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Post by saint68 on Nov 11, 2023 10:28:43 GMT
I think today is an important game. Although I don’t think the performance in the Aveley game was as bad as some people thought and we probably deserved a point, last Tuesday was totally unacceptable. I haven’t felt that disappointed and angry after a game for a long time (and that includes the Play-off final). Normally I’d expect a host of changes for today’s game but with our injury list I don’t think we have that option.
(Note to David Noble; I know Jeffers was as bad as everyone else on Tuesday but please start him again today! If we improve the service into the penalty area he’s far more likely to score than Akanbi)
The crowds have remained impressively large, still averaging over 1,400 and while I don’t agree with all the negative comments about craft beer, chicken and the Clarence Park experience, I do agree that if results continue to disappoint the attendances may decrease. I say “may” because despite relegation and a poor start to this season, Dulwich’s attendances are still bizarrely well over 2,000.
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Post by citycentresaint on Nov 11, 2023 12:13:01 GMT
I think today is an important game. Although I don’t think the performance in the Aveley game was as bad as some people thought and we probably deserved a point, last Tuesday was totally unacceptable. I haven’t felt that disappointed and angry after a game for a long time (and that includes the Play-off final). Normally I’d expect a host of changes for today’s game but with our injury list I don’t think we have that option. (Note to David Noble; I know Jeffers was as bad as everyone else on Tuesday but please start him again today! If we improve the service into the penalty area he’s far more likely to score than Akanbi) The crowds have remained impressively large, still averaging over 1,400 and while I don’t agree with all the negative comments about craft beer, chicken and the Clarence Park experience, I do agree that if results continue to disappoint the attendances may decrease. I say “may” because despite relegation and a poor start to this season, Dulwich’s attendances are still bizarrely well over 2,000. Well said fella, lets pick up 3 points today. I hope SJ starts and not the cart horse. |
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Post by middxsaint on Nov 11, 2023 14:00:33 GMT
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Post by expatsaint on Nov 11, 2023 14:56:47 GMT
A bolder and far more positive-looking team selection today with Weiss, Jeffers and Akanbi all starting and with Brown returning from injury. The bench also looks stronger with both Fage and Hoddle available to add momentum if required.
Hopefully we can start the game on the front foot and maintain a more balanced level of performance over the full 90 minutes than has hitherto been the case this season and banish the memory of the feeble capitulation of last Tuesday night.
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 15:06:21 GMT
Line up this afternoon -
Bentley, James, Partington, Bowry (c), Brown, Harvest, Blackman, Rasulo, Weiss, Jeffers, Akanbi.
Subs -
Smith, Morrall, Fage, K. Gauthier. Hoddle.
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 15:38:54 GMT
Saints 1 Tonbridge Angels 0
Jeffers 33 (pen)
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 15:48:41 GMT
Saints 2 Tonbridge Angels 0
Blackman 43
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 15:55:35 GMT
HT Saints 2 Tonbridge Angels 0
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 16:35:27 GMT
Saints 2 Tonbridge Angels 1
Greenidge 72
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 16:36:21 GMT
Saints 2 Tonbridge Angels 2
Shields 74
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 16:40:10 GMT
Gauthier on for Brown 76 mins.
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 16:41:46 GMT
Hoddle on for Blackman 80 mins.
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 16:45:54 GMT
Fage on for Akanbi 84 mins.
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 17:00:35 GMT
Saints 2 Tonbridge Angels 3
Greenidge 90+4
You are never going to win any games by continually giving the ball away. The worst culprits today have to have been Akanbi and Bowry. What is up with these players?
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Post by Boomer on Nov 11, 2023 17:01:29 GMT
FT Saints (2) 2 Tonbridge Angels (0) 3
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Post by sideshowbob on Nov 11, 2023 17:23:55 GMT
Noble has no answers, time for him to go.
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Post by lagerman on Nov 11, 2023 17:30:05 GMT
That was shocking today, the way we went from 2 nil up, playing reasonably well, to losing 3-2.
How on earth did that happen ??
Unless we cut the mistakes out and get back to winning ways again, we are going only one way, and that's down, even a mid table finish looks beyond us.
I don't fancy us whatsoever vs Bishops Stortford in the Trophy next week, they'll be relishing us coming to them
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Post by lagerman on Nov 11, 2023 17:52:48 GMT
Noble has no answers, time for him to go. As I've said before, he's not going to get sacked by the owners, I can't see it, they've very little experience of hiring and firing football club managers and its hard to see Noble himself walking. He was the cheap and easy option, to be given the job, but it's hard to see how Noble, with his lack of experience at managing, is going to be able to lift the players and turn it around. He's still learning as a manager so unless he becomes disillusioned with the job or the budget he's having to work with, he's not going anywhere, it'll be a case of it is what it is. |
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Post by cityfan on Nov 11, 2023 17:54:23 GMT
A pretty pathetic capitulation really. I didn’t actually think we played well in the first half & were very lucky to be gifted a penalty & a goal by Tonbridge in an otherwise uneventful half played out by two pretty poor looking sides.
Second half we started ok but once Tonbridge made a change we completely capitulated and there only looked one winner. As usual the manger was reactive rather than proactive with his changes and we totally lost control of the game. Too slow to recognise a returning Sam Brown was struggling & getting torn apart time after time by the Tonbridge 7.
The team selection and tactics struck me as one by a manager confused and desperate. Weiss & Akanbi playing in unfamiliar wide roles, with Fage often the only bright spark in recent weeks sat on the bench. Fage offered more than either by way of attacking threat in the 5 minutes he was on the field.
