Truro H 11th Dec

[Rebellier]

3 hours ago, Sir Rebel1965 said:

Well done Wayne Kerr-Cartmel, that was the most spineless and inaccurate officiating I have ever seen - you were awful.

If you could get it wrong you did, and you must have been blind to miss so much.

Is this National League South going to be called the Fairy League as the number of players who go down with the slightest of touches is unbelievable and muppets like Wayne buy it.

Well done to the Truro six who out sung the hard core Slough fans – where have all the FA Cup glory hunters gone?

Are there orders not to shot in front of goal? As although we do the hard work the finishing this season has not been there.

Time for a few new faces and one needs to be a big front hard man to challenge the large backs this level has - sometimes it needs to be brutal.

A bottom of the league Truro travelling on a Tuesday night should have been 3 points every day – need to take our chances and this was one of them.

Truro are hardly bottom of the league, but I take your point. Apparently the team only arrived 1/2 hour before kick off as well......

[Mark44]

I left the game feeling very disappointed and downheartened......Even Lee Togwell (aka Mr Reliable) had a shocker which about sums up the night......

I thought going forward we looked good in the first 20 with Ben, Manny & Dobbo all starting bright but as the game went on we seemed to look less and less like scoring. I was suprised that we looked to get wound up by Truro's antics (who played the fact of poor officiating and being ahead very well) when we are usually a very level headed team.....

I cannot believe the Linesman said to Trent "Who do you think you are, Shut up" and was almost squaring up to him.....his job is to remain calm and in control, I hope we report him!!!

For me this season will be a learning curve as we get to know what needs to adapt to compete at this level. I believe we have the right people in place to do this in Bakes and Unders who have proved themselves on several occassions and I believe it is the waiting game (The higher you go the less pool of players to choose from who are good enough). We will see tweaks i am sure but we need to remain positive and behind the lads 

 

COYR

[Stuntman Mark]

3 hours ago, Sir Rebel1965 said:

Wayne Kerr

The referee's a ....

As poor as the officials were last night, so were we 1-11 and Truro deserved the win.

Onto Hungerford.

[Neil Baker]

Not going to respond on performance etc in regards to last night, as that is people’s opinions which everyone is entitled to, obviously there were some outside factors which for me did have an effect on the game (Dunny penalty for me would more likely put us 2 up after 12 mins and confidence etc more often than not would win us the game), however we are well aware that our issues at present are not putting the ball in the back of the net (and that is all over the pitch).

Irishadrian mentioned about points after 11 games etc, just so you guys are aware of our targets, we look at games in blocks of 6, and ideally looking at 10 points per 6 games, which would give us 70 points and a chance of play offs (and what would be a fantastic first season at this level coupled with FA Cup run, and a pretty high target to set in our first year), we are currently 5 points off that target.

We are on a bit of a poor run with 1 win 2 draws and 2 defeats from our last 5 league games, but we will recover, as we have the mental strength to do so, we are still creating plenty of chances, and ultimately are a good team, there will probably need to be a couple of tweaks, however I am sure that you know us well enough by now, to know we won’t rest on our laurels, however to expect this “top” striker to come in is not a case or waving a magic wand.

Most decent scoring forwards are on contracts, at this level and the one below (and even below that), therefore without paying a fee you are not getting any of them, so you are then looking at potential loan players who are more often untested and untried at this level or players who have been released or leaving a club, unhappy etc and not under contract.

Either way we are looking at all options, and will keep you updated as and when anything changes.

I know the vast majority of you are realistic to what we can maybe achieve in year one, and we appreciate that, it is an extremely tough league, and the games we play every week are like playing the top 5 form last season, I know people mention Truro not being very good as they are below us (due to a poor start with a different manager)  however their new manager won manager of the month for November, and despite losing Saturday where by all accounts they were poor, they are clearly a good side also, and up until Saturday were unbeaten in 6.

