Post by tufc01 on Dec 27, 2011 11:29:16 GMT
A cracking game and I thought a well deserved 3 points.
A game of two halves, as they say, as I thought we played them off the park in the first half and then they laid siege to our goal in the second half.
A really bright start from us appeared to catch Swindon on the back foot to which they didn't recover from for the rest of that period. Judging by Di Canio's antics he must have tore into them at half time and to be fair they did come out looking a better side second half.
I thought we passed the ball around magnificently in that first 45 minutes, movement on and off the ball was good and we created a few half chances before Atieno's goal. I have been one of his biggest critics (still not convinced about him) but all credit to him as I thought he had a very good 45 minutes. In that time he held the ball up well and contributed to the game. He looked up for the challenge and after his goal his confidence visibly increased. He was also unlucky with a great shot in the second half which took a brilliant save from their keeper to keep them in the game. He went off the boil for the next 20 minutes, until he was rightly substituted, but we could say that he was tired after not getting much match time. It will be interesting to see how he plays against Oxford, but I would be more than happy if he repeats his first half performance again.
Another one I was unsure about was Morris, but I also thought he played well for the first hour, until he also tired. Will be interesting to see if Bodin gets back into the starting line up on saturday, i suspect not. One reason for starting with Morris is that Bodin will be gone in two games time, so we might as well at least Start with Morris if thats how it is going to be for the rest of the season, Bodin can always come on as a sub if it isn't working, but if Morris is to be the new man then he must start.
Quite rightly there is a massive amount of praise for the back 5, but for me yesterdays MoM and a highly under rated/most improved player is Lathrope. I thought he was outstanding. If you get chance over the next few games just watch him as much as you can and see the amount of work he puts in, how many challenges he makes, how many decent balls he plays. His was the sublime pass that put Atieno if for that chance early in the second half. His performance contributed greatly to our clean sheet as his gets back and defends just in front of the back four, breaks up a lot of their play and forces them to go wide. There were a couple of occasions when he showed a burst of speed that I didn't think he had in him. I bet he cover as much of the pitch as Mansell does. I really like the midfield 3 of O'Kane, Mansell and Lathrope, they compliment each other perfectly.
O'kane was pretty quiet yesterday I thought, whilst Manse had his 'usual' game.
Stevens was another who had a quietish game, he looked good on the ball but weak off it, good time to substitute him with LRT injecting a bit more strength into the battle that was at that stage. The frustrating thing about Stevens is his tendency to drift inside. We already have 3 in the middle when he drifts in it makes it overcrowded, especially when there is acres of space out wide. That said he is still enjoying his best period since he joined.
Another who had a very good game and has come on in leaps and bounds this season is Oastler. He has made that position his own with commanding performances like yesterdays, solid if not spectacular, but made some telling challenges and his positional awareness is getting better with each game.
Robertson & Nicholson also played very well and Olejnik was superb, which at least 2/3 great saves, with the only blot a couple of weak punches, but overall kept us in the game.
Lets not forget Ling and the part he has played so far this season. I was undecided when he was appointed, definitely not in the anti-ling camp that started before he even took over, but still surprised that he one the one who got the job. Massive, fan of his now. Love his after match interviews, honest and genuine and tells it exactly the way everyone sees it. If you get chance listen to his interview on Radio Devon after the game and then listen to Tisdales, then look at the results and see if they make sense. It always takes us an hour to get home from games so we always get chance to listen to the post match interviews, Tisdale we deserved at least a point, if not more' pretty much after every game they lose, Buckle the same when we lost, sometimes I used to wonder if I seen the same game, but Ling's comments always reflect the way we played, whether it was good or bad.
He obviously knows the players well and their strengths and weaknesses. I genuinely couldn't see past a Swindon win yesterday, unbeaten in 15 games, shite loads of money, good players, large squad, top 4 team, against a team spanked at Accrington in the previous game and without 2 key players, but that just goes to show what I know about football. So massive hats off to Ling for getting the game plan, formations, tactics, substitutions and everything else spot on, with a small bit of luck as well.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable day and a well deserved 3 points.
