Well every time i go to a home game i expect us to win no matter who we are playing, and today will be no exception. I can't see us winning 6-0 like we did last Saturday, but winning by a goal or two isn't beyond us.

losing 0-1 ... 52 minutes

lost 2-0 then, will be interesting to hear how we played and didn't bounce back from tuesday.

Terrible game today. Players like Clarke looked like they couldn't care less. Loick couldn't control the ball. The Havant players were acting like c**** throughout the game. The referee didn't have a clue.

He seemed to know all their players by their first names too.

Alan S wrote:

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He seemed to know all their players by their first names too.

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 As did the lino on the main stand side.

Jack has been superb for the most part this season. I am glad he got player of the month, thoroughly deserved and was my pick too.

Didnt personally feel he was his usual self today but by no means was one of the players who had a mare today to add to Tuesday.

We made it easy for them we seem to have abandoned tempo, passing, moving in favour of lumping it or passing to static players who get closed down or cant control it over the past two games.

I have a feeling we could see some radical changes for Saturday.

How about

Stewie

Faz/Coyle or Coyle/Acheampong Andrews Parky Stella

Cumbers Day Healy

Clarke Pugh

The 3 center halfs should allow faz and stella to get forward and link up to pass with the midfielders and overlap and keep hold of the ball, passing and moving, usaing our pace that we have in abundance going forward. If its not going well we can bring on Loick and shift Cumbers or Clarkey into midfield and go more conventional.

We need to get the triangles going and get people moving. Today was the chance to do it in our preferred system and it never happened.

Effort for 15 in first half and last 15 in second half was a big improvement on Tuesday but we were just too static and our control and passing were not good.

The last 15 was more like how we have been playing but too little too late, has to be from the off and keep it up.

-- Edited by JgFc on Saturday 13th of November 2010 06:43:03 PM

imo...
We should go back to playing Pugh & Cumbers up front, with Joe & Faz on the wings.
As with Loick up front it seem to invite the long ball, with as we all saw again today his not winning the knock down to play Pugh in ....

Oh i still think letting Charlie go will cost us...

Keepers been one of the players doing ok, Made 3 good saves on Tuesday and 2 good saves today.

Its the defenders job to mark and pick up players, giving them free headers 6 yards out and then expecting the keeper to save it is a bit unfair on him.

The first goal Faz gave a stupid free kick away by holding the guy out by the touchline.
The second one i can suffer as we were chasing the game. Had we taken our chances we would have been 2 or 3 up.

Agreed, Cumbers up front from the start. Loick has had his chances, and should be a sub for a few games, unless Cumbers playing in the starting line up doesn't work out for some reason.

Well as we can see from jgfc great video of Pugh goals, we seem to have been playing the ball on the ground with Cumber & Pugh up front ...

Also Pugh was on fire then .

To play the football we all know this team can we need the ball and we've not won nearly enough of it in the last two games.

It's been all about muscle and we've lacked it, just as we did at Braintree (and have, in general, for some years).

We may have some tall players in the team but stand them behind flagpoles, tell them to turn sideways and you wouldn't see them.

We've been bullied all over the pitch a few times this season and it won't be long before everyone works out how to play us.

We also have to start 'playing' the officials. Look how many yellow shirts rushed in to protest after Selley tried to sever Daysie's leg (deja vu...) and how few red shirts were there.

Havant had two subs 'warming up' throughout the first half, i.e. chirping in the linesman's ear. He gave us nothing, failing to see Selley's two-footer on Day, the handball on the line, the tubby sub's handball just outside the box and the double foul following the keeper's poor first touch from a back pass. I don't recall him using his flag once.

A minute into the second half there he was furiously waving his flag to give them a free kick. Coincidence?

Every time we put the ball forward their entire back four screamed "offside" at the linesman, regardless of whether it was or not; and more often than not they got the decision.

