Cheltenham Town vs Leyton Orient

[The Terminator]

The circus is back for another season!!!!!!

A repeat of the opening day game of the 2001/2002 season, when a 1-1 draw took place at Whaddon Road, a Matt Lockwood penalty rebound was cancelled out by a Jason White header.

This will be our first meeting and trip to Whaddon Road since a 1-0 win for us back in March 2009.

We had a virus spreading through our squad last week and 4 players came down with it, if everyone is fit and ready we will no doubt line up as:

Cisak
Clohessy Erichot Parkes Kennedy
Massey Weir Kelly Semedo
Bowery Simpson

Subs
Grainger
Hunt
Moore
Atangana
Cox
Palmer/Gnanduillet
McCallum
​

Dean Cox isn't fit yet and will be used as an impact player for now, Sandro Semedo had a good pre season and will probably get the nod on the left wing.

8 of the starting players will be making their debuts for us.

Expecting a loss.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

1-1.

Pell and Super Oli.

 

[Dirk]

Cheltenham is the Twin City of my hometown Göttingen. So I am always looking what the Robins are doing .
I am happy that they are back in the Football League after a one year stint in the Conference, where they played a brilliant season.

2-1 Cheltenham.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I'm sure both us and Cheltenham will take a repeat of 01/02 season.

 

[Si Robin]

Very much so.

I remember that 01/02 game against Orient, it was Jason White's only goal for Cheltenham.

As for this Saturday, we still don't have a first choice keeper, although with Declan Rudd signing for Charlton the rumour mill has gone nuts over us signing Dillon Phillips. If he comes in, I will be so much more confident of a result. Would be even better if we sign Rob Dickie (our number 2 target) from Reading to partner Parslow and O'Shaughnessy at the back.

I'll wait until Friday to predict the result when we'll have a better idea of the team.

 

[E10rifle]

2-1. 2-0 down inside 10 minutes, then a 94th minute Ollie Palmer screamer from 2 yards with his knee.

Oh, and I see Johnson's been up to his usual media mind games already this week. Bore off you tool.

 

[NolansOrient]

Really bored of the pessimism from Orient fans...predicting a loss on the opening day against Cheltenham? Madness. Clearly people haven't been to the pre-season games.

On paper we should honestly be winning this game comfortably (no disrespect to Cheltenham fans), but I'm sure the home side will be up for it, first game back in the league and all that.

I expect Orient to concede as our new defence finds its feet, however our midfield will boss the game, Semedo will continue his excellent form, and if we do find ourselves in trouble, we undoubtedly have the quality on the bench to turn the game around.

Cheltenham Town 1 - 2 Leyton Orient

Simpson (tap in), Erichot (set piece header)

Last time I was at Whaddon Road the home fans' loudest chant of the day was 'We hate Gloucester more than you', spectacularly sung by the 14 year olds sat near the away end, they'll all be 20 by now so looking forward to a cracking atmosphere.

 

[Urban]

Sorry Orient, Cheltenham are the new giants of English lower-league football and in 4 years will be knocking Real Madrid off of their European top dog perch at the end of their meteoric rise through the footballing tiers.

This is a non-contest. Gary Johnson to show his tactical astuteness and play footballing God Dan Holman in every position on the pitch, leading to a 6-0 whitewash for the Robins. A scoreline that even the maestro Ollie Palmer can't save Orient from.

 

[E10rifle]

Really bored of the pessimism from Orient fans...predicting a loss on the opening day against Cheltenham? Madness. Clearly people haven't been to the pre-season games.

On paper we should honestly be winning this game comfortably (no disrespect to Cheltenham fans), but I'm sure the home side will be up for it, first game back in the league and all that.

I expect Orient to concede as our new defence finds its feet, however our midfield will boss the game, Semedo will continue his excellent form, and if we do find ourselves in trouble, we undoubtedly have the quality on the bench to turn the game around.

Cheltenham Town 1 - 2 Leyton Orient

Simpson (tap in), Erichot (set piece header)

Last time I was at Whaddon Road the home fans' loudest chant of the day was 'We hate Gloucester more than you', spectacularly sung by the 14 year olds sat near the away end, they'll all be 20 by now so looking forward to a cracking atmosphere.

A breathtakingly arrogant post all round.

For starters, The Terminator has probably only missed around 3 Orient games in all competitions (including friendlies) in the past 7 or 8 years so denigrating his opinion because he 'clearly' hasn't been to games makes you look like a fool.

Speaking of which, stating that we 'will' boss midfield and Semedo (a youth player with a handful of competitive appearances who might not even start the game) 'will' continue his form is speaking in absolutes that you can't possibly back up. How do you know we will boss the midfield? Who in Cheltenham's midfield have you seen play? How many times have you seen them play as a unit? What formation does Johnson usually set them up with, and how will that affect us? What is the critical insight that you possess and more cautious/less arrogant posters lack, oh great one?

