Crawley Town v Swindon Town League Cup Matchday Thread

[adje]

I didn't see the game, so won't make much comment, but isn't your point, THE point?  Our recruitment strategy, which changes every 5 minutes, is the problem - we end up with players who are so hit and miss, either entirely (some hit, some miss) or even a single player managing both, like Bycroft does.  There is simply no consistency in approach, no infrastructure supporting any of this (it's all one year deals by and large).  We are acting like a an also ran L2 team, it's not a surprise we deliver as much to me.  I feel a bit for Bycroft, he is not ready, needs a few years developing his craft and gaining his voice as a Goalkeeper, but it's him or a spotty youth, isn't it?

Pretty much like most L2 teams. I've seen both games so far and I'd make a fairly confident prediction that this season's recruitment will prove to be better than last season's but,yes a keeper is urgent

[RobertT]

Which is fine if you want to be like most l2 teams I suppose.  I just thought we were wanting more than that.

[Anonymous77]

Both players have literally put a smiling emoji and quoted the result after their team has just won 4.2.
If that winds you up, twitter probably isn’t for you.

Never seen an unused sub do it before tho.

[Matchworn Shirts]

Seeing Gunning in the match day photos made me angrier than it really should.

[JoeMezz]

Pretty much like most L2 teams. I've seen both games so far and I'd make a fairly confident prediction that this season's recruitment will prove to be better than last season's but,yes a keeper is urgent

Completely agree that this seasons is better than last. The thing that makes it difficult is the changed approach every year leaving you nothing to build on. Last year was a silly amount of wingers / attacking mids, this year we don’t have many but have lots of defenders. If the approach stayed the same but the personnel including the manager changed if they weren’t successful, I’d guarantee we’d be getting better every year, not worse as we have done last 2 seasons

[Nomoreheroes]

Nothing asked about Khan - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jj89l3

That was a pretty good interview with Kennedy. I like the way that he is positive throughout. He was supportive of Bycroft, and could see the trap that Hawes was leading him into. I thought he answered that point well - We need to look at what we can do better as 3 goals have been conceded from shots outside the box.

On Bycroft, I think he is much weaker on his right hand side than his left. He also often seems to lose his positioning, which leaves him exposed (often in the right). He is also prone to the odd clanger. If he could work out those issues, he wouldn't be in L2 very long.

I think the defence looks much better than last year. Its far less porous. As a group, the players seem to be able to cover for eachother, rather than leaving us totally exposed at all times. But the midfield isn't quite there yet and Drinan (who I think is more non-league standard) and Glatzel (who has something about him) have both been off colour up front. Glatzel gets in the right positions, but often has the first touch of a rapist (both with his feet and his head). More composure required I think. Drinan doesn't always get in the right positions, but he looks awkward to play against and has a rasping shot on the odd occasions that he does get it right. Smith has shown how an older pro does it in L2. He plays things simple and has had 2 chances with his head and scored one.

I'm frustrated and still desponded from last year. I'm also still adapting as a fan to the new 'style'.

[Batch]

This time last season we looked miles better than we do now.

I do get where you are coming from, I agree that this team looks to have better division 4 attributes than last year's. But we've got to actually prove it and consistently before I relax. And there is the injury record worry.

E.g. Yesterday we did ok in the second half. Yet we still conceded 3 in it. I don't care if it didn't feel like a 4 goal game. It was. Give me 5 or 6 solid performances and I'll believe it was an off day.

[Bob's Orange]

Our aggressive press last night was spot on against Crawley, we managed to win the ball back a lot, which to be fair did seem the only way we were going to create anything. As others have said the midfield needs some serious work, was better when Clarke came on, and Cain even seemed to improve. Another fairly uninspiring first half, and going 2-0 down it seemed to be curtains.

But Crawley got sloppy and Ofoborh rocketed home for 2-1 and Crawley were on the ropes. Good pen saved by Jojo but as rare as hen's teeth, a goal from a corner bulleted in by Harry Smith. We definitely looked the more likely. I was impressed by Mitchell, looked composed and loves a tackle.

Sadly we never took advantage and slack play at the back allowed the impressive Roles to pick out the back of the net. I might be wrong, but Roles has a habit of doing that so leaving him so much time and space was a big error. Sky decided to have a 2 minute replay and so I've no idea about the build up to their 4th goal but it was clearly a breakaway finished nicely.

Get in a senior keeper, get McGurk fit, and sort out the midfield and we might trouble the top half of the table. Really good chance missed to advance to the second round, but on the other hand we can now fully focus on the league.

[Bob's Orange]

Never seen an unused sub do it before tho.

Needless to say the Cheltenham handjob replied along with a handful of others. Pretty pathetic getting involved at all imo.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

We certainly did improve greatly in the second half and I thought we were going to take the game to penalties but to describe the performance as "Outstanding, super super impressive"....come the fuck on Mark...

[Bob's Orange]

The Chesterfield performance was described as "excellent" also.

Will be interesting to see how long that narrative continues. Fair play, he's supporting his players, but people are not silly, they are going to see through that shtick very quickly.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

The Chesterfield performance was described as "excellent" also.

Will be interesting to see how long that narrative continues. Fair play, he's supporting his players, but people are not silly, they are going to see through that shtick very quickly.

I think he needs to be a bit more objective than that. There were plenty of positives to take out of both games without going to those lengths. As you say, people aren't silly...

[Riddick]

Its tough, but given Kennedys absence from a lot of preseason, and the turnover of players, this team is going to be settling down over the next month or so. As long as there is steady improvement over that period then i'll be content.

Last night wasn't too bad. Crawley will be one of the highest possession based teams in the league as usual and we pressed and forced them into lots of errors. In the second half we had plenty of chances.

It was a step up from Chesterfield, so lets see how they play against Walsall.

If we are struggling for results in September and performances are poor then Kennedy will have to change his tune from excellent for sure.

Outside the keeper situation my main concern has been how relatively poor our wing backs have been at delivering balls so far. King did better on the left yesterday than Longelo had done, but there was little from the right. Some of this is down to poor connecting balls from Cain (who miss hit a few to longelo first half) and Ofoborh in fairness. However this part of the team needs to start firing quickly.

[GTXMagnatec]

I think the thing that wound me up most from last night was that our away kit would look so much better with black shorts.

Oh, and the camera work was akin to being on the Jolly Rodger.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

I think the thing that wound me up most from last night was that our away kit would look so much better with black shorts.

Oh, and the camera work was akin to being on the Jolly Rodger.

Agree about the shorts, dark would definitely look better and would be quite a good retro look harking back to the early 90's which the Clubs all seem very keen on these days. I think with so many games now being televised, Sky Sports+ is going to be like a training ground for wannabe commentators, cameramen and directors and the quality will vary somewhat from game to game...