Cheltenham Town v Crawley Town

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Jon Palmer
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Joined: 13 Feb 2010, 20:19
Team news, live updates and video reaction all here this afternoon: http://bit.ly/CrawleyTHome" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Ihearye
Posts: 3428
Joined: 05 Jan 2018, 08:08
Has to be said so far one year on and some old stuff. 26 mins we have a corner we put 3 in the area. 33 mins they have a corner, 8 in the area. Half the team can't seem to find a pass. Nigel having an off day, their 22 running riot. Sigh
art vandalay
Posts: 618
Joined: 24 Nov 2009, 22:11
Poor first half from us, Crawley comfortably on top with several good saves from Flinders. Addai looks lively but front 2 have offered little, especially Duku. We've been cut open through the middle too often for my liking, while r-back Baldwin looks like he's just got out of bed. Hopefully these are teething problems.
asl
Posts: 6668
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 09:37
We seem to have no midfield. None of the players seem to know what anyone else is doing - some of them don't even look like they know what *they're* doing. Very poor. Can't find a pass and hoofing the ball upfield is achieving nothing.

On the plus side, we've put in a handful of decent crosses - and Flinders is our MotM by a country mile, so far.
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Nesty
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Joined: 18 Jun 2011, 09:17
At least we have options on the bench. 8 players making their debuts, they will take a few games to settle in. Commentators stress need for strikers.
Alf
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Joined: 17 Apr 2011, 08:24
Same old, same old. Aimless balls being pumped into the box to nobody in particular. It is last season again with different players. I know it’s early days yet but the hope of seeing something a bit more encouraging today has not materialised.
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Ihearye
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You have to wonder what goes on on the training ground for Baldwin and Macaliniden (spelling) to get a starting place. Pi55poor midfield. Zero respect for Dawson for being a petulant child and grabbing the ball to take the penalty or for GJ for letting him take it. Another year of struggle ahead. Yes our first match but also their first match and they are streets ahead in most departments
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Ihearye
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Nesty wrote:At least we have options on the bench. 8 players making their debuts, they will take a few games to settle in. Commentators stress need for strikers.
Need for a midfield more pressing I would argue. Slow inept and devoid of ideas
Benctfc
Posts: 1353
Joined: 29 Dec 2011, 16:54
Location: Whaddon road
What do people expect? We have had around 100 games under Johnson in the football league and the majority have been awful. His record is abysmal the worse of any ctfc manager since entering the league. Same as his last couple of seasons at Yeovil no wonder their fans wanted him gone.

A lot of people made valid points in pre season saying how poor we looked and weak up front but apparently we are doom mongers and pre season meant nothing. As bad as it sounds I would take finishing 22nd right now and staying in the league talk of top 7 is laughable were miles off that. More performances like that and attendances will drop. 1 game and it feels like last season all over again. I want to be positive but there is literally nothing to be positive about.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
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Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Ihearye wrote:Has to be said so far one year on and some old stuff. 26 mins we have a corner we put 3 in the area. 33 mins they have a corner, 8 in the area. Half the team can't seem to find a pass. Nigel having an off day, their 22 running riot. Sigh
Obviously I wasn’t there but to hear we were only putting three in the box from a corner is disappointing. Sounds awful poor and not a way to reward the loyal season ticket holders who still forked our on the back of last season’s tepid home efforts.
pas
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Joined: 08 Oct 2016, 13:09
What worried me was that Crawley looked a poor side and we never looked like beating them.
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Nesty
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Benctfc wrote:What do people expect? We have had around 100 games under Johnson in the football league and the majority have been awful. His record is abysmal the worse of any ctfc manager since entering the league. Same as his last couple of seasons at Yeovil no wonder their fans wanted him gone.

