Zero shots

[Campsall rover]

Poor from GM. Need an attacking threat and waits until the 84th minute and then brings on Barlow when Dodoo and Agard are on the bench. Dire tactics and really shocking decision making once again.

He can take the credit for Sunderland but this game just sent us right back to most of our abject home performances under him and back to square one. We looked well off the pace and lacked aggression and urgency. A familiar theme.

We might engineer a win at Pompey but then we'll lose our next 4 probably and we can't stay up doing that and not being able to string two results together sadly.

Games like these are strange because you almost have a feeling inside, a sense of certainty that we will not score. Happy tonight as i was able to leave a bit early and not needing to drop mates off home so bombed down the M1 and back home not long ago.

Even if we had scored. A point isn't enough.

Ipswich dominated the ball and dominated us. Men against boys once again. A more clinical side could and should have done a Rotherham.

Our home performances (other than Plymouth) and results under McSheffery are a serious concern and we've now gone from having not too bad home form and not being able to win away to the exact opposite. Just the 1-0 win against Shrewsbury under GM at home. Unacceptable.

Just like the Rotherham game. I knew we'd not score after 10 minutes. The tempo was set, Ipswich spent most of the time with the ball and in our half. Best chance we had was Martin belting a free kick off a defenders head for a corner first half.

Not angry really tonight as we just can't string any results together and it's been like all season but just disappointed as some hope of survival was rekindled by the result at Sunderland and it has been dashed again but it is what it is. We do need a miracle again now. If we didn't before.

GM decision making once again though is a massive concern as is the ability for a team to boss and beat Sunderland away and that very same team look like a group of Under 16's playing mens football literally days later. Truly bizarre.

Ipswich fans droned predictable annoying songs all night and let off flares. Bunch of numbskulls. Cambridge fans put them to shame when they came on a tuesday night. So much for a 'big club'. Big club, small minded fans. Not all of course.

We’ve 15 games to go, we don’t need to win every game so to suggest one game has dashed our hopes is nonsense.
If we can get 4 points from the next 3 games we’ve still got a decent chance going into a better run of fixtures.
Of course A point would have been a great result, to say it wouldn’t have been enough is again nonsense

If we can’t string 2 performances together never mind 2 wins then the writing is on the wall.
To have a home game and the opposing keeper does not have a save to make in 94 mins is simply not good enough or acceptable.
Relegation is all but certain. If we get 7 points in the next 3 games then we have a chance but we are so inconsistent it does not look likely.
I have accepted we almost certainly are going down. Just want to end the season well as it will stand us in good stead for beginning of next season.
The Sunderland result gave us false hope I fear. Reality struck tonight.

[dickos1]

Poor from GM. Need an attacking threat and waits until the 84th minute and then brings on Barlow when Dodoo and Agard are on the bench. Dire tactics and really shocking decision making once again.

He can take the credit for Sunderland but this game just sent us right back to most of our abject home performances under him and back to square one. We looked well off the pace and lacked aggression and urgency. A familiar theme.

We might engineer a win at Pompey but then we'll lose our next 4 probably and we can't stay up doing that and not being able to string two results together sadly.

Games like these are strange because you almost have a feeling inside, a sense of certainty that we will not score. Happy tonight as i was able to leave a bit early and not needing to drop mates off home so bombed down the M1 and back home not long ago.

Even if we had scored. A point isn't enough.

Ipswich dominated the ball and dominated us. Men against boys once again. A more clinical side could and should have done a Rotherham.

Our home performances (other than Plymouth) and results under McSheffery are a serious concern and we've now gone from having not too bad home form and not being able to win away to the exact opposite. Just the 1-0 win against Shrewsbury under GM at home. Unacceptable.

Just like the Rotherham game. I knew we'd not score after 10 minutes. The tempo was set, Ipswich spent most of the time with the ball and in our half. Best chance we had was Martin belting a free kick off a defenders head for a corner first half.

Not angry really tonight as we just can't string any results together and it's been like all season but just disappointed as some hope of survival was rekindled by the result at Sunderland and it has been dashed again but it is what it is. We do need a miracle again now. If we didn't before.

