Exeter 3 Rovers 0

[Boz]

Sounds like a fairly even first half but a poor second half. 4th defeat on the trot. Bad result, another side in poor form hits the jackpot with a game against Rovers.

Puzzled that Devaney didn't start and wasn't brought on until 10 minutes from the end. I don't object to the Akins experiment up front, though some of Tiryaki's better games have been away. Doubt either of them benefited from Les talking about trying to get a Prem striker on loan. Our former defensive solidity seems to have deserted us, sounded like Exeter made a lot of headway from the flanks. Time to make changes at the back?

 

[Ian]

Defence has collapsed this month. Well and truly. We've gone from having one of the meanest defences in the leagues to conceding 14 goals in six games, all starting with the defeat against Scunthorpe. If I tell you that we had only conceded 16 up to this point, that's 18 games, it shows how weak we have been at the back recently.

Really not a great start for Rachubka. This defence has to sort themselves out. And I had doubts about starting Akins up front before the game and the guy really has no punch up front. It's ridiculous that Les would play him in that position ahead of Tirkayi who is actually the clubs leading goalscorer. Makes no sense at all. If it was to accomodate McGurk, then Akins should have been left out.

Well we had 7 shots on target at least, but something TT64 said in the pre-match thread about them having 2 chances and scoring 2 goals made me think about last weeks game, when Sheff Wed equalised just before half time with their only shot in that half. It reflects badly on the team as these aren't one-off events. We have to tighten up in defence and be more clinical up front.

Welcome to mid-table. Five points off the top six now and we need to stop the slide ASAP.

MK Dons up next who are flying at the moment scoring for fun. 20 goals in their last 5 games. Should be fun..

 

[bigmart]

Yet another poor result thats 5 out of the last 6 weve lost against an injury hit team as well.

As soon as we go a goal down then thats it as we never come from behind to win a game. Think mcchrystal has to be brought back for the mk dons game and weir will be back but the formation and tactics will be the same as ever.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Very disappointing result against a pretty ordinary Exeter side, and an embarrassing second half. Today was a similar story to a number of recent games: in the first half we were the better side, playing some good football and creating a couple of decent chances (Baxter and Akins against the crossbar) which we failed to take. Exeter were second best in midfield, and only came to life in the last ten minutes of the half, causing us problems out wide, particularly through Hackett, with one such move down the right leading to the opening goal (yet another conceded just before half time).

However, if we were unlucky to be behind at half time, in the second half we were pathetic. We huffed and puffed for the opening ten minutes, without creating a genuine opportunity, before conceding yet another poor goal from a routine set piece. After that we basically gave up, being bereft of ideas and confidence, conceding a schoolboy third after giving the ball away stupidly in midfield, with only a couple of good saves from Rachubka (who loooked ok after a nervous start) keeping the score remotely respectable.

Our confidence seems to have nosedived after recent results, and it was alarming to see us capitulate today as soon as the first goal went in. We suffered again today from our inability to score when we were on top in the first half, and in this regard I would have to question Les's decision to drop Tiryaki. Why leave your leading goalscorer on the bench, when scoring goals has been your major problem all season ? The pattern of the game in the first 45 was similar to Scunthorpe away where Tiryaki scored two: we had a lot of possession around their eighteen yard box, and Mustafa may have capitalised on this as he is clearly more predatory than any other striker we have (certainly Akins). I certainly did not understand the decision to recall McGurk, who was very poor played out of position on the right, in his place.

Defensively I am also not sure we had done our homework properly, as the full backs had very little protection, and were left one-on-one with their wide men on a number of occasions. Tisdale admitted in his post-match interview, that due to their injury problems in midfield, their whole game plan was based on getting the ball wide early, and attacking our full backs.

Despite our defensive problems at the moment, I would not actually blame the back four in particular, and would not want to see either centre back dropped. I think we are failing to work, keep our shape, and defend properly as a team, and tinkering with individuals will not necessarily improve the situation.

 

[DIW]

Well November has been an absolute disaster and it;s amazing that despite being twelth we are still only 5 points or so from the top six. Realistically though I think we all know that it not going to happen, and we would all have been pleased with a top half finish at the beginning of the season.

This slump is worrying though and needs to be arrested, or the season could go the other way. there is potential in the team but we all know the main problem and that is scoring goals. We need to grind something out against franchise next week.

 

[DIW]

when Sheff Wed equalised just before half time with their only shot in that half. It reflects badly on the team as these aren't one-off events.

Precisely.

