Thetownend.com

Cant believe no one has started this yet !

1 - 1 for me

Rich Tea

3-1 Town.....Revell with a consolation,wish we had kept him.

Digestive.

2-1 orient

Cuthbert

0-0 draw 6,812 crowd.

Garibaldi.

I've given up predicting scores...we're too inconsistent.  But if I had to, I'd say we're more likely to win this than they are.

4-3
Cuthbert scores first

0-0

And good luck to Farnborough and Swindon Supermarine in the 4th (& final) Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.

A must must must win game for Town today.

We need to start well and get the early goal.

Bit worried, wouldnt bet on it. Orient are not a good side, our lads needed a good slap after the League Cup defeat. We must pile on the points in these next 5 weeks.

2-0 Swindon.

2-0 town. We must win, but not because some people think the season hinges on today, but because I'm going out tonight and I HATE going out after we've lost.

I believe we will strike down on Orient with great vengence and furious anger...

[url width=188 height=256]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:61VVZ_xV9QG2ZM:http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad141/yang_fox/pulp_fiction_jules.jpg&t=1[/url]

5-1........Austin, Ball, Ritchie (2), Prutton and a late consolation from Revell who I agree, we should have signed.
Oh well, we live in hope.

2-0 Swindon, scrappy and unconvincing, Ritchie and Austin to score.

Bit worried about being without Douglas today. We were fucking dreadful when he was missing last season.

2-1 Town, Ritchie first goal (which I got at 50-1).

Come on you reds.

3-0, convincing win, Austin, Ball, JPM

1-2

Id rather have Pericard than Revell.

You can only afford 1 donkey up front.

Football day :)

We have to win this,surely.1-0 Austin.Yes!

Must win. Make it so Swindon.

Need to win this. Next 4 or 5 games could be crucial for us.

2-1 win. Can't see a clean sheet, but we'll take the initaitive and take a 2-0 lead before Revell makes it a nervy finish.

Based on the results of the last five games i've been too:


1-0 Won
2-1 Won
1-0 Won
2-1 Won
4-5 Lost


That averages at a 2-1 win (or more realistically a 2-2 with them nicking an equaliser in the 94th minute)

Austin and Ball to get our goals.

COME ON FOOTBALL!

4-0 town 7,893

Think I went 2-1 Anyhow enjoy the game everyone

4-0 Austin with 3.

2-1 for me aswell, i think we will be up for this and have more firepower than them, looking forward to seeing austin, ritchie and ball together upfront, plenty of goals there, just need to defend properly!

3-0 I reckon!

We are evens with Willhill.com to win this so I am going to have a bet COYR

Feels like we turn in a routine-looking home win today at a canter from which everyone will begin to talk playoffs and promotion again! fickle barstewards as we are

We fucking better do anyway which is why I think we will. 3-1.

we'll lose 2-1

Fancy us today, even though they have a decent record on our patch in recent times.

3-1 Ball, Douglas!!! and Austin

Quietly confident today. 5-0 Town (Austin2 Ball Ritchie and Sheehan)

3-1 nervous game we are not capable of keepng a clean sheet gate will be 8500 with it being half term

Gonna be a convincing victory today. 2-0 or 3-0.

Always come away with fuck all against Orient.. but I'll go 1-0 Swindon

Errrrr....that's clearly not true.

COME ON YOU FUCKERS! WINNNNNNNN

I'll go for a 3-1 win that is much less comfortable than the scoreline suggests, yet still leads people to forget any negative comment they have made over the past week.

Good sentiment and fully agreed with!

1-1 Austin for us, Revell for them. I think it'll be a shit game with either team too nervy to take any chances.

;D

last 3 games, 1 draw 2 losses

I take your point, thats not always

My prediction league says 3-1, so it'll be 3-1. I'd take any sort of win though really. Just win, please.

seconded

My pre-match team talk would be as follows..

1. Don't play like cunts.

2. Win.

It's not that hard.

Swindon Town: David Lucas; Kevin Amankwaah, Scott Cuthbert (capt.), Sean Morrison, Alan Sheehan; Matt Ritchie, Jon-Paul McGovern, Simon Ferry, Paul Caddis, David Ball, Charlie Austin

Substitutes: Phil Smith (GK), Michael Rose, Lecsinel Jean-Francois, Alan O'Brien, Thomas Dossevi, Nathan Thompson, Will Evans

Orient side not in yet

Bit harsh on Rose and a bit small in midfield, Prutton ill apparently. Hmm. Anyway, time to go get the bus.

A good opportunity to further my severe Caddis-love I hope.

Is that Caddis in CM then? Has he played there for us before or not?

Who will play Dougie's holding role? Caddis? Ferry?

Yes and yes, when Prutton was suspended, suppose Caddis plays Douglas' position today.

He played a slightly right-central midfield role at Walsall I seem to remember.

Thats a short midfield.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Ball wide right, JPM more central with Ritchie wide left and play a much more 451 with Charlie up front.

It does look fairly weak down the middle to me otherwise.

Spot on.

We'll have to worry about the amount of tackling JP will have to do then. Not the greatest part of his game.

Bring on the Vic bashing

Looks pretty empty, orient can't have brought more than 250. 7000 tops.

Afternoon folks. Come on you Reds and all that.

Suh-win-don!

Are we 2 nil down yet?

Not yet.

It's a valid question, are we?

How about now?

Morning all.

1-0 down, but ruled out for offside

Crumbs.

So, is it 4-3-3 then?

ooh didn't realise it was 3 already.

Oxford have scored, if anybody's interested. 1-0 up at home to Northampton.

N'ah that doesn't interest me :)

Its 7 minutes in.  Why hasnt anyone said 'FFS come on Swindon' yet

I see Revell's on the bench... let's hope he stays there.

FFS come on Swindon!

Is that better GK? ;)

West Brom 1-0 Fulham : Carson (9) - Goal kick?

Thanks!

Ah corrected to an own goal.

I thought it was West Brom 0-1 Fulham Carson (OG)

Plus you can't score from a goal kick...

World playing up for anyone else? It's unlistenabanannble again

A shot by Gera from 25 yards and the ball rebounded off the post and onto his back into the net apparently.

I can do whatever I want. It's why I'm not a pro-football (that and my lack of ability).

It started off very jumpy but has got better as the game has gone on for me.

It's piss here, keeps cutting out. Better dig out a radio.

Was planning to go today but couldn't drag myself out of bed this morning, five days of 5:30 wakeups is murking me

Murking? Shame on you Sonic.

Phil King's complaining about a lack of movement, which has been a bit of a problem for us in quite a few of the games I've watched this year.

Afternoon guys.  Relying  on the TEF for action updates today.  Sat in front of my laptop next to a pool in Tampa.

It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it!  Keep me informed please!

Sam Parkin has scored for St Johnstone

Yet you haven't told us that Oxford have conceded.

Fuck, do they have to keep on harping on about the Peterboro game

I missed that one. Beg your pardon.

Forgiven :)

Our game doesn't seem to be thrilling.

But the banter here is a treat.

Tell us a joke Rich.

Nathan Thompson on for...................................nobody, sit down lad

I never will  :)

2 nuns in a bath........

I see Revell has come on.

That was a rubbish punchline.

...and yet I laughed.

McGovern goes close, deflected over.

4th corner in a row...

nothing wrong with a bit of murking

This is a very boring game so far.

Sorry for stating the obvious but I felt it had to be said!

I personally think we're missing JD.

Orient go close, Cox shot just over

Have we not replaced Greer and Paynter yet?

Shot from Austin...Corner...Foul...Free kick to Orient

Right.  Im off for a shower.  I expect it to be 4 nil when I get back.

This has to be the most boring half of football I have ever seen...

Half time. 45 minutes of nothing finally over.

I can't keep up with the red hot, full tilt, maximum paced action on TEF this afternoon :)

Fucking hell. What a boring half.

It's not been that exciting.

Its not 4 nil yet then

Terrible game, we have nothing, no midfield, no attacking threat, feel sorry for austin he is working hard and winning a lot of headers but there is no one running off him. Rest of them are half asleep, manks is clearly injured and should not be out there. We miss douglas massively.

Hoping for an improvement  2nd half but that wont be hard!

Every cloud eh Bert :)

Lets hope it picks up a bit 2nd half then.

What've I missed?  Beeb reporting no shots, on or off target, from us.  Can't be right, surely?!

I'm not sure where these stats come from. We've had a couple of shots deflected out for corners, unless the commentators are making it up

Cox gets away from Amankwaah but can't to the ball properly. Sounds like Kev is struggling.

"Thomas Doffusi" is warming up apparantly

Hello chaps! Aint been around on matchdays recently. Have come back to bring some good luck!

shhehan red

Straight red for Sheehan

I blame NMH.

