WSM Defeat

I thought we looked much better first half and then switched off just before the HT whistle. Second goal is what happens to teams that are struggling and given our lack of fire power that was that.
Surprised Wilson managed 90 minutes after Wednesday's comments by Jerry. And mystified why we made no substitutions even at 0-2.

Our 16th match of the season and the 8th in which we have failed to score. Just 10 goals, the lowest in the division. It doesn’t matter how you want to spin it, that’s relegation form.
I wonder if I was the only one to be surprised that four of our summer signings remained on the bench watching three youngsters from other clubs take their place. That’s surely not going to work well for morale. And none of them were brought on once we went two goals behind. I wonder how that will be explained.
To be fair, I thought all three loanees had decent games and I felt for the lad who scored the OG, especially as his intervention had prevented a certain goal some minutes earlier. The other two put over some decent crosses but as usual there was nothing in the middle to meet them.
Yet again an opposing keeper had what will probably be the quietest game of the season for him.
As usual I left on the final whistle but I hear that at last there was a negative reaction from some fans. Hopefully those Board members present heard it and will debate how we get out of this mess.

Well in the last 4 games we have managed 4 goals. The problem is half of them were for the opposition!!

These stats are relegation form - https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/national-league-south/form-guide/four - but don't represent the quality of the players.

The tactics, which are the responsibility of management, must be wrong.
Someone with objectivity, other than Jerry, needs to take charge of tactics and make changes. My suspicion is that the players aren't allowed to express themselves, there are times when initiative of the individual on the pitch needs to be demonstrated.

In the first half City had four shots, with two on target whilst WSM had no shots up to the time of scoring.

Jerry could take a break, sit in the stand and reflect.

We are clearly being over critical as apparently that was our best performance of the season. Admittedly it’s a low bar but surely some of the victories were better.

comrade powell wrote:
As usual I left on the final whistle but I hear that at last there was a negative reaction from some fans. Hopefully those Board members present heard it and will debate how we get out of this mess.

Yes there were some negative calls but not extensive. WSM fans were making far more noise (and behaving over-exuberantly). But if it carries on like this I would imagine those calls will get louder.

comrade powell wrote:We are clearly being over critical as apparently that was our best performance of the season. Admittedly it’s a low bar but surely some of the victories were better.

We won't stay up with performances like this. We have to have a goal threat.

There were a few boos but what isn't on is supporters turning on each other. Take your frustrations out on the manager and the directors not fellow supporters.

There were some more vocal expressions of disatisfaction after that. Not sure what you mean about turning on each other I was too focused on WSM fans throwing bins about.

comrade powell wrote:We are clearly being over critical as apparently that was our best performance of the season. Admittedly it’s a low bar but surely some of the victories were better.

When I heard Jerry say that my first thought was that he was taking the p***! He really doesn't do himself any favours when he makes those sort of statements when the evidence of what we saw is clearly to the contrary. I don't get to all the games by any means these days, but I would say that we played far better at Salisbury. I thought his comment about not using subs was interesting as well, which seemed to be that they had had their chance and it was time for someone else to have theirs  - if these young loanees are better than the contracted players it must call into question the recruitment.

Looking at the upcoming games, difficult to see where the next points are coming from, and next week could be interesting with Chertsey having scored 31 in 13 games.

This seasons been ghastly since the spine of the team left for Torquay in the summer. 1st game Zac Smith out for the season. Gone on from there including that ghastly winner at Aldershot in the 98th minute. Got to suck it all in and get on with it. Were looking like were going down at the moment. I see the front 6 and only Wilson and Russe from last seasons front 6. A year ago we had a terrific attacking line up. Now were the total opposite. Cooke, Hayfield and JT are tough to replace. Need Clark back and Frear. Fantastic 1600 attendance with not many as I thought WSM would bring. As always 100% commitment from our lads. UTC.

100% commitment but little intensity again. Time to end the excuses and stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Otherwise relegation will become a probability.

Relegation is looking a dead cert at the moment sadly. When WSM can out bid us for players we know were in trouble. Not excuses, hard facts, we sell our best players. Instantly replacing that class of player is nye on impossible with a small budget. Whose to blame? What's the answer? Do we sell the club to compete and risk losing our ground? Always find it bizarre that when things are going well at clubs (all clubs), there's little chat or praise about football but when things are going bad lots of fans comment and moan. Strange but true.

I assume by selling our best players you are referring to Cooke and Thomas as I believe Dyer, Hayfield and Smith were at the ends of their contracts when they moved on (and of that trio I think we are only really missing Dyer). We are told that the Club did well out of fees received for the first two and I still maintain that Cooke’s heart didn’t look in it for most of last season. Yes he could well have scored more than his replacement but we’d probably still be struggling for goals unless he’d shown increased commitment. Presumably that’s happening at Torquay as he’s popular despite a modest goal return.
While I’m sure our budget is nowhere near the highest in this league, others seem to operate well on limited funding. Did you notice Chippenham’s result against the league leaders yesterday?
I think you’ll find if you trawl through online posts that the team received plenty of praise during the more successful times.

Fantastic result for the bluebirds. Season after season they defy the odds on low crowds. Who knows the true budgets of any clubs. Just annoying WSM got Pearson ahead of us. Think our huge debt is coming to a head now. Not sure of the answer.

Beer sales were incredible yesterday from home and away fans. We didn't get this extra revenue until after covid. Must raise a few thousand pounds a game. The staff work really hard all game in those bars. Thanks to the staff.

comrade powell wrote:I assume by selling our best players you are referring to Cooke and Thomas as I believe Dyer, Hayfield and Smith were at the ends of their contracts when they moved on (and of that trio I think we are only really missing Dyer). We are told that the Club did well out of fees received for the first two and I still maintain that Cooke’s heart didn’t look in it for most of last season. Yes he could well have scored more than his replacement but we’d probably still be struggling for goals unless he’d shown increased commitment. Presumably that’s happening at Torquay as he’s popular despite a modest goal return.
While I’m sure our budget is nowhere near the highest in this league, others seem to operate well on limited funding. Did you notice Chippenham’s result against the league leaders yesterday?
I think you’ll find if you trawl through online posts that the team received plenty of praise during the more successful times.

In the league Cooke has 6 goals in 15 games for Torquay. Perhaps modest, though prolific by our low bar atm.

Equates to 18 goals in a season. Not too shabby.

It could well be that Cooke is playing in a team who are creating more opportunities for scoring than ours is providing and maybe he is back to something like his best form, something which I maintain he seldom showed last season.

Undoubtedly.

I have to say I am not a great fan of playing wingers on their opposite natural side. The idea is that they can cut inside for a shot. But to cross they have to check back to deliver with their stronger foot.
The best place to cross from is as close to the goal line as possible as the striker is then facing the goal when they receive it and so is the defender. If you cross from deeper it is the defender's ball all day long as he is facing the way he wants the ball to go.
Our best striker is Wilson and he didn't get near a shot on Saturday when we had two wide men unable to cross naturally. And I'm sure Cody would be the same.

If Wilson is our best striker we really are doomed.

Didn't we have Goal of the month competition s? Now it's Month of the Goal.