Exeter City vs Reading - EFL Trophy - match day thread. 7pm kick off

[Devon Red]

Just watched the goals, not sure Woods could do much about the majority of the goals in fairness.

Dreadful all round but the player that seemed to stand out to me for not staying with runners or getting close to anyone appeared to be Amir Daniels.

 

[Boyo]

100% agree with Max. We owe a duty to our fans and our players to compete in every match. Poor team selection maybe, poor planning definitely.

I think its the total opposite of poor planning. Clearly GC was giving the majority of the first XI a rest ahead of next week where we play 3 games in the week, including a game against Premier League opposition. So whereas I agree that the club has a responsibility to compete in every game, I also think the decision to rest / protect those players is totally justified. I doubt anyone on here would swap our 2-1 win vs Reading in the league for the 0-9 defeat last night in the trophy. Similarly we'd all prioritise three points on Saturday.
I also note we have three games the following week as well, with a midweek trip to Charlton, so starting from last Saturday we have 7 games in 22 days.

 

[Squeezebox]

Dreadful all round but the player that seemed to stand out to me for not staying with runners or getting close to anyone appeared to be Amir Daniels.
[/QUOTE]
Think I have to agree with you there - he looked a million miles off it.

 

[jimmy]

Just to cheer up those still teetering on the edge of apoplexy this morning - this from a match played at SJP on
Saturday 22nd September 1923

View attachment 12854​

Another lazy AI article!

 

[Grecianman135]

Ahhh, so Woods was the reason we lost 9-0 !!!!!

No it was a collective ******** up ... but Woods shouldn't get the opportunities to play as every time he looks incompetent.. unless you saw/see something different in him?

The team didn't show up,and you have to look at senior players in these moments to take control,and accountability and as a wise head for the younger lads to look up too,Woods didn't show these qualities either I'm sure he's no stranger to a few drubbings in his career so should of taken more authority over the game like Fitzwater and Jules should have.

The think that strikes me with Woods whenever he plays is he doesn't look at all interested! it showed last season the games this season and last night.

If I'd sunk 5 goals let alone 9 as a keeper I'd be furious and ask myself some serious questions.

"Did I do enough"?
"Did I help the younger players with this experience"

The answer to both is no.

The whole team played poorly I agree but you've got to look at the experience in the squad and at Woods,Jules.and Fitzwater none turned up and looked the part.

And it's not a witch-hunt against Woods,he just simply isn't up to the standard we're after and I think we all as fans know this from lack of intrest.

 

[denzel]

I'm still baffled why we didn't play MacDonald. Would have been an ideal chance to have a look at him

 

[geoffwp]

There are a lot who are saying this game and result are unimportant, that it doesn't matter. Yet this thread is already longer than the Cheltenham match day thread, a game that was important in several respects.

 

[cambmike]

Run of the mill slightly dull 1-0 v losing 9-0 is extraordinary in any circumstance

I'm slightly surprised by those who want to brush this off completely - whilst the trophy means very little to most, somehow 1,500 City fan still paid money to watch that last night. And what were they watching? Reading's similarly aged side beat our academy boys, plus some first teamers by nine goals...

For a club reliant on player development and selling on - arguably fully reliant - this should set some alarm bells ringing in terms of future planning. With the transfer strategy being focussed on what we can achieve mainly within this season and a good coach likely to move elsewhere within the next year of so - there are some potential red flags from last night.

My main take last night was similar to Leyton Orient. Reading were fired up and we just turned up. Gary and the management team as well as the players need to address this!

 

[Devon Red]

There are a lot who are saying this game and result are unimportant, that it doesn't matter. Yet this thread is already longer than the Cheltenham match day thread, a game that was important in several respects.

...but that was a pretty straight forward 1-0 home win against a really poor side, not that much to discuss.

A 9-0 defeat regardless of it's importance is bound to get people talking - most of the discussion has been around whether it matters or not!

 

[tonykellowfan]

Woods got beat at least 3 times at the near post.

One of the goals I actually thought was a replay of the previous goal, until I realised he had been done in identical fashion.

He was worse than useless.