 

[GlenSTFC]

Neil, when you say looking at all options would that include the paying a fee option?

[Guest Wycombe Rebel]

For me, this season is already one to remember as we have had a great FA Cup run and we are competitive in a higher league with the same squad (barring 1 out and 1 in), this squad deserve a full season at this level to prove if they are capable of lasting the pace of what I call the "Bakes and Unders Project",  if we finish mid table it's a very good season, if we make the Play Offs it's an excellent season.OK, we are struggling to put the ball in the net at the moment BUT Floody, Manny and Ben Harris deserve the full season which they will get I assume, some are calling for new strikers, why??? It's not just strikers who score goals, barring Dobbo are midfield aren't scoring enough either but is it really that big of a problem?!?! No it's not, we are not going to get relegated and we are not getting embarrassed either, I'm sure we will grow into the season, for me, if we were to go up this season it would be too soon, it should be a 3-5 year plan to climb each division. Maybe our success recently is going to the heads of some but keep the faith, we'll be alright!

[SloughFlyer]

CookhamRebel - the reason for new striker/s is a few IMO - 1. We only have 3 currently which at this level isn't good enough from a squad point of view. 2. Ben Harris has a history of injuries and has been injured regularly with us. In addition he does have a "side to him that will get him suspended this season. 3. Chris Flood also has a history of injuries. 4. Manny is 38 and whilst that isn't a major deal, unfortunately he isn't a long term good enough player at this level to score even 10 goals this season (league). So of our 3 current strikers it is realistic to believe that at least 1 of them will be missing at any 1 time. In addition, the strikers we have just haven't been firing this season in the league thus far.

I think the main reason people are calling for change is with Matty Stevens leaving this leaves us in a very vulenerable position with forward options. In this league, due to how tight it is, if form (as listed by Neil above) doesn't improve, we will continue to drop down the table. Either the players we have need to find some consistency of performance, the managers need to get some more options into the current squad or we need to change some personel. Unfortunately, none of the above is easy as if it was, we'd all be managers LOL.

I'm certain Neil and Jon are working very hard behind the scenes to improve all aspects of the team performance and it's no secret that I think that starts with a a striker. The only thing to add for me is, for those that know, my Dad and I watch a heck of a lot of football in a season (between 80 and 90 games Slough inclusive) and currently around the leagues we watch, we haven't seen a striker that we would seem "good enough" to come into the Rebels and make a difference, which to us highlights the difficulty Neil and Jon have.

I also think it is a bit of a cross roads for the club now, as we need to decide the type of club we will be. Are we going to continue down our current path of free / loan signing or look to spend money. Currently I think the best route is the former until we established at this level, thus, a new striker isn't that simple.

A big few weeks of the club as a whole up coming as we need to perform in those all important Xmas and New Year games or it will start to be a very long and nervy season.

[Irishadrian]

Yes we have a temporary problem but not IMO a major one

Our league record since the beginning of October is  W 1 D 2 L 4 points 5 but the games in this league are so tight/competitive that if we had taken just one of the many missed chances in these games then that record would read

W 3 D 4 L 0 points 13 and we would be sitting in the playoff places

As a few have said no team has well beaten us and IMO none is likely to  We've had little luck recently but that will change and so long as we don't incur any serious injuries I believe most will be happy at seasons end.

[Neil Baker]

2 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

Neil, when you say looking at all options would that include the paying a fee option?

Nope we will not be paying fees for players, as a club we live within our means, and paying money for players (who may or may not work) is not the way to go at this stage.

Just on a side note we have had contact from the referee last night apologising for his performance, and I have spoken with him personally, it is very rare for this to happen, and hugely appreciated, he knows that he had an off day, however we all have them, I was bitterly disappointed with many aspects last night, but in essence it is one of 42 games, and I am sure that when we got a penalty at home against Oxford for the tackle on Matty none of us were complaining, so we have to take the rough with the smooth, however rough it may seem at the time.

