[charleyfarley11]

Rowe felt obliged to fit quigley in the team. In hindsight he should have been on the bench, mandy behind kabongo and asante. When did we last play 3 strikers? Crazy decision. Hope JR has learned his lesson.

[tedspireite]

 charleyfarley11, on 23 January 2022 - 12:22 AM, said:

Rowe felt obliged to fit quigley in the team. In hindsight he should have been on the bench, mandy behind kabongo and asante. When did we last play 3 strikers? Crazy decision. Hope JR has learned his lesson.

I totally agree. James Rowe got it wrong big time today. I hope like you say he as learned from this . personally I think we always seem to do better with teams at top end of league.

[Rudeboy spireite]

 sophocles, on 22 January 2022 - 10:03 PM, said:

I can't believe some of the ridiculous responses to a drawn game that leaves us at the TOP of the table. A casual onlooker would assume we hadn't won a game for months, and were in the relegation zone. I would imagine the possession stats today were about 80/20 in our favour, as we dominated the game from start to finish. There were two reasons why we failed to win - their incredible workrate and resilience, and our inability to cut through them. Aldershot set their stall out very clearly; they were here for only one thing - to stop us scoring, and go away with a point. They have to be given a huge amount of credit for their incredible spirit and determination to stop us. Almost every time a CFC player gained possession within 40 yards of their goal, he was surrounded by 3, 4, or even 5 Aldershot players. They kept this up right to the end of the game, and if that performance had come from our players against a much stronger opponent, we would all rightly be proud of them. So credit to them, they followed their plan to the letter, and achieved what they set out to do - and I don't see why we shouldn't recognise that achievement. But what about us? To start with, I think the post-match experts who criticise JR's selection are wrong - the attacking set-up was fine, and I thought Quigley did very well, especially in the presence of a referee who wanted to be M-O-M, and a west stand side linesman who appeared to have been told not to interfere. In the face of an 11-man defence, it was always going to be extremely difficult to create clear chances, and so it proved as Aldershot players popped up everywhere and threw themselves into challenges and blocks all over their half of the pitch. Of course our players can be criticised for not converting the chances that did fall to them, but I only spotted about 3 or 4 actual chances that came our way. With all 11 of their players dropping back and working like Trojans, it would have taken a very high quality move to open them up. The fact that we couldn't conjure that perfect move up on the day was very frustrating, but doesn’t mean that we have suddenly turned into a poor team with a poor manager. For heaven's sake get it into your heads - WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!

Sorry but i disagree, the team selection and performance today was poor. We are top of the league but with performances like that we won't be when it matters. However i do believe that JR will change it and hopefully we will be promoted

[Exharboroughspireite]

Not an overreaction when the majority see the same things. A striker playing we didn’t need to purchase. An outstanding centre forward pushed back to accommodate him. A central midfielder spending most of the time as a sweeper. Long ball. Very very poor and as I said in another post, if any of our previous managers had served that up people would be livid.

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

 sophocles, on 22 January 2022 - 10:03 PM, said:

I can't believe some of the ridiculous responses to a drawn game that leaves us at the TOP of the table. A casual onlooker would assume we hadn't won a game for months, and were in the relegation zone. I would imagine the possession stats today were about 80/20 in our favour, as we dominated the game from start to finish. There were two reasons why we failed to win - their incredible workrate and resilience, and our inability to cut through them. Aldershot set their stall out very clearly; they were here for only one thing - to stop us scoring, and go away with a point. They have to be given a huge amount of credit for their incredible spirit and determination to stop us. Almost every time a CFC player gained possession within 40 yards of their goal, he was surrounded by 3, 4, or even 5 Aldershot players. They kept this up right to the end of the game, and if that performance had come from our players against a much stronger opponent, we would all rightly be proud of them. So credit to them, they followed their plan to the letter, and achieved what they set out to do - and I don't see why we shouldn't recognise that achievement. But what about us? To start with, I think the post-match experts who criticise JR's selection are wrong - the attacking set-up was fine, and I thought Quigley did very well, especially in the presence of a referee who wanted to be M-O-M, and a west stand side linesman who appeared to have been told not to interfere. In the face of an 11-man defence, it was always going to be extremely difficult to create clear chances, and so it proved as Aldershot players popped up everywhere and threw themselves into challenges and blocks all over their half of the pitch. Of course our players can be criticised for not converting the chances that did fall to them, but I only spotted about 3 or 4 actual chances that came our way. With all 11 of their players dropping back and working like Trojans, it would have taken a very high quality move to open them up. The fact that we couldn't conjure that perfect move up on the day was very frustrating, but doesn’t mean that we have suddenly turned into a poor team with a poor manager. For heaven's sake get it into your heads - WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!

You're right.

We are top.

And we've no devine right to win or be there.

