I came, I saw and I was uninspired

[reamsofverse]

But I'll take the 3 points.

Firstly I didn't realise how far the Rose was out of the way hopefully that explains why none of you boring farts turned up

Anyway something really strange happened in there, having not spoken to a sole for 20 minutes I was approached by a Charlton fan who was also on his own so we got chatting. Now as far as I know there is only one other Charlton fan in Wrexham a bloke called Kevin who works in Tesco's who I have not seen for a while but used to bump into him regularly on the train down a few seasons ago.

This bloke in the Rose picked up on my accent and asked where I was from, I said Wrexham and amazingly he said my brother lives there and I said it's Kevein isn't it and he said yes and we had a laugh about the fact that the first person I speak to 200 miles away from home is the brother of a person I know here!!

Anyway back to the game I was gutted that there was no Semedo and concerned too, the next 90 minutes proved why, we are not the same animal without him, Spring did a good job to be honest but without Jose we looked like a Rolls that had a engine of a mini installed for the day, we were so ineffective without him as he is the man who breaks down opponents attacks and turns them into our own, there was none of that today and Llera's long balls up to a one man strikeforce were a waste of time.

Bailey is clearly not at the races, Shelvey also disappointed but I'll reserve the biggest disappointment of the day for our fans who I thought were very quiet, Exeter's fans although only 700 or so of them made alot of noise to be fair.

Did anybody else think there was a flat atmosphere there today or was it where I was sitting well standing actually, I paid £17 for a NW Quadrant seat but went in the wrong entrance and found myself in the lower north standing up at the back against one of the out of use executive boxes, I could hear a bit of noise from up above but not much, maybe it was muted by being right under the upper north and not nearer the front in the open air where maybe the noise carried a bit better.

Exeter fans I spoke to on the way back into London thought they deserved a point to which I disagreed, I said Tranmere apart they are probably the worst side we have played so the 2-1 scoreline reflects on how poor we were today, they didn't think we were any great shakes and on the day I couldn't disagree with them.

It all boils down to what I have been saying all season we have a bloody good side this season but just an average squad.

[valleyviper]

Agree it was a bit on the quiet side and if it hadn't been for the drummer we could have been at an away game, cannot agree with you on the loss of Samedo though, with Racon pulling all the right the strings the game flowed well. Bailey does not appear fit and could, like Richardson, be cayrrying an injury, his performance would only rate a "6" at best, including the goal.

Feel that if it hadn't been for Exeter's keeper (loan from Spurs) we would have wrapped up the match by half-time, but being Charlton as soon as the opposition scores we become nervous, something Parky must put right, sooner rather than later.

Trust Bailey and Richardson give a better account of themselves against Colchester United on Tuesday (for which I have a ticket) or with Lisbie playing right side of mid-field and two speedy strikers up front we could come down to earth with a bump, would prefer Sodje in place of Liera for this one or he'll pick up another yellow and miss the Leeds match.

Last home game Colchester received 3 x penalties, be touched and go down seems to be included in their make-up of late. PP must advise our defenders on this point.

[jonkool]

Wallsall have been the worst opposition.

Now let's get this right all the teams (maybe excepting Leeds) don't have strength in depth reflecting the financial reality of Div 1. So we will play below par on many weeks and we will lose games but so long as we win more than weose and Leeds beat all our near rivals promotion is a possibility.

[reamsofverse]

Jonkool if we play like that at Colchester in the week we will be dicing with our first defeat of the season, play like it at Leeds and we will get ripped apart.

[leftbehind]

Bailey was MOTM
Thought he done OK many times he was out on the wing alone calling for it and rarely got it

[reamsofverse]

Find that astonishing to be honest as in the second half he went missing for long periods and proof of this was when two deep crosses came in from the flank and just when you expected Bailey to come ghosting in at the far post he was nowhere to be seen instead he almost standing next to Youga in the left back position and that's no exagerration .

