2-0

Thank God we have Rhys. Without him, and without any exaggeration, he has stopped this from being 7 or 8 by half time!

4-0

6-0

FT

The honeymoon is over! I am sure somebody will tell me but when was the last time we let in 6. I m struggling to think of such an occasion. 

-- Edited by RonF on Saturday 21st of September 2024 05:12:00 PM

Outplayed and outclassed.
They had players who all knew where the goal was.
Unfortunately we dont.
Fair summary from Rod in post match interview.
Starting to dislike some of the negativity from the crowd.
Calling players out doesnt help.
Sometimes you just have to take it on the chin and accept we just werent good enough.
Boreham getting a new (ex) manager back was always going to give them a bounce.
Cannot see past them being promoted this season.
Can see a few personnel changes coming in the next two weeks.
Onwards and upwards.

For those that missed the game, it was Chesham bad, it was Chatham bad. But it isn't a typical NLS match, Boreham showed why they are favourites for the league and we won't be playing teams of this quality every week. They are a settled side with the experience of last season's National League campaign behind them, where they only just got relegated, whereas we are a new team and with so many injuries for us it was probably a case of "are you match fit?" "yes" "right, you're in today's squad" so today's thrown together team hadnt the experience of playing together that the opposition had. I asked a Boreham Wood guy what went wrong for them last season and he said they argued a lot on the pitch. Today they looked a really calm, organised team, with loads of time on the ball, loads of options to pass to.

Our problems? Same old same old. We are not cutting out crosses as well as we did last season, our players arent doing the hard work of closing down so we are not tracking their players, so the opposition always have unmarked players to pass to who have a free shot on goal. That is chiefly our midfield at fault as our midfielders are not dropping back to defend enough, so invariably there are more guys attacking us than are defending for us. And we keep conceding because of it. These are basics, and I've heard Rod telling these to the players, so if they are not doing them, then it's a results game, so sad some will go, but they have had their chance. Some players are just too casual, coasting through games without any real urgency or sense of pride to maintain, and making the same mistakes game after game. Fair play to the fans giving stick to the players.

From my viewing angle the penalty incident was outside the box, and the third goal had their player offside in the build up. As Rod said, we matched them at the start of the second half, attack is the best form of defence, Reece did a little jogging here and there, so did Martell, we benefitted from the mobility and effort of Elliot and Anointed in the second half. The sending off was stupid and damaging. Great to see Max Statham back, I loved his pinpoint crosses first time round with us, he's one of my favourite ex Welling players, we are so short of players with the aim of passing the ball to our strikers , so hopefully he will add some assists, as that is another drawback of our midfield, they dont look for passes for the strikers, Taylor Maloney, Jason Adigun, these are the sorts of players who find out what sort of passes strikers want, and then given that to them, we don't have that in this team. Maybe we have been unlucky with some tough recent games, Hemel and Boreham Wood will be easily playoff teams. Let's just hope this is a one off bad month, I'll be glad to see the back of September. Cheers to Johnny Hartley for editing this so tightly for me, but bloody hell, what a game!

I believe the last time we let 6 goals in was when we played Dirtford and lost by the same score as yesterday . I may be wrong but I'm normally !

Wallop wrote:

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Danson Mark wrote:

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Wallop wrote:

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Calling players out doesnt help.

It has happened at all clubs that I have seen since I started watching football in 1968. I don't agree with it but footballers are playing in front of people who have paid a lot of money to watch them so, unless it is personal, they should learn to turn the other cheek. My own view is that criticising players, either from the terraces or online, is counter-productive and does not help their confidence.

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 That was kind of what I was trying to imply.

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 And I was agreeing, but it has always, and will always, happen. Players are human beings and have feelings like everyone else but they are in a fortunate position of being good enough footballers to be paid to play the game that we all love so they are happy to take the adoration and, unfortunately, when it is not going their way, they have to take it one the chin.

I, like you, don't agree with it and I don't like it, but as long as it's not personal, I do understand why it happens.

 

First of all credit where credit is due. Boreham Wood were very very good yesterday and, on that evidence, it will take a good side to finish ahead of them after 46 games. If it hadn't been for a few last ditch blocks and some excellent saves (again) from our keeper they could have had half a dozen by half time!

I have been supporting Welling United for many years now and I understand that if our players were outstanding every week then they wouldn't be playing for Welling United! I also accept that on certain days you're going to get beaten by a better side. However I, and many Welling fans I know, do expect a good level of effort and commitment from players when they pull on a red/blue shirt and yesterday too many of them failed to produce that. In the first half the Boreham Wood centre backs looked like they were playing in a testimonial and nobody got anywhere near their number seven in midfield the whole time he was on the field.

Things did improve with the substitutes adding a degree of energy but the game was done by then and the home team had taken their foot of the pedal as well. Our cause was not helped by another red card - the second time one of our players received a second yellow card for diving already this season. At best it's plain daft, at worst it's bloody stupid. We're missing enough players with injuries and can ill afford suspensions on top of that!

