Exeter (Hive) The Ex in the City Match Thread

[BigBee]

We need to find a way of playing out from the
back, when we are under pressure from constant
bombardment.

At the moment we just clear the ball from defence
any way we can and it tends to come straight back.

This is a hangover from how Martin's teams
defended a lead.

We put ourselves under pressure and even Cambridge
sensed that we were wobbling, unless we are two up,
as against Cambridge, then inviting pressure
inevitably leads to a goal.

[jamiefrbees]

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.

Sorry to say I disagree with it. They had a couple of chances yes, but until Jack Taylor gave the ball away in a dangerous position it looked like we had well weathered the storm and were going to hold out.

In the end a glitch from one of our fantastic, yet slightly less experienced players let Exeter into the game, rather than any lack of tactical nous.

We'll never know but had Jack just booted the ball upfield I genuinely think we would have taken all 3 points, as does Rossi by the looks of the way he threw his bottle down in frustration

[Jimbokav1971]

Barnet are probably the best opposition team I've seen do far this season. Hopefully after all that effort they'll runout of steam.

Quite wet here with noticeable wind.

Which is exactly what happened.

Trouble free pictures on iFollow. Good game to watch. Barnet look a very lovely side and we can be pleased to go in evens. They have certainly had the best chances with Pym making 3-4 smart stops. We've held them well though and I hope we can turn on the turbo in the second half. Stockley for McAlinden would be my shout.

goal to barnet really good goal well worked not much we could do

Their No 20 Vilhete looks a live wire.

Really good 2nd half so far, they are really strong in defensive mid, excellent in fact but we are getting back in this. Macca played a superb pass to Reid who couldn'; control it when it looked easy but it is raining !

But I didn't think we had a DM?

This point will be like gold dust if we get over the line.

A point would be good here. Don't blow it now by going hell for leather for a winner

Outstanding result against a more than useful Barnet.

Pym MoM, James brilliant again, Woodman very good except on their goal, McAlinden ran like hell and Reid should have scored off his brilliant run and pass. Reuben didn't have a great game but he scores, typical. Jake Taylor played really well too. And Boateng and Stockley did well coming on. Barnet were tough as nails and we still did 'em!

Was able to watch live, one benefit of being abroad, for sixty mins we were second best. The start of the second half we weren't even in the game, then on came Boateng. This guy is fearless.

We went to a flat back three he sat in front and basically bossed the midfield, running at Barnet at every opportunity. Once we had more time on the ball we started to play our game, Barnet had no answer. Credit to Tis he made the chsngesnd it worked, and great to see we can adapt and get a result.

Until his goal Ruben drifted in and out of the game but if he's scoring we can't argue, Stockley looked mobile and quick. Great saves from Pym to keep us in it. Still plenty we can improve on, we were second to the ball for two thirds of the game as Barnet had done their homework on closing us down.

But 19pts, top, and six above the playoffs, happy days.

Indeed it was a brave save. I was expecting to see the net bulge there! Pym made one or two top class saves too, and made things look easy. We only had one or two noteworthy efforts on target, and Barnet must feel they should have got something. As it was our two were somewhat scambled goals, but its goals that count! I didnt see that ending coming.

An excellent game of football, one of the best I have seen for many years. Barnet were excellent for 75 minutes and gave us a really thorough test. To have Akinde, who scored shedloads last season on the bench, shows they have got firepower and Akpa-Akro and Coulthirst gave us all sorts of issues all night, backed up by a very tight midfield 4 who gave us precious little space.

In summary, possibly un-done by half of our 1st Team being out injured? Not because the replacements weren't good enough, but that we weren't able to freshen things up either before the game or from the bench.

I'm still feeling very positive.

[ninestein]

The fitness issue may come into play. When you have a lot of youngsters out there that can sometimes show. They are prone to burn-out especially if they are being relied upon every game. We really need some of our experienced pros back. We needed fresh legs in the middle. Wesley got the nod, but when we're up against it how good would Weston have been to call upon?

Good to see John back in the fold. He got 20 mins in. Try and give him a little more at Carlisle, then fingers crosses he could be pushing to start the weekend after.

Just a word on Hirem Boeteng. That's the sort of player we needed to find as a DM. Physically strong, and capable of bringing the ball forward and dictating a game. He played against us in the PSF for Palace a couple of years ago. I was surprised he came to our division on loan to Plymouth. He looked very assertive.

[jerroll]

Good game and agree with jimbo that the players missing hindered us more in bench options than from the start.

[Bee Reasonable]

Very disappointing ending, but another positive performance against a good looking side, which bodes well for the future. Exeter brought on two subs, who were amongst their best players on the night and we seemed to have run out of steam slightly.

Should Rossi have changed it earlier? Possibly, but it didn't really look like Bover's type of game, so bench options were limited with so many out. I can understand why he delayed it, given that, even when Exeter got on top, we were not, initially, conceding many chances,

Should the change have been Fonguck for a forward? Again, possibly, but that might have decreased the chances of relieving the pressure by playing in their half, or scoring, as we successfully did on Saturday. I don't think that is really Rossi's way and I don't think that is a bad thing. I've seen nothing to suggest that we have intentionally sat back and tried to protect a lead this season as we did - sometimes successfully, sometimes not - under Allen.

