Just Back-on the bus.

So just back after dropping the lad back into the City, so what to make of that then?

First half we where decent with the ball on the deck. The shape helped but it did take the lads a while to get used to it I think i we could get pace into that shape it might work dividends. The 3 CB's looked o.k. and Osborne's bit of pace helped cover a lot of their attacks. Thought the goal was well worked with a decent finish and pretty much underlined what we tied to do.

At half time we deserved to be ahead but they came out with real zip on the back of bringing on their sub who looked pretty decent and it did not take too long for the inevitable to happen. After their goal it was a bit one way but Town weathered that and finished quite strong. In fact we once again got in some good positions but that cried out for a poacher to finish. Expected better from Davis with the free header chance and thought the penalty shout was 50/50 to be fair, I reckon it was contact as well as a slip.

So headlines for me,

- We need to water the pitch at BP before kick off as the surface water looked like it helped us zip the ball a bit or did we just pas it better

- Despite what Davis said on RH in the week I still think not being in the atmosphere at BP helped today

- Overall football was better but if he can't add a striker can he add a bit of pace from mid field/wide?

- Why Woolford as a 2nd half sub ahead of DJ

- Really embarrassed to see/hear a handful of tw@ts boo Vernon when he replaced Matt, yes he may be NL level in reality but we shouldn't be booing our own players on.

- Better today overall but I think we'll still get sucked into relegation run in, I'm hoping the experience in the squad keep us clear.

UTM!  

  

Not a stonewall penalty, looked like there guy put his foot on the ball as it stopped dead before Vernam went over .

Not a detailed post from me, many have made better comments than I could already. I will say I finally saw us score! I am happy.

The fact that Colchester were poor and we let them get an easy equaliser with urine poor defending and failed to really try and get a win against a side who looked even less confident and able than us is all an issue for future me (and rest of us as looks to me like we need to rely on there being 2 teams worse than us), saw a goal and better than that it even mattered! UTM

Slade speaks of a man who’s fighting for his career let alone his job, he won’t get another one if we sack him, the pessimist in me says that we only controlled the first half as it confused them but we were outplayed when they got to grips with it and looked the better side. That formation needs athleticism from the 2 wing backs, genuine composure on the ball from the 2 outside centre halves, a central midfielder who’s happy to drop in when we attack and the other have to get beyond the strikers to take men away from the play and get goals themselves. It’s a formation that requires specialist players and is extremely effective if you play it well (like when Chelsea won the title and Ajax won Champions Leagues and league titles aplenty with it) but can look horrible when countered properly.

Quoted from Mariner_09

Slade speaks of a man who’s fighting for his career let alone his job, he won’t get another one if we sack him, the pessimist in me says that we only controlled the first half as it confused them but we were outplayed when they got to grips with it and looked the better side. That formation needs athleticism from the 2 wing backs, genuine composure on the ball from the 2 outside centre halves, a central midfielder who’s happy to drop in when we attack and the other have to get beyond the strikers to take men away from the play and get goals themselves. It’s a formation that requires specialist players and is extremely effective if you play it well (like when Chelsea won the title and Ajax won Champions Leagues and league titles aplenty with it) but can look horrible when countered properly.

Apart from the first ten minutes of the second half I don't think that we were ever outplayed.

Ok, I wasn't there but going on JT's commentary and reports on here I guessed we were. I remember what happened last year. Exeter and more importantly Crewe sussed it out, I don't want that to happen again!

Quoted from Mariner_09

Slade speaks of a man who’s fighting for his career let alone his job, he won’t get another one if we sack him, the pessimist in me says that we only controlled the first half as it confused them but we were outplayed when they got to grips with it and looked the better side. That formation needs athleticism from the 2 wing backs, genuine composure on the ball from the 2 outside centre halves, a central midfielder who’s happy to drop in when we attack and the other have to get beyond the strikers to take men away from the play and get goals themselves. It’s a formation that requires specialist players and is extremely effective if you play it well (like when Chelsea won the title and Ajax won Champions Leagues and league titles aplenty with it) but can look horrible when countered properly.

Sorry to nitpic but Chelsea won the league last year with a 343 and Ajax's playing philosophy is all around their own version of a 343 (which is different to the Chelsea of last year.

Also I think any formation can be effective if you play it well, and that 352 wouldn't require specialist players any more so than a 442 does - you pick players with attributes to suit that particular profile of player needed in each position of the system. Just as you would with a 442 or 433.

Agree that you need a bit of athleticism from the wingback in the 352, but it worth noting how Dixon was the highest man forward to set up our goal today.

I disagree, 3-5-2 requires specialist players in a 4-4-2 you can fudge a full back or a winger, in this system you need athleticism from both wing backs who need to be equally as good at both ends of the pitch. The outside centre halves have to be equally comfortable in wide positions as they are in centre and need to be able to cover more ground than your average L2 centre half and they have to be composed on the ball and happy to take things like throw ins as well. I don’t like it. 4-3-3 also requires the full backs to require athleticism to provide width at both ends. I’d much see us sign a powerful athletic left back and play that formation

I enjoyed the game yesterday, to be fair. We kept possession, passed well and had a shedload of chances. 2nd half they were better and we were quieter but I wouldn’t say they outplayed us.

I thought Berrett had a decent game. Good chest down by the much maligned Vernon on to the much maligned Dixon to create the goal. As previously stated, Vernam had a great game and looks a player.

The most boring part of the game was a small section of our own fans ridiculing Vernon all game, booing him when he came on, etc. Why flipping bother.

Loved Collins’ passion when we scored and his attempts to gee up the crowd, as ever. We might be in a rotten spell of form but there is fight and belief in the camp still, it seems.

Nice to hear summat positive Sam.