Travelled by train from London to Exeter yesterday... Delayed on both the outbound and return journeys so that is the last time I take the train for some time... just excuse after excuse...
Anyway... the game was quite simply awful, decided by one goalkeeping mistake... Both sides never looked like scoring. We had one shot on target all afternoon... and they were about the same. Having been at the Chesterfield game on Tue night, I couldnt believe this was the same side...
Pitch was fantastic, the sun was shining.. 3-400 Carlisle fans behind one goal... I had been convinvced we were going to win..
Halliday cam on as sub early second half, butwas inneffective.. The whole team just seemed to lose ideas and the ball spent a large part of the afternoon in the air....
Difficult, sad and delayed journey back to London which took from 5:30 to 11pm - the Rail system is a f*****g disgrace, as were Carlisle yesterday....
I know all is not lost, but we have lost the luck right now and it needs to return soon......
Nick Dawson
That performance was an insult to those of us stupid enough to travel 700 miles to watch it.
No passion or determination. Certainly no creativity whatsoever Apart from Whitehead and Trevor Morley the rest of the team were pathetic We rely too much on a hoof up and hope Stevens and or Dobie will sort us out. Thats basically the tactics and when they are injured/tired or having an off day we're knackered. Like yesterday.
You'll all twine at me but thats got to be Atkins fault.
Its his team that played yesterday. Only Dobie, Whitehead and Prokas remain from last season
Who ever won anything playing five at the back. No one. It leaves the midfield outnumbered or bypassed Our so called wing backs very rarely get forward. Why do we need to play 3 centre halves? Its not like in previous years when we had to play 3 centre halves cos they were poor. Indeed Morley, Whitehead and Winstanley are 3 of our best players
So why the hell did we sign back up man Darren Carr. He is crap. He is slow, he can't pass, gets skinned all the time, doesn't win enough headers for his height Winstanley (as he showed during his brief appearance yesterday) is a class above Carr.
We had kept two consecutive clean sheets and Winstanley, Whitehead and Morley were formidable so why did Atkins change it? That was certainly one of his very bad decisions Yet Atkins is so blinkered or too proud to admit he made a mistake when he signed him he continues to play him. He was at fault for the Plymouth goal last week and was all over the place yesterday - although the goal was Glennons fault it was still Carr that let him through.
The worst thing about the whole performance was that they didn't look bothered. Maybe something is kicking off behind the scenes I don't know but they get paid to perform on the pitch and they didn't.
Things will have to improve otherwise we will get relegated. Thats not been pessimistic its being realistic.
Chris Kearton
As Chris Kearton said, the performance was an embarassment. No commitment at all. No skill.
Glennon - made some good saves, left exposed by his defence for the goal, but should still have stopped it. 1 mistake in (3 months?) a bad keeper does not make. 6
Birch - Rarely got forward and distribution was nothing short of pathetic. Obviously under instruction not to pass to any midfielder. Rightly subbed, but should have gone earlier. 4
Maddison - Got forward well but marking a winger who was far too fast and got caught out out several occasions. Several good crosses in the first half but a wingback is primarily a full back and he didn't defend well at all. Played further up the field when Birch went off, when the team reverted to 352 and later to a 343. Still needs to defend better though. 5
Whitehead - Constantly having to hold and pull his man when playing as centre half. Had a nightmare when switched to right back as his winger was also pacy as hell. 5
Morley - Superb signing. Up against it yesterday when his defensive partners went AWOL. Possibly his fault for the goal but didn't get too much of a view. 7
Carr Toss - The worst player on the park by a mile. Constantly skinned. Can't tackle. Positional sense of a schoolboy. David Reeves must have had a bad day at the office to be subdues by this clogger. Possibly the worst performance I have ever seen by a Blues player. 3
Prokas - If only they all showed the same commitment. Unfortunately, we have only one. He has his knockers, but boy can he get his foot in. 7
Connelly - Simply a disgrace. Headless chicken was the only way to describe his performance. Seemed unsure of his role. 4