Do we concede too many from set pieces? Well, yes we do, but I'm not sure it is generally a organisational problem, as much as having a relatively small team. We have to reduce the number of silly free-kicks given away in our half, though.

It's unfortunate that a couple of decisions went against us towards the end - Clough looked like he was tripped by our by-line, although I was a long way away: they got a corner; Akinde was denied an obvious corner, when even if the ref didn't see it clearly, he should have heard that it was more than one contact. That's the way it goes, sometimes, but it probably cost us a point last night.

[BeesKnees]

I didn't go, but it sounded pretty clear from the commentary that our players were fading just as they were able to make strong subs in midfield, we couldn't handle it. We had no one capable of replacing either wing back and apart from Fonguck no one capable of defensive duties in midfield.
Tired legs playing into the wind against a top side in this division who have a manager with the know how to change it exposed our weaknesses.

Our bench was clearly weak, other than a returning to fitness Akinde, Bover was the only experienced player on the bench and I suspect a wet and windy night was not particularly suited to him. We really shouldn't be disheartened by what sounded like a fantastic performance for 60-70 minutes.

Get Weston and Blackman back in the next 2 games and suffer no more injuries, I suspect last night is the kind of game we would've seen out.

My only disappointment was that it was immediately clear their subs had changed the game in their favour and Rossi took over 15 minutes to make the changes. Fonguck should definitely have been on sooner, but part of the problem was that in the 5 minute period between Rossi making the decision and the goal being scored, the ball didn't go out of play.

Onwards and upwards. May the excellent football continue.

[ninestein]

Aside from the match, did anyone manage to find out about Tarpey's injury?
Jamie Stephens was in the bar beforehand chatting to a few of us but didn't have any news for us.

[Jon83]

Until 60 mins we were toying with them but couldn't find the killer 2nd goal. Exeter then made a change and put Hirem Boeteng in midfield. After that they saw more of the ball. Ross made a couple of excellent saves.

A poor pass by Jack led to tbe first. Shame because he'd played so well. He just looked knackered. John looked short of fitness but at least he managed to blow the cobwebs out for 20 mins. He did win us a couple of corners. The free kick we gave away at the end you knew what was coming. It was a good delivery in and once again it's a loose ball in tbe box.

Overall we didn't deserve to lose that. Some of the football we have played over the past 4 days has been excellent. A bit of game management let us down tonight.

This sums it up perfectly. Ultimately we run out of legs. I'm sure it didn't take Rossi 15 mins or so to react to the Boeteng substitution as it was clear to everyone that the game changed at that point - it was simply a case that the players out there were running out of steam and we didn't have options from the bench because of injury.

We played some good football last night. Perhaps didn't create enough 'clear cut' chances although we had a couple of scrambles near the goal line from free kicks / corners. Exeter also played some good football last night. 1-1 would've been a fair result.

Good to see Akinde back. Will take a while to get up to speed no doubt. Clough looks a class act at the back with Santos not far behind. Vilhete has found his position in this team.

Lots of positives and a significantly different 'after feeling' to the Stevenage game.

[X-Bumble]

I listened to the commentary, and then watched the game on ifollow. The guys on the commentary made an excellent point, and after watching the game I wholeheartedly agree with them :- We are playing youngsters, and a side effect of that is that they will make silly mistakes. Whether that is a mis-timed tackle, or bad passes.

Taylor (J) was making some poor decisions, and it cost us the first goal. His confidence was then shot after getting bollockings from Nelson (rightly so in my opinion, as that is how he will learn).

Both goals were given away by silly errors from our players, but that is the by-product of playing young players.

I thought we were good value, and if those silly mistakes had not taken place we would have won the game. I believe Rossi's main job over the coming days is in man management rather than tactics. Leave the tactics to Armstrong for a day or two and look after the young lads and help them learn rather than shrink back into lack if confidence.

We have some excellent players, who in my opinion should already be playing at a higher level and I think that we forget that they are so young.

[RichardM]

Aside from the match, did anyone manage to find out about Tarpey's injury?
Jamie Stephens was in the bar beforehand chatting to a few of us but didn't have any news for us.

ACL, out for the season.

[Jon83]

Aside from the match, did anyone manage to find out about Tarpey's injury?
Jamie Stephens was in the bar beforehand chatting to a few of us but didn't have any news for us.

ACL, out for the season.

Tarpey?! Nightmare scenes. Johnson wont be back either this season.

[ninestein]

If this is the case, it's a relief that John is visibly ready to return, albeit a few weeks from being fully up to speed.
It was a blow losing Gash in the second game of last season, but to lose 2 already for the season, and Brindley until January after just a handful of matches is really unfortunate.

[barnetpete]

Most of the below has been said by many above;

* Another great performance for 70 minutes.

* We ran out of steam, not just the wing backs but also the centre mids.

* Jack was excellent but made one mistake which cost us.

* Ross will learn that subs may be needed a little earlier.

* We just came up short against a very good Exeter side.

* Tutonda needs to learn not to jump in to tackles, should have jockeyed. I noticed JCR giving him a right earful between the goal going in and the restart.

* Great to see Akinde back.

* We need our injured experienced back in the squad, even if not in the starting XI.

* Excited for the season ahead.

[Berlinbee]

Seems like Dave Tarpey is out for the long term. Maybe a little naive to throw him in the deep end from part time to full time. Could have started from the bench. We'll have to wait for an official statement from the club.