Pure DFC Archive

Hey Ozymandias, I nearly didn't go but changed my mind and ended up missing the 1st 8 minutes because of turnstile congestion and then witnessed a shambles of a so called performance by our team.
As for the return game at our place I will be there but in truth Dave
They are better than us .
What we need is 11 Lee Nobles on the pitch.
There is simply not enough quality or effort in this team.
I hope they prove me wrong but the natives are not happy
and I don't blame them.

babylon wrote:Hey Ozymandias, I nearly didn't go but changed my mind and ended up missing the 1st 8 minutes because of turnstile congestion and then witnessed a shambles of a so called performance by our team.
As for the return game at our place I will be there but in truth Dave
They are better than us .
What we need is 11 Lee Nobles on the pitch.
There is simply not enough quality or effort in this team.
I hope they prove me wrong but the natives are not happy
and I don't blame them.

I hope it’s only 10 Nobles + a keeper Barry otherwise he’d get lobbed most games .

I didn’t go to the game yesterday & wont be there on the 1st for the home fixture either, purely as it’s family time plus the wife’s birthday on the 1st.

The one thing I’ve noticed from the games I’ve seen this season both at home and the odd game away is that there is a real lack of passion and fighting spirit from virtually all of the players this season with the exception of possibly 3 or 4 at most.

Over previous seasons there has been that real fighting spirit amongst almost all the players, that never say die attitude’ one for all & all for one, everyone fighting and battling for each other especially from the likes of Bradders when he was captain and Nobes but there’s none of that this season.
We are seriously lacking that from Bradders this season he just isn’t that same player we’ve had for the last 6yrs or whatever amount it’s been. I know he couldn’t play in some games due to work & family stuff but he just doesn’t seem in it when he plays now and he’s being played far to deep instead of attacking like he used to do.
This isn’t a dig at Elliott at all just a case his fighting spirit and leadership is missing from what we’ve always had previously, he seemed to get the team fired up and gave them a kick up the arse when needed.
For me Tom Bonner doesn’t seem to have those same captains abilities that Bradders had, he doesn’t seem to fire the players up or give them a rollicking when needed although it’s probably difficult for him when there’s been such a change in players who don’t seem interested.

Anyway back to my point, the fighting spirit, passion & hunger just isn’t there and I feel that comes from the management who to me just don’t seem to have it themselves. There has been far to many changes in players from when they took over and we can’t get a settled squad of players, the rotation is happening far to often with players being played out of position.
The impression I currently get from both Adam & Jamie is that they are both happy just to have a position in football and that the joint managers role is just a bonus as individually neither would’ve got the job. They may bounce idea’s off each other but realistically the joint role isn’t working as it’s all to mish mash and before anyone starts about we are just outside the play off’s and it’s not all bad at the end of the day our results aren’t good and our goal difference shows that as well, there’s a few teams below us that have better goal differences than us.

We must start getting that fighting spirit, hunger, passion & never say die attitude back otherwise things aren’t going to change.

I couldn't make the Boxing Day game for the first time in many years as the wife and I were entertaining a lot of the family over Christmas and Boxing days.
Keenly went onto the website just after kick off and then noticed that there was virtually nothing being posted thereafter until we went behind so I logged off then as almost a forgone conclusion as to what was to come.
It wasn't until nearly 2 hours after the game finished that I even remembered about the game such is the amount of interest or excitement that this team generates in the game for me at the moment and when I logged back on it was no surprise to see a second goal had been scored and that we had failed yet again to score.
My sympathy goes out to those fans that did go to the match starting with the usual turnstile queues and the condition and the general atmosphere in the ground prior to kick off and I have to assume that most fans were expecting more fight and commitment from all of the players and perhaps someone to produce chances that might just see a goal or two for us.
Just that one player Noble yet again being mentioned for his contribution to the game and little else it would appear from the rest something that most of us who missed the game could have predicted from our previous results.
I will be there for the Saturday and New Year games in the hope that I can have the same enthusiasm and expectations that the brave supporters had who travelled to this farce as surely something has to change soon.

As it's hard for us, I'm pretty sure it's hard for Elliott to readjust. The Team and structure that he fronted and led, wholly disappeared at the seasons end, and his own future here became a doubt. The elected Management Team were of the previous ilk in terms of attitude and application, and with that ethos we were ALL used to, irrespective of comparative talents.
Lee is just Lee. The endevour is as much fun as the Football, do or Die. Captain Elliott is a Leader and Player who drags a Team with him. At the moment there is talent within the squad, but a difficulty with finding an obvious Team within that squad. It is hellishly frustrating, and emotionally draining for us as Supporters, But equally so for all the lads still at the Club from previous times, that we are lucky to still have with us. For me, the biggsst challenge for the Club, is regaining the Terrace/Team unity that endures beyond Match Results. All For One. As embodied by those who still play for our Badge.