A game of two halves, as they say, as I thought we played them off the park in the first half and then they laid siege to our goal in the second half.
A really bright start from us appeared to catch Swindon on the back foot to which they didn't recover from for the rest of that period. Judging by Di Canio's antics he must have tore into them at half time and to be fair they did come out looking a better side second half.
I thought we passed the ball around magnificently in that first 45 minutes, movement on and off the ball was good and we created a few half chances before Atieno's goal. I have been one of his biggest critics (still not convinced about him) but all credit to him as I thought he had a very good 45 minutes. In that time he held the ball up well and contributed to the game. He looked up for the challenge and after his goal his confidence visibly increased. He was also unlucky with a great shot in the second half which took a brilliant save from their keeper to keep them in the game. He went off the boil for the next 20 minutes, until he was rightly substituted, but we could say that he was tired after not getting much match time. It will be interesting to see how he plays against Oxford, but I would be more than happy if he repeats his first half performance again.
Another one I was unsure about was Morris, but I also thought he played well for the first hour, until he also tired. Will be interesting to see if Bodin gets back into the starting line up on saturday, i suspect not. One reason for starting with Morris is that Bodin will be gone in two games time, so we might as well at least Start with Morris if thats how it is going to be for the rest of the season, Bodin can always come on as a sub if it isn't working, but if Morris is to be the new man then he must start.
Quite rightly there is a massive amount of praise for the back 5, but for me yesterdays MoM and a highly under rated/most improved player is Lathrope. I thought he was outstanding. If you get chance over the next few games just watch him as much as you can and see the amount of work he puts in, how many challenges he makes, how many decent balls he plays. His was the sublime pass that put Atieno if for that chance early in the second half. His performance contributed greatly to our clean sheet as his gets back and defends just in front of the back four, breaks up a lot of their play and forces them to go wide. There were a couple of occasions when he showed a burst of speed that I didn't think he had in him. I bet he cover as much of the pitch as Mansell does. I really like the midfield 3 of O'Kane, Mansell and Lathrope, they compliment each other perfectly.
O'kane was pretty quiet yesterday I thought, whilst Manse had his 'usual' game.
Stevens was another who had a quietish game, he looked good on the ball but weak off it, good time to substitute him with LRT injecting a bit more strength into the battle that was at that stage. The frustrating thing about Stevens is his tendency to drift inside. We already have 3 in the middle when he drifts in it makes it overcrowded, especially when there is acres of space out wide. That said he is still enjoying his best period since he joined.
Another who had a very good game and has come on in leaps and bounds this season is Oastler. He has made that position his own with commanding performances like yesterdays, solid if not spectacular, but made some telling challenges and his positional awareness is getting better with each game.
Robertson & Nicholson also played very well and Olejnik was superb, which at least 2/3 great saves, with the only blot a couple of weak punches, but overall kept us in the game.
Lets not forget Ling and the part he has played so far this season. I was undecided when he was appointed, definitely not in the anti-ling camp that started before he even took over, but still surprised that he one the one who got the job. Massive, fan of his now. Love his after match interviews, honest and genuine and tells it exactly the way everyone sees it. If you get chance listen to his interview on Radio Devon after the game and then listen to Tisdales, then look at the results and see if they make sense. It always takes us an hour to get home from games so we always get chance to listen to the post match interviews, Tisdale we deserved at least a point, if not more' pretty much after every game they lose, Buckle the same when we lost, sometimes I used to wonder if I seen the same game, but Ling's comments always reflect the way we played, whether it was good or bad.
He obviously knows the players well and their strengths and weaknesses. I genuinely couldn't see past a Swindon win yesterday, unbeaten in 15 games, shite loads of money, good players, large squad, top 4 team, against a team spanked at Accrington in the previous game and without 2 key players, but that just goes to show what I know about football. So massive hats off to Ling for getting the game plan, formations, tactics, substitutions and everything else spot on, with a small bit of luck as well.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable day and a well deserved 3 points.
