Anyone bothering going to Cheltenham?

[diamondgirl]

I think, on reflection, that we were not THAT bad, last night. We started well, and if we had managed to get a goal or two, in the first 10/15 mins, I'm not sure that Cheltenham would have had the ability to come back at us. It was more of a lack lustre performance, than a bad one (Unlike the 1st half at D & R). Rene did get some stick, from a few, (Not me, I might add) because he appeared not to want to jump and try to win high balls, but I wonder if he was injured. He was limping, slightly, and I thought I saw somewhere that he had a problem with a hamstring. If that's true then I can see that he would not want to be jumping and putting pressure on an injury. My MOM was Lloyd Macklin. He seemed to be all over the pitch, defending and trying to get us moving in attack. Billy Bodin did ok. If there was a weakness it was in defence. They were all at sea, at times, and Ricey came to our rescue with a couple of very good saves. Not sure there was anything he could have done about either of the goals. To be honest, with a little bit of better luck in front of goal, we might have got a possitive result, but without hitting the hights of the Brizzle Rovers game.

As for Manse. I dont think we need to be reading anything sinister into his being replaced last night. He was, as Matt said, getting pretty frustrated out on the field, and was possibly heading for a booking, or worse still, a red card. He did work (In typical Manse fashion) hard, and I guess Dinger decided that it will be of more importance to have a fit, eager skipper, for the coming leaque matches, rather than risking him in a relatively tin pot cup, allbeit in a match that we would have preferred to have won, than lost. Bring on Macclesfield and, hopefully, 3 more points, on Sat.

[Dave_Pougher]

I know on the highlights that you don't see enough of players positions and preceding build up but I'm staggered that a defender at this level can allow himself to be beaten by the bounce of the ball like the one that lead to one of the goals last night.

[royalgull]

I have to make an apology to Oastler, it was Ellis who mucked up the header for the 2nd goal. Saah let it bounce (rubbish) Ellis mucked the header up (rubbish) Oastler tried to redeem it. So he was blameless for that goal.

I think in a mass rage at that i turned around for a second and when i looked back, Oastler was walking away from the scene of the footballing crime so i presumed it was him. Still woefully out of position for the first goal and no pressure on the man to stop the cross.

[Father Jack]

Royal, having just watched the highlights, im not convinced that finger pointing at Saah for either of the goals is warranted. For the second one, Saah was marking the Cheltenham player, both jumped to win the ball and neither managed to get their head on it. Not exactly the same as "letting it bounce" I would suggest.
As for the first, its was Ellis not Saah that the striker cut across to score from the cross.
Some good saves from Ricey though

[royalgull]

He has to do better mate. He has to push the forward out of the way almost and make sure he wins the header. That's his job. To stand there and not get in front of the forward, was a half hearted effort and it lead to a goal. The ball is in the air long enough to see it, read it, and get all obstacles out of the way.

It wasn't just that occasion, nearly every aerial ball was the same. Poor play for me.

[ferrarilover]

Ask yourself this, FJ, would Branno have missed the header? The answer, I think it can be fairly assumed, is no. I'm not quite sure why you are leaping to the defense of Saah quite so readily. As I've pointed out on another thread (or earlier in this one, it's somewhere), I have only cause to want BS to be brilliant (or, at least, adequate). Presently, he's hopeless and I'm not going to shy away from saying as much.

Matt.

[Father Jack]

He has to do better mate. He has to push the forward out of the way almost and make sure he wins the header. That's his job. To stand there and not get in front of the forward, was a half hearted effort and it lead to a goal. The ball is in the air long enough to see it, read it, and get all obstacles out of the way.
It wasn't just that occasion, nearly every aerial ball was the same. Poor play for me.

Watch it again Royal. He did get in front of the forward and made sure the attacker he was marking didnt get the ball. Pushing the forward out of the way would only concede a free kick not far outside the area and probably earn a yellow card. He may have been poor for the rest of the match but you cant really blame him that goal

[Father Jack]

Fiatboy, Branston probably wouldnt have. But then again, your favourite pin up poster boy had a hand in both goals but you seem quite happy to ignore that in favour of blaming Saah.

