Today Game

[Guest]

First half was ok, but again very little up front, looking good at the back, trott and pennock done well, and duku is, well.. duku.

Players like Perkins, and McClements done so much work in the first half, McClements like others faded in the second.

Abbey could be useful, not sure about Huggins,

BUT up front we are looking poor, can only remember two shots on target, the goal, and Kwashi miss!!!

Burton are not great, but were the much better team and deserve the 3pts today, and these are the sort of teams we must be beating...

 

any views....

[Red Marauder]

I thought we faded away as soon as Pennock went off, surely he must of been injured because to me he was having a great game.

 

Having said that, I thought Abbey looked lively but he needs support up front, on that showing Huggins isn't the answer.

 

Was Shearer on the bench today?

[FleetFanatic]

Has it really not sunk in to the management yet that hoofing the ball upfield whenever possible does not bring results?

 

Remember where Kettering finished last season?

Many more performances like that and we will be in that position.....

 

Somebody commented on how 'Burton didn't tire' as we left the ground - er.....were they likely to when we didn't exactly make them sweat for the last 30 minutes of the match?

 

[Guest]

I think that Andy must of told the boys to lay of them in the 2nd half or something cos we wernt making any proper challanges, they played the ball freely acroos the back four then went down the wings were we stood off them giving them time to get crosses in!!!

[Matt (GNFC)]

Well then........

We've got down to the serious stuff and to be honest we came up short as many of us thought we would do. Defensively i thought we looked great for 55 minutes except for McClements. Ill reserve judgement on him until he settles in a bit more but im not 100% convinced about his defensive qualities. I believe that the substitution of Pennock cost us the game today. Within 1 minute of him going off they'd scored and then we looked edgy and open at the back for the rest of the game. Shearer is a class act and should've been brought on to keep things tight as has been mentioned in another post. Still, we were up against another part time outfit today and whats worrying is that we really looked second best for most of the game and created very little. Thats not a criticism of Ben Abbey who will score us goals this season. For me the big plus of the day was Steve Perkins who i thought was excellent and M.O.M. He linked well with the forwards, won headers and showed some very neat touches. Problem was the once he got the ball there was very little he could do with it as there was no decent width to the side and all we end up doing is punting balls into the channels and hoping Abbey is faster than the defenders. We cant expect any real creativity in the side when we play both Mckimm and Strouts as they are similar type players.

Was also amazed to see Pinnock who has had such a good pre-season stuck on the bench behind Huggins who has only scored one goal vs Gillingham. Couldnt work that one out. Still its only the first game of the season and we'll have a better idea of where we are after ten games when the players have settled in and we've got Drury back in the team. Burton were a decent team and had a quality striker in Christian Moore.

[I.C.@G&NFC]

We started brightly, especially after going 1-0 early on. By the end of the first half, however we'd tired and looked our usual selves, the weather didn't help.

Second half it was business as usual, we were poor. Then Pennock went off and we folded. Duku tried his hardest to get an own goal and Kwashi is still rubbish, he was at the end of last season and he is now.

Most outstanding players were Perkins, Pennock and Abbey, but on todays showing it's going to be a long, hard season.

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[John Pearce]

I agree that the weather didn't help, but it was the same for both sides.

 

How long is it going to be before the referee starts to get the blame??

 

The fact of the matter is quite simply that the Fleet, with a few exceptions were second best in virtually every department. That against a side that on todays performance are also going to have a difficult and hard season.

 

For whatever reason, the decision to take-off a defender (ie: Pennock) and replace him with an attacker(?)definetly cost the Fleet 3 points, particularly as a like for like change could have been made.

 

 

[Stu B]

I think that people need to look at the positives of today more,for the first 45minutes we were the better side and played some decent football,and the new players already seemed to be a team.However in the 2nd half it was a different story,the players were slow, and our creativity was gone. I think once our players realise that hoofing it up in the air doesn't work and once we get drury back we should do ok!

Keep the faith!

[I.C.@G&NFC]

There was no positive side, we were crap. A very second rate side, out played for 70 minutes by mediocre opposition.

[Ashby Brewer]

Burton were the better team today, better players and better tactics.

 

I think you are kidding yourself this season if you honestly think that you are a better side.

 

You matched Burton until the substitutions and then the team seemed to have no shape and you were deservedly beaten.

 

But on the positive side there are still 41 games to go.

[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

Quote:

I think you are kidding yourself this season if you honestly think that you are a better side.

 

I don't think anyone on this board, or who attended the game yesterday would even pretend to think that we were a better side than Burton on yesterdays performance.

 

I think the frustration is that we were well outplayed by a team that in all reality is in our peer group in the conference. And one that we need to take points off in home games, if we are to survive again.

 

As you say there is a long way yet to go, and hopefully we can only get better...

 

Just hoping our season gets underway at Woking on Tuesday, but to be honest its hard to see where the goals are going to come from, as not all keepers will be as generous to us as Duke, was yesterday !

