Graham Coughlan Exeter City post match & game highlights

[Son Of Sherwood]

[Sandy Pate Best Stag]

I don’t think he said enough in that interview to reassure me that he has a plan going forward. He seemed to think it was just an off day and the team didn’t want it enough. He didn’t think the tactics were wrong or even hint that could be a problem.

Maybe the terrible sound in the background was putting him off and they were just going through the process of getting a video out but I heard nothing that makes me think things will improve. GC seems to think we will do ok, I don’t.

[Dogface]

I don’t think we’ve shown enough in the last three games to suggest that we are going to be good enough. Yes they’ve had their moments but they have been few and far between. We don’t look defensively tight, we don’t create enough and overall we just look like a workmanlike side.

[young vanish]

We have players with the right skills.
We have the fitness levels the best they've been in a long time.
To me what was lacking was cohesion, they're not playing as a team just yet, but that should come as more games are played.

IMO we were easily a match for Exeter in individual skills & fitness. The difference was they played as a unit, our lads are still learning how to blend.
Keep the faith, patience and time will reap rewards I'm sure. Ever the optimist gives me a better ride than rushing to judge too early.

[Sandy Pate Best Stag]

We have players with the right skills.
We have the fitness levels the best they've been in a long time.
To me what was lacking was cohesion, they're not playing as a team just yet, but that should come as more games are played.

IMO we were easily a match for Exeter in individual skills & fitness. The difference was they played as a unit, our lads are still learning how to blend.
Keep the faith, patience and time will reap rewards I'm sure. Ever the optimist gives me a better ride than rushing to judge too early.

Sorry vanish but I don’t agree we had the skills that Exeter showed. Our first touch was no where near theirs and they moved off the ball. Football isn’t just about what you do with the ball at your feet and they were leagues ahead at that. Their only fault was to overestimate us in the first 20 minutes, once they got over that they never looked back. The wind was our friend yesterday and without it we would have got a good tonking

[young vanish]

We have players with the right skills.
We have the fitness levels the best they've been in a long time.
To me what was lacking was cohesion, they're not playing as a team just yet, but that should come as more games are played.

IMO we were easily a match for Exeter in individual skills & fitness. The difference was they played as a unit, our lads are still learning how to blend.
Keep the faith, patience and time will reap rewards I'm sure. Ever the optimist gives me a better ride than rushing to judge too early.

Sorry vanish but I don’t agree we had the skills that Exeter showed. Our first touch was no where near theirs and they moved off the ball. Football isn’t just about what you do with the ball at your feet and they were leagues ahead at that. Their only fault was to overestimate us in the first 20 minutes, once they got over that they never looked back. The wind was our friend yesterday and without it we would have got a good tonking

I agree they moved off the ball well, and especially passes were made into spaces for them to run on to, but isn't that all part of teamwork?
Knowing who will be where and using overlaps and runners is something that comes with time ...

[Jimstag]

Makes the right noises, k owe what’s going wrong but can he fix it?

[spanishstag]

I know some think its blind faith ,or happy clapping ,but i really do have trust in him ,our midfield has improved greatly ,and we have still to see mclaughlin ,up front we are still to see rose and probably a fully fit maynard ,ok the defence may need a bit more time ,including stech to get them used to playing as a solid unit .its early yet you cant judge him on anything other than the three league games ,well thats my hope

[cassellswasmagic]

I know some think its blind faith ,or happy clapping ,but i really do have trust in him ,our midfield has improved greatly ,and we have still to see mclaughlin ,up front we are still to see rose and probably a fully fit maynard ,ok the defence may need a bit more time ,including stech to get them used to playing as a solid unit .its early yet you cant judge him on anything other than the three league games ,well thats my hope

One things for sure Spanish, we have to stick with a manager for a while, we cant keep changing.

[Sandy Pate Best Stag]

We have players with the right skills.
We have the fitness levels the best they've been in a long time.
To me what was lacking was cohesion, they're not playing as a team just yet, but that should come as more games are played.

IMO we were easily a match for Exeter in individual skills & fitness. The difference was they played as a unit, our lads are still learning how to blend.
Keep the faith, patience and time will reap rewards I'm sure. Ever the optimist gives me a better ride than rushing to judge too early.

