vs Basingstoke

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

I think we looked good going forward, but yet again some woeful defending cost us. 3 goals from unmarked players less than ten yards out?? Interesting opinions on the players above. felt Putnam looked better outside. We need to start defending far better or this season is going to turn to sh1t pretty damn quick.

And with 4-5 minutes left why were we pissing around with it out wide??? Just flood the box and sling it in and see what happens. Felt sorry for mark Scott today, we were very very easy to score against.

[HorshamRebel]

Match Photos : https://www.flickr.com/photos/horshamrebel/sets/72157658720333728

[3spirit]

We never looked like we would beat Basingstoke today. We did well to go in at half time all square but even with Slough hitting the woodwork twice and Basingstoke having a man sent off, I could never see Slough winning.

 

We know lapses of concentration and individual mistakes are costing us big time ,in terms of goals conceded but what's pissing me off more is our lack of vision and imagination in what we try to create in an attacking sense.

 

Am I the only one who see's our team as too predictable? Why do we persist in playing every free kick as a lofted ball into the box? Where is our invention in any dead ball situations?

 

Jhai Dhillon showed again today what a clever, tricky player he is. If only we had someone like him in the centre of midfield !

Thought Adrian Sears and Adam Martin had good games today but offered no goal threat. Lewis Putman tried to beat too many players and was often found wanting. Has to be a worry that our goals are drying up, we need to sort this out quick or we will be in big trouble.  

[Sloughboy]

In the "Looking ahead" for this game, Jon Underwood commented that he wouldn't call out positions or players so as not to have a negative effect on the team, we'll I'm afraid the time has come to start that process as we are not good enough and will get relegated unless some major changes to the squad happen.

 

Goalkeepers

Mark Scott - a top signing and keeping us competitive in quite a few games this season

Luke Williams - did well in his 3 games, and was sold down the river with the rubbish defence he had in front of him against Burnham.

 

Defence

Sean Fraser - is looking out classed by many attackers at the moment. Can't fault his work rate and effort however.

Guy Hollis - top defender and works as hard as anyone on the squad.

Gary Mcdonald - how this player is our captain and leader is beyond me. He is slower than any player in ours or pretty much any other team, he can't head a ball to save his life and when he does win the odd header he either scores in his own goal (like today) or misses a sitter (like today). Simply not good enough.

Jhai Dhillon - has been excellent in the first 2 games

Stuart Lake - only helping out and possibly the only player slower than Mcdonald in the world.

Dan Hicks - looks like a good signing.

 

Midfield

Warren Harris - clearly struggling with fitness but having to play most games. Hasn't scored or beaten a player since his return from injury.

Adam Martin - struggling to find the form of last season and is looking lost at the moment.

Adrian Sear - good player but can't stop getting injured.

Nathan Webb - see Adrian Sear

Jake Parsons - excellent before his injury, but can't even seem to run since his return.

Jamie Mcclurg - the worst of out midfielders. Can't pass anything but backwards, struggles to find a player in the same colour shirt than him and totally out of his depth in our league.

 

Forwards

Ed Smith - see Adrian Sear/Nathan Webb

Charlie Mpi - puts in so much effort game in game out and feel for him having to a with some of the players he is

Scott Harris - see Charlie Mpi

Lewis Putman - would like to see a bit more of him in the box and needs a goal to kick start his season.

 

All in all we have some decent players, we have some ok players and some terrible players that are totally out of their depth.

 

In the same interview I hope that Jon Underwood was being metophorical about the lack of "sad faces" at training as the performances recently, whilst ok in patches have just not been good enough and I would expect the players to show the same passion as the fans and care about how poor they have been thus far this season.

 

We need to strengthen our defence by removing at least Mcdonald from it and replacing him ASAP. We need to get in 3-4 better midfield players, some with more creativity and also some fitter players and we need to give our strikers more support with said creativity.

 

Time to stop the excuses, time to stop pretending that we are almost there with the team. It's time to make the required changes ASAP and those changes require identifying the 5-6 players that are just totally out of their depth and making the required replacements to the squad. You can't continue losing to sides like Burnham and Bedworth and expect everything to be rosy in the garden.

 

The time to act is now, before we fall further down the league and are cut adrift and start next season in our shiny new stadium and the Central Division.

Hard to argue with any of that Slough Flyer! Wait to be accused of being Hotspur or Jon Black or whoever......

[SloughFlyer]

Slough boy - I don't know who those people are. Just getting sick and tired of coming home from games having travelled some distance a lot of the time watching performances that are well below par and then listening to looking ahead or back and apparently we were unlucky / if the ball had gone in / x, y, z player has held his hands up for the 2-3 mistakes that cost us today comments.

