Exeter

[everyman]

Possible formation for Exter away, 5-5 low block ?

[Warwickshire Robin]

Possible formation for Exter away, 5-5 low block ?

Been playing that all season and it hasnt gone well. Maybe try 7-3 even lower block, just for a change?!

[longmover]

Or maybe just have a go at them, attack them, play on instinct and freedom and not some insane inhibition of pure fear.

[Haitch]

our "3-4-3" these last few games has felt like a 3-6-1 with one of our supposed front three actually being up front and usually keena and goodwin morphing into the midfield as they know they won't get the ball if they stick up front, needs to change asap and hopefully a certain attacking midfielder from down under will sort out our very distinct creativity issues.

[Garby74]

Maybe WE throws caution out the window and we actually press teams instead of sitting back and allowing them to play.

Like the other 90 odd teams in this country!

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Maybe WE throws caution out the window and we actually press teams instead of sitting back and allowing them to play.

Like the other 90 odd teams in this country!

The players have to deliver that of course. It seems clear from his interviews after games that the players aren’t pressing and passing as he wants them to, mostly due to confidence.

[Haitch]

Maybe WE throws caution out the window and we actually press teams instead of sitting back and allowing them to play.

Like the other 90 odd teams in this country!

Woah woah woah lets not have any of that common sense stuff here, this is cheltenham remember

[HamTown]

Peupion, Butler-Odejyi and Malcom and J Williams have all shown a bit of pace, quality, flair and attacking intent so I'm hoping our next match is going to give Wade options to have a go

I don't know if I'm seeing other games to others recently but some of the accusations I've seen thrown at Wade like being unable to motivate players or no pressing are things that I'm really not seeing in the games.......yes we were cut through like butter in the center at times vs Barnsley and Bristol Rovers but I swear people are just throwing negativity at him if any old thing pops in their heads.

[Shade]

Peupion, Butler-Odejyi and Malcom and J Williams have all shown a bit of pace, quality, flair and attacking intent so I'm hoping our next match is going to give Wade options to have a go

I don't know if I'm seeing other games to others recently but some of the accusations I've seen thrown at Wade like being unable to motivate players or no pressing are things that I'm really not seeing in the games.......yes we were cut through like butter in the center at times vs Barnsley and Bristol Rovers but I swear people are just throwing negativity at him if any old thing pops in their heads.

Completely agree. Some of it is massively over the top and just plain wrong. The way some go on, on social media especially, you’d think Wade had killed their dog and possibly gran. The fact is, the last two games the team have created chances but they haven’t been put away. Last Saturday due to great goalkeeping and Tuesday due to bad finishing. That isn’t Wade’s fault and neither is that he had 3 wing backs and a midfielder in the back 5. He was using what he had available. I read somewhere that the players don’t like him, apparently!

Also, some of the stuff that has been said about Russ is so wide of the mark and incredibly ignorant. Apparently he’s been “stealing a wage at the club for far too long”. Yes, the guy who has been assistant to our first league title win and our two highest ever league finishes and several managers have wanted to keep around has been stealing a wage and is obviously useless. Apparently he also doesn’t have any contacts in the game…the man who’s been involved in football for 30 odd years and was at Arsenal, and has got kids in from Brighton, Arsenal and West Brom last week, yeah, he’s never spoken to anybody, has he.

And Bloxham and the board should go, they’ve got no ambition. That’s right, keeping us in League 1, punching above our weight, and keeping us solvent on crowds averaging in the bottom 4 of the division, whilst achieving our two highest ever finishes is a lack of ambition.

Cretins who watch far too much Premier League, Sky Sports News, follow too many know-alls on twitter, and watch far too many fantasy programs and films.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Peupion, Butler-Odejyi and Malcom and J Williams have all shown a bit of pace, quality, flair and attacking intent so I'm hoping our next match is going to give Wade options to have a go

I don't know if I'm seeing other games to others recently but some of the accusations I've seen thrown at Wade like being unable to motivate players or no pressing are things that I'm really not seeing in the games.......yes we were cut through like butter in the center at times vs Barnsley and Bristol Rovers but I swear people are just throwing negativity at him if any old thing pops in their heads.

Once people start going to games looking for these specific things to criticise Wade for they only see those things and ignore everything else which more objective fans see. They then convince themselves it is the only thing which happened in the match so can make these claims against Wade and then feed off each other in a doom-loop.

The classic manifestation of selective watching and selective memory is when people post on here that we didn’t create a single thing in a game, followed by someone pointing out we actually had more shots on target than the opponents who’s keeper made a couple of good saves.