Ooops!

Nothing to do with me!!

Shit.

Justified?  Bad tackle?

All of a sudden 0-0 seems disgustingly appealing. Ah another week of moping ahead on TEF.

Sounds debatable rather than plain OTT from the ref

good lad sheehan

Rose on for David Ball. Sounds like 4-4-1, but may go to 4-3-2

I liked how whoever that commentator is said it was a red straight away... and then changed his mind to say it was only yellow.

David ball off for rose. Sitting back for a point then. Wilson out ;)

3 game ban, Sheehan is always capable of it as we all know!

Hopefully we'll go into post-Greer at Charlton mode.

0-1

oh dear

Uh-oh.

FUCK. MY. LIFE.

Jeez  :crash:  ::)  :doh:

Boom. 1-0 down and wheres the striker that's just scored 3 in 3 games...just gone off. Brilliant.

 EDIT: oh, we have Austin back.

Orient at home mind. Jesus.

1-1 austin!

1-1  Austin

AUSTIN!!!!

That was quick

One man team!

I love him.

Life is good again! Good old Charlie Boy. Rose proving he should've started.

Austin, yoooooooooooou beauty  :D :D

yay  :)

It's gone very quiet.

Enjoy the quiet.  It'll go mental on here in a hours time.  Doom and gloom ahead I suspect.

O'Brien on for Kev, Caddis to RB

O'Brien plays a great ball across but Ritchie can't get there. Nearly an instant impact!

Unless we end that stretch of not winning a game after conceding the first goal.

Another fucking shit Referee

1-2 Revell

Fuck this

:( Sadness.

Cant realisitically harbour any playoff hopes if your losing to shit like Leyton Orient

its getting boring now.

I KNEW that would happen  :suicide:

Yup.

 :badmood: Setting the tone for the week ahead FFS

Nope. We're down to ten men, but we did bugger all with 11. Really disappointing.

Yes we know Leyton Orient are fucking ordinary, but we are worse then fucking ordinary

At least we can still win the JPT and FA Cup.

Great comeback by Carlisle now 3 - 3 with Charlton.

Bring Dosevvi on ffs

Hows O'Briens defending going?

Agreed.Come on Danny don't let this game drift away.

Charlton threw away a 3 or 4 goal lead against Shrewsbury in the League Cup this season :eek:

Free kick to us just outside the box...

give a fuck?

free kick just outside the box. Why am i bothering to get excited??

gpaoasoasol rose

YESSS

GOAL! ROSE!

thats why!!!!!!!!!!

Still think we will lose 3-2

DO NOT. DO NOT. DO NOT. Leave Rose out again!

hahaha we <3 Rose.

YESSSS!!

Woo fucking hoo!

Dosevvi on   Ritche off

Well done Rosey!  :clap:

 :eek: Goooooooooooooooooool. Get in!!

2-2, 5 minutes left, and Dossevi comes on for Ritchie

Can you try that again nochee?  :D

COME ON YOU FECKING REDS

COME ON TOWN!!!

Orient's away form is appalling surely need to be chasing a win here?  Even with ten men...  CAAAAM AAAANNN!!!

Of course, in truth a draw isn't really good enough.

Agreed

Will we concede a late goal?

Spot on.  Need to be winning these games.

4 minutes added

where can i put a tenner on Orient scoring in the next 3 mins?

Lets grab a late goal (for a change).

Anyone else have trouble with the forum?

Yep, think it's working now

Still struggling for me.... Is it over yet?

It is. 2-2.

That was utter wank.

All of it...

Hmmm. Relieved we didn't lose but we are clearly our own worst enemies. No excuses.

I usually the fence sitter but I am annoyed.

Not sure what to make of that. We got a point when we were struggling, but failing to beat Orient is a depressing signal of where our team is at right now

i have nothing to add to what i've said in the previous few weeks.
nothing has changed for the postive or negative.
reeves4england hits the nail on the head above...

I think Reg summed it up a few weeks ago - This is what being a Swindon fan is all about.

Every now and again there is a ray of light in the shape of a season like last year. But this year, this is what its all about. Optimism, hope, belief and disappointment.

Remarkably, we're still only 4 points off the play-offs. Of course, that will be irrelevant if we don't improve but it gives us something to hope for until we get disappointed at Yeovil next week, which is a game the players have to win if they actually see themselves as being good enough to kick on.

This isn't our year...

Im going next week so they better get better.

I thought it was shit from start to finish. We are not a shadow of the team we were last year.

One other thing, Nathan Thompson deserves a chance as im sure he can't be worse than Amankwaah. If he's carrying a long term injury then why the hell is he in the starting 11?

Absolutely pathetic performance.

No creativity. No Atmosphere. No three points.

Sheehan's red card - Stupid lunge in, probably only warranted a yellow but he should've stayed on his feet.
Ref's performance - Fucking shite. Didn't let the game flow, allowed it to become a niggly affair worthy of non-league. Showed no consistency in any of his decisions.
Orient - Set up to stop us and hit us on the counter, until the red card when they were able to freely move the ball about.

Overall, another frustrating afternoon ruined by a fucking shitty pile of wank official. Poor result, serious changes needed for next saturday.

More pessimistic than ever right now.

I'm glad we finished the game looking like we wanted a result. We need to learn how to play against teams which set themselves up to stop any decent football being played and to nab a point.

Until Sheehan went off we did nothing, then we woke up and started playing. Regardless if it was the correct decision, at least it meant something happened in the game. Had 0-0 written all over it.

Apparently played well in the paint pot game a few weeks back. Whenever I've seen him he's looked a bit suspect at the back, probably better to play Caddis as he's more experienced.

Shit first half, yes the ref was bad but we were awful today.

Still dodgy at the back. Definately missed prutton and douglas today. Good to see Charlie back.

I'm already looking forward to it.

Useless first half from both teams.  Much better game after the break but, totally predictably, we missed Douglas in midfield.  The guys tried enough but there wasn't much understanding in the last third.  From where I was sat in the DRS, Sheehan went in with all studs showing and I wasn't surprised with the decision.  It was just inside the Orient half almost on the touchline so why fucking dive in at all.  Big up for Sir Charles who never stopped harrying them, won virtually every flick on and scored a great goal.  I thought Cuthbert and Morrison had good games and Caddis should get a mention as he had to fill in all over the place.  Ritchie and Ball were threatening in small patches but we had no guile or decisiveness in midfield at all.  Sadly big Kev either is injured or has lost every ounce of confidence.  He overlapped about once, played aimless balls over the top to Orient players, wouldn't commit to the tackle and kept letting the winger past him or cross.  Nothing to say aboutthe ref other than shite, like they all are at the County Ground.

Oh and loved the "we always get shit refs" chant !

Just got back.

We were crap. Scored from two free kicks...and that was it. I don't think their keeper had a shot to save otherwise.

Sheehan sending off was stupid. He was sent off for catching the guy high, rather than intent, but the ref was a cunt. He protected their keeper a number of times, when he was taken out by one of his own players.

Charlie worked his arse off and deservedly won MoM.

i didn't think he caught mcleish at all. there doesn't appear to be a plan B instead of the lump it for Charlie/VP route.

the midfield wasn't there at all today. when the defence had the ball we had 5 or 6 players leading the line trying to win a header which would have gone to no one, it really failed to make any sense at all

That was awful, everything about it.

The first half was easily the worst, most boring 45 minutes of football I have ever sat through.

Lucas looked dodgy and judging on once seen real time he should have stopped their second goal. Amankwaah was rubbish and clearly injured, why wont Wilson put Thompson in? whats the worse that could happen? Thompson plays shit? thats exactly what we are getting now anyway. Morrison and Cuthbert looked dodgy and Morrison got caught in possession too often. Sheehan did fuck all then got sent off, didnt look like a red to be but probably a blessing in disguise because if Sheehan had stayed on Rose wouldnt have come on! Rose was our attacking thread, one assist and one goal. People will call hindsight - but I said it before the game, shouldnt have dropped Rose. I wasnt there last week but he's done alright since he came in for Sheehan, it should be his shirt to lose. Ball did nothing wide right, JPM did nothing, Ferry ran around alot. Didnt even realise Caddis was playing. Ritchie did ok. Charlie worked hard, probably one of only two players who deserve any credit. Won loads of flick on - which went to no one because there wasnt anyone near him (4-3-3 my arse)

Luckily for us Orient had one decent player, the rest were shite and they'd settled for a draw after the first minute. A better team would have spanked us.

