Ltfc 1-2 Wufc

[De Town]

Terrible result. I wouldnt mind losing to a good team who play nice football but I hate losing to cúnts like that Reynolds fcuker :mad: :mad: :mad:

They took the **** out of the ref in the 2nd half with their time wasting but we played very poorly aswell, defence looked shakey. When we went 1 down, played some nice football but got the equaliser, which was a great run by Barrett, then we just sat back, played hoof-ball, waiting for half-time to arrive. The pen was a disgrace, Murphy( :confused: ) went down before he even got close to Digger. Barrys fault for the 2nd goal. Murph had it under control in the middle but Barry had to come and try to clear house. He was stretching for it, hit the challenger and rebounded out to the left wing were they just passed it to Murphy who finished it well.

Terrible start to the season. We have to be beating the likes of Waterford if we want to do well in this league.

Roll on Next week :ball:

[CollegeTillIDie]

DeTown

This is the second competitive game of the season and the term bad defending has been used to describe Longford. What's going on?
Last year Town were a team who couldn't score but could defend... they are becoming one who can't do either if the first two games are anything to go by. And I must say I would not like to see the Town go down :eek:

[De Town]

DeTown

This is the second competitive game of the season and the term bad defending has been used to describe Longford. What's going on?
Well, Gartland (1/2 of the partnership from last season) went to Drogland and we took Danny O'Connor off them as a replacement. He still hasnt gelled with Barry at the back but give them time and hopefully they will :)

I dont think we will go down though ;)

[Fermoy Blue]

Send the cnuts down!!

[CollegeTillIDie]

Danny O'Connor used to be a full back at Drogs as far as I can recall... what happened to young Paisley is he gone?

[De Town]

what happened to young Paisley is he gone?
No, he's still here. He was suspended last night but was playing against Glentoran. He will probably be used at left back for the season.

[Longfordian]

Paisley will be in centre back for the next game I'd put money on it, he's away with the U21s next week so the Derry game will be off I think, good thing too as we've a pile of injuries as well.

[Dillo]

A very very poor start to the campaign for Longford Town... What makes it even more frustrating is the fact that Waterford are a very average side who under Ratface constantly deploy time wasting tactics and whatever else they can to get a result. They play puke football and cheat their way through games- surely the dogs o' war of the EL. After the blues took the lead following a dubious penalty decision Town had a good ten to fifteen minute spell where they at least attempted to keep the ball on the ground and play some constructive football. This proved fruitful as the lively Shane Barrett levelled matters with a sublime volley (already a contender for goal of the season!) following a great run. It was no more than the red and black deserved after some fine passing and off the ball movement.
Following this however we took our foot off the gas and once again allowed Waterford into the game. A defensive mix up between Ferguson and O' Connor allowed the prolific Darlyl Murphy to sneak in and volley past a helpless Digger. Very discouraging to say the least. As was evident last week at the oval, both centre backs looked shaky and inconvincing all night- an area pre seaon that I thought we'd thrive in. What was to follow for the remainder of the first half and after the interval was terrible, shambolic and unacceptable. We resorted to launching long balls for the majority of the game and created very little in the way of chances. This was awful to look at and the sort of football people do not want to see free of charge- never mind fifteen euro at the turnstile!!
I am not one to run down our players but surely after a promising pre seaon including a week long out in the Algarve etc, we can come up with something better than this!! It was a dreadful display of hit and hope all night and if this continues the Flansiro faithful will continue to diminish. Young Gary Cronin was at nothing all night and looks very light weight. Big Deano was huffing and puffing all night and failed to stamp his authority on the game while Alan Murphy looked poor and short of match fitness. Dessie Baker had one of his quieter nights and a bit like Harry Kewell at Liverpool may be more concerned about his appearance than his performances.
I could go on all night but I won't. From last night's performance, it appears to me that LTFC do not appear to be making significant strides on the football pitch. As both football and Longford Town supporters we deserve better than this. Flancare Park deserves better this and above all the Eircom League deserves better than this. Perhaps I'm being slightly overly critical on certain aspects but I am not one to settle for second best when it comes to football.

