Dulwich Hamlet vs Bath City: Sat. 2nd Nov, 2019

Agree with this, I found the crowd more tedious than usual today. May have been because I was nursing a hangover and had a lower tolerance for these things than usual.

Was stood near a particularly annoying bloke in the 2nd half who insisted on belting out chants despite not knowing the proper lyrics. Obviously none of us are born knowing the chants by heart, but its not that difficult to listen to others and adjust what youre singing. He also, considering himself quite the comedian, goaded the goalie about being a 'nonce' and 'harvey weinstein', which wasnt well received by others around him.

I guess the downside of the creative chanting and goalie banter is you get painfully unfunny idiots like this who misunderstand what is appropriate at the club

 

Would be useful if the ever increasing "it was so much better when attendances were 450" mob listened to their own advice and paid enough attention to notice that the team is a joke at the moment. Relegation form doesn't even begin to describe how bad we've been since the end of August. That is not the fault of key janglers.

 

Is it not the fault of key janglers? Do fans play no part in the performances on the pitch?

 

Full credit to you for drinking through the night.

 

Full credit to you for spending your life banging on about how people aren't as "authentic" as you on social media.

 

Evidence?

Love this though, top Non league forum chat!

 

You're hurting. It'll get better.

 

He was furious on Twitter that some people dared to watch the rugby before turning up in the pissing down rain to watch their local non-league team lose again. Apparently you can't like two very different sports and be authentic.

 

Same performance we gave against Chelmsford (second half), Weymouth, Eastbourne and Bognor. Bath City were much better than those teams and played the perfect counter attacking game. I personally don’t like the system we are playing at the moment and don’t think some of the players who have started are better than players on the Bench.

Five defensive players and no width? It worked in the past with Nathan Green and Nyren Clunis bullying the flanks but Barnes and Connors have not got that same attacking threat. They are both recognised full backs and in my opinion both a huge upgrade on Sanchez and Green, but when they get forward it causes us problems at the back because are defenders are very slow and not very mobile.

Most teams at this level are playing four at the back with two CB’s and FB’s either side. We are playing an extra defender at the expense of an attacking player (we now have loads on the bench), and we are still conceding goals and look very shaky at the back. We looked much better going forward at the start of the season with Barnes or Connors overlapping natural wingers knowing that the other was at the back providing support.

Our bench now consists of White, Clunis, Monlouise, Ijaha, Diplo (what has happened to Monakana?). All of our pace and power is on the bench. And we look slow. Bath passed us of the park at times.

I appreciate that Gavin is now playing the same team every week in an attempt to bring some stability and in the last few games we haven’t had any more half time collapses, spells of conceding soft goals. The problem is that of the back of two very poor results at home to Hungerford and Slough, we haven’t won a League game.

Ditch a defender, change the system, play two wingers. Vose and Hunte look excellent, bring in some players to support them!

 

FURIOUS I was. I think you're getting a tad carried away. Don't know if I know you but I am genuinely more than happy to discuss where I stand on all this bollocks in person at a game. Perfectly civilised and that.

 

We do know each other, and we can.

 

Agreed. Everyone seems to just accept the current standards, unaware of the money we're forking out.

The problem we have is that the manager is a Director: he's not going to sack himself. I don't pretend to completely understand the hierarchy at DHFC, but from the outside, he looks untouchable. Genuinely worrying.

I'm absolutely delighted that the annual Scapegoat of the Season award is in full swing: Case took an early lead, but Ijaha is looking like a strong contender now. Potential for Monlouis, who looked so bright early on this season, to catch up I suspect.

 

Maybe they are just pricks. Im sure they are authentic pricks for sure.

 

There we go.

 

You really are a loss to the world of diplomacy, B.I.G.

 

Isn't there a suggestion that Ijaha isn't fit to play 90 minutes? Without getting into whether Gavin is untouchable or not, as you and others have said, that midfield three is way too lightweight when it comes to playing the likes of Bath. Probably a decent one when Isthmian teams used to come to Champion Hill looking for a nil-nil.

 

I think I’m right in saying he was offered a directorship but after some thought turned it down? I might be misremembering though. Did he not get a three year deal at the start of the season however? That’s just as untouchable in some ways given how much it would cost to pay that off.

 

Only Gavin wants to be promoted, so his inner authentic self must be sabotaging himself.

 

Excellent.

We're arguing amongst ourselves. We must be a proper big club now.

 

Na. Typical non-league. Besides the authentic fans aren’t arguing amongst each other.

 

I think it's too lightweight to play anyone at this level. We saw in the away game against Hampton & Richmond last season what happens when we play without a specialist DM. It never, ever works, so why we thought we'd get away with it against a side with the speed and skill of Bath is beyond me.

You could see after about ten minutes that the defence were being horribly exposed, with the Bath midfield being afforded acres of space to run into every time they got the ball. I really don't understand then, why we waited so long to give the defence the cover they so obviously needed. I think you're right in saying that Ijaha is having to be used sparingly, but surely we could have put Smith or Taylor in there to break things up a bit?

 

Agree entirely. Wasn't a coincidence that we finally got promoted with Kargbo in the team, or that form picked up last season when Aryan turned up. Doesn't need to be the best player in the world but it does need to be someone. Was hoping we might have pursued Tommy Brewer when Tonbridge sacked him and he's no Makelele.