The ref was just plain awful. Dont think it was a red card, missed the Orient player playing basketball on our penalty area. We got two corners from Charlie heading it out. Plus, he kept stopping play for injured (all Orient) that were not head injuries - therefore play should continue till the ball is out. So much time wasting - that didnt seem to get added onto the extra 4.

However, even if we'd have a decent ref we wouldnt have won that. We lacked any sort of creative spark and before Rose scored the free kick most of our players had given up.

I thought the formation, players and the subs were all completely wrong today but maybe thats just me. No idea what Wilson said on the radio. Hopefully he pulled no punches - is the loan market still open? we need more/better players. Again today, really weak bench. A midfield 5 made up of 1 striker, 3 wingers and 1 actual central midfielder - central midfielder out on loan.

In summation, shit.

First half was total garbage.

Second half was a bit better, hard to say what would have happened without the sending off, but at least we looked like we wanted to win the game, whereas Orient were wasting time at the end and looked to be happy with a draw.

Last season we weren't very good without Douglas, (in that spell when he was suspended) so I'm not that surprised that we look ineffective without him.

We are not that far off the points total we had at this point last season, and there's no doubt that the league is not as strong this season so I'm still optimistic that we could put together a decent run & get involved in the play-off picture.


Oh yeah, have tried to forget but that was the poorest refereeing performance I can ever remember seeing

The general ref vitriol and pathetic first half comments are justified, but I wanted to go into tactical depth a little bit without getting too chalkboard.

We had a lot of posession without ever looking threatening, and to me that was because the players who were distributing the ball were generally Morrison, Cuthbert and Amankwaah, none of which are great passers. Orient clearly came with a stifling plan, and closed our midfielders (and Rose when he came on) down quickly when they were on the ball, but were happy to let Morrison in particular have as much posession as he liked, as more often than not we'd pass it around the defense for a bit, then try a lofted ball forward and lose it. The midfield three of Caddis, Ferry and McGovern were all poor, trying to the same job and none of them did it well: we missed Douglas hugely, and dare I say it Prutton as well.

This seems to be a bit of a theme other teams have picked up on in the last few weeks- let our defense have the ball all they like, and we don't really seem to have a plan to adapt at all. It's something we really need to take a look at imho, becuse there's certainly the quality there- we looked better man for man than Orient- but we seem to be expecting a moment of brilliance to win games rather than having an actual plan of how to do so.

Don't want to come across overly negative, and I may be talking complete crap, but that's how I saw it. Positives for us were fairly limited, but Rose's free kick are terrific- the first was brilliant quick thinking and the second a beautiful shot. Charlie is not only classy as a footballer but worked his arse off right to the end when he was clearly absolutely fucked. The man's a hero.

I've seen worse...a lot worse.

I see he is disliked by several sets of fans!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27603969486

I've never seen so many people wait on after the final whistle to boo the ref though. He got some serious abuse once all the players had gone down the tunnel.

I thought we desperately missed Douglas and seriously lacked bite in midfield. Ferry was just too lightweight for me.

Shit game, shit atmosphere, shit ref and 2 shit teams.

Oh, and it was fucking cold.

My view:

First half was awful the 4-5-1 (or 4-3-3 if you prefer) formation was screaming out to be changed. It leaves Austin too isolated, he wins good flick ons to.... himself. Leyton Orient have already beaten us, so I don't mean this disrespectfully, but playing 4-5-1 at home against a struggling team is fucking bollocks.

Second half the cocknocker of a referee ruined. From my angle in the DRS, directly behind Sheehan it was debatable whether a foul was committed, let alone a red card offence. Fucking twat ref has clearly never played football, ,my 6 year old can see it better. And that was by no means his only moment of fuckwittedry.

Credit where credit is due. We came from behind twice and well played Rose, who I thought was unlucky not to be starting in the first place. Oh and Austin is BACK!

the thing with the formation- it's worked ok recently so he's stuck with it, but the personnel we had out there could have gone to 442 prior to the ref's spasm to his top pocket

Wilson did say on the radio that before the red card they were looking to change the formation to a 4-4-2, but once Sheehan had been sent-off he had to change his plans.

Oh and one other thing, Alex Revell is a right fucking wanker

has he now scored past us more times than he scored for us?

Oh fair enough, missed it this week. Had my mother in tow as a special daycare treat. i say daycare because about 20 minutes after Sheehan had walked I was still shaking my head and said "never a sending off." . She said "what sending off". It happened right there, in front of us.

Dave and Nemo have summed the game up as I saw it.

People can blame the absymal refeering, but there's no getting away from the fact that we were poor today.  The only positives I can take from the game is Charlie's performance and Rose's cracking free kick.  We missed Douglas and Prutton in midfield, Ferry and McGovern are shadows of the players they were last season.  Defence not much better and Lucas was again at fault for the second.  Amankwaah was clearly limping from about 5 minutes in and even before Sheehan was sent off, he didn't look great.

I really like Danny Wilson, but some of his team selections and formation decisions this season are starting to become slightly irritating.  If a player has done well ie Rose, for christ sake leave him in, don't drop him just because Sheehan is fit again.

Playing 4-5-1 at home against a team like Leyton Orient is just ridiculous and players of League 1 standard just aren't capable of it.  The bloody England team can't even do it! Charlie worked his socks off and on a number of occasions got to balls that looked like he had no chance of catching,  but inevitably there was then nobody for him to pass to.  Charlie said on the radio after the game that it's really hard work being up front on your own and that was clear from how knackered he was at the end.  Fully deserved the ovation he got from my area in the Arkells abut 5 mins from the end after yet another 'never giving up' run.  

It seems ridiculous that we're still only 4 points off the play off places, but we need to get on a decent run asap.  Unfortunately I just can't see it happening with the current set-up.

Wasn't impressed today. At least in previous games I could draw some positived but today as a team we looked clueless going forward. The midfield just didn't work sadly. The formation for me needed to be changed to 4-4-2 as Austin had no support and Ball wasn't doing anything on the right.

I really don't know why it took going down to 10 men to make us actually look like we wanted to win the game either. We looked so much better with 10 men and at least looked to be more direct and positive going forward. Thought we could have won it with 10 men actually. The game opened up and I think Orient wouldn't have come at us if we weren't down to 10 and we wouldn't have kicked into life.

We need a replacement for Manks (loan signing) as he's way off the pace at the moment. We also need to drop JP. He was crap again today. It really is time for 4-4-2. Only mentions to our players today go to Austin who was superb and worked his socks off and won everything in the air and Rose who looked superb when he came on.

i certainly don't think we can hide behind the ref but he really did have a bit influence in a game we didn't look like winning easily

I've never really liked Wilson that much and will be joining the rest of you in getting on his back asap.

Celtic must be laughing their heads off - they have well and truly shafted us with Caddis - absolute shite and I really am amazed that we have paid a fee for him, let alone 6 figures. Amankwaah was just as bad and right back is quickly becoming a problem area for us.

Formation was awful, 4-5-1 at home against any side is a no go. I thought in the second half that Orient were the only side who wanted to win it - can't remember any other shots in the second half for us bar the goals! Awful.

Shows how poor the League is this season if we can play as badly as we have done recently and still only be 4 points off the play off places.

Quite right, that right back/winger we've just played in central midfield didn't perform, so he's absolutely shite! Maybe we should play Austin left back next week.

I don't think we would have been any better with Douglas, he has been just as poor as the others this season. The midfield is stale, we need a proper ballwinner, and someone with a bit of energy. McGovern and Ferry are so one dimensional/static it's unbelievable. Change Amankwaah and a central defender (not that they did much wrong today, just miss the Greer factor) and we may move on.

Have you seen anything at all from him to suggest he was worth a 6 figure fee?

To be fair in the 2nd half we only had 10 men so we were hardly going to dominate. Orient went forward a lot more because of that as well. If Sheehan stayed on it would have been 0-0.

You say the formation was awful but it's the same one that served us well in the last few games. I agree that it didn't work today and Wilson should have changed it but we played it at home against Rovers and won so why is it a no go?

From what I've seen of Caddis he is quite clearly a right winger - that we've played in about 4 other positions, none of which have been right wing.

Its all a bit Andy King/David Duke at the mo...

I believe Paul Caddis will come good.

We seem to repeatedly get Ref's who don't know the rules properly. You can't stop the game just because a player fancys sitting down and holding his calf for a bit, only for a head injury, and he did it at least twice today. Two corners for us when Charlie had blatantly headed the ball out and repeatedly getting the most basic decisions wrong.  I wasn't surprised that he gave Sheehan a red and at least it seemed to wake us up.

In general though we were crap. Kev seems to be carrying an injury and I wasn't expecting him to come back out for the second half, but when he did he'd changed boots. Is this a new approach to physiotherapy?  

