v Eastbourne 26th November

[GlenSTFC]

1 minute ago, Irishadrian said:

Maybe World Cup football kept some at home!

Well if they’d rather watch Tunisia v Australia then I guess we’d never see them at a match!!!

[Irishadrian]

Surprisingly  wading through the Eastbourne twitterfeed and social media  there is no sense of a walkover against poor opponents Theyre seeing it as one of those games we all get a few times a season when almost everything thay tried came off and we played OK but without much luck COYR.

[Windsor Rebel]

Worst I have seen a Slough side  play in donkey years, at least two of their goals were preventable, no pride, no fight until the last 15 minutes. Shocking.

[3spirit]

6 hours ago, Windsor Rebel said:

Worst I have seen a Slough side  play in donkey years, at least two of their goals were preventable, no pride, no fight until the last 15 minutes. Shocking.

Very harsh statement, WR.Over the top in my eyes.

We have a new player manager, and new assistant player manager/coach who haven't managed before, and are currently having to learn on the job by going with a bunch of players assembled by Bakes and Unders. They will need time to find their feet and 'sort the wheat from the chafe'. Scott and Lee have been chucked in the 'deep end' with this and will need time to make their own mark. We shouldn't be expecting miracles from the off.

To me not every aspect from the game was bad in my opinion. The result may not have gone our way but Eastbourne are currently 'the form' team. 

Slough actually started the game well and should have taken the lead. Ok Eastbourne were 3 up by half time but Scott did the right thing by going on the sidelines and watching from there what was happening. Second half things improved with a the change in formation and the introduction of Aaron Kuhl and George Hunt in midfield. Our problem though is still scoring goals and finding a forward who could hold the ball up in the opposition's defensive line.     

Edited November 27, 2022 by 3spirit

[Irishadrian]

Not sure I totally agree that scoring goals is our main problem we've  scored 21  Teams with 21 or less currently 8  Weve conceded 37  Teams with more goals conceded currently 1.

[Ian g f]

8 hours ago, Windsor Rebel said:

Worst I have seen a Slough side  play in donkey years, at least two of their goals were preventable, no pride, no fight until the last 15 minutes. Shocking.

Spot on Slough were dire Not sure where we we go from here well relegation without a doubt

[Footyfan007]

As expected part of the learning curve by the new gaffers in there first real test, let’s not forget Eastbourne are on a roll.

I was asked before the game for a score prediction by a football friend and I quoted 6-1 loss after seeing the starting line up and Eastbourne in good form.  Hoping that I would be proved wrong though!

My reasons also behind this Maidenhead I don’t think played us in top gear having seen them a few times this season, Hanwell had the worse back 4 I had seen all season at any game I have attended.  So this was just papering over the cracks. 

It’s all about levels and leagues, for me this is the reason certain players hadn’t been played more often by the previous gaffers.  

The second half was much more improved with lots of good points to take forward and work on.

We seem to get undone on transitions a lot, adding into this some individual errors - if these could be improved that dreaded relegation would be avoided.

Earlier this season I was confident of a playoff place but this current run has closed of my belief on that and I hope the relegation trap door is now avoided.

I also spoke to a paying football scout yesterday as the vultures will be monitoring Slough players and the current situation. 

Scott’s post match interview was on point and from a man who clearly cares and wants better, he has landed with a difficult task, but was big enough to stand up and be counted to help this club.  We should all get behind him and the team in these difficult days. 

There are a lot of hidden gems playing step, 3,4 and 5 football but you don’t get as many scouts watching these games now.   Dandy came from step 3 (albeit ex Portsmouth academy) and Forster was playing at step 5 as examples. 

Dandy was watched at least 5 times prior to the previous gaffers attending to watch him before he joined. 

So if this is the route Scott mentioned taking to add numbers there out there but they have to be watched in games over a period of time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Footyfan007

[3spirit]

3 hours ago, Irishadrian said:

Not sure I totally agree that scoring goals is our main problem we've  scored 21  Teams with 21 or less currently 8  Weve conceded 37  Teams with more goals conceded currently 1.

