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2nd best again

Unrecognized Genius
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Unrecognized Genius Newbie

Unrecognized Genius

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Outplayed at home for the 2nd game running & this time by a team from a tiny place with attendances as small as our own. Apart form a 10 minute spell when the game was already lost, all the football was played by our opponents, who moved the ball nicely through midfield & had the best striker I've seen at Conference level this season.

 

I'm afraid I thought we looked very ordinary, too much hoofball, no sense of purpose & cannot but wonder at how we beat Torquay a few weeks back. Have we been over-performing & deluding ourselves about our true ability?

 

EC

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Hannah Newbie

Hannah

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I'm not too worried, Forest Green and Exeter have shared a good start to the season and before the games I think it could have been predicted that each team had the same chance of winning, just a shame we lost out in both.

 

Not to say we haven't have spells of poor football recently but we had a rather good run before this blip and while we are 9th in the table, I don't think now is the time to start worrying...

 

I do however feel that we need a new striker who looks up for scoring goals, if Daish signs a good'n I think we'll be climbing up again.

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jc Newbie

jc

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That's all it is though - two poor games in a row. And Hannah's right - losing to either Exeter or Forest Green is no real disgrace.

 

Much the same happened on several occasions last season, e.g. losing to Chelmsford, Morecambe and Cambridge in successive weeks and then beating then-undefeated Oxford the week after. Only if we produce a string of 4 or 5 consecutive poor performances will there be significant cause for concern.

 

One problem we do seem to suffer from, though, is responding positively to falling a goal or more behind. Several formation and positional changes were in evidence in the 2nd half (e.g. McCarthy and McPhee having brief spells up front), but were so numerous that they gave the impression that there was no clear plan for getting back into the game.

 

Indeed, it's interesting to note that the last time we came from behind to win was some time ago - 2nd January 2006 against Dagenham and Redbridge, to be precise.

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eufckev Newbie

eufckev

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Originally Posted By: Hannah
I do however feel that we need a new striker who looks up for scoring goals, if Daish signs a good'n I think we'll be climbing up again.


A few of us are saying we need a striker looking for goals, but if the ball gets 'hoofed' from the defence straight up the field, it's more likely to end up in the possession of the opposition. This is almost done as if our midfield doesn't exist.

When the ball is 'hoofed' from defence to the forwards, even if Chukki or Raphael win the ball and header it, it is more likely to go to the opposition's defence, because, in most cases its two of our strikers vs four of their defenders, thus leaving our forwards with hardly any support and resulting in the opposition possessing the ball.

Whereas, when 'on-the-deck' football is played, the ball passing its way from the defence to the midfield, then to the forwards. As an example, the build up to our goals at Altrincham were achieved through simple passing and good, quality crosses from the wing. Our players were able to press up the field and support their team mates.

Most of the time, it's simple football skills (ie passing) which achieves scoring goals. Thinking about it, I believe if we played more 'on-the-deck' football, our strikers would score more goals and not get as much criticism as they do.

Up the Fleet!
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kmj Newbie

kmj

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The fact that we were the first team in FGRs last 13 games to fail to score against them rather sums up our poor goals for total so far this season. The fact that they possess a striker who has scored not far short of all of our goals combined is another.

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Alan W (GNFC) Newbie

Alan W (GNFC)

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It cant have helped on Saturday that Liam's original team planning was thrown out by the late withdrawal of George Purcell - Chukki said in his post match interview on RK (a very well spoken one as well, if I may say so) that he wasnt expecting to play until George pulled out. We certainly could have done with a wide player to release the ball yto as it all became rather narrow on Saturday.

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Unrecognized Genius Newbie

Unrecognized Genius

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Having watched us in our last 2 home games, I am wondering whether our position on the fringe of the play offs is a false one, along with my hope that we can stay there. I am not complaining & I don't expect us to suddenly become relegation fodder. I just feel I might have over-expected, rather as the team has over-performed. We are a small club on, I would guess, one of the smallest full time budgets in our league, despite the Eurostar sponsorship. More importantly, we also attract one of the lowest home attendances. Without a Charlie MacDonald, I sense we will have to see mid-table as a reasonable achievement.