[ExeterAddick]

Racon was the only one who came out with any credit for me.
We were technically better than them in every department, but their superior work-rate made the game closer than it should have been. We looked a little arrogant today at times, particularly after the first goal went in. Even players like Burton and Richardson who have done well this season looked poor and lethargic.

As for Llera, definitely the weak link. Very little footballing ability, and if it wasn't for his heading and general willingness to get hurt, would be little more than a non-league player

[reamsofverse]

Lethargic being the operative word there Exeteraddick, I thought today not only was the teams engine missing but the petrol tank was almost running on fumes at times, too many players looking tired whilst others are just getting through the 90 minutes.

As for the injuries, I think they are not healing because they are not getting the adequate time to do so, we saw today how badly one playing missing disrupted us, two or three out will leave us in dire straights.

[ExeterAddick]

all very true.

on the plus side though, 9 games and still unbeaten, and still winning games with crap performances.
I just hope we can get through to January with this small squad, minus too many injuries, and still find ourselves in the top two. Whether we'll have any money to spend remains to be seen then i guess

[reamsofverse]

on the plus side though, 9 games and still unbeaten, and still winning games with crap performances.

As you say we can't argue with that but I just can't help feeling, and maybe many others are too which is possibly why the fans were a bit flat today that, one or two things are starting to catch up with us, like injuries, our game plan and tiredness, they have all held us in good stead so far, but I just don't know at the moment im very uneasy about something, wev'e done a Usain Bolt in the early season sprint but he'd never win a marathon, whether we do or not depends on what loans come in if any and who we bring in in January, if it's nobody on both counts then I fear burn out will seriously curtail our chances of promotion.

[canterburyaddick]

I thought Youga was my MOM, didn't put a foot wrong and was a constant threat even in the 2nd half. We just seemed to lack energy in the 2nd half, and I agree with Reams that Semedo was missed today, although Spring was OK he lacks that extra quality.
Kept thinking that we needed to freshen things up, but with what.
But just look at the other results, apart from Leeds almost every other challenger lost points, so all in all not a bad day. I'd take 2nd at the end of the season.

[DFT]

It was my first game this season and I also think the atmosphere was really poor. Is it that everyone is just so nervous waiting for it all to go wrong?
We do make it hard for ourselves and nearly let Exeter back into the game. When our passing game gets shut down by the oppo we don't seem to have a plan B, we have got to sort this out because better sides than Exeter will punish us. We clearly missed Semedo today and I hope he is back for next week. When we get the passing going we look a good side but resort to hoofing it when it goes wrong. Bailey is out of position on the left, we need a left sided player in January. I thought Youga looked OK today and thought Izale looked keen when he came on. We looked tired for the last ¼ of the game and that worried me. We're OK but on that showing we are not the finished article. I'm going to Leeds next Saturday.

[bingaddick]

This wasn't our best performance of the season and the problems of a small squad and playing the same team week in week out are starting to show. I agree we missed Semedo although I thought Spring had a decent game. I also thought Semedo didn't have his best game at Norwich and maybe he was carrying an injury.

Bailey has been carrying an injury for the last few weeks, so has Racon. Bailey sat in the second half because Youga was raiding forward and looked our best player. That is the benefit of playing Bailey in that position.

I thought Shelvey was no less effective yesterday than he has been in other games, he didn't hide and kept himself in the game at all times. He still has a way to go before he is the absolute finished article but he has enough about him to be a constant threat.

Richardson had a difficult time against their winger who I thought was their best player. That mean't that we couldn't get our right side play going as effectively as in previous games, apart from a spell at the start of the game.

I am worried about Llera who looks very dodgy in tight situations. It was great to see Sodje get in and his first touch was a trademark towering header.

Exeter surprised me because they were prepared to move the ball around especially in the second half and we didn't press them enough.

My overall feeling is of a hard won victory that we just about deserved.