Cheltenham Town v Maidstone United

[Sprout Picker]

Cranston made two mistakes all game and cost us two goals however he was light years better than the other three who were so bad it was painful. We have picked up a habit of falling apart at the back, Wycombe, Grimsby, Port Vale and Maidstone something needs to change back there.

Agree Robin, the defending was shambolic today. Grimes looked like he might as well have been wearing slippers the way he was slithering about.

[I-Love-CTFC]

The old Jordan Cranston has returned. Absolutely disgraceful! Embarrassing!

What was wrong with Cranston today ? He did ok... caused them a lot of problems down the left.

Cranston caused us a lot of problems too. He wasn't our worst player though to be fair.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Cranston made two mistakes all game and cost us two goals however he was light years better than the other three who were so bad it was painful. We have picked up a habit of falling apart at the back, Wycombe, Grimsby, Port Vale and Maidstone something needs to change back there.

But invalid to only pick out JC for criticism and ignore the others, according to Confused!

[confused.com]

Cranston made two mistakes all game and cost us two goals however he was light years better than the other three who were so bad it was painful. We have picked up a habit of falling apart at the back, Wycombe, Grimsby, Port Vale and Maidstone something needs to change back there.

Still can't begin to fathom how a person who gifted half of their goals, gets a 6 from you Robin? Presume it would have been a 10 otherwise ???

[confused.com]

Cranston made two mistakes all game and cost us two goals however he was light years better than the other three who were so bad it was painful. We have picked up a habit of falling apart at the back, Wycombe, Grimsby, Port Vale and Maidstone something needs to change back there.

But invalid to only pick out JC for criticism and ignore the others, according to Confused!

Bit of a petty argument that one. You said the critcism of JC was not valid because other players were not included. My point was and is, it is quite logical to be making a point about one particular player, who gifted two goals, without having to go through the entire team ? Surely you don't have to qualify every argument by comparing against every player in the team ?

In my own defence, I did say we were 5hite throughout the team and that JC's poor performance did not stand out

[confused.com]

The long and short of it is, we began to look better against 10 men, a non league side who had started to run out of steam and had decided to defend their 3 - 0 lead

[Robin]

Cranston made two mistakes all game and cost us two goals however he was light years better than the other three who were so bad it was painful. We have picked up a habit of falling apart at the back, Wycombe, Grimsby, Port Vale and Maidstone something needs to change back there.

Still can't begin to fathom how a person who gifted half of their goals, gets a 6 from you Robin? Presume it would have been a 10 otherwise ???

Because honestly apart from the two bad mistakes for the goals he had a good game, he was composed on the ball, regularly went forward beating his man, got stuck in unlike the rest of the team and put in plenty of decent balls into the box. I would have given him an 8 if it were not for the two goals he gifted them. As I stated elsewhere look at the rest of the defence ahead of Cranston because they were far worse.

[Alf]

Cranston got done for their 4th like he did against Grimsby - guy cut back and Cranston had sold himself. Way too easy. But he was the least of our worries today because the rest of the defence were f#!$ woeful to say the least. Pell had one of his games where he could do nothing right. Every player wanted too long on the ball because he had no options. God knows what the scouting reports said, if there were any, because we didn't seem to have any clue about their threats or how to deal with them.

We ended up havng enough chances to win the game in the last half an hour but weren't clinical enough. Their keeper made a few good saves but the ball was too close to him. Not sure Dawson even made contact with their keeper but he was wasting as much time as possible anyway so not exactly surprised to see him stay down and roll around. Don't know what Gary was sent off for but I'd imagine whatever he said was justified.

We need to replace Grimes. He's way too inconsistent. Boyle made a few mistakes but more because he was trying to get us on the front foot and make up for others mistakes. Taylor Moore needs the bollocking I'd imagine he'll be getting for taking them way too lightly - didn't think he was the type to turn up and think a game was already won. By the time he realised he had a game on his hands he'd already lost his head.

Outclassed, outworked, outperformed, bullied. They made us look like the non-leaguers and deserved it. Zavon Hines, ex-West Ham wonderkid? What's he doing there?! Must have had his one good game a season.

So, good win aganst Luton next week is on the cards, we're so up and down.

