City v Basingstoke

After the glamour of the cup it's back to the bread and butter tomorrow. Given we're not in great form exactly, it's somewhat fortuitous (I hope) we play winless 2nd from bottom Basingstoke.
Perhaps roared on by hordes of newly arrived Twerton Mill residents attracted by the £1.00 entrance fee, we can grab 3 points?
Important to get sorted in the light of Nicho's departure, especially with the highly important next FA cup round looming. A good cup run can only help towards sorting things out off the pitch which is surely the number one priority.

Glamour is probably stretching it a bit but judging by the amount of activity on here seems to generate more interest amongst the faithful.

I don't think I'm the only one who would like to see Pratty rested for this one.

I would be surprised if Pratty is dropped. His general contribution to the team has been as good as ever it is just his finishing that has been lacking. And the only place he will overcome that is on the pitch.

Feels like a game we ought to win. A defeat will drop us out of the top 5 and undo all the glory of the 6 win start.

I think Dave Pratt will play as he just needs a goal to get his confidence going. He is also one of the best defenders in the team!!!

I wonder who will fill the left back slot?

Gallinagh?

Yep, I imagine he'll switch across and Dan Bowman will come in as right back.

Although we are going to miss Nicholson, and possibly Baldwin, the one consolation is that Bowman should get to start more frequently. I feared that he was being viewed as a utility player who simply filled the gaps as they arose. He has rarely let us down and deserves a run in the team now.

Absolutely agree with Martin about Dan Bowman.
The lad is not a complete player by any means and still has a bit to learn.
However he is more than capable of fitting into this team and deserves a regular place. I would actually put him ahead of Sekani as Dan is the future and I fear Sekani will soon need to move aside.

As for Pratty and all this about needing a rest.
We are now playing once a week, the man is only 28 and therefore more than capable to running his balls off for 90 minutes. Only wish Chelsea had a few players with his enthusiasm.

2weirdtown wrote:I wonder who will fill the left back slot?

Simmo was on the bench at Bodmin. I gather he has been training hard this week!

Can't wait to see Simmo back in action again.

pete mac wrote:
I think Dave Pratt will play as he just needs a goal to get his confidence going. He is also one of the best defenders in the team!!!

Dave just needed a goal when we played havant which he got. Hopefully the next one will get him back on track.

Perhaps Danny Barrow will make an appearance today?

Pratt starts, Barrow on bench.

Team is Phillips,Simmo,Gallinagh,Coupe, Ball,Chas,Kington, Artus,Pratt, McCootie,Davies,
Subs are Watkins,Bowman, Allen,Addlesbury,Barrow.

Ft 0-0. Best/ only stat of the day crowd 779. Will they return? Least Harlow scout wouldn't have learned much.

The negatives. Since we beat Havant at the end of Igust an awful stuttering and stumbling 6 games without a win.

The positives -2 defeats in 12 and 4th in the league.

Spark needed starting next week

And just 3 goals in 6 league games. Strong evidence today that things need changing, concentrating on that lumbering midfield. As he did at Maidstone, Barrow added the missing sparkle when he belatedly appeared and surely deserves a start next week.

There is no beating about the bush here - we were bloody terrible today and I don't often say this. Pratt, McCootie and Watkins just had nothing, Chas had a 'mare, Davies wasn't in it at all. I thought that the defence did well but so many of their crosses came in on our right back side. I thought that Simmo did well and got forward pretty good for someone who has just come from injury. I thought that Coupe, Gallingah, Ball all did well if unspectacularly. Bowman failed to impress as he usually does when he came but Barrow showed some good touches.

To be honest, I am overthinking it, we were crap. I doubt we will have won over any students and Basingstoke will feel hard done by that they didn't get more than a point. They didn't drag us down to our level today, they brought the football to us. Just rubbish.

Social media saying the same thing. A spur to improve next week

If you keep doing what you did, you'll keep getting what you got.

It strikes me when things are not happening no one knows what to do to change it for the better.

Need some fresh ideas.....

What has happened? We looked like a team at the bottom of the league today. No direction, no fight, no ideas, need I go on?
Thank goodness we had that run at the start, otherwise we'd be in deep sch you know what.
Really don't think the manager (who ever it may be) has a clue how to maintain the winning start. The team has taken a massive step back.

Marc Monitor wrote:There is no beating about the bush here - we were bloody terrible today

Quite. I was one of the ones who tried to maintain a sense of proportion when we were winning and was shot down in flames. I said then there were problems and no one wanted to hear it. As powell says the midfield is pedestrian. Do hemmings and kington realise you are allowed to run? Poor artus was knackered by the end he had done so much running as was pratt. We cannot expect our striker to be doing the work for the midfield.

By consensus we are better when we play it on the ground so why do we keep launching it for our forwards to chase? Basinstoke were weak so why didn't we play them off the park? Where is the leadership? Where are the tactics?

Unless something is done we face an ignominious slide down the table.

I know I am prone to go overboard at times about young players, but the immediate difference following Bowman's and Barrow's introduction was surely evident. Suddenly the ball was being moved about far more quickly with both seeming to sense attacking opportunities which weren't there previously. As I posted before, I think Dan has already been labelled the utility player of the squad - Barrow looks too good for such a role with short cameo appearances. Before we know it, he'll be loaned out to get match time...

It was a very poor performance, but we did start to look more dangerous once we upped the pace and Barrow certainly helped. It wasn't just about tactics and formation though as there were so many poor touches too. Don't see how Basingstoke could feel hard done by because they didn't have a single shot on target. Not that we were much better. Here's hoping the mojo returns next week.