Crawley Town vs Swindon Town Buildup & Matchday Thread

[hobnob]

Need to start playing League 2 football not pretend we are fucking Spain!

Get it in the box and SHOOT!

[Pookemon]

Need to start playing League 2 football not pretend we are fucking Spain!

Get it in the box and SHOOT!

This 

We've barely lost a game all season playing 4 at the back, looked poor with a 3.   Don't understand why the management can't or won't see it.

[Pookemon]

It does seem that we're not so much a football team as a large scale ball retention drill

And we're not very good at that.

[Nemo]

What is the attacking plan? Because it clearly is not working.

This probably bears a bit of thought - we have tried a few clear attacking plans this season:

Plan 1: "Give it to Remeao and get crosses in" - our dominant plan for the last month or so, getting dangerous balls in the box for our sub 6ft strikers to get nowhere near. Didn't work today as they didn't give Hutton any space and we gave up on it quite quickly

Plan 2: "Give it Gladders and get through balls for Wakeling" - early part of the season, we did a lot of this, but much less since Jephcott came in. I think Reed maybe tried this one once or twice today, without much luck, but it did look like Wakeling had the pace advantage over the big Crawley defenders. Gladwin coming off probably neutered this one.

Plan 3: "Give in Ronan and shoot from everywhere" - worked very well v Newport and their dodgy keeper. Has not worked so well against anyone else, didn't try it at all today unless you count Hutton shooting from miles out off his wrong foot.

Plan 4: "Give it Jonny and hope for the best" - Plan B for most of the season. Obviously Williams not around at the moment, replaced by Iandolo, who to be polite is not a like for like change here.

Not really sure we have much outside of that toolkit to be honest. Anything else?

[Batch]

This 

We've barely lost a game all season playing 4 at the back, looked poor with a 3.   Don't understand why the management can't or won't see it.

The only reason I can see is what someone else said, they don't trust a central pairing from Baudry, harries and Brennan.

[Red Frog]

It's a big problem that beyond our obvious first 14 or so, there's very, very little depth. Especially if injuries keep mounting up.

[Nemo]

It's a big problem that beyond our obvious first 14 or so, there's very, very little depth. Especially if injuries keep mounting up.

Particularly a big problem when we have 29 footballers on professional contracts with the club (including loans).

I'm sure none of them are on big money but Brann, Minturn, Roberts, Parsons, Cowmeadow, Dabre, Harries, Aguiar, Massey, Adeloye and Hepburn-Murphy is a lot of players to have on the off chance they turn into something.

[Batch]

I mean I get the idea, but
  - you have to expect taking free castoffs that the hit rate will be more
  - you have to worry about how much wiggle room we'll have come January

[Pookemon]

The only reason I can see is what someone else said, they don't trust a central pairing from Baudry, harries and Brennan.

That doesn't make sense to me as since we changed to a 3 we are conceding goals for fun and have totally lost the attacking threat that we had.  

Also Clayton and Brennan started against mansfield as a pair so why not start them today.  We conceded 2 that game aswell but played them off the park.

Why change a winning formula?   Personally I think he wants to play 3, it's how he set us up at the start of the season.   He needs to accept that either he can't coach it or this group of players can't play it.    Our wingbacks are all defenders and our centre halves can't drive forward into midfield, so we lack numbers and creativity in the final third.

[DiV]

Feels like we’ve changed formation to shoehorn Iandolo in the last few games for reasons I can’t possibly think of

[Nomoreheroes]

Particularly a big problem when we have 29 footballers on professional contracts with the club (including loans).

I'm sure none of them are on big money but Brann, Minturn, Roberts, Parsons, Cowmeadow, Dabre, Harries, Aguiar, Massey, Adeloye and Hepburn-Murphy is a lot of players to have on the off chance they turn into something.

Hepburn-Murphy is the only one of those that is a L2 player if fit. Cowmeadow and Massey might develop. Aguiar is better than them both at the moment, but last season might have been his pinnacle. I want Minturn and Roberts to be good, but I've not seen anything to suggest more than Southern League standard.

[RobertT]

Feels like we’ve changed formation to shoehorn Iandolo in the last few games for reasons I can’t possibly think of

Probably because we don't really have the players, without Williams, to go with three up top either.  The idea seems to have been to use Hutton's pace, but nobody gets on the end of his crosses that often.

Shade isn't good enough to be relied on.

Darcy, reed, Khan and Gladwin all occupy the same space and none of them are direct and pacey (Williams isn't the latter but he can be direct and tricky).

Jephcott was also isolated as a one, so Wakeling was pushed in with him, but both now occupy the same space.  I guess Williams at least added some jeopardy for defenders that gave the other two some space.

In a nutshell, I struggle to put eleven players down on paper into a formation that looks like it would work well.  The diamond being the best of a bad bunch but just as toothless without a jack in the box type of player.  It's probably not a coincidence that Wakeling looked most promising when McKirdy was running around all over the shop pulling defenders.

[JoeMezz]

Really not inspired by anything this season. Felt really positive at Mansfield but been dire since. I hate the boring slow possession football. Would rather crosses and shots, way more exciting

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Many have said that we have a really strong squad compared to last season! If so then the mamager has to take the responsibility for not getting the best out of the players and for choosing the formation & tactics.

[Steak supper]

The squad this year is a long way below last year.

Payne was a big part of last years squad and is a big loss

Linsey has the job for the season.