 

I thought he'd declined it first time, but accepted it recently? I could be wrong. Like you say though, that three-year deal makes him near-invincible.

 

But why would you want to sack him? Was his performance over 10 years not acceptable to you? What do you want him to achieve that he has not?

 

I get the Brewer suggestion, but we have two midfield crunchers in Smith and Ijaha. For some reason we decided to massively underinvest in the backline and so we've been forced to move Smith back there. I know Ambroisine wasn't to everyone's tastes, but surely it would have been better to keep a natural centre half and free up Smith or Quade for the midfield. Just total mismanagement of a big budget.

 

We find it difficult to break down a team that keeps its shape like Bath. Lors of nice patterns all over the pitch but not really threatening. Good to see Vose returning to his best form but we really miss a Kargbo character. Surprised that Clunis rarely starts now. Perhaps need a few higher league loans to the midfield to create more chances.

 

Whichever combination, just need someone actually playing that role.

 

I thought we made a bright start and dominated the first quarter of the match, in which time we came close to scoring several times, but even during this phase of the game we looked very vulnerable to their swift counter attacks. The opening goal on the half hour came after we'd successfully resisted a spell of sustained pressure, but when the ball fell conveniently for an opponent on the edge of the box he flashed an unstoppable half-volley into the far top corner.

As at Chelmsford, Hamlet responded well with a quick equaliser after half time. Taylor sent a long ball downfield, Mills helped it on with his head, then Yusuff chased through with the last defender caught napping and slid his shot past the advancing keeper. There was an element of misfortune about the second Bath goal as Taylor slipped over on the halfway line, but teammates seemed slow to react and help him out as he tried unsuccessfully to hook the ball away from the nearest opponent from a prone position. Suddenly we were outnumbered at the back as Bath bore down on goal and the extra man was played through for a confident finish. The third goal as we entered stoppage time was largely irrelevant. Bath were a good side, despite apparently missing a number of regulars and having to plug the gaps with loanees. But it looked like we were going to be that sort of side during the early weeks of the season, and now we're realistically just looking to improve on last season's points tally and position despite (presumably) having a top seven playing budget.

Apart from the first half at Chelmsford (when the Chelmsford of last season would have buried us by half-time) all of the performances I've seen since Hungerford have been respectable enough, and none of the results in isolation has been terrible, but that's just four points from the last nine league matches now.

I suspect there will be changes for Carlisle, and possibly a reversion to a back four which if nothing else would help to confound any Carlisle scouting missions.

Despite fielding the same starting XI for the last four matches, and players individually performing well, there seem to be few square pegs in round holes and question marks over the best combinations in a number of areas.

Vose and Chapman are very Gavin type players, but the pair of them together as half-back leaves us short of muscle. (Tajbakhsh is a big loss for me, I felt he made a huge difference in the final quarter of last season.) At the beginning of the season it looked like Ijaha and Smith would be the preferred pairing, which is very different to what we now have. I like Taylor in that role, but he's recently been moved back since Orlu got injured.

The whole 3-5-2 thing is another conundrum. I don't really like it, and whilst it may enable some players to be more effective it negates others or removes their natural role altogether.

Orlu is our best defender for me, so if he's fit he really should be starting. If we revert to 4-4-2 ( or a variation thereof, 4-2-3-1 or whatever) there are plenty of options for wide roles. I think I'd like Orlu with Smith or McCoy at centre back and Taylor as a holding midfielder.

I'm assuming Case is the player sitting on his contract who Gavin wants to move on and that Monakana must be injured, although I suppose it could be the other way around. Monlouis also seems to have fallen from favour. To me he just looks like a less dynamic version of Hunte with less end product, although I still think he's potentially a very good player given a coach who is able to press the right buttons.

 

It's exactly the same as the Wenger situation, three or so years ago. He's done a lot of good - two promotions, a charity shield - but that doesn't mean his position should be completely protected forever more.

I feel the performances have been stagnant for a number of years. I quite enjoyed our style for the first five or so years (even when we weren't that good), but for me, the turning point was that season we insisted Daly could play as a striker for the entire season, despite it being painfully evident that he could not. It was at that point that - again, in my opinion - that we became too fixated on this possession-obsessive style of football, we lost the cutting edge that Green, Carr, Oztumer et al had brought. We've just felt like a side that is more concerned about it's style than getting stuck into sides. The result, I think, is this turgid tactic of trying to pass teams into submission, getting to the 18 yard line and not knowing what to do next. Everything we do is based on the principle that you cannot lose possession - but to attack a team, to create chances, to have shots inherently involves the chance of losing possession.

I'm sure many people will disagree with my Daly-turning point theory - the club has visibly continued to grow from then until now - but I think that's largely due to the huge amount of work that's gone in off the pitch. Ironically,I don't think it's the performances of the football team that has lead to the growth of the football club.

He's done well, I'm not saying he hasn't, but I just think it's time for a change. 'Sacking' is a clumsy way of putting it, but I think, given the money we're spending, it's got to be time for a change. I was sat in a car on the way home yesterday and each of us said that it's hard to get excited about DHFC these days - I just think it's in dire need to freshening up.

 

Join the returners right behind the goal on Friday and I guarantee you a good time.