hour too late, but then if we were stuck with Logie and Nichols upfront on Saturday, I can see us creating one chance if we're lucky.

The Walsall fans are a disgrace, 1700?! Really?

Let's see what Saturday brings, but I'd love a loanee coming in tomorrow afternoon, please Paul!

 

[Poultice]

Not sure what some of you have been smoking ?

We were pants, it was not that we actually played that badly, in fact the first hour was more than satisfactory considering Art and Offal were there in body only, I do believe Art's kicking is now worse than 'Championship keeper' Jonesy's and wtf he was doing for their third I don't know. Tulls had a total mare including the simply atrocious pass that led to said third goal, Golds was a tad better based on his contribution going forward, Coles, Troy and Duffers all put in a shift and looked ok except when asked to do something constructive with the ball, Sercs and Dunny were their usual selves, busy and fairly tidy without ever being particularly creative, Shep started brightly only to fade quickly into his shell, then in the second half he came to hand and was becoming instramental in some of our best play of the game, so Tis took him off, Logie did some stuff and scored a good goal but his body language and shape spoke to his current attitude, he seemed to try a bit and did some decent covering, but every time he lost a challenge you would have thought someone had squished his pet guinea pig, Offy was simply awful, some bright spark tried to excuse his total ineptitude by suggesting he was injured, well then wtf was he doing on the pitch ?

Frear came on and did more more really good things than rest managed in the entire game, sharp, bright, with pace and some clue how to get at the opposition, Nicholls tried to do the same but failed miserably, Keohane came on.

Unfortunately, following the first hour or so came the second one in which we were tired, clueless and lacking in either ambition or ability, Frear excepted, we simply don't possess any threat, Logie hit one good shot and scored a good goal, he should also have won a pen and got one of their players sent off, but I think bitching about sh*t refs is pretty pointless, as fans we should be bigger than that and as players they should have the balls to get over setbacks and come again harder than before. Other than that and Frear's little cameo we hardly troubled a sh*t defence and a dwarf of a keeper at all, Nicholls ain't close to ready, Offal was offal, we didn't get forward and contribute from wide, we didn't compete adequately in the air, although much of the lumpage was pretty bloody aimless, Dunny and Sercs flattered a bit and deceived a lot and just when Shep was starting to exert some influence God yanked him off when Offal should have been top of the cull list.

Inept is the word for our defending at times, goals one and three were totally so, two was a strong finish but should have been snuffed out earlier and we still have no threat, no width, no pace, no power and little creativity.

Without Nards, Bowser, Nobby and Taylor in the starting line up we always looked on a hiding to nothing, but we weren't far short of a win, Walsall were that bad, we should be able to cope fairly comfortably with teams of their ilk, even without these four, tonight we didn't, we were lightweight in most areas especially up front, this led to us allowing the Poles far too much of the play which in turn built its own pressure.

The Siege went well for much of the game but then heads dropped off the pitch as well as on it, extra time saw a serious down turn in the level of support from the 311 brave souls who made the trip, the club house was closed to us, gawd knows why, but the King George served a decent, shame it was closed at 10-20 when we fancied a swifty before the trek home. The tw*ttery closed off M1 access so a detour added half an hour, I guess Mackster will just be getting in about now, not so much fun as a couple of weeks ago but we won then and lost tonight so what should one expect.

Following City can be a confusing and trying experience at times, tonight was one of the trying ones, roll on Orient.

 

[Mackster]

....and sold out of chicken balti pie's

Agree pretty much with the last four reports.

I was mystified as to why Tis took off Shep instead of O'Flynn. He had been pretty much anonymous up to their goals but suddenly he was playing in the hole linking midfield to attack and things were beginning to happen. This area was Walsall's weakness in the last game at the Bescot and I feel with Shep & Frear both on the pitch operating down the left hand side I believe we could have won this match in normal time.

Instead O'Flynn stayed on and continued to be a liability and Walsall soon doubled up on Frear when they realised he was threat. We then had zero creativity and no shots on goal during extra time. I think this explains the despondency post game as we went out with a whimper.

Can't Logie mentor Keohane, Frear, Shep & Nicholls? These boys need a decent feed and Logie looks he knows where to find one.

Emailing the boss to tell him I coming in late.

 

[Hants_red]

The official match report on this disappointing game

http://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10436~61317,00.html

 

[Hants_red]

Or maybe we did win?

 

[mammooman]

BBC Sport reported we went through also last night.

"Richard Logan scored the first goal to put the Grecians on their way to a home win."

 

[Thames Valley Red]

Some excellent comment on the game so far and I echo many of the thoughts, we should have been able to beat them tonight. At one nil we sat back and let them off the hook.