[Irishadrian]

Neil That's really nice to hear Yes they can all have days when they get it wrong I took a look at some of his recent games his record is online and didn't find adverse comments so he recognised a stinker and held his hands up!

[Reading Rebel]

Fair play to last night's ref for putting his hands up to having a stinker. As said how many would be honest enough to actually phone up and apologize.

What I don't get is that refs decisions can and will always be contentious but why do they allow players to surround them mob handed, mouth off to them, time waste etc.

It's not difficult to nip these things in the bud and would make life a lot easier for themselves and help stop a lot of animosity from supporters if they did.

As I always say they are fools to themselves to seemingly allow these things to happen.

[Radders]

If you’re not able to answer this Neil then i understand, but how did the ref analyse he’d had a bad game? Did he get an assessor review, watch highlights or just wake up this morning realising he messed up? As I say, you may not be able to/want to say which is fine. 

[Neil Baker]

No feedback as there wasn’t an assesor there, difficult to say what led him to say what he did, but assume like a player you know when you have had a poor game, the same can be said for an official... you know when you have made mistakes in general IMO and in the moment once you make a decision it is almost impossible to reverse, even if you are sitting there 20 seconds later thinking I should have given that....

I was critical of his performance, and I said something to him on full time that will stay between him and I, however I did not go into his room to seek answers on his performance as you get nothing from it, as both the management and the officials are caught up in the emotion, and either side is always going to defend their position.

Either way whatever led him to say what he did should be applauded, as he did not need to do it, and whilst it doesn’t help us now, it sure gives me some respect for him to the type of person he is.

At the end of the day refs are normal people who are just trying to do their (usually second) job, and whilst we get caught up in the emotion, they don’t deliberately go out to make mistakes (doesn’t stop the emotions as proved in my interview) but in the cold light of day there are more important things in life to worry about.

[Reading Rebel]

Just watched the FC Video and whilst not crucial it's a bit of a shame that Adrian's commentary is again inaudible.  

[Matt]

2 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

Just watched the FC Video and whilst not crucial it's a bit of a shame that Adrian's commentary is again inaudible.  

It's not that the commentary is kept deliberately quiet, it's likely a technical problem with layering the audio from YouTube over the video footage.

[Reading Rebel]

2 minutes ago, Matt said:

It's not that the commentary is kept deliberately quiet, it's likely a technical problem with layering the audio from YouTube over the video footage.

Thanks for the reply Matt.

I gathered that the commentary wasn't deliberately kept quiet and was most likely to be a technical problem.

[Shredding Green]

On 12/12/2018 at 09:53, Mark44 said:

I left the game feeling very disappointed and downheartened......Even Lee Togwell (aka Mr Reliable) had a shocker which about sums up the night......

I thought going forward we looked good in the first 20 with Ben, Manny & Dobbo all starting bright but as the game went on we seemed to look less and less like scoring. I was suprised that we looked to get wound up by Truro's antics (who played the fact of poor officiating and being ahead very well) when we are usually a very level headed team.....

I cannot believe the Linesman said to Trent "Who do you think you are, Shut up" and was almost squaring up to him.....his job is to remain calm and in control, I hope we report him!!!

For me this season will be a learning curve as we get to know what needs to adapt to compete at this level. I believe we have the right people in place to do this in Bakes and Unders who have proved themselves on several occassions and I believe it is the waiting game (The higher you go the less pool of players to choose from who are good enough). We will see tweaks i am sure but we need to remain positive and behind the lads 

 

COYR

We would have settled for 7-4-7 after 18 matches at the start of the season but after a good run took us to 6-2-3 and talk of the play-offs , the recent run of 1-2-4 has been questioned. The win and four defeats were all by the odd goal. That's how close we are to competing at this level where there are no bad teams  

[3spirit]

On 12/12/2018 at 11:15, SloughFlyer said:

CookhamRebel - the reason for new striker/s is a few IMO - 1. We only have 3 currently which at this level isn't good enough from a squad point of view. 2. Ben Harris has a history of injuries and has been injured regularly with us. In addition he does have a "side to him that will get him suspended this season. 3. Chris Flood also has a history of injuries. 4. Manny is 38 and whilst that isn't a major deal, unfortunately he isn't a long term good enough player at this level to score even 10 goals this season (league). So of our 3 current strikers it is realistic to believe that at least 1 of them will be missing at any 1 time. In addition, the strikers we have just haven't been firing this season in the league thus far.

