what has gone wrong?

Talk about anything to do with Cheltenham Town, CTFC 500 Club, League 1, ex players & Managers

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Nesty
Posts: 6652
Joined: 18 Jun 2011, 09:17
Apologies for repeating some stuff I have already said over the last few weeks

1. GJ was obliged to give the players who got us promoted a chance in the higher league
2. Unfortunately some of them had no previous experience of L2 - and it shows
3. Age defined that some of them would find the pace in L2 a struggle
4. Downes and Morgan-Smith were supposed to prove their fitness as a condition of signing another contract
5, With changes to the loan system working against us - was GJ forced into going for quantity rather than quality?
6. He made only 3 permanent signings - Jennings (who has been shipped out) O'Shaughnessy, and 2nd string keeper Kitscha (who was here last season in any case)
7 Too much of the summer was wasted chasing Phillips and Dickie (who finally arrived)
8. NONE of the other loan signings have been so far overly successful apart from Griffiths
9. A fairly tough fixture list can be blamed
10. Suspension of Storer and Injuries - notably Holman
theidlerich
Posts: 1782
Joined: 03 Dec 2009, 09:22
Location: Cotswolds
I may be wrong but I m beginning to believe we may have some thoughts in common Nesty - well...several in fact! Question mark over GJ's management over the last few months?
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Nesty
Posts: 6652
Joined: 18 Jun 2011, 09:17
I wouldnt like to criticise GJ as such, some of the bullet points listed are out of his control. Like being forced to go for quantity over quality, injuries etc
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29758
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
I think Point 5 is key. It meant that rather than seeing how the squad stepped up and taking our time to get the right loans in the right positions it forced the Brothers Johnson to act fast so we did not miss the window, so less diligence could be afforded and it was a bit more of a supermarket sweep approach.

In what I have seen Whitehead looks reasonable, however we have too many loans to fit in a squad - a situation which is daft to put ourselves in.
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Reliant Robin
Posts: 1366
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 21:10
It's a decent analysis Nesty.

I think point 9 is a really key factor, because we didn't have the luck of the draw for the initial fixtures. GJ has been consistent in his recent summaries of player performance, stating that they lack confidence and much of that can be attributed to the way the fixtures were dealt. When a team is consistently winning, the whole Club, from top to bottom, including the fans is on a buzz - as we experienced last season. Once the armoury is dented, the doubts start to creep in, fingers get pointed at possible reasons and confidence quickly drains. It is essential that we quickly get back to winning ways and some consistency with that, especially at home. GJ will get it sorted, because he knows we are not a million miles away from getting the right blend again. Fans need to play their part by getting behind the Team and the Manager, from the terraces. Keep the faith, it will come good again.
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