Charlie was superb and needed someone to play off him, he was constantly winning headers to absolutely no avail because the wingers were nowhere near him. Ritchie and Ball offered very little, and JP seems lost.

I don't think we're far away from a good side, but we aren't going to find the missing pieces of the jigsaw from the players currently at the club. Wilson and Fitton need to find someone that fits the bill and get them in quickly or we're looking at a long, dull season. Whether the right players are out there remains to be seen and I'm sure Danny isn't sitting around with his thumb up his arse, but things need to change soon.

Of course we weren't going to dominate but it would have been nice to see us throw a few players forward and have some shots.

Against Rovers it was turned into a 4-3-3 very well, today it was a flat 5 across the middle which left Austin far too isolated and no one was near his flick ons.

Has it served us well?  3 of the last 4 games before today were defeats.

So how do you know he's a right winger? Just wondering like.

Thats where he played for Celtic, in his interview thats where he said he played. The other week when in a middle 3, he kept coming wide right and taking players on and did a good job of it.

He's quick, nippy, has decent feet and a decent cross. Plus, I'm not blind or stupid :)

Not a bad day. Steward took my lighter and wouldn't give it back. First half was dead, but Rose's free kick and Charlies header were pure class. Best part of the day? I got Jean-Francois Tee-shirt!! JEANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN FRACOISSSSSSSSSS!


Ps. It wasn't me chanting EDL in the town end today.

Ps, Again. I just found myself in your sig CHRIS_STFC!

Superb picture, after Ward had scored at Charlton.

Result :nod:

You'll never be a referee though.

Heres my take...apologies in advance.
What a woefull perfornance....................bar Austin who i have to say was immense.
Now chaps i am not happy to accept that kind of performance.......not good enough by a long long way...to many players not in the right positions.
I applauded Ritchie a few weeks back and ate humble pie.....he was shocking...as was Ball as was...
When are we going to BUY a front player to help Austin.

Big Wilson fan but he has to do more........today was pathetic.
Anyone who blames the ref.....get a grip we should be beating Orient with 9 men not ten.
Granted the ref was poor.............but Swindon Town FC on that pitch todat was a lot poorer in my eyes.

I'm working on the superiority complex!

The first half was one of the worst halves of football I've seen in my life. It looked like two Sunday league teams playing a meaningless end of season match after a few pints and a heavy lunch. It was truly appalling and the only reason the second half was any better was the Sheehan sending off.

I can't say for certain whether it was a red card offence or not, but from where I was sitting it looked like he went in with his foot well off the ground and his studs showing. Everyone, unless you've lived in a closet for the last 5 years, knows that if you do that there is a good chance the ref will show a red whether contact is made or not.

Whilst our players were generally crap today, the blame for the performance lies firmly with Wilson for his team selection, formation and tactics. Anyone who says we played a 4-3-3 is talking shit, it was 4-5-1 whether we had the ball or not. As a result Austin was isolated up front for most of the game, so when he got the ball there was no other red shirt within 20 yards.

Once again we sat far too deep when we didn't have the ball, allowing them to come at us. Our midfield were all over the place leaving massive gaps that were easily exploited. Fortunately, Orient are pretty poor - most teams would have ripped us to shreds and been a few up by half time.

Why was Rose dropped? He was terrible at the start of the season but has been excellent over the last few games. So Wilson decides to drop him as he thought the game was made for Sheehan (or some similar bollocks he was spouting on the radio).

McGovern is great playing wide midfield but is useless playing in the middle. Caddis has been hot and cold but again, he is a wide player and so why play him in the middle? Of course, part of the problem is that we only had one central midfielder due to injuries and having allowed Timlin to go out on loan. Why the fuck hasn't Timlin been recalled? Evans did well in the JPT when he came on for Douglas, so why not give him a run out?

Amankwaah was being torn a new one by their winger, who thankfully went off quite early with an injury. Something is up with him, either injury or in a bad spell, so why hasn't he been dropped for Thompson or Caddis? The same goes for Lucas, he's been poor this season and looked at fault for their second so why hasn't Smith been given a run?

Once again today, Wilson showed he doesn't have a fucking clue when it comes to substitutions. Prior to the sending off he was going to put Dossevi and O'Brien on, not putting Dossevi on I can understand but I don't get why it affected O'Brien going on. Anyway, he then decided to put Lescinel on at left back and then changed his mind after he'd had him strip off and put Rose on.

I don't see how any of the other options available to Wilson could have been worse than what he went with. And if players like Thompson and Evans aren't ready for the first team (despite performing well when given the chance) why the fuck are they on the bench?

I reckon our squad is as strong if not stronger than last season and the performances and results so far this season just aren't acceptable.

Stronger than the one at this stage last season but certainly not as strong as the one that finished last season?

am i the only one who thinks wilson has taken us as far as he ever will?
downwards doesn't count...

I don't think you can say Wilson has taken us as far as he can. The season has been dissapointing, and I'm not convinced on the formation, but to write the man off is well premature. Maybe in a couple of seasons I'd agree. But repeating last years exploits this season was always going to be hard.

In Wilson I trust.

He was worse at right back than he was in the middle, so that point is irrelevant.

Wilson is a decent manager...in my opinion it is time for our board to back him..

i aint disputing that he is a good manager.it aint going for him though that's for sure.

Despite my Wilson rant, I still think he's a good manager and wouldn't even suggest getting rid of him. He's attracted some great players and the squad is getting better and better with every addition, especially now the crap has been weeded out.

But I just don't get some of his decisions, more recently it has been the majority of his decisions I don't get. I don't think I'm alone with my concerns as no one seems to be disagreeing with me and most seem to share them. If there is an explanation for his erratic tactics, team selection and formation I'd love to hear it and admit I'm talking shit.

I still think Danny's a good manager.  Today just showed how thin our squad is with injuries & suspensions.

JD out broken toe

Prutton out with some kind of virus which incidentally they now think Morrison may have but Morro decided he still wanted to play. I think the option of Caddis in midfield was a risk that Danny took but didn't really work out and he couldn't change after Sheenhan's sending off.

Going back to the sending off incident what made me laught is the player got up and shook hands with Sheehan just before the referee show him the red card. Even the Orient players looked stunned with Sheehans sending off.

As much as the referee was a fuckwit he gave us 2 very soft freekicks which resulted in both our goals but he got so many basic decisions so wrong today.

Agree 100%

apart from flogging greer over his head,aint he been backed?

Not enough to keep us at the top end of L1.

Wilson will end up being a victim of his own success. He got us so far last year that we all expected to build on that - we havent, this season has been a giant step backwards so far.

Give Wilson some time and resources to sort it out.

As I've said before, if we finish the season where we are now in the table I'd get rid.

My summary

We were shit, especially 1st half.

sheehan deserved a yellow

Ref was a massive incompetant cunt

2 cracking free kicks from rose. especially the 2nd.

Our midfield was non-fucking existent today, not one player who can make a tackle, it was all too easy for orient to control the game.

Douglas is our most important player imo, last season we were hopeless without him and the same again today. Its a worry, because you cant be reliant on one player. We were unfortunate that Prutton was out aswell, he may of made a difference today.

The formation can work, we saw that in the 2nd half against rovers, some of the football that night was fantastic.

Today it just didnt happen, the sending off actually helped us to an extent because it livened things up, never a red though, it was right in front of me and i didnt even think it was a foul! Like everyone else has said, the ref was one of the worst i have ever seen.

No excuses though, we were crap, only positives were austin who was immense and showed his class for his goal and rose who took the game by the scruff, drove us forward and produced 2 stunning free kicks. Quite a turnaround from him in comparison to the first month of the season.

if he aint been backed enough why get rid?

because he would have taken us backwards.

He's been backed enough to not have us sitting in 15th

agree on both counts.

It's all very hypothetical at the moment.

I appreciate that we're playing shit but the it would appear that we're in the same boat as most of the teams in the division so there's more than hope (in my opinion).

I'm not making excuses but I'm also not giving up in late October.

Picture of the tackle.

Is that Morrison getting in the background? He could have stood somewhere else.

Can't spoute shit like this in the middle of October. And, we can't have a player to help austin if we only play with 1 up top.

ps - hopefully January. but ball could probably be alright if he was allowed to play upfront.

I think the bigger question is what the fuck are we going to do when Austin is sold, which will only be a matter of time. He was our best player today by some distance and did an incredible job given the service he was getting.

He's on 26 goals in 48 appearances now, which is an incredible record especially when you take in to account all the times he hasn't played the full 90 minutes. I still find it hard to believe just how good he is.

Looks bad from the picture, but its not very conclusive as his foot is still a mile from the player and ball. If it makes contact with the player at that hight then fair enough, but I don't think it does.

