v Kettering

[Reading Rebel]

Good luck to the team.

 

COYR!!

[kirk]

Guess that's what you call a reality check, to be fair I don't see Kettering winning the league.It's a shame that whenever we get a big crowd we play poorly.

[RebelVilla]

I thought we lost the game in the 1st half by playing too cautiously and too deep. Flood was isolated on his own up front and was outnumbered by the Kettering defence each time he received the ball.

 

At least the managers changed the formation in the second half and we finally started to ask questions of the Kettering back line.

 

Our best outfield players were Manny and Dobbo. The fact that these were our subs speaks volumes about the team selection.

 

Looking forward to a positive response v Gosport on Tuesday.

 

COYR

[PaxtonLee]

Agree with RebelVilla regarding the 1st half and Flood. Really isolated and no-one close enough for him to link with or any runners off of him. It set a rather flat tone.

 

Manny probed 2nd half but we still created very little in truth.

 

No criticism of the effort from anyone, just didn't click today.

 

As a relative newbie to Slough Town, any thoughts on why the captaincy has changed from Fraser?

[onegolfer]

Very disappointing today. Firstly not sure why we started with only up front when at home we could and should have taken the game to them. The first

substitution was correct in my view. Good footballers can play in a number of positions and Fraser is one if not the best right back in this league.

I would have taken Lench off at half time, if not before, not at his best today, just hope he can get his pre season form up and running but Dodson

delivered in a shorter period of time. I do have a concern that Wells is trying to 'get up to speed' to compete at this level and obviously hope that he does (as we have no natural cover). It certainly made a difference when Williams came on as we started to create opportunities.

Kettering (on todays performance)are a reasonable side but not exceptional in any way.

Early days I know and hopefully not too may more like today!

[Radders]

Not going to go over the top on today's game, it is just one poor performance but just a shame it had to be first game of the season. Disappointingly I think it was some of our key players who weren't at their best today (nisbet, dunny and lench primarily) but I know there is much better to come and many teams have lost on day 1 and gone on to bigger and better things which I'm sure we will.

 

Not sure why some of our fans took issue with the ref and their keeper after their second goal - the ref wasn't great but neither of them was the reason why we lost today. Some of the vitriol was unnecessary and I'm sure could put off potential new fans who were there for the first time today.

 

Oh well, at least it gives Kirk an opportunity to stay out of his cave for a couple for days. For the rest of us, onwards and upwards and looking forward to Tuesday.

Edited August 12, 2017 by Radders

[Irishadrian]

Disappointing but our losses last season were well into double figures and we still made the play-offs Neil and Jon are really between a rock and a hard place when the team doesnt perform Their starting XI would have been based on performances prior to this game and frankly a number were well below their normal form Kettering were efficient and workmanlike but unlikely imo to be challenging at the end. Gosport were poor today and Hereford struggled

[Irishadrian]

For a point today We must forget today and look for 6 points from our next two games.

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

A poor performance and 2-1 flattered us. Seemed a strange formation and choice of team.

 

Was nice to see a number of new you youngsters behind the goal, hopefully not put off by the mindless abuse the keeper received by some "fans" after he dared to drink from his water bottle after they scored the 2nd. How dare he!!!?!? He wandered into the back of his net to get his bottle and drink, I think the abuse and racism directed at him was completely deserved. I mean HOW DARE HE, have a drink, why was he not sent off and banned for life? In fact why not shoot him. Our team made us look bad, our fans made us look embarrassing. I even said to mr radford how at least when we were losing 6-0 every game our fans were a credit to us. Wimbledon relegation party?!?

 

Also the ref had a pretty decent game, maybe a bit shy with the yellow cards. The outfielders lost us this game. Not the ref, not their keeper. Get a grip!

Edited August 12, 2017 by Don Juan DeMarcus

[redwine rebel]

Firstly I don't think the officials lost us the game, we did that, but don't think the ref was that great. Funny how people see things differently.

 

As for the keeper didn't deserve abuse but did need a rocket up his backside sorry x

[Curtis]

Disappointing today...... were we not strong enough today, or did the officials let them get away with too much and not stamp out the late challenges with yellow cards early on?

 

The time wasting creeping in to our level of football is also a worry, today some of it even started in the first half, and this went unpunished as well.

 

If this is what officiating is going to be like this season though, we are going to have to find a way to adapt to it very quickly.

 

I was surprised to see us start a home game with a single striker, but that changed after we went 1-0 down, and we didn't seem to have a great deal more success going forward in the remaining 60 minutes.

 

It's only 1 of 46 games though, so roll on Tuesday and Gosport.

[PaxtonLee]

Not the reason we lost but thought the ref was poor. Seemed easily swayed in his decision making and struggled to know when to blow and when to play on. The free-kick for their first goal, took an age to give it and seemed to react to the Kettering fans reaction. I was down the other end so happy to give the benefit of the doubt on that one.

 

The stuff with the keeper, didn't hear anything racist (Scottish?) but, yes, got dog's abuse. He seemed to lap it up though and enjoyed giving it back. Saw a number of fans clapping him at the end though.

 

Regarding Dobbo, stunning goal but thought his deliveries weren't up to his usual standard.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[3spirit]

Best thing about todays game was Jon's interview with John Porter after it !

Agreed with everything he said, bar one bit, that of the shape/formation in the first half.