GM decision making once again though is a massive concern as is the ability for a team to boss and beat Sunderland away and that very same team look like a group of Under 16's playing mens football literally days later. Truly bizarre.

Ipswich fans droned predictable annoying songs all night and let off flares. Bunch of numbskulls. Cambridge fans put them to shame when they came on a tuesday night. So much for a 'big club'. Big club, small minded fans. Not all of course.

We’ve 15 games to go, we don’t need to win every game so to suggest one game has dashed our hopes is nonsense.
If we can get 4 points from the next 3 games we’ve still got a decent chance going into a better run of fixtures.
Of course A point would have been a great result, to say it wouldn’t have been enough is again nonsense

If Wimbledon win their game in hand then we need 11 points just to get level. That would mean 4 wins to get level then how many more wins to get out of trouble. Its over man. Accept it and deal with your denial. Your blind positivity is nonsense. We've won 1 home game in 4 months yet you still think it is doable, playing like that tonight too lol. Takes all sorts i guess.

It’s irrelevent what other teams do, we just need to concentrate on getting around 46 points.
24 points from 15 games.

What a weird post that is, trying to get personal just because I’m not as negative as you.
You’re an odd chap

[dickos1]

Poor from GM. Need an attacking threat and waits until the 84th minute and then brings on Barlow when Dodoo and Agard are on the bench. Dire tactics and really shocking decision making once again.

He can take the credit for Sunderland but this game just sent us right back to most of our abject home performances under him and back to square one. We looked well off the pace and lacked aggression and urgency. A familiar theme.

We might engineer a win at Pompey but then we'll lose our next 4 probably and we can't stay up doing that and not being able to string two results together sadly.

Games like these are strange because you almost have a feeling inside, a sense of certainty that we will not score. Happy tonight as i was able to leave a bit early and not needing to drop mates off home so bombed down the M1 and back home not long ago.

Even if we had scored. A point isn't enough.

Ipswich dominated the ball and dominated us. Men against boys once again. A more clinical side could and should have done a Rotherham.

Our home performances (other than Plymouth) and results under McSheffery are a serious concern and we've now gone from having not too bad home form and not being able to win away to the exact opposite. Just the 1-0 win against Shrewsbury under GM at home. Unacceptable.

Just like the Rotherham game. I knew we'd not score after 10 minutes. The tempo was set, Ipswich spent most of the time with the ball and in our half. Best chance we had was Martin belting a free kick off a defenders head for a corner first half.

Not angry really tonight as we just can't string any results together and it's been like all season but just disappointed as some hope of survival was rekindled by the result at Sunderland and it has been dashed again but it is what it is. We do need a miracle again now. If we didn't before.

GM decision making once again though is a massive concern as is the ability for a team to boss and beat Sunderland away and that very same team look like a group of Under 16's playing mens football literally days later. Truly bizarre.

Ipswich fans droned predictable annoying songs all night and let off flares. Bunch of numbskulls. Cambridge fans put them to shame when they came on a tuesday night. So much for a 'big club'. Big club, small minded fans. Not all of course.

We’ve 15 games to go, we don’t need to win every game so to suggest one game has dashed our hopes is nonsense.
If we can get 4 points from the next 3 games we’ve still got a decent chance going into a better run of fixtures.
Of course A point would have been a great result, to say it wouldn’t have been enough is again nonsense

If we can’t string 2 performances together never mind 2 wins then the writing is on the wall.
To have a home game and the opposing keeper does not have a save to make in 94 mins is simply not good enough or acceptable.
Relegation is all but certain. If we get 7 points in the next 3 games then we have a chance but we are so inconsistent it does not look likely.
I have accepted we almost certainly are going down. Just want to end the season well as it will stand us in good stead for beginning of next season.
The Sunderland result gave us false hope I fear. Reality struck tonight.

We won’t get 7 points from the next 3 games but nor do we need that many

[TheFunk]

It summed it for me when Sinclair had been barking out orders and Josh Martin trotted over with outstretched arms saying I don't know what you want me to do. Yet again long ball shite where the opposition defence don't know they've been in a game.