On the other hand, LOTAL will almost certainly have watched Cheltenham in a professional capacity last season, and I reckon I'll take his thoughts on board - even if I disagree with them - if that's all the same with you?

Personally, I'll wait until I see Orient in competitive action a few times before getting ahead of myself and predicting us walking all over a team I know literally nothing about. And who the fuck pays attention to pre-season games against Wealdstone and Charlton anyway? We went unbeaten in pre-season two seasons ago - how did that turn out? But feel free to come back at me; I'm fair game and I haven't been to any pre-season games. Because I have a life.

I look forward to the abject lack of self-awareness in your reply.

Ps. Nice unnecessary dig at the Cheltenham fans. Stay classy.

 

[E10rifle]

Don't kid yourself that I didn't see your deleted reply...

Still, thanks for proving my point.

 

[NolansOrient]

A breathtakingly arrogant post all round.

For starters, The Terminator has probably only missed around 3 Orient games in all competitions (including friendlies) in the past 7 or 8 years so denigrating his opinion because he 'clearly' hasn't been to games makes you look like a fool.

Speaking of which, stating that we 'will' boss midfield and Semedo (a youth player with a handful of competitive appearances who might not even start the game) 'will' continue his form is speaking in absolutes that you can't possibly back up. How do you know we will boss the midfield? Who in Cheltenham's midfield have you seen play? How many times have you seen them play as a unit? What formation does Johnson usually set them up with, and how will that affect us? What is the critical insight that you possess and more cautious/less arrogant posters lack, oh great one?

On the other hand, LOTAL will almost certainly have watched Cheltenham in a professional capacity last season, and I reckon I'll take his thoughts on board - even if I disagree with them - if that's all the same with you?

Personally, I'll wait until I see Orient in competitive action a few times before getting ahead of myself and predicting us walking all over a team I know literally nothing about. And who the fuck pays attention to pre-season games against Wealdstone and Charlton anyway? We went unbeaten in pre-season two seasons ago - how did that turn out? But feel free to come back at me; I'm fair game and I haven't been to any pre-season games. Because I have a life.

I look forward to the abject lack of self-awareness in your reply.

Ps. Nice unnecessary dig at the Cheltenham fans. Stay classy.

It seems as though every time I write anything on here, you're there to reply within the hour to hurl abuse my way...

I just assumed that this, a League 2 football forum, was the appropriate place to share my opinion.

Clearly I was wrong. I suppose without that one Oxford fan to denigrate you've turned your lazy eye my way, thanks for making this a much less welcome place to visit.

I had no intent to offend anyone, just tired with Terminator's 'we will lose' stance every game and wanted to try and generate a bit of Orient optimism this season for a change.

It's cool buddy, there'll be one less Orient fan on here this season. Fine work.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

The only pre-season game I've been to is Eastleigh v Northampton, Eastleigh won 4-1. I don't particularly think Eastleigh will win the Conference (although they will challenge), I don't particularly think Northampton will get relegated...

I may pop along to this one as my annual Orient away game as I have a free weekend for once! Sandro Semedo is someone I'm really intrigued to watch, he's obviously rated highly and is getting good reviews from fans. Thing is though we (fans in general) tend to overhype youngsters coming through (Pollock at the end of last season was a classic example, whilst he had a good game he left every single header to Brisley and to me did not look like the second coming), I was at a Welling game last season when Semedo and Lee were on loan there, Lee looked the better of the two, both looked some way off of being League Two ready. Semedo put in an excellent set piece that Lokko should have scored from but beyond that he was really struggling to get involved in the game, mentally and tactically he did not look sharp enough and was getting lost amongst the defenders. Of course that was a while back and players have unconvincing loan spells and go on to good things but I'm not ready to jump on the hype train yet, especially when we have Cox, Cornick and Massey, all of who I've seen have very good games at this level or higher.

On paper we have a better team than Cheltenham, I think there are five teams (us, Carlisle, Doncaster, Luton and Portsmouth) who can argue to have the best team, from my knowledge of Cheltenham I'd have them in the tier below, play off hopefuls. Now it's pretty clear football isn't played on paper. #controversial, I don't think Cheltenham had the best set of individual players in the Conference last season, what they had was excellent synergy and unnerving consistency, 101 points and 34 goals conceded (both better Bristol Rovers records the season before). Not having a goalkeeper is of course a problem, I don't expect them to go into Saturday without one.

I don't think in any League Two side is going to go to Whaddon Road and think "we should win this comfortably". What I'd expect instead is teams to foresee a bit of a slog, tough game, low scoring affair and I'd be very happy with a point.

 

[E10rifle]

It seems as though every time I write anything on here, you're there to reply within the hour to hurl abuse my way...

I just assumed that this, a League 2 football forum, was the appropriate place to share my opinion.

Clearly I was wrong. I suppose without that one Oxford fan to denigrate you've turned your lazy eye my way, thanks for making this a much less welcome place to visit.