But remembering how he also tore up tried and team selection and tactics against Halifax, Rowe's embarrassment of riches has seen him lose his way.

Despite doing so magnificently well with an injury ravaged squad, too.

We're a footballing side. We've definitely one and probably two of the best frontmen in the division. We've enough creativity to supply ammunition.

Yet for the first half hour yest'di we became a route one outfit, repeatedly giving away possession and allowing the visitors to play the better stuff.

And daft as it might sound Quigley was almost trying too hard. Resulting in a warning that forced him and the side as a whole to rein it in and, conversely, play more to feet.

Looking more like a 'Plan A' after starting with 'Plan B'.

After that it was just frustrating. Yeah, congrats to Aldershot. They clearly settled for a point at that stage and set a ten man defence. Yet we missed at least three clear headers, had one off the line and saw the bounce of the ball repeatedly go against us.

You make your own luck though, but even Khan and King's and Miller's and Mandeville's invention couldn't unlock any.

Or, in a different way, the collossus that's Tom Denton.

The Ref'? No better or worse than any other at this level. He did appear to target Quigley after letting a lot go for both sides, mind.

Can't blame an admittedly scabby pitch, either.

So a mate got it spot on pre-match: Rowe's gotta choose his best eleven (to which I'd say he came pretty close at Barnet), stick with it, and only turn to his bench if and when.

Then whilst we don't know any details of Grimes' sidelining there's an old adage about not cutting off your nose to spite your face...

This post has been edited by The Earl of Chesterfield: 23 January 2022 - 08:48 AM

[Toddhopper.]

W35 D16 L12 F102 A56
I think James Rowe has earned our trust by now.

A positive result in 51 out of 63 matches ought to satisfy even the most miserable football fan. Except Walton of course who requires a 100% loss rate in order to be happy.

This post has been edited by Toddhopper.: 23 January 2022 - 08:46 AM

[CFC91]

I’m unsure how anyone can say he didn’t get the tactics right. We started the game with 2 midfielders, one of whom in Weston was basically a centre half. We tried to shoehorn a proper striker in Asante into some sort of midfield role. Felt sorry for Khan he was left running around trying to cover the ground of 2/3 midfielders so him and Asante were hung out to dry.

We didn’t need to change our style to accommodate Quigley and it was an error in doing so. The fact we had to resort to Denton at the end showed how badly we got it wrong. We should have started with Asante and Kabongo up top and Quigley should have been our plan B. He looks a decent signing but should have scored at least 1 in the first half.

This isn’t anyone going OTT, it’s fair to call out JR got it wrong. He’s got most of what we’ve done this season right so you take the rough with the smooth.

Disappointed to hear about rumours of falling out though, unnecessary in the position we are in but it does appear Rowe is somewhat ruthless and it is very much his way or the highway.

We’ve had 1 point when arguably we should have had 6, so pressure on now to win at Eastleigh next week.

[BeastMode]

 CFC91, on 23 January 2022 - 08:49 AM, said:

I’m unsure how anyone can say he didn’t get the tactics right. We started the game with 2 midfielders, one of whom in Weston was basically a centre half. We tried to shoehorn a proper striker in Asante into some sort of midfield role. Felt sorry for Khan he was left running around trying to cover the ground of 2/3 midfielders so him and Asante were hung out to dry.

We didn’t need to change our style to accommodate Quigley and it was an error in doing so. The fact we had to resort to Denton at the end showed how badly we got it wrong. We should have started with Asante and Kabongo up top and Quigley should have been our plan B. He looks a decent signing but should have scored at least 1 in the first half.

This isn’t anyone going OTT, it’s fair to call out JR got it wrong. He’s got most of what we’ve done this season right so you take the rough with the smooth.

Disappointed to hear about rumours of falling out though, unnecessary in the position we are in but it does appear Rowe is somewhat ruthless and it is very much his way or the highway.

We’ve had 1 point when arguably we should have had 6, so pressure on now to win at Eastleigh next week.

Falling out?

[hilly81]

 CFC91, on 23 January 2022 - 08:49 AM, said:

I’m unsure how anyone can say he didn’t get the tactics right. We started the game with 2 midfielders, one of whom in Weston was basically a centre half. We tried to shoehorn a proper striker in Asante into some sort of midfield role. Felt sorry for Khan he was left running around trying to cover the ground of 2/3 midfielders so him and Asante were hung out to dry.

We didn’t need to change our style to accommodate Quigley and it was an error in doing so. The fact we had to resort to Denton at the end showed how badly we got it wrong. We should have started with Asante and Kabongo up top and Quigley should have been our plan B. He looks a decent signing but should have scored at least 1 in the first half.

This isn’t anyone going OTT, it’s fair to call out JR got it wrong. He’s got most of what we’ve done this season right so you take the rough with the smooth.

Disappointed to hear about rumours of falling out though, unnecessary in the position we are in but it does appear Rowe is somewhat ruthless and it is very much his way or the highway.

