Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: Cramby10 on April 12, 2025, 02:30:02 pm
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That is all.
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A very poor performance but thankfully the whole league is pretty bad.
I pray we get automatic promotion over the line as I don't fancy this squad to go up via the play offs.
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We are simply not fast enough no intensity in our play.
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It’s happening a lot. Took GM too long to settle on a side and even now we’re not really close to clicking. It’s a testament to the quality of the league and our squad that we are even in the mix. If we could get things to click we’d be well clear imo.
Worrying for next season if GM can only work when he has exactly the players that fit. Needs to adapt because we shpkld be better end of. Hopefully we scrape through and refresh in the summer.
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Similar to their place, how we play is how they want teams to play against them.
Should have made the big tactical changes after they had the man sent off.
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We definitely miss Maxwell senior slows it down it wasn't till the second half he put a sprint in.
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Took GM too long to settle on a side and even now we’re not really close to clicking. It’s a testament to the quality of the league and our squad that we are even in the mix. If we could get things to click we’d be well clear imo.
Worrying for next season if GM can only work when he has exactly the players that fit. Needs to adapt because we shpkld be better end of. Hopefully we scrape through and refresh in the summer.
This thing about "it not clicking", well we are, this is it, this is the result of the recruitment and management of the squad
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Took GM too long to settle on a side and even now we’re not really close to clicking. It’s a testament to the quality of the league and our squad that we are even in the mix. If we could get things to click we’d be well clear imo.
Worrying for next season if GM can only work when he has exactly the players that fit. Needs to adapt because we shpkld be better end of. Hopefully we scrape through and refresh in the summer.
This thing about "it not clicking", well we are, this is it, this is the result of the recruitment and management of the squad
Correct. Our whole style of play isn’t conducive to aesthetically pleasing football.
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Similar to their place, how we play is how they want teams to play against them.
Should have made the big tactical changes after they had the man sent off.
Agreed, this is where I believe McCann isn’t the best tactically. The two up top should have happened much much sooner. Leaving it till the 70th minute was too late. Then as it turned out, it lasted 40 seconds.
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We were terrible. Just haven’t got it in us I don’t think. I’m beginning to accept that now.
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I know he let us down in the end but I’d have got Billy on as soon as they went to 10.
To then not do it at HT was unbelievable.
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One of the things I don't think has helped is this desire to tie contracts up before promotion has been decided.
I understand Grant wants players who want to play for club regardless of whether get promotion or not, but just seems to be causing disruption when a bit of calm would help.
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For some reason we seem to have a reluctance to shoot when the opportunity is there. Even at this level you don't have the luxury of taking an extra touch. If there was a league table for trying to walk the ball into the net we would be right up there
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Changing to that shit kit today made us play like Rotherham. Mental decision.
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They went down to ten on 28 mins. Sharp should have been on at 35mins. I’m not making excuses but if I was a clubs main striker watching that, and seeing a centre half then Sbarra go on before me, and then have to wait until the 70th min to come on my blood would have been boiling.
Poor management cost us, Grant can’t / won’t change the game, and when he does it’s clueless, we were desperate for an overload in their box from 30mins, but he waited until 70mins to do anything about it. Clueless management, with no bottle.
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A very poor performance but thankfully the whole league is pretty bad.
I pray we get automatic promotion over the line as I don't fancy this squad to go up via the play offs.
This game typified our poor home performances, not engaging from the start and setting the pace of the game , we allow away teams to control from the front leaving our defence still trying to get into game . Going a goal behind too often at home just isn’t settling the team down or the crowed . McCann got it all wrong today with the team on the back foot from the start and only left being able to hoof the ball up the pitch often nobody . It’s the playoffs again if we continue to gift goals away .
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Schofield with funds.
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Changes should have been made when their player was sent off. We were very poor today and have many players who are not good enough, it will be said look where we are in the table we looked second best for a lot of the game and our defence were struggling. The starting line up was unconvincing.
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A post started by a clueless idiot and a host full of other clueless idiots contributing.
Get a grip!
People talking like we’re in a relegation battle rather than on the brink of automatic promotion
Unbelievable
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
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A post started by a clueless idiot and a host full of other clueless idiots contributing.
Get a grip!