Even under Duff we switched between pressing and sitting deep in games and in some games players weren’t “at it” to press as much as needed as Duff would say. The difference is now people only see and remember the sitting deep, and the confidence of players is low that they are not “at it” enough that they are not pressing as much as Wade wants them to for the whole game. That confidence will return at some point, but we can’t guarantee people will start watching games objectively in good faith.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Peupion, Butler-Odejyi and Malcom and J Williams have all shown a bit of pace, quality, flair and attacking intent so I'm hoping our next match is going to give Wade options to have a go

I don't know if I'm seeing other games to others recently but some of the accusations I've seen thrown at Wade like being unable to motivate players or no pressing are things that I'm really not seeing in the games.......yes we were cut through like butter in the center at times vs Barnsley and Bristol Rovers but I swear people are just throwing negativity at him if any old thing pops in their heads.

Completely agree. Some of it is massively over the top and just plain wrong. The way some go on, on social media especially, you’d think Wade had killed their dog and possibly gran. The fact is, the last two games the team have created chances but they haven’t been put away. Last Saturday due to great goalkeeping and Tuesday due to bad finishing. That isn’t Wade’s fault and neither is that he had 3 wing backs and a midfielder in the back 5. He was using what he had available. I read somewhere that the players don’t like him, apparently!

Also, some of the stuff that has been said about Russ is so wide of the mark and incredibly ignorant. Apparently he’s been “stealing a wage at the club for far too long”. Yes, the guy who has been assistant to our first league title win and our two highest ever league finishes and several managers have wanted to keep around has been stealing a wage and is obviously useless. Apparently he also doesn’t have any contacts in the game…the man who’s been involved in football for 30 odd years and was at Arsenal, and has got kids in from Brighton, Arsenal and West Brom last week, yeah, he’s never spoken to anybody, has he.

And Bloxham and the board should go, they’ve got no ambition. That’s right, keeping us in League 1, punching above our weight, and keeping us solvent on crowds averaging in the bottom 4 of the division, whilst achieving our two highest ever finishes is a lack of ambition.

Cretins who watch far too much Premier League, Sky Sports News, follow too many know-alls on twitter, and watch far too many fantasy programs and films.

Whilst it ruins the mood for other fans, at least being so hugely cretinous makes it easy for the Board to ignore/dismiss and normal fans to mock as deserved. It is when the more sensible and articulate critics become the majority that the Board will have a serious problem.

[nitram82]

Agreed. It is cack at the moment, for many reasons. But, at the end of the day we could go on a 5 game unbeaten run. These cycles have happened in the previous two seasons and it just so happens that it’s come at the start of this season. When we beat Cambridge United away last season on 15th of feb, we hadn’t won a single match since the turn of the year and after that result we didn’t look back. On another note, after that game the Cambridge fans were were writing similar rhetoric to what we’re seeing on here: he hasn’t a clue, out of his depth, no plan a or b, we’re going down. Well, the board stuck with Bonnet, they scraped survival and now sit 6th in the league. It just shows that form is certainly temporary.

[Garby74]

I support Wade and would like to see him given more time with the new crop of player.

But the performances have not been there this season.

For me that is the big worry. Last season we lost a few but played well and genuinely competed.

Goals win games gents.

If you can't bloody score at least hurry the opposition and make it difficult.
What other team have you seen not press on the opposition half...unless of course your 3 nil up?!

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I support Wade and would like to see him given more time with the new crop of player.

But the performances have not been there this season.

For me that is the big worry. Last season we lost a few but played well and genuinely competed.

Goals win games gents.

If you can't bloody score at least hurry the opposition and make it difficult.
What other team have you seen not press on the opposition half...unless of course your 3 nil up?!

Have there not been a few games where we have started off on the front foot pressing high, only for the players heads to drop after conceding after which they retreat in to their shells. I personally believe Wade is sending them out to press high but their confidence is too low that they retreat.

I agree with you - and the podcast said the same - that Wade hasn’t even had a league game with all the new loans settled in yet, so needs time with them.

[Lord Elpuz]

We looked decent in pre-season, scoring goals, well organised etc. I appreciate people will say “can’t judge anything on pre-season” but we were scoring goals. This team does not look like a lost cause to me, even in the defeats we’ve suffered (apart from Bolton in the League, the rest of the games have been close).

In the Premier League, the standard requires 90% of your squad out on the pitch performing to their best level. In the Championship, it probably requires 80% of your squad performing to their best level. League 1 therefore 70% and so on down the Leagues.

Size of squad, quality of squad (ie the wealth of club), injuries etc are all parameters that will have an effect, as well as the opposition’s parameters on match day. All of those aspects govern how well the tactics work on match day. X-Box/Sony gamers will see how the software programmers make the virtual games work so realistically.

Taking CTFC’s and Wade’s early season parameters into account, versus the opposition we’ve faced thus far, it is possible to have predicted a struggling start to the season - the Bookies also use similar information. However, trends can change and if Wade is given sufficient time, then I do believe our parameters will begin to come good. Players returning from the ridiculous amount of injuries we’ve experienced and the new players bedding in, will turn the tide.

There is one final parameter that can make or break a team and it’s morale, and that’s how important it is for the fans to stay with their team. A hostile set of home fans to their own team can make match day feel like a horror show for the players. For Cheltenham it is really important for the fans to stay with their Manager and Squad if we are to see the improvement I genuinely feel we are capable of achieving in the next few games.