I just remembered another twatish ref decision. Free kick against Ferry for presumably dangerous play. Even though their man was 4ft away.

Straight red from that photo.

Of course I didn't see the incident in motion, but if I was the ref and saw that snapshot of the event then it ain't rocket science.

Studs up always gets the ref a little excited with the cards.  I'll reserve judgement 'til i see the replays.

I don't jonny but let's hope he don't get sold anytime soon

I can't comment too much as I wasn't there. I always try to look at the positives, a draw while playing the greater proportion of the second half with ten men isn't too bad. I'm still pretty sure we'll be up there challenging come the second half of the season. Fingers crossed

understand what everyone is saying about the ref BUT if swindon turned up for the first half nobody would of noticed the ref because it would have all been over

the game was poo
the ref was poo
ours goals were shit hot
it was a deserved red card

but was it?

Picking up on a few points raised tonight;

JPM has largely been shite this season. Granted, he's been played out of his preferred position a lot of the time, but he's experienced enough to be able to at least compete in other positions without suffering such a dramatic dip in form, surely? His return to mediocrity is fucking worrying.

Watching Austin today, he's now added something extra to his game that wasn't there last season. He led the line very competently today, worked his knackers off and was very tidy with his passing and closing down. A well rounded display which wont of gone unnoticed by our management, let alone the scouts in the stands.

If a decent offer comes in for him while he's playing like that, I can't see us keeping him in January - unless we're pushing near to the playoffs or the top of the table. Even then we'd be pushing our luck as he's going to want to test himself at a higher level and grab himself a high paying contract for his future one day soon.

If we're playing like we have done so far come January, he'll be off withouit a second thought, and I wouldnt blame him.

I can not understand why we set up at home against Leyton Orient with only 1 up top. I appreciate that we'd miss Prutton and Douglas' combative style and passing in the middle, but Charlie on his own was never going to work as a serious plan for us to win the game unless he got adequate support from the midfield players as well, got lucky, or both - which he didn't until Rose came on - and he finally made things happen for us.

The set up today looked like an excersise designed to keep things as tight as possible at the back, while hoping that Austin would put a chance away. Off the back of last weeks defeat I can kind of see why Wilson would do that, but the resulting display was extremely fucking boring and, against better opposition, we'd have got dicked out of sight.

Aside from our league position and lack of points, I cant put my finger on what it is that I dont like about us this season. Like others, I rate Wilson highly, but he has been backed by the board to the extent that we have a very capable squad that is close, if not equal to, the standards of last seasons, yet he seems to be completely devoid of anything resembling a credible plan B, C or D when we're struggling to impose ourselves on opponents at home.

I didn't have that feeling last season, even when we were playing shite and struggling to get results.

One of the worse games ever..  Game shite, formation all over the place. Danny was well known at Hartlepool for playing players out of position. Feel sorry for JP McGovern and Caddis as they look as if they are going to be the fallguys for the bad run. McGovern showed us what he could do last year so somethings not right... Maybe we should play Lucas as a striker!!! Oh and it was never a red..but it worked for us.. so thanks ref.

That was pap. No it wasn't good enough to be pap. DW was lucky that the refs poor performance detracted from our short Cummings.  We've been blessed with decent crowds so far this season but I think we'll lose 2,000 for the next home game in the league.
1 point against such a poor team is a nonsense.
I'm not looking forward to the next game and it'll have to be a great FA cup draw to drag me down to the County Ground.  What a waste of my time that was.  Hell I'm angry and pissed.

Sort it out Wilson.  :crash:

Not a good game, but nowhere near as bad as some people are making out.

I've seen the replay and it was a definite foul, and as the picture shows started with studs up. But I don't think Sheehan has done what the ref thinks he has, from the replay I'm not even sure which of Sheehans legs took the Orient man out.

I think the reaction of the player says it all.

But there is no way we will appeal it.

No arguments this week. I presume somewhere in the past 20 pages or so one of the Daves has described the game as "shit". If I could be bothered, I'd trawl back through so I could quote it and reply "Yep". Rose did well though and Charlie worked his socks off like the hero he is

Just for you paul.

First half was shockingly poor from both sides. 2nd half sparked into life when the ref decided to take centre stage. Probably did us a favour really. He was utterly useless at best mind.

Anyone concerned that Austin can't play at the tip of a 3 need not worry after yesterdays shift, but that could be because of the awful opposition. I'm struggling to remember a header that Charlie did not win.

Orient got the point that they came for though. The keeper was wasting time from the first goal kick!! Pathetic way to go about a game. As for Slade thinking they did enough to win.. please.

Thought with they players out there that we had scope to change it to 4-4-2 in the first half, seeing as 4-3-3 wasn't working.

Amankwaah was clearly injured from the off, he was limping the whole game it seemed.

Orient scored 2 nice goals and that was pretty much it. I suppose a point was fair overall and both teams had chances to take the win late on.

Good points though i was staggered that Dossevi didn't start alongside him......and herthab....it wasnt bad it was dire,boring and if the truth be told worrying.

First half was awful Herthab, at least both teams did try in the second half!  We totally lacked any direction and seemed content to sit back and let them come at us.

looking at the highlights the ref was damn close to the challenge, i can see why a foul was given but i would still question any contact or intent

Depressed.

slade didn't think either of the freekicks we scored from should have been awarded, how strange. i wonder if he's rewatched the red card yet

In fairness we did win a couple of "played for" free kicks.  Can't remember if they were the ones we scored from though.

Yesterday was dire really, I came away bloody happy with 2-2 considering we deserved nothing looking at it objectively. Without Charlie Austin, and a stonking free kick we offered nothing, we were second best to a poor team.

The fact we played Austin up on his own then lumped it up to their big centre backs every time was ridiculous. we didnt' have one tall player in our front six yet played the aimless long ball every time! it highlighted what big Vinny brings to the game someone to aim for who can (sometimes) hold it up and bring others into play.

That isn't austins game and he was blowing out of his arse at the end was absolutely knackered and rightly got a huge ovation for chasing the ball across their back line infront of the arkells with a couple of minutes to go.

It only clicked when listening to wilson on the radio afterwards that we were missing dougie and prutton and we were getting overrun in the middle certainly after the red card, which I didnt see because I was queuing for 25 minutes in the fucking arkells to get some chips which had run out by the time I got there.

we'll take yeovil next week though.

Other than the fact Austin won nearly every single header. Totally aimless, I absolutely agree. Just a shame no one cottoned on to this fact on the field, let alone in the stands.

p.s - what was the deal with some bellend chanting E-E-EDL? What a parasite.

He is the chap that ain't the full shilling and shouts out peado to the oppositions players and officials

And this is why modern football is fucked, the fans don't live in the real world any more than the players they moan about.
The manager who takes us to wembley one year gets sacked for finishing 15th the next

NURSE!!

You mean mad dad?

Part of the town end furniture, for better or for worse.

I'd say in most real world jobs if you failed to meet any of your targets your position would certainly be under question.

Wembley is the past, counts for nothing this season. He got City to Wembley once and they fucked him off.

Danny Wilson had four FULL seasons with Bristol City and had reached the end of his contract.

WE DEMAND SUCCESS. yawn.

I will be just as gutted as everyone else if we end up having a mediocre season. But I will always be an optimist and if it's a case of one step back 2 steps forward, then fine with me.

Say we are still 15th at Christmas, would you sack him then?

Nope. I'd give him till the end of the season to turn it around no matter how bad it got.

What highlights did you watch? It was a blatant red card. No need for intent or contact, if you go in like that it's red.

but you're using wembley last season as a yardstick for this season no? can't have it both ways here surely.

Last season we overachieved. If Wilson had gone to another club because he'd overachieved with us last year that would have been ok in your book?

I think it's a little pointless and disrespectful to talk about it now really.

If we finished 4 points off the play offs come the end of season that'd hardly be a disaster.

I like the stability we've got at the moment. We've no need to get rid of Danny Wilson (even if we finish in mid-table).

As it stands we're in the same situation as half the division and it's up to Wilson and his staff to make sure we get out of that pack of teams. Until then, it's all hypothetical hysteria.

Neither intent or contact need to be proven any more. The rule is about the amount of force and if the ref deems it excessive. And, it doesn't matter if you win the ball.

This is exactly how I feel and sums up our current situation in a nutshell.  Interestingly, this is the first matchday thread this season when everybody that attended the game appears to have the same opinions as to how poor we were and how wrong the tactics and formation were.  I didn't hear the radio interview with Wilson, but he surely must realise that the further we get into the season, the excuses will start to become slightly boring.  He needs to make changes before more points slip away to poor teams that are below us.

I lay the blame entirely at Fred's feet because he started the match thread.

