Cheltenham Town v Wycombe Wanderers

[CS85]

How did Nuttall look today? As Lloydy's getting kicked from pillar to post and has got nothing for the last three games (no pen/disallowed goal/nothing today) maybe have him on the bench vs. Burton and bring him on in the second half? As we really missed Street today is Joe N a direct swap?

Trust DC to talk sense in his interview - we can't afford to have 3/4/5 players off the boil at any point during the season - or we'll lose the game. On to Burton and the chance for another three points.

A morale- boosting win is needed

Nuttall didn't make Any kind of impact from my point of view.
It's just a game to forget for the majority I think.

[1985CTFC]

How did Nuttall look today? As Lloydy's getting kicked from pillar to post and has got nothing for the last three games (no pen/disallowed goal/nothing today) maybe have him on the bench vs. Burton and bring him on in the second half? As we really missed Street today is Joe N a direct swap?

Trust DC to talk sense in his interview - we can't afford to have 3/4/5 players off the boil at any point during the season - or we'll lose the game. On to Burton and the chance for another three points.

A morale- boosting win is needed

Nuttall didn't make Any kind of impact from my point of view.
It's just a game to forget for the majority I think.

He is a bigger size than I thought he would be. Physically he looks the part, Mobility wise he didn't show much. Did a nice little head on later on in the game so he can head a ball!! Not sure he is a direct Goodwin/Street replacement for mobility in running channels. Looks more like a central target man for Matty to feed off. Which is what DC mentioned.

Matty was good, got involved, buzzed around (like Alfie) made a pest of himself and showed a few of the dark arts.
Stood behind their CB's and wrapped his arms around them to stop them jumping and competing for some of the balls in to the box. And the dive....well...we never got it!!!

[Artemis]

Would Darrell take any notice of that?

Thankfully not but everyone on here was moaning that we got the dregs and not our first choice targets and I’m glad DC is manager.

The query was the length of contract?

Yup. Taylor is the proven L1 goalscorer DC said he wanted and that we need, so no criticism there. He was also reportedly out top target. It's just that he's 33 and we've given him a 30 month deal...

[Jerry St Clair]

Towards the end of the first half a guy along from us in the CF had a go at Ferry. He stops, turns around and glares straight up at him. The guy keeps going at Ferry, Ferry walks away, turns again, glares up at us and says something back. Shakes his head, makes some gestures all while the game is going on.

I’ve rarely seen such a prolonged exchange between a fan and a player in the middle of a game. Not a happy moment.

[CTFCfan99]

Towards the end of the first half a guy along from us in the CF had a go at Ferry. He stops, turns around and glares straight up at him. The guy keeps going at Ferry, Ferry walks away, turns again, glares up at us and says something back. Shakes his head, makes some gestures all while the game is going on.

I’ve rarely seen such a prolonged exchange between a fan and a player in the middle of a game. Not a happy moment.

What does said fan expect to gain from doing that? Not the smartest idea to p!## off one of our most consistent players imo.

[Broadway Brian]

Another embarrassing fan action from today by the sound of it. Herberts running down the touchline after the third was cringeworthy.

Fans had a poor window, evidently - we’ve gone backwards.

[Garby74]

They were already going for a beer when they were awarded dubious penalty....hardly a Wolves moment.

Ferry was out of sorts today. Fans much less patient today.

Maybe today was the day

[Ihearye]

Some institution must have been running a bus trip yesterday. Was talking to a friend who was sat in my seat yesterday in Block 2 and there was someone sitting behind him who for 90 minutes thought it was a good idea to be telling all the players they were useless C**ts, that they were heading for L2 etc etc.
What enjoyment do people get in their sad lives behaving like this?

[Si Robin]

I keep seeing about how bad we were yesterday and I'm wondering if I've watched something completely different to everyone else.

The goals were poor (although their second was well taken) but we dominated for long periods and at one point had every single player in the Wycombe half. If Curtis Davies puts us a goal up, then we go on to win convincingly in my view, we really were that much in control.

