robin_unreliant

I do wonder if our ex-manager was unpopular amongst the ref community. Seemed a real anomaly.

I also thought young Tanner defended very well against Clarke, one of their best attackers. Had a solid game, despite some of the stick he gets on this forum.

Doesn't this belong in the ex-managers thread mods? So can just be for other people still obsessed with LJ.

Alternative is to hoof it and lose possession. We just need to be better at it.

Pretty much the best team available I'd say. No complaints from me.

Are we creating any more chances than we were under Nige though? I think I saw a post saying xG has hardly changed. In which case you can't pin the worse PPG on them, it is more about letting in more goals. Whether that is down to the changes made by LM or just worse performance by individual players is quite hard for me, as an average fan, to fathom.

Yeah, I do wonder if the players are actually doing what LM is asking them to. Maybe, under pressure, they revert to their comfort zone. It's not like he can drop them en masse as the squad is too small. Comments by Naismith on RTV suggested what he was seeing wasn't what they did in training. All of which makes you wonder if LM is failing to take the players with him.

From what I remember they were mostly saying that what they were seeing didn't match what was happening in training. Naismith was very critical of Max constantly humping it long and for players not moving into space to make options for a pass. He said they needed to be braver It was exactly what I would've said. However it seemed more critical of the players than the coach.

Biggest concern for me is that NP seemed to have tightened up the defence but now we are back to letting in soft goals. With a misfiring attack that is a recipe for a slide down the table.

A shitload of defenders and not one jumps!

This.

I would see 6 points from the next 5 games. That could put us a lot closer to the relegation than playoff zone. Get ready for a meltdown on OTIB.

Did we get compensation for him from Burnley? Looked on several transfer sites and they all show it as a Free Transfer. I don't recall hearing anything from the club confirming a compo number.

I agree with this, we look a bit more prone to conceding when the ball is turned over. Opposition coaches will be getting an idea of how LM sets us up now and potentially will exploit it in future.

Wasn't the stodgy element due to NP trying to play a style that reduced the impact of individual errors? By playing deeper and counter-attacking we were a bit more solid - or stodgy in your terms. My concern with the way we're playing now is when we lose the ball we look more likely to concede. Swings and roundabouts I guess. While it is good to see us attack more often, reverting to giving away soft goals just leaves me frustrated and a bit fed up of the same old weaknesses coming back to the fore.

W.T.A.F Sykes off makes no sense unless he's carrying an injury.

Exactly. Nige was being pragmatic with what he'd been allowed to spend.

Point I made earlier. Nige gave up on three at the back because we leaked goals. It was when he switched to a back four that things improved. We're just going back there it seems.

Bear in mind that was our good half....

Sykes is wasted in this team. Forget Bell and Conway, he'll be the next nest egg enhancer.

Did you have to

Did we not come to the conclusion under NP that this squad really doesn't suit three at the back?

I'm thinking if you swapped Bell and Sykes in your lineup it would make some sense imho.

If that's the case I suggest he stops looking down at the data on his tablet and tries looking at the bloody pitch.

The car parks in Exeter now have a two hour minimum stay at £3.50. For me to go in from Cullompton it is only £2 each way on a bus but it takes fifty minutes to get there. They are planning to reopen the train station here in a couple of years but these things always take soooo long. They were talking about it when I moved here ten years ago!