MATCH: Aldershot Town (A) 24/08/24

[Guest O.A.F.C.]

2 hours ago, OneSizeFitz said:

Three good performances, one poorer one. It happens.

 

Really hope MM doesn't make some of the kneejerk changes people here are suggesting. Three competent centre-halves and two high and wide wing-backs has looked better than anything else we've tried for ages...

Three good performances? I'd only class Braintree as a good performance.  The rest have been average. 

[Guest O.A.F.C.]

2 hours ago, Londonboy said:

Yep agree. 

You really need to be at the game to give a fair viewpoint. 

Aldershot had 4 shots at goal and scored 4 goals.

Goals 1, 2 and 4 were given away by us. Their 3rd was a good goal.

Mikey should have scored 60 seconds before their first goal, which was difficult to see but looked really sloppy at the back.

Lindstrom made a real howler giving the ball away 40 yds from our goal. He should have just passed/cleared it instead of doing his trademark turn back inside onto his better foot. This changed the game and prompted the subs..

 

We pulled one back quickly with good work from Ogle who was our best player and most creative by miles.

Their keeper made 4 or 5 decent saves. I can't remember Hudson making one.

 

In a nutshell we coped pretty well and we're well in control for most of the game before going 3-1 down. Individual mistakes and poor finishing cost us.

On Ballance a draw would have been a fair result, but if you don't take your chances and make mistakes you will lose more than you win. 

Also each substitution made us worse which does not bode well.

Really disappointing result which we need to not let happen again but so much better than some of the horror shows last season ....apart from the errors and poor finishing.

I think you are giving us far to much credit.  We never had a grip of the game. 4-1 flattered Aldershot but we weren't robbed either.

[hollandspies]

Skybet are currently offering an attractive (?) 2/1 for us to beat Gateshead along with 11/5 the draw which must be tempting too!? 
11/10 the away win for the doubters. 
Absolutely no one can work us out can they?
How much will you win? 

 

Edited August 25 by hollandspies
Added the draw.

[Londonboy]

7 hours ago, O.A.F.C. said:

I think you are giving us far to much credit.  We never had a grip of the game. 4-1 flattered Aldershot but we weren't robbed either.

Ok let's just agree to disagree.

 

I was confident the way we were playing and the chances we created and missed, verses what Hudson had to do, up until Lundstrom decided to gift them the second goal, that we would go on to either draw or win the game. Bar the odd misplaced pass causing a bit of panic, we never looked in any real danger before this and their first goal was against the run of play in my view.

I don't disagree though that the subs made us worse, and as we tried to chase the game to they got in behind us more and more.

However can anyone actually remember Hudson making a save because I genuinely can't???

 

 

[Dave_Og]

14 hours ago, LightDN123 said:

Could today see MM revert to his favoured formation of 433 ? 
 

That was always the plan until Ogle got injured on the first day of pre season. 

Who's left back in a 442?

[yarddog73]

6 hours ago, hollandspies said:

Skybet are currently offering an attractive (?) 2/1 for us to beat Gateshead along with 11/5 the draw which must be tempting too!? 
11/10 the away win for the doubters. 
Absolutely no one can work us out can they?
How much will you win? 

 

Problem we have now is we'll probably go ultra defensive because the defence have had one bad game, I hope it doesn't dent the character of the group and we can get over it, they won't have chance to put it right on the training pitch so this one is really on the players. 

 

Who ever wins this League will probably lose anywhere up to 10 games and you can lose as many as 1 in 4 and still make playoffs which is about where we are at. This result won't define us this season, how we react to these setbacks will.

 

Hopefully there'll be little to change other than freshening the bench up and maybe one or two starters, danger in these situations is the management team might start to doubt one or two things and that steers us away from where we looked like we were going.

 

In this division you can carry one or two who might not quite be at it but yesterday Hudson, Monthe, Raglan, Conlon, Chersley, Lundstrum, Uchegbulam and Kay all put out their worst performances of the season and they've been the heartbeat of the team so far, only really Ogle comes out with any credit and that's not good enough and I think this group are honest enough to probably admit that.

 

For me yesterday it just demonstrates the fine line between success and failure, we could have really gone in at half time 1-0 up had we shown a little bit more quality and composure but we get done on the counter with quite a fortuitous goal, Jez should be stronger with his header, Monthe doesn't track his man back and after a couple of lucky bobbles Raglan ends up on his arse, we go again have the best of the play but Lundstrum turns back in on himself and turns the ball over really cheaply in the centre circle, lad shoots and is lucky it goes through Monthe legs and leaves Hudson no chance, most disappointing aspect was we then managed to get back in to it when Ogle through sheer desire forces one in, we should have fed off that and kicked on but we left ourselves wide open to the counter and Aldershot expoited it, scoreline doesn't reflect the game really, I'm not suggesting we did enough to get something but 4-1 flatters them really, a couple of things stick in the throat though and that is that they wanted it more were more clinical and punished our sloppy mistakes and that's something we are so far failing to do.

