Sham 24

[OldBoy73]

Battling Stones were beaten by a team who raised their game because of the FACup run to play beyond their league position to thwart Stones excellent squad that was decimated by injuries and tired from the long trip to Devon. The Stones fought well but the odds were stacked against them.
The Group will re-Group and go on to be NLS champions as in George we trust.
(That’s for DaveU as we are not real supporters if we say anything more negative than that)
Come in Dave even a real supporter like you must have found todays debacle to be crap?

[Benny]

This cataclysm has at least eight pages in it.

[jdl]

They wanted it more than us.

George got the starting 11 and the subs wrong.

We can't score goals.

Other than that, it was a cracking afternoon.

Good luck in the next round Horsham, you deserve it.

[jdl]

Nov 16, 2024 17:09:18 GMT OldBoy73 said:

Battling Stones were beaten by a team who raised their game because of the FACup run to play beyond their league position to thwart Stones excellent squad that was decimated by injuries and tired from the long trip to Devon. The Stones fought well but the odds were stacked against them.
The Group will re-Group and go on to be NLS champions as in George we trust.
(That’s for DaveU as we are not real supporters if we say anything more negative than that)
Come in Dave even a real supporter like you must have found todays debacle to be crap?

Are you French Stone in disguise?

[theguvnor]

George is simply a poor manager, who’s put together a poor squad; who aren’t that motivated by him. Backed up by owners who happily block fans who criticise their ambition

[jdl]

Today's ref?

Not that it made any difference, but he was atrocious.

[pienificentgenco]

Nov 16, 2024 17:20:04 GMT jdl said:

Today's ref?

Not that it made any difference, but he was atrocious.

Refs are just atrocious in this country. Doesn't matter if its premier league or Sunday league. Let's just accept it.

Oliver Ash could have been ref today and we'd have still lost.

[pienificentgenco]

Nov 16, 2024 17:19:16 GMT theguvnor said:

George is simply a poor manager, who’s put together a poor squad; who aren’t that motivated by him. Backed up by owners who happily block fans who criticise their ambition

How dare you. He got us to the 5th round of the cup and to the play offs. The man is a legend and I for one cannot wait for the unveiling of his statue next to the elephant

Trust the process 🥴🥴🥴

[pwoodstone]

Nov 16, 2024 17:19:16 GMT theguvnor said:

George is simply a poor manager, who’s put together a poor squad; who aren’t that motivated by him. Backed up by owners who happily block fans who criticise their ambition

I think people forget he is in only his second full season of management. He
Is playing career means nought. Was always the risk of appointing him. The cup run aside, he achieved the minimum last season of losing in the playoffs. Any half decent manager would do that I reckon.

I think the squad has quality but lacks depth. The main one being a striker. All good sides have one.

Motivation - dunno.

Owners - we all know what and why.

[foreststone]

Oh well, more than a few teams lost to lower league opposition today, while Ebbsfleet, having held ten man Solihull in the first half, when it was ten men each, they lost the second half six nil. At home.

[theguvnor]

Let’s be honest, we played much better football under Hak, and had a better squad, and that says something considering our FA cup magic which never benefited the club other than the owners

[OldBoy73]

Nov 16, 2024 17:07:11 GMT applesnstones said:

The starting XI is just about good enough to keep us in contention, but once again, the squad depth is letting us down. It’s been painfully clear for a while that we’re woefully short of goals from the forwards. For all the graft and effort they put in, we just don’t have that cutting edge up top, and it’s cost us our place in the cups.

The StonesMail newsletter mentioned two signings on the horizon, and I can only hope one of them is one of those “unicorn” prolific strikers who somehow become available midseason. Currently, I just don’t see where the goals are coming from if Blair becomes unavailable. 

The league is unforgiving, and if we don’t address this quickly, we risk undoing all the hard work the team has put in so far. 

The risk is relegation.
The turnaround was very short lived.
If it were real we should have won this comfortably
Fagan said the players were up for this one.
They were crap
Unless we get some quality in soon and start scoring we may be playing Horsham again next year in ILP.
Could be a long slog with nothing much to show for it at the end of the season but at least then everyone will leave and we start with another new squad next year - hopefully still in NLS.

[pwoodstone]

Nov 16, 2024 18:05:40 GMT theguvnor said:

Let’s be honest, we played much better football under Hak, and had a better squad, and that says something considering our FA cup magic which never benefited the club other than the owners

Booty, Luque and Barham. Not quite sure how we managed to get them. (Well Luque just had one of those seasons).

Football was very good

[nick]

Well that was a poor effort.
Horsham wanted it more today and it showed.
Too many Stones players coasted.
The 'fringe' players who got a game didn't do themselves any favours.
Shows that the squad is not strong enough.
Probably around 12 players really worth their place in a squad but lacking 3 or 4 quality signings.
Sounds like George is becoming aware of what the team lacks.
Today was a bad day at the office.

[jdl]

I honestly don't mind losing games like this, it's the other side of run we had last season. I was very impressed by Horsham - ground, people, players - they deserve what they earned today. I wouldn't be surprised if we are playing them in the NS in a season or two.

But what I do mind is my team playing so badly. Just a week ago I watched a sublime exhibition of fast, passing, intelligent football, marred only by our seeming inability to score more than one goal. Today couldn't have been farther away from that. How does that happen?

OK, so we have suspensions and injuries, and we can't just splurge the cash to fix the problems, but we still have a team more than capable of beating a club a league below us.

So, where was that team today?

Partly it was down to the players. Some just weren't giving 100% today, and some just aren't good enough for regular games at this level. And, as a team, we only really seemed to start playing in the dying minutes of the game - when it's already far too late.

But mostly, I'm afraid, it's down to management - selection, strategy, tactics. George treated this game as a chance to rest the better players and give some on the fringe a game. And, in fairness, he might have been right. But it was blindingly obvious, within minutes, that this wasn't that game, and the second-rate side we put out just wasn't up to it. Personally, I don't think he should have waited until half time to make the necessary subs, but he didn't even do it at half time. And when he finally did start to remake the team, not only was it too late, but we ended up with bizarre results like Gurung still playing, while Paps was off the pitch.

And then there was the way we played - not the short passing game of last week, but long balls against a side with a very well organised defence. Whilst our make-do defence was constantly overwhelmed by their fast attacks. The first goal, for instance, was just embarrassing.

And our defence, such that it was, was mystifying. What formation were we playing? At times it looked like 4 across the back, at other times, three plus two wing-backs, at others just two at the back. I've never seen a defender get as frustrated as Eweka did today. And Andre was as dodgy as a nine bob note - with such a crap 'defence' in front of him, his frailties were laid bare for all to see.

And then there was our 'attack'. Pass it out to Seaman, so he can run a few yards forward and then lob it into their half - only to see it come back again. And repeat. The players on the left must have wondered if they were using the wrong deodorant. We have one of the best left-backs/wingers I've ever seen at this level, but Brooks was constantly left running up and down without the ball. And it escapes me what value Coulthirst brings to the team - he is constantly a split second (at least) late for everything. As for Gurung - what is it that George sees in him? Coming on as a last-minute sub, OK, but starting, and then still being on the pitch when much better players are off - why?? And, I'm sorry, I like Bentley, but he is no replacement for Benton.

Despite the recent improvement, today showed us that the basic problems are all still there. We have a thin squad, where how we play and our results are immediately impacted by injuries or suspension. We still lack players with the individual flair and talent to change a game. And George still has a lot to learn about team selection, strategy and tactics.

On last week's display, we looked like a side that should be challenging for the championship, but today's demonstrated that, as we are, we'll be lucky to even make the playoffs.