City v Gloucester

yuffie wrote:I have my own views of the celebration.

Yes so do I.

If it's the Sunday I hope it's not played at some silly early time. Some of us have a big game in the morning at Colerne.

I actually thought in the second half we didn't play much better than the second half against East Thurrock, in terms of retaining possession certainly. Defended better, obviously, but the Gloucester attack was pretty feeble. Not sure why Griffin, who I think has scored a vast majority of their goals this season, didn't start either game. He's obviously their Stearn.

But in extra-time we appeared a lot fitter and stronger than our opponents, particularly players like Watkins who was my man of the match. Gloucester seemed well organised enough, certainly not the look of a side that have shipped a fair few goals, but as Neil alluded to, they don't have enough going forward. The goal they scored was a really tame effort that Jason will have nightmares over.

stillmanjunior wrote:Not sure why Griffin, who I think has scored a vast majority of their goals this season, didn't start either game. He's obviously their Stearn.

He'd just be getting to the benches now if he'd tried the same 'celebration' as Stearn.

I have to confess I didn't see it properly as I was fumbling around trying to work out what minute of extra time we were in! I saw him slide on his knees in front of our bench but no idea what actions he made/said.

When he scored against Boreham Wood a few months back he darted off towards our bench and jumped into Chas Hemmings before returning to the pitch.

Figured everyone would want to see this one first.

Maybe the Gloucester City match reporter will change his statement, there is no way this can be described as a "soft finish".

Watching it again, it does look ott and probably it was a gesture towards the management. But can you blame him, following the way he has been in and out of the team recently? Sunday's last minute substitution following a performance completely lacking in purpose or quality must have seemed like a personal insult. I honestly thought last season that he was 't good enough to be an automatic selection in our midfield, but we can't afford to keep him on the bench these days. At least he was introduced last night with sufficient time to make an impact.

If the reason for his non selection is down to personal differences, it's time that the club brought the 2 parties together to clear the air.

Yes, I agree with your second paragraph, but think you're mixing up his late introduction with Hemel? He came on with about half an hour to go on Sunday as well I believe.

With all due respect, he wasn't selected in right midfield ahead of a right back. I rate Bowman but he's a full-back or wing-back in my opinion. We've had a lot of full-backs used in midfield and it never really convinces me. Had Stearn been dropped on the back of two poor performances then fair enough, but to leave him out after he did little wrong at Ebbsfleet, and was even better against St. Albans, is a bit odd. Take someone like Chris Allen - came back into the team a month or so and has been a near ever present, hasn't done a lot wrong. He rightly kept his place. If the issue with Stearn isn't to do with football then, sadly, it'd probably be best if he moved on. I was actually amazed he stayed on this season as can imagine he's craving regular football.

Yes, you're right, I was confusing Sunday's substitution with the one against Hemel, an equally dreadful performance. Re the start of your 2nd paragraph, I was delighted to hear a pundit on TV the other day saying people get too hung up about players positions and how they fit into the formation of the team. While these look fine on paper, players should be adaptable and take up many positions during the course of the game. However, it has been clear for many years that we prefer the functional approach, and players like Stearn play little more than a walk on part. I suppose it's an approach which has served us fairly well, but I think we would have gone to penalties last night without his introduction.

As I said above, Stearn must now be given a starting role - he has the ability to lift the team and the crowd, and in this pretty turgid season that should be good enough for anyone.

I thought Bowman was our best attacking outlet last night until he went off.

To my mind the fact that Stearn stayed during the summer should have ended any conspiracy theories about why he doesn't play every game but I guess not.

I find the Stearn issue totally frustrating. We are faced with rapidly falling crowds and the one player who can lift the crowd and is the sort of player people will pay to come and see is continually left out. As I have said previously he is not going to be a match winner every game - if he was he would not be playing for us - but in my view if he can turn it on in more matches than not then he has to play.
It is pretty obvious to me Stearn is not a 'yes man' and gives it a bit of lip. The management cannot deal with that, their only answer is to leave him out. I think this is poor management on their part and totally wrong to put personal issues before the benefit of the team and supporters.

yuffie wrote:I thought Bowman was our best attacking outlet last night until he went off.

For me he gave the same performance he always does when pushed forward, works hard, gets into dangerous positions, then no end product. I really rate Bowman as a right back/wing back, but for me he isn't anything more than a stop gap winger if we had injuries, which is why it can be frustrating when he starts ahead of a fit Stearn.

However, I also don't buy into the Stearn is the greatest thing ever debate, for what it is worth, I think I'd start him in the majority of games at Twerton Park, but would be less keen on starting him away, unless the opposition had a suspect left back.

Hopefully he'll be thrown in on Saturday - he caused St. Albans all sorts of problems the other week.

I thought Bowman did ok but the fact that we opted to select a player who hasn't really been used as a winger before, as opposed to one that I believe is his specialist position, is a bit concerning. Or it could have been because Bowman is suspended for Saturday so they wanted to save Stearn for then? That was another slight concern - another few bookings picked up last night.

Presume Hemmings didn't play because he was held up with work or something? Don't recall him picking up a knock Sunday and believe he's suspended this weekend?

