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Post by Amber Aleman on Aug 31, 2019 20:09:11 GMT
Not a great way to mark a hundred years at GGL; our worst performance of the season, the first game in which we've failed to score, and for the first time we slip into the bottom half of the table. Also for the record, Maidenhead have now won all five encounters with us at this level.
We had a strong claim for a penalty in the first half when Goodliffe had his shirt pulled as a free kick came into the area, but the officials weren't persuaded. The visitors finished an undistinguished first half the stronger, and took the lead in the second with a Fenelon strike, the quality of which was out of keeping with what had gone before. We seemed to put ourselves in trouble for the second goal, losing possession in our own half from a Butler throw-out. After that things went from bad to worse. Omar Buguel came on alongside the previously isolated Jarvis but was then red-carded. Dundo and Dylan were thrown on in the final minutes, but it was too little too late. By the time Maidenhead were awarded a soft penalty in stoppage time, the match had been lost.
This Sutton display was reminiscent of the lame home performances in the final three months of last season. If we fail to beat Notts County next Saturday then we'll have gone six months without a competitive win at GGL. Something to concentrate minds? Before then we have a different challenge away to old adversaries Yeovil, who today beat Notts 3-1 at Huish Park.
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Post by davethegrave on Aug 31, 2019 20:51:46 GMT
I don't like being too critical of the players but it's getting to the stage now where if things don't change soon then we will be in trouble.
We need a support striker and Kearney and Wright seem to fill the post perfectly. Why don't we start with either of them when they're fit?
I'm a bit wary of Goodliffe and David on the wing seemed to be getting more confidence. The subs were too late to make any real difference and of course we were playing a very sneaky, well-drilled team in the dark arts. Their number 8 throwing himself to the ground holding his face was the lowest of the low and fooled those 2 idiots in black. There were about 3 or 4 of their players cheating. We need to be a bit more cynical too to compete at this level.
Also I don't think we ever tested their goalie. Everything he did seemed to be casual in slow motion. He never had to exert himself.
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markf
Top Performer
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Post by markf on Aug 31, 2019 21:02:08 GMT
Looked like 900/1,000 odd there today..................I expect the official guess will be at least 1500. It was indeed given out as 1500 odd. This as you well know would include st holders plus those who paid on the day and, I assume, those with complimentary tickets. Sutton doesn't have the technology to count which st holders come through the gates and to ask gate staff to do that is unfair on them as volunteers and to be frank, a pointless exercise seeing that you appear to be the only who worries about it. I suppose you could offer to do the job yourself. If not, why not stop boring the arse of everyone on the few occasions you decide to drag yourself to GGL with this constant harping about how the club arrives at attendance figures?
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Post by davethegrave on Aug 31, 2019 21:26:23 GMT
Matt Gray in his interview doesn't seem to accept that maybe his team selection was wrong. It's all the players' faults.
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Post by holmes on Aug 31, 2019 22:04:05 GMT
one man up front at home against Maidenhead and Chorley doesn't cut it. Without some serious lift in attacking ambition at home we are seriously in trouble. Crap officials or not, we weren't good enough and got what we deserved today. We haven't won at home since March!!!
We need confidence in our ability to play at this level, not to hide behind a 5 man midfield and hope the oppo roll over for us. Christ, its so bad I'm posting on here!
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Post by johnnykwango on Aug 31, 2019 22:25:48 GMT
Well what a month... for the first hour of the season up at Hartlepool we were world class (exaggeration I know but that’s what I thought), The three games over the last week have been pretty grim but 8 games in 28 days is unhealthy, seems that other clubs might’ve been better set up to handle such a ludicrous schedule though. That aside I’m totally convinced we’ll stuff Yeovil, see you there.
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Post by Del on Sept 1, 2019 7:29:01 GMT
It was shocking yesterday and all i heard was moaning from our supporters about our tactics which to be fair we haven't got right. Over to you Mr Gray !
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Post by ganderpoke on Sept 1, 2019 8:20:40 GMT
The only tactics I could see yesterday was either JB/JC lumping the ball forward to Jarvis who either headed it on to no-one or was bundled over by their centre back or the midfield passing sideways and backwards until they lost possession. Unfortunately this is rather similar to what was occurring during the latter half of last season and we didn't exactly create many chances then either. Unless we can get our midfield to improve their play going forward, our league position is only going in one direction. Matt seems to thinks its the players problem - is it?
