Leatherhead v Town

[seemgee]

Team

 

McDonald, Joseph, Gabriel, Kiangebeni, Kirby, Muleba, Campbell, Crook, Devyne, Ottaway, Dickson

 

Subs, Quinton, Wynter, Bihmoutine, Shulton, Collins

[seemgee]

Town 1 down after 6 mins

[seemgee]

Very slow start by the Town getting better as the half went on but trail to that early goal at half time

[seemgee]

2 down 53 mins

[seemgee]

2-1 Wynter 69 mins

[seemgee]

FT 1-2 

[4wembleyfinals]

I await observations on game from spectator point of view. Also I was wondering why Mickey Purcell was not playing. Is he injured or was he rested? From what I have heard so far , from various sources, we missed

his vitality and 90 mins endeavour.

[Steph1]

A poor performance. The Tanners played with a high back four and we had neither the speed or guile to break through it. We attempted to pass the ball through their defence but their discipline and tight back line that was never going to work.

[vauxhallman]

Mickey was injured and yes we missed him big time.

Brad I'm sure will agree that was the worst 1st half league performance this season I'm affraid to say.

Heads up and go again Boxing Day.

Happy Xmas to you all.

[4wembleyfinals]

I am sorry to hear Mickey is injured. We cannot afford to lose him at this time of the season.

 

It was interesting to read Steph1 remarks regarding our lack of guile and speed

and our inability to penetrate their defence. This unfortunately has been a

problem for a while now. It relates clearing to the principle style of play being adopted. Not wishing to distract from the work rate and skills of Harry O, his

holding ability is wasted if he is always playing ahead of those who are suppose

to be along side or beyond him to pick up the next ball. To achieve this you need someone to be prepared to gamble on his second ball by playing off the last defender. So many

times he is isolated and has to battle against several defenders. If the coaches want to

employ him as the target man then you must start him alongside some one who is willing

and able to do a lot of running from the start. Otherwise they should formulate a plan

"B". At the moment we are becoming too predictable.

 

As I said when considering the Needham and Lowestoft games I would like to see

Mickey Parcell (when fit) tried in this sort of role. Failing that start Wynter, as he is

probably the fastest in the field.

 

All this may prove purely academic as we are just as likely to go and thrash

Leiston next week, possible without Harry if he is suspended.

 

Finally what has happened to Doyle has he gone back to work abroad? It would be

nice to hear occasionally about missing players, injuries etc. No one ever seems to

mention Livings' state at the moment.

[AnfieldTowner]

Agree with much of what's been said but don't think we should be too critical of the players yesterday. We could have snatched a draw and might have if the referee hadn't let Leatherhead get away with so much time wasting (particularly their goalkeeper but at one stage their management team even kicked a ball onto the pitch to stop us taking a quick throw!). That said, credit where it's due - Jimmy Bullard has turned them around and is building a good side. Tactically they were better than us and I thought they were one of the best sides we've come up against this season.

 

Percy's inexperience in centre midfield showed up big time but Brad did recognise that and we were much better after he switched Jon Meluba in there, and better still with Scott Shulton as well. Jon Meluba is one of those unsung players that you only know you've missed when he's not there - yesterday showed up well how good he is in central midfield, though I think his best position is likely to be as a defensive rock just in front of the back four with two central midfield players ahead of him. Not sure that fits well with our current system though.

 

I wonder if the intensity of our pre-match warm up has something to do with why we often have a slow start to games? Probably helps our fitness levels towards the end of matches but too often we seem to be playing catch up.

 

Think the key to our season is likely to be whether we can find a consistent role for Tyler. So often he's switching to several positions during a game and he's always the one likely to unlock a defence. 2 goals on Tuesday were excellent but 3 goals from the entire season tells a different story - think we should be building our system of play around him in the same way as Liverpool do with Coutinho. The one moment of quality yesterday was provided by Tyler when setting up Dernell's goal. 

 

We're all aware of our defensive frailties but it's our goalscoring, or lack of, that's proving our biggest problem. We're clearly a much better team when Harry plays (probably our hardest working player who brings in others to the play) but 17 goals from 70 matches is not a great return from a striker. So many times he wins the header but others are not close enough to him to benefit. Top scorers this year are Dernell (9 - but 3 of those came in a cup game against lower league opposition), Harry (7), Billy Crook (7 - how many pens?) & Ricky Gabriel (4) - says it all really.

 

Finally, how many times did Jimmy Bullard enter the field of play yesterday? At one stage I counted 5 members of their management team outside the technical area! Poor officiating/different rules for celebrities/sour grapes at losing to a better organised team? Probably a bit of each!

[andyetfc]

AT. I cannot comment on the game yesterday as I wasn't there. However, are you implying that ETFC never time waste or have coaches who never get out of the technical area? It's a sad part of the game in general.

[4wembleyfinals]

Well done Anfield T, a very concise evaluation of the position.

