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Mansfield Town v Exeter City match day thread.

STURTZ

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Je suis Larry
Nigel Clough fair play to him saying we are best side
they’ve played this season.
Think so too, shared the points and the goals this season.
 

fred binneys head

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Loving the boy Stanno
Nigel Clough fair play to him saying we are best side
they’ve played this season.
 

Grecian in Guzz

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Obviously, like their team, Mansfield have a bigger IT budget than us Grecians so can broadcast interviews quicker then us (or is Putin feeling guilty and supporting a team who play in blue & yellow)
 

craigbratt

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Here you go guys, better late than never.
 

Grecian in Guzz

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Here you go guys, better late than never.
Safe trip home Craig & Co - win the next 3 and we're still in it !
Thanks again for all your hard work
UTC
 
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Am I right in thinking they had 3 players who were recently playing in the PL?
Quinn, Bowery and Longstaff

the first two havent played at that level for quite some time (Un***d and Hull for Quinn, Villa for Bowery). Have to say I was surprised to see Longstaff in their line up given that it doesn’t seem that long ago that he was being touted with a move from Newcastle to Man United. He’s on loan from the former and his contract at Newcastle is up this summer so will be interesting to see where he ends up
 

Matt Phillips

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Just back. Strange game. Two good sides, Mansfield a much better passing team than I'd expected, and I think they probably out-thought us on the day.

Our CB, Stubbs, best player on the park by an absolute mile. Seems to be finding his range of passing, and completely dominated an experienced striker.
Their CB, Rawson, voted MotM, but helped by coming up against a lightweight forward in Phillips, and a winger played out of position, for most of the game.

Unfortunately, I think Taylor's main weakness cost us. I don't want to knock him, as I think for us he's an excellent manager, especially for us, and if a manager was perfect in all areas, they wouldn't be at a L2 club. He can clearly bring youth through, develop players, and his recruitment this year has been excellent. But he really struggles to read the game from the sideline, and potentially plan in advance for teams with different strategies. 5 at the back simply didn't work. Caprice was up against a pacy RB for them, and didn't win any 1 v 1 contests. Both goals came from the wings where they had overloads, and it was only when we went to a 4-4-2 that we showed any sign of breaking them down. I had hoped that Harrogate, and his early change of system, was showing he'd improved at this, but maybe that game simply so obvious no one could miss it.

I'm still reasonably confident about the next few games, but Port Vale is the one that worries me, for the reason above. Last time I watched us there, Taylor went 5-3-2, and on their massive pitch, we got completely exposed down the wings for (I think) 3 second half goals, including a penalty conceded by an out of position Parkes. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see Taylor setting us up any differently than tonight, which I think will cause us all sorts of trouble.
 
Joined
Aug 21, 2021
Messages
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Just back. Strange game. Two good sides, Mansfield a much better passing team than I'd expected, and I think they probably out-thought us on the day.

Our CB, Stubbs, best player on the park by an absolute mile. Seems to be finding his range of passing, and completely dominated an experienced striker.
Their CB, Rawson, voted MotM, but helped by coming up against a lightweight forward in Phillips, and a winger played out of position, for most of the game.

Unfortunately, I think Taylor's main weakness cost us. I don't want to knock him, as I think for us he's an excellent manager, especially for us, and if a manager was perfect in all areas, they wouldn't be at a L2 club. He can clearly bring youth through, develop players, and his recruitment this year has been excellent. But he really struggles to read the game from the sideline, and potentially plan in advance for teams with different strategies. 5 at the back simply didn't work. Caprice was up against a pacy RB for them, and didn't win any 1 v 1 contests. Both goals came from the wings where they had overloads, and it was only when we went to a 4-4-2 that we showed any sign of breaking them down. I had hoped that Harrogate, and his early change of system, was showing he'd improved at this, but maybe that game simply so obvious no one could miss it.

I'm still reasonably confident about the next few games, but Port Vale is the one that worries me, for the reason above. Last time I watched us there, Taylor went 5-3-2, and on their massive pitch, we got completely exposed down the wings for (I think) 3 second half goals, including a penalty conceded by an out of position Parkes. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see Taylor setting us up any differently than tonight, which I think will cause us all sorts of trouble.
Overloads we’re happening all night down your right hand flank. Not sure it was the reason for the first goal (unless you call no one marking a player an overload) but you have a point about them happening

i thought Caprice won plenty of battle, especially going forward and it was only the fact that he was on the wrong wing that stopped him creating more
 

Matt Phillips

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Overloads we’re happening all night down your right hand flank. Not sure it was the reason for the first goal (unless you call no one marking a player an overload) but you have a point about them happening

i thought Caprice won plenty of battle, especially going forward and it was only the fact that he was on the wrong wing that stopped him creating more
The first goal came from Sweeney trying to sort the defense out after a corner was cleared and completely losing track of where he was, when he needed to cover the space at RB. This left their LB in acres of space to receive a pass, and put the cross in.

Agree to disagree on the right v left. My view was that Mansfield wanted to play more down the left, as that's where their more creative full back was, but Key (mainly) defended this well, but was let down at times by Sweeney who had his first bad game in ages. Mansfield got forward less on their right, but their RB completely nullified Caprice from an attacking perspective, and when they did go forward on that side, Grounds did a much better job covering Caprice, then Sweeney did for Key.
 

crocks

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On his last showing, Atangana is better than no one in this squad.

Surely it is time for Taylor to be given a chance?
Nige ran the show in the U23 game against Wolves
 
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