14 in 4

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recordmeister
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14 in 4

Post by recordmeister »

That’s a lot of goals to score (and I bet KR still wants to strengthen going forward...!) and what a good team performance against, again, a very poor side in Burton; JFH has one hell of a job on his hands.

All in tho, you can only beat the team in front of you and boy did we beat them. I also thought the subs were excellent (both in their use- well done KR - and their performance when on; Winall simply needed the gametime if nothing else).

A special note for CamBran. Lovely to see him back.

Now for our winter break and an EFL Trophy ‘friendly’ to ease us back in to league football.

Three questions:

1. 4 points off the dotted line of the play-offs and top of form table. Dare we dream of another play-off finish?

2. Transfers: who, what and where? (I kinda expect to see Eastwood head north)

3. This mini-break. A positive for a rest or a negative for a team on a roll? Esp given any potential ‘disruption’ from transfers
Dr Bob
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Re: 14 in 4

Post by Dr Bob »

Good job for Burton we did not have our shooting boots on. Had the header back across goal from Taylor, the Henry open goal and the Shodipo miss from two yards out gone in (frankly, at least two of them should have), then we would have been looking at a rugby score, if not a cricket score. None of these goals was shabby.

Goal 1 - Taylor's movement before receiving the ball and the precision under pressure from the keeper.
Goal 2 - Shodipo's ability to create space and shoot without backlift.
Goal 3 - Long's cross and Shodipo's movement to find space.
Goal 4 - Brazil 1970 all over again, but in mirror image moving the ball from right to left.
Goal 5 - Long-Ruffs combine again.

Whatever was said to Longy earlier in 2020, how he has improved the attacking part of his game. It shows how important it is to have attacking, overlapping full-backs in the modern game. It also shows what can happen as the season progresses and players build relationships with each other. Some of the interpassing for Long down our right has been, for a little while now, somewhere between excellent and OMG (see Long's driving run and interplay with Clare for his goal at Plymouth).

KR commented that in defence, Long was the best one on one defender at the club. But it is also interesting to see how hard it can be for defenders to get the ball off him when he goes forward.

Not to put a downer on the match, but it was telling that in the brief period when our standards dropped, Burton scored. It was just a relief to see in the second half that that had been just a temporary aberration. But so long as we can maintain those standards, then the answer to Recordmeister's first question has to be yes.

On question 2, right from when KR said he wanted to bring in four players, one thing I found curious, was that he named three positions he wanted players for, but not all four. Was that position goalkeeper? Had he have said so, then I think inevitably (and probably rightly) we would all have assumed that Easty was heading back up north. The question is, what sort of keeper to sign. An older or young keeper as back-up to Stevens? Someone to BE the Number 1? Or someone seen as equal to Stevens to fight for the position?

Gotta get centre-back cover in (mind you, I have been saying that on here for months).

The question then - who goes out? Mousinho, presumably, will depart the playing squad. Cooper has left for the rest of the season. If it is Easty out and a new keeper in, that still leaves at least one person to depart, depending on whether we bring in four or more new names in total. I do wonder if the decision will be determined at least in part by personality as much as playing ability (obviously thinking about Sykes here and his current relationship with KR). Not sure how long we can stick with Hall, as much as I like him. Can we really justify holding onto all of Gorrin, Brannagan, Forde, Hanson, Kelly and McGuane? Might one of Forde, Kelly or Hanson depart, one way or another? Or might Cooper's departure, plus the possible exit of Sykes, mean the rest remain - especially with Forde and Hanson able to provide cover in defence?

Question 3 - no idea! If new players come in soon, then this will give time for them to be introduced into the squad and our way of playing. But since we otherwise have more or less a full squad to select from again, then there is no rush in getting them into the matchday squad, let alone the starting 11. In the meantime, I feel KR and his team, especially the two Shorts, will do everything right to ensure what we now have is maintained.
Kernow Yellow
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Re: 14 in 4

Post by Kernow Yellow »

A great performance in tricky conditions. The quality of our goals was really impressive given the pitch and weather. Nice to see Henry start to influence games again too. Having said that, from 2 minutes in it looked like a cup tie against non-league opposition - the gulf in class between the teams was immediately obvious. We must get credit for that, but don't underestimate how bad Burton were.

The goal conceded was very disappointing - their player was in 15 yards of space 30 yards from goal! Poor, poor defensive effort from our midfield there. And their right back had a completely free header from a corner at one point having done nothing more than run in at the back post. So we've still got things to work on. But we're finishing our chances and not making too many mistakes at the back, which is a vast improvement on the start of the season.

Surprised the subs are being praised though. Winnall had given away three free-kicks before he even touched the ball and looked a complete mess thereafter. Hall was little better. Odd to see Hall included like that I thought - if he's in the plans going forward, why not give him more than 5 minutes when we're 4 goals up? And if he's not, why risk him at all?

As to Robinson's plans for the transfer window, I wouldn't listen to anything he says until players are through the door. It's always hard to recruit in January, and there can't be much money sloshing about any club at the moment. Some defensive cover and a fast wide player would be nice though. No problem keeping Eastwood if he doesn't mind sitting on the bench.

So things are looking up for the rest of the season, but I don't really care what happens as long as we don't get relegated or go bust. It's been a strange enough season already, and things aren't looking any better in the wider world at the moment. At least we've still got football to distract us. COYY.
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