BTFC V Concord

[Keith.P]

Very blustery conditions but i am sure the management and team will look back and say that is 2 points dropped rather than a point gained . Concord came with one sole aim – simply not to lose , and they achieved that with a mixture of grade 10 operatics and probably more a tad below par performance from us . Lets start with Concord , the tactics employed by their bench resembled more a kids Sunday morning game and the parents screaming .Anyway , back to the match , it was our final ball that seemed to lack penetration and sometimes we held the ball for that second longer than needed as it gave the concord defenders time to close down , but we did not lose and we kept another clean sheet (that's 3 on the spin)..and I cannot remember the last time we did that , so that again is a major positive . No idea how Oates injury is , but hopefully nothing more than bruising/swelling .

 

One thing is for sure, we need to be far more effective in the danger area come Saturday as banana skin bob (FA Cup) time is here.

 

Fire them up Craig !

[Onthesidelines]

I don't know why H was not at least on the bench as he was on the pitch before the match but we could have done with him coming on when Concord were down to ten men, as Sam Berry (who I like) had a bit of an off day.

[New Lodger]

A poor game after we have been somewhat spoilt of late although the weather and bumpy pitch made good football difficult. We looked good defensively but not so good at the other end. Concord never looked likely to score and played for a draw but I thought we needed more width when they went down to 10.

 

Jay May got subbed at half time?

 

Let's hope we can bounce back on Saturday and start a good cup run.

[suckie van b]

Craigy has to take a lot of the blame for last night imo. He seems tactically inept. Concord didn't look like scoring with 11 men, so they were never going to score with 10! Why oh why didn't we change our system, like throwing Swaine up front??

[GazzaBTFC]

Right...Jay May was subbed because he had an injury. Don't know if it was a bad one or just subbed as a precaution but he was carrying...

 

I thought Concord out worked us all game and true, they didn't look like scoring, in fact the first clear cut chance fell to us in the second half, followed by several other (which were not converted). If I did have a criticism, it would be why don't any of our players come in from wide on the back post. Two of the chances looked like certain "tap in's" if this had happened - instead they either go to the front post or the middle!!!).

 

The conditions were difficult last night. God knows what the wind was doing but it appeared to be blowing all over the place and not in one direction. This made conditions difficult for both teams and therefore football struggled...

 

Despite the above points, in my opinion, the reason Swaine wasn't sent up top is because as he is an experienced defender, captain on the pitch and was required to hold the (realtively new) back four steady (also considering thet Tajakhsh isn't a right back would've had something to do with it). Sending Swaine "up top" could've been suicide but hey...who am I to argue stratgy with someone that obviously knows more than the manager.

 

The changes that were made were forced changes due to injuries....not reallty leaving many choices to "change" a game. In answer to the Chatting arguement, Master Chatting was poor against Carshalton therefore (I can only sumise) the manager decided not to put him in his squad (as is his right should a player disapoint). Whether that was the right decision can only be argued in hindsight....which is an amazingly excact science...and one that supporters all around the world score highly...if there was a degree in hindsight, we'll all have degree's with masters and honours.

 

All in all, a frustrating evening made worse by the clown in the middle, who was bad for both clubs. Every game, over a pint or two, the discussion comes round to the poor attendances. I am not so sure they are down because of the standard of football (which I think has been quite entertaining this season). I think it has something to do with putting people in charge of a game of football who would be better suited with bright orange hair, a big red nose and touring the country as part of a circus...

Edited September 14, 2011 by GazzaBTFC

[jl]

A pretty poor game due to the wind, the officials and plenty of niggle between the teams and benches.

 

I thought Concord out-worked us in the first half which was a bit disappointing, but we picked things up after the break. I was surprised H didn't make the bench as I thought the game itself followed a fairly predictable pattern and he is the sort of player who can change a game should the need arise. In that respect I thought we could have brought CE Jnr on when they went down to ten as he is another who has the quality to pick out a pass whereas some of the others rely on effort and workrate.

 

It was disappointing that Oates has picked up a bad injury. I think Jay May was struggling a bit with his hamstring in the first half. Hopefully he'll be back soon.

 

Games against Concord are always tough - they seem to like playing us for some reason , but three clean sheets on the trot is still impressive. Hopefully we can re-discover our scoring boots on Saturday.

 

Come on you Blues!!

[Ryan.c]

We were poor, they were poorer, the ref was poor, attendance poor and the weather was poor. 3rd successive clean sheet and a point in the bank gives us some return on the night tho.

[suckie van b]

Right...Jay May was subbed because he had an injury. Don't know if it was a bad one or just subbed as a precaution but he was carrying...

 

I thought Concord out worked us all game and true, they didn't look like scoring, in fact the first clear cut chance fell to us in the second half, followed by several other (which were not converted). If I did have a criticism, it would be why don't any of our players come in from wide on the back post. Two of the chances looked like certain "tap in's" if this had happened - instead they either go to the front post or the middle!!!).

 

The conditions were difficult last night. God knows what the wind was doing but it appeared to be blowing all over the place and not in one direction. This made conditions difficult for both teams and therefore football struggled...

 

Despite the above points, in my opinion, the reason Swaine wasn't sent up top is because as he is an experienced defender, captain on the pitch and was required to hold the (realtively new) back four steady (also considering thet Tajakhsh isn't a right back would've had something to do with it). Sending Swaine "up top" could've been suicide but hey...who am I to argue stratgy with someone that obviously knows more than the manager.

 

The changes that were made were forced changes due to injuries....not reallty leaving many choices to "change" a game. In answer to the Chatting arguement, Master Chatting was poor against Carshalton therefore (I can only sumise) the manager decided not to put him in his squad (as is his right should a player disapoint). Whether that was the right decision can only be argued in hindsight....which is an amazingly excact science...and one that supporters all around the world score highly...if there was a degree in hindsight, we'll all have degree's with masters and honours.

 

All in all, a frustrating evening made worse by the clown in the middle, who was bad for both clubs. Every game, over a pint or two, the discussion comes round to the poor attendances. I am not so sure they are down because of the standard of football (which I think has been quite entertaining this season). I think it has something to do with putting people in charge of a game of football who would be better suited with bright orange hair, a big red nose and touring the country as part of a circus...

 

You are right Swaine is an experienced centre-back that can also play centre-forward as he did numerous times last season. I think the 3 at the back could of coped with Concords one/zero up front and Swaine would of caused problems to the Concord centre-backs, that had a reasonably comfortable evening

[GazzaBTFC]

I apprciate your view but we had experienced strikers on the field...