I know DC has come out and said he was annoyed, but it seems to me that he's annoyed with the reaction to going a goal down by a few of the players and not all of them.

This is from a Wycombe fan on another forum:

really? I think you were by far the better side early doors and looked more up for it.

But when you're in the drop spots, things go against you like the opposition scoring a shite scrambler against the run of play, and a ropey pen being given to your detriment. Yes there was contact, but I've seen many similar not given.

Chelts' heads never dropped, and it was a great goal from Taylor, but you had 3-4 decent chances and you pissed all of them away.

That's pretty much how I saw the game. It doesn't help us in terms of points, but we just need something to roll for us.

[Jerry St Clair]

I keep seeing about how bad we were yesterday and I'm wondering if I've watched something completely different to everyone else.

Context is important. It was actually a very similar performance to Bolton and Derby. Good between the boxes, but wasting chances and defensive disintegration inside them.

That was acceptable away against a top 3 side last week. Not acceptable at home to another struggler.

[CS85]

Yes you look at the stats,more possession 57%,more goal attempts at 13,more corners.....but less shots on target. Wycombe simply took their chances,its becoming the same old story though.

Taylor is going to have to hit the form of his life if we are to stay up,no one else is there to put it in the net,cant rely in sercs,those other midfielders need to step up aswell.

[art vandalay]

Fair comment Si, but a couple of key things for me. Yes, if Davies scores we probably go on to win. If Ben Williams doesn‘t get sent off we probably beat Orient. If Freestone doesn‘t jump in we don‘t give away a couple of penalties. If we don‘t have a mad 5 minutes we beat Reading. The list goes on. It keeps happening, we keep squandering points and in our position these points are very costly and we run out of chances. Probably a sign that we‘re just not quite good enough this season.

And I don‘t think we used the ball very well yesterday. There‘s a difference between getting the ball forward quickly & effectively, and simply getting the ball forward quickly. I think yesterday fell into the latter.

[Anteros]

Agree with the huff and puff comment.
The only way we are going to survive is by putting multiple wins together but it's so difficult

[Ihearye]

DC said we did not play well and that's good enough for me. All the if's and buts in the world do not put points on the board.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Fair comment Si, but a couple of key things for me. Yes, if Davies scores we probably go on to win. If Ben Williams doesn‘t get sent off we probably beat Orient. If Freestone doesn‘t jump in we don‘t give away a couple of penalties. If we don‘t have a mad 5 minutes we beat Reading. The list goes on. It keeps happening, we keep squandering points and in our position these points are very costly and we run out of chances. Probably a sign that we‘re just not quite good enough this season.

And I don‘t think we used the ball very well yesterday. There‘s a difference between getting the ball forward quickly & effectively, and simply getting the ball forward quickly. I think yesterday fell into the latter.

Interesting and useful observation that “it keeps happening”.

Reminiscent of our first relegation from L1 (Div 2) in the Allner/Gould season. If Jules’s header against City hadn’t hit the bar. If Yates hadn’t given away all those free kicks on the edge of the box to let opponents score in games we had been leading in. If we hadn’t turned so many 2-0 leads into 2-2 or 2-3.

That season Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday really got into the Cheltenham story. Every time we took the lead he’d point out how many games we had taken the lead in and not won, and when the inevitable happened he’d say ‘Bobby Gould will be pulling his hair out again”.

From memory it was something like 28 points dropped in games where we took the league that season.

As you say, if it happens once or twice it’s unlucky. When it happens again and again it’s a case of not being good enough.

[Anteros]

No matter what happens this season, the inquest into what has gone right and what has gone badly is going to be interesting...
It all started in pre season and we have been playing catch up ever since.

[1985CTFC]

Some institution must have been running a bus trip yesterday. Was talking to a friend who was sat in my seat yesterday in Block 2 and there was someone sitting behind him who for 90 minutes thought it was a good idea to be telling all the players they were useless C**ts, that they were heading for L2 etc etc.
What enjoyment do people get in their sad lives behaving like this?