The cunt.

PROBABLY............what the fuck good is probably,when Paynter told us all a month before last seasons final he was going to Leeds a striker or two was a priority...........proven players not loanees that probably may be good up front.

that was poo

The most exciting thing was speculating whether he drs was going to burn down 8)

?

Did you not hear the fire-alarm? And the little red lights flashing. And the security woman telling stewards and policeman to get into position?

I werent there

Im not against DW he just does things i dont agree with.  But hes the boss so i go with it.  I think he likes to tinker to much.  Personally i hate 433 for us as i dont think our players understand it or like it.  Its also making some players under perform.  JP had more assists than any one in league one last year.  Whats he good at ? Crossing !  so we now play him either at head of a diamond, or in the middle.  Same now with Caddis due to the others being injured or ill yesterday.

Last season we did pretty well didnt we, but it seems DW has thrown all that out the window.  The combination of JP and Kev now gone.  The threat of having 2 up front.  Yesterday Austin looked peed off to keep winning headers and no one being within 30 yards of him.  We seem to lack leaders on the pitch for me.  We dont look like the players talk to each other or gee each other up.  The first half yesterday was dire.  Surely they are told to get on the front foot and take the game to what if we are honest was a crap Orient team.  Can DW motivate ?

I think he got in wrong in the summer.  He bought players in where we were strong and left others untouched.  We lost certain qualities and he never replaced them.  Billy P held the ball up and scored goals.  Perricard is pants, i will never rate him ever.  We do need to replace greer.  We havent.  We now have Ritchie but can we keep him ?

Ok to be honest DW baffles me.  We are like 3 players down from last seasons A team.  Paynter , Greer and ward.  So if Ritchie replaces ward.  And he had brought in a striker and a center back we would have been sorted.  Why didnt he ?

It's not as simple as saying if he bought a center back and striker we'd be fine. The center backs are fine, or at least no worse than last season, it's down the flanks teams get to us.

Its like after the world cup 442 is yesterdays formation and no one should play it any more.  But it worked for us.  The wide midfileders teamed up with the full backs.  We got crosses in and had 2 strikers to aim at.  Now when we do get the ball wide we are aiming at 1 striker.  I gues as a fan we see 1 upfront and any manager wil say no there are 3 upfront.
Personally i think thats  bollocks.

433/451/4231 works at international level because the players are fit enough, technically and tactically good enough to play that system. Teams won't have prolonged success at this level playing another system because the players aren't good enough. It's a rare thing to see

Obviously Wilson was going for an attacking 4-3-3 but for whatever reasons - be it the players not being disciplined enough  or the tactics of Orient keeping them pinned back - it didn't really work out that well.

Next home game he should tell the players that they are playing 4-1-5, that should sort things out.

Many of these formation mentioned are based on retaining possession - 442 is not. It's a formation based on fighting for the ball, banging it forward, losing it and fighting to get it back again. It is all about one on one contest. That is why it hasn't been working- we aren't keeping the ball and moving teams around. 

442 has worked (not necessarily with us!!) for years and years.

The thing with 442 is that everyone knows how to play it. It's a simple but effective formation.

Nope. What happened?

Orient were just as useless as we were, there is no way the way they were playing kept us pinned back.

We were simply sitting far too deep. Maybe because Wilson told them to, maybe because Wilson didn't tell them not to but whatever the reason, it was Wilson's fault. I don't know what the fuck he said to them at half time in the Rovers game but he should have said the same thing before and during the Orient game.

On a related note, I still don't get why managers or one of their coaching staff don't sit in the stands to watch the game. They'd get a far better view of what is going on and especially where things are going wrong. If they can see it, they can't change it and it's possible that's one of the problems we're suffering from.

There was a fire-alarm, the little red lights started flashing and the security woman told the stewards and policemen to get into position.

Then about 10 minutes later she told them to stand down

Chippy Red, are you seriously able to mentally hold it together while contradicting yourself in the same sentence?

You blame Wilson for baffling tactics then mention that injuries meant Caddis played in midfield, you slate the 4-4-2 but slate Wilson for not using it?

Last season, it was pretty clear that 4-4-2 was and always has been Wilson's favoured formation.  It was the same when he managed City and I'm fairly sure at Barnsley.

Yesterday, a 4-4-2 would have meant playing Ferry and possibly McGovern as the central two.  Given we've looked less asured this season even with Douglas playing, I think 4-4-2 looked too risky, especially off the back of a 5 goal wrapped present last week.  Injuries meant we've had to stick with a formation he'd prefer not to use.  Add into the mix Pericard being absent and Dossevi not having too much by way of match fitness it was way too risky on top of Austin being a minro doubt still (in so far as nobody knew if the shoulder would take a big knock yet).

So we were stuck with 4-5(3)-1(3).  It didn't work, fair enough, but the risks of 4-4-2 didn't stack up, not yet.  We will be back to 4-4-2 this season, that goes without saying.  He used 4-5-1 last year, around this part of the season (the games leading up to Austin coming in), and even for a little while longer I think, until the personnel matched what he needed - Douglas and Ferry, one stable crosser and one proper winger (even if he was a young striker, he played it well did Ward).

When we have a suitable central pairing in midfield, then I think with Ricthie now onboard we'll revert to 4-4-2.

My biggest worry is Kev at right back, hopefully Caddis can fill that role, because Kev looks like he needs a rest.

I applaud the ref for sending off Sheehan, the game needed a lift from the players on the pitch and from the supporters. Until the sending off the game was totally crap. Well done ref. For what it is worth I turned to my son and said that will be straight red.

Regarding Wilson, why the hell would you want to get rid of him, win three on the trot and we are right in the thick of the play-offs. I like the way he sets the side up, we've had illnesses, injuries and a suspension to cope with recently and are still trying to play decent football.
Sides know how we play and come to the CG with spoiling tactics, and who can blame them, if we are given the chance to knock it about we look the real deal.
Wilson has a great deal of experience and knows what he is doing and way he conducts himself is a credit to him and to our football club.

One other thing about the ref...the foul throw in front of the dug outs for orient...he let them have a second go at it.
It's Monday morning and I'm still remembering things to say about the ref. he was either that bad or I need to let things go

That's the crux of it though, isn't it? It's not always good trying to play sexy football if it doesn't work. We only seem to have 2 plans; try and pass it about nicely and then if that doesn't work, bring Pericard on and hoof it to him. And when Pericard's injured we don't have a plan B.

Yes that is true, the reason we only have two plans at the moment has a lot to do with what is available, with injuries etc, now we have Sheehan suspended. If we can get a consistent run with the same starting XI I think we will go up the division quickly. We are not big enough or strong enough to bully teams so we must stick to our passing game.

We have the pace on the flanks from full backs and wingers/forwards alike. The couple of runs from O'Brien in the second half were pretty awesome, especially when he was tracking back, now that was electric.

He was that bad.

I seem to remember someone telling me that there is a Ref's assessor at every game. If that's true I would love to see his report from Saturday.

I was in the DRS so couldn't tell if the original throw crossed the line and went on the pitch, if the ball did not cross the line then the throw has to be retaken by the same side.

Well what a load of shite that was.

Started poorly...again....Was the Orient opener offside?  Looked alright to me at the time and on the lowlights..

Ref was just a whistle happy knob, end of. Blew for the crappy things and let the bad things go:

Austin being pushed over when through was blatant.

Morrison going in two footed was worse than Sheehan.

He fucked it all up.

The sending off did lift the game/crowd so for that at least i am grateful.

Nobody was really worthy of a MOM maybe Austin for running around alot?

Lucas:  No keeper should be beaten at the near post when stood on the near post, that was shit.

I liked Revell when he was here and i was sorry that we didnt sign him, now the cunt rubs my nose in it.

The league is tight but i predict a mid table finish from what i have seen so far.

See you at Yeovil.

Revell has scored everytime he's played us since his loan. For both Wycombe and Orient, The fucker!!

The throw was directly in front of me in the Arkells and it did cross the line.  One of the most ridiculous decisions he made.  Since when does a team get a second go after making a foul throw?  The other one that springs to mind immediately is when he gave a foul near the end when the Orient defender clattered into the Orient keeper!

