Hamlet v Cray Valley (Isthmian League) Saturday 21st December 2024

[Pink Panther]

Match preview on club website:

SUPPORTERS' GUIDE | Dulwich Hamlet vs Cray Valley (PM)

Our handy supporters' guide as we host Cray Valley (PM) at Champion Hill. Tickets: We're expecting another large crowd tomorrow afternoon....

dulwichhamletfc.co.uk

Sam German and Ross Marshall still out injured, but Ryley Scott likely to return.

 

[KPMG]

Is it just me who thinks we play better with Wynter, Ibrahim and Hand in midfield?

 

[lwrs79]

Is it just me who thinks we play better with Wynter, Ibrahim and Hand in midfield?

Any combination that doesn’t involve Porter in a midfield role is ok for me

 

[wphillips7]

Best 3 so far this year has been Hand, Riley, Wynter

 

[Bugpowder Dust]

I'm not sure about Hand, apart from a great strike pre-season I've not seen anything from him that would put him in our best XI (I wasn't at Dartford last week to see his goal/performance).

Ibrahim, Scott and Wynter all ahead of him, and given his struggles in front of goal I'd maybe pull Oli Lynch back into midfield too.

Would like to see Danny and Lynch up front together to see what happens, I've only seen us play one or the other.

 

[wphillips7]

Lynch is such a handful for cbs, tires them out for 60 mins then mills comes on for last few minutes. Not a bad formula, esp if the midfield behind works. When the midfield misfires, it looks a poor tactic. Lynch never a midfielder though. I’d like to see him stay on and play up top with mills rather than a straight swap.

Re Hand, he’s a brilliant technical player, and was fantastic in a 3 with Riley and Wynter but I don’t believe they’ve all been fit together a handful of games.

Ibrahim seems decent but has got a mistake or 5 in him

 

[lwrs79]

Dear Santa… all I want for Xmas is to get this terrible manager out of our club.

It’s beyond depressing watching what he puts out week after week.

Thanks

 

[Pink Panther]

I posted this in the wrong thread at half time by mistake:

"3-2 down at half time after opening the scoring through the Wizard. Frankly I reckon we're fortunate not to be dead and buried by now, as Cray Valley ran rings around us for much of the first half, scoring 3 unanswered goals before JBW pulled one back from a direct free kick. Barnes made a vital save in a one on one on the stroke of half time to keep the deficit at a single goal. For the third consecutive Saturday home game it's uncomfortably wet and windy, but at least we'll have the wind at our backs for the second half."

It didn't get any better. We were beaten by a good side, but it's depressing how far adrift of their level we looked.

 

[Ian Kaye]

Ten goals conceded in the last three home games. Seven games without a win. At this rate we’re heading for our second relegation in three years. Carshalton next, who are ten games unbeaten and sitting in fifth, I can’t see things improving.

 

[Al Cunningham]

Yes. 42 goals conceded in 21 games. If you are going to average letting in 2 goals a game, you have no chance. 17th in this league is nowhere near good enough.

 

[FHW]

And CVPM were missing their talismanic striker who scored a hat trick last week.

 

[El Matador]

It's increasingly hard to watch. We were well beaten once again and could've been more than 4. Game plan remains get the ball to Wanadio and Jeffrey and hope they produce a bit of magic. Completely one dimensional.

Whichever 3 we pick in central midfield, they have next to no impact on the game.

I've seen enough and am fully on board with changing the manager. Need to get someone that can get us punching our weight and playing football that's not stuck in the dark ages.

 

[Multigums]

Lynch is such a handful for cbs, tires them out for 60 mins then mills comes on for last few minutes. Not a bad formula, esp if the midfield behind works. When the midfield misfires, it looks a poor tactic. Lynch never a midfielder though. I’d like to see him stay on and play up top with mills rather than a straight swap.

Re Hand, he’s a brilliant technical player, and was fantastic in a 3 with Riley and Wynter but I don’t believe they’ve all been fit together a handful of games.

Ibrahim seems decent but has got a mistake or 5 in him

You have to score as a striker

 

[Multigums]

It's increasingly hard to watch. We were well beaten once again and could've been more than 4. Game plan remains get the ball to Wanadio and Jeffrey and hope they produce a bit of magic. Completely one dimensional.

Whichever 3 we pick in central midfield, they have next to no impact on the game.

I've seen enough and am fully on board with changing the manager. Need to get someone that can get us punching our weight and playing football that's not stuck in the dark ages.

