Swindon Town V Walsall Official Matchday Thread

[Arriba]

i dont think people are demanding more, or expecting more than we are getting this season.
i'm not anyway.
 we have threads taking the piss out of oxford after they dropped points.and numerous posts about leeds for the same reason.
then when some of us dare to say that we are in danger of cocking up, it is met with the type of critical posts that have been made over the last couple of days.
whatever happens now will not take away that this has been a great season for us.but dont confuse disapointment with expectation.

hopefully this debate will be for nothing as we'll go up(touches wood)

[pauld]

I think it's the way some of the posts are made - it's not "daring to say we might cock it up", it's the doom-laden "we've completely fucked up", "we're pathetic", calling the team "bottlers" etc (I'm paraphrasing, not trying to quote directly) posts which are so extreme they're always going to provoke a reaction. Some of the reactions are equally extreme and thus a cycle of nervous idiocy is born

[nevillew]

I think it's the way some of the posts are made - it's not "daring to say we might cock it up", it's the doom-laden "we've completely fucked up", "we're pathetic", calling the team "bottlers" etc (I'm paraphrasing, not trying to quote directly) posts which are so extreme they're always going to provoke a reaction. Some of the reactions are equally extreme and thus a cycle of nervous idiocy is born

I'm going to try and use that in our management meeting this week.

[Benzel]

He did.

I know you've only been watching football for about 4 years but..... How exactly did Timlin have a bad game?

[RJack]

I still think we'll be ok this season.  I think the biggest problem for us was when we were on sky.  Every manager that has a fixture against us will have a video of that so they can read our game and know how to stop us playing the way we like to.

[herthab]

I thought TIMMY!!! did ok when he came on.

Nerves are beginning to show though across most of the team, understandable really considering the prize at stake. And it's not just us. All the teams in the playoffs have been wobbling like fuck recently.

If we don't get 2nd and miss out on promotion via the playoffs, it won't be a disaster, or the end of the world.

[Plumstead Red]

Saturday was Malpasian (i.e. thoroughly unimaginative) and our most disappointing home match since Hartlepools in October. Walsall did execute their game plan well, and could have won the game 2-1 near the end with that shot going narrowly wide. Exeter's style of play was more "purist" however - at least they tried to play the ball out of defence, whereas Walsall just hoofed any ball out in the second half or blocked any shot. Effective though.

Nouble just needs a goal. Had he scored against Tranmere when we were 3-0 up and their keeper made a great save, he would be proving to be a good substitute to bring on. I want to see him run at defences more and scare them into making mistakes. Likewise Ward, he just needs a goal or a fantastic cross that leads to a goal and he'll be back to form. Had he scored when he hit the post on Monday, he would be his normal confident self.

I wish the CG could provide a galvanising atmosphere at this stage of the season. It has not topped the Leeds match for atmosphere, and that was back in January. If we do have to go up via the Play Offs, and we have to kick off at 12.15pm on Saturday 15th, as one of the fixtures for League One proposes, the atmosphere will be positively "meh". Why can't we have the Stratton Bank open and full for Brentford match like we did for that match against Mansfield in April 2007 when our fans were chanting from the Town End to the Stratton Bank and back again. Electric. And it might make the difference between a draw and a win, and 2 critical home points.  

I still think we will finish 2nd, and if we miss out, we will get to Wembley and win there. Come on you Reds!

[THE FLASH]

Nerves...plain and simple and if we dont get it sorted we will blow it.

Nobody played really well, Walsall came with a game plan of 'lets not lose' and executed it with a total fuck up from us to gift them the goal.

No Marshall on the bench.....still disappointed with that.

Did'nt like the booing at the end.....WTF???

Roll on Wycombe, they are under loads of pressure and will have a go and we will play better.

[Dozno9]

I'm going to try and use that in our management meeting this week.

Any use of the word "thus" in a sentence gives it particular merit.

[blah blah]

Whilst I dont think we played as well as we can on Saturday, credit must go to Walsall - they defended well, blocked pretty much everything (either defender or goalie), pressed hard behind the ball when we had it and looked dangerous on the counter attack. The question is though, after seeing both Exeter & Walsall play that way (OK different methods of counter attacking but both the same "defend first" principle), will any of our prospective play-off opponenents (if we dont grab 2nd place) play that way ? I suspect that Milwall, Leeds & probably Hudds will all be a bit more attacking than that, especially at their place, and probably here too unless they have a lead to defend.

The not winning after conceding first is starting to become a psychological block now, for the fans if not the players and this leads to frustrations in the stands. I saw more than 1 confrontation at half time in the DRS when fans challenged people who were booing. I suspect that many fans see this as our only chance to go up - if we miss out this year, will we be able to keep the key players & attract more/better ones ?

[pauld]

I'm going to try and use that in our management meeting this week.

It was, I must confess, inspired by ours

[nevillew]

It was, I must confess, inspired by ours

The phrase 'virtuous circle'  thus springs to mind (see that Dozno9 ?)

[RobertT]

Maybe, just maybe, the fans of other teams around us are equally thinking they should be 2nd if only they'd won that game, or drawn that one, or scored that goal late on etc.

[pauld]

Maybe, just maybe, the fans of other teams around us are equally thinking they should be 2nd if only they'd won that game, or drawn that one, or scored that goal late on etc.

No, it's just us. We, uniquely, completely and utterly fucked up our only chance ever of glory for the rest of all time and now the sky's going to fall in.

[Arriba]

No, it's just us. We, uniquely, completely and utterly fucked up our only chance ever of glory for the rest of all time and now the sky's going to fall in.

yeah with all that bloody ash