MDT : Easter Monday. The Posh v The Grecians. 3pm KO (Peterborough vs Exeter)

[SEA Grecian]

John,

I've been posting about this for months and yet it still happens. I cant imagine it's not an issue that isnt part of the weekly coaching programme so it must be a player failure, with the same players showing the failure on a regular basis. I think this will be one of the factors that will determine the close season player departures and arrivals........

And yet despite these regular failures we are still in the top half of League One. Also worth remembering that the two teams we have lost to have considerably larger budgets than us. Yes, the individual mistakes are frustrating but we have still over-achieved where our budget suggests we should be which is all the more remarkable given the off-pitch distractions.

 

[manc grecian]

Still don't get this trend of playing it short from the keeper to under pressure defenders and faffing around til one has to boot it upfield anyway - just let the keeper hoof it up there out of danger!

And the defender that hoofs it is then 20 yards deeper than everyone else and playing everyone onside.

I don't mind playing it out from the back. The one I object to is when blackman passes it 6 yards to Aimson who then smashes it upfield

 

[red1]

4 at the back wasn't going to stop Hartridge hopelessly swiping at the ball or Sweeney dive heading at Blackman

Hartridge got away with the exact same swipe/slice a few minutes earlier. He could easily have scored 2 exact same own goals.

 

[C j phill]

And the defender that hoofs it is then 20 yards deeper than everyone else and playing everyone onside.

I don't mind playing it out from the back. The one I object to is when blackman passes it 6 yards to Aimson who then smashes it upfield

But that's because the only midfielder close to Aimson is Macdonald, who generally has an opponent closing him down. Collins and Kite especially, in the last two home games, were too far forward of Macdonald, to receive an easy pass, hence Aimson's smash.

 

[Antony Moxey]

Hartridge got away with the exact same swipe/slice a few minutes earlier. He could easily have scored 2 exact same own goals.

It didn't go unnoticed by the manager either who mentioned it in his post match interview.

 

[John William]

Maybe this change to playing short from the back is what is confusing defenders who are used to playing a different way? TBF, it's happening elsewhere too, even in the PL there seems to be more goals recently arising from defenders / goalkeepers being robbed.

 

[Timps58]

Sorry if I have missed this, but why was "the equaliser" disallowed? From ifollow I could not see any obvious reason

 

[Memphis09]

Hartridge will be off. He's been fine in League One and can't see how we'd get better for what he's paid. Worth remembering that he also has to deal with the Sparkes/Caprice as wing backs.

I think long term Aimson will play on the right of a 3.

I have been saying for weeks and might be in minority but I think Hartridge is vastly overrated
He can’t pass the ball forward with any accuracy and lacks pace
Sweeney has made a couple of mistakes recently but was very good against Bolton and I think has been my player of the year ...... would of course been MrBrown but hayho

 

[manc grecian]

But that's because the only midfielder close to Aimson is Macdonald, who generally has an opponent closing him down. Collins and Kite especially, in the last two home games, were too far forward of Macdonald, to receive an easy pass, hence Aimson's smash.

I assume that Collins and Kite were further forward to pick up the loose ball. We seem to be not doing one or the other

 

[InMyBlood]

Agree with this and part of the problem this season has been a lack of competition for places at the back with Stubbs and Diabate being unselectable for big chunks of the season.

Stubbs was fit as he said himself on Twitter and has played every game for Bradford since leaving us. Still don't understand why he was moved on.