MATCHWATCH : Exeter City (a)

[Hound]

Despite Exeter obviously being a poorly selected side a couple of things really stand out -

Our fitness is starting to really improve
The players are getting to grips with the system
We have a ridiculous depth - it genuinely is 25 first team players. God knows how Selles picks the team for Saturday
Vickers and Ballard are class. Smith won’t walk straight back in. Soton may well have dropped a huge bollock loaning our Ballard looking at what Martin has done to them

[Royalwaster]

Despite Exeter obviously being a poorly selected side a couple of things really stand out -

Our fitness is starting to really improve
The players are getting to grips with the system
We have a ridiculous depth - it genuinely is 25 first team players. God knows how Selles picks the team for Saturday
Vickers and Ballard are class. Smith won’t walk straight back in. Soton may well have dropped a huge bollock sacking Ruben looking at what Martin has done to them

Corrected for you

[The Royal Forester]

Anyone know what the Exeter fans/manager are saying? Or are they still speechless?

[WestYorksRoyal]

Anyone know what the Exeter fans/manager are saying? Or are they still speechless?

The infantile ones are saying it's a mickey mouse game and they beat us in the league. To be fair I'd have swapped last night for a 2-1 win a few weeks back.

[From Despair To Where?]

Its fine revelling in such a collosal tonking as the come around once in a blue moon but I still don't think we should read too much into last night's result with regard to team selection or chances going forward. What it does show is that we have a consistent quality of player across our first team squad.

You don't win 9-0 without there being a considerable gulf in class and/or the opposition having an absolute mare so I don't think we can draw any conclusions. Exeter brought on a raft of 16 and 17 year olds at 4-0 with the game already lost and they just folded.

[Snowflake Royal]

When there have been a vast amount of youngsters given first team opportunities this season, a lot of the U21's and maybe even a couple of U18 players know that they are only a good performance away from being involved. We have a manager who isn't scared to give our academy a try, which goes hand in hand with the situation we are in off the field where signing players is still a bit of a struggle.

I think having that attitude reverberates around the entire club, where every single player knows they have an opportunity to develop rather than just sticking with the experienced players like Ince did last season. Not suggesting that Ince was necessarily wrong in a lot of cases with his team selection, it would have been incredibly telling to give a lot of these players a run in the Championship last season given our situation towards the bottom, but I also feel that if we had Ince this season, we wouldn't have seen a lot of these players given the chances they have so far.

I think it exposes the falseness of "If they're good enough they'll play".

No, you've got to embrace their potential and actively give chances to see who can take them. Because some you might not expect will embrace it with both arms, throw themselves at the chance and deliver performances you don't expect.

And they'll certainly do better if you show faith than if you spend a season telling them they aren’t good enough.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

When there have been a vast amount of youngsters given first team opportunities this season, a lot of the U21's and maybe even a couple of U18 players know that they are only a good performance away from being involved. We have a manager who isn't scared to give our academy a try, which goes hand in hand with the situation we are in off the field where signing players is still a bit of a struggle.

I think having that attitude reverberates around the entire club, where every single player knows they have an opportunity to develop rather than just sticking with the experienced players like Ince did last season. Not suggesting that Ince was necessarily wrong in a lot of cases with his team selection, it would have been incredibly telling to give a lot of these players a run in the Championship last season given our situation towards the bottom, but I also feel that if we had Ince this season, we wouldn't have seen a lot of these players given the chances they have so far.

I think it exposes the falseness of "If they're good enough they'll play".

No, you've got to embrace their potential and actively give chances to see who can take them. Because some you might not expect will embrace it with both arms, throw themselves at the chance and deliver performances you don't expect.

And they'll certainly do better if you show faith than if you spend a season telling them they aren’t good enough.

There is a balancing act in it for sure I'd say, but as mentioned, displaying that attitude and being willing to give an opportunity to a lot of the U21 players will give the club a lot of confidence as everyone will feel like they will have a chance. As said, can understand Ince's point of not wanting to rely on the youngsters considering our position, but also that their is no harm in giving them a chance if things aren't going so well.