[Martinho II]

:mad:

it is typical that when we are tipped to do well we make a big mess of things. tbh i thought we were a disgrace i dont know why baker was playin in the first place. defensively we were shockin too much hoofball being played.

not impressed with cronin or o connor keego should have played from the start. davy byrne or tom mohan should have played from the beginning.

tbh with the derry game being called off i for one am relieved about it as i would not have fancied our chances against a resurgent derry city team so we have a lot more gelling to do.

hopefully things will be sorted out by thursday weekwith the cork game.

real impressed with barrett.

how long is myler out for?

[observer]

As long as Alan Matthews is content to use Diggers "up and unders" and Fergusons hoofed balls, as the main attacking ploy's for Longford the team cannot and will not progress. W hy buy midfielders if they are to be bypassed everytime Longford have possession? :confused: :mad:

[RockofGibraltar]

Here Here

[Sonic]

you hit the nail on the head.playin it on the ground got us to one one and we hoofed it thereafter.matthews wiuld want cop on to himself.same old story from fans blame the ref rather than matthews and his players :mad:

[Xlex]

Barrys fault for the 2nd goal. Murph had it under control in the middle but Barry had to come and try to clear house.


A defensive mix up between Ferguson and O' Connor

Can't let those two quotes on Waterfords second goal go unchecked. Firstly, Murph played that ball back to Barry to clear, in half a yard of space Barry's clearance was blocked. The ball rebounded to Murphy and in an area between Dillo and O'Connor he blasted past Digger. That's my perspective on the goal from where I was in Section O. It was a softish goal but hard to finger much blame on anyone. I was fuming with Cronin at the time because he wasn't anywhere for Prunty to clear his lines to. Why is it Dillon or Prunty can do little wrong.

Bring Barry back to the right side of defense. I was really disappointed with the game. A narrow pitch. A poor mans full-back playing centre of midfield. Cronin was non-existant.... No width and Diggers unaccurate up and unders. Can't pick a decent player all night for Longford. Brutal.

In saying all that, waterfords keeper had a great game and denyed us a point. In the second half Waterford played with 10 men behind the ball and were very umimaginative....

[Longfordian]

As long as Alan Matthews is content to use Diggers "up and unders" and Fergusons hoofed balls, as the main attacking ploy's for Longford the team cannot and will not progress. W hy buy midfielders if they are to be bypassed everytime Longford have possession? :confused: :mad:

He's not content but footballers do what comes naturally to them when under pressure, no matter how many times they're told. He definitely doesn't tell them 'hoof it all the time lads', and having seen them train a few times that's not what they're taught in training either. It was a very poor display but Alan was even more angry and upset than anyone else.

[Wiseguy]

Gary Cronin has looked poor in every game so far.Alan Kirby goes walkabout and is everywhere on the pitch except where he is suppose to be.This crap of persisting to knock long balls up to Barrett and Baker is getting really annoying.Every person knows that if something isn't working you change it.The Waterford defence just headed the ball back up the pitch.We gave it away much to easy and ended up running around after the ball half the night instead of letting the ball do the work.Barrett & Baker are not the answer up front.
Alan Murphy in the centre of midfield is a no go IMO.Why not put Tom Mohan or Davy Byrne in there.These guys play in that position anyway,the game just passed Spud by.All these problems should have been rectified in Pre season and we should have hit the ground running now we are in a position where we have already dropped points and have very tough games coming up.
Digger can't be held fully responsible because most of the time nobody wants the ball off him anyway so what else can he do with it.Most players don't even want the ball from a throw in so we resort to throwing it down the line and eventually giving the ball away.It's the same with short corners and quick free kicks.Most of the time they're wasted yet we keep persisting with them.Most of these are very basic schoolboy errors and we shouldn't be commiting them.
Each season everyone looks for an improvement but from what i can see we appear to have carried over some of last years bad habits and i think unless they are sorted out we will under perform in the league again and this is where success is really measured.We have a really good squad with quality in every position and all our best performances have came when we have passed the ball so there can't be anymore excuses.I know the ref was very poor on saturday night and the Waterford tactics were terrible but that did not stop us playing football, we just didn't adapt to it and got dragged down to their level which happened to often to last years Team so it's vital it dosen't happen to this years team.