It was very flat last night. Under 300 means no atmosphere but we won without playing well. I hope we start to get the fluency back soon

stillmanjunior wrote:That was another slight concern - another few bookings picked up last night.

Was it Keary or Allen booked for what looked like retaliation after a foul in front of the pop side? It has been a tendency in recent games for our players to charge around the ref after an incident. Why? It probably won't influence his decision, except to dish out equal punishment to one of the protesters. We need a settled team with such a small squad, and these suspensions are mounting up.

SteveS wrote:I find the Stearn issue totally frustrating. We are faced with rapidly falling crowds and the one player who can lift the crowd and is the sort of player people will pay to come and see is continually left out. As I have said previously he is not going to be a match winner every game - if he was he would not be playing for us - but in my view if he can turn it on in more matches than not then he has to play.
It is pretty obvious to me Stearn is not a 'yes man' and gives it a bit of lip. The management cannot deal with that, their only answer is to leave him out. I think this is poor management on their part and totally wrong to put personal issues before the benefit of the team and supporters.

Oh how I agree with that. Here we are floundering financially and a board seemingly unable to stop the rot. As you correctly point out, here is a player PEOPLE WILL PAY TO SEE and well, what do they do................ Surely the only hope for the future is in grabbing as many PAYING CUSTOMERS as possible.
On the other hand .......
Seems to me that managers and coaches live in a separate world to the fans. It's all about getting results to them and justifying their tactics etc to the media/public when results go badly. All understandable. If our management team are working for free, I can see the bind our 'cash strapped board' are in. They can't start telling them to 'entertain' us fans without risking losing them if results go badly. Have to then cut the playing budget in order to get a paid manager in.
So you could say that all in all our management are accomplishing a pretty good balancing act in keeping players like Stearn at all.

Also agree with other comments about Bowman. he showed a lot of promise when he came onto the scene. I was just thinking at half time last night that he is not consistently giving any end product, ie, he bursts forward but not too many good crosses result.

Interesting comment earlier about our playing as badly as part of the Thurrock game.
Gloucester should have won the game in the 2nd half last night. City were simply awful. Fortunately Gloucester shooting was absolutely pub league. One guy had all the time in the world to tee up as City backed off him, but almost put the ball out of the ground.
It was down to two class strikes from Watkins and Stearn that we won. Just to add to the Stearn debate, I thought he was one of the few who looked likely to make a difference from when he came on. Always looked a threat.

I'm only glad Stearn ran into Chas's arms, if he'd have gone to Jason he could've ended up anywhere.

comrade powell wrote:

stillmanjunior wrote:That was another slight concern - another few bookings picked up last night.

Was it Keary or Allen booked for what looked like retaliation after a foul in front of the pop side? It has been a tendency in recent games for our players to charge around the ref after an incident. Why? It probably won't influence his decision, except to dish out equal punishment to one of the protesters. We need a settled team with such a small squad, and these suspensions are mounting up.

I think it was Ball but trying to distinguish players under lights sporting absolutely joke faded numbers (which were already difficult to read) is nearly impossible. Felt sorry for the Gloucester guys who basically had to just explain that a Bath player was on the ball rather than trying to work out who it was.

And I agree, there's no need for it. I don't know if we are because other teams have has success with it before? Probably Eastleigh etc. It's something I don't like, concentrate on our own game rather than what the officials are doing - we're better than that.

I put the dramatic improvement to our performance in extra time down to me moving from the popular side to sitting in the stand;  Ross coming on made little difference.  

I think Stearn doesn't play because the management team are reluctant to play him and both Watkins and Pratt. This is mainly because his defensive ability is nil.

At least if you play McCootie Pratt can and does track back.

The general approach from the management has been to maintain solidity and structure to the side and this has always been at the expense of adventure. The board are in a difficult position because fans are losing interest and yet the management incumbents are as embedded as any you will find in football.

Can't they see that if they won't play with adventure then they may not have a club to manage at all?

And by adventure I do not mean Bowman. He looks great but there is no end product. If you play with adventure then you have to score goals.

Beau Nash wrote:I put the dramatic improvement to our performance in extra time down to me moving from the popular side to sitting in the stand; Ross coming on made little difference.

And for the same reason, I put our cup exit at Thurrock down to your non appearance. It was not the players who were to blame!

To be fair I don't think anyone has claimed Stearn to be the best thing ever.

Many including myself are bemused and frustrated by his non selection in a conference south side which struggles to score.  A decision which looks stranger with each passing week. If Howell's or anyone seriously believes we are more likely to win football matches by leaving him out then he should never be allowed near a dugout again.  But, as we all know, he just simply doesn't like the man. All a bit sad, really. A bit like Howells' himself.

The combo of Stearn linking up with Pratt is just so dangerous.. His delivery is absolutely superb, puts his crosses in with so much pace and direction.

Good effort with the programme BTW, I liked the interview with John Freegard. I'm fascinated by that time in our history. Much silly cash was spunked.

Has anyone seen the picture on the Chronicle website of Lee Howells watching Ross Stearn's celebration at the dugout last night? Hilarious (not that Lee's laughing though)