 

I don't want to see us still having these comments made in a few months time when it's already too late. I don't care if it's;

 

Bedworth - both goals McDonald's fault, cheap free kick given away and then his man scores and a terrible piece of defending

 

Redditch - 1st goal down to Adam Martin and the midfield allowing a player to wander through them as if they weren't there or 2nd goal Warren Harris switching off completely from a fre kick and allowing the full back to run 40 yards unchallenged to collect the ball

 

Basingstoke - 1st goal Mcdonald doesn't win a header in the box and the ball falls to 2 players to score, 2nd goal McDonald's man in the middle gets in front of him, 3rd goal Mcdonald heads it in his own goal

 

I am however boyed by the comments of Jon Underwood on the looking ahead when saying they are working on some things in the back ground and also his tweet after the game saying that the individual mistakes need to stop. As a clue, the way to reduce those individual mistakes, is to get some better players, replacing those that are making the mistakes.

 

We'll see how things go I guess as it's down to the managers to correct the mistakes of the summer in signing some players that are clearly not up to the task. Then hopefully we can start to turn things around.

[Reading Rebel]

Basingstoke 4 - 2 Slough

 

Soft goals again.

 

Although a better performance, still not up to getting the result against 10 men again.

 

No FA Cup run again this year. 

 

 

As we all should know sometimes playing against 10 men is sometimes more difficult when they sit back and soak up the pressure. 

[Jon Underwood]

I have no issue with the vast majority of the comments on here but please do not make things up about what we say in our interviews.

 

When talking about the last two league defeats at no point have we said we were unlucky and have in fact said we got exactly what we deserved. The same story again yesterday, when you gift goals like we did then you deserve nothing. No excuses from us and definitely not unlucky.

 

It's our job to get it right and we will be making some changes as there is no-one who wants to succeed more than us and we are very aware of where we are falling short at the minute.

[Tom]

Jon, from a defensive point is there an update on Craig Scott's progress?

[Reading Rebel]

We never looked like we would beat Basingstoke today. We did well to go in at half time all square but even with Slough hitting the woodwork twice and Basingstoke having a man sent off, I could never see Slough winning.

 

We know lapses of concentration and individual mistakes are costing us big time ,in terms of goals conceded but what's pissing me off more is our lack of vision and imagination in what we try to create in an attacking sense.

 

Am I the only one who see's our team as too predictable? Why do we persist in playing every free kick as a lofted ball into the box? Where is our invention in any dead ball situations?

 

Jhai Dhillon showed again today what a clever, tricky player he is. If only we had someone like him in the centre of midfield !

Thought Adrian Sears and Adam Martin had good games today but offered no goal threat. Lewis Putman tried to beat too many players and was often found wanting. Has to be a worry that our goals are drying up, we need to sort this out quick or we will be in big trouble.  

 

 

Have to disagree with a couple of things you say 3spirit.

 

I thought we more than matched Basingstoke and If we had scored the goal just before halftime and not made the unbelievable error for their second goal I could see us going on to win the game because B'stoke IMO were their for the taking.

 

Apart from the full back getting the better of Putts down the line for the first goal I actually thought Putts had a decent game and for me was one of our better players.  

[Ted]

I don't think the managers have generally said we've been unlucky, some supporters maybe, but not the managers.

 

I appreciate their comments and would not want a return to the communication style of previous managers, which I fear may happen if their every word is trashed.

 

A couple of random thoughts.#

 

Picking a player of the season so far is not easy as few players have been consistently good. Possibly Scott Harris for his 6 goals so far. I can't think of any other contenders over the season we've had to date. Consistent performances are lacking throughout the squad, and injuries certainly haven't helped.

 

Our crossing has generally been poor, too often failing to get past the first defender (as Nathan pointed out at Bedworth when a particularly short defender cut out a cross, 'we can't get it past the first dwarf'. I'd like to see more runs to the goal line, with the ball then being cut back. It's something we don't do often enough.

 

I can't fault the players for trying, its often a lack of quality from the midfield that concerns me, and this has been going on since December when Leigh Rumbold left. Chris Henry looked like a possible solution, but that wasn't to be. Add that to defensive mistakes and we are struggling.

[Hammer_rebel]

Slough boy and Slough flyer signing up on same day.... Same way of talking too.... But that's none of my business.

[SloughFlyer]

Hammer rebel - no idea who Slough boy is, by I sit in the stand at every home game with my Dad and my son and am season ticket holder #45. I've been many forums over the years and am certainly not a "keyboard warrior". Many people use these types of forums to post their feelings in an annonumous way, but I see this as a good opportunity for the managers and others to see not only the great things but also the not so great about the Rebels at the moment.

