Crawley!
 

Big Ben benched again. Most strange.

Re: Crawley!
 

0-3

Re: Crawley!
 

As it stands this is a chuffin car crash!

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%^$#!&^%$#!!!..those gringey *******s have come 2 days early.

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I hate life.

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Dear John, before I decide whether to go to Carlisle, please can you tell me which team is playing? The first half team, or the second?

Re: Crawley!
 

Diabolical performance, the Crawley wingers were given freedom of the pitch, the whole team were Abysmal first 45 mins. we got a penalty end of the half and from Clayton End looked very fortunate to be converted.still suppose that and a bollocking inspired us for the second 45, plus the subs, we got exactly what we deserved imho. we are good enough to go up, but NOT consistent enough to do so.

Re: Crawley!
 

Not consistent because we don't consistently play our best team/formation?

Richards-Everton is our best player, Wilks a handful.

One of the most frustrating things was that McConville may have just as well as sat on the wall at the side first half. Clark only ever got the ball with his back to the play. That formation just doesn't work.

Re: Crawley!
 

Am I wrong in thinking that today's , and previous defeats, might just be due to the fact that the coaches of opposing teams seem to have realised that if their team are set out to bully the Reds then there is every chance of scoring against us and consequently taking the points ?..
Another plethora of yellow cards for Crawley this afternoon seems to point to this unattractive yet successful strategy of beating our team.

Or could it be that on the day they were merely better than us in midfield and on the wings ?.

Hope that Winston's words...." Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning "... dont apply !.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !

ON STANLEY... ON TO GREATER THINGS !

Re: Crawley!
 

I understand that had Stanley won, the Sports bar intended to sell all draught beer for £1 a pint.
Was this the reason the team decided to throw this game?
Why else would Jordan Clarke tap the ball gently into our own net, when under no real pressure.
Why else would our best defender be left on the bench?
Friends, I suspect a conspiracy to avoid giving us fans some Christmas cheer.
Instead, we decided to give Crawley an early Christmas present - gift wrapped & presented on a silver platter.
The handfull of Crawley fans must have thought they were playing a team of red-clad Santa's after going 3-0 up after 41 minutes.
Our defence was shambolic - due largely to the imbalance of putting the Don at left back in the first half.
After Big Ben took over & the Don moved back into his normal slot, things improved.
They improved even more when Big Ben showed our misfiring forwards how to put the ball in the opponents net.
Our midfield were absent-without-leave in the first half, and Crawley took full advantage. No one will convince me that Johnson is a better player than Nolan.
As for our forwards, they were completely innefective (again!) Had it not been for a lucky penalty & a full-backs goal it would have been humiliating.
In simple terms, the best team won today. They were quicker & more skilful & made us look third-rate for long periods.
There can be no excuses, we got what we deserved - sweet f.a!
And worse. No cheap beer!

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Something odd here, no-one's blamed the ref yet ......

Re: Crawley!
 

I have watched coley's post match report. He says the first half was his fault as he picked players and played some out of position? why we have enough on the bench to rotate. I have noticed a consistent lack ock of players who last season were pretty good. Johny Edwards is a brilliant striker but can't even get on the bench, Hayden Jackson has lost his scoring form yet is picked every match even when injured and shouldn't have played but Coley insisted on playing him. Billy needs to enter some diving competitions he was embarrassing at times again. We had better players on the bench today that could have done a better job. Ben Richards Everton on the bench. WTF is that about. When we need these players they are rusty and need a run of games to get the fitness level back up. The don had a nightmare first half. I am afraid Coley and Jimmy have to take the criticism for this embarrassment. If we are to go up this season then teams like Crawley, Lincoln, Guiseley. shouldn't be getting anywhere near us. Even when we cursed with a bad ref in these games we should be playing them off the park. I accept we have no right to win any game and I don't expect that. But to say crawley were better than us in the first half. NO They were not, we allowed them to walk all over us. I will say this, There has not been to the wham this season that were better than us when we are firing on all cylinders. This is 4 games lost but like Coley says we could easily win 4 on the spin. If we put any more performances like that out then We are going nowhere, Sorry but that is the truth. Wilks has not done much either, Rumours are that Everton have put a big bid in for him. He is a leeds player. Good luck to him if he does go.

Re: Crawley!
 

To be fair the ref had a decent game all round.

Re: Crawley!
 

You forgot to mention HAIRCUT dancing around in midfield like a fairy.

Re: Crawley!
 

