Ratings v Mansfield

[Oforever]

Well didn't see us getting 3 today but really well done to the team and to 4 4 2.

Brill 7 little to do and no chance with the pens
Ling 6 improved second half with a few good crosses
Widdowson 6 caught out of position a few times
Happe 6 good in air unlucky to be taken off
Ekpetita 7 defended well distribution poor at times
Coulson 8 usual strong commanding self
Clay 8 strong all game ran everywhere mom
Wright 7 good game alongside Clay
Brophy 6 caused them problems lacked support at times
Angol 7 like him holds ball and runs at people. Good he scored
Wilkinson 6 glad he scored won a lot of aerial battles

subs
Dennis 8 they were scared of him caused problems all half.

Ref 3 not sure what I can say about him. Two of the softest pens you will ever see spoilt game but who cares now?

[Scuba Diver]

Cheers.
Thought Clay was absolutely non-stop. Couple of misplaced passes, but gave absolutely everything.
Dennis seemed to change the game.

[CreamofSumYungGai]

Difficult to rate as watching on the link and you don’t get the full picture, plus two completely different performances 1st and 2nd half, so only comments I’d make are:

Ling and Widdowson don’t have the attacking quality to play wingbacks. Both got enough opportunities but failed to deliver, they just can’t cross. The one positive was Lingy was openingbhis body up forwards when receiving the ball rather than going backwards.

Coulson had a great game, very commanding again.

Clay got through so much work. He also looked better on the ball second half, with more flair players around him he was able to do the simple stuff and let them create.

Angol was MOTM, the bloke is some player. He’s also got a great attitude and work ethic to go with his ability. I really rate him.

[jamespevans]

Difficult to rate as watching on the link and you don’t get the full picture, plus two completely different performances 1st and 2nd half, so only comments I’d make are:

Ling and Widdowson don’t have the attacking quality to play wingbacks. Both got enough opportunities but failed to deliver, they just can’t cross. The one positive was Lingy was openingbhis body up forwards when receiving the ball rather than going backwards.

Coulson had a great game, very commanding again.

Clay got through so much work. He also looked better on the ball second half, with more flair players around him he was able to do the simple stuff and let them create.

Angol was MOTM, the bloke is some player. He’s also got a great attitude and work ethic to go with his ability. I really rate him.

If we do revert to 4-4-2 Ling still worries me. For the first 10/15 minutes of the second half, after we'd made the change, he seemed to be tucking in as an extra CB leaving masses of room down their left hand side.

[o-no]

Difficult to rate as watching on the link and you don’t get the full picture, plus two completely different performances 1st and 2nd half, so only comments I’d make are:

Ling and Widdowson don’t have the attacking quality to play wingbacks. Both got enough opportunities but failed to deliver, they just can’t cross. The one positive was Lingy was openingbhis body up forwards when receiving the ball rather than going backwards.

Coulson had a great game, very commanding again.

Clay got through so much work. He also looked better on the ball second half, with more flair players around him he was able to do the simple stuff and let them create.

Angol was MOTM, the bloke is some player. He’s also got a great attitude and work ethic to go with his ability. I really rate him.

If we do revert to 4-4-2 Ling still worries me. For the first 10/15 minutes of the second half, after we'd made the change, he seemed to be tucking in as an extra CB leaving masses of room down their left hand side.

Yes, if their number 3 could shoot it would have been all over

[CreamofSumYungGai]

The space down our right at the start of the second half was because we were 4-3-3.

If we’d been 4-4-2, it wouldn’t have been an issue.

Ling wasn’t bad enough to warrant being dropped last night.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Watched on TV so same as COSYG really...cant properly judge.


Some thoughts. Thought we looked naive again defensively in the first half, ala Macclesfield. Long balls over the top, or straight balls down the middle, catching us out. The first pen was a ball straight through our midfield. Coulson was well out of position, and Marv didnt react fast enough. Clumsy. The second pen was coming. They had 3 or 4 appeals and they were getting in behind Widdowson over and over. I thought it was soft but naive and stupid to test a ref who's already given one pen, by putting your hands all over someone as they are going well away from goal.

I thought they'd get a third and kill us but the formation change changed the game around. I was worried after 5 mins as they had loads of space down our right but wasted their chances and then barley got in our half.

It's strange that in all of our league games this season, we've dominated possession. Whether thats because teams are happy for us to have it, thinking we wont break them down, or we have some dominant players for this level, i dont know.

When Dennis came on he fluffed two balls in good positions and i thought, here we go again. But he got 2 assists (albeit the second one he very nearly had miss of the century) and grew into the game.

Second half, we finally attacked with speed and purpose. Clay and Wright were controlling things, laying it off and running forward, and Angol and Wilko finally clicked. Thought Wilko had a terrible first half but his link up play was really good second half and the goal was really well taken and he was sharp to get there.

Great win that i really hope will start our season, but now it's all about Saturday and keeping that momentum going.

[eagwgw]

Can't comment for last night, but not really a surprise at possession stats, most of the players are no-risk, with the wide players passing it back inside instead of taking a risk, hoping to develop some play that gets them a better position instead of making one for themselves. Only Brophy differed in that respect. So that has resulted so far in more possession than the opposition but in not threatening areas.

It was a bold move last night to go at half-time, the blessing was that the penalties came early in the game, they didn't go 3-0 up, which forced the change with plenty of time left.

