Liverpool v Exeter City - Official Matchday Thread

[londonboy80]

What disappoints me most credy is that we have some decent young players who can move the ball around quickly and run into spaces but we left them out. We could have created a very positive impression and lost playing good football . Instead we lost creating no impression at all apart from a team totally out of its depth.

We must have looked like San Marino do in any of their international games and that is such a shame because we have players who can play and after showing ourselves in a great light in the first game anyone watching that last night must have been thinking men v schoolchildren, despite our OAP line-up. There was no way those players were going to contain liverpool, he should have either gone for it from the off or stuck to his containment tactic but with players that don't need a zimmerframe to get around!

 

[Stelios]

The game went exactly as expected given the line up - old, slow, predictable. I was furious before kick off as were most of the away end from what I could hear. But then tis never had any belief that we could win this game, nor did the players. I know someone who knows one of our players and he said the other day that they had no chance of winning.

That was the impression he gave in the post-match interview. To paraphrase: "My team selection didn't work at first. But we never really had a chance anyway to it didn't matter team I picked". Shocking stuff.

 

[IndoMike]

Very, very disappointed. I could have cried when I heard who was playing in midfield before the game. I could understand, whilst not agree, with the logic of staying in the game and having something to fight for by half time but when you're playing against a team who are quicker than you are mentally and faster than you physically then you have to try and fight fire fire as best you can. If I was to pick a midfield using Tisdales logic I would have gone for the two wide as he did but played Tillson (who should have been playing regardless of who was or wasn't available) and Davies who would have given us legs aswell as a little bit of nous on the ball. Morrison was a sitting duck without any kind of support from the middle of the park. By the time Oakley caught up with him, the ball had been lost and was back somewhere around our 18 yard box again. People used to think Marcus Stewart was slow at the end of his time but Oakley makes him look like Usain Bolt by comparison. It's bad enough when one or other of him and Buttercup play in midfield but together signed our death warrant before the game ever started.

As I said before, it's the kiss of death when you hear that Oakley, Butterfield AND Morrison are all in the team. It smells like Tisdale just wanted to give his buddies,and clearly they are his buddies, another chance in the limelight. What will the younger players who were left out at the start think? Have we ever won a game with any two of those three starting? We could never beat Liverpool playing slow, possession football. It had to be park the bus with fast counter-attacks or nothing. Did Tisdale not take this game seriously ? Money already in the bank?
But you have to say that Ribs, Brown, JMT, and the keeper, except one error, played really well. And the team did try. But the midfield? What midfield?

 

[Stelios]

Post match, it felt he went into the match thinking the replay was just a game to get out of the way. There doesn't appear to have been any planning or thought into how to compete. Just "damage limitation" (which actually ended up being more damaging because the players were so old and slow).

We were so good in the first game (yes Liverpool were poor) but our attitude and tactics were spot on. Last night was the complete opposite.

 

[londonboy80]

All this talk of 'plastics' - get over yourselves for Christ's sake.

Were fans really singing 10 German Bombers!? I didn't hear that thankfully. Very embarrassing if true.

Yes loud and clear at the end, utterly cringeworthy along with the Man Utd are better than you songs. Sorry but I don't go to Exeter games to sing Man Utd's praise. I think boredome had kicked in by this point hence these woeful songs

 

[MagzECFC]

Yes loud and clear at the end, utterly cringeworthy along with the Man Utd are better than you songs. Sorry but I don't go to Exeter games to sing Man Utd's praise. I think boredome had kicked in by this point hence these woeful songs

Boredom and the Stanno song being repeatedly slaughtered by Clapping at 300bpm.