[Ronnie]

I found the game quite similar to the Glentoran game. In the first half, especially at 1 down, we got a grip on midfield, won an awful lot of the knockdowns in midfield, thus keeping the ball and switching the attack, giving us 4 chances in quick succession before Barrett equalised. Reynolds and his midfield got a foothold in midfield after our goal and the game got very tight, no space for full backs or centre halfs to get the ball ftom either keeper, thus all long ball in second half. Second goal very disappointing as I felt we would go on to win it at 1-1. Their keeper had a very good game and seems like a very good replacement for yer man with Dogheda.

[Flea]

Yeah in fairness now it was very poor altogether, it didn't seem like the first game of the season, it seemed like the last where we were out of bite and ideas. I wouldn't agree that everyone was bad, Barrett namely was very good coming back to his real quality and should be awesome this season. Prunty, Ferguson, Dillon and Fitzgerald were all OK. Kirby was bad, as was Baker, O'Connor, Murphy not much better. Worst of all, Digger and Cronin. Digger should be viewed as the reserve cos lets face it hes finished and hes crippling our play build-up. As for the second goal, Ferguson couldn't get even 10% of the blame hes gettin. Ferguson is a good defender but when things go wrong he gets all the blame. Easy shot, easy save, but wasn't saved :( . Yeah hes done a lot but hes past his best, even half his best and this didn't do Vinny any good so I don't see what keeping him on is gonna do i.e. get a new keeper NOW! As for Cronin, terrible, the lad is a twig, completely the wrong man to accompany Deano in the centre, sure hes "blowin' in the wind" most of the time :rolleyes: Really awful. On the plus Barrett is back to run riot if its kept on the ground. Watch this space!

[higgins]

You looked out of ideas against Glentoran too!


Didnt see any of the Waterford game but from the look of Longford during the first Setanta game your going nowhere this season. You started off well passed the ball around ok'ish... When the game got scarpy and it looked like any team who strung 2 or 3 passes together would have a good chance of winning you suddenly go long ball all the time with silly efforts over the midfield???

The first half was going ok so what happened?

If thats the style of play you had in the Waterford game im not surprised. Matthews also annoyed me again after the Glentoran game by coming out and defending the performance :eek: It was shocking I thought. Keegan is one of your best players (still not great) but he starts on the bench? Davy Byrne :confused: What is Matthews thinking?

[Longfordian]

What exactly do you mean by 'Davy Byrne :confused: ' ? Doesn't make much sense really, elaborate....Managers almost always defend their team in public, it's nothing new. Keegan or Baker was the choice at the time and given Dessie's goal record compared to Keego's at the time it was understandable enough that he started with Dessie.To be fair he didn't play well but starting with him was reasonable enough in my opinion. Wouldn't write off our season just yet, it's been done before and we've ended up reasonably satisfied with our few cups..

[higgins]

I just think Davy Byrne has been going downhill after his first year at shels. I dont see what he adds to any team and am just surprised he's in the team !

Fair shout with Dessie but maybe he could have changed things a little sooner? Maybe even half time as Dessie looked useless.

Defending a bad display in public is one thing but its the manner in which Longford approached the game and the tactics they used that I cant understand. It wasnt pre season fitness that stopped you winning it was the tactics involved??? Thngs were looking ok at the start when you tried passing it but the more the game went on the tactics changed, why? Only reason you had some pressure at the end was because glentoran could'nt sting 2 passes together. He probably couldnt say too much on TV but I thought is was very boring football from Alan and Longford. Why not use some of the decent midfielders you have!! I would have expected Alan to be p!ssed off after the game but he appeared to act like it was a job well done and you were unlucky.