The game was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggests but sadly the result was more down to our own individual errors, poor passing and terrible first touch on the day. Yes, Ryan’s control of the ball was poor but I hope that it does not become an excuse for Coyle to banish him to the bench for another long period of inactivity, this will not help our cause as the season goes on. He also created our best opportunity in the first half for Bradders, who I thought had his shirt pulled just as he was about to nod the ball in.

Personally, I was quite happy with the starting eleven and they didn’t cause us any trouble until the first goal, which was another free header, once that went in we were chasing the game. I thought both teams had trouble running with the ball, the pitch appeared to play very slow. It was a good decision to take off Wynter, who I thought was going to be sent off and overall the correct substitutions were made on the day. Bradders did get the team playing further up the pitch in the second half and we had several decent chances that went begging. Welling's goal keeper had a very good game, his handling and movement off his line was the best I have seen in this division so far, they also had a very good number 5, I think he scored their first goal as well, he won everything that came his way.

I keep asking myself “Where are we going wrong”; I don’t think that it’s a passion issue on the pitch, it’s more likely a of clash of personalities and mixed messages off the pitch that is affecting performances on the field of play. I just get the distinct impression that JC is the dominant manger and makes most of the decisions. This will eventually end up with one of the managers having to make way for the other and from what I have heard and seen I know who I want as the solitary manager.

The reason why we are not struggling in the league is our defence .
Our goals against is pretty good .
It is our shot shy attack that is the weakness imho
No doubt some will disagree but we are the 3rd of 4th
LOWEST scorers in the division
I don't think that any of our strikers are regular goalscorers
We do badly need a physical presence up front .

babylon wrote:The reason why we are not struggling in the league is our defence .
Our goals against is pretty good .
It is our shot shy attack that is the weakness imho
No doubt some will disagree but we are the 3rd of 4th
LOWEST scorers in the division
I don't think that any of our strikers are regular goalscorers
We do badly need a physical presence up front .

There are only 3 teams in the league that have scored fewer goals than us and they are 2nd, 3rd & 4th from bottom in the table, even Western Super Mare who are bottom have scored 1 more than us.

There are 6 teams who have had less goals against them, with only Slough in 12th place being below us.

[quote="The 5th Searcher"

There has been far to many changes in players from when they took over and we can’t get a settled squad of players, the rotation is happening far to often with players being played out of position.

.[/quote]

Exactly!!!! Those two lines sum up our season in a Nut-Shell ?

Another very disappointing performance and Welling were deserved winners. How could they not be? We posed no threat to their goal whatsoever.

I want to get behind the guys, I really do, but I'm just finding it hard to engage with the team this year. The league table suggests we aren't doing that badly but it certainly hasn't felt like it and personally I just haven't been enjoying the football this season. We've scraped a few decent results and are not completely out of the picture yet, but at no point in ANY game have we ever looked totally convincing and there just doesn't seem to be any cohesive thinking behind what's going on. To be frank, we look disorganised and lacking in purpose and I can't help thinking that this is a consequence of muddled thinking. Tactics and personnel seem so random that you could be forgiven for thinking that the team is being picked by Lancelot or Guinevere from the National Lottery.

I was never really sold on the idea of joint managers, especially when they hadn't even worked together in the past, because I just don't believe that two people can just suddenly be thrown together and instantly have a common philosophy on how to set up a team. It's all very well making comments about "broadly being on the same page", but when it comes to signing players, picking the team or bringing on a sub, these are very specific decisions that simply cannot always, if ever, be achieved by consensus. My brother (Park Life) and I probably agree on about 95% of football related stuff, but that doesn't stop us arguing all the way there and back when we travel to away games. You can't be doing that in the dugout and unless one person has overall control, you end up with both parties having to compromise which must inevitably contribute to a lack of clear direction. That was my fear at the start of the season and from where I'm standing, that is exactly what we are witnessing every week on the pitch.

I have absolutely no doubt that Flanners & Coyley are doing their very best to sort things out, but in my humble opinion, this management model would be just as confused even with Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp at the helm. I feel that joint managership is a flawed concept and I believe we would have a much better chance of succeeding with one as manager and the other as assistant.

I'll still be there home and away but more in hope than expectation. I would very much love to be proved wrong.