People talking like we’re in a relegation battle rather than on the brink of automatic promotion
Unbelievable
ha ha. Bless ya. You want a cuddle?
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A post started by a clueless idiot and a host full of other clueless idiots contributing.
Get a grip!
People talking like we’re in a relegation battle rather than on the brink of automatic promotion
Unbelievable
Again again again, people having an opinion that they weren't happy with the performance isn't "clueless" or "unbelievable". It's simply people recognising that on occasion our performances and style of football is just God awful. I'm sure Bradford, Wombles, Vale fans have said the same at some stage. We were god awful against 10 man Cheltenham but we still went mental at winning and loved every minute
Simply opinions expressed that don't mean those people want us to lose, aren't happy if we win
If you want to just say everything is brilliant nothing to see here this football is fantastic I just feel sorry for you that that's the ambition of the football you want to see
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However bad people think we were or were not, we gained a point on Bradford today and it is early doors, but Walsall are losing at Barrow.
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Molyneux knew within 10 minutes he was never getting past the two defenders on his side, and it was painful watching him go in his shell, Grant should’ve seen all the play and chances were created on the opposite side and switched Moly and Gibson ( best game Gibson has had!)
We would have benefited from them crossing the ball from their favoured foot, and Gibson would have given the two marking Molly something different to think about.
That has been an issue all season for me.
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A post started by a clueless idiot and a host full of other clueless idiots contributing.
Get a grip!
People talking like we’re in a relegation battle rather than on the brink of automatic promotion
Unbelievable
ha ha. Bless ya. You want a cuddle?
You haven’t been to a game for 15 years, so I expect drivel from you
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A post started by a clueless idiot and a host full of other clueless idiots contributing.
Get a grip!
People talking like we’re in a relegation battle rather than on the brink of automatic promotion
Unbelievable
Again again again, people having an opinion that they weren't happy with the performance isn't "clueless" or "unbelievable". It's simply people recognising that on occasion our performances and style of football is just God awful. I'm sure Bradford, Wombles, Vale fans have said the same at some stage. We were god awful against 10 man Cheltenham but we still went mental at winning and loved every minute
Simply opinions expressed that don't mean those people want us to lose, aren't happy if we win
If you want to just say everything is brilliant nothing to see here this football is fantastic I just feel sorry for you that that's the ambition of the football you want to see
There are 5 games to go, analysing performances is just nonsense it’s all about winning and gaining points. We’ve lost hardly any games over the last 10 games yet still folk are going on like we’re shite
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Season ticket holder for 30 years darling. If you think that was acceptable today then you’re easily pleased.
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They went down to ten on 28 mins. Sharp should have been on at 35mins. I’m not making excuses but if I was a clubs main striker watching that, and seeing a centre half then Sbarra go on before me, and then have to wait until the 70th min to come on my blood would have been boiling.
Poor management cost us, Grant can’t / won’t change the game, and when he does it’s clueless, we were desperate for an overload in their box from 30mins, but he waited until 70mins to do anything about it. Clueless management, with no bottle.
I honestly thought that from 30mins to 45mins we did get at them and we went close on a number of occasions (Bromley-esque). However after 55 minutes we were right off it and that’s when I think GM should have gone for it with the subs he made on 70mins.
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Kelly looked absolutely knackered after 10mins.
Charlie Crew was stood at the end of the tunnel at full time so not back at Leeds yet.....something isn't right though. The lad is really well thought of at Leeds and Wales senior squad.
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Whatever your thoughts on the OP he’s not wrong. We had 40 (should have been 60 no thanks to Sharp) minutes against a ten man team. And we are supposed to be a promotion worthy team. We attacked and attacked and attacked but produced zero goals. If we don’t have what it takes to break down a deficient team decisively then that’s a big problem.
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Our team is set up to counter attack we are at times to slow with the ball when teams are defending and struggle to break them down
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They went down to ten on 28 mins. Sharp should have been on at 35mins. I’m not making excuses but if I was a clubs main striker watching that, and seeing a centre half then Sbarra go on before me, and then have to wait until the 70th min to come on my blood would have been boiling.
Poor management cost us, Grant can’t / won’t change the game, and when he does it’s clueless, we were desperate for an overload in their box from 30mins, but he waited until 70mins to do anything about it. Clueless management, with no bottle.