I think the main reason people are calling for change is with Matty Stevens leaving this leaves us in a very vulenerable position with forward options. In this league, due to how tight it is, if form (as listed by Neil above) doesn't improve, we will continue to drop down the table. Either the players we have need to find some consistency of performance, the managers need to get some more options into the current squad or we need to change some personel. Unfortunately, none of the above is easy as if it was, we'd all be managers LOL.

I'm certain Neil and Jon are working very hard behind the scenes to improve all aspects of the team performance and it's no secret that I think that starts with a a striker. The only thing to add for me is, for those that know, my Dad and I watch a heck of a lot of football in a season (between 80 and 90 games Slough inclusive) and currently around the leagues we watch, we haven't seen a striker that we would seem "good enough" to come into the Rebels and make a difference, which to us highlights the difficulty Neil and Jon have.

I also think it is a bit of a cross roads for the club now, as we need to decide the type of club we will be. Are we going to continue down our current path of free / loan signing or look to spend money. Currently I think the best route is the former until we established at this level, thus, a new striker isn't that simple.

A big few weeks of the club as a whole up coming as we need to perform in those all important Xmas and New Year games or it will start to be a very long and nervy season.

Sloughflyer, I agree with a lot that you have said here but what I don't agree with you on, is there are no strikers out there that would enhance Slough. I think that statement is over inflating how good our front line is.

On a previous thread, I mentioned Jon Mills as a possibility. Now as a player, while I haven't seen him numerous times, I have seen him a few times, and while I have never been bowled over by his overall game you have to recognise that he is strong, robust, and by finding space gets shots in and seems to know with consumate ease, how to put the ball in the net, and that is one of the elements that seems hard to come by for our team currently. Finding a regular 20 goal a season striker is hard but not impossible. Slough are still a big draw in non league circles and we should be able to attract one, regardless of this contract hazard.                                                                                                                            

We also need another forward, who can head a ball and isn't a shrinking violet and is willing to ruffle up the feathers of a few opposition centre halves but not in a fouling sort of way. As everyone knows on here, I would prefer a 6ft plus, number ten. He doesn't have to be the best.He just needs to be efficient at what he does. For the amount of high crosses that Bakes and Unders use in every game, it is frankly flabbergasting that we don't go and get one. In this league, we need one. Not for every game but certainly for quite a few. I see Chris Flood as a player that can play as a 9 or 10 and with two other new strikers, we would improve our strike force/goal ratio no end.    

I rate Chris Flood highly and consider him to be our number one striker and would want him to be at club next season. Manny Williams to me is worth his salt in our squad. To me he's a super sub and on occasion, the right choice for certain games but long term, time is against him. I don't class him as a forward. Ben Harris I find infuriating, as he has ability but wastes it and is so sporadic in his performances to the team, that it makes him more of a liability on the pitch, than him being this great asset. I prefer him as a sub, than in the first eleven but when he does start matches, he always starts with aplomb but after a while gets embroiled in all sorts of crap ie fouling players,dissent and feigning injury, so ends up going off the boil and delivering little. Players like him are all right short term but won't win you anything.

Edited December 14, 2018 by 3spirit

[Curtis]

Some of that is stuff you might moan about in the bar after a loss..... but is it really appropriate to post it on here?

[Sir Rebel1965]

I have to post something on here so I will post total rubbish, regardless of its quality or relevance.........