[Devongone]

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but the truth was that although you were well-organised and everybody gave their all ....... you had no ambition. Lincoln played Chelsea and tried to win and very nearly did, you left out potential match winners and stranded Dion Charles on his own so far up front you might as well have organised him a night school session at the university. You couldn't get the ball and had nothing to do with it in any case.

You remained in the game because you weren't a threat, and for all their possession City were hardly peppering your goal.

You look to me as though you have some decent players who should be well-capable of getting you into at least a play-off place. Sadly, however well you defend and however organised you are, unless you have some strategy for getting up the field, and creating a genuine threat on goal teams will press you back until a mistake happens.

It was only the Sunday League but when I played in a very good defensive unit we could beat better teams because we had the mainspring of an excellent centre forward, who was a great reader of the game and very skillful. So, we could break fast and he always kept the opposing defence honest. Last night you couldn't even reach your centre forward. I like Dion Charles, but your manager was asking the impossible of him. I'd have said you had more potential than Lincoln. But you have to take handbrake off, surely?

[theo_luddite]

Er, we didn't exactly put the 1st choice 11 out Devon. We put the Cup 11 out, the EFL Cup is not something we are ever going to win given the division we are in and we were happy to get as far as we did, though we might have fancied our chances if we'd drawn Swansea in this round rather than them getting them in the next round. Unlike most League Two clubs we don't have to play our best 11 in every game when we've another far bigger priority.

Yes I get what you are saying but you aren't looking at the big picture based on what you saw last night. 7 or 8 changes from the weekend might have been a clue and just how much ambition can you have with 20% possession? They only played about 180+ backwards and sideways passes last night for all their possession. Where was their ambition? They had all the bloody ball not us. Even with our "best 11" on the pitch we'd maybe have had 30% possession. Like some Town fans, you'd have been happy for us to get twatted 0-5 by going all out gung bloody ho. That does a helluva lot for morale. If you were talking Town v Bradford or even Burton last week I'll buy that criticism as fair, but sorry you can't relentlessly attack a side when they have 80% possession and overall, no matter how you look at it, they have better players all over the pitch, with maybe one or two exceptions.

Why do you think we occassionally pick up a few of their cast-off's given they mop up every decent kid for miles around the north of England, including Chesterfield and beyond, for their academy, from when they can walk let alone kick a ball? They have kids training camps all over the place, which you won't see where you live. Sorry but I'm not in the mood to take criticism for the way played or the side we picked last night. The League is fair game, which is where we are. I very much doubt your lot would have faired any better with your first 11 on the pitch last night, even though I've not seen you play this season.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Yeah theo....fully agree with what you said.
Devon has no idea of how well we can play with a starting 11 team. What he saw last night was in essence a B team.

[theo_luddite]

PS Lincoln played Chelsea, not Man City - I'd have fancied Town Reserves against Chelsea Reserves at home having put Leicester and Blunderland out, even if on penalties. Chelsea might have spent more money but they are far more disorganised. Also I've not watched the Lincoln game so I've no real idea whether they had more of a go or not, all I can read is what is on paper and you can only play what is in front of you.

---

Apologies, my passing stats were a tad off for Citeh. They had a total of 791 passes, of which 166 were forward and 129 went backwards. You can guess where the other 429 went. It was all about keeping the ball off us, not attacking us.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/liv...MatchStats

[Lord Snooty]

Well I agree and disagree with the previous comments. I didn't watch the Lincoln game and if they did give it a go, well good for them.

We don't play that type of game and we haven't done for some considerable time now. We have recruited coaches and players accordingley to play the type of football that our opponents played last night. However, we are a third tier team and the players we recruit are also third tier players or young lads who are on loan to get experience at a club that thinks they are in the same league as Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Aston Villa.

And it's boring.

Yes we made 7 changes, but we could've made zero changes from Saturday and the resulting performance would've been the same.

