The Robins Nest Forum

Team news, live updates and video reaction all here this afternoon http://bit.ly/SwindonFACup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pitch is looking good

We seem to have gone off the boil in the last couple of games. Need a good second half performance to keep the impetus going.

3,456 attendance with 1,162 away.

So 2,294 home fans.

Alf wrote:We seem to have gone off the boil in the last couple of games. Need a good second half performance to keep the impetus going.

It happened earlier in the season when we have a couple of draws in a row and failed to score at home.

Need to get back on it.

Well done Alex! What could you have achieved against FGR last week? Always worth a second half cameo.

I'm not sure a draw is what we need

Could do without the replay. Frustrating.

We can’t let the replay get in the way of the promotion chase.

Just a poor performance and very lucky to get away with a draw

But Swindon though

They’ll never win here

Sorry, I don’t think I have given that sentiment enough emphasis, so I will continue the theme

There were people round me literally laughing til they cried when we equalised. We’d been appalling all game, completely outplayed, they FINALLY scored but it’s Swindon. They will NEVER win here

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

And to compound matters, it looked like Thomas had a gilt edged chance to win it.

But what a response to Swindon finally scoring.

I understand the frustration of a replay but you take what you can get in football.
If we finish up winning the replay and having a good cup run who would be disappointed about drawing a top Prem side?

Fair play the groundsman is a magician. Pitch is beautiful.

Artemis wrote:And to compound matters, it looked like Thomas had a gilt edged chance to win it.

But what a response to Swindon finally scoring.

If that fell to Varney we would be celebrating a victory on par with Rushden away.

Have teams worked us out? Do we have a plan B. Granted we didn't lose today which is good but the last 2 home games have been woeful

We were poor like last Saturday. Broom looks a different player. We need to hire a sports phychologist.

Alf wrote:I understand the frustration of a replay but you take what you can get in football.
If we finish up winning the replay and having a good cup run who would be disappointed about drawing a top Prem side?

Well obviously. Equally we could lose, get a red card and an injury. It is a risk - let’s hope not a risk too many.

The three subs made a big difference - from minute 45-80 we were abysmal and they just ran through the middle of the park unchecked. Addai obviously made them think at the back and Doyle Hayes surer things up.

The referee was a different class to last week...they cheated like FGR but he didn’t get sucked in.

As for the replay - I think we’ll win and I think we’ll get FGR in the second round . You heard it here first

Ben3 wrote:The three subs made a big difference - from minute 45-80 we were abysmal and they just ran through the middle of the park unchecked. Addai obviously made them think at the back and Doyle Hayes surer things up.

The referee was a different class to last week...they cheated like FGR but he didn’t get sucked in.

As for the replay - I think we’ll win and I think we’ll get FGR in the second round . You heard it here first

We will get Carlisle away in the 2nd round mark my words.

Start at Addai in the replay

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:Start at Addai in the replay

He changed the game; atmosphere and result. Can't see him as a starter though.

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:

Alf wrote:I understand the frustration of a replay but you take what you can get in football.
If we finish up winning the replay and having a good cup run who would be disappointed about drawing a top Prem side?

Well obviously. Equally we could lose, get a red card and an injury. It is a risk - let’s hope not a risk too many.

Not ‘well obviously’ otherwise I wouldn’t have felt the need to make the comment.

Alf wrote:

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:

Alf wrote:I understand the frustration of a replay but you take what you can get in football.
If we finish up winning the replay and having a good cup run who would be disappointed about drawing a top Prem side?

Well obviously. Equally we could lose, get a red card and an injury. It is a risk - let’s hope not a risk too many.

Not ‘well obviously’ otherwise I wouldn’t have felt the need to make the comment.

RCS - I apologise for being like a broken record. But what you or any of us think, feel or hope is not at all valid for what happens in reality. You post like - ‘This is a risk, let’s not do it’. It’s a replay man, it isn’t a matter for us to ‘wish’ it away. Same as you setting ‘targets’ for next five games...we may wish for something, but that doesn’t relate to the reality on the field at all

That’s quite an ontological and epistemological argument, so at this point I’ll go watch strictly

I can’t wait for Swindon away

The money from winning the tie - £36k - would also come in handy. As will our share of the replay's gate receipts.