 

[Boz]

Thanks for the report RLC. From what I've read Exeter had a crop of regulars out and their team was somewhat makeshift, so perhaps a tad harsh to be critical about our pre-match prep. It sounds like the main threat came from their wide players. One, Hackett was a recent loan from Millwall, the other Frear was an Exeter youth product (shock! horror! other teams actually give their promising youngsters a game). It does concern me that because our full-backs, Raven especially, are so defensively minded, that any wide-player up against them knows they won't be tested much defensively so can concentrate on attack.

A few queries;
How did Labadie do and was Weir missed?
Did things improve when Tiryaki came on?
Did Devaney make any impact when he came on, did he look match-fit?
The match stats have us with 8 efforts on goal, the same number as our opponents. One off-target, presumably Baxter heading on the bar, so were the remaining 7 soft headers/daisy-cutters or did they test their keeper? Is there any encouragement to be taken from the fact that we seem to be attacking more than last season or does the lack of end product make this academic?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

In answer to your queries:

Labadie played well in the first half, and Weir was not particularly missed in the opening period, but was as bad as everybody else after half time.

The game was well and truly up by the time Tiryaki and Devaney came on. I hardly remember them being given the ball (certainly Devaney), so it would be harsh to judge them.

In the first half we created the better chances and the stats don't flatter us in this regard. However, it has been noticeable to me as recent games have gone by, that we are generally creating less and less in games from similar amounts of possession, and our final ball in the first half yesterday certainly could have been better when we got in good areas (indicative of a lack of confidence I suppose).

To make a couple of observations of my own, I still think the management should have been aware of Hackett's threat, as his signing was widely publicised and he was by far their most talented and dangerous player. Buchanan was not given enough support in dealing with him in my view.

I also think it is becoming laughable the number of goals we are conceding from corners / free kicks, many of which are having a massive impact on results. Surely our problems in this respect must have been noticed by now and we should be putting in extra hours on the training ground to rectify the situation ?

 

[drwhoman]

GRECIANS

RLC, I think you hit the nail on the head with the point about lacking confidence. The inability to put the ball in the net permeates throughtout the whole team and the longer a game goes on the harder it becomes. It just needs a goal from the opposition and it has a disproportionately adverse effect. 'We are gone now' sort of thing. Nervousness creeps in and hence the seemingly simple goals they are giving away often just before half time when they are praying to get into the sheds unscathed. I know I sound like an amateur psychologist but I am sure there is something in it. Old cliche I know but attack is the best form of defence. Les, please get someone from somewhere who knows where the goal is! Mind you - Liverpool are struggling with the same problem even if they are defending better than Rovers!

 

[Tartantranmere64]

A bit of perspective is needed. Lack of goals is the curse of many modern teams, not just Rovers. Liverpool have a £35m forward who cannot buy a goal.

The key to Rovers winning is when the midfield three all play well, and I don't think that's happened at all in November. Some good individual performances but not gelling as a unit. Plus Lucas has gone off the boil.

Roll on December....

 

[SonkORLY?]

A bit of perspective is needed. Lack of goals is the curse of many modern teams, not just Rovers. Liverpool have a £35m forward who cannot buy a goal.

The key to Rovers winning is when the midfield three all play well, and I don't think that's happened at all in November. Some good individual performances but not gelling as a unit. Plus Lucas has gone off the boil.

Roll on December....

The only thing that really matters is scoring more than the opposition, so while we were defending very well, the lack of goals didn't matter. Now that we're leaking goals it is obviously more of a problem.

I don't think a sense of perspective is really needed, as our chance conversion ratio must be the worst in the league. We are what we are though. I think our best option is to focus on what we were doing well at the start of the season, which was defending properly as a unit.

 

[Boz]

Thanks for the follow-up RLC.

Have to be honest, Chris Hackett isn't a player I'm personally familiar with. I agree that if Buchanan was under a lot of pressure, then if Robinson, who was the player in front of him, wasn't offering enough protection, then it needed either a juggling of roles on the pitch or a substitution to provide more cover. One of Les' weaknesses is a reluctance to change things.

On the issue of defending, I would have preferred Coughlin in goal just for this game, as he'd have a better idea of strengths and weaknesses. However Rachubka doesn't seem to have been to blame for the goals and will hopefully have developed an idea how to organise things when we come to play franchise,

 

[Sparky]

I remember Hackett from his Millwall days and he impressed me. I was worried but sounds like the problems, as is the norm at the moment, stem from not being able to put the ball into the net, which puts more pressure on the defence which up until recently, was up to the task.