 

For me it's a blip that we can hopefully put right, I wish we'd stop bigging up some games by suggesting games against Aldershot and Gateshead are tough tests, they may well be but why publicly come out and say that, psychologically you are telling your players it's a tough game before they even walk out, man for man that Aldershot team should have been put away, we have better players than them and we need to start believing that otherwise these games that we make excuses for before a balls been kicked will become a regular occurrence.

 

Hopefully tomorrow we'll see the better version of ourselves and I think it's important the fans stick with them even if Gateshead frustrate, we've got to start better than we have the last couple of games as they will be at it from minute one.

 

 

[yarddog73]

27 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

Who's left back in a 442?

Probably Caprice but until we have more than one fit striker it's mute anyway.

[Dave_Og]

15 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

Probably Caprice but until we have more than one fit striker it's mute anyway.

Moot. But I can't believe Mellon planned to play 442 without an obvious left back 

[Guest O.A.F.C.]

12 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

Let's face it Norwood is going to score in this team we didn't control games or create enough chances last season and he still bagged 17. In this team he scores regularly. Garner will score too and if we bring Stones in he will find us goals too. Plus we can rotate them so we will have a greater chance of keeping them fit.

How many did he score after his return from injury?

[Careca9]

8 hours ago, hollandspies said:

Skybet are currently offering an attractive (?) 2/1 for us to beat Gateshead along with 11/5 the draw which must be tempting too!? 
11/10 the away win for the doubters. 
Absolutely no one can work us out can they?
How much will you win? 

 

the maths behind the betting companies prob show that heavy defeat followed by game 2 days later rarely ends up in a turnaround for the team battered 

[LightDN123]

16 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

Moot. But I can't believe Mellon planned to play 442 without an obvious left back 

He didn’t, he planned to play 433. 
 

Kitching was left back.

 

He switched to this system as Ogle got injured, leaving only Sutton as right back. He opted to play Kay right wing back instead. 
 

433 was always the plan. He pretty much confirms it in his St Andrews interview. He’s also told us as much previously. 

[Dave_Og]

4 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

He didn’t, he planned to play 433. 
 

Kitching was left back.

 

He switched to this system as Ogle got injured, leaving only Sutton as right back. He opted to play Kay right wing back instead. 
 

433 was always the plan. He pretty much confirms it in his St Andrews interview. He’s also told us as much previously. 

I'd thought it was common perception that he didn't fancy Kitching. I guess we'll see, if and when everyone is fit. Who misses out from the three centre backs?

[LightDN123]

11 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

I'd thought it was common perception that he didn't fancy Kitching. I guess we'll see, if and when everyone is fit. Who misses out from the three centre backs?

Caprice left back and Hobson drops out. 

[Lee Sinnott]

20 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

He didn’t, he planned to play 433. 
 

Kitching was left back.

 

He switched to this system as Ogle got injured, leaving only Sutton as right back. He opted to play Kay right wing back instead. 
 

433 was always the plan. He pretty much confirms it in his St Andrews interview. He’s also told us as much previously. 

Where is this interview...?

[LightDN123]

1 minute ago, Lee Sinnott said:

Where is this interview...?

Think it’s the one after the first St Andrews game 

[TheBigDog]

1 hour ago, yarddog73 said:

I wish we'd stop bigging up some games by suggesting games against Aldershot and Gateshead are tough tests, they may well be but why publicly come out and say that, psychologically you are telling your players it's a tough game before they even walk out, man for man that Aldershot team should have been put away, we have better players than them and we need to start believing that otherwise these games that we make excuses for before a balls been kicked will become a regular occurrence.

 

Hopefully tomorrow we'll see the better version of ourselves and I think it's important the fans stick with them even if Gateshead frustrate, we've got to start better than we have the last couple of games as they will be at it from minute one.

‘we have better players than them’.  
What makes you believe that? A few of their players looked just as good if not better than ours.

Henry, Akpan, Mahogma and Frost all looked like good players and very shrewd acquisitions.

 

they (Gateshead) will be at it from minute one.

 

Isn't that you bigging them up?

 

[yarddog73]

13 minutes ago, TheBigDog said:

‘we have better players than them’.  
What makes you believe that? A few of their players looked just as good if not better than ours.

Henry, Akpan, Mahogma and Frost all looked like good players and very shrewd acquisitions.

 

they (Gateshead) will be at it from minute one.

 

Isn't that you bigging them up?

 

I big no one up, I'm merely suggesting we can't afford to start slowly again which is becoming a bit of a problem for us.

 

I still believe we have the strongest squad in the division, we are light up top but losing Norwood and Garner hasn't helped with that, every team will have individuals who can hurt us but as a collective we should be able to dominate most outfits in this division.

 

Taking yesterday's game as an example who'd regularly get in to our eleven?, I thought Frost was the MOM, you'd probably say Henry plus maybe Ghandour and Widdirington would get in to our 18 but that would be it really and we had eight who didn't turn up.

[GlossopLatic]

1 hour ago, O.A.F.C. said:

How many did he score after his return from injury?

 

Not many

 

But Erling Haaland would struggle to score the way we were playing at the back end of last season.