[The Beast]

Definitely men against boys, they had some superb players, it’s inconceivable to me that a squad with so much ability can be in such an average league position, I suppose the fact that they completely controlled the game yet failed to create that many chances might explain it.
We’re getting slightly better slowly but the truth is we’re still a mile off, probably on a par now with the bottom clubs but we’d need to be considerably better to have any chance of staying up, we’re going down, looking forward to next season now.

[ColinDouglasHandshake]

Poor from GM. Need an attacking threat and waits until the 84th minute and then brings on Barlow when Dodoo and Agard are on the bench. Dire tactics and really shocking decision making once again.

He can take the credit for Sunderland but this game just sent us right back to most of our abject home performances under him and back to square one. We looked well off the pace and lacked aggression and urgency. A familiar theme.

We might engineer a win at Pompey but then we'll lose our next 4 probably and we can't stay up doing that and not being able to string two results together sadly.

Games like these are strange because you almost have a feeling inside, a sense of certainty that we will not score. Happy tonight as i was able to leave a bit early and not needing to drop mates off home so bombed down the M1 and back home not long ago.

Even if we had scored. A point isn't enough.

Ipswich dominated the ball and dominated us. Men against boys once again. A more clinical side could and should have done a Rotherham.

Our home performances (other than Plymouth) and results under McSheffery are a serious concern and we've now gone from having not too bad home form and not being able to win away to the exact opposite. Just the 1-0 win against Shrewsbury under GM at home. Unacceptable.

Just like the Rotherham game. I knew we'd not score after 10 minutes. The tempo was set, Ipswich spent most of the time with the ball and in our half. Best chance we had was Martin belting a free kick off a defenders head for a corner first half.

Not angry really tonight as we just can't string any results together and it's been like all season but just disappointed as some hope of survival was rekindled by the result at Sunderland and it has been dashed again but it is what it is. We do need a miracle again now. If we didn't before.

GM decision making once again though is a massive concern as is the ability for a team to boss and beat Sunderland away and that very same team look like a group of Under 16's playing mens football literally days later. Truly bizarre.

Ipswich fans droned predictable annoying songs all night and let off flares. Bunch of numbskulls. Cambridge fans put them to shame when they came on a tuesday night. So much for a 'big club'. Big club, small minded fans. Not all of course.

We’ve 15 games to go, we don’t need to win every game so to suggest one game has dashed our hopes is nonsense.
If we can get 4 points from the next 3 games we’ve still got a decent chance going into a better run of fixtures.
Of course A point would have been a great result, to say it wouldn’t have been enough is again nonsense

If Wimbledon win their game in hand then we need 11 points just to get level. That would mean 4 wins to get level then how many more wins to get out of trouble. Its over man. Accept it and deal with your denial. Your blind positivity is nonsense. We've won 1 home game in 4 months yet you still think it is doable, playing like that tonight too lol. Takes all sorts i guess.

It’s irrelevent what other teams do, we just need to concentrate on getting around 46 points.
24 points from 15 games.

What a weird post that is, trying to get personal just because I’m not as negative you.
You’re an odd chap

If you reply to my post saying that what i have posted is nonsense, not once but twice, then it isn't unreasonable to think that i might take that personally so you can expect to get some back. Not odd at all really. If you continue to misinterpret my posts and my intentions then you will find me odd, which is a problem caused by your inability to understand.

Anyway, i won't reply to you anymore on here as we are going off topic. You think we can stay up. Fine. Hope we do.

[NigelJ]

...it’s inconceivable to me that a squad with so much ability can be in such an average league position...

That is down to their woeful start to the season, when they had many injuries. Take out every team's first ten games, and they would be right up there. I would be very surprised if they don't at least make the play-offs.

[bpoolrover]

Not quite sure why we signed agard, seems a bit of a waste of a wage at the minute

[BillyStubbsTears]

I really want to support McSheffrey, but if he couldn't see that Seaman was blowing out of his arse with 30 mins to go then I don't know what he was watching. And then when he finally did replace him, it was crying out for Dodoo who at least had a chance of giving the defenders a physical challenge.

Then there is the starting line up. Griffiths neutralised on the left wing. Odubeko totally isolated up front. Martin lightweight in the centre and offering zero physical presence as they worked the ball from back to front. Jackson playing narrow with Burns hugging the touchline and offering an unmarked attacking option at every move.