I had no intent to offend anyone, just tired with Terminator's 'we will lose' stance every game and wanted to try and generate a bit of Orient optimism this season for a change.

It's cool buddy, there'll be one less Orient fan on here this season. Fine work.

Valid points replied to: 0
Self-indulgent bleating: lots
Words you had to look up in the dictionary and then copied: 1
Self-awareness: awaiting you when you grow up.

Don't leave without posting part three of your season preview - the Yeovil fans will be desperate to know what you think of their 10 new signings you've never seen play.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Seems like just yesterday we were lifting the NL trophy yet here we are again. No idea what to expect to be honest. Can't even be sure how we'll line up but I'd guess we'll go 4-4-2 seeing as we're a bit light in defence at the moment. Really hope we can get Phillips back in goal too.

Phillips (hopefully)
Barthram Parslow O'Shaughnessy Jennings
Dayton Pell Hall Whitehead
Wright Holman

Bench: Kitscha, Bower, Cranston, Waters, Morgan-Smith, Rowe, Munns

 

[The Terminator]

Half our team has picked up a virus and Jay Simpson may be off.

We will easily lose this.

 

[Si Robin]

Team for tomorrow (shocked if it's any different)

----------------------Griffiths------------------------
-------Suliman--O'Shaugnessy--Parslow----
Barthram--------------------------------Jennings
--------------Pell-----------Hall---------------------
--------------------Dayton---------------------------
----------------Wright-----Holman-----------------

 

[E10rifle]

Big Ollie starts! Reckon he'll get off the mark today. Next goal due in mid-October.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

Semedo at left back...

Jay Simpson clearly off.

 

[CTFCfan99]

We should've won that.

Nervy first 20-30 minutes in which I thought Orient might run away with it but after that we were excellent and were all over them second half. Happy we got the goal we deserved and a little disappointed not to have won but overall pretty encouraging for the rest of the season.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

Fair assessment really. Cheltenham also denied a blatant penalty in the first half. Don't think it was a back pass however - Semedo blocked the cross rather than made a deliberate back pass.

Will write more when I get in but our defence and striking options worry me. Midfield wise I think we were fine, I see Weir only got a 6 from ChingfordRed but I thought, first half especially, he was excellent. Cornick's movement was very good also.

Semedo looked the real deal on the ball, quick feet and got technical ability but defebsively I was very unconvinced. Parkes and Erichot weren't convincing either.

We were better, got the early goal, then had some success going fairly long, Palmer and Bowery offering outlets. When Cheltenham started winning the first ball we lost it a bit, didn't have the outlet and invited pressure onto us. Second half Cheltenham had it all, a lot of space appeared defensively and I think we were crying out for a formation change as we were getting outnumbered in midfield, didn't happen, conceded a goal and it could have been more, gave away so much space. Cheltenham were the better team and deserved the win.

Oh, and if I see Palmer and Gnanduillet as a partnership again I'm gonner cry. Really need to replace Simpson, presuming he's off. Bowery was fine and caused problems but he was very slow to release the ball and a few options were closed down due to a lack of awareness.

Will do a more comprehensive write up later.

 

[Urban]

Well I for one think it's a very successful day for Orient having halted the Cheltenham Promototion Steam Train (TM) from scoring double digits today.

 

[Si Robin]

We looked very nervous in the first 20-30 mins and Orient could have scored at least another to put us in real trouble. There was a break in play which gave Johnson a chance to have a word with the players and all of a sudden we looked a different team. Last 10-15 mins of the first half we upped the ante and got into the the game.

Second half we played like the team we knew from last season. Bringing on two full-backs who were with the team last season meant we suddenly had an attacking outlet down the wings when they overlapped, and Danny Wright had the beating of the Orient centre-backs throughout. We deserved the equaliser, and could have gone on to win, but we never made the Orient keeper work enough in my view.

Draw was a fair result, and I'd have taken it before the game and especially so at half-time.

It's good to be back.

 

[The Terminator]

A draw was fair overall, we started well in the first 30mins and had we'd managed the second goal we might have won.

But we faded big time in the second half - Which considering we've had a virus going round the camp was what I was expecting, combined with the fact we've now lost one of our best players, I was happy with a draw. Our ball retention in the second half was poor, especially when Weir went off.

Cheltenham were direct and caused us more problems in the second half, got more bodies forward to support Wright up front. Think they will end up around midtable, they looked more than capable of holding their own here, but I would expect no less from a team who got 100 points last season in the league below, who've kept the same side more or less.

The equaliser was coming, but I didn't feel Cheltenham worked our keeper enough overall.

Lots of rumours flying round our end, Simpson off with David Mooney coming back and Paul McCallum up for transfer after a training ground bust up. Plus Tom Parkes picked up a dislocated shoulder - So we have one recognised CB now who is new to the English leaues.