Exeter (Hive) The Ex in the City Match Thread

[Mersault]

10 mins before the equaliser we needs a change. JCR couldn't track his runners and the management seem to cowed to make the big call and drag him. Instead they wait until we concede, ultimately poor from them.
Fantastic game of football otherwise. Good luck to Exeter.

[#Beebot]

Sounds like another decent display but we do need to make better use of the squad I think. We could have started Bover and Fonguck today to ease some of the fitness worries.

I think we may also need to look at the free transfer market for a DM, RB and possibly some additional CB cover. It won't be long before Mauro and the Taylors are absolutely shattered.

[BeesKnees]

From Exeter Forum
'In the lead up to our second, I dont know why Barnet didnt get a free kick when their defender nearly had both legs amputated below the knee, but I'll take it. Excellent officials!'

[Barnetchris]

Just can't believe we lost that game, we looked like Brazil up to 70 mins and then we just run out of energy.
The whole team was excellent and Mauro was sensational, if we play like that each week, it's definitely the play-offs maybe even automatic.
I'm disappointed we lost but excited about this team and what is to come. Not many teams will be able to handle us if we continue like this, but we've got to sort out our defending crosses as this is our downfall at the moment.

[John_c]

10 mins before the equaliser we needs a change. JCR couldn't track his runners and the management seem to cowed to make the big call and drag him. Instead they wait until we concede, ultimately poor from them.
Fantastic game of football otherwise. Good luck to Exeter.

To be fair they were trying to make a sub for a good few minutes prior to the equaliser.

[Chesterfield Bee]

I did think we took an awful long time for goal kicks ( the Exeter fans counting at one point) and throw ins, the general time wasting we love when we do it and hate when other teams do. The ref was clearly signalling he was making a note of the time wasting, and in the end we paid the price. Overall all though agree with other posters here. Far more positives than negatives tonight.

[let_it_bee]

Hard to take after we played such good football for long periods. I'm sure any neutral would agree that a draw would have been the fairest result. But we do seem to have this achilles heal of not being able to defend set pieces, despite the fact that we surely have enough height back there. Combine that with giving away soft and needless free kicks that allow for the delivery of those set pieces and it's a recipe for trouble. Some intensive work needed on that on the training ground in the coming days. Other than that I refuse to be downhearted after such a splendid game of football. I don't think we're far off being genuine promotion challengers.

[mcleod23]

Played well for 70 minutes and then went long ball.

Changes should have been made sooner as covered above, Rossi needs to be bold.

Pity one of the two chances didn't go in straight after 1-0.

Not keeping clean sheets is our downfall currently.

[djhdjh]

We played really well against the league leaders and a team that I expect will comfortably get automatic promotion for 60 minutes. We played well by pressing really hard. At some point you have to pay the price for that and we did by running out of legs. We need to work out how to close games out once that happens. A stronger bench once people get back from injuries, a bit more experience on the pitch and some more work on how to defend when sitting a bit deeper will all help.

But above all I hope the players don't lose heart. We are playing some terrific stuff and if we keep at it we will do well.

[StephenM]

There is a cancer within this club that keeps us with this negative mind frame and it just doesn't seem to change.
.

If only we all had your positivity I'm sure things will change.

[foxy]

Why didn't Rossi change it earlier!!!!!!!!!

So disappointing in the end... Would have happily taken a point prematch but to lose at the death was just horrible

Cannot understand why JCR was not taken off and given a breather..... He was a headless chicken in the 2nd half...

Our set pieces were appalling all evening and we should have brought Bover on for the last 30-35 minutes. The team looked exhausted and we played into their hands. Hopefully a learning curve for the boss but when the team tires.... change in man!!!!

[foxy]

An overnight stay in Carlisle for the team would be far more important in my eyes

Surely you can afford to pay for the whole team and management's hotel bill?

Excuse me?

[jamiefrbees]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a Barnet side play such confident, silky football as that in my 15 or so years watching the club

Disastrous result in the context. We had far more clear cut chances and so very nearly went 2-0 up

Agreed this side is destined for play-offs minimum, and very capable of 3rd automatic spot. If Exeter are the run away champs there is nothing to be afraid of - for the 3rd game running we made the opposing time have 'an off day'. For 70 minutes they were incredibly wound up.

Well done Rossi Eames and all the players, you are doing a fantastic job. Keep it up.

[WhetstoneBee]

Tonight exposed the problems we are all aware of: that when you come up against good teams you need someone who is capable of sitting in front of the defence and brekaing up play, and right now we haven't got one. The amount of space their players were getting outside our box was crazy and in the end we couldn't cope with it. In the second half Exeter were all over us and deserved their win in the end. It's all well and good playing beautiful flowing football but you also need the ability to stop other teams doing it. Ross kept us in it for a while but truth be told I thought they were good value for the win.

Clearly Exeter are a very good team but if we want to compete this season then we have to be able to stop the better teams from dominating us, and in the second half tonight we couldn't. I think they won almost every second ball from around 60 minutes onwards.

Also some concerns about the game management tonight. Tisdale made the sub, putting an extra man in midfield, and it radically changed the game in their favour. Rossi was very, very slow to respond and only did so when it was too late (and even then it didn't work; it was clear we needed an extra player in the middle, not just a straight swap of Fonguck for J Taylor). As for tiredness, people have said before that our players do not look fit enough. Young players should be able to play two games a week. Exeter's could, ours struggled.

Lastly, how many times are we going to concede from set pieces this season? It was a problem during Rossi's first spell last season and has already become one this season. Needs to be stamped out immediately because it's happening far too often.

On the positive side, we played some excellent football and are clearly confident going forward, creating several changes (although again not clinical enough in front of goal). Great to see Akinde back too, even if he will take a while to get up to speed. No cause to panic just yet but there are consistent problems that need addresing. For all our good attacking play, we have kept just one clean sheet in ten games and teams will be coming up against us confident that they will get at least one goal.

[BeesKnees99]

Absolutely fuming we have lost this game today.

Gutted we lost at the death.

On a positive note, Shaq is in fantastic form and long may it continue.

Predicting a draw at Carlisle and a win at home to Crawley...


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