 

In one of the twitters made on ETFC Official referred to our failure to stop early goals. Where as our goals conceded is one of the lowest in the league, even

of some of those above us. In fact it is only in the last 6 games or so have we

conceded more than we have scored. So what AT has said about preparation may not

be just a coincidence. It becomes obvious when we see how slow we are in getting

out of defence in the first 20/30 minutes of the game which tends to leave us

trailing even if we score first.

 

I also agree with his comments regarding Tyler. Playing him further up the field

would also help to quicken our game from the start, which in turn would help the

defence to settle.

 

I know that talking about the past isn't always acceptable to the young generation

of coaches and players but it may help if the management were to look back at

the " Revie Plan" which involved the Centre forward ( striker in modern parlance)

playing a withdrawn role providing openings for at least two other players in

front of him. I suppose the pundits would call it 4,3,1,2 and say it was

revolutionary. But nothing is new. After all Newcastle played 4,4,2 and 4,3,3 in

the early fifties. But that's another story, when we had commentators who just

described what they saw happening and not give an opinion. Like us!!!!!

[Steph1]

Good post particularly your analysis of Tyler. He is a good player but does disappear for periods, possibly because others don't know where to find him.

 

I don't agree with your comment regarding our warm up. I believe we are left cold at the beginning of games is more likely due to pacing ourselves and is why we are stronger at the end of games. Teams we play come out of the traps quickly and often catch us on the break due to our pedestrian build up. As our opponents tire we appear to get stronger and their breakaways are not so threatening.

 

As for Jimmy Bullard, we did not lose because of time wasting by the bench or goalkeeper. We lost because they were better organised.

[Steph1]

>4finals

 

I think wm is the best system but does not support modern non-smoking footballers with their pace and the light ball.

[4wembleyfinals]

Your views Steph accepted, but did you see Jackie Milburn, Cliff Jones to name but two who would have outrun quite a few of today's stars. Len Shackleton  could also often do more with a wet muddy leather laced ball for £20+ a week than some on to days stars on 50+ to 100K a week. Both Milburn and the latter also played with coal dust in their lungs having been originally down the pit. Also, we only paid 2/6d to get in to see them.

 

Remember, it's not necessary how fast you can run with the ball but what you do with it. Most of the players named above had natural talent which is more than can be said for a number of 6ft 6"  over coached and do it by numbers players in the modern game today.  

 

Don't believe all that the media tells you there are still some drinking and smoking players today, but mostly many  addicted gamblers.

 

I am not saying it was better then but the way they played and the systems used were not very different than today but not dressed up in all the industry of the pundits jargon. If you never saw Tom Finney play then you missed what the game should be about. 

 

One of the joys left to the old is to be able to reminisce!!!!!

[Beardsleyesque]

I think the only real mistake yesterday was playing percy in the middle. He is a good right side defender but loses the ball too often in the middle and so we were very disjointed as a result. Yesterday imo we could have played Percy right wing back Tyler in his most effective position on the left and started Keir in his best position in the 10. Scott was always there to add more combative play if that was required.

[townendleftside]

I thought it was a really fascinating and excellent game against the best organized opponents we have played this season. Leatherhead were  the total opposite of the usual Ryman set-up. In most of our games every re-start sees 16-18 outfield players either congregate  around the 'thrower' or all 20 players in a 25*25 yard area for  goal kicks or kicks out of hand. Leatherhead set up like a pro. side and used the full width and depth of the pitch to enable them to play out and receive the ball in space and with time. Harry / Bobby and Billy understood how to play against it; you cut off the second pass initially and then press down the line of the ball BUT you have to work really hard without the ball and work in twos. At our level you just have to wait for and punish a bad first touch - but they will occur - if you are patient and just persevere. Jimmy B empowered his players to be patient , urged them to be confident and trust each other and for 55 mins it worked. Sadly ( and you can't blame them ) some of our players had no idea at all how to play against a formation/system  like this ( 12 yard diamonds all over the pitch) and just got played around and frustrated in equal measure. It was an excellent game  which finally became competitive when we finally started to press effectively in our final 3rd and which in the end we were unlucky to lose. Despite the top-knot and snood combo I thought the information coming from the Leatherhead bench was top level .. they are obviously taking this seriously. It will be very interesting to see how they get on playing away at teams like Lowestoft or Riccy as the tackles come in on poor pitches - or if they totally adapt their style.

[4wembleyfinals]

I agree "B" but have you noticed how much of the Right Back work is covered by

Mickey Parcell. Kier always seems to tuck in close to the centre field. When I

query this I am told that "well he is really a midfielder filling in at back." If this is true then I rather have a fully fledge right back. But then Brad obviously regards him better than the long standing one we have.

 

It then goes back to my remarks that Mickey is too curtailed in his play by having to chaperone someone else. His effort and enthusiasm would best used if he was

relieved of this task.

[Beardsleyesque]

Percy would be the natural replacement for mickey as we play with wing backs. Samir or Keir would be the natural players in that position on the left but Tyler has been playing there.

 

One of the problems brad has got is juggling lots of good players who want to be playing every week. It will be interesting to see how we set up without Harry.