[royalgull]

Watch it again Royal. He did get in front of the forward and made sure the attacker he was marking didnt get the ball. Pushing the forward out of the way would only concede a free kick not far outside the area and probably earn a yellow card. He may have been poor for the rest of the match but you cant really blame him that goal

But he didn't win the ball.........so any action of which there was little is totally pointless. He HAS to win the ball. He got up next to the forward but as ever with Saah wasn't dominant enough to be stronger than the forward and win it. He stands off and allows the forward to get in front of him, time after time after time.

A free kick outside the area >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> A goal which happened because our centre half didn't head a ball which was in the air from the moment it left their keepers boot.

Just like last season's game where ironically Branston did the same thing, only Branno tried to win a free kick by chucking his arms in the air, the worst mistake I've seen Branston do in his tenure here. Trying to defend Saah for the 2nd goal is almost as bad as his defending itself for it.

50% Saah's fault for allowing that ball to bounce, 50% Ellis fault for getting in a crap position and getting underneath it. Absolute disgrace of a goal defensively in all honesty. You won't see many worse than that all season.

[royalgull]

With regard to Ricey, first highlight that deflected cross that loops up, anyone else remember Potter in the same situation last season at Cheltenham?! Blimey with that and the long ball down the middle to only concede 1 from those 2 scenario's this year maybe we are improving defensively!!? :P

Ricey being more agile and quick on his feet means he leaves the ground to turn it over the bar!

[ferrarilover]

Of course Branno wouldn't have got the ball, he was famed during his time with us for being useless in the air... On wait, that's not right, is it?

You're fighting a losing battle here, Jack, because the fact remains, no matter how many childish comments you make, that Saah is yet to reach an appropriate level of play in any department.

Yes, I do like Mark, perfectly decent player and certainly a nice guy to boot.

Let us pose the question, to all concerned, which line up do the majority favour for Saturday:

Nico Saah Robbo Leadbitter

Or

Nico Ellis Robbo Leadbitter

Assuming these are the only two choices, the FL have mandated that it is one of these line ups, or we have to sack Dinger and appoint Fatty Evans as manager with Buckle as Chief Tactician.

Matt.

[Southampton Gull]

Ellis alongside Robertson is a disaster in waiting as has been proved previously.

In Ling We Trust

[gullsrus]

i do raise questions that there are certain posters who come on this forum who have preconceived opinions of certain players (good or bad ) and whatever happens during the game they make sure their heroes or scapegoats are brought to the attention of this forum until they see the highlights that is !! as they say the camera never lies !!! i am referring to the saah ellis oastler debate

[Awayday]

Fiatboy, Branston probably wouldnt have. But then again, your favourite pin up poster boy had a hand in both goals but you seem quite happy to ignore that in favour of blaming Saah.

He might be a Fiatboy, but he is our Fiatboy

[ferrarilover]

i do raise questions that there are certain posters who come on this forum who have preconceived opinions of certain players (good or bad ) and whatever happens during the game they make sure their heroes or scapegoats are brought to the attention of this forum until they see the highlights that is !! as they say the camera never lies !!! i am referring to the saah ellis oastler debate

And therein this argument collapses. Pick and choose from any selection of 'highlights' and you can prove anything. I'm pretty sure that I could find a selection if highlights which would show Thierry Henry to be a donkey and Elliot Benyon to be a world beater.

Having attended the games and not having had to rely on 90 seconds of highlights on the iPlayer, I promise you that, entirely without prejudice, Saah has been pretty damn close to useless.
I'm not sure how many more times I can type out the phrase about wanting Saah to be really good before everyone has read and accepted it. I'm not a fan of having a go at individuals, because it's a team game, but Saah plainly and simply has not been good enough since the start of the season.
I'm not writing him off, I'm not suggesting he should be sold, I'm just saying that he needs to be better. If the way to do this is to give him a month on the sidelines and playing Ellis and Robbo in the middle at the back (they are, after all [DAVE!] both centre backs, unlike Oastler, or LRT or anyone else we might have available to play there).

Matt.