v Cambridge City

[jonblack]

No positive from today's game.

 

Continue to play like this for the season and I think mid table safety could be a trifle ambitious...

Spot on.I am hoping those teams below us don't start stringing some wins together, because at this rate I can't see where our next win is coming from. I feel a bit sorry for the goalie.

[3spirit]

Now the dust has settled,in the aftermath of such a shockingly poor result,I think we fans and our managers have to be worried about some of the players commitment in trying to get a positive result for Slough.

 

Yesterday,to me the only players to play with any desire was Ed Smith,Ben Edwards,Ryan Parsons and Luke Williams.Also George Short had a decent game but started to look tired at the 75 minute mark,which didn't help us either.

 

Amazed Dobbo wasn't withdrawn,as he looked totally uninterested in doing anything to help Slough claw back into the match.

What a difference to the start of the season,when he was a revelation and among our best players and someone who led by example.

Injuries aside,his heart didn't seem in it yesterday but I'm certainly not blaming him entirely for the defeat.We just made too many defensive mistakes.

It's strange,as our defence yesterday,with the exception of Tom Moran at right back,is the same one that looked so rock solid at the start of the season.

Funny enough,I think since Billy Jeffery's arrival at our club,something has changed in the minds of our other two dependable central defenders.Reece Yorke has started to try and play like Billy Jeffery's,which isn't his natural game and needs to go back to his basic game of being a strong tackler/stopper in the heart of the defence and not trying to have this fancy footwork,which he hasn't got.

Guy Hollis,who we all know is a class defender, yet he had a game to forget yesterday.He knows that but for the next ten games,he's got to prove he is class.

 

Felt for Ryan Parson's yesterday,as he had a mammoth job on the left,virtually running the show on his own.He got caught out pushing forward for one of Cambridge goals but where was his help in front of him or in midfield?

If we had eleven Ryan Parsons we fans wouldn't be on this forum moaning.

 

I know Bakes and Unders have said there will be no more additions before the end of the season but I think they should try to bring in another left sided midfielder/defender,as an alternative ie Steve Duff,Adam Cash,Danny Murphy or someone else,as an alternative to Dobbo or his replacement, or for him and Ryan to play along side.

We have plenty of cover on the right.  

 

Now's the time for the players to respond to such a dreadful game and stand up and be counted and rally round and start showing the faith that their managers have shown in them.We need strong characters and those who want to play for the Slough shirt.

Those that can't be bothered should bugger off now !

 

I believe we can turn around such lack lustre,lacking in spirit displays but the players themselves have got to believe it.

Which seemed miles off that,with what some of the players offered us yesterday.

 

Let's put this game behind us,stop the excuses and start showing some bottle. 

Edited March 8, 2015 by 3spirit

[Jon Underwood]

No excuses here. We are having a terrible time and the run of results is as the worst Bakes and I have had since we started managing together.

 

We work very hard at what we do and being successful means everything to us. Unfortunately that desire is not showing through in our team's performance at the minute and we have to put that right quickly if we are to get out of this rut.

[Jon Underwood]

I don't recall either of us saying we won't be bringing anyone else in. In our position its not always easy to do so at this stage of a season but we will continue to try to improve the squad if we can before the deadline later this month.

[Sir Rebel1965]

Jon

 

Thank you for a straight forward and honest response.

[Neil Baker]

Have no problems with any of the comments, and you are all entitled to your opinions:

 

Yes we have broad shoulders, and I think everyone knows us to know that we did not find yesterday acceptable in any shape or form.

 

We had to change the side yesterday due to illness which was a shame, and Jon will do an interview later to explain why we played the shape we did... in hindsight we should have matched them up 4 4 2 and gone with Ready up top... hands up that was our decision and we got that wrong.

 

We also asked the lads to pass the ball today, which for the pitch was probably not the right instructions, as Cambridge just turned us and scored two goals from turning us.... I actually thought that we passed the ball and did not hoof it as somebody mentioned, however we did not hurt them, as it was mainly played in front of them.

 

Will not publicly criticise individuals on here, however it is plain to see that a number of the lads are not in form.

 

However whether we played 1 up front 2 up front or even 3, it does not excuse the fact that we gave away some shocking goals yesterday defensively, and that is 3 games on the bounce where teams have not had to work hard to break us down, these are not excuses just facts!!!