Smith, one of the more consistent players in my view dropped to the bench whilst Blackman, who for all his endeavour has had a poor season to date, continues to start.
We’re now 17 games in & it feels we’re more concerned with what’s below us than ahead of us. Too many of the signings this season haven’t proved good enough & it doesn’t feel we have a management team capable of turning things around. Too often the team is throwing away leads & the spirit in the side certainly doesn’t seem what it was.
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Post by sideshowbob on Nov 11, 2023 18:04:31 GMT
What you have just said is all down to the manager, nobody else!
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Post by cityfan on Nov 11, 2023 18:12:44 GMT
Agreed - personally I think it does probably need a change, but given previous history there’s never any confidence the owners have any idea how to recruit a manager. Every appointment they’ve made has either been after a decent caretaker stint, or in Allinsons case the man approaching them. Some of the names branded around during the last period of recruitment after Allinson hardly inspired confidence.
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Post by casper on Nov 11, 2023 18:18:35 GMT
Nobby post match interview
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Post by citycentresaint on Nov 11, 2023 18:39:54 GMT
Noble was always the bargain bucket option.
This tippy tappy football is dragging us into a relegation dogfight.
We need to careful we don't become the next Dulwich.
Lets see some investment in the squad, and less spending on chicken wings.
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Post by saint68 on Nov 11, 2023 19:32:30 GMT
Oh Lord, that was frustrating!
I thought we played quite well in the first half, the tinkering Noble made in the line-up worked ok, with Weiss and Akanbi supporting Jeffers reasonably well. I don’t think we were playing “tippy tippy football” at this point, it was better than that. In the second half we sat back as usual but still looked reasonably comfortable against what I thought was a pretty mediocre Tonbridge side - until they scored, then you could see how fragile our confidence was as we fell apart. It added insult to injury that their lump of a centre-forward who clearly didn’t understand the offside rule suddenly looked like an effective front man.
We have to be realistic about this season. We lost too many players over the summer and didn’t replace all of them adequately. Add to that our injury list and I’m afraid mid-table mediocrity is all we can expect. How much of this can be blamed at Noble is really up to the owners.
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Post by citycentresaint on Nov 11, 2023 20:33:32 GMT
Oh Lord, that was frustrating! I thought we played quite well in the first half, the tinkering Noble made in the line-up worked ok, with Weiss and Akanbi supporting Jeffers reasonably well. I don’t think we were playing “tippy tippy football” at this point, it was better than that. In the second half we sat back as usual but still looked reasonably comfortable against what I thought was a pretty mediocre Tonbridge side - until they scored, then you could see how fragile our confidence was as we fell apart. It added insult to injury that their lump of a centre-forward who clearly didn’t understand the offside rule suddenly looked like an effective front man. We have to be realistic about this season. We lost too many players over the summer and didn’t replace all of them adequately. Add to that our injury list and I’m afraid mid-table mediocrity is all we can expect. How much of this can be blamed at Noble is really up to the owners. I would be happy with mid table fella. Some of the players brought in should be playing at a much lower level. |
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Post by sideshowbob on Nov 11, 2023 22:23:21 GMT
All Dave noble says, in interviews is the same giving the ball away cheaply, and making bad decisions, not sure what he said at halftime today! This side is as poor as the side that Ian allinson inherited, when he took over.
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boojiboy
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 329
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Post by boojiboy on Nov 11, 2023 22:29:11 GMT
Their ‘lump of a centre-forward’ scored twice against us last year too so we shouldn’t have been surprised by him.
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Post by bob666 on Nov 11, 2023 22:55:33 GMT
If my ageing eyes have not let me down they hit the post twice at 2-2. I thought we were a bit fortunate to be 2-0 up at half time but actually thought we played well for a prolonged period of the second half when 2-0 ahead. As soon as they scored we completely fell apart. While it did always work earlier in Noble tenure I understood how he wanted us to play. Today we played a fair bit of hoof-ball. It almost seemed that players knew they were good enough to play out from the back so when more direct. The problem is even direct football requires a certain plan/set up- forward players who know the channels they will be competing in etc and are prepared for this type of game. If the teams set up to play a short passing game and you resort to hoofing it it just not going to work. I not sure Noble actually has a plan anymore.
You can argue if results last season mean Noble deserves a few more games or not but his future is clearly under question. The owners need to start feeling out potential replacements now so we don't sack Noble at end of the month and end up with the kitman in charge. Some people have made the valid point that some of the rise in attendance is due to kids (who do not pay to get in), so revenue has not increased in line with attendances. I get that argument but would make the point that the average food/drink spend per head has clearly gone up massively. So even if proportion of kids has increased revenue per head may have remained stable. We regularly getting 1500 now but the team are no better (maybe worse) than when we were getting 600-700. Congratulations to the owners on increasing attendances and the club commercial profile but there has to be balance between using increased revenues to reduce operating losses/ invest in commercial side and improve the product on the pitch . 50/50 seems reasonable, 100/0 seems more like the current model. If getting 1500 regularly we need a top 7 budget. Hemel get half our crowds but, like it or not, are 2 points better off than us with a game in hand.
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Post by middxsaint on Nov 11, 2023 23:05:27 GMT
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Post by lagerman on Nov 11, 2023 23:08:10 GMT
I just wonder, when it came to the interviews for the job after Allinson left, just how many of the applicants had suggested that they have a backroom staff too, that they'd want to bring in as well, cos Noble hasn't come in with any backroom staff as he was already here on the staff.
Those applicants wanting their own staff in too would've been clearly too expensive for our owners.
That's fair enough, but such an appointment would've surely given us a more structured and most likely more experienced, management staff
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