Chippenham V Town

[Rebel without a clue]

How can we not close another game out 😡

[4wembleyfinals]

Perhaps this is because we have players not up to playing 90+ plus. 

It is becoming obvious that some of the squad are not up to the standard required. Irrespective of their past pedigree or CVs. Many of which show them having had  numerous clubs. Something I have always found questionable.

Perhaps we should be looking at recruiting some younger players, even from lower leagues, to give fresh legs to some of the our older experienced conference players. 

However, this is not new. Think back to the number of times  games were lost in the final  minutes by teams in the AL period!!!  We still have several current players who were part of that era who benefitted from the influx of youth in the latter years.

Having said that, there is a long way to go and still time to turn it around. Although the sooner the better.  If only to raise the moral of the club.

 

 

 

Edited August 31 by 4wembleyfinals

[Flobalob]

Got nothing to do with the fitness or age of the players more to do with the eleven men behind the ball with no outlet… we were lucky to hang on against WSM using the same tactics… Leave two men up take the pressure off hanging on for grim death won’t get us anywhere…..

[symptomless]

It's encouraging that we're scoring goals, especially away from home. We could have had a couple others today.

The team and formation still isn't settled but there were good performances today, especially Dylan, Leonard, Knight and Kasimu. The defence was pretty sound in the first half too, only beaten by a special finish. 

The goals in the second were an unforced error and a hit on the break on 93 minutes when we were looking to get a winner. We need a lucky break and then hopefully we can get a run behind us. When do we play one of the sh!t clubs?

Also, teams at this level know how to break the game up and earn cheap fouls; that's something we'll have to learn to get an edge. 

[Albury_Walker]

Looks like the "we are entitled club "  isn't working too well at the moment . 

You lot still living off EFC memories and past glories which aren't yours  . 🫢🫢🫢

[Mr Happy]

27 minutes ago, Albury_Walker said:

Looks like the "we are entitled club "  isn't working too well at the moment . 

You lot still living off EFC memories and past glories which aren't yours  . 🫢🫢🫢

Bog off Albury_**n***!!!

[Flobalob]

36 minutes ago, Albury_Walker said:

Looks like the "we are entitled club "  isn't working too well at the moment . 

You lot still living off EFC memories and past glories which aren't yours  . 🫢🫢🫢

Any chance of us having your terracing seeing as  your pathetically small bunch of spotty kids won’t be needing it … 🤣

you are one 🤡….. 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

1 hour ago, Albury_Walker said:

Looks like the "we are entitled club "  isn't working too well at the moment . 

You lot still living off EFC memories and past glories which aren't yours  . 🫢🫢🫢

Albs! You're back! Lovely to hear from you! Now, can you tell me how your little amber team are getting on in that little London league they play in? Surely they're not hovering over the relegation trapdoor once again, are they??

[djwilf]

Ahead twice.   Unable to protect our lead....or even extend it.  No comparison between this season to last as we don't appear to have that 30 goal a season scorer and keeping the opposition out seems to be just as difficult.

Will do well to get anything out of Eastbourne on a Tuesday evening.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

Back to the game. I've had enough of Town assuming the role of plucky losers. We need to change our fortunes and do so now. I'm still not convinced by Nembhard and Tanner at the heart of defence - we're clearly conceding too many goals. That being said, I'm not sure where Gavin goes to find a couple of NLS-quality centre-halves! Gavin's favoured tactic of sitting deep and absorbing pressure doesn't seem to be working at this level. Any thoughts on where we go next (tactics-wise) or do we simply keep plugging away?

[Flobalob]

i just think it’s a complete lack of self belief…. we’re the underdogs we have the lead let’s hang on and hope…. let’s get out of this inferiority complex and play like we deserve to be there…. really not sure about the managers love in with Scott Thomas… not creative enough not dominant enough i’d rather see Sam play the No 4 role give him the ball and see if he can find the attackers….

[The Crowing Cockerel]

1 hour ago, WHY DO I BOTHER said:

we have the lead let’s hang on and hope….  really not sure about the managers love in with Scott Thomas… not creative enough not dominant enough i’d rather see Sam play the No 4 role give him the ball and see if he can find the attackers….

Its the way Gavin wants them to play. It isn't a great watch, but it was effective in the Isthmian League - get a lead and then sit back confident that the oppo won't be able to get through us. Unfortunately we aren't good enough to do that at this level.

I'd prefer to have Manny Harvest as the holding midfield player. Unfortunately we lost him to Hornchurch.

[No bull Towner]

It was always going to be tough getting promoted a year early without really being prepared. Gav needed more time to assemble a squad that could compete higher. But we are where we are and so we have to try and survive somehow. I feel we need to stop playing so defensively and take the fight to these teams. Yes it's a big loss losing Marcus but if we played more with two up front it would cut down on the hopeful long ball and we could play more football. Knight, Leonard and Youngs are whipping good balls in but too often there's nobody there. We desperately need to shore up our defence and although Tanner has scored a couple of valuable goals he is also often found wanting for speed and/or composure and is targeted/exploited by the opposition. We need to sort things out before the team get too disheartened losing every game and get cast too far adrift in the relegation zone. Yes it's early days but at the moment a win could pull us up several places but for how long will that stay the case?

[dwhe]

On 31/08/2024 at 19:50, Albury_Walker said:

Looks like the "we are entitled club "  isn't working too well at the moment . 

You lot still living off EFC memories and past glories which aren't yours  . 🫢🫢🫢

I can't remember anyone on here giving off the impression that we are entitled, only people proud to support ETFC like you are rightly proud of Cheshunt.