As for Dion Charles. He's not the player he was a few seasons ago, which is why Bolton were so keen to have our pants down in January. We only play one striker in the starting XI and he is now fourth choice for that role, often not even getting a place on the bench. Last week, after playing against Germany, his next game was in front of a few people for our u21 team against Cardiff.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Alves injured now 

[theo_luddite]

Also bear in mind that Brum City won our Division at a canter last season, but in the first half of the season most of the games they won were only by one goal. They didn't really batter anyone until well into the 2nd half of the season, thought they did it prolifically once they got the hang of it. We've a centre forward that can fill you in if you need references.

[Devongone]

I did realise you had a cup eleven out - a ridiculous con for the fans in my opinion, which my club Chesterfield and many other teams also palm off on their supporters.

Manchester City play a cup team but are aiming to win, teams lower down the pyramid are almost aiming to lose because they think they have no chance of winning the trophy.

IMO it is disrespectful to fringe players to throw them into a situation (and with a plan) that offers them little chance of victory and a limited chance to shine and thus to progress. Dion Charles now has a very good idea of where he figures in the club's future plans ....... and it also disappoints honest players, journeymen and up-and-comers that when you play someone really good they are either in a team doomed to permanent defence, or sitting on the bench. This may be one of their few chances in a career in shine against a Manchester City.

Manchester City gave you a chance against a strong but potentially beatable eleven. As far as I'm concerned your manager's reply was no thanks mate.

I have only seen snatches and highlights of most of your games this season, but I've seen sufficient material to think you could do well in not the strongest of sections. There's a huge difference between fielding a cup eleven against Chesterfield, who you would beat, and a Manchester City. I'm not for throwing away the excitement of cup football. Imagine a side doing well in the Northern Prem' reaches the FA Cup 1st Round, and to their fans' excitement they draw Huddersfield ..... and their manager decides to field his cup eleven which ironically ends up against your cup eleven in a game anticipated by an entire small town which then turns into the dampest of squids. If that is the future of cup games, scrap them now, why play the game at all, lets go with the anticipated result and move on to the next round.

Professional Football is a spectator sport.

[Lord Snooty]

But that's Cup football these days and has been since the Premier League came in. It's not right. When I was a lad, the FA Cup was the top competition in the world. Now it's only just above the Vertu Trophy.

[Devongone]

There is a level at which you disappear up your own arse if you think having a cup eleven is even appropriate. You and Chesterfield consent to what's happening by playing that game. We turn ourselves from being a possible or probable loser into a certain loser. Only when a Plymouth beats a Liverpool does that re-invigorate cup competition (and bizarrely that wasn't Plymouth's strongest team!)

Anyway I thought I should say something positive about Huddersfield. I liked Redmond your Villa loanee - hope he gets on the pitch more, but i could be over-influenced by his lovely gangster name. Kusumu always seems efficient to me and I was impressed by how Sorensen stuck to the task against Savinho, who was clearly hoping to impress his manager (who himself seems to be becoming bizarre to me) - for instance what on earth do you expect to learn from picking two wingers with a star teenage midfielder as a false centre forward (a position in itself more football ollocks!).

Playing that system you almost mirror Chesterfield. Against Burton you dominated possession, managed a huge number of successful passes and yet couldn't score against a three-man defence with a fullback at its heart ....... Playing the same way our lone striker never scores. (And it looks a system which is unlikely to get the best from Alfie May.) Unfortunately on Wednesday against a better team your passing broke down if you ever got the ball and a long ball was no use whatsoever to poor Dion Charles. And the idea that you hang on until the last 15 and then bring on first choice fresh faces to grab the glory is a long shot largely for the birds.

I don't like what we're doing at Chesterfield on the pitch and your manager's approach looks similar ..... that's all. I was looking forward to watching a full game from you and how you'd handle a very difficult challenge. I didn't enjoy it. BUT I still think you can beat Exeter and if you pull yourselves together you can take down Stockport's over-rated mob too.