I honestly thought that from 30mins to 45mins we did get at them and we went close on a number of occasions (Bromley-esque). However after 55 minutes we were right off it and that’s when I think GM should have gone for it with the subs he made on 70mins.
We did dominate RiS but apart from Gibson free kick and Street blazing over I can’t remember their keeper needed to do anything. They were there for the taking, a first half goal, or even a goal before 55mins and we’d have gone on to win 3 or 4-1. Allowing them to sit deep and soak up our impotent play for so long handed them the game. If we’d have gone for it we’d have won. A like for like centre half swap at half time is just ridiculously bad management.
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Season ticket holder for 30 years darling. If you think that was acceptable today then you’re easily pleased.
Course you are!!
Yes it’s acceptable it’s a game of football involving 2 teams, every week you say it’s unacceptable yet we’re on the bring of automatic promotion, so you can’t be right I’m afraid
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What an odd set of fans you’ve got at Donny. 1 point off an automatic promotion place with a game in hand and you’d think you’re staring relegation in the face judging by some of the comments on here. I guarantee that you’d have all taken this position at the start of the season.
Think some of you need a dose of reality.
Speaking of which, back to watching drivel at Hillsborough.
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What an odd set of fans you’ve got at Donny. 1 point off an automatic promotion place with a game in hand and you’d think you’re staring relegation in the face judging by some of the comments on here. I guarantee that you’d have all taken this position at the start of the season.
Think some of you need a dose of reality.
Speaking of which, back to watching drivel at Hillsborough.
Exactly right
It’s unbelievable isn’t it
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You’re swimming against the tide, as usual, on this one today me old fruit.
Who appointed you the thought police anyway? It’s all you do on here. You’re getting boring pal.
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Hardly anything to lose sleep over. There's a reason they have only conceded 31 before today. They're a tough nut to crack.
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You’re swimming against the tide, as usual, on this one today me old fruit.
Who appointed you the thought police anyway? It’s all you do on here. You’re getting boring pal.
Your constant negativity went beyond boring about 6 seasons ago
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6pts dropped from last 3 home games.
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Agree with the OP. Totally inept with poor decision making on and off the pitch. To make it even worse, we shoot ourselves in the foot.
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6pts dropped from last 3 home games.
Maths not your strong point?
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Wow. Constant? Remarkable. You’ll struggle to find much on here this season. Only called out shite like Clifton and Sbarra. Very little on the team really. But if you want your blood pressure to cloud your judgement then so be it. It’s not good for you. Let it go flower.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
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6pts dropped from last 3 home games.
What a terrible way to look at things and also wrong, I'm.pretty sure we beat Carlisle 2 weeks ago.
It's a great point today actually much better for us than them for sure. But we absolutely need points from the next 2 this is the season now.
Again today it became a game we didn't want thanks to the sendings off. We started fairly well but surely McGrath and Anderson is the way to go? Wood just doesn't look fit.
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Agree with the OP. Totally inept with poor decision making on and off the pitch. To make it even worse, we shoot ourselves in the foot.
We need 80 points to get 3rd spot, maybe even less than that.
Our current form will get us to that, all this pissing and whining is ridiculous
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Wow. Constant? Remarkable. You’ll struggle to find much on here this season. Only called out shite like Clifton and Sbarra. Very little on the team really. But if you want your blood pressure to cloud your judgement then so be it. It’s not good for you. Let it go flower.
I’m sat in a bar overlooking the Atlantic, my blood pressure is just fine flower
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
We’ve comfortably beaten most teams that sit, it’s the better sides we struggle against.
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Wow. Constant? Remarkable. You’ll struggle to find much on here this season. Only called out shite like Clifton and Sbarra. Very little on the team really. But if you want your blood pressure to cloud your judgement then so be it. It’s not good for you. Let it go flower.
I’m sat in a bar overlooking the Atlantic, my blood pressure is just fine flower
ah you’re drunk then. That makes sense.
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Crew was was there today Alan, saw him walking around the ground. I was amazed when Sbarra came on, I genuinely don't see what Grant thought bringing him on, I'm not one for criticising players, but his introduction offered us absolutely nothing against the 10 men, he can't unlock a defence, no intelligent runs or find pockets of space, just receiving the ball with his back to goal & giving balls square or back. Just don't get it.