Sorry vanish but I don’t agree we had the skills that Exeter showed. Our first touch was no where near theirs and they moved off the ball. Football isn’t just about what you do with the ball at your feet and they were leagues ahead at that. Their only fault was to overestimate us in the first 20 minutes, once they got over that they never looked back. The wind was our friend yesterday and without it we would have got a good tonking

I agree they moved off the ball well, and especially passes were made into spaces for them to run on to, but isn't that all part of teamwork?
Knowing who will be where and using overlaps and runners is something that comes with time ...

Maybe so Vanish but I didn’t see many attempted runs from us which weren’t seen or found. That’s not a lack of understanding and getting used to your teammates, more to do with tactics or lack of skill. I’m not sure it’s a lack of skill as the players have proven themselves elsewhere.

[spanishstag]

I know some think its blind faith ,or happy clapping ,but i really do have trust in him ,our midfield has improved greatly ,and we have still to see mclaughlin ,up front we are still to see rose and probably a fully fit maynard ,ok the defence may need a bit more time ,including stech to get them used to playing as a solid unit .its early yet you cant judge him on anything other than the three league games ,well thats my hope

One things for sure Spanish, we have to stick with a manager for a while, we cant keep changing.

No we have to give him time ,keep hearing from some about poor appointments by the club ,but i dont think our owners are so gullible as to be taken in by a nice bit of oirish smoothtalk or whatever, lets face it he was virtually headhunted by the owners so they must have been sure about him ,i still have belief in as well

[Vice President]

First goal: The keeper was at fault. That was clearly the keeper's ball to take/punch clear. And obviously Rawson - what was he trying to do and who was he trying to mark? (possibly put off by the ball skidding through the keepers hands, but that's no excuse).

Second goal: Can't blame Rawson, the ball was out of his reach, but how did a big chap like Sweeney manage to duck under a simple header and allow the person he was supposed to be marking a free header to score?

The other best chance Exeter had: Menayese was outpaced far too easily. (This has happened a few times - and it is not helped by the formation).

I am not convinced that this defence (Goal keeper and the 3 centre backs) are good enough - or at least, not in this particular formation. Maybe the centre backs (and the defence as a whole, including Benning) would be more effective in a conventional back 4? (I suggested this a few weeks ago - and I still believe that I am right). One could argue that conceding from set pieces has nothing to do with the formation - however, would we have conceded the set pieces in the first place with a more solid defensive formation?

[arsene wengers coat]

Didn't watch the game but from those highlights could and should we have won? Cook and charsley should have scored.

Their first goal. Wow.

[cassellswasmagic]

Didn't watch the game but from those highlights could and should we have won? Cook and charsley should have scored.

Their first goal. Wow.

I actually thought their second goal was worse, several chances to get a head on it before their man and then a soft looping header. On chances it could’ve been 3-3. We look toothless upfront and all over the place at the back. Hopefully we can sort it.

[five to three]

Poor goalkeeping after Stone ended last season so well. If you play a back three then wing backs need to make things happen. Ours were absent. Up front two identical players but one a lot better than the other. And our most creative player not even on the bench this time. It's not just about effort.

[adamstag]

Where the question on a plan B?

Yesterday we got found out and Exeter worked out our game plan quickly.

Yet we carried on lumping it and Exeter dominated the game, what is the plan B, and if there was one why wasn’t it deployed?

[Tippy Tappy Football]

First goal was an error by Stech. Second goal involved Rawson being beaten in the air by Rory McArdle to head it back across goal. Corey O'Keeffe should have been marking Josh Key but he is ball watching instead of picking up his man. Ryan Sweeney is marking Tom Parkes but is beaten in the air by Key who comes in behind him. If O'Keeffe had got tight to Key and gone with him then it would have been harder for him to get up and head the ball.

The highlights do not include the very good shout that the Stags had for a penalty when Ollie Clarke was caught in the box after he got his shot away.

