Another disappointing afternoon. To be fair it would have been a robbery had we got a point but the manner of the goals conceded was so poor. The first one was poor defending before conceding the free kick, the second was a Danson Park effort, the third a free header and you could have driven a bus through the team for the fourth...

In the first minute we played a ball down the channel and the young loanee easily outpaced the centre back and we got a corner. For the remaining 90+ minutes I don't recall us playing a similar ball...?! Last week we had the Worthing number 4 sitting in front of his back four and dictating the game and this week it was the Dulwich number 8. Granted he's a very good player (and referee...) but he had so much time and space throughout the whole game it was embarrassing - we have nobody who does that job for us...

And then I'm in the bar after the game and it's smiley faces all round - you would have thought we had won 4-2 with two late goals rather than the other way round...?! It all feels a little too comfortable for my liking...

The result of the football match on a Saturday afternoon has to be the single, most important factor but, sadly, it just doesn't feel like that at this moment in time...

I was surprised to see us kick off but I remember the rule where it says all players (except the one taking the kick off) has to be in their own half, but this has been misinterpreted to think if all the other players are off the pitch then they are not in their own half but a ref apparently would not allow the goal. Trippier stayed on the pitch in the world cup 2018 just in case the same thing happened. It was a bit of a half hearted attempt anyway last week.

The game last Saturday was like a lot of games - we are too easy to play against, too easy to beat. I also think our style (if we have one) doesn't suit some of the players and might not suit many players who are coached quite differently i.e.  no one in the middle to take the heat off the defenders, suss out the game, view the weaknesses/strenghts or allow the team to re-shape after an opposition attack. I quite liked Chi pushed further up the pitch as has the pace and strength - this is where a midfielder could pick him out a bit more. Dylan Gavin looked ok but like Nkrumah will need a few games.

Again the ref was poor - simple things like counting out 10 yards for a free kick and then actually watching as they move forwards another two yards, then he talked to the lino and thought the nice little footballers would stay where they were. No - instead they move forwards another couple so the wall was only 6 yards! He pulled us up for taking throw ins from the wrong place then watched another 20 all taken from wrong place with no intervention. I can understand some bad/close decisions but easy, non-controversial decisions like this should be standard for the refs to give and show they are in charge.

GaryH wrote:

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I was surprised to see us kick off but I remember the rule where it says all players (except the one taking the kick off) has to be in their own half, but this has been misinterpreted to think if all the other players are off the pitch then they are not in their own half but a ref apparently would not allow the goal. Trippier stayed on the pitch in the world cup 2018 just in case the same thing happened. It was a bit of a half hearted attempt anyway last week.

The game last Saturday was like a lot of games - we are too easy to play against, too easy to beat. I also think our style (if we have one) doesn't suit some of the players and might not suit many players who are coached quite differently i.e.  no one in the middle to take the heat off the defenders, suss out the game, view the weaknesses/strenghts or allow the team to re-shape after an opposition attack. I quite liked Chi pushed further up the pitch as has the pace and strength - this is where a midfielder could pick him out a bit more. Dylan Gavin looked ok but like Nkrumah will need a few games.

Again the ref was poor - simple things like counting out 10 yards for a free kick and then actually watching as they move forwards another two yards, then he talked to the lino and thought the nice little footballers would stay where they were. No - instead they move forwards another couple so the wall was only 6 yards! He pulled us up for taking throw ins from the wrong place then watched another 20 all taken from wrong place with no intervention. I can understand some bad/close decisions but easy, non-controversial decisions like this should be standard for the refs to give and show they are in charge.

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 No team can kick off until the referee blows his whistle to re-start. He was never going to do that while he was awaiting the end of the goal celebration so that he could brandish his yellow card.

My personal view on the Chi situation is that when he comes forward from deep, he has more room to surge forward. I didn't think that he looked as effective from a standing start but that might improve if he becomes more used to that position.

That business with giving a foul throw against Aaron Powell when he had not been warned was ridiculous. Every full back in the country nicks yards when taking a throw in (ours included) and is rarely pulled up for it, and when they are they are just told where they should be. That free kick situation was ludicrous and the caution for Dunne for an early innocuous foul and then not carding Aaron Barnes for a shocker showed that he was out of his depth, but he was probably only doing what Frankie Raymond told him to do.