Pass the Mind Bleach

[A-Ro]

I really don't want to have to sit here and suffer the awful memory of last night. Stevenage are not a football club and that was not football I watched last night.

If that drinks shenanigans is completely legal and within the rules why does it wind me and everybody else up so much?

[John Byrne's Underpants]

It wasn't pretty, but it's a tactic that works for them, although personally I hate it. Let's be honest, it's not like it wasn't expected!

Unless or until refs clamp down on time wasting this sort of thing is going to continue. Why not make it a mandatory yellow card for time wasting? On the few occasions a ref has had the gumption to book a player for time wasting it seemed to work. Mind you it was sweet that we got the penalty in the 49th minute ha ha.

And let's not gloss over the fact that we were shockingly bad last night. Dirty tactics or not, Stevenage deserved their victory. We knew what they were likely to be about and it appeared we got it tactically completely wrong.

How many own goals for Worley now?

[ty cobb]

Well I’m really glad I made the trip back from London last night. That was a conference standard performance, I would be worried about staying up if we didn’t have enough points already and the fact that we seem to have the ability to improve our game when we play a team above us.

It’s the basics more than anything else that annoys me, letting a hoofed clearance bounce so their attacker can get under it and bring it down, giving the ball away from our throw ins taking short corners which result in getting caught offside, passing the ball behind players which slows the attack (or even worse passing it off the pitch!).

For a team like Stevenage we need a Beast character to head the ball clear (and by clear I mean more than two yards). Wright and Worley were both really poor last night and seem to have become complacement without a serious back up to give them a rest or challenge them for their place. We need a bit of muscle and battle up front, McLean and Craddock are too similar in that they are lightweight and got knocked off it and struggle to get in the game against a team that closes you down. Craddock was awful last night, McLean little better only improving in a 4-4-2 where he was able to drop off and get the ball. He’s really gone downhill since joining us full time and I can see why Plymouth fans were glad to see him go if he performed like that whilst he was there.

We were crying out for some creativity last night, a Murray/Deering type player who would demand the ball and look to do something with it. We have become too easy to suss out, 4-3-3 is looking tired and is not troubling teams.

Potter adds nothing, he has no end product whatsoever, Hackney is much better but we rarely got him on the ball, when we did he mugged their defender who had to bring him down and got booked. We then didn’t get it out to him for the rest of the match.

We missed Batt driving down the wing, Payne impressed me in midfield in that he was trying to make something happen. Beano looks short of confidence and who can blame him as he keeps starting on the bench, Midson battled well but no-one picked up the balls he won. If we’re going to play 4-3-3 lets have Midson and Beano as the front two with McLean dropping into the hole, instead of this odd system of playing two centre forwards as wingers.

Wilder is still the man and he’s not shy to change things when it’s not working, and hopefully he’ll have a rethink of this formation because it’s not doing the players we have justice.

[amershamwrighty]

Just about the most depressing consequence of last night's result is that - barring a miracle on the part of OUFC or Stevenage - we shall have to entertain Stevenage again next season.

And that ghastly individual Steve Evans and his sidekick Raynor.

Still - better than being a non-league team.

[Mooro]

The problem with getting promotion back into the League is when the non-league clubs follow you!

[Brahma Bull]

Potter adds nothing, he has no end product whatsoever, Hackney is much better but we rarely got him on the ball, when we did he mugged their defender who had to bring him down and got booked. We then didn’t get it out to him for the rest of the match.

Very good reflection Ty.

In the first half, the game was calling out for some width and pace as we had neither on display. I had hoped Wilder would make a ridiculous early substitution as it was obvious what was needed.

Your observation about Hackney was the one which annoyed me last night. Get it to Hackney, Get it to Hackney and the very first time we did, he did his dummy, sold the player and got hacked down. Yellow Card.

The game would have changed if the team had deployed the same tactic of running at defenders and getting them to commit themselves but it didn't happen again. Shocking.

[oxfordyankee]

Without Hackney and Batt there is simply no pace. I have been a big fan of Maclean but he is often responsible for slowing up any forward momentum. I'm beginning to wonder whether we have room for him in the side. I know he is talented and clearly a very good player but I am increasingly struggling to see much positive coming from him at the moment.

Its not one players fault though. Tough work for Wilder in the summer.

[Kernow Yellow]

The problem with getting promotion back into the League is when the non-league clubs follow you!

Or even lead you, as Stevenage did.

Due to a faulty internet connection, I didn't even get to hear last night's match, but the BBC match stats of 0 shots on target the entire game (presumably they don't include penalties) must tell its own story. Up until 80 minutes it said Stevenage had only had 1 shot on target too, which must be some kind of record for a game with 3 goals in!

[Baboo]

Much as we don’t like the way Stevenage conduct themselves or play football I think it might be more useful if we stopped moaning about it and accept that if we are to move on and be successful in League 1 we have to find a way of being able to counteract and overcome this.
They are probably the best exponents of this “ugly

[Baboo]

We need a bit of muscle and battle up front, McLean and Craddock are too similar in that they are lightweight and got knocked off it and struggle to get in the game against a team that closes you down. Craddock was awful last night, McLean little better only improving in a 4-4-2 where he was able to drop off and get the ball. He’s really gone downhill since joining us full time and I can see why Plymouth fans were glad to see him go if he performed like that whilst he was there.