He'll have to bring McChrystal back but drop Goodi or Ash ? The latter is a genuine goal threat but we all know what a legend Goodi is but he got beaten in the air for their 2nd goal and looked totally exposed for their third. Is age finally catching up with him I wonder? Maybe thats unfair..

Hopefully November will just be a bad month but December starts with a real tough one - but Les has a bit of time now to sort things out (although don't think we can bring anyone in on loan now??).

Like I think DIW said, stubbornly, he wont change from 4-3-3, which I agreed with after 1/2 bad results, but we're on a bad run now and the longer it goes on, the more you must think about changing it to try something new.

Its the confidence that worries me after a 0-3 defeat at the hands of, lets face it, one of the poorer sides in the league that were not at their strongest.

 

[Ian]

we all know what a legend Goodi is but he got beaten in the air for their 2nd goal and looked totally exposed for their third. Is age finally catching up with him I wonder? Maybe thats unfair..

His last few games haven't been great, but I suppose that's because we all have high expectations from Goodi.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I don't believe changes should be made to either the formation, or the back four. Certainly Taylor should not be dropped, as he has actually been one of our better performers during this poor run, and scapegoating individuals for poor team performances will get us nowhere.

I echo Sonko's comment that we need to focus on what we were doing well in the first three months of the season: defending as a team, keeping our shape and showing some steel. Responsibility for the goals we have recently been conceding lies as much with the midfield and wide forwards as the back four.

Les has indicated that we will go back to basics in the upcoming matches, and I think this is probably the right approach.

 

[Higgy]

Ref defence deterioration. I noticed when a few weeks ago when the praise started to turn into doubts over OFW's capabilities that it seemd to coincide with McCrystal's absence. As good as Ash is playing and granted Goodi is a legend - may be we need to go back to the formation and team that was successful - McCrustal if fit may be a good organiser.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Ref defence deterioration. I noticed when a few weeks ago when the praise started to turn into doubts over OFW's capabilities that it seemd to coincide with McCrystal's absence. As good as Ash is playing and granted Goodi is a legend - may be we need to go back to the formation and team that was successful - McCrustal if fit may be a good organiser.

There are a multitude of reasons that could possibly have influenced our recent defensive demise. There's a correlation between our possession stats/likelihood of conceding goals; ball retention is the best form of defence, and we haven't dominated possession in any of our 4 losing games this month. Perhaps we should be questioning the midfield? Have we started playing too direct? And if so, in what areas? Plus, having Robbo on the left leaves Buchanan very exposed, particularly against talented right-wingers, as was the case versus Exeter. Perhaps there simply isn't room for him and Baxter to play in the same line-up.

When we talk about our defensive record, everyone gets brought into question; we defend as a team, not as individuals. We conceded 1.14 goals per game with Mark in the team, 1.29 without. Not a big difference, and I don't think we can drop Ash purely on that basis, especially considering that he has been playing well recently despite our general demise. Turning things around won't simply be a case of dropping one player and bringing in another of similar ability to perform the same job.

 

[Higgy]

Agree with points re value of ball retention and that acoomadating Robbo and Baxter may be a luxury too far - all good points and well made.

The stats with and without McCrystal are good data and the ratios look close - granted. However, the points gained stat probably tells a different story. I just recall the praise for OFW early on and then the honeymoon seemed to be over, and coincided with McCrystal's absence.

Appreciate it may not be that simple and other things have changed including the way we play - too direct, although we should keep the better with Robbo and Baxter - But may have a job getting it back.

While Ash is playing well and I am sure he has similar abilty to McCrystal they should still look to see if we are missing something that may not be obvious without McCrystal.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think it is worth considering the possibility that we have over-committed in some of the recent games. At the start of the season we were as cautious as Les's sides always are, even at home, but after getting into the top six we possibly got a bit carried away.

At Scunthorpe we played good football but left ourselves really exposed at the back at times, and it was a similar story at Chesterfield, although we were less impressive in possession that night. Once you start conceding goals in the numbers that we did in those games, the team's confidence in its ability to keep clean sheets can be shaken.

 

[Boz]

McChrystal has been absent since early September, while our bad run and concerns about OFW have largely surfaced in the last month. So no real correlation between the two. Goodi is a sound defensive organiser. Ash is very vocal. Don't know enough to form an opinion of Mark's organising skills, but he doesn't say a lot during the game. Agree with the other points, defending starts from the front and we've had some failings in that respect lately.