The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Mad Dog wrote:

Three of Diamonds wrote:The Diamonds versus The Daniels on Boxing Day. Awesome.
They are one of our "old time" rivals, we had some great battles against them in years gone by.
Come on you Diamonds, let's get that home form rockin' & rollin'

Is this Irthlingborough Diamonds days?

That's right, there was quite a rivalry in those days

Move along nothing to see or talk about here.

I guess the one saving grace is that we didn't lose today, was the first chance I've got to see Farrell, and he impressed.

Two decent sides, end to end stuff, a draw perhaps a fair result.

For whatever reason we can't seem to get a win at home, could it be that a lack of a home for next season is playing on the players minds?

If that were the case, why are we such a different proposition away from home. It's like watching two different teams between home and away. I know we play on the break away from home but these are the same players. Away I see effort, confidence, ability, simple pass and move play. At home I see a lack lustre team who give the impression they just need to turn up to win. I am at a loss to why we are so different away from home. And sorry, but how is Jake Newman worthy of a shirt let alone a starting place? Still, onwards to Chasetown. I look forward to the visit and watching the real Diamonds play.

Another mediocre team we've been unable to put to the sword at home. Thank God our next couple of games are away, it gives us a chance to move up the table.

We've probably had 4 or 5 real chances in the last 3 games and thankfully we've scored 3 of them. Great goals:shots ratio but our inability to generate chances in the first instance is a key issue. There seemed to be an awful lot of offside calls today although I was badly placed to tell whether any of them were questionable.

We're never going to win anything if Newman plays, can't pass, can't shoot, no pace, doesn't jump for headers, was offside time and time again today. He was absolutely woeful today, surely Orosz, Wilson, Parsons and Lorraine are all ahead of him?? Impressed with Farrell today. Think we'll appreciate having Jack Ashton back, I know Brad tries hard but we looked pretty shaky at the back today. I am however really impressed with how fast Koriya is considering his age!

Terrible formation, we need a partner for Nabil in a 4-4-2. Why do we play the awful 4-5-1 at home. Some shocking performances (Newman) and terrible timing of substitutions, a change of players and formation with just over 5 minutes to go was rubbish. Everyone could see at half time that we needed to change it. Stamford were average, we should be putting teams like this to the sword, we seemed more concerned to keeping the unbeaten run going than pushing for the win! Still missing having wingers.

Another poor home performance to add to the collection I'm afraid. First 20 minutes of the second half was good and that's about it. I don't like the formation we played either and can't believe it wasn't changed earlier but our bench seemed as usual to be at a funeral rather than a football match and of course the substitutions were far to late. Wilson and Nab looked good upfront together so would like to see that again he's surely worth a starting place in front of Newman. Serious lack of creativity is also hurting us, ultimately the most damaging thing for the club will be that the non regular fans who came down to watch won't be returning to see that sort of football on offer which was lacking entertainment and excitement.

Rushden123 wrote:Another poor home performance to add to the collection I'm afraid. First 20 minutes of the second half was good and that's about it. I don't like the formation we played either and can't believe it wasn't changed earlier but our bench seemed as usual to be at a funeral rather than a football match and of course the substitutions were far to late. Wilson and Nab looked good upfront together so would like to see that again he's surely worth a starting place in front of Newman. Serious lack of creativity is also hurting us, ultimately the most damaging thing for the club will be that the non regular fans who came down to watch won't be returning to see that sort of football on offer which was lacking entertainment and excitement.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there, especially in the last sentence. I've enjoyed all the Diamonds away league games I've seen this season, but could only say that of one or two home games. I really don't like 4-3-3 or derivatives - especially at home, and I don't think many fellow fans do either. Fazel was getting abuse for not staying wide enough, and Nabil was clearly frustrated at the lack of linkup play. I guess we need to decide if grinding out home draws is better than suffering a few defeats between some convincing 4-4-2 attacking performances. I was worried when we failed to replace last season's wide players in the summer, and we now seem to have accepted that shortfall even to the extent of too many centrally oriented players being asked to play a wide role they aren't suited to.

I agree with everything that Formic says, and the fact that we don't have proper wide midfielders, apart from Fazel, is really hurting us particularly in home fixtures. Zero creativity from midfield once again yesterday and it's time Joe Curtis is given a starting role in place of Lewis Leslie.

The league table is quite revealing with regard to our home and away results.

http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/northonesouth/league