[Jimmy]

Just a few of my thoughts regarding yesterday, in no particular order.

Why did the manager tell Strouts that he was too old and that the Conference was a young man's league, then play him? Also, if it a young man's league why did the same manager sign Gary Abbott?

 

Perkins played his first 90 minutes in 5 months, to admit after the game that he looked knackered at half time and that he should have been taken off appears to be a case of stable door and bolted horse. I thought Perkins did well though for an hour then had trouble standing up.

 

Why change a system that would have got us a point at least? Swap Pennock for Shearer and stay at 5-3-2 not Pennock for Pinnock and got to 4-4-2.

 

Why persist with big sweeping balls up the front to small blokes? Use the grass, it's there for a reason. I don't understand the logic of winning the Ryman by playing football properly and then as you go up switch to big toe up the pitch. At least Gatwick and Heathrow air traffic control can keep an eye on most of the passes forward.

 

Tostao was a waste of a sub, might as well have brought on Evans.

 

What has Matt Lee done wrong? McClements reminds of a right sided Paul Lamb with charges up front to leave a massive hole behind him.

Play Lee behind McClements maybe in a 4-4-2.

 

Huggins is no better than Evans or Terry Penfold.

 

We were outplayed by one of the lesser lights of the league, to blame it on the players never having played before only the leaves the blame in one place.

 

Here's to Woking on Tuesday, I do hope it's a lot better.

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[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

Quote:

What has Matt Lee done wrong?

 

I am sorry but I feel more aggrieved for Rob Owen ( Was he injured ?)

he has the strength and quality to more than fill Bentleys shoes, why is he overlooked for an over age average midfielder ( Which Strouts is by anyones standards )

I am sure that Rob can play wing back, right midfield or even centre midfield much better than all of the present imcumbents.

 

A true waste of a talent..

 

 

[Hirsty]

I have seen people get ejected from the ground for running on the pitch !! The stewards must have been a little bit relaxed due to the hot weather !!! Mr Clough seemed to want a picnic on the pitch when he brought all his "soft" drinks onto the field of play....ah bless 'im !!

 

anyway.......one game gone...41 to go !!! no doubt a lot of talking remains over the rest of the season !! good luck to all.........

 

.....but don't give it the 'kin big one after one game...there's a good chap.

 

Regards,

 

 

 

[Mepis]

Very disappointed you have to beat other part time teams at home, good lord Burton must of had at least 10-12 corners to our 1, perhaps we were away, Burton deserved that win, but if Ade Pennock had stayed on i believe we would have held on, where were the experienced players today, Shearer, Owen, even Hogg and Matt Lee, change the team and the way we play very quickly.

I am totally cheesed off and listening to Andy on RK did not help either, and RK rubbed it in even more when Warren Patmore scored for Margate.

[The Doctor]

I definately agree with everyone about Matt Lee and Rob Owen! Matt Lee is a quality right back and made the step up to the conference well last season. Rob Owen as i mentioned last season, can easily play right mid, look at his performance(woking away) last year when he played that position. Also Rob Owen would play his heart out for the club because he loves playing for us, as we are his local club!

[Jimmy]

Rob picked up a kick in the game against Chatham Town, a cut on or above the ankle. I assume this was troubling him too much for him to feature.

[Richard C]

Well, after what I have said regarding the side and its pre season frielndlies I actually think we played better than expected!!!!!!

 

The fans were awful today all of us! Last season we were the envy of every other set of supporters, if we go on like Saturday creating a mortuary atmosphere, we cant expect the players to rise to the occasion and increase their performance. The team played badly and one VERY bad managerial decision helped us lose, but we, the fans helped us lose today! No noise at all and a very low crowd indeed! We need to look at the positives – Mclements was fine, Pennock was class, Perkins was excellent, Abbey/Pinnock/Huggins are going to need better service, Tostao was indifferent, Mckimm and Stroutsy were ok.

- Ok so Duku wasn’t up to it in any way shape or form and if Shearer doesn’t replace him we will be stuffed!

 

We need to be positive or this isn’t going to work. Singing when we are under the cosh not for 1 minute after scoring!!!

 

[Stu B]

That was my point Richard,we played alot better in the 1st half than would have been expected from alot of people who use this board. I also think credit should be given to o'reilly who had a pretty solid game(though i think he probably should have done better on the first goal but i can't say for sure because it was down the other end!).

[Rotten Johnny Shawcraw]

Looks like a long hard season ahead, I've not been to any pre season freindlies so it was my first look at the new signings, Huggins and Abbey could be good up front if they get the right service, not long balls hoofed up to them especially against ex England defender Steve Chettle.

We had enough chances though but the second half display was awful, it seems we've seen the best of Kwashi his miss was abysmal he's at least got to force a save out of the keeper, Pennock was good though why was he subbed, otherwise the least said the better!