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Post by Amber Aleman on Oct 8, 2023 15:31:16 GMT
It's noteworthy that we kept the clean sheet without Craig Eastmond in the side. We missed his interceptive skills during that spell late last season when he was out injured, and of course he's missed quite a bit of this season too, but it seems that Craig Clay, an experienced player at this level, and Christian N'Guessan, who's adjusting to the pace of League Two, are between them starting to get the necessary grip on midfield. We saw that in the Carabao Cup win at Wycombe, and we saw it again yesterday.
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Post by Del on Oct 8, 2023 17:45:29 GMT
It's noteworthy that we kept the clean sheet without Craig Eastmond in the side. We missed his interceptive skills during that spell late last season when he was out injured, and of course he's missed quite a bit of this season too, but it seems that Craig Clay, an experienced player at this level, and Christian N'Guessan, who's adjusting to the pace of League Two, are between them starting to get the necessary grip on midfield. We saw that in the Carabao Cup win at Wycombe, and we saw it again yesterday. Plus it was noticeable that the wingers were tracking back to help out the full backs. Also i believe O'Brien was playing a slightly advanced role linking up better with Smith. I'm hoping we have turned the corner but a lot will depend upon us keeping the majority of that team fit as we don't have great depth as replacements.
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Post by baboonfish on Oct 8, 2023 22:00:03 GMT
It's noteworthy that we kept the clean sheet without Craig Eastmond in the side. We missed his interceptive skills during that spell late last season when he was out injured, and of course he's missed quite a bit of this season too, but it seems that Craig Clay, an experienced player at this level, and Christian N'Guessan, who's adjusting to the pace of League Two, are between them starting to get the necessary grip on midfield. We saw that in the Carabao Cup win at Wycombe, and we saw it again yesterday. Plus it was noticeable that the wingers were tracking back to help out the full backs. Also i believe O'Brien was playing a slightly advanced role linking up better with Smith. I'm hoping we have turned the corner but a lot will depend upon us keeping the majority of that team fit as we don't have great depth as replacements. O brien and Smith were playing as a front 2 rather than the usual withdrawn striker behind an advanced one. Our central midfield was sitting very deep and it was clay and n guessian mostly helping out on the flanks rather than the wingers. Coley in particular does not contribute much defensively because he drifts into the centre all the time. Matt fixed this at half time, tasking clay with preventing the overload on kizzi. It worked excellently and as I've said already we were able to make these kind of tweaks because we weren't chasing the game for once.
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Post by pinewalker on Oct 8, 2023 23:24:43 GMT
It's noteworthy that we kept the clean sheet without Craig Eastmond in the side. We missed his interceptive skills during that spell late last season when he was out injured, and of course he's missed quite a bit of this season too, but it seems that Craig Clay, an experienced player at this level, and Christian N'Guessan, who's adjusting to the pace of League Two, are between them starting to get the necessary grip on midfield. We saw that in the Carabao Cup win at Wycombe, and we saw it again yesterday. I prefer AA's idea about Craig's absence to that of my wife who noticed the only games at GGL that I have missed were both U's wins. Another notable absentee from most of the match was Harry. The only Sutton players on the squad list for last October's game against Walsall who started this one were Hart, Goodliffe and Kizzi. So it was a midfield and attack of players new this season who produced this performance. It is odd how often in football a team short of the 'main man' doesn't play worse, but plays better once the other players shoulder more responsibility. Kane-less Spurs another example. After tearing our left flank apart in the league - Crawley on Tuesday in the Cup will be an excellent test of whether U's have suddenly found their best formation.
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Post by Big Al on Oct 9, 2023 7:45:25 GMT
So in my last post I suggested that we not only needed a significant win but also a good performance for Matt to keep his job. Clearly we got both and all credit to players and management team for achieving that. However just as when some were calling for Matt’s head three games ago it was too soon to make a change it is likewise still too soon to state we are suddenly a good team sleeping and about to charge up the league.
For me the signs are encouraging but reality is we will probably be looking at this in two game windows for next three or four weeks - we get two good results and performances together then we see an improving trend but if the reverse happens we are very quickly back to where we were…
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Post by paz on Oct 9, 2023 9:07:23 GMT
It's noteworthy that we kept the clean sheet without Craig Eastmond in the side. We missed his interceptive skills during that spell late last season when he was out injured, and of course he's missed quite a bit of this season too, but it seems that Craig Clay, an experienced player at this level, and Christian N'Guessan, who's adjusting to the pace of League Two, are between them starting to get the necessary grip on midfield. We saw that in the Carabao Cup win at Wycombe, and we saw it again yesterday. I prefer AA's idea about Craig's absence to that of my wife who noticed the only games at GGL that I have missed were both U's wins. Another notable absentee from most of the match was Harry. The only Sutton players on the squad list for last October's game against Walsall who started this one were Hart, Goodliffe and Kizzi. So it was a midfield and attack of players new this season who produced this performance. It is odd how often in football a team short of the 'main man' doesn't play worse, but plays better once the other players shoulder more responsibility. Kane-less Spurs another example. After tearing our left flank apart in the league - Crawley on Tuesday in the Cup will be an excellent test of whether U's have suddenly found their best formation. Given we have so many games coming up and a hard game on Saturday in the league, I would expect rested players tomorrow.
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Post by davethegrave on Oct 9, 2023 17:02:19 GMT
My son has been to every game except Notts County and Walsall. He has now been banned.
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Post by davef on Oct 9, 2023 17:09:35 GMT
Tim Vine has only seen two. Bruce has locked him behind the bar in the boardroom.
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