Swindon Town vs. Cheltenham Town Matchday Thread [Must Win XXXIII]

[normy]

Central midfielders have all been shit for some time, the main problem which affects all areas, except for Timlin only once against the Scunthorpe nine men.
I still rate Pook for effort and effectiveness compared with the others tried, and he worked well with Peacock IMO. Unfortunately, we did not have Greer and Vincent then. In desperation, why not try:
 Brez, Amankwah, Greer, Ifil or other, Vincent, Kanu, Peacock, Pook, Smith, Cox, Paynter

[Spy]

the atmosphere is what i meant was awful not the performance.

Where do you sit? Cos if its the south stand I have to admit I am a bit fed up of people who sit there saying the atmosphere is shit when over in the town end we actually do get a bit of singing going (altho I agree its not often what it could be at the moment) and its like "well you chose to sit in that stand!!"

[LucienSanchez]

There is no sustained singing in any area of the ground, and even less at an appropriate speed...

[DiV]

We expected an easy win because we were playing a team that hadn't won in their last seven games and are rooted to the bottom of the league.

You're being kind to Cheltenham. Its 14 they hadnt won in. It was 7 defeats in a row before last night

This has been Ifil's worst season at the club by far.  He shouldn't be anywhere near the first team.

No it hasnt been his worse season and who else would we play at centre half. Its all right moaning about Ifil being included but who could you have replaced him with last night?

Aljofree - Injured, Morrison - Injured, Kanyuka - Injured

As terrible as Ifil was last night Greer was just as bad. 

Hope McNamee goes soon, not because I think he's a bad player, just so he has the opportunity to show us Swindon fans that if we had a decent strike force his crosses wouldn't have a completion rate of around 10%.  The balls he puts in, 2 in the first 5 mins last night, are pretty good, shame no one can convert them.

I hope McNamee goes because he is a shit luxery player who hits one decent cross in about 30. Him over hitting his crosses or hitting the first man has nothing to do with our bloody strike force?

The problem with McNamee is he whips the ball in with power and pace, thats it...he doesnt look up, he doesnt aim at anyone. He just blasts it with the same power every time, usually right on the head of a defender. Sure every now and again a striker should get himself on the end of them but it generally helps if the crosses are aimed towards the strikers.

[LucienSanchez]

... and not the fullbacks shins, as per last night.

[A Gent Orange]

The problem with McNamee is he whips the ball in with power and pace, thats it...he doesnt look up, he doesnt aim at anyone. He just blasts it with the same power every time, usually right on the head of a defender. Sure every now and again a striker should get himself on the end of them but it generally helps if the crosses are aimed towards the strikers.

To be fair - as Peter Beardsley used to endless repeat as a sloppy mouthed mantra- Manatee looked up and picked out a perfect cross to Kanu-Robson last night only for the one-footed fool to shank it straight off his shin to trickle into the stands.

[Batch]

Whose cross did Cox head wide (again)? Not sure if it was Macca or not.

To be honest I thought he did OK last night. I wish he had a bit of the Christian Roberts pace about him though - get outside your man and get to the line.

Oh, and what was the point of (nearly) introducing Marshal with 2 minutes to go?

[Jamiesfuturewife]

ooooooh also who was it that sits near me and spoke to me about my magazine? someone off here? possibly Berniman?

[janaage]

No it hasnt been his worse season and who else would we play at centre half. Its all right moaning about Ifil being included but who could you have replaced him with last night?

I hope McNamee goes because he is a shit luxery player who hits one decent cross in about 30. Him over hitting his crosses or hitting the first man has nothing to do with our bloody strike force?

The problem with McNamee is he whips the ball in with power and pace, thats it...he doesnt look up, he doesnt aim at anyone. He just blasts it with the same power every time, usually right on the head of a defender. Sure every now and again a striker should get himself on the end of them but it generally helps if the crosses are aimed towards the strikers.

I would rather have Morrison in the side alongside Greer than Ifil.   I wasn't aware he was injured, and was told he wasn't last night, however if he is injured then fine Ifil could have been selected last night.  Doesn't excuse the fact that he shouldn't be a, the captain and b, in the first team.  As, on merit, he deserves to be dropped.

Completely disagree with McNamee, but I suppose time will tell, be interesting to see how well he does if he goes.  As for "shit luxury player" what a laughable deluded comment.  Both of the crosses in the first 5 mins didn't hit the front man, they were peaches and someone should have been on the end of them. 

It's for no reason that in the last couple of minutes with us pressing every ball that got played into the box (not necessarily from McNamee) were won easily (uncontested) by the Cheltenham defenders.  Time and time again this season the oppositions defenders and keepers come under no pressure from our lot.  Something's not right.

[janaage]

To be fair - as Peter Beardsley used to endless repeat as a sloppy mouthed mantra- Manatee looked up and picked out a perfect cross to Kanu-Robson last night only for the one-footed fool to shank it straight off his shin to trickle into the stands.

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssh, DV has spoken "McNamee is shit", end of.   He "just" hits in powerful and pacey crosses.

[Batch]

I don't think Ifil is as bad as people make out. He'll have poor distribution as long as he has an arsehole, and that will limit him to league 1 football, but he is in our top 2 central defenders.

What worries me far far more is our central midfield. Somebody seems to have turned Easton into Pook. Peacock is fucked. Allen isn't physical enough. For Nalis see Peacock. Timlin isn't up to it 9 weeks out of 10. Kanyuka is a defender. That leaves, um er. Well it's hard to pick 1 central midfielder right now, let alone 2.

The last proper decent central midfielder we had was Paul Evans (although Easton was good last year). But even his legs fell off after 2 or 3 months.

[DiV]

Which he does

How many times did he hit the first man last night?
How many times did he over hit his crosses last night?
How many times did he cross it into an empty box last night?

Those three things far out weight the decent crosses he put in last night. Last night was probably the most McNamee has seen the ball in one game all season. All season we've been moaning rightfully that we dont get the ball out to him enough. Last night we did and the amout of the ball he saw he should have created alot more than he did.

[Benzel]

What happened to Macca beating the first man and getting to the line, I can't remember seeing him do it that often this season. Those whipped crosses are fine some of the time, but he shows no variety at the moment. Few step overs infront of the defender then tries to bend it round them.

[STFC_Gazza]

  Something's not right.

I personally think its something to do with the dressing room. The last couple of yeras players harped on saying "one of the best dressing rooms we have been in" etc however this season nothing. The players seem to have a go at each other and Wilson said the team were quiet as well..

[chalkies_shorts]

Having had a few hours to calm down, I'm still wound up. Going into the game I didn't actually expect us to beat 'Nam - I predicted a draw. What I did expect was for our players to be up for it. I did expect our players to be able to take a throw in. I also expected our players to look to receive the ball not hide amongst the 'Nam players. I expected us to go to win the game - not have a bench to shore things up.
Opposition teams are cottoning on quite quickly to boot the ball towards Ifill and Smith rather than Greer and Vincent.
I now fully expect relegation. Someone suggested Wilson was quite cool as he probably had some tricks up his sleeve. Another option is that he realises you can't polish a turd and has regarded relegation as real and that he stands a better chance to succeed starting a division down.