While we mention ‘old school’ did anyone else think the two Exeter centre backs weren’t exactly the epitome of the modern athletic footballer and carrying a bit of cook-esque timber?!!
I think the frustrating thing about Mcdonald is we all know what he is capable of, and when he puts in a poor performance it’s more of a disappointment, where as when other players have a poor game it’s more or less expected maybe? because they are not as gifted.
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I said miles off the “high standards he set himself last season” He is as good as anybody in our team just now. No better no worse. For a spell last season he was head and shoulders our best player.
So as my post says, he was six out of ten today. The same as ten of his team mates by my reckoning.
Is this pelters? Does it say he “cba”? Does it say I expect him to “win every game by himself”.
My observations on him are that from around November until the curtailment of the season he looked considerably better than bottom half fourth division. At least a division better. Maybe more.
This season he doesn’t. Yet. There have been flashes. And I too thought his second half against Colchester was far better. And I said so. We agreed.
I hope we can again soon.
I didn’t make the pelters comment (although I have to agree others have, but not you to be fair), and cba was a wider point I’ve seen a few times in this thread and was responded too. Apologies if you took these as directly having a go at you. The “win every game” thing is how criticism of him comes across to me at this stage because it seems whenever his performance slips too a 6 out of ten, as I agree it was today, he’s always singled out. Not other team mates who on another week have nowhere near the impact he does, it always seems to be McDonald.
I’m sorry, but we won’t be agreeing that he hasn’t been better than bottom half fourth division this season. I’ve given examples of where he’s stepped up, today just wasn’t one of them. And by the way, saying he hasn’t reached bottom half fourth division standards in a team that’s top half looking for promotion is a pelter 
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Cool. Your response was directly to my post so I took it as a counter to what I had said.
And apologies, my bit was a bit unclear. The “he hasn’t yet” was to my assertion that at times last season he looked at least a division above this one.
I want him to be ace. And I know that when he gets the ball I still get to the edge of my seat with a “go on Wes” which means that he creates an anticipation which if unsatisfied leaves me with a “fall” far greater than with any other player. Which (I think) is a complement.
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I still think it is difficult to tell where we are at yet. I’ve not seen all of the games so am not as qualified as some to comment. We are unbeaten which is great, but have only won 2 games which is not so good. We are still in that situation where back to back wins will fire us right up there, but a few defeats and we will be heading the other way quickly.
We certainly appear more resilient this season, I think we have a fair shot at the play offs. If you think about the last two times we got promoted out of this division, do we really compare to those two sides? I think the answer is definitely no. These are strange times though, if we can start turning some of these draws in to wins, who knows.
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I’ve seen every minute of every game so far. Which I don’t know is testament to my patience or the robustness of ifollow!
In my opinion our points total is about right. Maybe one shy as we should have got whopped at Forest Green but should have beat Colchester.
To turn wins into draws we need to score more goals which to me is about somehow getting Guthrie, Holden, Macdonald, Adebayo plus partner, all accommodated in a formation that allows Holden to float. All that without compromising a back line which still has a certain fragility about it.
Darrell hasn’t worked it out yet. One of the new lads might take it by the scruff. I still think there is a role for Jules down the spine of this team either as centre half or even as our holding midfielder. On his day he looks a Rolls Royce of a player.
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There’s was always going to be a problem when you play two players like Sinclair and Kinsella in the same team. Not pretty, not creative and not very good.
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I actually thought Sinclair was quite combative in the first half, thought he broke up quite a bit of their play
Yes, they both did and credit to them but the lack of creativity is the problem.
I remember dobson doing the same job years ago, but like you say you only need one such player in the team at one time, not two as it spoils the balance and negates the style of play, i think that was the purpose of DC’s team choice today, not to lose, in which case it’s a little worrying when playing at home.
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Thought Adebayo was excellent today . He won nine out of ten balls played up to him most of which he had no right to.Often occupying 2 defenders.
Would it not be even in these times of COVID better to get him signed up on a new 2 year deal which I think could be very beneficial to the club in the medium to long term.
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Totally agree with you!
Man of the match for me worked his nuts off again.
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Did he come from Fulham? you can tell the pedigree of his apprenticeship, if he was a little more polished he could easily play in a higher division
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He did mate yes.
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The most interesting moment of the game - the possession stat flashed up near the end showing Walsall 51% Exeter 50%! 
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To be honest i thought we had more of the play, but i thought they had more of the quality chances