 

This team will create far more chances he will score.

[Lee Sinnott]

1 minute ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

Not many

 

But Erling Haaland would struggle to score the way we were playing at the back end of last season.

 

 

He wouldn't...

[GlossopLatic]

3 minutes ago, Lee Sinnott said:

He wouldn't...

 

Not literally but we were playing badly and not creating chances and most strikers would struggle in that situation.

[nzlatic]

2 hours ago, Londonboy said:

However can anyone actually remember Hudson making a save because I genuinely can't???

 

 

Looks like they had 5 shots on target and scored 4. Hudson made a good save just before the hand ball so presume that was his 1 other save. 
 

We had 9 shots on target. Sums up the game really. 

[yarddog73]

7 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

Looks like they had 5 shots on target and scored 4. Hudson made a good save just before the hand ball so presume that was his 1 other save. 
 

We had 9 shots on target. Sums up the game really. 

The scoreline doesn't really reflect the game.

[BP1960]

1 hour ago, yarddog73 said:

Problem we have now is we'll probably go ultra defensive because the defence have had one bad game, I hope it doesn't dent the character of the group and we can get over it, they won't have chance to put it right on the training pitch so this one is really on the players. 

 

Who ever wins this League will probably lose anywhere up to 10 games and you can lose as many as 1 in 4 and still make playoffs which is about where we are at. This result won't define us this season, how we react to these setbacks will.

 

Hopefully there'll be little to change other than freshening the bench up and maybe one or two starters, danger in these situations is the management team might start to doubt one or two things and that steers us away from where we looked like we were going.

 

In this division you can carry one or two who might not quite be at it but yesterday Hudson, Monthe, Raglan, Conlon, Chersley, Lundstrum, Uchegbulam and Kay all put out their worst performances of the season and they've been the heartbeat of the team so far, only really Ogle comes out with any credit and that's not good enough and I think this group are honest enough to probably admit that.

 

For me yesterday it just demonstrates the fine line between success and failure, we could have really gone in at half time 1-0 up had we shown a little bit more quality and composure but we get done on the counter with quite a fortuitous goal, Jez should be stronger with his header, Monthe doesn't track his man back and after a couple of lucky bobbles Raglan ends up on his arse, we go again have the best of the play but Lundstrum turns back in on himself and turns the ball over really cheaply in the centre circle, lad shoots and is lucky it goes through Monthe legs and leaves Hudson no chance, most disappointing aspect was we then managed to get back in to it when Ogle through sheer desire forces one in, we should have fed off that and kicked on but we left ourselves wide open to the counter and Aldershot expoited it, scoreline doesn't reflect the game really, I'm not suggesting we did enough to get something but 4-1 flatters them really, a couple of things stick in the throat though and that is that they wanted it more were more clinical and punished our sloppy mistakes and that's something we are so far failing to do.

 

For me it's a blip that we can hopefully put right, I wish we'd stop bigging up some games by suggesting games against Aldershot and Gateshead are tough tests, they may well be but why publicly come out and say that, psychologically you are telling your players it's a tough game before they even walk out, man for man that Aldershot team should have been put away, we have better players than them and we need to start believing that otherwise these games that we make excuses for before a balls been kicked will become a regular occurrence.

 

Hopefully tomorrow we'll see the better version of ourselves and I think it's important the fans stick with them even if Gateshead frustrate, we've got to start better than we have the last couple of games as they will be at it from minute one.

 

 

 

There's something wrong with the mentality at this club, teams invariably treat facing us as a cup tie and put in extra effort we can't cope with, whereas we appear to play like it's a glorified training session. 

To get out of the league you need to impose yourself on the opposition, not let them dominate you. 

It's a recurring pattern and has to change, but it won't I'm afraid with the same old cautious approach. 

Hopefully, Dolan will change this, but if I see him playing deep it will confirm to me the club mentality mentioned. 

[TheBigDog]

10 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

Looks like they had 5 shots on target and scored 4. Hudson made a good save just before the hand ball so presume that was his 1 other save. 
 

We had 9 shots on target. Sums up the game really. 

6 on target scoring 1 - they were far more clinical 

[oafc1955]

1 hour ago, Londonboy said:

However can anyone actually remember Hudson making a save because I genuinely can't???

Agreed because 4 went in!

 

The biggest problem for me is still our lack of threat going forward. If we put teams under real pressure then you don’t get a result like that yesterday.

 

We had a lot of possession throughout the game but really only created a couple of proper chances.

We still haven’t got a midfielder who can pick a killer pass or a striker who can make a proper run.

 

Fondop is a trier but he just doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing, he is totally reactive rather than proactive.

Reid is just like a dog you’ve thrown a ball to on the beach, he’ll chase down everything but is rarely 1st to the ball.

 

We have to get Norwood back and sign him a proper partner otherwise nothing much will change.

 

I don’t see the value both Hammond and Lundstram bring to this team. The former is as weak as piss and the later just aimlessly runs around in circles!

 

I just hope Dolan can be that missing link we crave!