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Post by pinewalker on Sept 1, 2019 8:50:18 GMT
The only tactics I could see yesterday was either JB/JC lumping the ball forward to Jarvis who either headed it on to no-one or was bundled over by their centre back or the midfield passing sideways and backwards until they lost possession. Unfortunately this is rather similar to what was occurring during the latter half of last season and we didn't exactly create many chances then either. Unless we can get our midfield to improve their play going forward, our league position is only going in one direction. Matt seems to thinks its the players problem - is it? It is the players' problem if they do not perform as he asked them to, and at the level they normally achieve. If what he asked them to do is a bad tactic or something the particular player is unable to do, it is the manager's problem.
The manager is also responsible for the teamwork or blend, he should recognise that some players do not play as well with a particular teammate as with others. In support of the last opinion - I have said before I think Beautyman and Eastmond together in midfield is not a good combination, and both play better in the absence of the other. Last season with either but not both playing 32 points from 19 games. Both playing 42 points from 32 games. This season so far with one playing 9 points from 5 games; with both playing 1 point from 3 games.
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Post by baboonfish on Sept 1, 2019 9:46:36 GMT
The only tactics I could see yesterday was either JB/JC lumping the ball forward to Jarvis who either headed it on to no-one or was bundled over by their centre back or the midfield passing sideways and backwards until they lost possession. Unfortunately this is rather similar to what was occurring during the latter half of last season and we didn't exactly create many chances then either. Unless we can get our midfield to improve their play going forward, our league position is only going in one direction. Matt seems to thinks its the players problem - is it? A fair assessment. It made sense in the first half where we had the wind behind us and Maidenhead were sitting back, those long diagonals nearly opened them up a few times. However, it was clear very quickly that Jarvis was not going to win those duels against two very strong CBs, and in the second half the tactic was non-sensical with the wind against us. Indeed the first goal, which ultimately decided the game yesterday, came about because Bennett (who otherwise had a fine game), after making space for himself with a fine touch decided to aimlessly hoof it diagonally, with the wind holding it up for an easy clearance, whereby it was swept upfield and in our net five seconds later, almost IDENTICALLY to Dover's winning goal last week. If he'd played it to feet (he had ample time), we arent behind 0-1, simple as. That can only have been a tactic demanded of our FBs by the manager. You can point to the 3 big decisions going against us, and its true that we were unlucky there, but tactically we were so one dimensional and predictable and that has to change fast. The irony is that the 2 or 3 times we managed to play quick along the floor, thru midfield and out to the flanks we nearly scored each time. The 4-5-1 formation works on the road better because its essentially a counter attacking formation, but at home where the oppo allow us time to play it around at the back and sit very deep its clearly not going to reap dividends unless its an out and out 4-3-3 (its not) or we play quick passing through the middle. We have the ability to do that but seemingly not the confidence or instructions (or both). The beautyman/Eastmond question is an interesting one. For me the key has been Barden, who is an out and out holding mid. I dont think either of maidenheads first two goals OR dover's winner last week happen if he's in the hole. None of the other mids are a proper anchor man. HB worked well with Barden covering the hole but with Easty asked to do that role its a horror show. For a start its not Easty's strength, he's a box to box player, and secondly I dont think Easty's fit. He showed a few moments of his normal energy in the first half but was mostly jogging around in the centre circle. Now if you tell me Barden was fit enough to sit on the bench but not as fit as Easty then I simply dont believe you. Barden should have started if Gray was convinced 4-5-1 was the way to go. Now if we lined up 4-4-1-1 with Beautyman in the hole and a fit Eastmond next to Kenny, I could see that working, but in a 4-5-1 we need Barden to sit in the anchor man role or we will keep losing to breakaway goals.
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trev
1st team skipper
In Matt We Trust
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Post by trev on Sept 1, 2019 10:41:28 GMT
Spot on, baboonfish. If we're going to play two attacking midfielders i.e. Beautyman and Eastmond then we need an insurance policy with a holding midfielder and we didn't have that yesterday. We got sucker-punched with Maidenhead's first two goals after conceding possession deep in their half and leaving a gaping hole at the back. Thereafter, our attacking oriented substitutions failed to remedy this defect. Barden's absence cost us dearly.
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markf
Top Performer
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Post by markf on Sept 1, 2019 11:27:29 GMT
Blimey, a couple of defeats and the "honeymoon period is over" according to one on here. Defeats to two sides who have both won all of their four away matches so far so perhaps some credit to Dover and Maidenhead needs to be given. Two sides who have a bit of a hex over U's in recent times. None more so than Maidenhead.
As many have said in the past and will in the future goals change games and yesterday afternoon's contest appeared to be going nowhere until Fenelon broke and hit a thumping strike from distance past Jamie B. You could see U's body language change almost immediately and there was no coming back from it. The second was from a disasterous throw out that Rob M was never going to get under control giving Upward free reign to get in a position and deliver a low cross that was swept in. The third, a penalty (how ironic was that - see below) when the game was done putting U's into negative gd for the first time this season.