[3spirit]

To Jon and Neil, thanks for your honest assessments.

 

I'm still 100% behind you,as I'm sure most Slough fans are.We all know the team is struggling to turn this bad run around.It's nothing new,it happens to every team.

 

To me,the only thing that is not acceptable is not losing,it is the manner of the defeat.

Some of the players are letting you down, and us fans, who pay their hard earned money to watch them.

 

We know they are not professional and have jobs themselves and of course,we want them to enjoy their football and the experience of playing for the club but we also need the right amount of effort and yesterday,many let our standards down.   

[Reading Rebel]

i think we need to play a 2 5 3 formation , or at least a 2 4 4 , a lone striker  up front just does not work, if a player is good enough to make the squad then he must be good enough to start if circumstances dictate, a glowing report followed reads signing, so we should have had the werwithal to gamble and start him, after all things could not have got much worse, poor excuse not to start him because he did not attend training, the situation we found ourselves in he needed to start, might have been the difference today , but we will never know will we.

 

 

HT, with those formations I predict we'd see a rugby scoreline and not necessarily in our favour  

Edited March 8, 2015 by Reading Rebel

[jonblack]

"Have no problems with any of the comments, and you are all entitled to your opinions:", wonder if your mate " Hotspur " would agree with that statement.

[Stuntman Mark]

I thought we started okay yesterday and played some decent football in the first twenty minutes without carrying much threat. We probably should have had a penalty too. However, once their goal went in you could almost see the confidence drain from the players and we were very poor for the rest of the game and maybe lucky not to concede more. One or two individual performances were really disappointing.

 

You like to think we're safe but I'd be happier with another 3 points on the board.  

[Reading Rebel]

We did try to pass the ball through the middle yesterday which didn't look easy on a difficult drying bobbly pitch. 

 

The problem was, as Bakes has alluded to, there was no end product, no incisive pass or real creativity to open up the Cambridge defence.

 

Whilst Cambridge were just happy to punt the ball skywards to their forwards and TBF to Cambridge, with the swirling wind, it worked a treat as we seemed to struggle with the high ball all game.

 

IMO at the moment we are short of key players in a couple of areas:

 

Someone who is a leader at the back in the mould of a Darren Purse or a Dave Woozley or a player like the two center backs at Poole. A player who will talk to and rally the players around him when the going gets tough.

 

A creative 'playmaker' in midfield. Again someone in the mould of Steve Devlin at Poole.

 

I think most good, successful teams have these types of players in their ranks.

 

I also know that these type of players don't come cheap and most probably are out of range of our budget but you can always dream.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

The first game i've been to since Christmas/new year

 

Was a bit surprised to look at the team sheet and see us playing 4-5-1 but at the same time was interested to see what Jake parsons could do as an attacking mid, unfortunately jake was constantly surrounded by 3 or 4 defenders and though he got through once or twice he lost the ball most other times as there was just not enough space and time for him to get free.

 

I cant remember us making to many ground passes in the final third yesterday, we seemed to be favouring chipped passes which were almost always cut out. a front four of Fraser, Parsons, Dobson and Smith would always prefer the ball at their feet so that they can do something with it quickly rather than a pass to their head or chest which gives defenders time to close them down and pressure them.

 

In the first half to me it looked like Dobson had absolutely no confidence at all, he was always too far inside and never out on the wing, always a couple of yards in front of the defence and never looking to get in behind. The complete opposite to what he was like at the start of the season. Listening to what a lot of people were saying during the match and most people thought that Dobson was in contention for player of the season right up till new year and ever since his injury has never come close to finding that form. he needs a confidence boost which can be hard to get especially when the whole team is playing poorly.

 

 

4-0 was bad but what made it worse was that we never looked like getting a goal, it was just like an end of season performance from a team knowing there is nothing left to play for.

 

 

also people were saying we only managed to have 4 players on the bench, Cambridge only had 3 themselves.

[Tom]

Agree with you to a degree there RR.

 

Before the start of the season I think people knew that without Woozley we'd need to replace him with an experienced head. Gary MacDonald was supposed to be that but he chose to go elsewhere.

