City v. Truro

Ross starts, as does Morton. Distincty lightweight look outside the back 4. Straker on bench. with Batten, Rigg, Case.

  I am so glad that Ross Stearn is straight into the team playing today  Hope he is as brilliant as he was the last time he played for us.

Ht. It's Twerton so no need to advise the score.

Ft. See above.

Insipid.....

I actually thought we played well and as far as 0-0s go, and I’ve seen my fair share (eight this season now) it was a decent game. We got into some good positions but couldn’t exploit it. Made a team near the top look rather average and on another day would have won.

I didn’t make the 300 round trip today.

We have only produced one winning home performance since GO left.

Becalmed in mid table but a draw today probably a good result.

It’s clear we don’t have the squad to make that top 6/7 currently..

All feels a bit flat.

I couldn’t quite work out if we made them look ordinary, or they were just having an off day. I think we were crying out for a second player up front with Nat. I know a lot of people have it in for Nat, but I think it’s a pretty thankless task playing the lone striker against some of the lumps (Truro’s number 4 for example!) in this league. This is why I find it strange we let Pops go before we had another striker lined up....is Kavanagh still meant to be with us? Perhaps we’ll get a new (contracted) arrival soon....?
The paucity of attacking options from the bench was pretty stark today.....in fact there wouldn’t have been a single sub if Dan Ball hadn't been sent off.
Thought Stearn had a good game - almost forgot how good his crossing was and the variety of his supply - fair play he managed to play virtually the full 90 mins, as I thought he struggle to make it past 50mins.
Was very worried when I saw Morton started, but thought he did well (as Matt Richards was ill).

I'd normally agree with Stillman's comment that today was actually alright, but that's if the game is viewed in isolation, in reality it's 5 games in a row at home where we haven't scored. This is why people are fed up.
All I heard in the ground was people saying they aren't going away, how they can't be bothered going to home games.
I think the Gill appointment was a good idea in theory, but in practice it has been a disaster.

Find it staggering how much Jerry has weakened the attaching options in the squad since coming in. I can only hope he has a striker lined up now Nick has left, please not another loan signing!!
Jarvis is not good enough at this level and we obviously need some more options up there after letting go of Lucas, Morgan and McCootie. Stearn’s supply today is encouraging moving forward IF we can find someone.
Jerry seems to want to rid the squad of GO’s players, I’m concerned there could be more departures coming which will further weaken the squad.

I thought today's game was great. Loads of chances, good football, woodwork hit, end to end stuff. City were the better side and made a tidy Truro outfit look pretty ordinary. Just no goals again.

But I'm going to keep turning up for home games because I think what Jerry's doing is great. We're knocking it around now! I'm not going home with a stiff neck anymore following all those long hoofs out of defence, plus we're not shipping goals like we used to week in week out.

The team was dropped in the proverbial when Owers left, but the way City play has been utterly transformed for the better in only just over a couple of months. That's Jerry's doing. He knows stuff, he's not daft. He knows he needs to sort out the scoring problem too, and maybe in the next few weeks his decision to get Ross Stearn back might just sort that problem. Let's wait and see, eh.

Brilliant trolling Freeview Joe. Transformed City for the better, with our one win at home, and total of 3 wins in 16. Can't wait for this brilliant scintillating football to power us to the league title.

Nice one Joe.

Utterly transformed into a mid table team that can’t score and win at least some games at home

I want JG to succeed but people are becoming impatient...........

I don't know if Joe was trolling, but I agreed with most of what he wrote. If that had been the opening game of the season I think most would have been praising the football played and the quality of the players on the pitch. Yes, several of those belong to other clubs and today's result is the latest in a series of blanks at home so it's understandable that supporters are frustrated.

To offer some reassurance, board members are in regular contact with Jerry and it is clear that he is working extremely hard for the club. I remember him saying on the return from the cup exit at Chelmsford that he was desperate for a regular goal scorer - whatever people's opinion of the previous manager is it is pretty clear that his summer signing of strikers was not successful. This was a problem which Jerry inherited and it may well define our season.

And to address the departure of McCootie - a striker without a league goal in 13 starts - the club tried hard to keep him but he wanted away. Financially we did well out of the transfer - he would have been out of contract come May and could have left on a free.

Keep the faith

Joe says that in a few weeks time the decision to get Ross Stearn back might solve the scoring problem. Ross is only on loan - if he starts scoring goals there is only one place he will be in a few weeks time and that is back at Sutton.

As Martin says the paucity of striking options was inherited by Jerry. I'm slightly surprised that Jarvis has outlasted the others but he fits the way Jerry wants to play better. I have rarely seen a player that appears so ineffective in any part of the pitch, but he must be doing something right.
I agree with Joe though that the quality of football is fantastic. Some of the play today was a joy to watch. Morton was fabulous and brought out the best of Frankie. Smith was slightly off the pace otherwise I think we would have scored with Compton having one of his best games and of course Stearn showing some real quality.
Somehow though Jerry needs to unearth a striker we can afford. That is clear to everyone.

The focus on a striker is only part of the story.

We are not scoring from anywhere.

Our record under Gary was much better and we were a promotion contender when he left.

To succeed at this level requires a special mix!

Playing one up front at home and packing the midfield area doesn't work. Some lovely passing exchanges and crosses into the box but it is all about converting the chances when they arrive. Five consecutive blanks at TP and a forever changing side of loanees and lack of a quality striker mean the play offs are sadly looking out of reach. There was a moment in the second half which summed it up for me. Jarvis put a brilliant ball across the six yard box which just needed a touch from a City player but there was no one in the area. Feeling frustrated.

