Wellard wrote:

As for those not present behind the goal, what those that sing about Jerry Gill being an pedo, at Corsham ladies game shouting sexist comments, absolutely hammered at Hendon last year again shouting tripe….good riddance.

Bit of a harsh generalising comment, there might be a couple of dickheads amongst them but that happens everywhere. I was speaking to someone yesterday regarding this at half time as it was so quiet as to where they were. There was one name mentioned as someone who is a bit of a problem but know the club have disciplined that individual recently as saw him be removed from the ground at the Hungerford game. As long as they are relatively sensible and keep on the singing, let them in, they are lads enjoying themselves, having a laugh, supporting their team, they might not be perfect, but in my younger days I would be singing with them. Players surely noticed the difference yesterday with it being so quiet and uninspiring. Ban them and it is a quiet, soulless ground.
 

Last edited by Chipp_Bluebird (08/10/2023 11:20 AM)

Deflating, disappointing and pretty dispiriting.  Hard to disagree with most of the comments here,  apart from one or two pretty silly ones. It's the same Home form disease we suffered during Mike Cook's tenure at the club... lots of battling away performances and really bafling  sub-par Home ones. Sometimes it is simply the quality of the opposition.. ie the home loss to Maidstone, but on the last 2 occasions we have lost heavily to competent but modest opponents. Yesterday we matched Dartford comfortably for the first 20 minutes, even though it was they who posted notice of intent by getting easily behind us on 2 occasions and only just failing to score.  The very  kind, consolatory post from the Dartford fan  above, makes clear.. as it appears it did to 627-odd others, that the 2 penalties not only looked unduly harsh... but, more importantly, entirely killed off the game as a contest and a spectacle. From then onwards we could offer little by way of serious attacking intent and then were finally buried by another farcical Hungerford-style cock-up at the back for their 3rd goal.

From this particular Rambler's armchair critic's position, I would make several quick (That'll be the day!! -Ed.) observations:-
Firstly, there is my hobbyhorse grumble about refereeing this season.  Whereas once,  referees were considered successful if they were anonymous and let the game flow, acknowledging that football is a high intensity, physical contact sport and that clashes and collisions and minor infractions of the law happen all the time and that you only stopped the game for the most serious ones.  Games would finish between  4.45 and 4.50.  Today, the referee seems to be centre stage and his/her sole role seems to be exclusively to pull up and punish every misdemeanour. God knows how many Yellows were issued yesterday... but even Gary got one for his mantlepiece at home.  Final whistles as a consequence are averaging out at about 5pm and we have constant Rugby-type stoppages.  The penalty box is becoming a "No Contact" zone, too. We need to make a noise about this on forums like this one, and to Chairmen and Club officials and anyone else who can pass it up the chain.  We are not impotent in the face of it. It's damaging the experience of the paying customers.. ie , us!  Businesses don't like unhappy customers.

 Secondly, I do still believe we have the quality of player to survive/thrive in this League. I've said before, that this is probably collectively the most talented squad we've had since I first started watching CTFC. What I'm much less sure about is whether they have the talent to play the way Gary and Matt want them to, which is another matter completely.  For example, if we resolutely always and only look to pass the ball out from the back, then the opposition cotton on pretty quickly  and start to press high up the pitch until we make a mistake ( s) as we did yesterday.  We then look flustered and uncomfortable. I don't think it's binary...i.e  it's either hoof the ball up or pass your way up the field,  it surely needs the intelligence and personal decision-making of the players to decide when it's sensible and safe to do so and when it isn't.  We're far too easy to read at the moment and thus to pin down in our own half.
Finally, on the matter of leadership on the pitch.  You find out a lot about players and their attitudes when you're 4-1 down at home. You see the passionate triers and the less full-hearted.  Yesterday I was struck by the fact that there seemed to be one or maybe two players in the latter category.... who were doing some token chasing around that smacked of less than full commitment. Understandable when the game has gone, but still  unforgiveable.  The only bright spark for me yesterday was that after several Home  games playing heavily down the left side targetting either Tyreke or Alex, we startd exploiting space on the right that Eddie Jones latched on to.  Luke Spokes spun him a couple of really classy inswingers to enable him to get behind Dartford... although the resulting aerial crosses were meat and drink to their giant defenders.  More exploiting the width of the pitch  would be welcome.
 

Wasn't at the match but the last two posts sum up my thoughts about our mode of play. It's not entertainment and feels very negative. Everyone knows it, including the Directors sitting in the stand, because I hear them say as much to each other or out loud. Keeping the ball hoping for an outlet to release into the midfield is one thing, but you can rarely score from your own half and it just invites opponents pressure waiting for a loose pass or a mistake. My worry is we don't seem to have a plan B when it clearly isn't working. Who on the pitch can take command and say hit a ball into space beyond the press for the attackers to chase down? It should be the captain who would be the recipient of such a ball if he wasn't having to drop deep and help out