 

There also seem to be an abundance of midfielders but I think the one area that should have been looked at was a direct replacement for Warren Harris and that has never been adequately addressed this season. Missed not only his creativity but crucially his goals.

 

It has been a season of square pegs in round holes. When the side has been fully fit it has looked good and capable of competing but that has been only on few occasions.

[Reading Rebel]

The first game i've been to since Christmas/new year

 

Was a bit surprised to look at the team sheet and see us playing 4-5-1 but at the same time was interested to see what Jake parsons could do as an attacking mid, unfortunately jake was constantly surrounded by 3 or 4 defenders and though he got through once or twice he lost the ball most other times as there was just not enough space and time for him to get free.

 

I cant remember us making to many ground passes in the final third yesterday, we seemed to be favouring chipped passes which were almost always cut out. a front four of Fraser, Parsons, Dobson and Smith would always prefer the ball at their feet so that they can do something with it quickly rather than a pass to their head or chest which gives defenders time to close them down and pressure them.

 

In the first half to me it looked like Dobson had absolutely no confidence at all, he was always too far inside and never out on the wing, always a couple of yards in front of the defence and never looking to get in behind. The complete opposite to what he was like at the start of the season. Listening to what a lot of people were saying during the match and most people thought that Dobson was in contention for player of the season right up till new year and ever since his injury has never come close to finding that form. he needs a confidence boost which can be hard to get especially when the whole team is playing poorly.

 

 

4-0 was bad but what made it worse was that we never looked like getting a goal, it was just like an end of season performance from a team knowing there is nothing left to play for.

 

 

also people were saying we only managed to have 4 players on the bench, Cambridge only had 3 themselves.

 

 

We only had 4 on the bench because Scott Harris went sick.

 

As you say, we passed the ball in two thirds of the pitch but when it came to the final third there was nothing.

[Reading Rebel]

Agree with you to a degree there RR.

 

Before the start of the season I think people knew that without Woozley we'd need to replace him with an experienced head. Gary MacDonald was supposed to be that but he chose to go elsewhere.

 

There also seem to be an abundance of midfielders but I think the one area that should have been looked at was a direct replacement for Warren Harris and that has never been adequately addressed this season. Missed not only his creativity but crucially his goals.

 

It has been a season of square pegs in round holes. When the side has been fully fit it has looked good and capable of competing but that has been only on few occasions.

 

Abundance of midfielders when they are all fit yes, but do we have one that stands out and makes thinks happen as I said like a Steve Devlin at Pool? 

 

Certainly agree with you on Warren Harris. Lets hope he comes back from his injury the same player.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Reading Rebel

[michaelSTFC]

"Have no problems with any of the comments, and you are all entitled to your opinions:", wonder if your mate " Hotspur " would agree with that statement.

 

 

Wow, that was meta.

[Tom]

Abundance of midfielders when they are all fit yes, but do we have one that stands out and makes thinks happen as I said like a Steve Devlin at Pool?

 

Certainly agree with you on Warren Harris. Lets hope he comes back from his injury the same player.

Warren Harris would have been that player who made things happen.

[Sir Rebel1965]

The thing which confuses / frustrates me is the team is very similar to last seasons and the pre-Christmas period one, where there was very good team performances, where it did not require one individual to shine, but everyone put in a shift for each other and we got some superb results. 

 

There were changes to the team structure due to injuries in that time, but the results generally came.

 

This league definitely has some teams which we will struggle against, but on our day we have turned some of them over.  It is against teams we should beat and at least be competitive with where the performances have not come.

 

I think it is now a challenge for Neil and Jon to see how drastic the changes need to be for next season.

[Reading Rebel]

Warren Harris would have been that player who made things happen.

 

 

Agree that Warren Harris certainly did make things happen but predominantly from out wide.

 

I was thinking of a more central midfield player who could have an influence down the middle.

[OLDER RAM]

Regardless of there not being a good supply to the forwards, or yesterdays lone forward, I think there are glaring weaknesses elseware in the team. The performance of the defence which was good at the start of the season has definately dipped, they were poor yesterday, and lacked any pace, and seemed to choose the wrong option almost everytime. The defence was bad, they seemed to want far too much time on the ball, and any team with pace, wouldnt need to try too hard to get past them.