Enough has been said already about our performance, so although we should have won despite him, I'll concentrate on the ref. What a cunt. OK so the sending off whilst I thought at the time was harsh, plenty of others who maybe had a different or closer view think it was right so I'll reserve judgement on that. In a way, I can understand him getting those 50/50 or even 60/40 decisions wrong, and lets be honest at this level we are never going to get a ref who gets everything right all the time. However it was the silly things that really wound me up yesterday. The foul throw thing was comical. The time wasting that he did nothing about was worse (6 seconds to get rid of the ball goalie!). But the most frustrating thing was when an Orient player went down injured, but Orient had the ball and carried on playing he let the play go on, but as soon as they lost it and we started to go forward he stopped the game !
Possibly the most inconsistent, incompetent refereeing performance I've seen for a very long time. :badmood:

I don't think he was slating 442, just saying that if you listen to all the pundits etc they all go on like it's gone out of fashion. Which in the Prem and to some extent in international football, it has. Which doesn't mean it's good or bad, just because some of the "top" teams use a certain formation, doesn't mean it will suit us any more than leveraged takeovers and mountains of "serviceable" debt would

Seen the tackle on beeb website and to be fair it looks like a red in todays climate. I think a yellow would've sufficed though (naturally). But then we wouldn't have had the spark if that was the case.

And 4-4-2 is the formation that suits us best, we've performed best with it and Wilson damn as sure it prefers it.  I still would be cacking it if we played a 4-4-2 with a midfield of Ritchie, Ball, McGrovern and Ferry though.

we could do with another central midfielder couldnt we....oh wait...

Ball should be one of the two up front. He showed at Peterborough what he can do in front of goal, and in most other games what he can't do in midfield. Ball and Austin up front would cause havoc.

It was maybe harsh, but at the same time you can't argue with a red. Though as The Flash said, there was a challenge by Morrison that looked worse and the ref didn't do anything. The same with Prutton when he got sent off, he got the second yellow for a nothing tackle when a couple of seconds earlier he made a tackle that looked like a straight red.

Again, the problem is consistency. Though if ref's did give reds for all the tackles that deserve it under the current dangerous tackles guidance then I think we'd get quite a few games each season abandoned due to a lack of players. Ideally the players would stop being twats for going in dangerously, as there is no need for it.

You can argue with it and I will.

That tackle was not worthy of a straight red card at all. Studs up is a bollocks term, how do you tackle with your studs down? Sheehans foot started high, admittedly but by the time he got near their player his heels was practically flat on the floor.

Also, due to their players reaction I'd question if there was even any sort of contact. The player didnt go down rolling around holding his leg - and alot of Orient players did this repeatedly. The Orient players werent surrounding the ref, none of them confronted Sheehan about his bad tackle or anything like that. Everyone seemed surprised with the red card, player from both teams.

I have only seen it the once mind you.

The replay doesn't do him alot of favours imo.

I think it looks a red card on the replay because it was a red card offence

Seen it several times, should have been a yellow. Very soft red.

Was it a red card? I don't recall him leaving the field of play, in fact, I'm pretty sure he scored an OG.

What the blazes are you on about?

Edit - My mistake. I missed the word 'offence' from the end of the sentence

Ha, don't we look stupid.

never a  red card.  ref  has looked at his starting position and decided he clattered him dangerously without seeing it.  but he didn't.

Ridiculous, turning into a non contact sport

Bring back the Lee Collins chopper days

I wonder if he will get an additional ban for not leaving the field of play straight away but continuing to argue with the ref about it

Having read through some of the comments we have focussed on the ref's performance rather then we could not beat Orient we are not progressing as a club
The team have the support of the fans, BUT how long will this go on? i think we need fresh players in not just loan players even though they play well they are here for a short term reason, to improve and gain match experience before they return to their clubs
Hopefully Mr Fitton will back DW with some cash we need another goal scorer to support Charlie, someone like La Fondre at Rotherham and a centre back with experience

I expect we would have to pay at least £750k for Le Fondre - not a fucking chance.

Why?

Rotherham wanted 3m in the summer!

Naturally, he wont go for that much but I dont think our board would make enough cash available to sign him from Rotherham.

The only way we'd have enough cash to buy LeFondre would be if we sold Charlie, which would put us back to square one really.

I wouldn't mind us go for Constable of Oxford

We are progressing as a club...on Sat we had the 3rd best gate in L1 behind Soton and Wendies.

Now that is good....we wont necessarily build on that overnight, but we need to accept it will be slow progress rather than take off like a rocket.

Fans should always support.....it's quite ridiculous to think we have some divine right to beat Orient, they're in the same league 3 points behind, that tells you straight away there is little between the sides.

And on the basis that Orient generally finish anywhere from mid table to just above the relegation places that to me is a worry!

Well maybe you're supporting the wrong club then?

It would be great if we could get promotion, but I'm not expecting it, nor do I demand it. Some supporters need to wake the fuck up and stop sounding like whinging lids fans.

£750K would be a steal, this guy will surely go to the Championship in January for £1m+.  You dont have that sort of track record in League 2 and then move to someone like us.

You're doing the same thing....historically we've played Orient 67 times in league games going back many years...both clubs have won 23 with 21 draws, so never been much in it.

 They've had one top flight season, but many more 2nd tier seasons than us.

Oh come on. We don't have a divine right to be up there in the promotion push, but we shouldn't be happy with where we are this season so far

Yes we should.

We nearly went bust a few years ago you know.

One word `EXPECTATION' we went close last season everybody expects us to build on last season and the 3 year plan dosent help what we think in our heads.

Yeah, but it's only October ffs! Some people are peaking way too soon with all the doom and despondency.

The question i was referring to was are we making progress? have we the right players to move the club forward i agree with Reg we are making progress as a club off the field gates are up Mr Fitton is doing a good job But he needs to show the money  not too much to buy some experienced players in possibly someone like La Fonde is a pipe dream but we rely on Charlie too much and will we still have him at the end of the season? if we have progressed and invested yes if not i am not sure
However maybe in correctly i thought we would have been in the top half of the league this far in to the season is it unrealistic for the club you have followed for year in year out wanting them to do well?

correct, a very long way to go yet! i am sure we will be up there come feb march battling for the auto spots.

Maybe austin should try somthing rooneyesk and get a promise the sqad will be boulsterd come jan. ha ha

section this nutter

Of course all fans want the club to do well, but that's the same at all clubs, and history tells us that good seasons are relatively rare.

Mr Fitton has told us that this board wont throw money at it, but will spend a bit on young players and hope their value may increase....seems like an entirely reasonable strategy to me. 

It might be that the playing side takes a bit of a back seat, if the CG redevelopment gets the go ahead.

Rather disrespectful of me, but for some reason I always tend to think of Orient as a team we should be beating.  I didn't realise the games going back so many years had always been so evenly matched.  I stand corrected.


I agree nobody has a divine right to expect promotion.  However after coming so close last season, I genuinely felt optimistic that we were good enough to be up there pushing for automatic this season.  Is it wrong to be disappointed as to how things have gone so far - I don't think so?

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

you been on the heroin?


Rickie Lambert went from Rochdale to Rovers

Whats the appropriate time period before we can officially judge and conclude that this team isnt as good as last seasons team?

Agreed............the performance by players and management was woefull on Saturday...Austin aside.
I dont expect or demand promotion but believe me if things dont improve on Saturdays performance and on others this season then you will here me whingeing.....along with other forum members.
People are living in cloud cuckoo land to expect fans on a footy forum not to whinge about that dross on Saturday.

He's good, got a real poacher's instinct. And I went to college with him  :wink:

We had him!...he scored a cracker,i saw it............then we let him go back to Chippenham.

When did we have him?

Can't see what he'd add. He was utter dogshite at Walsall. Did well at Kidderminster, but he's certainly no Charlie Austin.

He played at cirencester under Kingy in a pre season friendly a few years back....came on as sub and scored a beauty.
Would have cost nothing.

Oh fair play. He played in the Cirencester Academy, then sacked it off because they are all tools. Then played for the normal college team, ripped it up!

Think it was the match Ciren opened the new stadium..........51 goals in 92 apps is a good record though to be fair.

Yeh defo. Scored a few this season aswell

Aren't we forgetting something?

He's a scummer

At a point where it becomes clear the points total or position will be worse than the season before, so I'd imagine March would be good guide based on the way the league is shaping up.  Any number of clubs could be in our position within 2 games, from either side of us up to about 6th I reckon.

Last seasons team is a vague statement, at which point are we judging last season's team?  it improved as the season went on, and it's pretty clear we started slightly worse off than we finished with that team due to key players deciding to fuck off and up their pay/league/contract length.  Even if I think they were replaceable or unavoidable, it certainly seems to have disrupted things by making it much less clear what the best XI is.  A few injuries/suspensions have stacked up in a couple of key positions to magnify this.  Midfield being an example - Douglas, Ferry, Prutton is better than the central midfield options last season but 2 were missing this Saturday and even last season we showed just how much influence Douglas has on the team.

We're not playing as well as last season. But at the same time we are miles away from when Malpas was here. Fitton's big mistake was giving Malpas too long. He'd be making just as big a mistake getting rid of Wilson so soon.