 

I did not hear Liam on Radio Kent, but I gather he said he saw deficiencies in all areas of the field. On Saturday, I certainly agreed. I left, wondering about the ability of some players in defence, midfield & up front, but I do not see it as helpful for me to say who I think they are, other than to say I thought McCarthy & McPhee were outstanding & did not deserve to be on the losing side. Players don't need their morale knocking if they read the forum & what do I know anyway?

 

What I found most depressing was our style of play. We've played hoofball before, but I've usually been able to say that we've either been pressured into it by a team closing us down quickly, or sucked into it by a limited side who prefer games played this way. I couldn't say that on Saturday. I felt some of our players looked as if they lacked the vision or ability to play any other way, yet anyone who has sat or stood anywhere near our bench will know the frustration with which Liam this season & last has urged his players to "pass it" & keep it". When they wanted to Forest Green worked the ball through midfield and up to the brilliant Fleetwood with considerable panache & I have great admiration for the job Jim Harvey has done there on what must be a budget similar to or very possibly smaller than our own. (Are they even full time?)

 

EC

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Hannah Newbie

Hannah

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Am I missing something here. We have lost 3 games out of our last 11 and those 3 games were against teams who are in the top 8 of the table. Why all the pessimissim already?

 

How about we give the team a chance to improve on their recent mistakes before we start moaning, you can't expect to win every game.

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Hannah Newbie

Hannah

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We beat Kidderminster 5-4, but that didn't pull in the crowds for the next game did it..

I think we realised ages ago that it doesn't matter how well we're doing or how entertaining the game is, we have roughly the same attendances.

So I wouldn't start worrying about 2 home losses and how it will affect the crowd.

 

I'm sure Daish is working with them team on the Hoofball.

 

Just try not to get so downhearted already...

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Stu M Newbie

Stu M

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Originally Posted By: Hannah
We beat Kidderminster 5-4, but that didn't pull in the crowds for the next game did it..


Yep, and the same when we beat the league leaders...


Originally Posted By: Hannah
I think we realised ages ago that it doesn't matter how well we're doing or how entertaining the game is, we have roughly the same attendances.


Agreed again. We're not in a rut, we've had two dodgy home games, preceded by four wins. Now it may develop into a rut if not checked, but it can hardly be described as that yet. God knows what would be going on here if we were in the bottom four. People would be ritually disembowelling themselves on YouTube and writing their complaints in blood!
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eufckev Newbie

eufckev

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Originally Posted By: Hannah
Just try not to get so downhearted already...


Hannah's giving it some tonight.

Think what we should do as fans of our club, is to forget about all the losses, the way we play and past results, and look on towards Oxford Away. Liam's publicy warned his team to get better, so if the same is going to happen week in week out, Mr. Daish will do what he needs to do to get Ebbsfleet United back on track to the play-offs. I'm sure Mr. Daish and his team know where their mistakes lie and what they need to train on. I'm looking forward to going to Oxford, I believe we can go there and get something out of the game....twelve days to go, a long time to rest and get back focused on aiming for them top six places. The whole team will be more refreshed. We can all sit back after a game and say that the team should have done this, shouldn't have done that...but what's done is done and all of us, the players, management and supporters, should look on to the rest of the season.

Looking at where we are in the table, 9th, I would have taken that at the start of the season. I'd be happy with a top half of the table finish this season and hopefully have a good FA Trophy run and maybe go for the Setanta Shield and/or the Kent Cup. Some of us think "Oh, the Setanta Shield and Kent Cup are sh1t", but at the end of the day, it's still a trophy to be won.

It's still early days.

UP THE FLEET!!!
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eufckev Newbie

eufckev

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Originally Posted By: Stu M
God knows what would be going on here if we were in the bottom four. People would be ritually disembowelling themselves on YouTube and writing their complaints in blood!


If we were in the bottom four, I'd still hold my scarf up high and cheer on our boys!
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