[Hound]

Its fine revelling in such a collosal tonking as the come around once in a blue moon but I still don't think we should read too much into last night's result with regard to team selection or chances going forward. What it does show is that we have a consistent quality of player across our first team squad.

You don't win 9-0 without there being a considerable gulf in class and/or the opposition having an absolute mare so I don't think we can draw any conclusions. Exeter brought on a raft of 16 and 17 year olds at 4-0 with the game already lost and they just folded.

To be fair as you say we were 4 up before they made their subs

Not a stretch to think we’d have won by 5 or 6 if they kept those players on and that’s really not a huge difference to 9-0, still an absolute hammering

Have to wonder quite what their manager was thinking though

[Snowflake Royal]

Its fine revelling in such a collosal tonking as the come around once in a blue moon but I still don't think we should read too much into last night's result with regard to team selection or chances going forward. What it does show is that we have a consistent quality of player across our first team squad.

You don't win 9-0 without there being a considerable gulf in class and/or the opposition having an absolute mare so I don't think we can draw any conclusions. Exeter brought on a raft of 16 and 17 year olds at 4-0 with the game already lost and they just folded.

To be fair as you say we were 4 up before they made their subs

Not a stretch to think we’d have won by 5 or 6 if they kept those players on and that’s really not a huge difference to 9-0, still an absolute hammering

Have to wonder quite what their manager was thinking though

Protect the players more likely to be in the first XI I expect.

[Hound]

Its fine revelling in such a collosal tonking as the come around once in a blue moon but I still don't think we should read too much into last night's result with regard to team selection or chances going forward. What it does show is that we have a consistent quality of player across our first team squad.

You don't win 9-0 without there being a considerable gulf in class and/or the opposition having an absolute mare so I don't think we can draw any conclusions. Exeter brought on a raft of 16 and 17 year olds at 4-0 with the game already lost and they just folded.

To be fair as you say we were 4 up before they made their subs

Not a stretch to think we’d have won by 5 or 6 if they kept those players on and that’s really not a huge difference to 9-0, still an absolute hammering

Have to wonder quite what their manager was thinking though

Protect the players more likely to be in the first XI I expect.

Again they’re still walking away with a hammering, so bit late for that

[Snowflake Royal]

To be fair as you say we were 4 up before they made their subs

Not a stretch to think we’d have won by 5 or 6 if they kept those players on and that’s really not a huge difference to 9-0, still an absolute hammering

Have to wonder quite what their manager was thinking though

Protect the players more likely to be in the first XI I expect.

Again they’re still walking away with a hammering, so bit late for that

But they don't expend more energy, collect more cards or risk injury.

[3points]

When there have been a vast amount of youngsters given first team opportunities this season, a lot of the U21's and maybe even a couple of U18 players know that they are only a good performance away from being involved. We have a manager who isn't scared to give our academy a try, which goes hand in hand with the situation we are in off the field where signing players is still a bit of a struggle.

I think having that attitude reverberates around the entire club, where every single player knows they have an opportunity to develop rather than just sticking with the experienced players like Ince did last season. Not suggesting that Ince was necessarily wrong in a lot of cases with his team selection, it would have been incredibly telling to give a lot of these players a run in the Championship last season given our situation towards the bottom, but I also feel that if we had Ince this season, we wouldn't have seen a lot of these players given the chances they have so far.

I think it exposes the falseness of "If they're good enough they'll play".

No, you've got to embrace their potential and actively give chances to see who can take them. Because some you might not expect will embrace it with both arms, throw themselves at the chance and deliver performances you don't expect.

And they'll certainly do better if you show faith than if you spend a season telling them they aren’t good enough.

There is a balancing act in it for sure I'd say, but as mentioned, displaying that attitude and being willing to give an opportunity to a lot of the U21 players will give the club a lot of confidence as everyone will feel like they will have a chance. As said, can understand Ince's point of not wanting to rely on the youngsters considering our position, but also that their is no harm in giving them a chance if things aren't going so well.

