shoddycollins
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Exeter we meet again, our games with the Grecians over the years seem to have been milestones on our changing fortunes. Just last season we went from sending them bottom of the table with an injury-time turnaround as we continued our strong start to the season to meeting again on the last day with them comfortably occupying a play-off spot while we desperately scrabbled for one winning with a late goal again and then straight after in the playoffs at which point our luck ran out and Exeter finally got the better of us in injury time at St James' Park. You could cast your mind back to several seasons in League One too where we were the team who confirmed Exeter's relegation in a too-little-too-late attempt to cling on to a play-off place again.
Now as Exeter have continued their strong finish into this season we have continued our inconsistency and Exeter can bring things around full circle as they push to return to the pinnacle while we try and at least ensure we don't get dragged into a relegation scrap. The return fixture is a little too early in the season to decide anything but what's betting by the time that comes around the boot is really on the other foot.
Omens and history aside we'll be gong into the first of four games without Tom Parkes and with Mark Ellis out on loan at Orient so it's round pegs in square holes again. Since singing Hill we've looked difficult to score against, actually you can say Brown has also had a positive effect on our defence but Hill is the one who has us organised there now. In the three games Hill has started we're yet to concede a 'normal' goal. Only those two goals from Stevenage which, had Shamal George not dropped, would have been routine saves not even deserving of a place in the highlights package. Exeter will surely test us more than any of those teams will though as Crewe, Stevenage and Crawley all really struggled to create anything of note.
Remains to be seen whether Hill's influence can have as strong an impact on whichever player is placed out of position alongside him as it did on an already accomplished centre-back in Tom Parkes. The candidates are Liddle, Brown and Miller and of those three I think Brown into centre-back and Miller or Liddle at right back, but we'll see. Whoever it is will have a lot on their plate.
In midfield we're at our most inconsistent, on their day Etuhu, Jones and Joyce can be the best midfield in this division but they also all have a bad game or two in them and if we are as weak in both attack and defence as we've looked at times then a strong midfield can simply be bypassed by putting the ball either over or around them.
Up front we've not gotten going at all this year and have been disappointing and frustrating. Adams and Lambe both have had some excellent games but we've struggled to turn strong attacking spells of which we get one or two in each game into actually shots on goal. Cross after cross sailing into a box packed with defenders and not a blue shirt in sight. There seems to be a question mark over Kennedy's fitness and having returned to the bench he's been out of the squad again, perhaps we'll know whether he's fit to return if he gets a run out midweek in the Checkafraud trophy. Nabi too has the potential to offer us something different while Devitt is always a good option for us.
The strikers are still waiting to get going really. Bennett who will be suspended anyway has been disappointing and Cosgrove is clearly viewed only as backup. Miller and Hope probably give us the best possibility of scoring, both have shown good finishing if only we could get them on the end of more.
Think Exeter will win this one... 2-0
I'd go with.
________________Bonham_______________
T.Miller____Brown____Hill_____Grainger
Etuhu______Jones____Joyce_____________
_________________________________Adams
_____________Hope__S.Miller____________
George, Liddle, Devitt, Lambe, Nabi, Kennedy, Cosgrove
Actually that 18 are our only 18 available players so if Kennedy isn't fit we won't have a full bench.
Now as Exeter have continued their strong finish into this season we have continued our inconsistency and Exeter can bring things around full circle as they push to return to the pinnacle while we try and at least ensure we don't get dragged into a relegation scrap. The return fixture is a little too early in the season to decide anything but what's betting by the time that comes around the boot is really on the other foot.
Omens and history aside we'll be gong into the first of four games without Tom Parkes and with Mark Ellis out on loan at Orient so it's round pegs in square holes again. Since singing Hill we've looked difficult to score against, actually you can say Brown has also had a positive effect on our defence but Hill is the one who has us organised there now. In the three games Hill has started we're yet to concede a 'normal' goal. Only those two goals from Stevenage which, had Shamal George not dropped, would have been routine saves not even deserving of a place in the highlights package. Exeter will surely test us more than any of those teams will though as Crewe, Stevenage and Crawley all really struggled to create anything of note.
Remains to be seen whether Hill's influence can have as strong an impact on whichever player is placed out of position alongside him as it did on an already accomplished centre-back in Tom Parkes. The candidates are Liddle, Brown and Miller and of those three I think Brown into centre-back and Miller or Liddle at right back, but we'll see. Whoever it is will have a lot on their plate.
In midfield we're at our most inconsistent, on their day Etuhu, Jones and Joyce can be the best midfield in this division but they also all have a bad game or two in them and if we are as weak in both attack and defence as we've looked at times then a strong midfield can simply be bypassed by putting the ball either over or around them.
Up front we've not gotten going at all this year and have been disappointing and frustrating. Adams and Lambe both have had some excellent games but we've struggled to turn strong attacking spells of which we get one or two in each game into actually shots on goal. Cross after cross sailing into a box packed with defenders and not a blue shirt in sight. There seems to be a question mark over Kennedy's fitness and having returned to the bench he's been out of the squad again, perhaps we'll know whether he's fit to return if he gets a run out midweek in the Checkafraud trophy. Nabi too has the potential to offer us something different while Devitt is always a good option for us.
The strikers are still waiting to get going really. Bennett who will be suspended anyway has been disappointing and Cosgrove is clearly viewed only as backup. Miller and Hope probably give us the best possibility of scoring, both have shown good finishing if only we could get them on the end of more.
Think Exeter will win this one... 2-0
I'd go with.
________________Bonham_______________
T.Miller____Brown____Hill_____Grainger
Etuhu______Jones____Joyce_____________
_________________________________Adams
_____________Hope__S.Miller____________
George, Liddle, Devitt, Lambe, Nabi, Kennedy, Cosgrove
Actually that 18 are our only 18 available players so if Kennedy isn't fit we won't have a full bench.
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