McSheffrey needs to learn very, very quickly because he's making some awful decisions at the moment.

[GazLaz]

Our shape was ok without the ball but we didn’t have the legs to get forward when we needed to. Too many players not fit enough to play twice a week.

[Sammy Chung was King]

The bad start the squad had fitness wise is hard to recover, plus the players brought in haven’t been playing games, this means you will get one good performance and one not so good. The teams we are playing have a core of fitness built from pre season and during the season.

The manager is fighting lack of fitness, confidence, knowing his best eleven, a club that has a depressive shadow over it that has been there for some time. He has to lift that, lift the players, lift the fans, while picking the team, getting tactics spot on, and trying to keep us up.

An experienced manager would struggle. He does need to spot the signs when players need to be replaced. Also in a few positions as has been mentioned, it needs a few changes. You want Griffiths central, he is bound to not be at his best either he is still trying to get his sharpness, but he looks encouraging.

We are playing into the hands of sides by playing any long balls, these sides are superior to us at it. They will head it away all day. We’ve got to be cleverer than that. We have smaller ball players, create situations, move the ball quicker.

He had to start with the side that beat Sunderland. Maybe as he has done before, he substituted the wrong players. Ipswich were there for the taking, we just didn’t have the energy to beat them.

[Donnywolf]

Ipswich had several free headers .... 2 of which they should have made it 2-0 then 3-0 from .... so imo they could have looked easier winners than the 1 - 0 looked

Unfortunately we would not have scored if we had played till midnight (imho)

[DonnyOsmond]

Just find going to the KM really dull currently, not sure I'll renew my season ticket.

[redbrez]

When knoyle came on I thought he would of gone to right back and younger back to his natural position?
The team did look leggy unfit last night. Not once did our fullbacks cross into the oppositions half.

[Padge_DRFC]

Mcsheffery appears to be a motivator but not very clever at the others stuff.

[colincramb]

Poor from GM. Need an attacking threat and waits until the 84th minute and then brings on Barlow when Dodoo and Agard are on the bench. Dire tactics and really shocking decision making once again.

He can take the credit for Sunderland but this game just sent us right back to most of our abject home performances under him and back to square one. We looked well off the pace and lacked aggression and urgency. A familiar theme.

We might engineer a win at Pompey but then we'll lose our next 4 probably and we can't stay up doing that and not being able to string two results together sadly.

Games like these are strange because you almost have a feeling inside, a sense of certainty that we will not score. Happy tonight as i was able to leave a bit early and not needing to drop mates off home so bombed down the M1 and back home not long ago.

Even if we had scored. A point isn't enough.

Ipswich dominated the ball and dominated us. Men against boys once again. A more clinical side could and should have done a Rotherham.

Our home performances (other than Plymouth) and results under McSheffery are a serious concern and we've now gone from having not too bad home form and not being able to win away to the exact opposite. Just the 1-0 win against Shrewsbury under GM at home. Unacceptable.

Just like the Rotherham game. I knew we'd not score after 10 minutes. The tempo was set, Ipswich spent most of the time with the ball and in our half. Best chance we had was Martin belting a free kick off a defenders head for a corner first half.

Not angry really tonight as we just can't string any results together and it's been like all season but just disappointed as some hope of survival was rekindled by the result at Sunderland and it has been dashed again but it is what it is. We do need a miracle again now. If we didn't before.

GM decision making once again though is a massive concern as is the ability for a team to boss and beat Sunderland away and that very same team look like a group of Under 16's playing mens football literally days later. Truly bizarre.

Ipswich fans droned predictable annoying songs all night and let off flares. Bunch of numbskulls. Cambridge fans put them to shame when they came on a tuesday night. So much for a 'big club'. Big club, small minded fans. Not all of course.

We’ve 15 games to go, we don’t need to win every game so to suggest one game has dashed our hopes is nonsense.
If we can get 4 points from the next 3 games we’ve still got a decent chance going into a better run of fixtures.
Of course A point would have been a great result, to say it wouldn’t have been enough is again nonsense

If Wimbledon win their game in hand then we need 11 points just to get level. That would mean 4 wins to get level then how many more wins to get out of trouble. Its over man. Accept it and deal with your denial. Your blind positivity is nonsense. We've won 1 home game in 4 months yet you still think it is doable, playing like that tonight too lol. Takes all sorts i guess.