I was sat right behind him in row behind. He was there with I presume his young lad. A Fine example for the lad.

He was slagging off Shepherd nastily. When Shepherd hooked the ball over to Matty to score I lent over and pointed out to him that the player he was slagging off laid on the goal. He said nothing. Never seen him sat there before.

[1985CTFC]

We seemed so frenetic yesterday. Wycombe saw out our good 15/20mins . They played a more measured football, although they had some desperate defending at time. Was a bit like Orient. Wellens knew we would bombard them and they sat tight . Then struck.
We have to remember teams have now been watching the new DC way of playing and now will have a plan against us. Early games like Oxford they didn't.
With Taylor and Harrop and Pett and our George Best on the wing I think we should at times start to play a bit more passing football rather than % football.
Late in the game a number of times we tried to cross the ball in to the box wide and hit a Wycombe player before getting there. Longy did that a few times when a good pass was available to Harrop to progress down the line then cross.
Desperate, when measured was called for.
That's how I saw part of the game.

[PittvillePundit]

I keep seeing about how bad we were yesterday and I'm wondering if I've watched something completely different to everyone else.

The goals were poor (although their second was well taken) but we dominated for long periods and at one point had every single player in the Wycombe half. If Curtis Davies puts us a goal up, then we go on to win convincingly in my view, we really were that much in control.

I know DC has come out and said he was annoyed, but it seems to me that he's annoyed with the reaction to going a goal down by a few of the players and not all of them.

This is from a Wycombe fan on another forum:

really? I think you were by far the better side early doors and looked more up for it.

But when you're in the drop spots, things go against you like the opposition scoring a shite scrambler against the run of play, and a ropey pen being given to your detriment. Yes there was contact, but I've seen many similar not given.

Chelts' heads never dropped, and it was a great goal from Taylor, but you had 3-4 decent chances and you pissed all of them away.

That's pretty much how I saw the game. It doesn't help us in terms of points, but we just need something to roll for us.

Si Robin articulates my view. We were good for first 20, didn't score and from my perspective the most worrying aspect was that some heads seemed to go down after the Wycombe goal. Reminiscent of those horrible early games. I've not quite given up hope yet but the games are running out...

[Ihearye]

There seems to be a view that missed chances, poor goals against, 40% of the team not performing are really the product of some out of body experience and not caused by the team playing badly. If they played well, we would have taken more of our chances. If we were plying well, heads would not drop, if we were playing well, we would not be giving away 'poor' goals.
Wycombe were definitely one of the poorer teams to visit us, even an average performance from us should have been enough. For all the crosses into the box we executed late in the second half, I don't remember their keeper actually making one save (?), the only chance to come out of them was the free header from Kinsella that went well over the bar.
In December I thought we would escape the drop, but I feel the pendulum is now swing towards L2. A team playing well does not consistently miss good chances
As DC said "we can't afford performances like this" "we huffed and puffed second half, but still nowhere near the standard we need."

I for one think that is him saying we were bad

[robinsrule]

Fair comment Si, but a couple of key things for me. Yes, if Davies scores we probably go on to win. If Ben Williams doesn‘t get sent off we probably beat Orient. If Freestone doesn‘t jump in we don‘t give away a couple of penalties. If we don‘t have a mad 5 minutes we beat Reading. The list goes on. It keeps happening, we keep squandering points and in our position these points are very costly and we run out of chances. Probably a sign that we‘re just not quite good enough this season.

And I don‘t think we used the ball very well yesterday. There‘s a difference between getting the ball forward quickly & effectively, and simply getting the ball forward quickly. I think yesterday fell into the latter.

Interesting and useful observation that “it keeps happening”.

