The second game of the National League Premier Division season ended in a 2-0 defeat for Yeovil Town at the hands of Forest Green Rovers at The New Lawn. The scoreline belied the dominance of the home side who spurned numerous chances to make it a more emphatic defeat for the Glovers. Ed Turnbull was among the 486 fans who made the trip to Gloucestershire and here are his conclusions.
Two up top, but I’m not sure it worked. I was excited to see Aaron Jarvis get some company in the forward line in Tahvon Campbell, but surprised we tried it away to one of the strongest sides in the division. Forest Green found it too easy to get the ball forwards around us, with a lot of space behind the front two. For two big strikers, neither particularly held the ball up well which meant we struggled to keep the ball. I was not too surprised to see Campbell substituted at half-time. Mind you, it certainly was not any better when we switched to playing one up top in the second half. We talk a lot about shape, but for me it’s 11 players on the pitch either way, and it’s about how good they are more than the formation they play in.
Who wants that sack of spuds? If anyone wants the sack of potatoes being offered to our first goalscorer of the season, a good first step would be to find a way of getting possession in the attacking half. We managed it in second half against Hartlepool on the opening day, but in the other three 45 minutes of competitive football so far this season we’ve failed. I’d hoped Luke McCormick would be that player to put his foot on the ball higher up the pitch and provide that vital connection between defence and attack, but he hasn’t managed that so far. I would like to see if Brett McGavin can do any better from the start of a match. For me, as solid as they can be defensively, a midfield pair of Charlie Cooper and Finn Cousin-Dawson lacks that attacking quality and leaves our strikers looking so disjointed from the rest of the team.
Not entirely sure I agree with the last conclusion. This isn’t a new manager, or even a new squad, 10 players from yesterdays squad were here last season, so it’s not a case of mass change during the summer and needing time to bed in with a new manager, (unlike yesterdays opponents), It’s game after game of the same, regressive and inept tactics, and that will not change at any point during the season with cooper at the helm. He showed his naivety yesterday in thinking we would be able to counter FGR without any pace or width, and they absolutely pulled his pants down and made us look like a pub team. Don’t look at Brackley Town or Braintree as ‘kinder fixtures’, they’ve both got more points on the board than us already.
Disagree strongly with the last conclusion. Cooper out.
Burying your head in the sand with that final conclusion I’m afraid, Cooper has shown that he is resistant to different tactics (& then picks the wrong game to change it up, by his own admission) and will no doubt revert to type on Wednesday, a game we ‘should’ be pushing to win
I’m not coming on here to moan but basically we got spanked by a far better team yesterday and forest green are going to do that to a lot of teams this year.Im just happy to go to Huish park and watch football.pretty sure the sack of spuds will go on Wednesday fingers crossed 😂
Is it to early in the season to say, Wednesday nights game is a must win?
It’s not two games is it . It’s been like this since he came to the club bloody terrible football the sooner he is sacked the better for all concerned.
Jarvis is a Great winner of the ball
But lacks support I feel in a mind like Striker to feed off him