Consistency is the main issue. We matched Dartford last week then get completely dominated by CVPM at home - ditto Hashtag game. Frustrating especially when we are always a threat going forward. Carshalton is a big test

 

[Multigums]

Dear Santa… all I want for Xmas is to get this terrible manager out of our club.

It’s beyond depressing watching what he puts out week after week.

Thanks

Players have to take responsibility for their performance - good one game, poor the next. Very positive attacking but don't defend well as a team. Honestly don't know how you address that without German coming back

 

[EDC]

I posted this in the wrong thread at half time by mistake:

"3-2 down at half time after opening the scoring through the Wizard. Frankly I reckon we're fortunate not to be dead and buried by now, as Cray Valley ran rings around us for much of the first half, scoring 3 unanswered goals before JBW pulled one back from a direct free kick. Barnes made a vital save in a one on one on the stroke of half time to keep the deficit at a single goal. For the third consecutive Saturday home game it's uncomfortably wet and windy, but at least we'll have the wind at our backs for the second half."

It didn't get any better. We were beaten by a good side, but it's depressing how far adrift of their level we looked.

Can’t argue with that at all. Their second goal and the build up to it, sharp and accurate passing would have graced the Premier Leauge.

 

[lwrs79]

I posted this in the wrong thread at half time by mistake:

"3-2 down at half time after opening the scoring through the Wizard. Frankly I reckon we're fortunate not to be dead and buried by now, as Cray Valley ran rings around us for much of the first half, scoring 3 unanswered goals before JBW pulled one back from a direct free kick. Barnes made a vital save in a one on one on the stroke of half time to keep the deficit at a single goal. For the third consecutive Saturday home game it's uncomfortably wet and windy, but at least we'll have the wind at our backs for the second half."

It didn't get any better. We were beaten by a good side, but it's depressing how far adrift of their level we looked.

we make every team look like a good side though pp.

I spent the 1st half counting how many times we passed the ball to each other more than 5 times. It was once.

Hak allegedly prides himself on organising teams and being hard to beat, we are literally the opposite.

We were getting overran in midfield all game so he switched to 4-4-2, his tactics are so poor.

I can’t even describe to anyone what our tactics are even supposed to be anymore apart from kick and rush and pray luke and AJ create magic.

It’s not a great watch at all.

 

[nunhead dweller]

Much as I love AJ and Luke, we shouldn't play both, at least against the better teams. We are so open when they play, they don't track back enough to help full backs (especially AJ) and playing so wide leaves acres of space in the middle and teams just overrun our midfield. Cray are a good team but it looked so essy to open us up. I liked what I saw of Robe, maybe play him instead of AJ in front 3.

 

[Multigums]

Our wingers are our main asset (German excepted). Maybe play Luke more centrally off Mills and leave AJ out wide. Defending is not about numbers more organisation

 

[Bugpowder Dust]

1. New signing Robe looked good.
2. Danny Mills should start
3. Scott was supposed to be involved but wasn't in the squad; we missed him
4. Jerome I love you but not in centre defence
5. Hand and Lynch did nothing to change my mind that they are not up to this level
6. Not sure why Krasniqi was picked ahead of Ibrahim or Marshall
7. Great to see Cray bring some fans
8. London Black is ace
9. How on earth are Cray getting promoted last season and in the playoffs, while we are down the bottom?
10. Serious questions to bs asked of the management team if we haven't won by the end of January.

 

[Multigums]

Plenty of good points especially no. 8

 

[lukeyluke72]

1. New signing Robe looked good.
2. Danny Mills should start
3. Scott was supposed to be involved but wasn't in the squad; we missed him
4. Jerome I love you but not in centre defence
5. Hand and Lynch did nothing to change my mind that they are not up to this level
6. Not sure why Krasniqi was picked ahead of Ibrahim or Marshall
7. Great to see Cray bring some fans
8. London Black is ace
9. How on earth are Cray getting promoted last season and in the playoffs, while we are down the bottom?
10. Serious questions to bs asked of the management team if we haven't won by the end of January.

Hi all. New poster, long time lurker, Dulwich born and now back in South London and a regular this season. Agree with all of this, especially 8. JBW can't play in defence any more, he can't be the last line. He either gets turned or commits a foul every time. AJ is one of the better players but his attitude towards team mates stinks. Screaming at Hand that he's a prick for a misplaced pass yesterday. Not the first time I've seen that from him either. The team morale looks awful in general. And Barnes needs to be doing short throws, his passing is awful. Lots more than can be said. Basically the defence is atrocious, and Hak's USP was meant to be organisation and discipline. The team drastically lack both.