Reminiscent of our first relegation from L1 (Div 2) in the Allner/Gould season. If Jules’s header against City hadn’t hit the bar. If Yates hadn’t given away all those free kicks on the edge of the box to let opponents score in games we had been leading in. If we hadn’t turned so many 2-0 leads into 2-2 or 2-3.

That season Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday really got into the Cheltenham story. Every time we took the lead he’d point out how many games we had taken the lead in and not won, and when the inevitable happened he’d say ‘Bobby Gould will be pulling his hair out again”.

From memory it was something like 28 points dropped in games where we took the league that season.

As you say, if it happens once or twice it’s unlucky. When it happens again and again it’s a case of not being good enough.

Our season reminds me of men’s Grand Slam tennis. Often you see lesser players win the first set and sometimes two but the better player usually wears them down, wins the key points under pressure and comes through in the end. Over 90+ minutes our matches follow a similar pattern.

[horlickfanclub]

Some institution must have been running a bus trip yesterday. Was talking to a friend who was sat in my seat yesterday in Block 2 and there was someone sitting behind him who for 90 minutes thought it was a good idea to be telling all the players they were useless C**ts, that they were heading for L2 etc etc.
What enjoyment do people get in their sad lives behaving like this?

I was sat right behind him in row behind. He was there with I presume his young lad. A Fine example for the lad.

He was slagging off Shepherd nastily. When Shepherd hooked the ball over to Matty to score I lent over and pointed out to him that the player he was slagging off laid on the goal. He said nothing. Never seen him sat there before.

Good to point out his poor judgment . These knockers need calling out.

[horlickfanclub]

Towards the end of the first half a guy along from us in the CF had a go at Ferry. He stops, turns around and glares straight up at him. The guy keeps going at Ferry, Ferry walks away, turns again, glares up at us and says something back. Shakes his head, makes some gestures all while the game is going on.

I’ve rarely seen such a prolonged exchange between a fan and a player in the middle of a game. Not a happy moment.

What does said fan expect to gain from doing that? Not the smartest idea to p!## off one of our most consistent players imo.

If that had happened near me the idiot would have been told. Support your team, don't help the opposition.

[Jerry St Clair]

I was in block 2 and also had the misfortune of enduring the Shepherd hater. The catalyst was the mix up with Southwood early in the first half when Shepherd expected Southwood to come, but ended up booting it into block 1. From that point on the Shepherd hater was on his back.

Shepherd was caught out a couple of times, but generally seemed fairly calm and measured in his play. Certainly not worthy of the vicious onslaught.

[Garby74]

Just watched the highlights back.
First goal was the killer.
Guess who.lets the scorer ghost past him....like he's been ghosting through games.
I woke up this morning with a similar feeling to the start of the season.

As a poster above has pointed out the pendulum has very much changed

[Alf]

We seemed so frenetic yesterday. Wycombe saw out our good 15/20mins . They played a more measured football, although they had some desperate defending at time. Was a bit like Orient. Wellens knew we would bombard them and they sat tight . Then struck.
We have to remember teams have now been watching the new DC way of playing and now will have a plan against us. Early games like Oxford they didn't.
With Taylor and Harrop and Pett and our George Best on the wing I think we should at times start to play a bit more passing football rather than % football.
Late in the game a number of times we tried to cross the ball in to the box wide and hit a Wycombe player before getting there. Longy did that a few times when a good pass was available to Harrop to progress down the line then cross.
Desperate, when measured was called for.
That's how I saw part of the game.

I wouldn’t change the way we’re playing at all. We played tip tap football before Darrell arrived and it got us nowhere. I think if Matty Taylor had started the game, we could have been a couple of goals up at half time. Darrell is still putting the team together and there are probably one or two learning curves to sort out. I think we’ll soon start picking up points and stay up. We just need a couple up front who know how to find the back of the net on a regular basis.

[Jerry St Clair]

Just watched the highlights back.
First goal was the killer.
Guess who.lets the scorer ghost past him....like he's been ghosting through games.
I woke up this morning with a similar feeling to the start of the season.