Should have played Bower and the other recently signed defender, they’d have been up for proving a point and determined to impress. Not just Moore playing like that. Morrell has Wales under-21s coming up, so last thing he wanted to do was get injured against a non-league side.

Too many playing at half pace and like a training game. I accept the League is the priority- which is why in games like this we need to use the squad so that we have players on the pitch giving it all, rather than players playing knowing they have to stay fit for Luton next week so playing at half speed and not getting stuck in.

Yes, no doubt the league is important but so is the FA Cup. It's something the supporters look forward to every year as there is an opportunity to play a big club which is exciting for the fans and great for the club's finances especially with TV coverage. Some of the great memories from the past have been provided by lower league clubs in the cup. Don't know what went wrong with the plan yesterday. I can't believe that Gary wouldn't have given the team a 'beware of complacency' talk but sometimes players think that all they have to do is turn up. By the time we realised we had a game on our hands, panic took over and made things worse.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Agree with you completely which is why I have said Gary owes the players a punishment and the players owe fans a positive response vs Luton.

As for complacency and not playing 100% - that is exactly why the likes of Hinds etc should have been started as I called for before the match.

[horlickfanclub]

Most seem to give Cranston credit for going forward but he is clueless defending so why not play him as a proper winger and Eisa up front. Wingbacks have to defend so that is not his position either.Move him forward next Saturday when Morrell is away .It has to be worth a go.
Grimes needs benching until a loan can be sorted for him In January. He was all over the shop yesterday. Winchester could not cope with Hines and Moore was outmuscled constantly but who helped him out? Lots wrong and needs sorting out by the non playing defensive player-coach.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

If only Winchester had the pace of our left back, he may have stood more of a chance vs Hines.

[Sprout Picker]

Don't know if it is the case but it looked like we hadn't scouted Maidstone at all and just played the game with the intention of sussing them out during the action. By the time we had some idea as to the threats they posed we were already three down.

I find it difficult to believe that a professional club could go into a game of that nature totally under-prepared in such a way but also difficult to believe that if we were properly prepared we could be so shambolically inept in dealing with their attacks.

[asl]

Dunno about the lack of scouting - but a few of our players played like they'd been out on the razz until 6am. Have you ever seen a professional footballer play like Storer, our CAPTAIN, FFS, did for his 30 minutes? Honestly, anyone could have been pulled from the crowd - me included - and been more useful on the pitch.

[Robin]

I find it bizarre to blame scouting as the issue how many times did we misplace a pass yesterday under no pressure? How many chances did we miss in the second half? How many goals did we gift them? None of which have anything to do with scouting. The issue in my eyes is that we were totally unprofessional, it's almost as if half the team had downed seven pints of lager just before that match couldn't pass, couldn't control the ball, incredibly slow, countless unforced mistakes, lack of effort in the tackle the list is endless. The sad thing it's not as if we have bad players, or lazy players or a bad manager like we have done in the past or even we were playing a good team. Maidstone worked hard but they were easily the worst side we've faced this season and they didn't have one player apart from perhaps Hines who would get into our squad.

[Alf]

Don't know if it is the case but it looked like we hadn't scouted Maidstone at all and just played the game with the intention of sussing them out during the action. By the time we had some idea as to the threats they posed we were already three down.

I find it difficult to believe that a professional club could go into a game of that nature totally under-prepared in such a way but also difficult to believe that if we were properly prepared we could be so shambolically inept in dealing with their attacks.

I made a similar comment as I felt the same as you. It was almost like 'go out first half and see what they're made of then go out second half and rip em to shreds'. That always sticks in my mind because a manager said that to us once. By the time we'd sussed them out they were four goals up......similar scenario to yesterday!

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I find it bizarre to blame scouting as the issue how many times did we misplace a pass yesterday under no pressure? How many chances did we miss in the second half? How many goals did we gift them? None of which have anything to do with scouting. The issue in my eyes is that we were totally unprofessional, it's almost as if half the team had downed seven pints of lager just before that match couldn't pass, couldn't control the ball, incredibly slow, countless unforced mistakes, lack of effort in the tackle the list is endless. The sad thing it's not as if we have bad players, or lazy players or a bad manager like we have done in the past or even we were playing a good team. Maidstone worked hard but they were easily the worst side we've faced this season and they didn't have one player apart from perhaps Hines who would get into our squad.