We’ve had 1 point when arguably we should have had 6, so pressure on now to win at Eastleigh next week.

And credit to Khan. Thought he grew into the game and started to look a presence in the 2nd half despite having to do it all on his own. Certainly one of our best performers along with Kroll who was my man of the match.

[Goku]

 BeastMode, on 23 January 2022 - 08:54 AM, said:

Falling out?

The rumour is that Rowe and Grimes have fallen out post-Maidenhead, which is a shame. By all accounts Grimes had a stinker but that’s 2 stinkers (including Woking) in how many games?

[BeastMode]

 Goku, on 23 January 2022 - 09:00 AM, said:

The rumour is that Rowe and Grimes have fallen out post-Maidenhead, which is a shame. By all accounts Grimes had a stinker but that’s 2 stinkers (including Woking) in how many games?

Ah, we were on about this, stinks of the Evans situation again, except the fact Evans was crap and IMO Grimes has been our best CB for the first half of the season.

[Blue5]

 rodney, on 22 January 2022 - 10:44 PM, said:

This has to be a joke? One of the worst performances I have seen in a long time…. At times hide behind players not offering for the ball.

I agree with DimView, Weston was our best player yesterday.

This post has been edited by Blue5: 23 January 2022 - 09:16 AM

[Humpalumpa]

 BeastMode, on 23 January 2022 - 09:04 AM, said:

Ah, we were on about this, stinks of the Evans situation again, except the fact Evans was crap and IMO Grimes has been our best CB for the first half of the season.

Look what happened last season with Grant Smith. Alleged bust up with Rowe and he was gone.

This post has been edited by Humpalumpa: 23 January 2022 - 10:18 AM

[Spireiteboy155]

 Blue5, on 23 January 2022 - 09:16 AM, said:

I agree with DimView, Weston was our best player yesterday.

Seriously?
He didn’t find a blue shirt once when distributing and was playing so deep that half the time he may as well have had Loach’s gloves on!
It was the worst game I’ve seen him play for a long time. Totally left Khan on his own in midfield.
Whether he was instructed to do that is another matter.

This post has been edited by Spireiteboy155: 23 January 2022 - 09:31 AM

[60s 70s Spireite]

 Toddhopper., on 23 January 2022 - 08:42 AM, said:

W35 D16 L12 F102 A56
I think James Rowe has earned our trust by now.

A positive result in 51 out of 63 matches ought to satisfy even the most miserable football fan. Except Walton of course who requires a 100% loss rate in order to be happy.

A brilliant brilliant return. Trouble is seasons don’t run on a calendar year basis. Otherwise the side of the early 1980s would have played in the league one step below the top tier.

[Blue5]

 Spireiteboy155, on 23 January 2022 - 09:30 AM, said:

Seriously?
He didn’t find a blue shirt once when distributing and was playing so deep that half the time he may as well have had Loach’s gloves on!
It was the worst game I’ve seen him play for a long time. Totally left Khan on his own in midfield.
Whether he was instructed to do that is another matter.

Of course he was playing to instructions. He marked their CF out of the game.

[frearsghost]

The state of the pitch isn't going to get any better until it starts to grow in the spring. Does this mean more hoof ball and head tennis?

This post has been edited by frearsghost: 23 January 2022 - 09:42 AM

[dtp]

 Blue5, on 23 January 2022 - 09:16 AM, said:

I agree with DimView, Weston was our best player yesterday.

Without a shadow of doubt Croll was our best player and for all the gripes about Grimes it was not our defence that let us down yesterday.

It was a combination of our central midfield's inability to control central midfield and our wing backs not producing anything like quality passes or crosses to our forwards. Central midfield is Weston's department but I believe he crossed the half-way line once to produce a high shot which brought to mind that he might not have scored since the 2019/20 season. The best cross of the entire game came from Maguire to Quigley which probably should have been buried and had it had have been we might have seen a different game with the Shots game plan shot. Weston's coasting sitting back gave space for their break away attacks and had these been prevented at source there would have been no need to sweep any mess up afterwards. As such, central midfield pressure when attacks broke down was non-existent.

Without doubt, in my mind, we need at least one if not two central midfielders in who can boss central midfield. Weston ain't doing it and Oleyeke's fitness is a major problem. Let's see what the next few days bring.

[rodney]

 Blue5, on 23 January 2022 - 09:36 AM, said:

Of course he was playing to instructions. He marked their CF out of the game.

So our CM’s job is to mark their CF. Which is great, but what are the 3 centre backs doing and where does our midfield come from.

[rodney]

 Blue5, on 23 January 2022 - 09:36 AM, said:

Of course he was playing to instructions. He marked their CF out of the game.

So our CM’s job is to mark their CF. Which is great, but what are the 3 centre backs doing and where does our midfield come from.