Last night at Brentford has got to be the turning point...

I was at the Brentford game last night (and yes, I did wonder why I'd bothgered), so here are a few observations:

Alnwick: During the warm up he didn't look like he could cleanly catch the ball. Doesn't seem to have the physical stature nor the presence of a top class 'keeper.

Brentford looked dangerous only from set pieces during the first half. A couple of free kicks around the box and the rocket throw-ins launched from Hunt.

First half, all-in-all even stevens.

We should have learnt from threat of the throw-ins. Sooner or later one was going to cause a problem and so it proved.

Up 'til then, defensively we looked OK. Doc and Askou look like they'll form an adequate enough pairing for this level. Spillane worked hard, but was woefully short of attacking skill in the opponent's half (as well as support - but I'll come onto that later).

Drury - draw your own conclusions.

Mid-field - this was the biggest let down of all. We were out-battled, out-thought, out-positioned, out-maneouvred and out-played by a Brentford quartet that were conspicuously ordinary, even by Conference standards. Countless times, the ball broke and we simply weren't at the races.

Gill, OTJ, Whaley and Hoolahan were unbalanced, short of pace, physically diminuitive and they lacked invention, movement off the ball and cohesion.

McDonald - busy but ineffective.

Holt - big, strong, threatening forward. Positive in attack, but lacked service and support throughout.

All told, it was a woeful performance. For long stretches, specially in the second half when we needed a response we were leaderless, out-played, out-gunned (no pun intended) and out-muscled. We are a very poor, below average team at the moment, and the sooner people accept this, the less they will be disappointed.

Expectation from the stands is out of kilter with what this team is capable of providing. Those idiots chanting "Sack the Board" ought to be ashamed of themselves. Either get behind the team, or get lost!

In summary, it's going to be a difficult few months. On this form, can we boucne back? - it'll be very difficult - that's about as positive as it gets.

As a team, we were bereft of basic any footballing skill, which means keeping possession, inventive movement off the ball, playing it through mid-field, getting it out wide and putting good quality, accurate balls into the danger area.

At 1-nil down, we never looked like we could respond. No skill, no desire, no cohesion, no inventiveness, no leader, no idea... no hope.

Posted By: Friar Tuck, Aug 19, 12:26:22