| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's 17:30 - Dec 15 with 2668 views | durham_exile |
This Saturday sees the U’s playing at the Racecourse Ground for the first time since 2005. I was amazed by this stat. Over the years I have been to the Racecourse ground many times and on balance we have drawn and won as many games as we have lost.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre games was on 24 March 1990 when in front of 4653 supporters we lost 3-2 after leading twice and would have won had it not been for a bizarre storm which interrupted play with the U’s 2-1 to the good but in torrential rain and very windy conditions Wrexham came back on to secure an equaliser and a last-minute winner.
Tomorrow will of course be challenging but I reckon we can secure a 3-2 win but only if ME is brave in team selection and we do not sit back as we did at Stockport recently.
Our last game was of course another defeat to Crawley and ME lined up thus:
Goodman
Mitchell Kells Egbo
Greenidge McGeehan Read Jay Fevrier
Taylor Tovide
Subs:
Tovide off Akinde on 54
Greenidge off Chilvers on 77
Jay off Cooper on 77
Now ME has some players potentially back notably Ellis Iandolo and Connor Hall but he has lost Tovide for 2-3 months with an ankle injury.
I don’t think either of the returning players will start the game and so just how brave will ME be. I suspect sadly he will play a lone striker, which is a massive mistake.
At the start of the season, I suggested that Taylor and Tovide could be the next Bannister and Warboys (Smash and Grab) from those halcyon Bristol Rovers days. The managers since August 2023 have not played them as a pairing unfortunately and Taylor has often cut a lonely figure up front.
ME has the opportunity to pair Akinde or Ihionvien with Taylor in a genuine two striker role.
He also has to decide whether Chilvers can be starting again and whether Sam Hornby (rightly recalled from the NL) will become the reserve keeper again.
He also has to consider whether Zach Mitchell deserves a break having started so many games recently. However along with Kells he is our best defender.
So, the line up suggests:
Goodman
Mitchell Kells Egbo
Fevrier McGeehan Read Jay
Chilvers
Taylor Ihionvien
Subs
Hornby Akinde Cooper Iandolo Hall Bandeira Hopper
Now this site, Facebook pages and other locations have all descended into doom and gloom.
13 defeats tells its own story and is the reason that we are where we are.
Time for ME to man up and start to play positively rather than this timid playing out from the back which gives the opposition the impetus and leads to uncertainty and fragility at the back.
This weekend is the golden opportunity for Chilvers to live up to his own reputation and start to play as he suggested he could two years ago.
ME must be bold and make some important changes as identified and start to play a settled side notwithstanding the injuries that have plagued us this season.
Two of our better players Lawrence and Tovide are both out for some time and when Iandolo and Hall are fully match fit they will surely return to the starting side. In the meantime, I would go with the side as indicated and that means Greenidge must be dropped. He is like marmite and every time he plays I want him to succeed but he always seems unsure and lacks confidence.
Wrexham with Parky and Aidan Davison (Goalkeeping coach) at the helm will provide stiff competition but with 1000 of the faithful present we must be brave and take the game to the Red Dragons.
One thing is sure there will be rather more than the 2391 who witnessed our last appearance at the Racecourse in 2005. Their fourth stand is up but not yet open for business.
The weather at Wrexham will be dry and a mild 12 degrees Celsius. Ideal for football in mid-December.
Safe journey to the travelling faithful.
I am travelling with my youngest son and his partner. She does not watch football but has watched the Wrexham documentary and likes the Red Dragons as a result. Result she wants to see them. Worse she will probably want to purchase some Wrexham merchandise!!!!
Up the U’s
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| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 08:21 - Dec 17 with 513 views | bwildered |
MATTY Etherington felt Colchester United's 2-1 defeat at ten-man Wrexham was a 'missed opportunity' for his side.
Every game is a missed opportunity these days ME. The only section of the club that improves is excuses. |  |
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| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 10:14 - Dec 17 with 434 views | burnsieespana |
I thought his comments were rather sad to hear.
No real effort to make excuses just a simple statement of fact. A missed opportunity. |  | | |
| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 13:38 - Dec 17 with 377 views | durham_exile |
| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 10:14 - Dec 17 by burnsieespana |
I thought his comments were rather sad to hear.
No real effort to make excuses just a simple statement of fact. A missed opportunity. |
burnsie - it really was, never a better opportunity to beat them and I'm afraid all ME's fault.
We were the better side even when they had 11 v 11.
ME should immediately have taken Greenidge off and brought Bradley Ihionvien on but he did neither.
No tactical nous at all.
I am absolutely furious still.
Up the U's | |
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| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 14:04 - Dec 17 with 374 views | Moor_Pinot |
| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 13:38 - Dec 17 by durham_exile |
burnsie - it really was, never a better opportunity to beat them and I'm afraid all ME's fault.
We were the better side even when they had 11 v 11.
ME should immediately have taken Greenidge off and brought Bradley Ihionvien on but he did neither.
No tactical nous at all.
I am absolutely furious still.
Up the U's |
But it's all our own fault Durham.
The chap's not a football manager because he's never learnt to be one. He didn't even understand his previous contract. (We are owned by a major recruitment agency so I'm sure we checked it all before his appointment last year.....).
So, how can you expect him to have 'tactical nous?'. He's never learnt it.
Yet again we have someone supposedly learning on the job.
Experience is still worth having in my view and this may be partly responsible for the continual spiral towards the National League from which incidentally, I suspect we'd never return.
I think it's going to be up to the players themselves to get us safe this year. Trouble is, many of them are inexperienced too, just boys who are good at football. Tis asking a lot but that's where I am putting my faith and I wish them well.
(Two awful goals conceded yesterday, unmarked for the first and no danger with the second. The boys do need to cop on more I'm afraid. Tough months ahead for them but at least they didn't let in 8!)
Up the young bedazzled rabbits of the U's |  |
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| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 16:29 - Dec 17 with 332 views | CrashBandicoot |
| Red Dragons to lack fire-power in surprise home defeat to Super U's on 14:04 - Dec 17 by Moor_Pinot |
But it's all our own fault Durham.
The chap's not a football manager because he's never learnt to be one. He didn't even understand his previous contract. (We are owned by a major recruitment agency so I'm sure we checked it all before his appointment last year.....).
So, how can you expect him to have 'tactical nous?'. He's never learnt it.
Yet again we have someone supposedly learning on the job.
Experience is still worth having in my view and this may be partly responsible for the continual spiral towards the National League from which incidentally, I suspect we'd never return.
I think it's going to be up to the players themselves to get us safe this year. Trouble is, many of them are inexperienced too, just boys who are good at football. Tis asking a lot but that's where I am putting my faith and I wish them well.
(Two awful goals conceded yesterday, unmarked for the first and no danger with the second. The boys do need to cop on more I'm afraid. Tough months ahead for them but at least they didn't let in 8!)
Up the young bedazzled rabbits of the U's |
Those utterings from ME sound very much like the sort of comments someone who has little confidence or idea on how to improve tactics would make. Like "Oh yeah, it was an opportunity and we should have done better..."
Except he was the one responsible for making appropriate changes and didn't recognise the opportunity.
If this doesn't state how much we need a vastly experienced head coach then I honestly don't know what does... |  |
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