[Wiseguy]

In fairness the only people who can answer why we resorted to long ball crap are the players and manager.I don't want to be seen as to critical because Alan has done well at Longford and deserves all the respect he can get but this long ball stuff has to stop and stop now.It just dosen't work.Alan needs to drill this into the players.If you keep the ball on the ground and retain simple possesion and be patient about this your chances will come.Players need to be in a position to recieve the ball at all times and need to be able and willing to do this.The simple things are almost always the most effective things.I don't want to be seen as a know it all but i have played football for long enough and coached for long enough to know that this is the best way to play the game.IMO a team will always reflect what it is coached on the training ground.Alan must stamp his authority on the team if they are not following his instructions and get them to play the way he wants.All good coaches do this.If the long ball game is Alan's game i don't think it will work and i fear another season of under achieving in the league.

[Xlex]

[QUOTE=Flea]Digger should be viewed as the reserve cos lets face it hes finished and hes crippling our play build-up. As for the second goal, Ferguson couldn't get even 10% of the blame hes gettin. Ferguson is a good defender but when things go wrong he gets all the blame. Easy shot, easy save, but wasn't saved :( . Yeah hes done a lot but hes past his best, even half his best and this didn't do Vinny any good so I don't see what keeping him on is gonna do i.e. get a new keeper.QUOTE]

Two very true things.

Can't forget, our midfield were not what they should be, I know John Martin had a great end of season and a good glentoran game but I'm still surprised to be saying that his absence seamed to really hurt. Any Idea how serious his injury is?

[pineapple stu]

As long as Alan Matthews is content to use Digger's "up and unders" and Ferguson's hoofed balls, as the main attacking ploys for Longford the team cannot and will not progress. Why buy midfielders if they are to be bypassed everytime Longford have possession? :confused: :mad:
One of the lads in work here was at the game - that pretty much sums up what he thought of the game. Said it was a brutal match played mostly in the air - including Waterford. A bit surprising 'cos yez played some nice football against Glentoran at times.

[Longfordian]

John Martin should be back for the next game I think, we could do with him back. He's the one that injects real pace into the midfield and he was a real loss when he went off in Glentoran. As regards Davy Byrne I think it was a gamble worth taking, Stephen Kenny tried everything to keep him seemingly but he just wouldn't go full time. I think he'll be a useful squad member yet. We've only played two games give it another five or six and see how we're doing.

[Wiseguy]

Cop On, as regards 1st touch none of our players should have an excuse.Most if not all have played in England and represented Ireland at some age level.Your first touch should be developed at schoolboy level.Fair enuf you may not have a lot of time on the ball that's why creating space and time for yourself is so important.It mightn't always succeed but it should be tried.It is very easy for the opposition to adapt to a long ball game but it is very hard to stop a team who pass and move because you just end up leaving holes and space for the opposition.All our best performances have come when we have retained posession and passed the ball about but our players seem to fall back into just getting rid of it.The people in the crowd don't help either with their GAA attitiude giving out one minute about knocking it long and as soon as it's knocked about they want it knocked long.With the players we have we should be passing the ball to feet so the likes of Kirby,Prunty,Barrett,Baker and John Martin can run at the opposition.These players have the ability to go by anyone but it's not utilised.Alan Kirby needs a bloody lead on him because he keeps drifting in field and congesting midfield when he should be out wide where the space is giving other players options.It's very annoying.

[sparkey]

The people in the crowd don't help either with their GAA attitiude giving out one minute about knocking it long and as soon as it's knocked about they want it knocked long.

Any player who plays the game as dictated to him by the crowd shouldnt be playing senior football, (or even area league football for that matter). But I do take your point. Also as has been said by all before, we play our best football and create most of our chances when knocking the ball about and opening up teams while playing the ball on the ground. Surely the players can see this as well. But Barry Ferguson does not have the confidence in his own ability to pass the ball along the ground to a midfielder or a winger and hoofes the ball sixty yards down field "clearing his lines" and then feels he has done his job well. This is just not good enough.