It’s irrelevent what other teams do, we just need to concentrate on getting around 46 points.
24 points from 15 games.

What a weird post that is, trying to get personal just because I’m not as negative you.
You’re an odd chap

If you reply to my post saying that what i have posted is nonsense, not once but twice, then it isn't unreasonable to think that i might take that personally so you can expect to get some back. Not odd at all really. If you continue to misinterpret my posts and my intentions then you will find me odd, which is a problem caused by your inability to understand.

Anyway, i won't reply to you anymore on here as we are going off topic. You think we can stay up. Fine. Hope we do.

in

In all honesty, I really don’t think he believes we can stay up himself. He’s railroaded himself into such a corner that he needs to save face.

Whilst all around him just watched us go 94 minutes without having one shot on target at home.

I’m staring to think GM might be a little clueless. Not quite sure what the game plan was tonight, or in many other games I’ve seen. Current formula to try and win appears to be hit and hope someone gets on the end of it. I appreciate it’s a relatively new team, but there is no cohesive game plan at all.

[Chris Black come back]

Whether people think we can stay up or are effectively already down, the only route to survival is finishing at least fifth bottom. That is the only metric that matters. Any notional points target is wholly and totally irrelevant. We need to finish with four clubs below us in order to survive, whether that needs 1 point more or 30 points more.

[pib]

When knoyle came on I thought he would of gone to right back and younger back to his natural position?
The team did look leggy unfit last night. Not once did our fullbacks cross into the oppositions half.

The Knoyle thing baffled me. He did ok at centre back but we had no attacking outlet from Younger so I thought we’d utilise KN for that once he came on.

[DearneValleyRover]

Let’s take stock, we are playing catch up fitness wise, not McSheffrey’s fault. Ipswich have massively improved and are now very sold at the back. We appear to have a system in place that works away from home but because of the lack of fitness we are struggling to apply that 2 games in a row plus we haven’t worked out a formula at home. It hasn’t helped having to play both Rotherham and Ipswich either. Hopefully we will see some of the walking wounded back shortly which will allow us to give a rest to some players and allow us to play a more intense style of football at home.

[vaya]

Let’s take stock, we are playing catch up fitness wise, not McSheffrey’s fault. Ipswich have massively improved and are now very sold at the back. We appear to have a system in plathat works away from home but because of the lack of fitness we are struggling to apply that 2 games in a row plus we haven’t worked out a formula at home. It hasn’t helped having to play both Rotherham and Ipswich either. Hopefully we will see some of the walking wounded back shortly which will allow us to give a rest to some players and allow us to play a more intense style of football at home.

Given where we were, it seems unlikely we were going to pull a handbrake turn and go on an unbeaten until the end of the season. Whilst not great, last night was not the kind of capitulation seen previously this season, or even a week ago.

I'd agree that fitness is an issue though - we seem to be collectively blowing after about 60 minutes. Now facing two away games on the trot isn't going to help this in the short term.

[Spud]

Is it just me who thinks the performances against Sunderland & Ipswich were not that far apart? We had a few moments at Sunderland & made the most of em but I'm still amazed we came away with the points, Sunderland were woeful in front of goal. I'm not taking anything away from the sheer effort from the lads it wasn't exactly a dominant performance, I'm actually amazed that, according to the stats we had 6 shots on target, other than the goals I can remember one & we hit the post once? (which I'm aware isn't classed as on target).
I was hoping the result there would give us confidence to play a bit but it never materialised, the team is working hard but the only creative player we have atm is Josh Martin imo, Mipo & Reo, while strong & direct have both faded after an hour in both games, not sure why Agard or Dodoo aren't replacing em at some point.
I can see us grinding a few more points out but nowhere near enough to keep us up, Ipswich were there for the taking last night & we never tested the keeper once.

[Leedsrover]

Our goalkeepers  first 2 goal kicks,accurately placed onto the Ipswich centre half's head said it all for me.
Rotherham tactics again why oh why did we persist with this hoofball until half time and the come out and try to play from the back for the first 20minutes of the second half only to revert to hoofball for the rest of the game.Why cant we mix it up a bit-there are not just 2 extremes.
 

