The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Official Match Preview

http://www.afcdiamonds.com/afc-rushden- ... h-november

A win for us and Chasetown not winning at Romulus would put us into play off zone.
But with our propensity to draw home games we can not get to far ahead of ourselves!

Just finished work, grab a bite to eat, on our way to see the first match for a while. Good day for football. A win would be great for us, pushing for a place in the play-off places.
See you soon.

COYD

An instantly forgettable game in which we never got going. We obviously can't win every game but I just want us to play some decent football because our current style of play is very difficult to watch and enjoy. Where has our passing game gone? We just hoof it up to sharif and expect him to work miracles no wonder he always looks frustrated. At the start of the second half we actually got worse anybody at the game could see the goal coming but our management team did absolutely nothing no tactical changes, encouragement or substitutions. And finally I'm not sure how many soft goals Finlay has to let in before Heath is our first choice keeper who in the few games he played look decent.

Well that was a poor show, very disappointing. No one got going or took command in our midfield and we didn't play with any pace, quality nor purpose.
Our home record is letting us down so far.

Well that was one the worst performances from us in a LONG time

We never got gong at all. Nabil must wonder what on earth he's doing here at times. Thought it was a strange choice to take Taylor off who I thought looked positive going forward, but was let down by the rest of his team mates.

A game to forget me thinks.

Rushden123 wrote:An instantly forgettable game in which we never got going. We obviously can't win every game but I just want us to play some decent football because our current style of play is very difficult to watch and enjoy. Where has our passing game gone? We just hoof it up to sharif and expect him to work miracles no wonder he always looks frustrated. At the start of the second half we actually got worse anybody at the game could see the goal coming but our management team did absolutely nothing no tactical changes, encouragement or substitutions. And finally I'm not sure how many soft goals Finlay has to let in before Heath is our first choice keeper who in the few games he played look decent.

What!! Each to their own opinion but blaming Finlay for a soft goal is shocking judgement. Blame the wall maybe but he made stunning save just before and had no chance with that. And Peaksy made very bold substitutions and tactical change to totally transform how we were playing. Some people see a different game with a pre determined viewpoint. Not great today....struggled to maintain possession and momentum...and few real chances but still could have won it thanks to late changes. Say what you really see not what you want to see...

Very very poor, very very disappointing. We struggled today against one of the poorest teams we have played against for a while. 1st half was terrible, the second only slightly better. The problem is we have some very average players in our team, if you take Nabil out of the equation the rest of our attacking threat is UCL standard at best. We are 5 players short at the moment (4 in reality as Oulton will be back). We desperately need that quality player alongside Nabil and some wingers are a must, losing Nic was a blow. If we don't add to this team with a bit more quality we will be away from the play offs by February. I would love to see Hoban back and someone in the Russ Dunkley mould. It's not easy but players of that quality is what is needed.

blackcountrydiamond wrote:

Rushden123 wrote:An instantly forgettable game in which we never got going. We obviously can't win every game but I just want us to play some decent football because our current style of play is very difficult to watch and enjoy. Where has our passing game gone? We just hoof it up to sharif and expect him to work miracles no wonder he always looks frustrated. At the start of the second half we actually got worse anybody at the game could see the goal coming but our management team did absolutely nothing no tactical changes, encouragement or substitutions. And finally I'm not sure how many soft goals Finlay has to let in before Heath is our first choice keeper who in the few games he played look decent.

What!! Each to their own opinion but blaming Finlay for a soft goal is shocking judgement. Blame the wall maybe but he made stunning save just before and had no chance with that. And Peaksy made very bold substitutions and tactical change to totally transform how we were playing. Some people see a different game with a pre determined viewpoint. Not great today....struggled to maintain possession and momentum...and few real chances but still could have won it thanks to late changes. Say what you really see not what you want to see...

Kind of siding with Rushden123 on the goal. Not saying i'm blaming Finlay as the ball was hit with real venom (and if you give two free-kicks away on the edge of the box in quick succession you're asking for trouble), but the ball went to the side of the wall, a wall that Finlay positioned, so theoretically he must of thought he had that area covered.

To be fair to Andy Peaks we played very well last weekend and therefore the attacking side of our team almost picked itself. Some players that simply had to start today as a result of their performance last week didn't reproduce it. This is a running theme sadly and the Jekyll and Hyde nature of our performances is hurting us. I've only missed one game this season so have been fortunate enough to see how good we can be at places like Spalding, Stocksbridge and Belper. If you were the kind of supporter that only attends home games you'd be forgiven for thinking we were a pretty dire outfit.

Despite what i've just said about the team playing well on occasion, God forbid anything happens to Nabil Shariff or we have got a major problem.

I agree with BartonRaz, having watched every minute of this season - I believe 3/4 players are not good enough for this team. Nabil Shariff has been our best player by far this season and we don't have a 'proper' winger as of yet. I'd like to see Wilson and Shariff up top with more support from the midfield, which was lacking today.