A lot of people made valid points in pre season saying how poor we looked and weak up front but apparently we are doom mongers and pre season meant nothing. As bad as it sounds I would take finishing 22nd right now and staying in the league talk of top 7 is laughable were miles off that. More performances like that and attendances will drop. 1 game and it feels like last season all over again. I want to be positive but there is literally nothing to be positive about.
a perfect summation. I have been saying all summer that irrespective of selling Mo Eisa we needed to sign strikers.
Red dog
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Joined: 27 Jul 2018, 08:23
Ok so that wasn't great but!!! It was the first really game with a vertically new squad, there was some positives like the defence wasn't half as bad as thought they might be infact the problem was more in te midfields distribution. MD showed he knows where to be in the box however he is a bit lightweight and is on the floor far to often, LMc seemed to have no precise roll I couldn't work out what position he was ment to be in thought he did well though held the ball up and put in a couple of nice crosses was suprised he was subed when we were chasing the game. We need to give the lads a few weeks to gel together and they will be fine.
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Shade
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Location: Cheltenhamshire
Not going to bother reading some what are no doubt overractions to a 1-0 defeat on the opening day against a team that are fancied. In short, I thought today was frustrating but with obvious potential. Unfortunately it looks like the season has come too soon and our players certainly haven't gelled into a team yet. Should have nicked a draw but Dawson tried to Kane the penalty and missed. All three subs improved the team and played well. Kalala looks very promising except his shot that went into the top of the tree - some feat.
Alf
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Joined: 17 Apr 2011, 08:24
Red dog wrote:Ok so that wasn't great but!!! It was the first really game with a vertically new squad, there was some positives like the defence wasn't half as bad as thought they might be infact the problem was more in te midfields distribution. MD showed he knows where to be in the box however he is a bit lightweight and is on the floor far to often, LMc seemed to have no precise roll I couldn't work out what position he was ment to be in thought he did well though held the ball up and put in a couple of nice crosses was suprised he was subed when we were chasing the game. We need to give the lads a few weeks to gel together and they will be fine.
I know it’s all about personal opinion but I feel that the problem is not with the players.
Last season I wasn’t sure but we’ve made decent signings in the summer break but I still didn’t see anything new today. Players didn’t look comfortable with what was expected of them. You can give some managers the best eleven players available but if he doesn’t know what to do with them then your stuffed.
Robin
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
Not read any of the other comments yet but I thought it was fine margins between the teams today. I'd describe it as lacklustre in some ways but then both sides created enough for it to be a high scoring game. At half time I said to the person next to me this looks like 1-0 either way and that's how it turned out but I do feel we should have equalised through the Duku chance or the penalty and had we done so the momentum was all with us but it wasn't to be.

Credit where it is due Crawley looked like a side that could challenge for the play offs this year but you have to question how given they presumably have a smaller budget than we do. They were able to pass the ball around well for the first seventy minutes and looked comfortable with Palmer being a pivot man up top. That said they probably didn't create a great deal in terms of chances apart from a couple of efforts which Scotty did well to stop.
Robin
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
Individual ratings:
Flinders - Couple of decent saves in the first half, not hugely troubled in the second half other than a few half chances (7)
Baldwin - He did ok I guess, looks like a centre half playing right back and not sure he's better than Forster but can't really criticise him either (6)
Mullins - Help organised the defence, got some great blocks, headers and tackles in (7)
Boyle - Back to his best and clearly benefitted from having Mullins with him (7)
Debayo - Heard some criticism of this lad from pre-season felt he did fine today and could develop into a decent player (6)
Addei - Did very well in bursts but still feel he should be coming off the bench against tired defenders (6)
Maddox -Some very tidy football and gets stuck in far more than Sellars, drifted in and out whilst on the wing but did very well when he came central. Still has a boys body but not afraid to mix it or take on players (7)
Tozer - Tidy and keeps it simple failed to impose himself today, surely more to come (6)
Atangana - the better of the midfield two but not sure him and Tozer together works (6)
McAlindon - I said last week this seemed an odd signing. He wasn't bad, worked hard etc. but didn't really offer anything of note. I'd guess he's here to compete with Duku for one of the striker slots rather than play together, at least I hope so (6)
Duku - Plenty of effort but missed two or three decent chances Eisa or a decent striker would have bagged. I think there is more to come from him but he was blowing after six minutes today (6)

Subs:
Kalvin - very raw but he scared the life out of their defence when he came on, they started doubling and even trebling up on him (7)
Broom - Came on and did well I thought, sadly we have three right wingers and he's not first choice but keep that up and he will play more (7)
Dawson - Will be criticised for the penalty but felt other than that he was a driving force when he came on (7)
Rulistening
Posts: 272
Joined: 16 Apr 2016, 17:55
Robin wrote:Individual ratings:
Flinders - Couple of decent saves in the first half, not hugely troubled in the second half other than a few half chances (7)
Baldwin - He did ok I guess, looks like a centre half playing right back and not sure he's better than Forster but can't really criticise him either (6)
Mullins - Help organised the defence, got some great blocks, headers and tackles in (7)
Boyle - Back to his best and clearly benefitted from having Mullins with him (7)
Debayo - Heard some criticism of this lad from pre-season felt he did fine today and could develop into a decent player (6)
Addei - Did very well in bursts but still feel he should be coming off the bench against tired defenders (6)
Maddox -Some very tidy football and gets stuck in far more than Sellars, drifted in and out whilst on the wing but did very well when he came central. Still has a boys body but not afraid to mix it or take on players (7)
Tozer - Tidy and keeps it simple failed to impose himself today, surely more to come (6)
Atangana - the better of the midfield two but not sure him and Tozer together works (6)
McAlindon - I said last week this seemed an odd signing. He wasn't bad, worked hard etc. but didn't really offer anything of note. I'd guess he's here to compete with Duku for one of the striker slots rather than play together, at least I hope so (6)
Duku - Plenty of effort but missed two or three decent chances Eisa or a decent striker would have bagged. I think there is more to come from him but he was blowing after six minutes today (6)