Love Bob hunts commentary “Swindon have won it in injury time “....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50290292" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nope...

Feels like ages since we had a run in the FA Cup, in fact if feels like we generally perform badly in it. Even thought it's Swindle I'm not even overly optimistic of progression.

Nham68 wrote:Love Bob hunts commentary “Swindon have won it in injury time “....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50290292" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nope...

That is Peter Matthews.

The attendance of 3456 - were there really 2400 more there the week before??? It certainly didn’t look like it tbh

Just seen the highlights on the beeb (was I'll yesterday, so couldn't attend): how fekin' stupid must those youngsters who came onto the pitch felt 60 seconds later...? And the Swindon Town forum was hysterically funny at the end!

Robin wrote:Feels like ages since we had a run in the FA Cup, in fact if feels like we generally perform badly in it. Even thought it's Swindle I'm not even overly optimistic of progression.

Away game at a promotion rival who have the top scorer in our league. We are favourites to go out.

Just unlucky with the balls coming out of the hat. FGR had a stroll in the park against non-leaguers for example, whilst we get the team we were outplayed by at times during the 2-2 draw earlier this season.

Hope we win of course, but hope even more we don’t suffer suspensions or injuries.

asl wrote:Just seen the highlights on the beeb (was I'll yesterday, so couldn't attend): how fekin' stupid must those youngsters who came onto the pitch felt 60 seconds later...? And the Swindon Town forum was hysterically funny at the end!

They weren't just young. I just do not see the need to enter the field of play at any point. Absolute idiots

Made it even better when we scored approximately 60 seconds later.

Just watched the highlights on YouTube. Apparently we had a new keeper playing yesterday called Bender.

The main problem in the last two games, as far as I'm concerned, is the midfield. Broom's lost it again since being linked to other clubs, Thomas is still wishy washy at best, and Ince has barely played and visibly knackered in the second half. With the other players we have on the bench, how Thomas is getting 90 minutes week in, week out I'll never know. Has Clements pissed MD off? Yesterday was screaming out for a calm midfielder who could get hold of the ball and pick a decent pass.

The games don't get easier, do they. Newport home, Exeter away, Swindon away, Colchester home. What I wouldn't give for a Macclesfield right now.

Agreed, the last two matches have been dominated by midfield. FGR and Swindon were both very impressive in the middle. I thought Ince and Thomas did ok although Ince ran out of gas; he'll come good though. Problem seemed to be, the ball went up to Varney and Reilly/Smith who struggled to lay it off as the oppo midfield dominated the space. Second half yesterday it looked like Thomas had been told to sit on No.10, who was then much quieter, but that didn't help attack-wise. The game changed with Addai as he could run in behind the squeezed space; I'm not sure why he wasn't on against FGR as well, although the game had probably gone by HT

Shade wrote:
With the other players we have on the bench, how Thomas is getting 90 minutes week in, week out I'll never know.

Indeed. Clements should have got on, if not started, yesterday. For me, he was instrumental in the uplift against FGR.

I believe it is Thomas’s fitness which means he plays every week. The running and stamina is what Duff demands, brining his Premier League sports science outlook.

It has been noticeable in games that Thomas does have this. Macclesfield game for example I watched online and the first hour or so the midfield looked paperweight, no passing or control. Then Macc tired and Thomas bossed it like Fabinho looking better as the game went on. Probably no surprise he still had the energy to find the space unmarked for what should have been the winner.

Ball playing and ability only get you so far. The fitness to last 100 mins at full gas is more important in my view. It is the main differentiator between teams who come up from Champ to Prem and succeed and those who fail; Villa have let in a number of late goals whereas Sheff U have scored some, and that comes down to fitness to play full gas to the final whistle.

Obviously a combination of playing ability and fitness is ideal, but then those players wouldn’t be in L2 for long.