As a poster above has pointed out the pendulum has very much changed

Hadn't spotted that. Yep, statuesque.

For the second goal, as McCleary broke, I wasn't worried at all. We had three players chasing back all level with him and he was being pushed out wide with Southwood postioning himself ok. There was absolutely no way he should have scored from there. And the highlights back that up, I still don't think he can score when I watch it.

[Jim]

I could only get to the game at half time (not sure why I bothered), but it was an interesting performance from what I saw.

Defense and midfield seemed disconnected, which you can understand with 2 new young players coming at the back. The game seemed very erratic, no control from either side with the ball in the air more often than not.

We still lack mobility in midfield which catches us out. Pett, Harrop, Sercs and Bonds don't seem to be able to cover the ground, Kinsella maybe could do it.

I was really impressed with Taylor for his attitude, seemed really up for it, motivating the team and putting himself about. Seems the perfect character and took his goal well.

Little shout out for Thomas who was excellent. Nearly got caught out in the left back area, but showed tenacity to work back. Looks really good going forward, we might have a gem there. Think we'll see at lot of him when chasing games in the last 15 minutes.

Tuesday is now even bigger, another defeat would make it really bleak.

[1985CTFC]

We seemed so frenetic yesterday. Wycombe saw out our good 15/20mins . They played a more measured football, although they had some desperate defending at time. Was a bit like Orient. Wellens knew we would bombard them and they sat tight . Then struck.
We have to remember teams have now been watching the new DC way of playing and now will have a plan against us. Early games like Oxford they didn't.
With Taylor and Harrop and Pett and our George Best on the wing I think we should at times start to play a bit more passing football rather than % football.
Late in the game a number of times we tried to cross the ball in to the box wide and hit a Wycombe player before getting there. Longy did that a few times when a good pass was available to Harrop to progress down the line then cross.
Desperate, when measured was called for.
That's how I saw part of the game.

I wouldn’t change the way we’re playing at all. We played tip tap football before Darrell arrived and it got us nowhere. I think if Matty Taylor had started the game, we could have been a couple of goals up at half time. Darrell is still putting the team together and there are probably one or two learning curves to sort out. I think we’ll soon start picking up points and stay up. We just need a couple up front who know how to find the back of the net on a regular basis.

Not saying play tippy tappy football. Just when we get in a position midway in to the oppos half, maybe not always lump it high always as if in a rush. We have some players like Harrop and Sercs and to some extent Pett who can play with the ball on the ground. Banging it high with some teams with 3 giants at the back with Lloydy and Taylor up front for us is going to be a struggle unless we get a lucky break. Maybe Joe N can get some joy if we do, we shall see.
Need a plan C if teams counteract our present style.
Yesterday we kept pumping it up even to little ole Matty, although he did quite well against the big guys, but not in the air.
We are going to waste Harrops talent bypassing him. Need him and Sercs on the ball creating some clearer cut chances for the front men.

[asl]

Little shout out for Thomas who was excellent. Nearly got caught out in the left back area, but showed tenacity to work back.

Yes, I thought he showed some neat footwork - particularly at that point in front of the away end.

[Horteng]

The fact we are starting with Lloyd and Keena upfront is the alarm bells for me. Yes George works hard ect and gets the odd assist but neither are going to score 10+ goals from now until the end of the season. And I wouldn't think Taylor is going to be playing 100 mins a week.......

[Malabus]

Wycombe took their chances and we didn’t. That’s the difference.

[CTFC.Harry]

Wycombe took their chances and we didn’t. That’s the difference.

And unfortunately that sums up far too many of our results this season

[Red Duke]

Also having two debutants in a back 3 was a high risk strategy. There was insufficient time from signing to their debuts to get any understanding between the defenders of how they will play together.

[Si Robin]

Also having two debutants in a back 3 was a high risk strategy. There was insufficient time from signing to their debuts to get any understanding between the defenders of how they will play together.

Smith wasn't a debutant, but I agree with your overall point.