Chedsterfield

Anything yellow and blue
GodalmingYellow
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Chedsterfield

Post by GodalmingYellow »

Pretty good first half from us. Chesterfield weren't really in it.

That was until Dunkley overstretched and appeared to do something unspeakable to his hamstring. After that point, we were fairly understandably unbalanced and slightly disorganised at the back, allowing Chesterfield an equal share of the play in the second half.

MoM for me was Ryan Taylor and I'm not even sponsoring him this year, despite what the programme says, He won everything in the air, held the ball up very well, constant running chasing the ball down, nice lay offs to team mates, the only thing missing was a decent shot on target to properly test the Spirites keeper.

Wes Thomas did much more in this game than in any of the pre-season friendlies. Kind of the reverse of Taylor though. His game relied entirely on the knock downs of Taylor and through balls of others, and it was clear his big effort is in the finishing side, rather than the workhorse side of being a striker.

I felt Lunny wasn't quite in the game and Sercombe's box to box play was sometimes too one dimensional.

Surprising to me that we played with more width than I was expecting, with both Maguire and MacDonald playing much more of the winger type roles than inside forward roles that they played last season. Both played very well.

Sam Long was excellent at right back, Skarz equally so at left back. Following Dunkley's departure, Skarz moved inside and Ruffels came on to play left sided defence. This didn't really work, because Dunkley is a fabulous organiser of the back line and we lost his instruction. The result was that often Skarz dropped a yard or two too deep, allowing Chesterfield forwards to get further forward, whereas earlier they would have been offside. Ruffels is an OK left back replacement when in a tight spot, but we need better cover in that position, and it would appear we may be in need of a further centre back now too. Where is Jake Wright? Oh that's right, we released him. Not a good decision that.

Nelson partnered Dunkley very well and was strong in the air and on the ground, with good distribution.

Eastwood had an excellent game, save perhaps the lining up of the wall for Chesterfields free kick that became a goal.

For me, we introduced Hemmings and Roberts too late. Legs were already very noticeably tired and the replacements should have been on 10 minutes earlier. All did OK in their limited run outs.

I can't complete this without making mention of Ched Evans, who should not have been on the field of play. A man who has been convicted of rape, served 2.5 years of his sentence, and persuaded a judge to allow a retrial, putting the victim through the mill for a third time. He has not got off the charge as I overheard several people saying. Chesterfield should be criticised for signing Evans, especially given that he may well be back behind bars before October is finished.

Back to the game and I felt we deserved the win overall (just). We created a lot more chances than Chesterfield and Wes Thomas in particular should have had at least 1 more goal to his name.

The quality of football was a big step up from L2. I like the new rule preventing players from approaching match officials as it got rid of most of the very dull moaning by players. I also liked the change of rule to allow injured players to remain on the pitch where they had been awarded a free kick and requested the physio.

Concerned about our injury list already. Hopefully Dunkley's injury isn't as bad as it looked.
Jimski
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Jimski »

Good summary, GY.

My own feeling was it all went south after we took off Maguire, who imo had been MoM for us up to that point. He'd basically taken over completely as our playmaker, filling a void where our central midfield should have been, and creating chance after chance. I guess Appleton wanted to bring on Roberts, so he had to take off one of the wide midfielders - and MacDonald had also been playing well - but boy, in retrospect I hope he's regretting that substitution. Once Maguire was off, Chesterfield completely took over in midfield, and we struggled. I seriously hope Sercombe and Lundstram will start to play better than this - it was worrying how much they were dominated by their Chesterfield equivalents.

I wasn't that impressed by Thomas, despite the tap-in, but he was ok (and I remember being underwhelmed by Hylton in his first couple of matches). Taylor was great at everything but actually sticking the ball in the net.

The makeshift defence did well. Sam Long was great. Poor old Ruffels was given a torrid time by the very tricky Chesterfield right-winger, but kept at the task. Not sure exactly what happened for the free kick goal - it seemed soft, but I haven't seen a replay, so not sure exactly what went wrong.

And yeah, Evans. How did I miss the fact he'd signed for Chesterfield? I was pleased we booed him throughout, but a disgrace that Chesterfield signed him at all.
OUFC4eva
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by OUFC4eva »

Image

Gary Johnson, the Cheltenham Town boss has always
said that there are winning draws and losing draws.

However not sure how I would categorize yesterday's
parity! We were good first half and were worthy of our
lead. Dunks' injury disrupted us against fairly ordinary opponents
and we tended to play the second half on the back foot
although Thomas should have netted a second.