Subs:
Kalvin - very raw but he scared the life out of their defence when he came on, they started doubling and even trebling up on him (7)
Broom - Came on and did well I thought, sadly we have three right wingers and he's not first choice but keep that up and he will play more (7)
Dawson - Will be criticised for the penalty but felt other than that he was a driving force when he came on (7)
is that a joke? how can you give tozer and atangana a 6 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Horteng
Posts: 3148
Joined: 25 Nov 2009, 22:57
Location: Heart of the Forest, Glos
Red dog wrote:Ok so that wasn't great but!!! It was the first really game with a vertically new squad, there was some positives like the defence wasn't half as bad as thought they might be infact the problem was more in te midfields distribution. MD showed he knows where to be in the box however he is a bit lightweight and is on the floor far to often, LMc seemed to have no precise roll I couldn't work out what position he was ment to be in thought he did well though held the ball up and put in a couple of nice crosses was suprised he was subed when we were chasing the game. We need to give the lads a few weeks to gel together and they will be fine.
Wish we’d of done it horizontally tbh
Robin
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
pas wrote:What worried me was that Crawley looked a poor side and we never looked like beating them.
Sorry but that's harsh, I'd say they look a decent bet for play offs on that evidence, far better than a lot of sides who came here last season. Morais in particular looked a cut above league two.
Robin
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
Shade wrote:Not going to bother reading some what are no doubt overractions to a 1-0 defeat on the opening day against a team that are fancied. In short, I thought today was frustrating but with obvious potential. Unfortunately it looks like the season has come too soon and our players certainly haven't gelled into a team yet. Should have nicked a draw but Dawson tried to Kane the penalty and missed. All three subs improved the team and played well. Kalala looks very promising except his shot that went into the top of the tree - some feat.

^^^^ I am with Shade. Feels like an over reaction by some, but we do need a couple of decent players in the coming days if we realistically want to challenge for the play offs.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
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Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
3 shots on target at home. Glad I didn’t make the trip.
Robin
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
Rulistening wrote:
Robin wrote:Individual ratings:
Flinders - Couple of decent saves in the first half, not hugely troubled in the second half other than a few half chances (7)
Baldwin - He did ok I guess, looks like a centre half playing right back and not sure he's better than Forster but can't really criticise him either (6)
Mullins - Help organised the defence, got some great blocks, headers and tackles in (7)
Boyle - Back to his best and clearly benefitted from having Mullins with him (7)
Debayo - Heard some criticism of this lad from pre-season felt he did fine today and could develop into a decent player (6)
Addei - Did very well in bursts but still feel he should be coming off the bench against tired defenders (6)
Maddox -Some very tidy football and gets stuck in far more than Sellars, drifted in and out whilst on the wing but did very well when he came central. Still has a boys body but not afraid to mix it or take on players (7)
Tozer - Tidy and keeps it simple failed to impose himself today, surely more to come (5)
Atangana - the better of the midfield two but not sure him and Tozer together works (6)
McAlindon - I said last week this seemed an odd signing. He wasn't bad, worked hard etc. but didn't really offer anything of note. I'd guess he's here to compete with Duku for one of the striker slots rather than play together, at least I hope so (6)
Duku - Plenty of effort but missed two or three decent chances Eisa or a decent striker would have bagged. I think there is more to come from him but he was blowing after six minutes today (6)

Subs:
Kalvin - very raw but he scared the life out of their defence when he came on, they started doubling and even trebling up on him (7)
Broom - Came on and did well I thought, sadly we have three right wingers and he's not first choice but keep that up and he will play more (7)
Dawson - Will be criticised for the penalty but felt other than that he was a driving force when he came on (7)
is that a joke? how can you give tozer and atangana a 6 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I considered giving Tozer a five and Nige a six as he was the better of the two but didn't want to be too harsh. Have amended now.
Robin
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RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:3 shots on target at home. Glad I didn’t make the trip.

Did the penalty count as on target? I think their keeper made one decent save and we had one cleared off the line but beyond that it was too many fluffed efforts including Many lobbing wide when clean on the keeper.
asl
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 09:37
I thought Atangana was poor. The team (ha!) seemed to be looking for him to be the creative midfielder - which, with the best will in the World, he is not. Our midfield, for most of the match, appeared to be camped on the edge of our penalty area.