I think Jerry has to find the elusive striker we're looking for this month. If he can't find one by then, he might as well bank the money for next season, as by the end of the month I fear we'll be too far off the playoffs to mount a challenge to get into them this season.

I really wasn't trolling. Trolling is something I have always really detested, and I feel extremely bemused at being labelled as such when all I was doing was offering my personal opinion on yesterday's game and the style of football we are playing at the moment. My opinion may not match the general consensus of those writing under this subject, but football is a game of opinion, and I hope you will agree with me that everybody should be able to express a non-partisan view without being called a troll.

Freeview Joe, you are right and I apologise. Saying you were trolling wasn't fair and it wasn't right to label your view as such. My apologies.

As much as I am fed up at the moment, I do love how this has reminded me that you can show a group of people the same game and get as many different opinions as you have people. Football might frustrate sometimes but God it's good!

Sir Jon of Bradford-upon-Avon ... you are a true gentleman my friend ... Thank you.

You're right, football is a beautiful game ... and I'm sure one day it could be incredibly gorgeous (if only City could start scoring at home! )

pete mac wrote:Our record under Gary was much better

Eventually things worked out pretty well, but if you compare the first 12 league games in charge -
GO (second spell): W2, D6, L4, F13, A18
JG: W3, D5, L4, F14, A13

Ok, there's the argument Jerry was left with a better set of players, but changes still had to be made.

I'll stand by what I said - I thought it was a decent performance, we just couldn't make the most of our openings. I can't fathom how people think we play defensively, is this based on our number of clean sheets? We're keeping clean sheets because we have a gifted goalkeeper, a reliable back four, whoever fills in there, and midfielders working hard to protect it. Eight clean sheets in 19 games since Jerry took over is a decent statistic and should have warranted more wins. At the other end, Opi Edwards started nearly every match he was here, and we had Compton and Stearn on each wing yesterday. In the past that wouldn't happen, Edwards would have spent his spell here as an impact player and I can't imagine each of the latter two starting at the same time. Yes, we aren't scoring goals (well, at home anyway, we've only failed to score in two away matches) but it's not because we're sticking men behind the ball.

If you only have one fit striker, you're pretty restricted to what you can do, and yesterday we had nothing on the bench to amend that. Kavanagh was presumably brought in to fill that gap for the short-term at least, but he's injured. Watkins is injured. Morgan scored one goal on his return, McCootie had scored one goal all season. Nick had been a great servant to the club and when he was linked with a move away last season I was delighted he had stayed, but to receive a fee for him is good business. The other option was taking a chance that he'd turn things around in the second half of the season and suddenly bang in 10 goals, but I think 11 is his best tally for a season. Chippenham have taken a gamble paying money for a striker (or strikers, I know they've brought in someone from Frome as well) and it could pay off for them. It's a gamble because it's someone unproven at this level, and someone who isn't a 20-goal a season man. Halfway through a season you're unlikely to find one, as shown with us as the only example I can think of is Scott Partridge. You either need to find a hidden gem from lower down the pyramid or unearth the next Bobby Zamora, without a club recalling him. Or you take a chance, like Chippenham, that a misfiring forward can come good again. If Nick does then fair play, he's done his bit for us and was always friendly when I spoke to him.

On top of that, we've lost Billy Murphy, who I'm guessing created about a third of our goals last season. He wasn't forced out, and although we have other players lethal with direct free-kicks, we're lacking someone that can float in a dangerous one to cause havoc. Matt Richards has a decent delivery but, as yet, it's not on par with Billy's.

I can understand quotes like "fans are losing patience" because no-one wants to attend 0-0s. I've seen eight this season for goodness sake. But I've seen far more forgettable 1/2-0 wins than yesterday's match, which I thought this thread was about. If you're looking at the bigger picture then yes, failing to score in five successive home matches for the first time since the mid 60s is not good, but yesterday was light years ahead of the performance and entertainment against Margate at home, for example.

There is a yearn for instant success nowadays, hence why you have so many managerial changes in the Football League. Even a Chippenham fan on their forum said they're losing patience, and they won basically every game last season! Baffling. My hope is that because we haven't won as many games as we'd have liked thus far, doesn't result in Jerry now having to win about eight in a row to turn people around. Gary Owers was well backed by supporters and it resulted in improvements, but as the record at the start of my post suggests, it wasn't instant. There seemed more unity and even after the dismal start to this season, there weren't calls for the need for change.

Overall it's fine margins sometimes. Had Stearn kept his shot down late on there wouldn't have been this debate. In fact, there probably wouldn't have been many posts at all.

I agree with much that has been said.

I will just add the Truro midfield worked hard and the referee's performance, only mention by Kelston Koppite (although he kindly does not mention the two Truro back passes not penalised).

Colin Voutt wrote:I agree with much that has been said.

I will just add the Truro midfield worked hard and the referee's performance, only mention by Kelston Koppite (although he kindly does not mention the two Truro back passes not penalised).

There's a lot of varying opinions to agree with!

I don't recall any deliberate back passes which weren't penalised. There was one the keeper handled which the defender definitely didn't intend as pass back, and I can't remember any others. Funnily enough I was talking about these incidents at one point, when the law first came in it felt like any sliced clearance etc would be deemed as deliberately passing back to the keeper, nowadays there was hesitancy on the one being given against Rigg the other week, which was as blatant as it gets.