I think on closer inspection, and not taking into account the flourish of August and September,when teams usually start well with a Bakes and Unders pre-season,these are the facts in October we scored 5 goals in 5 games with Scott Davies scoring 2, Josh Jackman scoring 2 and Arnold Matshazi getting 1. In November in our league games including yesterday against Eastbourne we have scored 3 goals - 1 from Matshazi, 1 from Togs and yesterdays penalty by Aaron Kuhl. The Hanwell trophy match and the Maidenhead b+b game Manny Williiams got 2 of the goals and he is no longer at the club ! The other two came from Matshazi and Jackman.

Now I don't like singling players out but Ben Harris and Elliot Benyon haven't scored a goal between them in two months. People will say they've both been injured but with Ben this is a regular occurence and with Elliot he hasn't been a prolific scorer for years. He only scored two for Oxford City in the league last season ! Slough are carrying forwards who are not good enough or not fit enough.Imran Kayani is simply not up to the rigours of the National South. To me he would make a better winger than centre forward. We should use those 3 players money to go and get ONE on form proven striker who isn't a wallflower and will show up before now and the end of the season.

[HEAVY TRUCKER]

we really need to tighten up our defence and allow the strikers to do their jobif we are able to stop the opposition from scoring the worst we will get is a draw ( arsenal do well at this ) this will breed confidence and confidence will bring goals

[3spirit]

4 minutes ago, HEAVY TRUCKER said:

we really need to tighten up our defence and allow the strikers to do their jobif we are able to stop the opposition from scoring the worst we will get is a draw ( arsenal do well at this ) this will breed confidence and confidence will bring goals

The defence can be sorted easily and is not the problem. The one player we are missing is a left footed centre half but we have coped without that for good while. Bakes and Unders teams are built on defence so to me that is no way our issue despite yesterdays 1-5 defeat. 

[GlenSTFC]

27 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

I think on closer inspection, and not taking into account the flourish of August and September,when teams usually start well with a Bakes and Unders pre-season,these are the facts in October we scored 5 goals in 5 games with Scott Davies scoring 2, Josh Jackman scoring 2 and Arnold Matshazi getting 1. In November in our league games including yesterday against Eastbourne we have scored 3 goals - 1 from Matshazi, 1 from Togs and yesterdays penalty by Aaron Kuhl. The Hanwell trophy match and the Maidenhead b+b game Manny Williiams got 2 of the goals and he is no longer at the club ! The other two came from Matshazi and Jackman.

Now I don't like singling players out but Ben Harris and Elliot Benyon haven't scored a goal between them in two months. People will say they've both been injured but with Ben this is a regular occurence and with Elliot he hasn't been a prolific scorer for years. He only scored two for Oxford City in the league last season ! Slough are carrying forwards who are not good enough or not fit enough.Imran Kayani is simply not up to the rigours of the National South. To me he would make a better winger than centre forward. We should use those 3 players money to go and get ONE on form proven striker who isn't a wallflower and will show up before now and the end of the season.

I fully agree on what you say about Ben, Elliot and Imran. When both Ben and Elliot were out it seemed like once they were back we’d be fine and scoring goals again. But I never shared this optimism and it’s proved this far they aren’t the answer. Neither are prolific and both are getting to the end of the careers and understandably are prone to injury more. You would think Elliot would be one of the higher earners too. With Imran, you can’t fault his effort but for me it’s maybe a step too high for him currently and again he’s not an answer for me. So let’s say conservatively all 3 earn £750 between them, we should be able to attract a decent striker even if it’s one level below for £500 and save the other £250 to assist the club. We’d still have a loan striker and yes 2 strikers isn’t ideal but if it got us the necessary goals in the short term it might be worth the gamble?

[Reading Rebel]

13 hours ago, Irishadrian said:

Surprisingly  wading through the Eastbourne twitterfeed and social media  there is no sense of a walkover against poor opponents Theyre seeing it as one of those games we all get a few times a season when almost everything thay tried came off and we played OK but without much luck COYR.

Easy to say when you win 5-1.

[Reading Rebel]

6 hours ago, 3spirit said:

Very harsh statement, WR.Over the top in my eyes.

