Exeter City vs Peterborough United matchday thread

[Positive spin]

Yep, it's a great moment when he grabs Sweeney and says "We're going somewhere, eh"........and Sweeney replies, "Absolutely!".
You get the sense that GC has come across well with the players and they seem to be enjoying it. Still a very long way to go and not getting carried away (and we still have to navigate January, which will be tough), but early signs are really promising and GC really seems to buy into the ethos of the club.

Hope you are right about the lip reading but they could have been been discussing their plans for Saturday night

 

[andrew p long]

What’s very noticeable when you look at our league appearance statistics (and I don’t suppose this comes as a surprise) is that we’ve relied so heavily on so few players so far and that group have all done brilliantly.
I suppose there is an obvious factor for this e.g. injuries to Stubbs, Grounds and to a lesser extent Dieng and Diabate and some less obvious factors e.g. players perhaps not being ‘quite trusted’ like Harper, Kegs and Smith when he was with us, ironically all of those being loanees.
Despite teams going through a whole season only using about 14 players back in the day I think the intensity of football now and the potential availability of up to 5 substitutes to add even more energy to a team clearly makes that unfeasible.
My concern is that if this continues our players who turn out so frequently for us will become jaded or more likely injured.
What’s the answer?
Other than trying to get some of our injured players fit (which we’re obviously trying to do) I think we need to increase the depth of our squad. I know this is dependent on finances but at least we could consider exchanging some/all of our loan players for ones we’re more inclined to use.
Or be bold, as we’ve done in the past and blood some more youngsters. I appreciate you need to be careful not to overexpose them too early, especially in League One, but I’d be keen to see a bit more of Cox, James and Beardmore in the second half of the season.

I think you may have given part of the answer in a post on a different thread, namely that we have much less fixture congestion from now on. IIRC only two midweek games are scheduled for the rest of the season! (plus busy Christmas and easter schedules).

What we need to avoid is postponements , either through the weather, or the FACup. Fair enough if we go on a cup run but the bad news is that our opponents on both 3rd and 4th round dates are still in the FACup, so there's a serious chance we'll have to reareange two January Saturday games for midweeks later in the season. Beyond that its down to Chas and the weather gods!

Re the youngsters; nice idea but a tad optimistic. These are U18s not even holding down a regular place in non league football, so even a sub run out is a risk. In all games under GC the result has been on a knife edge going into the final 20 minutes and in the last 3 games the score has flipped from one team to the other in the later stages.

 

[JW57++]

I think you may have given part of the answer in a post on a different thread, namely that we have much less fixture congestion from now on. IIRC only two midweek games are scheduled for the rest of the season! (plus busy Christmas and easter schedules).

What we need to avoid is postponements , either through the weather, or the FACup. Fair enough if we go on a cup run but the bad news is that our opponents on both 3rd and 4th round dates are still in the FACup, so there's a serious chance we'll have to reareange two January Saturday games for midweeks later in the season. Beyond that its down to Chas and the weather gods!

Re the youngsters; nice idea but a tad optimistic. These are U18s not even holding down a regular place in non league football, so even a sub run out is a risk. In all games under GC the result has been on a knife edge going into the final 20 minutes and in the last 3 games the score has flipped from one team to the other in the later stages.

Not sure that Sign of the Chimes will be happy with your suggestion that MK Dons might still be in the cup in January.

 

[andrew p long]

Not sure that Sign of the Chimes will be happy with your suggestion that MK Dons might still be in the cup in January.

Good point! I'm kinda counting on Pompey to do the business, but it might just be us still in the Cup on 4th round day (!)

 

[JW57++]

Good point! I'm kinda counting on Pompey to do the business, but it might just be us still in the Cup on 4th round day (!)

I hope you are right. Round 4 would represent dizzy heights for us.

 

[robchave]

I hope you are right. Round 4 would represent dizzy heights for us.

Especially as we'll have to have beaten Arsenal to get there!

 

[east_mid]

Any time City get in the 4th round it's a severe disappointment if we don't get to the 5th or 6th round.

 

[Hants_red]

Gary Caldwell manager of the weekend L1 team of the week

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1592190554753867777

 

[denzel]

Gary Caldwell manager of the weekend L1 team of the week

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1592190554753867777

Where do they get these stats from? Clarke-Harris not even the best player in the Peterborough side

 

[Devon Red]

Perhaps you were having a pee when he teed one up for Jevani, who, uncharacteristically, shot just the wrong side of the post, after 15 or 20 minutes.

Sorry but one lay off for Jevani doesn't make a good performance.