Agree with you about the similarity of McLean &amp Craddock I have been whispering this to a few people for a little while now. Agree with you about the muscle and battle, but that alone is not enough. Does either Beano or Midson have enough of this in them plus the required skill levels to really do it in League 2?
I have been pro Craddock as readers of this forum will know but I don't think he had a good game last night. However to say he was awful I think is really unfair but it doesn't surprise me because as I've said time and again he's the one regularly picked on.
He annoyed me when he was knocked off the ball a couple of times and also when he gave it away, but I can't see that McLean was even marginally better.
I thought he did really well with the penalty in what was quite a pressure situation with the Stevenage gameship all around him. Awful?
I also recall him getting into the box in the first half, keeping the ball well under pressure and setting McLean up with a pretty good chance (which of course came to nothing).
But perhaps before we start being critical of the front three we should consider what sort of service they are getting. No decent crosses coming in from the wings and no midfielder threading telling balls through for them.
As for Batt being the answer - he's been sussed out. Force him back onto a left foot so weak it can't cross.

[Werthers Original]

All of these comments are true. I just can't understand why Wilder doesn't make sure we have at least one player able to get some decent crosses in. Someone with authority and vision in midfield (a new Murray) is a must, and more sharpness up front. These things are obvious. And I like Batt well enough, he's great on his day, but pinning our attacking hopes on an inconsistent full back isn't the answer to anything.

[Baboo]

And I like Batt well enough,

I like all our players well enough (well, perhaps except for a couple) but they all have weaknesses that for some at times seem to outweigh their positives.

Major change necessary ? Or - this is a young team that will get better and learn for the first season back in the League?

[ty cobb]

Agree with you about the similarity of McLean &amp Craddock I have been whispering this to a few people for a little while now. Agree with you about the muscle and battle, but that alone is not enough. Does either Beano or Midson have enough of this in them plus the required skill levels to really do it in League 2?
I have been pro Craddock as readers of this forum will know but I don't think he had a good game last night. However to say he was awful I think is really unfair but it doesn't surprise me because as I've said time and again he's the one regularly picked on.
He annoyed me when he was knocked off the ball a couple of times and also when he gave it away, but I can't see that McLean was even marginally better.
I thought he did really well with the penalty in what was quite a pressure situation with the Stevenage gameship all around him. Awful?
I also recall him getting into the box in the first half, keeping the ball well under pressure and setting McLean up with a pretty good chance (which of course came to nothing).
But perhaps before we start being critical of the front three we should consider what sort of service they are getting. No decent crosses coming in from the wings and no midfielder threading telling balls through for them.
As for Batt being the answer - he's been sussed out. Force him back onto a left foot so weak it can't cross.

Fair point about the service being really poor, it was. Was also a good pen under pressure. However, apart from that I, and the people I was with, thought he was awful - he lost the ball 90% of the time he got it, the runs he made were poor, he didn't pick any of the scraps up from Midson and I just don't see what he adds to us, I must miss all the games when he plays well.

McLean was just as bad until we went to 4-4-2 and he then improved.

We lost the game because we didn't defend very well and we had no creativity or outlet in midfield, still didn't stop 2 of the front 3 being poor though when the ball did get up to them.

I think Beano and Midson can both cut it at this level but we need to create some chances for them, whacking it up to them or playing it into their feet 40 yards from the goal with their back to it isn't doing either of them any favours.

[Sackcloth Ox]

I have never seen our section of the SSU so angry as when that drinks break occured. Sweet old gentlemen took time out of sucking on their Werthers Originals to 'leap', (alright dodder). out of their seats roaring 'Westley, Westley you're a c**t.' Who says the elderly do not have a voice?

'Simulating injury' is a bookable offence isn't it? Thoroughly dislike Stevenage's attitude towards the game and to the paying public. We do not come to football to watch endless 'time outs'.

No wonder nobody seemingly bothers to watch this lot back in Hertfordshire. They are the great anti-entertainers.

Now the woeful yellows. Thought we played like a bunch of pansies. Stevenage just wanted it more. Especially that crucial first 5 minutes of the second half when you would have thought we should have been mega fired up. We physically could not cope with their platoon of hammer throwers. And we threw the towel in the last 10 minutes. One of the first times I have seen a Wilder side do this.

Who's up to the job in our squad? On last night's showing, Wright, Craddock ( who did not actually play too badly your honour, I would have kept him on in preference to the woefully slow Midson) and Hackney.

We have to get rid of three of our full-backs during the close season. And boy, does this team need some pace!

Not too hopeful is it?

We know how Stevenage play and we should have prepared accordingly. No sign of any tactical strategy whatosever.

A poor night out.

Bet you we beat Crewe convincingly though.

[goringtyne]

As wilder said you could flip a coin to how we perform until the end of the season, last night was terrible, even if we could probably win at home with crewe our inconsitency and willing to commit everygame will not get us a playoff place this season, even if that was a bit too much to ask for, I hope we can make a good start to next season , and possibly playing Slumdon could make some interesting games