Galloway - Bypassed by his back line, and unable to win headers. No chance to show his passing skills due to the tactics employed. 5
Stevo - Obviously unfit. Then again no chnce of winning anything in the air, and thats mostly what scraps he got when faced by a towering defender. On the rare occasions he was played into feet, lacked support frommidfield to do anything. 5
Dobster - A couple of runs, but clearly unfit too. Taken out early by a tackle not a million miles from that for which Prokas was castigated a few weeks ago. After that, seemed scared. 5
Halliday - on for Stevo. Showed glimpses of what he can do. Seems to be more of a team player now. Needs support. 6
Winstanley - Should have started. The defence looked much better when he came on and CarrToss went off. 2 last ditch perfectly timed tackles in the area late on. Get this man in the first 11. 7
Soley - Only a couple of touches. Clearly not a striker. Then again, not a midfielder either. 5
All in all, a dire waste of money. For the first time, i doubted Atkins tactics. 2 unfit strikers against tall centre halves and he continues with midfielders not showing for the simple pass on a very good pitch. Instead he goes for the hoofing strategy. 2 fast wingers and he encourages Maddison to go forward when his new signing centre half out of his depth, leaving defenders hopelessly exposed too often as Maddison kept being caught out.
Chris McFarlane
The manner of Carlisle’s defeat, in this six pointer with relegation rivals Exeter, will have the alarm bells ringing again for the Cumbrians.
The contrast in performance between the mid week draw at league leaders Chesterfield and this encounter were of Jekyl and Hyde proportions. Carlisle were always second best in the midfield and as a consequence provided little threat to an Exeter side who have now won three on the trot since the arrival of ex Tottenham favourite Steve Perryman as technical advisor.
Ironically the Cumbrians were never really threatened at the back and would have come away with a point but for a rare lapse in concentration from the usually reliable Matty Glennon.
When the Grecians Christian Roberts overran the ball, the Carlisle keeper’s simple pick up turned into a nightmare as he fumbled the ball back to Roberts who only had to side foot into an unguarded net.
Manager Ian Atkins was disappointed with his players. After the match he said: "Over the period of the last three months that was the worst we’ve played. When you play football you earn the right to win. When you do that, then you can play your football but today we tried to play football first and we got outbattled in every single department and Exeter deserved their win. They didn’t create an awful lot but they did win every single battle. They were prepared to put their head in when the needed to up font and every ball that bounced in midfield. Our midfield three may as well come and sat with me. In games like this, when there is a lot of ball in midfield, you have got to go and win it. I said to the players it won’t happen again. Obviously I can’t bring any players in, so I’ve said it’s up to them. Do they want to be Conference players or League players?"
Exeter settled the quicker with Kwame Ampadu shooting over after 5 minutes. Eight minutes later Scott Dobie had the Cumbrians first chance but squandered the opportunity shooting weakly wide from a good position. On 18 minutes the effervescent Roberts turned well only to drag his shot wide of Glennon’s left hand post.
The Cumbrians had a let off with 25 minutes gone when Steve Flack slipped as he was about to get a head on Paul Buckles cross. A minute later Exeter had a strong penalty appeal turned down as Roberts became the filling in a Darren Carr-Dave Morley sandwich.
With six minutes left to the break Glennon’s blunder gifted the home sides subsequent winner.
The Cumbrians almost immediately broke back but home keeper Arjan Van Heusden did well to push away Morley’s header.
With Carlisle running out of ideas Atkins made a double substitution on the hour introducing Halliday and Soley for Birch and Stevens. Steve Halliday had an immediate chance when Dobie played him in but he failed to get any power on the shot and Van Heusden saved easily.
Exeter continued to be the marginally better side and Inglethorpe’s header tested Glennon on 73 minutes.
Mark Winstanley, on for Carr, headed wide from Galloway’s free kick and then shot wide from a Galloway corner but the Cumbrians could not find that all important equaliser and are left firmly rooted at the bottom off the league with a growing mountain to climb.
Mike Corry
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