We have a new player manager, and new assistant player manager/coach who haven't managed before, and are currently having to learn on the job by going with a bunch of players assembled by Bakes and Unders. They will need time to find their feet and 'sort the wheat from the chafe'. Scott and Lee have been chucked in the 'deep end' with this and will need time to make their own mark. We shouldn't be expecting miracles from the off.

To me not every aspect from the game was bad in my opinion. The result may not have gone our way but Eastbourne are currently 'the form' team. 

Slough actually started the game well and should have taken the lead. Ok Eastbourne were 3 up by half time but Scott did the right thing by going on the sidelines and watching from there what was happening. Second half things improved with a the change in formation and the introduction of Aaron Kuhl and George Hunt in midfield. Our problem though is still scoring goals and finding a forward who could hold the ball up in the opposition's defensive line.     

You mean like Manny Williams  😏

[SloughFlyer]

13 hours ago, Windsor Rebel said:

Worst I have seen a Slough side  play in donkey years, at least two of their goals were preventable, no pride, no fight until the last 15 minutes. Shocking.

You presumably weren't at Hungerford 2 weeks ago WR? Or Chippenham away last season? Or Whitehawk at home a couple of seasons back!!.

Whilst a 5-1 loss is a poor result, the performance was by no means terrible. To me it was more about individual errors and certianly the original shape we played isn't suited to the current players we have (either in the squad or fit).

I did also think there were some positives to draw out from yesterday and I'm sure Scott will be looking at those to build on. A very tough December coming up, but as SirRebel has mentioned him, Marc White often says "its only 3 points" and even if w are in the bottom 4 at the turn of the year, there is a heck of a lot of football to play yet.

[Reading Rebel]

The first thing to say is that the players we had missing at the start of the game, Kuhl, Lench, Goddard, Hunt and Hollis would weaken any side especially as 4 of them are in the engine room of midfield.

Having said that, the formation we played yesterday was what I call a 'gung ho' formation. One that achieves a handsome win with lots of goals scored or one that gets you soundly beaten which unfortunately is what happened.

Our formation looked like a 3-4-3 with Josh Jackman and Gabe George out wide as the two wing backs, leaving Toggs and Fabio Sole in central midfield.

We started the game quite well, holding our own without any real supply from midfield to our 3 strikers and as such no shots on target.

Unfortunately Eastbourne were finding it far too easy to slice through our midfield with Toggs and Fabio looking over-run in central midfield.

Cue the first goal coming from a mistake from George Wells followed by an unchallenged shot on the edge of the area and a shot across our keeper from a wide position. All goals that Eastbourne didn't have to work hard for.    

With the introduction of Aaron Kuhl in the second half and then George Hunt our play improved dramatically and at last we started to look decent putting pressure on their back line and carving out some chances which eventually lead to our penalty.

Scoreline apart one real negative is that Aaron Kuhl was limping at the final whistle.

3 of our next 4 league games are against 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the table and if we line up and play like that against Ebbsfleet next week our goals against will be looking a lot worse than it already is. 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Reading Rebel

[GlenSTFC]

Wow we played with an extra man and still got thrashed!!

[Reading Rebel]

8 minutes ago, GlenSTFC said:

Wow we played with an extra man and still got thrashed!!

Just for you Glen I've amended it.

[Reading Rebel]

I always like to give my view of the game before I listen the managers post match interview so as not to be swayed by it.

Just listened to Scott's interview and was suitable impressed by his views and honesty on what happened in the game. 

[Reading Rebel]

This bit about vultures circling to sign our better players.

Not sure there will be too many vultures circling based solely upon our form and league position.

5 hours ago, Ian g f said:

Spot on Slough were dire Not sure where we we go from here well relegation without a doubt

Now now Ian, that's not the spirit 😉

[GlenSTFC]

5 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

This bit about vultures circling to sign our better players.

Not sure there will be too many vultures circling based solely upon our form and league position.

Now now Ian, that's not the spirit 😉

For me there’s only 2 maybe 3 players I think would attract attention and I’d be disappointed to lose. Not sure if any of these are on contract (hopefully they are) and if they do leave we at least get some money (this time!).

Edited November 27, 2022 by GlenSTFC