Swindon Town FC vs Crawley Town FC Official Matchday Thread

[sonicyouth]

We'll never ever get promoted out of League One.

[Saxondale]

Right.  Think Im off.  Im away from home for 3 weeks and slightly depressed because of this anyway so Im not sure its safe for me to read the wrist slashing thats going to happen here in the next couple of hours.

Have fun.  

[Flashheart]

I blame Tenerife

I have a different theory. I reckon the recent penalty misses from Smith and Willow have fucked with their minds, causing goals to dry up which has affected the whole team's confidence.

[THE FLASH]

Poor today.

Its OK for cooper to set out his stall but when it doesn't work you have to change your plan.

Even when we scored I didn't think we had played well enough and I think that goal fucked us. We carried on as usual and they picked us off....

2 chances and two goals...FFS...

[Batch]

Things change quickly in a season. Our form has gone from very good, to very poor in the blink of an eye. It can change back again, but if we are to remain in the auto race it has to start Tuesday.

Unfortunately nothing I saw today makes me think its going to, but then, you never see the change coming..

We started off fairly poorly, first 10 minutes of a game can be like that I suppose. But when a poor (Thompson?) pass was picked off, the ball was played wide an Yasser was absolutely murdered for pace by their attacking man who squared for a smart tap in.

As the half went on we gained more possession and Crawley retreated. The problem is, a couple of Toffolo fluffed crossing opportunities aside, we were utterly one paced and lacked an urgancy and a cutting edge. Williams worked very hard, but was ineffective. Smith was starved of service, but was ineffective.

But my biggest concern was how jittery we looked at the back. Every punt and scramble in the box caused us issues. They weren't that frequent thankfully, but they were there. Its really odd, because I don't recall Turnbull, NT or Stephens being shit, but ....In any case Stephens put in an Alan McCormack like performance today

Midfield flattered to deceive. Kassim was sub his normal standard. Gladwin has talent but my Mrs makes her mind up on what to wear quicker than he decides what to do with the ball. Byrne tries hard, didn't get much joy. Swift has good technical ability but is utterly disillusion in his percieved talent v actual talent. Pass the fucking thing, just because your contract has Chelsea at the top doesn't mean you can beat player after player.

Second half we upped the pace of everything. You can't say we didn't want it, even if peppering their goal didn't really happen. It took a Stephens run from defence and a great ball to free William to slot home. At this point we were bound to win, it felt like Northampton away under Di Canio. Except we didn't. A free kick (??) into the edge of our box left Wes with a difficult 'come for it or retreat' decision. He retreated but they smashed it in off the underside of the bar.

If all this had happened in December/January, I'd have put it down to a bad day at the office. The fact its happened in 4 of our last 5 games its something altogether more serious.

[chalkies_shorts]

The first half was the shittest I've seen this season. Gruffalos and Byrne saw plenty of the ball but cut inside every fucking time. Our first cross was on the stroke of half time. The goal we gave away was criminal and their no 7 managed to go unmarked for the 45.
The first few minutes of the second half was better and a great run from Stephens set up a good finish from Willo. Then we went back to fucking around and trying to walk the ball in the net. Swift was the worst offender particularly with a couple of minutes to go. Their second goal was even more criminal.
Stephens was a no brainer for MOM.
The defence is a total fucking shambles and we're now getting punished.
Its difficult to be positive after losing to a team who were total shite and there for the taking. The problem is that we're there for the taking as well.

[Batch]

I have a different theory. I reckon the recent penalty misses from Smith and Willow have fucked with their minds, causing goals to dry up which has affected the whole team's confidence.

FWIW I was quite impressed with Willo today. He worked incredibly hard, scuffed one shot but there was no sign his head was down.

Lack of service or not, Smith may as well have not been there. Wonder if we'll see Obika on Tuesday.

[Ticker45]

Concerned that once again Cooper did not see the need to change things. We are chasing the game and still could have used Obika and gone three up front but no it stays the same and all our possession counts for sod all. Have had a horrible feeling recently that play offs are our only method of going up and it is often the last third of the season that counts, not the first two thirds unfortunately.

[sonicyouth]

Concerned that once again Cooper did not see the need to change things. We are chasing the game and still could have used Obika and gone three up front but no it stays the same and all our possession counts for sod all. Have had a horrible feeling recently that play offs are our only method of going up and it is often the last third of the season that counts, not the first two thirds unfortunately.

apart from the change he made at half-time?

[tans]

That was utter utter cuntslop.

Thats all i have to say.

[Batch]

apart from the change he made at half-time?

Did they say if that was tactical or injury induced?

I'd imagine it was all about bringing Louis on.

[CalRed45]

Main reasons we are currently bottling the auto's
1. The pace of our play, we are trying to win games by walking it around the pitch... it isn't going to happen
2. I will get slated for this but I genuinely think the return or Mass and Yas has disturbed the side, we have too many quality midfielders than we can handle with and don't know how to fit them all into the side
3. Our strikers confidence has seemed to be knocked, Smith and Obika's goals have dried up.
4. Teams are starting to punish our mistakes, at the beginning of the season we were getting let off for our mistakes but now teams are really punishing us.
5. Our wingers are trying to beat the same player 9 times, Toffolo, Byrne and Swift are quality players but sometimes after you have beaten the full back once you just have to put a cross in, not try and beat him and the center back another 5 times.

Resigned to play offs now but that's definitely not a bad achievement for this team, I just can't stomach them again.

[Dr Pierre Chang]

I want to see a replay of their first goal, it looked to me like it was a real half hearted effort by Kasim to keep up with the player who got the assist.

Now is a real test of Cooper's managerial credentials, he has performed superbly up to this point but now is the time to go on a run and put us right back in the mix or filter away into the play off pack with the inevitable end of season heartbreak.

Our lack of January strengthening has cost us recently but with now almost a fully fit squad I think we will finish strongly so we are in with a shout entering the home straight.

[theakston2k]

Did they say if that was tactical or injury induced?

I'd imagine it was all about bringing Louis on.

I thought it was an injury. He took a knock on one of the occasions he completely failed to get a cross in and spent the rest of the half feeling sorry for himself. If you were doing a tactical change I think Byrne would have been off as he was woeful and let the ball roll under his foot for a throw more than once.

[@mwooly63]

Needs a massive shake up for Tuesday, lost that one and we could be 4th.