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A post started by a clueless idiot and a host full of other clueless idiots contributing.
Get a grip!
People talking like we’re in a relegation battle rather than on the brink of automatic promotion
Unbelievable
We were up against 10 men for a large part of the game and the players looked clueless as to how to open up with an extra player going forward !! No crosses no shots playing long balls into nobodies instead of moving the ball around the pitch and asking Wimbledon to chance the play more , but what do we do nothing different until Sharp gets his marching orders ..
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Crew was was there today Alan, saw him walking around the ground. I was amazed when Sbarra came on, I genuinely don't see what Grant thought bringing him on, I'm not one for criticising players, but his introduction offered us absolutely nothing against the 10 men, he can't unlock a defence, no intelligent runs or find pockets of space, just receiving the ball with his back to goal & giving balls square or back. Just don't get it.
Last week Sbarra came on at 0-0 and we won 2-0 with one of the goals being made from him, so made sense to me to try that again.
It’s a good result, we’re in a better position than we were this morning yet it’s so negative on here. It’s crazy
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Agree with the OP. Totally inept with poor decision making on and off the pitch. To make it even worse, we shoot ourselves in the foot.
We need 80 points to get 3rd spot, maybe even less than that.
Our current form will get us to that, all this pissing and whining is ridiculous
This is not a whine and it's not about form. It's about a relection of the performance today and how the players and the manager didn't do the right things, the simple things at the right time and lost our patience (not just Billy's stupidity).
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A post started by a clueless idiot and a host full of other clueless idiots contributing.
Get a grip!
People talking like we’re in a relegation battle rather than on the brink of automatic promotion
Unbelievable
We were up against 10 men for a large part of the game and the players looked clueless as to how to open up with an extra player going forward !! No crosses no shots playing long balls into nobodies instead of moving the ball around the pitch and asking Wimbledon to chance the play more , but what do we do nothing different until Sharp gets his marching orders ..
When u go down to ten men you don’t lose a player from the defence and you just sit in. So it’s far from easy to break a team down that has 8-9 players behind the ball
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Watch the game back on player. We were dominant after they scored. Second half we fell apart. Weird.
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IMO i think Grant should have brought Joe Ironside on kept Street on for his pace and put the two wingers back to their favoured sides, get to the by - line and put crosses in instead of cutting inside which clearly wasn't working their defence knew what both Moly and Gibbo were going to do and it was easy to defend, sorry but dropped points down to Grant's tactics
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Wow. Constant? Remarkable. You’ll struggle to find much on here this season. Only called out shite like Clifton and Sbarra. Very little on the team really. But if you want your blood pressure to cloud your judgement then so be it. It’s not good for you. Let it go flower.
I’m sat in a bar overlooking the Atlantic, my blood pressure is just fine flower
ah you’re drunk then. That makes sense.
If I’d had 20 pints I’d make more sense than you.
Absolutely clueless
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Wow. Constant? Remarkable. You’ll struggle to find much on here this season. Only called out shite like Clifton and Sbarra. Very little on the team really. But if you want your blood pressure to cloud your judgement then so be it. It’s not good for you. Let it go flower.
I’m sat in a bar overlooking the Atlantic, my blood pressure is just fine flower
ah you’re drunk then. That makes sense.
If I’d had 20 pints I’d make more sense than you.
Absolutely clueless
you’re not ok lad. Imagine being on holiday enjoying a drink or whatever you’re doing and you’re sat on your phone trolling someone on the t’internet, who went to the game in the flesh, for having an opinion on it that nearly everyone else shares. You must be having a pretty shit time.
You seem to go toe to toe with someone every week. It’s not rational. Get some help for that anger. It’s good to talk.
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Crew was was there today Alan, saw him walking around the ground. I was amazed when Sbarra came on, I genuinely don't see what Grant thought bringing him on, I'm not one for criticising players, but his introduction offered us absolutely nothing against the 10 men, he can't unlock a defence, no intelligent runs or find pockets of space, just receiving the ball with his back to goal & giving balls square or back. Just don't get it.
Last week Sbarra came on at 0-0 and we won 2-0 with one of the goals being made from him, so made sense to me to try that again.
