Sutton v Forest green- Match thread

[garethl]

Obviously very disappointing to lose having worked so hard for so long to get level. Felt we deserved something out of it. Who knows how significant the result will be come the end of the season.

The 1st goal was huge as they were well organised, made it difficult and got a bit of room on the counter. We definitely lack a bit of height at set pieces but it was poor to allow such a free run and header.

We remained pretty patient and played ok. A few misplaced passes but that’ll happen. Some of the passing moves were very decent. A bit of a lack of cutting edge and final ball - if we can break down sides sitting in we’ll have a great season.

Felt Simper was excellent and really drove us on 2nd half.

All in all I’m pretty confident we’ll do ok now. A nice break to get sorted for the next one.

[FaultyyearsaU]

I completely understand that we are still very much "work in progress" and these remain very early days for this new squad. Also, the performances against Altrincham and Eastleigh were really very encouraging, of course.

However, I'm having a bit of an "Emperor's New Clothes" moment here. Did anyone else think we were really quite poor through most of the game? 

I thought FGR - set up very well and for me played out the cliché of the "perfect away performance".

We just didn't seem to be "on it" at all today and I felt none of the normal "gut churn" when the winner went in as that felt like the inevitable outcome over most of the 90 minutes.

If I'm the only one put it down to a 17:30 kick off messing with my Feng Shui   

[steveb]

I agree, don’t think we tested the keeper apart from the goal. We kept giving the ball away needlessly in dangerous positions. Also need to stop crosses coming in as our defenders don’t seem to get off the ground.

I’d like to see more of Nadesan who I thought was a central striker? He seems to play wide when he does get on. Did he get booked before he’d touched the ball?

[paz]

Sept 1, 2024 9:57:32 GMT FaultyyearsaU said:

I completely understand that we are still very much "work in progress" and these remain very early days for this new squad. Also, the performances against Altrincham and Eastleigh were really very encouraging, of course.

However, I'm having a bit of an "Emperor's News Clothes" moment here. Did anyone else think we were really quite poor through most of the game? 

I thought FGR - set up very well and for me played out the cliché of the "perfect away performance".

We just didn't seem to be "on it" at all today and I felt none of the normal "gut churn" when the winner went in as that felt like the inevitable outcome over most of the 90 minutes.

If I'm the only one put it down to a 17:30 kick off messing with my Feng Shui   

I dont think we were poor, not at our best but not poor.
They looked a very well organised side with two very expirianced big center backs and we are not going to get things our way all the time. They made it very difficult for us but we still got a good goal to equalise,  which would have given us a deserved point I think. 

What was disappointing was how we gave the two goals away. There was an element of nievity to them.  The first looked too easy for them and the second we should have delt with regardless of the good finish.

[garethl]

Sept 1, 2024 9:57:32 GMT FaultyyearsaU said:

I completely understand that we are still very much "work in progress" and these remain very early days for this new squad. Also, the performances against Altrincham and Eastleigh were really very encouraging, of course.

However, I'm having a bit of an "Emperor's New Clothes" moment here. Did anyone else think we were really quite poor through most of the game? 

I thought FGR - set up very well and for me played out the cliché of the "perfect away performance".

We just didn't seem to be "on it" at all today and I felt none of the normal "gut churn" when the winner went in as that felt like the inevitable outcome over most of the 90 minutes.

If I'm the only one put it down to a 17:30 kick off messing with my Feng Shui   

No, I didn’t think we were that poor. I think we did our best to probe patiently for openings against a packed, organised, professional league set up. Not perfect and plenty to learn/improve, but we certainly didn’t want for endeavour/effort and at times showed quality. If we had scored first the game would have been very different imo. I

[Del]

We certainly were not poor. We came across a side that has plenty of resources to go and buy top league one and two players.
We have the second youngest squad in the league who performed very well and we will only get better. The fact that we didn't win was testament to a very will drilled defence that FGR had. Yes we gave the ball away a few times but we had so much possession it was inevitable.
Looking at the video clip i thought Jackson should have been first to the goalkeepers clearance and put the ball into touch. If you leave a player back to mop up he must have the speed to be able to clear in these situations.The winger should never have got the ball across and all our hard work was undone.

[halftimet]

Jackson should have put the ball, winger or both into touch!

[os]

Can't fault the team for effort, FGR showed a little more experience and put together a really good away performance, I think they will get promoted. We lack a little composure, a experienced head in the middle, but that was the only difference between the 2 sides.

[is4]

As OS said we require a mid field player of the ilk of eastie, also I feel the position of left back requires attention as a fair number of goals scored against us have come from that side.
As I have said earlier,it's early days and no doubt,with patience we will improve.

[halftimet]

I think we look Ok at left back. Waller has impressed me. Looks like SM is rotating between him and Vaz.

We take risks because of the Managers desire to press teams and score goals.

If we are to leave only one at the back then they must be agile enough to cover the ground. To nullify the through ball in general play we need the centre backs to cover one another. Not sure Ransom is mobile enough to do so on what I’ve seen so far.

Just my opinion of course.

[Big Al]

Obviously still very early days and much can and will change. We have had a good start to the campaign. However from what I have seen heard and read nothing has test changed my mind that a successful and satisfactory season for us will be to finish at or around mid way. We certainly don’t look like early season relegation candidates but nor do we look like we could mount any realistic challenge for automatic promotion at this point.

I would love to see us take a season to mature and evolve with maybe a play off spot in our realistic sights then hope we can keep the bones of the squad together for a real assault next year.

Again still very early days and not saying for one moment that we have not had an encouraging start…

[paz]

Sept 2, 2024 12:34:52 GMT halftimet said:

I think we look Ok at left back. Waller has impressed me. Looks like SM is rotating between him and Vaz.

We take risks because of the Managers desire to press teams and score goals.

If we are to leave only one at the back then they must be agile enough to cover the ground. To nullify the through ball in general play we need the centre backs to cover one another. Not sure Ransom is mobile enough to do so on what I’ve seen so far.

Just my opinion of course.

I can forgive a few goals where we are caught out at the back, But something about the two goals last Saturday which disappointed me, even though their second was a good finish. I cant really pick out a weak area in our general play, and I think we have been strong all over. We will have off days of course but I think the team are still character building.

If I was to address one weakness which could be an issue, is our plan B and C. Forest Green managed to stop us, admittedly we persevered and scored a good equaliser, But I did have the feeling that its one way or the highway with us. If we continue to improve then this should not be an issue I think, if not, then it could be the difference between a play of chase and a distant mid table finish. 

[davethegrave]

Well I've said this before. Our defence is too small. That first goal was too easy.

[os]

I think we play the press really well, and of course you always risk getting caught at the back, but as I said last week some teams like FGR will go a little longer and take the press out of the game. I think its that where we have struggled a little and need to improve.

But overall OS is not complaining about the start to the season, these players are going to improve with matches.

[Andy K]

A team that didn't know each other a couple of months ago with one of the youngest squads in the league were unbeaten for the first 5 games and only lost 1 in the first month of the season.

I'd take that all day.