[max power]

[QUOTE=Xlex]Can't let those two quotes on Waterfords second goal go unchecked. Firstly, Murph played that ball back to Barry to clear, in half a yard of space Barry's clearance was blocked. The ball rebounded to Murphy and in an area between Dillo and O'Connor he blasted past Digger. That's my perspective on the goal from where I was in Section O. It was a softish goal but hard to finger much blame on anyone. I was fuming with Cronin at the time because he wasn't anywhere for Prunty to clear his lines to. Why is it Dillon or Prunty can do little wrong.

Bring Barry back to the right side of defense. I was really disappointed with the game. A narrow pitch. A poor mans full-back playing centre of midfield. Cronin was non-existant.... No width and Diggers unaccurate up and unders. Can't pick a decent player all night for Longford. Brutal.

QUOTE]

barry left is man to attack that ball, that was his fact and was picked up on after the game, he isn;t happy at the left side of the defence but daz is more unpappy so that is why he is there, expect paiso to take that position against cork

[BobtheDrog]

to answer college til i die, danny used to be a full back moved to centre back under doolo and has played there ever since and looks a better player since he did.
secondly where is gary cronin playing for you? he's a left winger or left full nothing else. don't worry to much about his size he's probably the most committed player in the league and will always give 100% not a bad finisher either.
cant answer the andy myler question have heard nothing about the injury tho one of the lads was talking to him in town last week having accidently stood on his ankle in a que at the post office

[Longfordian]

He said on Saturday he's nearly fit so hopefully he'll be right for the Cork game,he might stick away some of the chances we miss. Cronin played left wing, he'll do alright for us I think but needs to gel like the others.

[BobtheDrog]

as long as he's back for the drogs game goin t be an interesting crowd response to that one danny, andy and snackers given great reception, spud hated, dessie baker loathed and detested, digger loved. we drogs are very fickle

[Sonic]

.Every person knows that if something isn't working you change it..

Everyone except Matthews that is :mad: :ball:

[Ronnie]

Ah Sonic, good to see your not letting the three sujccessive senior cup successes affect your view of Mathews in any way! What other manager could win 3 of the last 6 domestic trophies available and still have fans like Sonic on his case.

[observer]

The fact is that when Longford won these cups they won them largely by playing the ball forward on the ground. They also won their cup finals on a large playing area which facilitated open play and complimented the skills and speed of Kirby, Prunty and Barrett. Where then is the logic of restricting the size of your own pitch and lofting the ball into the air when it comes to the League. While it is obvious that some fans want to have a go at Matthews for any reason, even his most devoted supporters know that there is a problem, even if they don't admit it. Why do we persist with the dreadful "everybody out" offside trap when the dogs on the street know about it and are waiting to exploit it(almost cost a goal in Belfast). Is there anyone out there who does not shiver everytime Town concede a free around halfway, in anticipation of this dangerous ploy?
Matthews has achieved much in moving the club forward of this there is no doubt, however he has to develop himself as well and learn by his mistakes instead of constantly repeating them. :(

[Ronnie]

I've said this before and I'll say it again, the way the game is played in Ireland and in Britain is the same - wingers and centre forwards push up on on the full backs and centre halves so the keepers are given very little option but to play long ball - the trick is to win the second ball and play from there. Against Glentoran in the first half we dominated midfield, in the second half they dominated midfield. Against Waterford, the second half was dominated by Reynolds, depriving us of a lot of ball in the centre. To say we won the cups by playing the ball on the ground is not necessarily so - Francis goal against Pat's, came about when kirby intercepted a pass in our half and played a long ball to Francis pulling away on the right wing - we didn't play that differently in the Cup finals to our league games, however, we took (some) of our chances and rode our luck - in fact I'd say the best we played in a final was against Pats in the League Cup second half and we lost that one!

[observer]

Exactly, Kirby(midfield player) played a long ball from midfield area to Francis on the wing, as opposed to " Digger/Ferguson hoofed the ball up the middle to the opposing centrehalfs".
You have adequately supported the point I am making. ;)
The inference however that top class teams hoof the ball everytime they get it, when they are losing the midfield battle, is one I cannot agree with.

