The Grim vs the Grecians | Page 2 | Vital Football

The Grim vs the Grecians

Interesting we will be referreed by a ref from the MLS and it will be his first game in this country although he's been 4th offical once.Sure he can't be as bad as the rubbish we've had lately
 
If he's an MLS ref then he'll have plenty of VAR experience, so I'd expect him to be fast tracked to the Premier League within the next year or two like that Australian ref was.
 
Not a fan of having refs that are used to having VAR, I feel that they aren't as decisive and tend not to make decisions that their non-var counterparts would as they're used to having it in the background.

That said hopefully I don't notice him which is usually how I judge if they have had a good game or not.
 
king_dezeeuw06 said:
Despite Exeter battering us earlier in the season, i didn't actually think they looked very good, i just through we were awful and the fact we were so bad and they still couldn't put us away spoke volumes about them.

They wont be trying to physically bully us which is our weakness, they play a style that we are more comfortable at defending against. They want to play it out from the back but i don't think their defenders are the most gifted on the ball and I don't think they have a proper target man to go long, so if we can press them high, man for man we've got a very good chance of forcing mistakes and smothering their play.

We know when a team struggles to win long balls how crippling a high press can be from having it done to us so often this season. We used to do that all the time at this level under previous managers and most teams struggle against it, so hopefully we can start to do that more often rather than sitting back and letting teams play.

Looking at their stats, they are in pretty good form with 3 wins and 1 loss in their last 4 and 4 wins and 2 draws in their last 7.

Their top scorer Ryan Tevitt was only on loan and has been recalled by his parent club. So their next top scorer is a wing back Mitchell who only has 3 goals.

They are the 3rd worst attack in the league with only 21 goals from 31 games. They are the 6th worst defence in the league with 42 conceded from 31 but it seems that when they score first they hang on to win nearly 80% of the time, while if they concede first they lose 75% of the time, so the first goal is often the decider in most of their games. They also have a habit of conceding late goals in either half with 10 of the 20 first half goals and 15 of the 22 second half goals conceded in the last 15 mins of each half. About a quarter of the goals they have conceded have been set pieces, so it is a game where it's probably worth getting balls in rather than going short.

Looking at any notable names in their squad, they've got a lot of experience in their back line with Aimson, Hartridge and Sweeney and Mitchell at wing / wing back back is their top scorer. In midfield retired Latics player David Perkins has been registered as a player due to injuries but i don't think he's played yet. Yanic is also there but doesn't appear to be a regular starter. This past window they have signed def mid Ryan Woods from Hull and Mo Eisa from MK both were good players in the past but not seen much of either recently.

For us with Matt Smith suspended i expect that Scott Smith will probably return to the side, i think Maloney favours him even if Shaw is fit.

I think Sessegon also drops out for Jordan Jones to start.

Other than that you'd not expect any more changes but we know Maloney loves to change the team around from game to game, so you never know what he'll do.

This is one of those games where even though they come into this game on a good run if we turn up and perform well we should be too strong for them. But we know we haven't always turned up this season. Hopefully we'll try and replicate all of the good things we did from our last game but it's Wigan so you never know.
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The one thing I took from both games is on the rare occasions we ran at them down the flanks we opened them up, as we saw with Jones goal although it was deflected, we must do that more often, we did at Peterborough and look at the outcome.

I rate Jones as a wide player, he causes problems, has fantastic control and links up well, however he does frustrate me, he just needs to improve his final cross and perhaps have a little more belief when running towards goal and have a pop himself instead of passing, I am positive with a few tweeks to his game we would benefit from a greater number of chances and goals.
 
Be interesting to see how this American official gets on. So many lack the ability to manage a game and consequently make it harder to officiate. It’s why matches spiral out of their control. It’s a sad state of affairs when they feel an authoritarian approach is best, such as brandishing cards like they have a quota to mask their inability to communicate with players and take the heat out of a situation.
 
Made in Wigan said:
Be interesting to see how this American official gets on. So many lack the ability to manage a game and consequently make it harder to officiate. It’s why matches spiral out of their control. It’s a sad state of affairs when they feel an authoritarian approach is best, such as brandishing cards like they have a quota to mask their inability to communicate with players and take the heat out of a situation.
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If they'd just be consistent and use common sense that would do.

I'm obviously a Latics fan but I'd like to think I am not partisan to the point i always think a decision against us is wrong and it seems quite demonstrable we get fouls and players booked for identical challenges the opposition don't alarmingly often.

If refs want to be lenient or harsh I can live with as long as standard applied to both sides equally. Stevenage and Peterborough in the last 2 games have felt like it was 2 different sets of rules for each team.
 
I think most clubs, whether it be fans, players or managers use refs as an easy excuse to mask their own deficiencies. The only team this season where a ref has actually pissed me off was Barnsley at home. I maintain that it wasn't a foul by Hughes and obviously once he gave it he had to send him off, which killed the game.

I'd be very card happy if I was a ref. I'd definitely let the game flow as much as possible and probably let more tackles go than I should, but if any little shit gets mouthy with me, straight in the book. I'd very quickly develop a reputation amongst players and it wouldn't be long at all before they'd know to shut their mouths and get on with the game if they see me rock up at their ground. Referees aren't on the pitch to get pally with players, they are there to do a job and are in charge. You didn't see any player get lippy with Pierluigi Collina did you?
 
St. Column Major said:
The one thing I took from both games is on the rare occasions we ran at them down the flanks we opened them up, as we saw with Jones goal although it was deflected, we must do that more often, we did at Peterborough and look at the outcome.

I rate Jones as a wide player, he causes problems, has fantastic control and links up well, however he does frustrate me, he just needs to improve his final cross and perhaps have a little more belief when running towards goal and have a pop himself instead of passing, I am positive with a few tweeks to his game we would benefit from a greater number of chances and goals.
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Nail on head, he's been excellent, particularly the last few weeks Jones, made a real difference, an improvement with his crossing is needed (as with the team as a whole), but if he works on that, he can be even more of an asset to the team than he is at the moment
 
Just watched some clips of Exeters recent games, their number 12 Reece Cole stood out for them. I dont think he played in our 2 previous games against them but looks likes he's got some quality and very dangerous on free kicks around the box.
 
Exeter will be no pushover but I expect us to get something. They are probably expecting to get something also so a draw could be on the cards. We will miss Matt Smith but prefer him to miss this one than Oxford.
 
Made in Wigan said:
Be interesting to see how this American official gets on. So many lack the ability to manage a game and consequently make it harder to officiate. It’s why matches spiral out of their control. It’s a sad state of affairs when they feel an authoritarian approach is best, such as brandishing cards like they have a quota to mask their inability to communicate with players and take the heat out of a situation.
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this is a fare point. sometimes its not about there ability. but what there used to reffing. the quality of pleyer dey in dey out. is the mls a dirty leage. are the yanks naturely dirty pleyers. the level they pley at an all.
for instence i wuld to love see how he got on if his furst game were a stevenage game. big lads nocking seven bells out of each other. oh and the gamesmanship.
its gonna be intresting. he'll ether be like an octopus with his cards trying for control or fricken stiff. lets hope we see a change in are fortune with the ref this time.
 
Poor first half. Too one paced and devoid of creative ability. Does Magennis EVER win a header?

Ref a cut above the usual dross imo.
 
Much, much better second half but you can't legislate for two ludicrous deflected goals. New striker looks promising.
 
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