I have many many good memories supporting and watching the now defunct Enfield FC including 3 Wembley finals  (not to be confused with the present team calling themselves that)

No one here has ever linked EFC's history with ETFC to my knowledge, and if they have, they are mistaken.

All the best playing in the, what is it called again league?

[wilson]

The most I can comment on 12,000 miles away is the 10 minutes of highlights put out by Chippenham. We scored twice, hit the woodwork before there was any score and had a clear one on one with their keeper after we went 2-1 up. The problem seems to be in defence. There were a couple of segments where we had four defenders across the penalty area against 2 or 3 attackers but the attackers still seemed to get the ball with space and time to get into a shooting position. Two narrow defeats in added time are hard to take but  we have to stay positive and work on seeing out the entire 90+ minutes.

I remain hopeful that we will get it right.

[Barney]

I've been away for much of the summer, but have been following where I can (radio, highlights, interviews, online posts, talking to people), so none of this is based on me actually having attended a game, although I plan to fix that on Saturday all going well. Hopefully I can bring the team some much needed luck

I think anyone who thought this league would be anything other than a real battle wasn't being realistic, and that's certainly proven to be the case so far. It feels a bit like pre-season has been extended into the whole August with the late player departures causing a rethink of how we'll play, and what our best line-up is, coupled with a few injuries, everything seems to be quite disjointed. I'm not sure whether Gavin is mixing up the team to freshen things up and keep the squad happy and players motivated, whether it's tactical based on who we're playing or whether there's still a bit of finding our feet, and working out what the best 11 is. Probably a combination of the above, but we definitely need to get things settled down and find some consistency. It takes time for new players to adapt to a system and as we have quite a few, they need to get used to what's expected of them, get to know their teammates and get onboard with Gavin and the management team's coaching methods.

As someone rightly mentioned, one or two wins would put a completely different spin on things, and make the table look a lot less worrying. That said, there are sides down there with us in the table who are saying exactly the same, and are likely to get their acts together sooner or later too. What's somewhat reassuring is that were are competing in games, and barring a couple of notable exceptions could have nicked a few more points if it wasn't for individual errors and missed chances. Cut those out (big ask, I know) and we might be a few places higher up.

I'm still 100% behind Gavin and his team - he proved last season that he is a pragmatic and very able manager and coach, and deserves our full backing and support. He's not been dealt an easy hand, and as someone else commented, we're probably up here at least a season earlier in his tenancy than we should be, and we're still trying to assemble a squad that can maintain us at this level. I'm also OK with the style of football - being hard to break down as a starting point served us well last season, and I think could be our best hope this season. Of course I'd love to play attacking, expansive football, but with the budget and squad that just isn't realistic. That said, I'd agree that sitting on leads with no outlet and going backs to the wall is asking for trouble, but I very much doubt that parking the bus with 11 behind the ball is the direction coming from the management team.

In my mind, we need a bit of luck and a lot of effort - win a game, or even pick up a few points here and there, and things might start to click a bit more - football is so much about confidence and momentum and I still believe that we have time to find a run of form to move things in the right direction. We do need this sooner, rather than later though as getting adrift at the wrong end of the table takes a lot of turning around. Also very pleasing that we are still turning out in numbers home and away to back the team - the boost that a noisy and supportive crowd can give shouldn't be underestimated, so let's continue to back the team and hopefully get us through this.

[4wembleyfinals]

Welcome back Barney, pleased to say I welcomed to read another of your well thought out and balanced observations.

Although I have purchase advanced tickets for our two home games I was unable to attend. After this weekend I will try to be there for a couple of home fixtures before the cold weather sets in.

Until then I will look forward to reading the comments made by members on the Forum. Hopefully starting tomorrow things will start to "Kick off"!!!!

 

 

Edited September 2 by 4wembleyfinals

[BleedBlue]

On 31/08/2024 at 19:50, Albury_Walker said:

Looks like the "we are entitled club "  isn't working too well at the moment . 

You lot still living off EFC memories and past glories which aren't yours  . 🫢🫢🫢

Thanks for yet another woeful contribution from an insufferable human.

[Raingod]

Not at the last few games but there seems to have been an improvement - had last 2 games finished on 90 mins without injury time we would be 2 pts better off - and were 12 mins from taking all 3 at Chippenham

Pleased to see us creating chances as well - were we a promotion side without Marcus?

Regardless we are conceding too many - and there is little competition in that dept at present .. so we do need to recruit - are there league 2 players on loan we could get in for example now transfer window is shut? 

I still think a back 3/5 is the way forward in the short term given this predicament  - I remember our game home to Lewes last season  - we defended resolutely but then played on the counter ... if I remember correctly Taaffe was one of the midfilelders that day and played it very well - surprised to hear he is at Welywn at present as he could do that role .. 

Roll on tomorrow - can we get out 1st point on the road?

 

 

 

 

[dwhe]

Seems like some of our lot caused a bit of trouble at Chippenham acording to the latest newsletter:

Fan Trouble

• We had an incident at our recent fixture away at Chippenham involving a small handful of Enfield Town supporters which can be described as unsavoury and not befitting the model upholding the spirit of our club.

 

We want to strongly advise those involved that such repeat behaviour will not be tolerated and you will be placed on a banned list of supporters submitted to home and away games.

However, this should not shadow the overwhelming positive support which we have experienced so far this season, creating an encouraging environment for our players, management and club as a whole.