 

[AveryDave]

We’re two points and seven goals worse off after 21 games compared to last season. We’re being regularly shown up by better teams. Only Bognor have let in more goals than us.

We’d need roughly 50 points from our remaining 21 games to make the play-offs, which is better form than Dover have shown to top the table at this stage.

 

[editor]

We’re two points and seven goals worse off after 21 games compared to last season. We’re being regularly shown up by better teams. Only Bognor have let in more goals than us.

We’d need roughly 48 to 50 points from our remaining 21 games to make the play-offs, which is better form than Dover have shown to top the table at this stage.

It's real relegation style form:

 

[JoeBoy1959]

No hiding it. We've gone backwards this season, with some pretty good players. True that we've had injuries, but I think the squad we've got should be able to pull us through.
But I'm not optimistic. It's beginning to feel like the last months/weeks/days of Gav. Sorry.

 

[Al Cunningham]

We dont seem to have a system and structure in place when other teams get beyond our attack into the midfield area. Gaps appear everywhere and the oppisition clearly know this is our major weakness.They also know we have one form of attack and that is our wingers. Mark them and we have little left to offer. The wingers also play so wide that whoever plays centre forward is miles away from anyone else . This also leaves massive gaps in our front line for their defence to pass through and set up attacks.

It would make sense to try a midfield 4 with 2 more central attackers . Keep it solid, as we are anything but. Unfortunately we have gone backwards at a rapid rate since beating Ebbsfleet 5 v 2 , 3 years ago to threaten the top of the National League South table

 

[nunhead dweller]

We dont seem to have a system and structure in place when other teams get beyond our attack into the midfield area. Gaps appear everywhere and the oppisition clearly know this is our major weakness.They also know we have one form of attack and that is our wingers. Mark them and we have little left to offer. The wingers also play so wide that whoever plays centre forward is miles away from anyone else . This also leaves massive gaps in our front line for their defence to pass through and set up attacks.

It would make sense to try a midfield 4 with 2 more central attackers . Keep it solid, as we are anything but. Unfortunately we have gone backwards at a rapid rate since beating Ebbsfleet 5 v 2 , 3 years ago to threaten the top of the National League South table

I agree striker is often left isolated as wingers so wide. Lynch won a lot in the air yesterday from goalie/ defender long ball but either headers go to no-one or Hand plays high to try and run onto it. Which leaves two deeper lying midfielders very exposed if we lose possession

 

[wphillips7]

All thoroughly depressing

 

[Pink Panther]

Watching us play reminds me of cooking a meal without following a recipe or measuring the ingredients. It feels like most of the memorable moments come from flashes of inspiration, rather than repetition of good habits. We just throw everything into a pan, hope to get the timing and seasoning right, and on a good day the result is tasty and enjoyable.

Until about a month ago we were generally serving up decent home performances, apart from a few too many defensive lapses. Suddenly we don't seem to know how to replicate what works for us, and it all looks increasingly haphazard.

A wider margin of victory wouldn't really have flattered Cray Valley yesterday, and Dillon Barnes saved 3 or 4 efforts that might have beaten some keepers without being at fault on any of those conceded. They retained all but one of their promotion winning squad (star striker Kyrell Lisbie, who joined Braintree) and added just a handful of newcomers. They've only lost 4 league matches since the start of last season, whereas we've lost the same number since the start of last month and since our last win. That's a shocking contrast.

Yesterday's opponents repeatedly threatened to score from open play, pulling our defence this way and that, with midfielders breaking into the box from off the ball runs. The #16, who scored the final goal, could have had a hat-trick, whereas our midfielders seldom even look like scoring.

Serious questions to bs asked of the management team if we haven't won by the end of January.

End of January? So 7 more games, and we're already winless in 7, with just 3 points. That would make one third of an entire season's league fixtures without a win, and I'm not sure we can afford to wait that long. We have 4 more games in the next fortnight, then it's just weekly Saturday fixtures. I reckon we need a minimum 5 points (a win and 2 draws) from that sequence to feel confident of having turned a corner, otherwise the management need to ask some serious questions of themselves before anyone else does. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Comfortable mid-table mediocrity ought to be the bare minimum with our current personnel and resources. The sheer number of goals we've been leaking is horrific, with 3 or 4 conceded in league games on 7 occasions at the halfway point in the schedule. Only 2 clean sheets, in consecutive games either side of a third in the Trophy win at Dartford. It was a similar story last season, with one of the worst defensive records in the division.