For the first hour of this match both 'keepers could have probably watched from the stands such was their inactivity as both forward lines toiled against resolute defending. I thought, with the breeze that appeared 30 mins before k.o on their backs, U's was marginally the better team without seriously threatening the goal. Maidenhead got away with a fair bit in that half. A bad challenge early on and then perisistent infringment especially on Dale B was allowed to go unchecked.
The visiting defence was well-marshalled by Massey and his mate. Then came what may have been a key point in the match. Rob M's delivery was going to met by Ben G when a Magpie defender tried to yank his shirt off his back. We're not talking minor tug here this was a fully stretched piece of nylon/polyester combo that was for all to see. Well, all but the two that counted. With skip's unerring accuracy from the spot (one miss since the most famous of all his spot-kick successes 2.5 years ago) U's would have gone in at h-t 1-0 up. Something to hold onto perhaps? Or perhaps, this being Maidenhead we would have lost 3-1 not 3-0. Who knows?
That was the most glaring of errors from an official who at times seem to be wandering around looking for a lost dog rather than refereeing a Tier 5 football match. He missed so much. 30 second into the second half, Craig E is dumped on his back by a late challenge but the ref was still looking for that dog. In his mind it just never happened.
How could neither he nor his laughingly called assistant not have seen the shirt pull? It's a free-kick. Where's the ball going to go? Oh, yeah the penalty area. So why not be in the correct position to see what was going on? And if he did see it and ignored it, well, we may as well all pack this up and take up some other past time to occupy our Saturday afternoons. Dead plankton floating around the inside of a basking shark would probably have made a better job of it than these guys. Absolutely shocking throughout. Should we be surprised though when you see the so called elite ballsing up week in week out on MotD? The standard of officiating in this country has dropped considerably since Mike Riley took over PGMOB a decade or so ago. Any wonder considering how bad he was and no wonder that no English ref was picked for the FIFA WC in 2018 because Clattenburg buggered off - although a bit harsh on Michael Oliver. VAR is a good concept but will only be any good when there is a less of an idiot back at Stockley than the idiot actually on the pitch.
Then Omar B's red. I didn't have a decent view of it but that's the second red in successive matches for a U's player against Maidenhead and the common demoninator is James Comley. Will have to wait and see but as Omar was alreay going to miss the next two matches anyway, it is in effect, only a one match ban (unless the FA decide otherwise).
So to Sutton. As said elsewhere, we really need Jon Barden back to play in front of the defence. Not sure anyone else has the discipline he has to roam around in that area and not push forward - it's not natural to any of the other midfielders in the squad. He did an excellent job of that in the early matches and U's were unbeaten with him there.
As for playing two up front at home I would concur that would be preferable but the wingers (if they are retained in such a formation) need to deliver better quality as while they make decent in roads down the flank the final product is often not there.
We have to remember that this is is Matt G's first fling as manager and eight matches is just the blink of an eye in such a position. Not listened to his i/v yet so won't comment on that.
A visit to New Huish for the first time in what, 20 years up next? Let's hope for a positive reaction to yesterday.
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Post by Andy K on Sept 1, 2019 20:32:14 GMT
What is the situation regarding goalkeeper Ben Dudzinski ? Has he played yet ? Is he injured ? 2nd choice. No. No.
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billy
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,626
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Post by billy on Sept 1, 2019 23:00:20 GMT
Thankyou.
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pg
Newbie
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Post by pg on Sept 2, 2019 12:19:39 GMT
To echo other comments already made, it was obvious early on that the long ball tactic was not going to work against Maidenhead's big defence. The thing I don't understand is that we were winning the midfield battles and on the few occasions that we put the ball on the deck and tried to play through them we created chances. Yet we continued to lump it. Whether that is down to MG or the players I don't know, but if you are able to play or manage at a National League level then surely it was obvious that the long ball was bearing no fruit and it needed to change. If the manager doesn't change it then sure the players can recognise that on the pitch.
The substitution to bring on Omar for Davis made no sense to me. Omar and Aaron are very similar players IMO. So we bring on another long ball target and then leave a hole in our midfield to be exposed as soon as the ball comes back. I felt that Maidenhead offered little going forward before that point, maybe a move to 3 at the back (can we handle that?) and Dylan/Tommy coming on the get in around the back would have been an option? The midfield was exposed and Maidenhead were allowed to start applying more pressure on our defence, putting the nail in our coffin rather than chasing the game.
It's hard not to moan. I hope the whole team are working hard to fix this. I'm just bummed out about the last few results. Hopefully we can turn it around tomorrow.
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