We were never in the game at Plymouth, but it was 0-0 at half-time so the change didn't come until the 70th minute. We were outplayed, but I do wonder how much of that was simply our own doing.

A gut feeling says that opening up to 4 at the back and putting an attacker on instead will get us more goals, but also leave us a bit vulnerable at the back. Being exposed for pace out wide is more costly, and Marv aside I think we're lacking that overall.

Hopefully Palmer starts up front for them on Saturday, I feel that he is easier to keep quiet than a pacy striker.

[Max B Gold]

Plus Palmer couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

[bobo66]

Plus Palmer couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

Well he's bound to score now!

[Max B Gold]

Plus Palmer couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

Well he's bound to score now!

Relax I saw him at Carlisle one Tuesday night a few years ago and apart from running around a lot and scoring a cracking goal he was rubbish.

For completeness I also saw Cureton score for us at Carlisle and what did he ever achieve in the game?

[BrendO]

My ratings here: https://therealefl.co.uk/2019/08/21/man ... the-stags/

[Milo_T]

My ratings here: https://therealefl.co.uk/2019/08/21/man ... the-stags/

Most of these seem accurate but not sure Dennis and jmd deserve the same rating. Dennis changed the game when he came on where as jmd did nothing other than lie of the ground and get a lucky deflection. Doesn't seem fair

[BrendO]

My ratings here: https://therealefl.co.uk/2019/08/21/man ... the-stags/

Most of these seem accurate but not sure Dennis and jmd deserve the same rating. Dennis changed the game when he came on where as jmd did nothing other than lie of the ground and get a lucky deflection. Doesn't seem fair

That rating was slightly tongue in cheek, due to the fact JMD got the winner with his one and only touch.

[essexfootball]

Brill 7 - Run of the mill really, came for one cross really
Ling 6.5 - Not sure what happened first 15 of the second half as the right side didn't seem to exist, apart from that pretty solid
Coulson 7 - Reliable
Epe 6 - Gave away the questionable penalty, settled down second half, came out with the ball a few time nicely from the back
Widdowson 6 - Never a pen for me, same as Ling pretty solid nothing spectacular
Clay 7 - Tons of running, box to box, faultless really effort wise
Brophy 6 - Very tidy and lively but not really much there at times
Wright 7 - Got the ball more second half and made things tick
Wilkinson 7 - First half looked like he should be in the conference, once he actually had players closer to him looked more comfortable, took his diving header well, I'm still not sure how good he actually is and whether he wins that much but his workrate and effort is great, if the attack can tick he may become that player is the folly for the rest
Angol 8 - Looks a footballer, every time he gets the ball you feel like something might happen, got his goal, basically setup the last one and I think got the knock back for the second

Dennis 9 - Came on, added width, was lively, in the right positions too when needed, I think he is a bit Koroma in that he will frustrate but leaves defenders not knowing what he will do
Gorman - 7 hard to rate
JMD 9 - Perfect sub at the perfect time, easy saying he got a tap in but you've got to be there and gamble

[Lucky7]

JMD 9 - Perfect sub at the perfect time, easy saying he got a tap in but you've got to be there and gamble

A 9 for scoring the winner
So if Dennis had got the last touch then what Essex a 10 and JMD a n/a cos he didn’t get enough minutes
Unbelievable Jeff

[bobo66]

JMD 9 - Perfect sub at the perfect time, easy saying he got a tap in but you've got to be there and gamble
[/quote]

To be fair, I'm not really sure you can call that a tap in - it hit him, but who cares.

[Chief crazy horse]

Anyone know the last time we were 2-0 down at half time, and then go on to win the match?

[MrB]

Anyone know the last time we were 2-0 down at half time, and then go on to win the match?

I don’t even think we did that in the conference

[Lucky7]

Anyone know the last time we were 2-0 down at half time, and then go on to win the match?

Google knows the answer

[Chief crazy horse]

Anyone know the last time we were 2-0 down at half time, and then go on to win the match?

I don’t even think we did that in the conference

Hillarious.

[tuffers#1]

I wonder if some mansfield lag will write a poem
Like someone did a few years back for us .

An Ode to Scunny .

[MrB]

Anyone know the last time we were 2-0 down at half time, and then go on to win the match?

I don’t even think we did that in the conference

Hillarious.

Why is it hilarious?? I just can’t remember if there was a game where we went 2 down in the conference then come back to win 3-2..what’s the problem?

[Tom Chance]

Difficult to rate as watching on the link and you don’t get the full picture, plus two completely different performances 1st and 2nd half, so only comments I’d make are:

Ling and Widdowson don’t have the attacking quality to play wingbacks. Both got enough opportunities but failed to deliver, they just can’t cross. The one positive was Lingy was openingbhis body up forwards when receiving the ball rather than going backwards.

Coulson had a great game, very commanding again.

[b]Clay got through so much work. He also looked better on the ball second half, with more flair players around him he was able to do the simple stuff and let them create.
[/b]
Angol was MOTM, the bloke is some player. He’s also got a great attitude and work ethic to go with his ability. I really rate him.

Was you feeling ok this morning or did you have a few celebratory ones last night? You praised Clay here and even said Ling doesn't deserve to be dropped in a later post.

[CreamofSumYungGai]

I think the manner of last nights victory has gone to my head. I’m sure normal service will be resumed after Saturday.