It’s a good result, we’re in a better position than we were this morning yet it’s so negative on here. It’s crazy
Are you on the wind up, I never said it wasn't a good point, & my point stands the Sbarra substitution was a pointless one, he wasn't the answer against 10 men. Your comment regarding he made one last week, you mean the one where the keeper should thrown his hat on it, never mind parry it. I knew you wouldn't be long dissing other posters comments & opinions on the game with your petty little insults.
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Looks like we've gained a point on Walsall and Bradford today. Daft old league.
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Looks like we've gained a point on Walsall and Bradford today. Daft old league.
And obviously Wimbledon and Notts haven’t gained on us.
Not all bad, but we have to win Tuesday.
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In GM interview he talks about overloading down the sides with Sterry and Senior get further and doubling up. But Grant what about trying to Molyneux on the left and Gibson on the right using their natural foot getting behind the defence putting in crosses. Could have had Ironside and Street together especially after they went down to 10.
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It's not all bad, Donny Dog put in a great performance today.
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Crew was was there today Alan, saw him walking around the ground. I was amazed when Sbarra came on, I genuinely don't see what Grant thought bringing him on, I'm not one for criticising players, but his introduction offered us absolutely nothing against the 10 men, he can't unlock a defence, no intelligent runs or find pockets of space, just receiving the ball with his back to goal & giving balls square or back. Just don't get it.
Last week Sbarra came on at 0-0 and we won 2-0 with one of the goals being made from him, so made sense to me to try that again.
It’s a good result, we’re in a better position than we were this morning yet it’s so negative on here. It’s crazy
Are you on the wind up, I never said it wasn't a good point, & my point stands the Sbarra substitution was a pointless one, he wasn't the answer against 10 men. Your comment regarding he made one last week, you mean the one where the keeper should thrown his hat on it, never mind parry it. I knew you wouldn't be long dissing other posters comments & opinions on the game with your petty little insults.
He came on last week against ten men and made the difference. Of course you would do that again if it wasn’t working
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Our team is set up to counter attack we are at times to slow with the ball when teams are defending and struggle to break them down
I hope this is true, because as it stands if Salford would like a playoff place they’re on a must win game this Tuesday, so no sitting back from them….
And a win for Rovers puts us 2nd….shouldn’t moan too much at that really…on we go… Warning to the faint hearted…the rollercoaster is really getting going now
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Saw him in corporate. Asked if he was injured and he said no. I said how come you aren’t involved and he said ‘you’re asking the wrong person’
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Cant believe these comments. We weren't great today. Billy was an idiot. Was more annoyed about that than the result. Bradford lost. Walsall lost. Notts county lost (last night). We didnt! We have a game in hand. We are right in this. Get a grip people. Stop panicking. On to the next one.
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Look at my post on page 2 20 minutes before
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Crew was was there today Alan, saw him walking around the ground. I was amazed when Sbarra came on, I genuinely don't see what Grant thought bringing him on, I'm not one for criticising players, but his introduction offered us absolutely nothing against the 10 men, he can't unlock a defence, no intelligent runs or find pockets of space, just receiving the ball with his back to goal & giving balls square or back. Just don't get it.
Last week Sbarra came on at 0-0 and we won 2-0 with one of the goals being made from him, so made sense to me to try that again.
It’s a good result, we’re in a better position than we were this morning yet it’s so negative on here. It’s crazy
Are you on the wind up, I never said it wasn't a good point, & my point stands the Sbarra substitution was a pointless one, he wasn't the answer against 10 men. Your comment regarding he made one last week, you mean the one where the keeper should thrown his hat on it, never mind parry it. I knew you wouldn't be long dissing other posters comments & opinions on the game with your petty little insults.
He came on last week against ten men and made the difference. Of course you would do that again if it wasn’t working
Not in my opinion I'm afraid, he didn't effect the game whatsoever, & he didn't change the game at Cheltenham either, Sterry did.
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It was a hard watch in the second half.
I know a point was ok in the end as I didn't see a goal coming but we have to grasp these opportunities.
We were against 10 men for most of the game and we could have a put a big dent in their automatic promotion hopes.
I thought Gibson looked out most dangerous player for the most part.
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Quote
I thought Gibson looked out most dangerous player for the most part.
That’s why we looked awful in the attacking third if you believed he was our most dangerous player when he was awful it shows how good the others were.
