The two games this past week were identical - an ok first half followed by very poor second halves. Was happy that Roberts and Enzio were up front as they looked good as a pair against Yeovil. But Roberts just lost his focus a bit with the ref's decisions. I think the main problem is the midfield because the defenders have no confidence in passing up to them and so we get long fight balls which is not Roberts strength at all. All very downbeat - but for the 2 away wins Harry would be gone by now but the crowds are suffering and I think he needs 2 wins in October to keep his job.
I'd go back to the Yeovil selection to try to get those but the players don't seem to have any consistency whatever team Harry pulls from the velvet bag
I don't think they were identical. But i guess people see it differently. Tuesday we were outplayed for most of the game, especially that shocking second half. At least on Saturday we showed some fight, in particular Jimmy Smith, and we were the better team. There was no way way should have lost that game.
....we don't help ourselves with our movement off the ball, particularly up front where we lack incisiveness and hesitate at crucial moments. In the end we were lumping speculative balls in but with no-one gambling on making a run or prepared to do anything but the obvious........
..... Jimmy Smith yesterday... he seemed to think that being Crawley's top scorer at this stage of the season, means that he is the new Harry Kane... and entitles him to stand around in the opposition area waiting for the ball to arrive at his feet and moan like stink when it doesn't... meanwhile leaving his mates to fill in the gap that he has left behind.
Ok, so you know our big problem is a lack of striking options, and the fact we never have anyone in the box to try and score. Yet you castigate Jimmy Smith for actually getting himself in a forward position and being ready to take advantage of any decent balls into the box? He seems to be about the only player we have who knows how to make himself available to shoot when the chance arises, and more importantly he knows how to score. Which he does. Not sure how that gets him into your bad books. We have enough ruddy midfielders at the club that we should be able to cover Smith when he does attack. Otherwise what are Payne, Randall, Taj etc actually doing?
We had two good chances in the first half where we should have scored but Carlisle made two good blocks. After that we never really looked like scoring mainly due to the lack of movement with our forrwards. At least when we brought on Miete and Camera they appeared to show some desire to win the ball. I would have pushed Josh Yorweth forward a lot earlier as he was winning all headers and was a big threat as we went forward. Our owners talk about the "Crawley Family" although we appear to be a family that does not talk to each other
Why no statement regarding sending off. Are we going to appeal? What is the situation regarding Thomas Verheydt.? How long is he expected to be out and when is he likely to return to training? Dean Cox situation General injuries update.
There needs to be far more information passed to the supporters. We are always left guessing. The simple statement "we will regroup and fight again" is simply pathetic.
....we don't help ourselves with our movement off the ball, particularly up front where we lack incisiveness and hesitate at crucial moments. In the end we were lumping speculative balls in but with no-one gambling on making a run or prepared to do anything but the obvious........
..... Jimmy Smith yesterday... he seemed to think that being Crawley's top scorer at this stage of the season, means that he is the new Harry Kane... and entitles him to stand around in the opposition area waiting for the ball to arrive at his feet and moan like stink when it doesn't... meanwhile leaving his mates to fill in the gap that he has left behind.
Ok, so you know our big problem is a lack of striking options, and the fact we never have anyone in the box to try and score. Yet you castigate Jimmy Smith for actually getting himself in a forward position and being ready to take advantage of any decent balls into the box? He seems to be about the only player we have who knows how to make himself available to shoot when the chance arises, and more importantly he knows how to score. Which he does. Not sure how that gets him into your bad books. We have enough ruddy midfielders at the club that we should be able to cover Smith when he does attack. Otherwise what are Payne, Randall, Taj etc actually doing?
Smith has over his whole time with us divided opinions massively. He is good at getting himself into goalscoring positions but then is not a natural goalscorer as he misses some golden opportunities. But then he weighs in with a few and that isnt his main role anyway (and he contributes more than most), which is midfield but is he creative enough in there, does he stand around waving his arms at everbody else at times? Do we have a proper "midfield general" in the attacking sense where alot of the play is funnelled through and they set up attacks?
Ok, so you know our big problem is a lack of striking options, and the fact we never have anyone in the box to try and score. Yet you castigate Jimmy Smith for actually getting himself in a forward position and being ready to take advantage of any decent balls into the box? He seems to be about the only player we have who knows how to make himself available to shoot when the chance arises, and more importantly he knows how to score. Which he does. Not sure how that gets him into your bad books. We have enough ruddy midfielders at the club that we should be able to cover Smith when he does attack. Otherwise what are Payne, Randall, Taj etc actually doing?
Smith has over his whole time with us divided opinions massively. He is good at getting himself into goalscoring positions but then is not a natural goalscorer as he misses some golden opportunities. But then he weighs in with a few and that isnt his main role anyway (and he contributes more than most), which is midfield but is he creative enough in there, does he stand around waving his arms at everbody else at times? Do we have a proper "midfield general" in the attacking sense where alot of the play is funnelled through and they set up attacks?
Had Smith been a couple of inches taller on a couple of occasions he might have got a better header on the ball and possibly scored.
But he isn't, didn't and didn't.
He was getting forward into places where a striker should have been.....
Ok, so you know our big problem is a lack of striking options, and the fact we never have anyone in the box to try and score. Yet you castigate Jimmy Smith for actually getting himself in a forward position and being ready to take advantage of any decent balls into the box? He seems to be about the only player we have who knows how to make himself available to shoot when the chance arises, and more importantly he knows how to score. Which he does. Not sure how that gets him into your bad books. We have enough ruddy midfielders at the club that we should be able to cover Smith when he does attack. Otherwise what are Payne, Randall, Taj etc actually doing?
Smith has over his whole time with us divided opinions massively. He is good at getting himself into goalscoring positions but then is not a natural goalscorer as he misses some golden opportunities. But then he weighs in with a few and that isnt his main role anyway (and he contributes more than most), which is midfield but is he creative enough in there, does he stand around waving his arms at everbody else at times? Do we have a proper "midfield general" in the attacking sense where alot of the play is funnelled through and they set up attacks?
The nearest we've got to that is Randall, but he is usually found in deep positions where he cannot play a through ball.
I understand why you think my comments about Smith might seem unfair Northgate but he shouldn't get there early and if he does then he needs to be moving around, our forward players should be the ones to get there early, you want a midfield player arriving onto the ball, not standing still in the area waiting for it to magically appear on the end of their toes... our most dangerous player in their area was Yorwerth... with him winning his share of high balls and Smith our furthest forward player, it is leaves everyone else in a covering role or where they are not going to be very effective.
Had Smith been a couple of inches taller on a couple of occasions he might have got a better header on the ball and possibly scored.
But he isn't, didn't and didn't.
He was getting forward into places where a striker should have been.....
Precisely... we had forwards on the pitch, they should have shoved Jimmy out of the way and told him to do his job and let them do theirs.. I can understand why young players might be intimidated at telling that to a skipper who has outscored them... but they need to assert themselves, it comes with the territory..!
Ps. Special mention to Glen Morris, I had criticised his communication, so was very pleased to hear his Brian Blessed impression at times on Saturday.