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Tonight

Basement

Well-Known Member
5 Politics
Jul 28, 2013
87
60
Another game, another point, well we may not have won yet, but neither have we been beaten.

According to the NWCFL website, the attendance tonight was 200. 150 of those, at least, must have been Northwichers, which bodes well for the rest of the season.
 
Lets hope the wins start coming otherwise I fear the followers will start to drop in numbers, particularly come the winter months. (Hope I am wrong).

We do need to offer more in the final third as has been said in another thread. Overall I feel a draw may just be about the right result tonight.

Back to what I love to do the best (moaning about officials!), so why the keeper wasn't dismissed is beyond me, he was the last man!
 
At least 150, I would say more were Greens. That is a fantastic away following. Nik_s, I'm sure that naturally the attendances will drop off a little. With this being the start of this club we are bound to see some bumper attendances for the first few games, but I am encouraged by how many "regular" faces there are from the days of old, including many that I didn't think we would be seeing this year.

As for the play, we need a finisher. We have that in Mike Brandon but I think he needs to settle a bit more. There were signs of encouragement, the midfield looked stronger than last Sat to me and we had plenty on the wings in Phil Coffin. We just need to convert our runs into chances on goal.

It looked like a definite sending off in the first half, their keeper was the last man and went in very hard, completely missing the ball.
 
Hmmm, this is going to be a long, hard season.

The standard of football ain’t the standard we would be used to and neither will the officiating be. That’s a red card last night anywhere on the pitch, if it’s a goalkeeper... why is there a difference?

Ninth game now watching this side - a fair enough amount of time to pass judgement on the team. I can't agree with the managers comments that this team is strong enough to be a genuine title contenders. There are two places up for grabs in the middle of the pitch for starters, where at present, there are a couple of passengers. Out wide, we’ve got Jamie Phoenix Mk.2.

Early days, but I thought we’d have put a better team together. If I'm wrong - tell me in five games time.
 
Hmmm, this is going to be a long, hard season.

The standard of football ain’t the standard we would be used to and neither will the officiating be. That’s a red card last night anywhere on the pitch, if it’s a goalkeeper... why is there a difference?

Ninth game now watching this side - a fair enough amount of time to pass judgement on the team. I can't agree with the managers comments that this team is strong enough to be a genuine title contenders. There are two places up for grabs in the middle of the pitch for starters, where at present, there are a couple of passengers. Out wide, we’ve got Jamie Phoenix Mk.2.

Early days, but I thought we’d have put a better team together. If I'm wrong - tell me in five games time.

Good to be talking about footballing issues again...makes a nice change! :)

That is the benefit of a forum, where everyone has an opinion..... I was stood right in front of the challenge in the first half; although it was a hard challenge (Phil didn't backout either!) i think yellow was fair, red in my opinion would have been very harsh...

In terms of the team, we have to remember that although the 'team' have played 9 games, these wouldn't have been the same team, so need time for the best 11 / right playing style / formation is still being formulated... i actually disagree with your comment about the quality of the team, i think we have done wonders to get who we have in such a short space of time, a lot of the players have dropped a level to play for us, just need a couple more competitive games to let the team settle... I'll happily remind you in 5 games time :)

I thought that we were most effective when we got the ball wide, although the quality of the cross was a struggle sometimes.... we resorted to bypassing the midfield with the long ball, we struggled here with then not picking up on the second ball.... let's not forget where we have come from to get here.....150+ away on a midweek game...awesome!
 
To many long balls going astray allowing the opponents who were quickier to gain possesion , need two inside men to give Brandon his space with knock
on's. Shooting at goal was non existant did not seem able to get over the ball to keep the shots down and on target, I know the pitch was bumpy but player's with the experience that we have should be able to place a shot with more accuracy. :scarf:
 
To many long balls going astray allowing the opponents who were quickier to gain possesion , need two inside men to give Brandon his space with knock
on's. Shooting at goal was non existant did not seem able to get over the ball to keep the shots down and on target, I know the pitch was bumpy but player's with the experience that we have should be able to place a shot with more accuracy. :scarf:
Looking at the players tweets last night after the game it is obvious how much they want to win and I worry that there is a psychological barrier beginning to appear in their minds. I think they are a genuine bunch of lads who really want to please us the fans and that at the moment they are trying too hard to please instead of relaxing and playing how we all know they can from their performances pre season.
 
We need to play with more consistency.

There were good spells in the game where we would pass the ball around and create chances and then we would completely drop off the pace and let Irlam back into it, rather like the Oldham game.

We're definitely lacking a creative spark in the midfield and something going forward. The players are rushing into shots when they don't need to, crosses are overhit and the general play and execution in the final third is lacking.

I'm not a big fan of Coffin either. He can run but I'm not sure what else. Last night, he beat one player and ran out. Where was the cross?

Still we're unbeaten but it could just have easily been two wins or two defeats. Early days yet and I can't fault the commitment and desire from the players to want to win.

This is NWCL football and there is an expected drop in quality but I think we're all enjoying our football again, whether that's having a little moan after the game or feeling gutted at conceding an equaliser like we did last night. It feels good to care and have passion again and have a football team again.

Bring on Daisy Hill on Saturday!
 
Ben, agree with you about having our team back. I promised myself that I wouldn't get as passionate or stressed watching football as I did previously when 1874 were born; that I would try to take a more detached, considered view of the game. I couldn't have been more Naïve!!!

Phil Coffin for me is a tough winger who was picking up a lot of the erroneous balls that were over-hit. He fought for the ball in the midfield and made some good runs. I think he was on form.

I thought there were definite signs of improvement, which is after-all what we were looking for on Tues. It's a long season so lets hope we can start some momentum with a fine 3pts on Sat!
 
I've had to remind myself what level these players are playing at. The last time I watched the other Northwich team it was Conference National standard football. I do think Midfield needs to be more creative and we need some crossing practise.
 
This is brilliant! :scarf:It's funny 'cos a lot of what you guy's are saying is exactly what the Rushden fans were saying after 2 or three games last season. The lads have been together for a couple of months and only have a couple of "competitive" games behind them and we are all turning into Saint & Greavsie already!

I'm not worried, Ian is the man for the job and I'm sure he and the lads will deliver.

BTW Daisy Hill is a fantastic little club with a proper old fashioned clubhouse, well worth the trip out - see you all Saturday.
 
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