I thought the back three generally did well defensively bearing in mind they were under a lot of pressure at times due to Exeter City dominating the midfield. They made lots of blocks and interceptions and dominated in the air apart from the corner which resulted in the second goal. They limited Exeter to a couple of chances. The cross from Randall to Bowman which was Exeter's best goalscoring opportunity; and a shot by Josh Key in the 2nd half. The Stags had two good chances to score. The Andy Cook shot in the first half and the Harry Charsley chance in the 2nd half.

Defending set pieces has already become an achilles heel for the Stags with goals conceded from four corners (Preston, Orient and Exeter x 2). The players to blame have been Rawson x 3, Perch, Cook, Stech, Sweeney and O'Keeffe. Farrend Rawson is a no nonsense head it and kick it centre half but Krystian Pearce was a better defender and he was also better on the ball as he could bring it out of defence if necessary.

Whoscored had Rollin Menayese as our Man of the Match yesterday and I agreed with them. (1 Goal, 8 Aerial Duals Won, 3 Tackles, 39 Passes and 56 Touches, the most by a Mansfield player). I think he is a young player who will improve quickly as he plays more league games and certainly a player we can develop and sell on. He is comfortable on the ball and does try and bring it forward which you need your centre halfs to do if you are playing a back three e.g. Sheffield United, Charlie Raglan, Charlie Goode etc. He made one excellent run forward in the 2nd half but then spoilt it by losing possession which resulted in a Exeter counter attack. It was also encouraging though that he scored a goal from a corner. If we are going to challenge for promotion then we need to aim for 8-10 goals from our back three.

[spanishstag]

Tooooo many tactical geniuses on here we got done by a better team end of

[Sandy Pate Best Stag]

Tooooo many tactical geniuses on here we got done by a better team end of

Yes Spanish you are correct we did. The problem comes if there are 22 better teams.

[Vice President]

Tooooo many tactical geniuses on here we got done by a better team end of

Spanishstag - Why do you always refer to people as 'tactical geniuses' in that condescending tone if they merely offer an opinion?
Surely the whole point of this website is to offer an opinion about football!

Yes, we were beaten by a better team - and there are tactical reasons that can explain why.

[MTFCMusings]

Tooooo many tactical geniuses on here we got done by a better team end of

Spanishstag - Why do you always refer to people as 'tactical geniuses' in that condescending tone if they merely offer an opinion?
Surely the whole point of this website is to offer an opinion about football!

Yes, we were beaten by a better team - and there are tactical reasons that can explain why.

It’s the response of someone who can’t muster an opinion. The whole joy of football is analysing the game and offering an opinion. How boring it must be if you just accept each result for what it is. ‘We were the worst team so we lost’, ‘we were the better team so we won’

[Gazmoose82]

Talks
Agood
Game

Bit like the annoying bloke down the pub (every pub has one) when your trying to have a nice quiet game of pool with ya mates... Constantly in ya ear "put abit of back right side on that mate and get it back for that one that's what I'd do".. "wouldn't take that one first mate" and telling you he's played someone for a grand last week etc etc... Then you play against him and he's complete toss.

That's how I see coughlan

[spanishstag]

Tooooo many tactical geniuses on here we got done by a better team end of

Spanishstag - Why do you always refer to people as 'tactical geniuses' in that condescending tone if they merely offer an opinion?
Surely the whole point of this website is to offer an opinion about football!

Yes, we were beaten by a better team - and there are tactical reasons that can explain why.

It’s the response of someone who can’t muster an opinion. The whole joy of football is analysing the game and offering an opinion. How boring it must be if you just accept each result for what it is. ‘We were the worst team so we lost’, ‘we were the better team so we won’

No its not ,its the opinion of someone who is not one for going into miniscule details ,i refer to some as tactical geniuses because i think they reckon they know better than our manager ,as they bandy names about ,paul cook being the latest ,as if they really are going to have any influence .Its just my way of looking at things im the same with most things in life its people who make things complicated that bug me ,its nothing personal

[Dan]

How come he wasn’t interviewed by Stevo? I could hardly hear that.

[Martin Shaw]

How come he wasn’t interviewed by Stevo? I could hardly hear that.

A technical problem, actually with both interviews.