Could not see the Spireites hurting us although
Ariyibi caused a few concerns for Ruffels out wide.
I'm not going to type about their number nine.How
on earth did that free kick find the bottom corner?

Chris Maguire's subbing surprised me but I like the
look of T.Roberts. Agree with GY that Hemmings came
on too late in the day for Wesley Thomas.A draw was fair
but I was disappointed at our level during the second period.

Thought Sercombe looked a bit subdued at times and he
and Lunny were playing very deep on occasions.

Concerned though at the injuries we have.
Gutted that Ribeiro has a reported fracture
in his ankle. Could do with Martin being fit
although a blister should heal soon.

I would try at getting JJ Kenny back until
January. Notice he was not involved
yesterday in their friendly versus
Espanyol.
Last edited by OUFC4eva on Sun Aug 07, 2016 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
OUFC4eva
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by OUFC4eva »

Should add that I thought that was Taylor's best game for us
that I have seen. Looks fully fit now and can see him getting better
in the coming weeks.

GY should sponsor him!
slappy
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by slappy »

I liked Taylor's hold up play, and he was also fast at chasing things down.

For our first game back in L1, and although Chesterfield only finished lower-midtable last year, I think an opening point when we had several good chances to win was not too disappointing.

As for Ched Evans, wait for the retrial before passing judgement.
Kernow Yellow
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Kernow Yellow »

slappy wrote:As for Ched Evans, wait for the retrial before passing judgement.
Quite. As things stand he's been convicted of nothing. Some of the comments on this thread are perplexing to say the least. As soon as I heard the chorus of idiotic pantomime boos as he lined up the free-kick I knew it was going in - well, that and the fact that the wall was lined up appallingly. It was no Roberto Carlos strike, just a hard, straight drive into the bottom corner with nothing to get in the way at all.

I actually thought we were at our most dominant for the first 15 mins of the second half, though for some reason the crowd, which had been wonderfully noisy in the first half, didn't really respond to our great play after the break. But then Chesterfield came into it, and after the equaliser we offered nothing, and I would definitely have liked to see Hemmings sooner than we did.

I concur with most of the analysis of individual performances, but would also make the following observations:

Eastwood's kicking was well dodgy, though he did inspire more confidence than any of our recent keepers. A definite improvement in goal.
Taylor was immense, but what was that little flick with his left foot when he could have smashed the dropping ball past their keeper with his right? In fact the lack of composure in front of goal from all our forwards was the most disappointing aspect of the match. Taylor's great strength is winning balls in the air, but he needs more of a livewire to feed rather than the languid Thomas.
Thomas is the anti-Hylton, and on yesterday's showing not an improvement, but it's early days. It looked to me like a more eagle-eyed linesman might have flagged him offside more often too.
Macdonald was my MOTM - one of the best games I've seen from him. Real strength and pace, and more disciplined than usual!
Lundstram was the weak link yesterday - a few good cross-field passes shouldn't disguise the fact that plenty didn't find their intended recipient, and he doesn't bloody tackle! Our midfield went missing towards the end.
Is Welch-Hayes a left back? If so why was he on the bench if we intended to use Ruffels as a replacement in that position? Chesterfield quickly spotted his deficiencies and switched Ariyibi to the right after half-time to attack him. We were rumoured to be for the Spireites winger during the summer and I can see why.

In general I was impressed with our positivity, and the only disappointment was that we ran out of steam. But it was a hot day, and there's plenty to build on. God knows what we're going to do about the defensive injuries though...
Jimski
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Jimski »

The guy's on remand for a rape retrial. I think in most jobs - especially those with such a public face - you'd be at best suspended on full pay, and certainly not newly hired.

The whole case makes me feel sick to the stomach tbh. Evans' supporters have hounded the victim, denied her anonymity, forced her to move house multiple times. Sickening stuff.
Werthers Original
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Werthers Original »

He's not been convicted of anything and has a right to work but I agree it was a questionable decision to hire him for such a public job where he will be applauded and admired.

I think we'll miss Hylton and Wright more than the more eye catching attackers. We did OK yesterday but should have brought on fresh attackers sooner. Young Tyler may be a find but I suspect we're still one player short up front. Great to see motm Taylor being so immense though!
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Chesterfield

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

I didn't go on Saturday, Jerome, but a point on the board is welcome, especially with the injuries we had. I fear tomorrow night's game might see us get a tonking - I am going to that one, and will be interested to see how we look.