Anyway, I remember similar points being raised last season at this stage. Paynter not being good enough, Wilson employing wrong formations and players in unfamiliar positions, Obedayi being shit etc. etc. The difference between today and the same stage of our 'magical' season last year? 3 points.

If we are truly play off contenders then this next month will really tell us if we can be up there or if we will fall away. Whether or not I believe we can do it I will still cheer the team on for 3 points on any given Saturday (or Tuesday night). Some of you have lost the fucking plot.

i dont think we should be considering getting shot of wilson yet.but deep down i'm not very optimistic about us improving.
none of the tried formations look convincing, and some players for whatever reason are not performing well enough or anywhere near what they have previously.

That's fair enough arriba, just your own opinion and I fear I may be thinking the same if we don't do the business in the next few games.

Next point which isn't aimed at you or anyone in particular as a lot of people seem to constructively criticise rather than post repetitive twaddle:

I'm no super fan and I don't want to appear to be holier than thou (undoubtedly I will though) but being a supporter is not about throwing the towel in and calling for the manager to go, moaning this player has gone and we were so much better than last year. It's wearing thin and it's fucking pathetic.

Of course being a supporter is about having a strop and wanting to shit on the managers face. It's just you're disagreeing about whether it's time to do that yet.

Fitton's big mistake was giving Malpas a job in the first place. Unproven, no managerial experience, no idea about the English league and commanded no respect from fans and seemingly the players too. All coming right after Sturrock and Wise/Poyet didn't help.

But the mistake was corrected.

I really don't think the 'normal' fan has even had the first thought about replacing Wilson. WTF. He's the best man for the job. I don't always agree with his team selection and formation, but so what. The guy deserves a few seasons to see where he can take us.

Throw some money at the club Fitton!

were we that good last season?er no not really.the difference to now is that we had some players that were match winners, and others which were enough to push us on that little bit more than we are doing now.
there were plenty of dire matches-performances and results last year.
loosing that bit of quality,key players and formation is telling now.we aint far from last seasons level,but just enough for it to make all the difference though.

Something sarcastic about how we nearly went bust.

FWIW we seem to have a fairly similar out look on the situation.

Something sarcastic about how we nearly went bust.

Don't forget that Greek nearly took us under and then sold Greer for a bag of nuts and cut Paynter's wages forcing him to leave and stamped on Sam Parkin's ankle and gave Glenn Hoddle AIDS

So shold you build the team then the stadium?

In my view yes build the team first and then the stadium

Get the foundations right then build the team. Finances, stadium, god knows what else. But we should be (and are) competitive while we do that.

Look at Reading, it took them 10 years to get the team right after starting the redevelopment. And we aren't spending that much money!

You also have to consider that we are no longer a surprise package, teams have worked out our style of play and seem able to present us with different problems. We don't at the moment have the ability or nouse to overcome this dring a game.

It may take a little time for the less experienced players, Ferry, Ritche, Rose, Caddis to adapt. 

To be fair, I don't think even Wilson has worked out the right style of play/formation for us.

On your last point, I wouldn't call Rose one of our less experienced players as he has about for a while compared to most of the others in our squad. I understand your point on the others but any more time for them to adapt and we are in trouble.

Umm, yes we were?


Yes but last month it was ffs its only september, now its ffs its only october and guess what next week it'll be ffs its only november - and so on and so forth. Its just an excuse. We've played 13 league games now. Thats enough to judge the current side.

Fine, judge them on all performances and all results. If you do that surely the verdict will be that we're inconsistent, not shit?

We've played some dire football, but also played some good stuff. We've had some poor results, but also some really good ones.

It's not as black as some are making out and I still believe that we will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.

This is when DW said he'd really start to use the loan market, as now we can get through to new years with them. Then we have the January window. If we're still within 4 to what.... 10 points of the top 6 by then, then we'll be ok. If we're not and things don't look like they'll improve, then I'll judge where I think we might end up.

I've said time and time again we are inconsistent - but we've had inconsistent sides in the past and they never 'grew' out of it. They continued to be inconsistent and we finished in mid table.

I've seen more bad performances and results than good performances and results.

I dont see is getting any better and I dont think we will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, love to be wrong...but...

Well I'll wait and see where we are in a couple of months time before I before I try and predict what could happen by May.

August
Sat 8   12:30   A   Gillingham   FL1   L    0-5    6,852        
Tue 11   19:45   A   Franchise   LGCP   W    4-1    4,812        
Sat 15   15:00   H   Franchise   FL1   D    0-0    6,692        
Tue 18   19:45   H   Southampton   FL1   W    1-0    11,673        
Sat 22   15:00   A   Oldham   FL1   D    2-2    4,229        
Tue 25   19:45   A   Wolves   LGCP   L    0-0 (aet 5-6 on pens)    11,416        
Sat 29   15:00   H   Southend   FL1   W    2-1    6,417        
September
Sat 5   15:00   A   Yeovil Town   FL1   W    1-0    4,807        
Sat 12   15:00   H   Colchester   FL1   D    1-1    6,621        
Sat 19   15:00   A   Walsall   FL1   D    1-1    4,148        
Sat 26   15:00   H   Wycombe   FL1   D    1-1    6,929        
Tue 29   19:45   A   Exeter City   FL1   D    1-1    5,337        
October
Sat 3   15:00   A   Brentford   FL1   W    3-2    6,471        
Tue 6   19:30   A   Exeter City   JPT (S)   W    1-1 (aet 4-3 on pens)    2,006        
Sat 10   15:00   H   Millwall   FL1   D    1-1    7,222        
Sat 17   15:00   H   Hartlepool   FL1   L    0-2    7,096        
Sat 24   15:00   A   Norwich City   FL1   L    0-1    24,959        
Sat 31   15:00   A   Tranmere   FL1   W    4-1    5,811        

First 3 months of last season were as inconsistent as you can get, think we finished ok though?

12 match unbeaten run in there!

We've lost as many at home already as we did all of last season.

Do you bore yourself Dave?

His last 3 postings are all spot on

why or how were we "that good" last season then dave?
i've already explained why i dont think we were,and why we had the success we did.tell me where i have it wrong...

What was the average age of Saturday's starting XI for us?  I wouldn't mind betting it was very low, too low probably, and I think (while I fully accept I thought it was a fair enough bit of business), this may have been a match where we missed Greer.  It's rough luck that Douglas was and Prutton were both missing at the same time.

It may not be pallatable, but a starting XI so young has a tendancy to throw in some odd performances.  Last season, Douglas started the majority of games and Paynter hit the form of his life.  Prutton coming in should, in the long run help the experience issue, it's just a pain that Douglas has broken his toe at the same time half of our over 25's were out.

Given Kev's lack of form, and the possibility that Caddis may not be seen as a right back, I think it might be worth getting an experienced head in at full back (which I would guess is easier than getting an experienced striker or centre half that are actually any good).

Yes.

Because ignoring the positive to deliberately find the negative is spot on and not in the slightest bit boring.

No, you however do bore me


I'm going to go for getting to the play off final, finishing 5th in the league, losing two at home all season, winning 22 games, drawing 16 and losing only 8. Getting a total of 82 points.

Thats my reasons, little opinion, more so facts.

What about herthab's statistical data? Are they not fact?

Fucking yawn!

He did point out that there was a 12 match unbeaten run in those stats though didn't he.

Yeah with 8 fucking draws. Better to lose 5 and win 3 isn't it?

Not for confidence it isn't no.

go back to following crispy.

Herthab statistical data also shows we had more points at this stage last season, also a fact

fucking yawn.

This
This

This

I sort of know where Arriba is coming from with this.  As mentioned, we were inconsistent at the start of last season, however we finished it pretty poorly as well, only picking up 6 points from the last 18 available.  It was the months in between when we got some largely unexpected and fanstastic results that got us to the play-offs.  Effectively we've started this season pretty much as we ended the last one.

Ironically if we did manage to win at Yeovil we would have exactly the same number of points as we did last season.

Which might suggest that we are not much worse than at this point last season. 

Whether we can have a run of 10 wins in 12 games like last year is debatable. Mind you I didn't think we could do that at this time last year either.

I guess time will tell, unless the board take the advice of some of our more mong like fans and get rid of DW.

This is the matchday thread for the Orient game...............no one is saying we can't go up,no one is saying we are worse than last year etc.
My point is that Saturdays match v Orient was.........well not good and so the norm is to have a whinge
Thats the point of the matchday thread.......and like the Hudds game and Saints the comments were good.

Can't disagree with that Lee.

There should be another thread for this.

why?
it's no different to other matchday threads, except that everyone forgets the negatives when we win.

No one forgets them when we lose or draw though :D