Ebbsfleet (Away) The Trains, Strains and Nonmobiles Match Thread

[Jimbokav1971]

Something that I forgot to mention when watching the game back, is that I don't think Kabamba was quite as poor as some suggested. he did have 2 1v1's, (went round the GK on 1 and great block by defender on 2nd), but he actually didn't miss as many chances as I was expecting based on DB comments and stuff I read in here. The next best chance he had was a header at the far post from a decent cross that looped just over the bar, but he did well to win the header and while it was certainly a chance, it wasn't an easy chance. Watching the game back, (in the knowledge that he didn't feature last night), made it seem obvious with hindsight that he was carrying a knock. While he wasn't limping, he was certainly slow to get up a few times and he just looked knackered, (which isn't what you expect from him at this stage of the season). Compare him to the Stead & Brunt, (who play closer to him but cover more ground), and the difference is even more stark.

That;s not to defend him from missing the 2 1v1's by the way. On an average day he scores both of them and on a good day he also scored with the header. Maybe we need to give Tyler Cordner a little bit of credit here, because it wasn't so long ago that he was seen as the next big thing in the National League as far as centre-backs go, (although his stock has certainly fallen since then).

From watching the game back, (in full now), I thought Clifford was great and Stead was quite frankly unplayable, but I also thought Coker was good and while I'm certainly not a huge fan of his, (because of his lack of dynamism), he's certainly growing on me and maybe just maybe the fit with him on 1 side and Kanu/RHJ on the other side works well. He's a better player than I gave him credit for. I think I was a but hung-up on his lack of explosive pace. The other option of course is that maybe he's just a bit fitter this season & able to get up and back a little more?

Also, Hayes is a proper GK. He might not be the supreme Shithouser that LW was/is, but i really like his high starting position and in that respect he's probably a better fit for this team because of the way we play and surprise surprise DB has got the recruitment right again.

By the way, the issues I have/had with Harts were non-existent in this game, (after the previous game where Clifford was too deep). I appreciate that there might be a time when someone, (probably Tavares), has to properly sit in there with him, but in those circumstances I would sort of like them to almost make a 5 with our wide centre-backs offering width, (in a very basic sense), and the central centre-half, Harts & Tavares dominating the middle.

Lastly, thought Josh Wright put a proper shift in considering his age and they were much poorer for his absence after he was replaced by Wes.