Duku showed glimpses of a decent player: one horrendous miss (to give him the benefit of the doubt, he couldn't have imagined that the defender would have given him the ball like that) plus the chance in the first half which I thought was a pretty decent save from the keeper.

Flinders made three cracking saves and was our MotM - although I did have a certain amount of respect for the sponsors giving the award to Kalala, which really struck a point home.

I was less impressed by three shocking dives from our players. I hate seeing that - particularly from a team I want to support.

All in all, I thought this was a typical home performance of the type we've seen so, so often in the last two years. It doesn't make me excited about the next game or the rest of the season.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
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Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Robin wrote:
RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:3 shots on target at home. Glad I didn’t make the trip.

Did the penalty count as on target? I think their keeper made one decent save and we had one cleared off the line but beyond that it was too many fluffed efforts including Many lobbing wide when clean on the keeper.
No idea; just going off BBC report.
Robin
Posts: 15948
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
I definitely felt that trying to play 4-4-2 was our biggest problem today. Tozer and Nige in the centre are both defensive players and we lacked anyone like Morais who could get on the ball and make things happen. This may provoke some but had we had Winchester in alongside them today I'd bet we would have not lost that.
Ladyrobin
Posts: 103
Joined: 01 Dec 2013, 20:34
We really missed Winchester today.
In any position GJ played him last season, he looked classy.
Shame we lost him.
Robin
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
Well he was classy until the final two months of the season when he agreed to leave. We lacked someone willing to get their foot on the ball today and dictate the play.
shevates
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Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 09:23
Location: cheltenhamshire
Please robin tell me youre joking, a 6 is an average performance in the papers, atangana and Tozer were worth a 4 at most. To change formation after 17 mins proves how poor we were. Poor addei must of wondered what he was meant to be doing. No flair no creativity from the two mentioned. What have we been doing in pre season no one had a clue in how each other played, we looked just as we did last season very poor. I believe weve lost 7 out of the last 8 league games not good. As for Crawley they looked less than an average side that makes our performance even worse. Lets hope GJ can sort it out and quickly
Last edited by shevates on 04 Aug 2018, 19:24, edited 1 time in total.
Jerry St Clair
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Joined: 15 Aug 2011, 16:40
https://www.ctfc.com/news/2018/august/r ... ague-home/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An absolute masterclass in banal, managerial, cliche-ridden nothingness from Gary there.

No insight, no analysis, no solutions. Just five minutes of "we need to get the ball in the back the net" drivel
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Lord Elpuz
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Joined: 20 Jul 2011, 19:35
We definitely lacked lustre in the first half, but we had a little more lustre in the second half when Broom, Dawson and Kalala were introduced - Kalala in particular was very impressive with the ball at his feet and will cause problems for opposition teams this season, and chances for our side. I felt for Duku because he just needed that goal to ignite the fans and give his own confidence a boost. It will come, I’m sure.
My main criticism, especially in the first half, was that our play was a bit ponderous and our passing game required too many touches compared to Crawley’s, which looked crisper, with one & two touch passing.
The penalty miss was unfortunate and that bit of luck today wasn’t with us.
The officials seemed Hell-bent on winding the home crowd up in the first half with some dabateable decisions. A draw would have been a decent start for our new team, but in truth Crawley edged the game and deserved their win, although I don’t see them carrying enough threat to make an impact on League 2.
We do need to improve quickly, and we must take the game to the opposition, especially at home, but we must also take account of the heat today (yes, it would have affected both teams), so we were unable to apply any real momentum.
Benctfc
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Joined: 29 Dec 2011, 16:54
Location: Whaddon road
I'm waiting for the annual GJ statement of the players need to man up and prove they are good enough or risk being moved out and deflecting blame to them. May get it even earlier this year.
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Horteng
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Location: Heart of the Forest, Glos
Benctfc wrote:I'm waiting for the annual GJ statement of the players need to man up and prove they are good enough or risk being moved out and deflecting blame to them. May get it even earlier this year.
Lol

It is getting very tedious under GJ

I for one have lost a lot of interest.....
horlickfanclub
Posts: 3908
Joined: 04 Aug 2011, 11:02
The interview was poor. Why did we play an inexperienced right back who was not fit tho last more than a half. Tozer,Thomas or Forster could all have done a better job.

Scores

Flinders 7
Baldwin 3 not ready
Mullins 7
Boyle 7
Debayo 6
Addai 6
Tozer 4
Atangana 4
Maddox 7
McAlinden 5
Duku 6

Subs , Broom 6 Dawson 5 Kalala 8
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