At our club we are over nice sometimes and many like myself have gone with the flow and wanted to be super constructive and nice to help the club. Based on the fact that we have a smaller budget than most and no 'Sugar Daddy'. I will put a toe in and make a comment about our 'SIEGE MENTALITY' initiative, we have been doing our bit and we need a little more of a sign from the club. I understand that we have injuries but some on the 'junior' players are not coming through.

As has been said we need to scale back the squad in January, some players are not big enough and have perhaps not shown enough. The one positive sign from the game he oozed ability, desire, pace and reminded me of a very young Steve Neville type player. He (FREAR) was unlucky not to get a second and some of his runs on the edge of the box were unplayable, everything those of us that like wingers at Exeter have been starved off for far too long. We won a Championship with two wingers and a big lad in the middle!

Now when I say big I mean over 6ft 2inches tall and built like a boxer, which brings me on to the youth policy, do we judge potential physique when considering a player. In the car on the way home we tried to work out how many small players have made it, we came up with Messi, Keegan and Maradona. We need to think about our production line.

At full time 90minutes you expect your captain to be encouraging players, slapping backs and talking to them. I noticed no chats and no communication.

I for one am disappointed to see another '31er' that seems so far away from the first team, our investment seems to be under utilized. We need to see more now.

Its hard to be positive when we let this one out of our grasp by a lack of guile and experience. I will remain positive, but we need to adjust and balance the squad. Roll on the window!

UTC

TVR

 

[plain capers]

Roll on the window!

UTC

TVR

And what money do you think will be available to do anything then?

 

[Parklife]

In the car on the way home we tried to work out how many small players have made it, we came up with Messi, Keegan and Maradona. We need to think about our production line.

What do you mean by "small" and what do you mean by "made it"? All a bit woolly.

 

[Antony Moxey]

Not sure what some of you have been smoking ?

We were pants, it was not that we actually played that badly, in fact the first hour was more than satisfactory considering Art and Offal were there in body only, I do believe Art's kicking is now worse than 'Championship keeper' Jonesy's and wtf he was doing for their third I don't know. Tulls had a total mare including the simply atrocious pass that led to said third goal, Golds was a tad better based on his contribution going forward, Coles, Troy and Duffers all put in a shift and looked ok except when asked to do something constructive with the ball, Sercs and Dunny were their usual selves, busy and fairly tidy without ever being particularly creative, Shep started brightly only to fade quickly into his shell, then in the second half he came to hand and was becoming instramental in some of our best play of the game, so Tis took him off, Logie did some stuff and scored a good goal but his body language and shape spoke to his current attitude, he seemed to try a bit and did some decent covering, but every time he lost a challenge you would have thought someone had squished his pet guinea pig, Offy was simply awful, some bright spark tried to excuse his total ineptitude by suggesting he was injured, well then wtf was he doing on the pitch ?

Frear came on and did more more really good things than rest managed in the entire game, sharp, bright, with pace and some clue how to get at the opposition, Nicholls tried to do the same but failed miserably, Keohane came on.

Unfortunately, following the first hour or so came the second one in which we were tired, clueless and lacking in either ambition or ability, Frear excepted, we simply don't possess any threat, Logie hit one good shot and scored a good goal, he should also have won a pen and got one of their players sent off, but I think bitching about sh*t refs is pretty pointless, as fans we should be bigger than that and as players they should have the balls to get over setbacks and come again harder than before. Other than that and Frear's little cameo we hardly troubled a sh*t defence and a dwarf of a keeper at all, Nicholls ain't close to ready, Offal was offal, we didn't get forward and contribute from wide, we didn't compete adequately in the air, although much of the lumpage was pretty bloody aimless, Dunny and Sercs flattered a bit and deceived a lot and just when Shep was starting to exert some influence God yanked him off when Offal should have been top of the cull list.

Inept is the word for our defending at times, goals one and three were totally so, two was a strong finish but should have been snuffed out earlier and we still have no threat, no width, no pace, no power and little creativity.

Without Nards, Bowser, Nobby and Taylor in the starting line up we always looked on a hiding to nothing, but we weren't far short of a win, Walsall were that bad, we should be able to cope fairly comfortably with teams of their ilk, even without these four, tonight we didn't, we were lightweight in most areas especially up front, this led to us allowing the Poles far too much of the play which in turn built its own pressure.

The Siege went well for much of the game but then heads dropped off the pitch as well as on it, extra time saw a serious down turn in the level of support from the 311 brave souls who made the trip, the club house was closed to us, gawd knows why, but the King George served a decent, shame it was closed at 10-20 when we fancied a swifty before the trek home. The tw*ttery closed off M1 access so a detour added half an hour, I guess Mackster will just be getting in about now, not so much fun as a couple of weeks ago but we won then and lost tonight so what should one expect.

Following City can be a confusing and trying experience at times, tonight was one of the trying ones, roll on Orient.

Who is 'Offal'?