[Warwickshire Robin]

The big issue for Wade now is working out his best 11 and formation with all of the new players and the injury situation. That is going to be difficult especially with he the players away on international duty and in the treatment room.

With all of the turmoil during the summer with staff leaving and the job he did last year Wade still has to have credit in the bank. However, in my view the fact no Cheltenham player has a goal to his name (in the right end anyway) is embarrassing and eroding this credit.

I maybe wrong but I think there is another International break in mid October, in my opinion if results and goals return hasn't improved by then, then the board will have a difficult decision to make.

[Fuller]

I see Exeter are at home and one of only two League One games on today.
Presume Wade is making his way down the M5 to see how Exeter look?
Well done to Exeter so far this season, they’ve done extraordinarily well. Perhaps we’ll upset them next week

[plymrob]

"In the Premier League, the standard requires 90% of your squad out on the pitch performing to their best level. In the Championship, it probably requires 80% of your squad performing to their best level. League 1 therefore 70% and so on down the Leagues."

My lord...I prey to query...?

Not sure this makes any real sense. A mean percentage decline in quality of player might - just maybe - make more sense... At the moment I'd go for x11 50%-ers on a good day (Alvechuch anyone)...

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

"In the Premier League, the standard requires 90% of your squad out on the pitch performing to their best level. In the Championship, it probably requires 80% of your squad performing to their best level. League 1 therefore 70% and so on down the Leagues."

My lord...I prey to query...?

Not sure this makes any real sense. A mean percentage decline in quality of player might - just maybe - make more sense... At the moment I'd go for x11 50%-ers on a good day (Alvechuch anyone)...

Agreed. It doesn’t make sense. Whatever level a team is at, they will have players broadly appropriate for that level, so will have to play to their best level to win.

If a pub team with pub players in the pub league has more players consistently playing close to their best level, they will beat teams who don’t play to their best level as much - as long as the beat level of each team is broadly similar.

[andgarod]

I was told by a former ctfc manager
lge 2 you need 6 players at the top of their game
lge1 was 9 players
championship was 11
and prem was 14
this was before the 5 sub rule so can add 2 more to each

[Broadway Brian]

We go again. Can’t wait for the mental when we grab the late winner.

UTMFR

[Haitch]

We go again. Can’t wait for the mental when we grab the late winner.

UTMFR

Exactly why i brought my tickets last night, there always a chance of that cheltenham magic, no big dan to do it this year but seeing that Peupion goal the other day he might be the source.

That or it'll be a dull train ride home after a 4-0 violation. Optimism at its finest!

[paperboy]

Manager Gary Caldwell speaking today.

Exeter City injury updates as Grecians hope to make new signing

https://www.devonlive.com/sport/footbal ... ns-8751739

[HamTown]

Manager Gary Caldwell speaking today.

Exeter City injury updates as Grecians hope to make new signing

https://www.devonlive.com/sport/footbal ... ns-8751739

I demand an inquiry in to this crisis.

Sounds promising, hopefully we go and attack and press, Ferry can get some joy down the left and Peupion can get through the congestion.

[Shade]

Manager Gary Caldwell speaking today.

Exeter City injury updates as Grecians hope to make new signing

https://www.devonlive.com/sport/footbal ... ns-8751739

I demand an inquiry in to this crisis.

Sounds promising, hopefully we go and attack and press, Ferry can get some joy down the left and Peupion can get through the congestion.

If we needed them to have an injury crisis anywhere then it was their defence!

Let's not forget Butler-Oyedeji and Malcolm as well. I've got a sneaky feeling the former is going to turn out to be a very good signing.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Manager Gary Caldwell speaking today.

Exeter City injury updates as Grecians hope to make new signing

https://www.devonlive.com/sport/footbal ... ns-8751739

“so fingers crossed we can get that over the line for Saturday, but if not, then early next week”

A Nest favourite line!

[paperboy]

Setting himself up to fail tomorrow hopefully.

Demetri Mitchell: Exeter City using YouTube to inspire better finishing - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/6680 ... [partner]-[BBC+England]-[headline]-[news]-[bizdev]-[isapi]&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_medium=social&at_format=link&at_ptr_name=twitter&at_link_type=web_link&at_campaign_type=owned&at_link_origin=BBCDevon&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_link_id=BC61AE44-5392-11EE-AEF2-6651FE754D29

[Si Robin]

He's certainly their danger man - a fantastic player. Stood out when we beat them in March.

[paperboy]

Last minute panic signings by the Grecians as they seek to overcome the mighty Robins.

BBC News - Yanic Wildschut and Caleb Watts: Exeter City sign free-agents on short-term deals
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66821129

[Shade]

Couple of guaranteed scorers today then...

[paperboy]

Couple of guaranteed scorers today then...

Plus an O.G. makes three then.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Couple of guaranteed scorers today then...

Only one of them scored