I was burrowing through the forum the other day, and came across this post which, after Saturday, struck me as very prescient:
Old Abingdonian wrote:Interesting, though, that the same youth players have actually developed a great deal under MApp (or Fazackerley or whoever), whereas Wilder's resistance to using them seemed to rub off on the players. I think the acid test here is not Roberts, who has always been a good prospect, but the likes of Long and Ruffels.
On the basis of Saturday, when Long apparently played exceptionally and Ruffels again showed that he is a versatile and capable (albeit not world-beating) backup, it's further proof that Appleton has developed and nurtured our young talent very well. Good job that Eales didn't listen to the advice on the same thread from me or GY to let Appleton go... :oops:
Shoobedoo
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Shoobedoo »

Not much to add to what's already been said above; I said to the missus before the game I'd be happy with a point - and bearing in mind what happened to our defence during the game, I am!

Lots of reasons to be optimistic based on what I saw on Saturday (especially Maguire, Taylor, Nelson and I enjoyed Tyler Roberts' little cameo towards the end); slight concern over the sudden rash of defensive injuries (Dunks will be a big loss and I was really looking forward to seeing what Ribiero was all about - I do like a good attacking full back me! :) (although props to Sam Long who came in and did a cracking job)).

If I was to gild the lily somewhat regarding the squad, I'd like to see one proper out-and-out winger come in with a bit of pace (bizarrely, I have a feeling we will miss O'Dowda more than Roofe). Like Ariyibi for instance. Other than that I'm hopeful that we're set for a decent season - assuming the injury situation doesn't worsen further.
Matt D
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Matt D »

OUFC4eva wrote:Gary Johnson, the Cheltenham Town boss has always
said that there are winning draws and losing draws.

However not sure how I would categorize yesterday's
parity!
a drawing draw?.. :wink:

thought the score reflected the play across the whole game. as others have said, dunkley's injury weakened us significantly defensively, so I thought we did well to keep our lead as long and as reasonably comfortably as we did do. disappointing to let it slip, but I saw enough today to reassure me that we're not heading straight into a relegation fight as I was worrying about on another thread recently...

surprised no one's mentioned thomas' miss in the second half. man alive. still, I guess if he makes a habit of being in place to score the tap-in he got earlier it's hard to complain too much. but I wonder why he got the nod over hemmings?

agree with all the good things that have been said about taylor and long, I was particularly impressed with the latter and glad he got his man of the match award on the day. macdonald is the other player who really impressed me - agree with all KY has to say about him, particularly first half.

good to be back.
GodalmingYellow
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Re: Chesterfield

Post by GodalmingYellow »

Kairdiff Exile wrote:I didn't go on Saturday, Jerome, but a point on the board is welcome, especially with the injuries we had. I fear tomorrow night's game might see us get a tonking - I am going to that one, and will be interested to see how we look.

I was burrowing through the forum the other day, and came across this post which, after Saturday, struck me as very prescient:
Old Abingdonian wrote:Interesting, though, that the same youth players have actually developed a great deal under MApp (or Fazackerley or whoever), whereas Wilder's resistance to using them seemed to rub off on the players. I think the acid test here is not Roberts, who has always been a good prospect, but the likes of Long and Ruffels.
On the basis of Saturday, when Long apparently played exceptionally and Ruffels again showed that he is a versatile and capable (albeit not world-beating) backup, it's further proof that Appleton has developed and nurtured our young talent very well. Good job that Eales didn't listen to the advice on the same thread from me or GY to let Appleton go... :oops:
And I'm sure you are, like me, happy to have been proven wrong! I wouldn't let Appleton go for all the tea in china now.
Prof7
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Prof7 »

Interesting as the tea in China is currently worth about 1.6 billion dollars.Hmmmm......
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Chesterfield

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

GodalmingYellow wrote:
Kairdiff Exile wrote:Good job that Eales didn't listen to the advice on the same thread from me or GY to let Appleton go... :oops:
And I'm sure you are, like me, happy to have been proven wrong! I wouldn't let Appleton go for all the tea in china now.
Quite so, old thing!
Radley Rambler
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Re: Chedsterfield

Post by Radley Rambler »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-37659009

Would those who took out their vitriol on Ched Evans now like to retract their comments? I'm not for one minute condoning his actions (but only because he already had a girlfriend and I'm a moral type of guy) but it took the jury only two hours to reach their verdict.

I'm not quite clear what the 'new evidence' was - it may have been the other witness who claimed that the lady in question had done the same to him within a matter of weeks of the Evans' incident - does anyone know?
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