We should also remember the academy players are all a year older, stronger etc than under Ince and we’re playing at a lower level. Mbengue was very Green last season, Bindon wasn’t here. We’ve made some good signings for the academy from other clubs too. Not sure how many have come all the way through our academy from a young age (Abbey, Kelvin E, Vickers, Abrefa, CBC, ) so academy doing OK at potentially producing players from a young age. But we’ve also lost a few in recent times to other clubs

[Snowflake Royal]

I think it exposes the falseness of "If they're good enough they'll play".

No, you've got to embrace their potential and actively give chances to see who can take them. Because some you might not expect will embrace it with both arms, throw themselves at the chance and deliver performances you don't expect.

And they'll certainly do better if you show faith than if you spend a season telling them they aren’t good enough.

There is a balancing act in it for sure I'd say, but as mentioned, displaying that attitude and being willing to give an opportunity to a lot of the U21 players will give the club a lot of confidence as everyone will feel like they will have a chance. As said, can understand Ince's point of not wanting to rely on the youngsters considering our position, but also that their is no harm in giving them a chance if things aren't going so well.

We should also remember the academy players are all a year older, stronger etc than under Ince and we’re playing at a lower level. Mbengue was very Green last season, Bindon wasn’t here. We’ve made some good signings for the academy from other clubs too. Not sure how many have come all the way through our academy from a young age (Abbey, Kelvin E, Vickers, Abrefa, CBC, ) so academy doing OK at potentially producing players from a young age. But we’ve also lost a few in recent times to other clubs

They're a year older and stronger than the beginning of last season. They're only actually 3 months older and stronger at the start of this season versus the end of last.

[Pepe the Horseman]

For anyone that wants to get carried away, we're 16/1 to win the EFL Trophy and 12/1 to finish top 6 in the league.

[WestYorksRoyal]

For anyone that wants to get carried away, we're 16/1 to win the EFL Trophy and 12/1 to finish top 6 in the league.

Must make a decent Acca to throw £5 on.

[Hound]

There is a balancing act in it for sure I'd say, but as mentioned, displaying that attitude and being willing to give an opportunity to a lot of the U21 players will give the club a lot of confidence as everyone will feel like they will have a chance. As said, can understand Ince's point of not wanting to rely on the youngsters considering our position, but also that their is no harm in giving them a chance if things aren't going so well.

We should also remember the academy players are all a year older, stronger etc than under Ince and we’re playing at a lower level. Mbengue was very Green last season, Bindon wasn’t here. We’ve made some good signings for the academy from other clubs too. Not sure how many have come all the way through our academy from a young age (Abbey, Kelvin E, Vickers, Abrefa, CBC, ) so academy doing OK at potentially producing players from a young age. But we’ve also lost a few in recent times to other clubs

They're a year older and stronger than the beginning of last season. They're only actually 3 months older and stronger at the start of this season versus the end of last.

Who do we think Ince/Hunt should have played end of last year?

Tough one but Abbey has shown enough that he would have been better than the assorted crap we had at the back last year. He did get a few minutes but not enough

Kelv - said at the time that he should have been in instead of Meite or Joao who were unfit/out of form/given up

Camara probably

Craig? Was he fit, can’t remember. But Jeff was woeful at the end and he couldn’t have done any worse

Azeez wasn’t fit. Abrefa over Yiadom? Prob not. CBC - no. Senga - prob not ready based on what we’ve seen.

In summary we prob couldn’t have changed things too much. Abbey/Ehib prob the main ones who should have played more

[windermereROYAL]

I`m suddenly interested in this EFL trophy now, only a tenner (£7 concessions) for the Swinedon and presumably the Arsenal game, well worth a visit after last night.

[The Cap]

For anyone that wants to get carried away, we're 16/1 to win the EFL Trophy and 12/1 to finish top 6 in the league.

New owner on the way then? And not that ZZ Top lookalike who's been 'banded' around.

[scumbag]

For anyone that wants to get carried away, we're 16/1 to win the EFL Trophy and 12/1 to finish top 6 in the league.

Not sure where you're getting 12s from? Betfair is 16/5 for top 6

[Pepe the Horseman]

For anyone that wants to get carried away, we're 16/1 to win the EFL Trophy and 12/1 to finish top 6 in the league.

Not sure where you're getting 12s from? Betfair is 16/5 for top 6

Sky Bet