Late on the ball went out for a debateable throw-in. Six yellow-clad arms and one red raised appealling for it - which way do you think the decision went?

We need to start bullying others rather than being bullied.

Hopkinsons the one i dont like, snidey player, elbows, leaves his feet in and is a dirty player and gets away with it always barging people and going in treading. How after he had been booked 2 mins earlier, he elbows a player square in the face and stays on only his mate the referee will know. Selly, well you dont expect anything less than his tackle today, he seems to save them up for us and more often than not stays on the park.

Loick has a sublime brain and is a very skillfull player but this week hes looked out of sorts. It is winter so they may be carrying a bug and having to play or the 3 games may have caught up with them. Jamie probably got it wrong on Tuesday tactically but he doesnt get it wrong too often, Today we were better than Tuesday thats for sure.

We simply have to stop hooking it and putting our foot through it as our go to tactic , we all know when we have passed the ball we have looked irresistable at times and yes they maybe a bit tired so the laces go through the ball but resorting to that is just inviting teams to come at us.

Even today when we did pass it and move we looked a handful and teh effort the last 15 mins and movement shows that they do care.

Jamie is correct that they are a young team and will make mistakes and we shouldnt get carried away, that isnt to say we should say hard luck if we perform poorly consistantly, now is the time to bounce back and dismantle tonbridge and then kick on again or all the hard work and good play upto now will count for sweet FA.


-- Edited by JgFc on Sunday 14th of November 2010 12:01:10 AM

I wonder how many players are carrying knocks that would normally need resting.

Daysie must be due a suspension now so a change will have to be made.

For one reason or another (family dos, a few days' holiday), I haven't actually seen us lose so far this season. I can only imagine that we've carried over our style of play and effort from the second half against Saint Albans. I hope that the last two matches have been a wake-up call and that the team gets to learn that not every team is going to be as easy to beat. I'm also hoping that Sambrook will be back soon as he might give us a little bit of steel in the middle.

I'll be back watching us for the next match against Tonbridge and hope that we get back to winning ways in what should be a comfortable match for us; let's hope none of our old boys come back to haunt us.

What makes it all the more hard to take, is that the players have improved from Tuesday and had two spells where they werent far off top form in that game yesterday, yet we see multiple elbows, two footed challenges, penalties waved away and biased decisions throughout the match where they threw themselves on the deck after no contact, squealed and got a kick, if you read below you have to scratch your head at the refs motives.

A late tackle on Pires, One on Day by Selley that was nasty, An Elbow on Clarkey by a booked player right infront of the ref, One on Pughie where he was elbowed in the cheek, a two footer in the box on Joe all merited straight reds. One on Stella was borderline professional foul. I believe only the one on Day earned us even a free kick and a caution!!! The fact the ref has allowed all of the above makes me question his integrity. He gave plenty of decisions where they feigned injury, there was one with Daisy where their play hooked his foot around Daisy and flung himself theatrically in the air with a scream to get a free kick just outside the box. Pires was booked after another similar episode.

Russ is probably nearer the mark, we have to play the officials more. It can look a bit like sour grapes slagging the ref off , i can handle one or two decisions, i cant handle two footed tackles elbows and stonewall pens waved away and put it down to the Ref having an Arsene Wenger moment (Or 10 of them in this refs case).

Someone questioned Clarkey's effort in the thread, he was over trying and frustrated at some passes and punched the ground at one stage and also was losing it with the ref.

We can help them by being more vocal at games.

-- Edited by JgFc on Sunday 14th of November 2010 12:39:25 PM

Watch their keeper challenge Kealy at 3mins 10secs .... shocking two footer, but hey, he's a keeper, the rules are clearly different.

If you look at the first goal, i was closer to the ball than the defenders and Loick who is 6 foot 3 or 4 is standing infront of Stewie. Yep he did call for it and miss it but where were teh defenders, infront of the goal 6 yards out?

If Loick is there he has to win it.