Edwards has gone mate.
Thornily out for a few weeks he will be back to Sheffield shortly.
Wilks back to Leeds
Rawson not good enough.
Conneely not looking good might be another few weeks out.
Johnson ?
A big season defining January ahead.
Over to you Coley because today for the first time I blame you - crap tactics crap formation and crap selection of players in wrong positions.

Re: Crawley!
 

We will very likely be losing one of our own decent young uns in the near future.:(

Re: Crawley!
 

Don't know where to start, that has got to be one of the strangest games I've ever witnessed!
First half Crawley's pace was something our lads just couldn't cope with, some more than others but I'm not gonna single anyone out - enough to say that I hope I never witness another 45 minutes like it.
Second half we'd obviously had a rocket at half time & to be fair we reacted well, think maybe Crawley ran a little out of steam too & the match finally became a decent game of football but unfortunately we ran out of time to put things right.
Overall I reckon a draw would've been a fair result but it was not to be - positive reaction definitely needed at Carlisle please lads

Re: Crawley!
 

Doubt if it was a rocket. Coley clearly realised he'd ballsed up. Before the second half started I told the family/friends that had come with me (who could barely believe what they had just witnessed) that Coley had made the exact same changes I would have made (actually, slight exaggeration - I'd have taken Johnson off, but he did OK second half).

Wilks is a real boost to the team. He's tricky, he runs a lot, he's a decent footballer - he just needs to start scoring because he misses a lot. He will do well wherever he goes next. Hope he starts the games he has left.

Re: Crawley!
 

Personally think Wilks is knocked off the ball much to easy at this stage of his career.

Re: Crawley!
 

Before we start beating ourselves up too much - and recognising three defeats in a row is not good - half way through the season we are in a play-off place with a game in hand which, should we win it, would put us back in an automatic spot. Anyone who wouldn't have been happy with that situation, if offered it back in August?

Re: Crawley!
 

Conspiracy theories apart, you've got to feel sympathy for Jordan Clark.
He was clearly devastated by his o.g. & literally bust a gut in the 2nd half trying to make up for it.
Most of our best goal efforts came from the right wing, largely due to Jordan's speed, skill & 101% work rate.
On a more optimistic note, if we win our game-in-hand, we'll be back up to 3rd spot.
If? If? If?

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We where undo by good counter attacking and pace. Pace which Rawson and Hughes don't have. In January a position we could really do with improving is central midfield, over recent weeks I feel we have been losing out in this area (if there is a Matt crooks, amine linganzi we could afford) or could Liam Nolan come back in and fill the void? I would also like to see competition to kayden, I keep hoping things are going to click again but am getting concerned. On a more positive note, Chapman has stepped to command the goal keeper role and is vastly improved on early season.

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

Re: Crawley!
 

To me Coley made a huge mistake having 8 loan players when you can only play 5 hopefully he will correct this by bringing in plenty of new faces in January.

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We all make mistakes but I don't think having 8 rather than 5 loan players should be described as "huge".
I thought there was some rule change that meant many clubs had to 'over-load' (if that's how you want to term it) with loanees as, if 3 of the 5 got injured, they couldn't be replaced.
But if having too many loanees is a problem, bringing in more new faces may not solve it. There are some squad players who haven't really had a crack of the whip, or who picked up injuries when they got their limited chance to show what they can do.

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first half we looked tike relagation fodder, second half looked like promotion candidates. what was the difference, a more balanced side. funny how when we were doing well nolan was in the side now he,s not well we know whats happened.

Re: Crawley!
 

Chevyfire - yup, a good midfielder would be a big boost - no doubt about it. If not, then we need to play better as a team like we did in the second half. I thought Brown (as an example) looked far, far more effective second half as one cog in the machine. First half his limited skills meant nowt happened for us. Wide men never brought into the game, Jackson had nowt to run into etc.

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Think the big difference in the 2nd half was restoring Richards-Everton at the back.
He allowed the Don to feed Clark on the right & for the first time we started to cause Crawley real problems.
Our attacks down the flanks has always been our greatest threat.
Agree 100% with Chevyfire. Chapman has gone from zero to hero this season

Re: Crawley!
 

anyone who attended the match like to give me there thoughts on Crawley as a team?
how they rack against other teams we have faced this season?

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You've only got to review their results. Great against the better sides crap
against the lower sides.
Work that one out.

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if that was the case it should have been us with a 3 goal lead not them.

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We're not a crap side far from it.

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We were against Crawley.

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Only for first 45 minutes, then a game of football broke out :rolleyes:

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I thought only about 25 mins in second half.