 

I also think that way I have put is pretty spot on from what I have seen this season and given that the only part of my fairly lengthy post that was called into question was a paraphrased part of an interview, perhaps others believe what I'm saying as well?

Edited September 27, 2015 by SloughFlyer

[Jon Underwood]

Jon, from a defensive point is there an update on Craig Scott's progress?

He will be out until around Christmas.

[Sloughboy]

Got that wrong, I thought you would be accused of being jonblack, instead you are accused of being me.

 

What you said is spot on, in the main...

[3spirit]

Have to disagree with a couple of things you say 3spirit.

 

I thought we more than matched Basingstoke and If we had scored the goal just before halftime and not made the unbelievable error for their second goal I could see us going on to win the game because B'stoke IMO were their for the taking.

 

Apart from the full back getting the better of Putts down the line for the first goal I actually thought Putts had a decent game and for me was one of our better players.  

 

I'm not disputing that we could have won the game, ReadingRebel, if things had been different but they weren't.

We never got our tails in front and always appeared to be chasing the game.

 

Lewis Putman is a good footballer, you are right but we have to recognise that he is playing at the highest level he has played [apart from his short spell at Wealdstone] and that he is still settling into the team . His footwork and ball retention are excellent but his confidence to actually go towards the goal seems out of kilter to the feared striker he was at his previous clubs. I know yesterday he wasn't playing as a striker but with his ability to run with the ball and go past a player, he needs to learn that he can't beat every player, and after beating a couple, he must make a pass or have a shot. Not hog the ball with no end product.  

 

I am not saying that Slough need to discard him, as we've all seen what a good footballer he can be and he has bags of potential to achieve things at Slough. I always wanted to see him playing for Slough, so I'm NOT not wanting him to do well !  

 

My posting last night wasn't mean't to be a dig at 'Putts'. It was from a very frustrated onlooker, who recognised Basingstoke's vulnerability , just like you did RR, and was peed off by our lack of creativity and our sporadic goal attempts.

Yes we had chances but not enough of them in my book.

[Curtis]

Jon,

 

I'm not disappointed with the result yesterday (I was hoping for a draw at best away to a club a division above us), but more about the lack of cohesion and understanding between players over several matches, which defensively is leading to giving away too many goals and offensively not scoring from good attacking positions and set plays.

 

Is this something that can be resolved by you and Bakes with the current squad, or are we likely to see some more new signings?

[3spirit]

Got that wrong, I thought you would be accused of being jonblack, instead you are accused of being me.

 

What you said is spot on, in the main...

 

Sloughboy, I've been on the receiving end myself of being tagged a 'keyboard warrior' and such like, in the past, so know what it is like to be unfairly treated.

So why not step forward and clear the air like SloughFlyer appears to have done. Then no one can have a problem with your posts.

 

Unless you've got something to hide? ...........

[Jon Underwood]

Jon,

 

I'm not disappointed with the result yesterday (I was hoping for a draw at best away to a club a division above us), but more about the lack of cohesion and understanding between players over several matches, which defensively is leading to giving away too many goals and offensively not scoring from good attacking positions and set plays.

 

Is this something that can be resolved by you and Bakes with the current squad, or are we likely to see some more new signings?

There will be signings.

[3spirit]

SloughFlyer, you're entitled to an opinion, I disagree with you on some your comments, though, on players.

 

Jamie McClurg is a far better player than most people recognise. Do think he's getting quite a bit of flak at the moment and seems to be the fall guy for our problems in midfield.

A centre midfield two or three is a partnership. Fact is Jamie doesn't fit well with Adam Martin but that doesn't make either of them a bad player.

 

Sean Fraser was our best player for our first 7 games. He's had his work cut out of late but hasn't turned into a bad player over night. Still young and learning this level.

 

Gary MacDonald you've been unfair about. His record speaks for itself. Last season at Hayes and Yeading, he was playing as a defensive holding midfielder.

At Slough we've thrown him in the deep end straight away to play as a centre half. He is strong and good in the air. He is a big bloke but can be caught out by speed, given his size and age, this is understandable.

I would like to see us play three centre backs to improve his and our overall game but that's up to our managers.

 

I won't bother saying anymore but it is easy to criticise than come to any solutions. All teams and managers have shaky spells, you often learn more from the bad times than the good, so I'm willing to see how we rectify our current problems and besides that's half the fun of watching a team like Slough !

Edited September 27, 2015 by 3spirit

[C'est la vie]

Very well written piece there 3spirit