[ColinDouglasHandshake]

I found it frustrating when we did actually play from the back. Mitchell took an age to basically pass it 10 yards to the left right and then we then proceeded to lose the ball or give it away or hump it up anyway. Slowed everything right down too.

[ravenrover]

The fact that they had players pushing wide totally nullified our 3 at the back. It meant that players were being isolated 1 on 1 and caused the 2 wing backs to be defensive all night. It cried out to revert to 4 at the back which as has been said when Knoyle came on looked like the change, push Younger back in the middle, he was so uncomfortable being pulled wide  with Knoyle slotting in at right back. Seaman could not keep up with their left back who was sprinting as hard at the end of the game as the beginning. Their No7 must have worn the right touchline out of paint he played so wide. There are games to play 3 at the back last night wasn't one of them

[ravenrover]

Also back on topic, apart from the free kick 1st half when did we have the other 2 attempts the stats say we had?

[BillyStubbsTears]

The fact that they had players pushing wide totally nullified our 3 at the back. It meant that players were being isolated 1 on 1 and caused the 2 wing backs to be defensive all night. It cried out to revert to 4 at the back which as has been said when Knoyle came on looked like the change, push Younger back in the middle, he was so uncomfortable being pulled wide  with Knoyle slotting in at right back. Seaman could not keep up with their left back who was sprinting as hard at the end of the game as the beginning. Their No7 must have worn the right touchline out of paint he played so wide. There are games to play 3 at the back last night wasn't one of them

Except we kept Younger at right back and played Knoyle at centre half.

[Spud]

The fact that they had players pushing wide totally nullified our 3 at the back. It meant that players were being isolated 1 on 1 and caused the 2 wing backs to be defensive all night. It cried out to revert to 4 at the back which as has been said when Knoyle came on looked like the change, push Younger back in the middle, he was so uncomfortable being pulled wide  with Knoyle slotting in at right back. Seaman could not keep up with their left back who was sprinting as hard at the end of the game as the beginning. Their No7 must have worn the right touchline out of paint he played so wide. There are games to play 3 at the back last night wasn't one of them

Except we kept Younger at right back and played Knoyle at centre half.

I think that's what he's saying, the change should have been Younger into cb.

[acacia94]

Positivity is a lovely thing but can get you only so far. Find these posts about us somehow turning into worldbeaters (that's what we'd need to become) for the last 15 games just plain bloody daft. Apart from the odd example teams who have spent the entire season in the bottom 4 tend to stay there and get relegated. We haven't managed to stop the slide with changes of personnel or recruitment. Apart from the odd short-lived glimmer of a turnaround we've been rubbish all season. Its highly likely we'll continue to not be not very good with the odd spark of a Sunderland away when we looked alright. It is what it is.

[ColinDouglasHandshake]

Positivity is a lovely thing but can get you only so far. Find these posts about us somehow turning into worldbeaters (that's what we'd need to become) for the last 15 games just plain bloody daft. Apart from the odd example teams who have spent the entire season in the bottom 4 tend to stay there and get relegated. We haven't managed to stop the slide with changes of personnel or recruitment. Apart from the odd short-lived glimmer of a turnaround we've been rubbish all season. Its highly likely we'll continue to not be not very good with the odd spark of a Sunderland away when we looked alright. It is what it is.

Someone with managerial acumen would have got us more points IMO and given us a chance but yes, totally agree with this post. Sums it up nicely.

[ravenrover]

The fact that they had players pushing wide totally nullified our 3 at the back. It meant that players were being isolated 1 on 1 and caused the 2 wing backs to be defensive all night. It cried out to revert to 4 at the back which as has been said when Knoyle came on looked like the change, push Younger back in the middle, he was so uncomfortable being pulled wide  with Knoyle slotting in at right back. Seaman could not keep up with their left back who was sprinting as hard at the end of the game as the beginning. Their No7 must have worn the right touchline out of paint he played so wide. There are games to play 3 at the back last night wasn't one of them

Except we kept Younger at right back and played Knoyle at centre half.

As you do often say Billy, read my post again :-))