Completely agree.

[confused.com]

Cranston made two mistakes all game and cost us two goals however he was light years better than the other three who were so bad it was painful. We have picked up a habit of falling apart at the back, Wycombe, Grimsby, Port Vale and Maidstone something needs to change back there.

Still can't begin to fathom how a person who gifted half of their goals, gets a 6 from you Robin? Presume it would have been a 10 otherwise ???

Because honestly apart from the two bad mistakes for the goals he had a good game, he was composed on the ball, regularly went forward beating his man, got stuck in unlike the rest of the team and put in plenty of decent balls into the box. I would have given him an 8 if it were not for the two goals he gifted them. As I stated elsewhere look at the rest of the defence ahead of Cranston because they were far worse.

indeed, but the scores are not in comparison with the rest of the team or defence, it is his personal performance. Still fail to see how you can give away two goals, have a very poor game in defence and get 6. Especially when the remaining defence gets 2's and 4's. Not that I am saying they all didn't deserve that or less.

[Alf]

I find it bizarre to blame scouting as the issue how many times did we misplace a pass yesterday under no pressure? How many chances did we miss in the second half? How many goals did we gift them? None of which have anything to do with scouting. The issue in my eyes is that we were totally unprofessional, it's almost as if half the team had downed seven pints of lager just before that match couldn't pass, couldn't control the ball, incredibly slow, countless unforced mistakes, lack of effort in the tackle the list is endless. The sad thing it's not as if we have bad players, or lazy players or a bad manager like we have done in the past or even we were playing a good team. Maidstone worked hard but they were easily the worst side we've faced this season and they didn't have one player apart from perhaps Hines who would get into our squad.

Completely agree.

Sloppy, casual play. This can be down to poor preparation. I'm not for a minute saying that we didn't have them looked at, I am saying that our play was casual and gave the appearance of poor preparation but I'm sure our management team is far too professional for that. Sure we had chances second half but the panic button had been hit by then. Three goals to win and running out of time. Red mist?

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Sloppy, casual, mentally not right. When you start half paced it is hard to step it up. Happens to teams and individuals in all sports at all levels. Some days you just fail to do the basics right. It happens, but is still unacceptable nevertheless.

[Shade]

I said about scouting on another thread too. This is based on the fact the players seemed to be taken completely by surprise at the oppositions ability and how they attack. None of them seemed to have a clue and it put the shits up us which contributed to the terrible performance. The way we were dithering on the ball and trying to pass out from the back with 4 opposition on the edge of the area made it look like they'd been told Maidstone don't have any threat up front at all and were expecting to sit back and not press.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

MK Dons not faring much better. 1-0 down at home to Maidstone at half time.

[horlickfanclub]

But good enougfh to stick four past them. Today is another grim day with us not in the draw .

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

But good enougfh to stick four past them. Today is another grim day with us not in the draw .

I doubt we would have been in the draw after going away to MK Dons anyway.

[Shade]

Look on the bright side - we needed 2 weeks without a game to get ourselves together and hopefully a few niggles to be sorted out.

[horlickfanclub]

It will give us an excuse for not being match fit".

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

It will give us an excuse for not being match fit".

I thought having no game might give you a weekend off the tiresome criticism. Obviously not.

[horlickfanclub]

If you are tired Regency perhaps you need a rest from picking arguments with Cheltenham fans. Have a lie down in a darkened room with your blinkers on.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

If you are tired Regency perhaps you need a rest from picking arguments with Cheltenham fans. Have a lie down in a darkened room with your blinkers on.

I see, taking a balanced view on Gary, rather than wanting him sacked counts as wearing blinkers.

[Oldun]

Memo to RCS: Please do not try to argue with the negativity and pessimism that exudes from the keyboard of Horlick. In case you haven't noticed I have given up doing that and I suggest you do the same. I have come to the conclusion that there is absolutely no point in trying to counter the continuous misguided putting down of all things GJ at every possible opportunity so fear he has to be allowed to have the Nest to himself. I hope he enjoys it but I doubt if the word "enjoy" and "Horlick" on the same page is at all feasible!