To me we over complicated our play by how we lined up, with players looking confused as to what they were doing.

Don't have to be a rocket scientist to see it didn't work !

 

Second half thought we took off the right players,although for me I would have pulled Matt Lench and Nathan Smart at half time .favouring the introduction of Dobbo on the left and Gavin James up front, as the two Kettering centre halves had been largely untroubled and unruffled, and so I thought we need a more physical presence and some much needed pace upfront.

 

Too many players under performed and in some ways it's a good kick up their backsides, that as good as these players are, they still need to put in the hard yards to achieve the best results, and that the opposition aren't just going to roll over for them.

 

As for Kettering,they did what Slough didn't, by getting their basic game working well. I was particularly impressed by the number 6. We could have done with him on our side. He brought a physicality to their defensive midfield play, was a right pain in the ar"e in tackling and breaking up play and played on the edge of the game.

Slough players too often pussy footed around in any contact areas.

This may be an issue further along in our games,as we have some brilliant ball players but do look a bit on the soft side.

 

 Anyway, Slough can consign this game to the dustbin and try to make a better fist of it in the next game at Gosport.

I agree with Unders, that changes to the first eleven at Gosport, will need to happen because of today's poor showing. I can envisage as many as four or five changes, from the team that started today.

 

As the song goes 'Things can only get better' !

[Reading Rebel]

Agree with RebelVilla regarding the 1st half and Flood. Really isolated and no-one close enough for him to link with or any runners off of him. It set a rather flat tone.

 

Manny probed 2nd half but we still created very little in truth.

 

No criticism of the effort from anyone, just didn't click today.

 

As a relative newbie to Slough Town, any thoughts on why the captaincy has changed from Fraser?

 

 

It depends on your view of what a captain's role in the team is.

 

Is he captain just by the way he plays or not only by the way he plays but also the way he talks and rallies the troops.

 

For me we are still very quiet and are crying out for someone like Alan Inns who is an experienced captain of many years.

[SloughFlyer]

I think given the 4 pages of comments and discussion on the starting 11 for Kettering thread, anyone questioning he starting 11 today need to question themselves as there were so many options for the managers it was always going to be tough.

 

To me the problem was simple, throughout pre-season its been difficult to pick MoM awards due to the quality of the players, today it was tough to pick a MoM due to how poorly the team played. I though Turner did well and had no chance on the 2 goals and Nathan Webb performed fairly well, the rest of the side need to take a long hard look at their performances and improve them for Tuesday as with the quality in our squad there will be plenty of players knocking on the door for starting positions.

 

The time to respond is now, and lets face it, if we win the next 45 games will be in good shape LOL!!!

[Reading Rebel]

Very disappointing today. Firstly not sure why we started with only up front when at home we could and should have taken the game to them. The first

substitution was correct in my view. Good footballers can play in a number of positions and Fraser is one if not the best right back in this league.

I would have taken Lench off at half time, if not before, not at his best today, just hope he can get his pre season form up and running but Dodson

delivered in a shorter period of time. I do have a concern that Wells is trying to 'get up to speed' to compete at this level and obviously hope that he does (as we have no natural cover). It certainly made a difference when Williams came on as we started to create opportunities.

Kettering (on todays performance)are a reasonable side but not exceptional in any way.

Early days I know and hopefully not too may more like today!

 

 

As far as taking Smart and Lenchy off at half time I personally think it could have been any of a number of players as very few were at the races in the first half.

 

As for George Wells he's played at this level for the whole of last season and before that. 

[Reading Rebel]

I think given the 4 pages of comments and discussion on the starting 11 for Kettering thread, anyone questioning he starting 11 today need to question themselves as there were so many options for the managers it was always going to be tough.

 

To me the problem was simple, throughout pre-season its been difficult to pick MoM awards due to the quality of the players, today it was tough to pick a MoM due to how poorly the team played. I though Turner did well and had no chance on the 2 goals and Nathan Webb performed fairly well, the rest of the side need to take a long hard look at their performances and improve them for Tuesday as with the quality in our squad there will be plenty of players knocking on the door for starting positions.

 

The time to respond is now, and lets face it, if we win the next 45 games will be in good shape LOL!!!

 

 

Yes SF there were a lot of options before the game and it was always going to be a tough call for our managers but I think the biggest surprise for most supporters was playing with one striker when we were at home.    

[SloughFlyer]

And to be honest RR i was surprised at that as well, but i would assume the managers expected better performances from the players on the pitch than they got. Id say that was Simon Dunns worst game in a Slough shirt, Sean Fraser was watching the game for most of the first half, Warren Harris and Matt Lench did nothing at all on the wings and Chris Flood looked totally lost and less said about Nathan Smart the better. Chuck all of those good players into the poor or worse performance and it wouldnt have mattered what formation we played today.

[HorshamRebel]

Match Photos

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/horshamrebel/albums/72157684041732022

[Reading Rebel]

I have to say that yes, I was very surprised when I saw that we were only playing with Floody up front and for most of the first half he looked isolated up against 2 or 3 Kettering defenders.

 

Having listened to Unders in his interview the idea was to dominate the midfield by playing 5 across the middle. Unfortunately it didn't work mainly because virtually to a man they were all well below par which meant Floody was starved of any service and support from our midfield.

Edited August 12, 2017 by Reading Rebel