We have a very experienced manager and very good coach for this level and they will sort it out. They are hamstrung at the moment by all these injuries and we will need to be patient. Already this season we've had some very good days and some very bad ones and that may continue for a while yet. But whoever puts on a Welling shirt we expect to put in a shift and a few of them didn't provide that basic requirement yesterday afternoon

Up the Wings!

-- Edited by Wingnut 2 on Sunday 22nd of September 2024 10:11:47 AM

A couple of our players not in the match squad sat near me, so I chatted with them briefly to find how they saw what was going on out there, as Ive never played for a team, so know fk all from the players perspective, so it's enlightening to chat with players who actually have experience to back their views up and recognise what's happening. A point was made Boreham put out a much more settled team used to playing together than us. That's true, once the dust settles down on the match and one processes the shock of losing each half 0 - 3 context becomes clearer and what happened becomes a bit more understandable - they're basically a National League side used to making runs for each other, playing an injury hit team that's not yet developed the same passing understandings from lots of play together.

Their highlights on their channel, show their 68% possession percentage, their penalty was well inside the box. Boreham Wood were really good, exploiting our weaknesses. Once the shock of being hammered like that settles down, it's actually handy for players to have lessons about commitment and team play shown so starkly. I've recently realised about Rod, yes, of course he is the manager, but Ive realised he is a fan of the club too, like us fans he wants to see us play well and like us is happy when we do, gets pissed off if we dont, and in his post match interviews after bad games doesnt give the self protective spin and crap many managers do to cover up poor performances, full of excuses and lies that fans can see through, ("we played well, we were unlucky, we deserved something") but I enjoy his post match interviews so much, as he sees exactly the same match us other fans also saw, and fairly hammers the players if they don't meet the demands.

I remember when I talked with our team a few seasons ago and was struck by the captain not remembering our recent heavy losses, it opened my eyes and made me think maybe the team meant more to the fans than some of the players, as well still be here for Welling when lots of them wont be. But something I've noticed this season, there are just a couple of players who stand out as not really pulling their weight, as their team mates are much more hard working and committed to stopping opponents, winning the ball and making things happen with it. So it's promising, after moving the few underperformers out we'll then have a team of 100% hardworking players and be back to our standards under Rod last season.

As I said earlier I didnt go on Saturday. TBH I was performing my own boycot at BWs prices. I popped down to the Efes stadium to watch Kent United. Last Tuesday I was at Larkfield and New Hythe and on Wednesday at Cray Valleys ground to see Stansfeld. One thing about all three of these games in leagues much lower than our step 2 was the passion and desire to win. I am confident once Rod gets key players back from injury and has a clear out of those he feels have not done the job he will install that desire in our team. Despite posts I see on Facebook sites of how good x y and z are its only September, the league isnt lost or won yet. Lets keep the faith and stand united behind the team.

Wallop wrote:

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Well thats one gone - Reece Grant

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 A shame for him. He was fantastic for us last year in the great escape and we thank him for his part in that. This season he has been wearing strapping round his leg and has looked like he has been a yard off the pace.

 

Will be a few more is my guess

Welling channel highlights of the Boreham Wood game are 2 minutes, and only show their goals and edited out our two shots from Elliot and Anointed, but show the sending off alleged dive, whereas Boreham Woods' 12 minute highlights show our 2 shots but edit out the red card incident. I watched the match with my Welling fan perspective, but others here paid more attention on Boreham Wood than I did at the time, and now looking more at how they played one can appreciate them, as under their previous manager their results had been mixed, but the impact of the new manager was massive.

In the first half we had 22% possession, but had 40% in the much better half, and would have had higher than that in the second half if we hadnt been a player short for the last 10 minutes. There was a moment leading up to a goal that summed up our problems on the day about lack of commitment and playing on the back foot, when Jack Munns was facing an opponent but instead of going forward to close him down and put him under pressure, backtracked and gave the opponent all the time and space in the world to run with the ball and cross. He's usually better than that, but it did sum up some of our recent self created problems.

But as we are now a fifth of the way into the season we can start to see a bigger picture if we dont just look at 3 recent poor performances/ results. We've beaten in form Farnborough and Torquay, and although we have let in 15 goals in 8 league games, 6 were against Boreham and 4 against Hemel, so we have only let in 5 goals in the other 6 games, so actually usually have a very sound defence. Injuries have disrupted our side recently, with 1 win in our last 5 league games, but this is such a close league we are still only 6 points off a play off spot and with October games against lower placed opposition should climb higher. For whatever reason Reece didnt really cut it in attack for us this season, so his freed up space in attack is handy and I stick to my view that the hard work of Anointed and Elliot and the understanding they have of each others play will pay off for us in attack, though our midfield need to create more forward passes for our strikers. Reece and Mardell don't strike me as players that link up with others, whereas Anointed and Elliot are real team players.