[Ronnie]

So tell me, when Digger has possession and the opposition have closed the space, what do you suggest he do with the ball?

[observer]

If every time Digger or Ferguson get the ball there is no full back or midfielder looking to make space to take it off them then we must have absolutly no footballers in the side. Are you telling me that we are the only team in the league who never get the opportunity to start an attack through the fullbacks or midfielders? :confused: I am afraid our views on football are poles apart. To consider kicking a 50/50 ball up the middle of the field as a valid attacking option might make sense in the Paddy Clabby cup, it leaves a lot to be desired in the Eircom Premier League.

[Ronnie]

I'm not disagreeing that is the way we would like the game to be played. What I am saying is that all teams in Ireland and Britain try to prevent teams from doing that. When you watch the Town play, do you want our stikers and wingers to stand at the halfway line and allow the opposition fullbacks and centrehalfs carry the ball to the halfway line? Of course not, we put them under pressure forcing the long ball to be played, and they do exactly the same.

[observer]

Not 90% of the time they don't. Did we not buy in 4 new midfielders so as to be better in midfield then most of the opposition. If all of our midfield talent is of the standard that every team in the league can make them ineffective then we have made dreadful purchases. If Paisley and Dillon who have international experience cannot escape the clutches of opposing forwards to break forward then they are grossly overrated. I personally do not believe either of these two scenarios to be true. The cause therefore must be that when the opportunity is there for a fast ball to be laid off to properly positioned players it is not availed of. Therefore Digger and Fergusion are not thinking fast enough, are not giving the ball fast enough or are just thinking purely defensively which is not acceptable at this level.

[Ronnie]

The cause therefore must be that when the opportunity is there for a fast ball to be laid off to properly positioned players it is not availed of. Therefore Digger and Fergusion are not thinking fast enough, are not giving the ball fast enough or are just thinking purely defensively which is not acceptable at this level.


I couln't agree more. When the opportunity arises the Town player in possession should immeadiately be looking to set up a counter attack through midfeild or the wings, classic example being Pruntys goal against Shels last season. Where I disagree with you is that I don't believe last Saturday we hoofed it long when the opportuinty arose to play ball! The problem in the second half last Saturday was we got so few chances to get on the ball and play, or to launch counter attacks against a side not committing men forward when they had possession, that when the attacks broke down our only options appeared to be kick it long.

[Xlex]

barry left is man to attack that ball, that was his fact and was picked up on after the game

What you on about there... Barry left his man to attack the Ball... AFAIK His man had nothing to do about the goal...

right Max... at least I'm right about something... left and right....

[Longfordian]

Dillon played on the left side of central defence against Crumlin yesterday and looked like he'd played there all his life, I'd put your house on he or Paisley slotting in there with Barry moved back to the right for the Cork game. John Martin should be back too and possibly Myler

[max power]

What you on about there... Barry left his man to attack the Ball... AFAIK His man had nothing to do about the goal...

right Max... at least I'm right about something... left and right....

indeed you are and paiso is the solution, if you se the sec waterford goal again, barry leaves his man to attck a ball which murph was about to deal with, thats all.

[Xlex]

did murph not play that ball back to Barry?

On a side note, who was the defender beaten hands down for glentorans second goal?

[Longfordian]

No, Murph and Barry sort of collided and the ball was headed over them to Daryl Murphy who wasn't being picked up.

[thecorner]

played 3
won 0
drew 0
LOST 3 :D

[Xlex]

take a hike corner.

You need not bother tramping over here and being an ass.... have to put up with it enough elsewhere....

[thecorner]

take a hike corner.




you might ask the same of your very own max power over on our page....wouldnt have came in here if it wasnt for him

[max power]

well corner if u stoped sending pointless PM's then maybe i wouldn't go near the cork board at all......now go and cry in your cornflakes about dolan.

[Xlex]

fair enough Corner....

don't bring your grudge against Max Power here, all the same.;)