 

[chunkymorrinmunter]

LIVERPOOL
Mignolet, Randall, Ilori, Enrique, Smith, Brannagan, Allen, Stewart, Ibe, Teixeira, Benteke
Subs: Bogdan, Flanagan, Kent, Sinclair, Ojo, Maguire, Chirivella

CITY!!!!!
Olejnik, Butterfield, Woodman, Ribeiro, Oakley, Holmes, Davies, Morrison, Nicholls, Moore-Taylor (capt), Brown.
Subs: McAllister, Hoskins, Hamon, Tillson, Nichols, Grant, Wheeler.


We can take that down.


Come on boys. Let's give it a right go.

soon as I saw that city lineup my heart sunk, could not believe it,giving his mates a final hurrah,what must tom and few of the younger players think,i would imagine they are totally brassed off

 

[rp42]

soon as I saw that city lineup my heart sunk, could not believe it,giving his mates a final hurrah,what must tom and few of the younger players think,i would imagine they are totally brassed off

Day went well yesterday until finding out the fecking starting line up,you just knew what was coming,Morrison you are a JOKE,gave nothing lastnight and should never wear the shirt again(swear)

 

[rp42]

Well , those tactics from Tisdale was baffling - played totally into Liverpools hands

Morrison , Oakley and Butterfield starting ? Bizarre decision just bizarre

Spot on there Credy,don't know what the hell he was thinking(facepalm)

 

[Red Bill]

I just can't understand the mind-set of a man who would put out a team like the one that started last night. The atmosphere amongst the fans died as soon as it was announced and I think the players felt it too. All the younger, hungry energetic players who did so well in earning us the trip to Anfield, must have felt it as an absolute kick in the teeth and those who are thinking about leaving will no doubt have been nudged further in that direction. Ou seats were down near the corner flag where the players were warming up, the chap in front of us shouted to Tom Nichols that he should be on the pitch and the look and the roll of the eyes that Tom gave back really said it all.

I don't mind us losing, i don't mind us being outclassed, we are after all a bottom tier side playing 18 times english champions and 5 times european champions away from home, but at least let them know they'd been in a game. The way we set up it was like we'd lost before we'd started. We had absolutely nothing to lose, we should have put as near a dammit the same side out that played in the first game and told them to go for it and enjoy themselves. If we'd lost 6-0, so what! but let them hold their heads high and say they gave it the best shot. Watching those slow old men lumbering around chasing shadows in the first half, knocked the stuffing out of fans and players alike. We seriously missed a Noble or a Harley to control things for us in the middle, but if they'd had Butterfield, Oakley and Morrison plodding around them I doubt it would have made that much difference.

It was instantly better in the second half with Nichols and Hoskins on, but I think the damage to morale had been done by then. I was watching Wheelers face before he came on and I could be wrong but I didn't see any sign of him chomping at the bit with excitement, even though it was still only 1-0 at the time, it looked to me like he knew it was a lost cause. Felt so sorry for Tilson as well, this may be the only chance he ever gets to play in front of a full Anfield, and he has to watch a fat Oakley running around doing nothing!

I was really looking forward to the match and nothing would have stopped me going there. Walking around on the way in, seeing all the crowds, the sign for the Kop and all the other things I've only seen on TV before, I was like the 7 year old boy I once was going to my first match all those years ago. I'm glad I went, I'm glad I experienced being in that famous old stadium packed to the rafters along side 6000+ fellow Grecians, but the side Tisdale put out and the resulting play left me feeling thoroughly cheated at half time. Although I felt a little better at the final whistle, the shine had been taken off what I was hoping would be a truly memorable night.

As fans of a lower league team we don't get many opportunities for a bit of glory, so you have to grab them with both hands when they come along. Tisdale's usual over thinking and lets get to half time 0-0 and see what happens in the last 15 minutes approach, stole that chance of a bit of glory from us and the players last night. I'm just so sick of it, I really don't think Tisdale recognises what exciting is! It is just one match, a match that we were always likely to lose and a match that made us an awful lot of much needed cash, but this tedious approach to football really is symptomatic of everything that's disappointing around our club. Entertainment is in very short supply at our favourite entertainment organisation!!!