Exeter City FC v Cheltenham Town FC Match Day Thread

[irishbrian]

We will need to take something from Stanley next week as they are still undefeated (won 1 drew 3) and hopefully some new blood brought in .

hopefully that other shower today stay in the relegation zone all year - go down another 5 divisions and get familiar with playing preliminary rounds of the FA cup

 

[Banksy]

Missed this game. Just got in.

What the duck happened ?

More like what didn’t by the sound of it.

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

On the plus side, WLWL is two points points better than DDDD.

Up the bleddy Cidee!

 

[Snoop Fog]

It was a horrible match, you get them from time to time.

Cheltenham quite literally didn't have 1 passage of play for the whole first half. We completely dominated the first half hour, but without scoring, and initially it looked like we would win at a canter.

They get their goal after we completely switched off at the back and then the Wycombe(esque) gamesmanship time-wasting, feigning injury, kicking ball away bullsh!t really took over. Horrible tactics but it was up to us to use a bit of skill to break them down which unfortunately today we didn't have. Nombe was feeding off scraps. MJ was trying hard but had no influence on the match whatsoever. We were crying out for a Jevani Brown type moment to change the game but obviously he was unavailable. Kegs came on and showed potential but he's not yet a game changer that you can rely on. Everyone else was very average. We didn't test their keeper so can't really complain but Cheltenham were an awful side, I don't think they'd last in L2 and will defo be relegated from L1, of that I'm sure. Hopeless team with little skill and unable to affect the game from a football perspective. I suppose you could argue their defence was well organised.

Adverse tactics won the game but we didn't show enough, certainly in the second half. Clearly we're lacking in numbers and hopefully that's close to being rectified.

 

[Red Devon]

Cheltenham’s game management was truly appalling and had to be seen to be believed.I can’t remember Wycombe ever being as bad as that back in their time wasting heyday….We struggled to get our attacking game going today far too much head tennis particularly in the first half when we needed the ball on the deck….we really missed Jevani and Sweenz as we didn’t create a clear cut chance all afternoon apart from maybe the effort Coley had near the end. All in all a bitterly frustrating and disappointing afternoon at the Park.

 

[C j phill]

As they say , another lesson learned.But I guess MT already knew the answer to the question , paper thin squad and no real plan B .Back to the drawing board let’s hope decent players are found soon.

It will be interesting to see if any decent players are signed before the end of the transfer window. From a distance, it looks as if the player recruitment strategy hasn't been managed well, at all. Trying to attract good players was a good plan, but if these weren't available, for whatever reason, aspirations should have been amended to fit our circumstances. This season's first objective is to stay up and unless we now get numbers in, of adequate, rather than good quality, that objective may be at risk.

The only plus from the current situation is that presumably it's been a learning process for the management team and we wont be in similar situations in future seasons.

 

[Rosencrantz]

Cheltenham came for 0-0 and anything more was a bonus and that is what they got. Apart from the first 10/15 minutes when we cut through them quite easily but didn't take our chances it became 10 men behind the ball and defend the box which they did well. We easily got balls into the box but without sufficient quality and were outnumbered. There were a couple of scrambles in the six yard area late on but it was one of those days.

We missed Sweeney as much as Jevani today. I think Jevani would have struggled with the lack of space around the penalty area but Sweenz would have had more space wide to deliver and pick a pass. It was tough on Cheick who is a straight forward centre back to thrive in those areas. He did the best he could.

There is a sliding scale for teams trying to protect what they have. Slowing the game down, game management, active time wasting and finally taking the ****. It is up to the referee that the game stays as low down that scale as possible. Especially given the refs had an actual directive before the season to speed the restarts up and have the ball in play for longer over the 90 minutes. This experienced referee failed miserably in doing that and allowed the **** to be taken out of him. Yes you can call Cheltenham all you want and particularly in Southwood's case, many did. The ultimate responsibility is the referee and his performance today was pisspoor in just about every department.

 

[Colesman Ballz]

I feared this would happen. Diabate is a a centre centre back and shouldn't be played anywhere else until he's developed his game further

Sweeney has an excellent relationship with Key, It is asking a bit much of Diabate to strike up an instant understanding with Caprice in the same position.

 

[Banksy]

It will be interesting to see if any decent players are signed before the end of the transfer window. From a distance, it looks as if the player recruitment strategy hasn't been managed well, at all. Trying to attract good players was a good plan, but if these weren't available, for whatever reason, aspirations should have been amended to fit our circumstances. This season's first objective is to stay up and unless we now get numbers in, of adequate, rather than good quality, that objective may be at risk.

The only plus from the current situation is that presumably it's been a learning process for the management team and we wont be in similar situations in future seasons.

Agreed. I can see Matt’s original reason for wanting the best to supplement an already decent squad. But as you say he should have perhaps adjusted his plans to fit events when the circumstances changed. Hope he has decent irons in the fire and those rumoured loans are fairly decent.We sure do need them.

 

[jrg333]

Two very poor sides competing today. Looked like a very bad, disjointed League Two game. I thought Archie Collins had some classy moments but everyone else looked poor. Diabate in the second half especially just kept putting the ball out of play trying to recreate his through ball to Matt Jay from the Wycombe game.

On top of that, I had the misfortune of sitting in front of 4 ECFC Women's players who were criticising and swearing at the players throughout. I would have thought they'd be a bit more appreciative of the team which literally subsidises their entire existence but, much like the England Women's team who also depend entirely on subsidies from the men's game, all they could offer was criticism and negativity. Very frustrating to have to listen to; particularly when I know exactly how low the standard of their matches is.