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Crew was was there today Alan, saw him walking around the ground. I was amazed when Sbarra came on, I genuinely don't see what Grant thought bringing him on, I'm not one for criticising players, but his introduction offered us absolutely nothing against the 10 men, he can't unlock a defence, no intelligent runs or find pockets of space, just receiving the ball with his back to goal & giving balls square or back. Just don't get it.
Last week Sbarra came on at 0-0 and we won 2-0 with one of the goals being made from him, so made sense to me to try that again.
It’s a good result, we’re in a better position than we were this morning yet it’s so negative on here. It’s crazy
Are you on the wind up, I never said it wasn't a good point, & my point stands the Sbarra substitution was a pointless one, he wasn't the answer against 10 men. Your comment regarding he made one last week, you mean the one where the keeper should thrown his hat on it, never mind parry it. I knew you wouldn't be long dissing other posters comments & opinions on the game with your petty little insults.
He came on last week against ten men and made the difference. Of course you would do that again if it wasn’t working
Not in my opinion I'm afraid, he didn't effect the game whatsoever, & he didn't change the game at Cheltenham either, Sterry did.
If you can’t see he made a difference last week then you are more clueless than I thought
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Why do we persist with the Bailey, Broadbent, Clifton midfield, when it never seems to work?
It’s stood out like a sore thumb, we’ve had no creativity in there all season. Why did we bother bringing Crew in? We are crying out for someone who can pass a ball.
Game 41 and we are still horrible to watch going forward. It’s just running around and effort with very little quality. Relying on Molyneux or Gibson to do something out of nothing basically.
I really hoped we’d step up today and put in a proper performance. Especially against 10 men. It was painful. If we do somehow get promoted we are going to get annihilated in L1 with some of these players and this “style” of play.
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There were lots of things wrong today and Grant must take some responsibility.
As many have said he should have made changes early after the sending off, he should have introduced Joe of Billy to play with Street.
In this game and most of the season, majority of our play in out wide, we need to get more bodies central.
When you are chasing goals to win, can anyone tell me why you would bring Street off, given his recent performances. It’s a diabolical decision by Grant.
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Can someone please enlighten me - what does S’Barra bring to our play?
Partly answered today when Kelly came on (JS is not the worst midfielder we have). Also, anyone seen Crew? Has he gone back to Leeds?
Crew was was there today Alan, saw him walking around the ground. I was amazed when Sbarra came on, I genuinely don't see what Grant thought bringing him on, I'm not one for criticising players, but his introduction offered us absolutely nothing against the 10 men, he can't unlock a defence, no intelligent runs or find pockets of space, just receiving the ball with his back to goal & giving balls square or back. Just don't get it.
Last week Sbarra came on at 0-0 and we won 2-0 with one of the goals being made from him, so made sense to me to try that again.
It’s a good result, we’re in a better position than we were this morning yet it’s so negative on here. It’s crazy
Are you on the wind up, I never said it wasn't a good point, & my point stands the Sbarra substitution was a pointless one, he wasn't the answer against 10 men. Your comment regarding he made one last week, you mean the one where the keeper should thrown his hat on it, never mind parry it. I knew you wouldn't be long dissing other posters comments & opinions on the game with your petty little insults.
He came on last week against ten men and made the difference. Of course you would do that again if it wasn’t working
Not in my opinion I'm afraid, he didn't effect the game whatsoever, & he didn't change the game at Cheltenham either, Sterry did.
If you can’t see he made a difference last week then you are more clueless than I thought
If you think Sbarra made a difference both today & at Cheltenham then I'm out.
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Whoever though Gibson was our best attacking option, sorry but your deluded. A draw against 10 men who yime wasted from the 30th minute until Billy got sent off. The ref was useless, our attacking play was clueless and Billy cost us 3 points . Thank god the rest of the league are just as shite as us. Win Tues and we go 2nd. Can't be all that bad can it.
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Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
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Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Sbarra worked against Cheltenham because they still wanted to play and especially after we were 1-0 up there was just acres of space for him to trot in to. Today Wimbledon had no intention of playing, they took their forwards off and sat in deep - we could have the ball without challenge up to their 18yr box - it was after that we struggled to find space and work a chance in a crowded box. Sbarra isn't the man for that job, keeping Gibson on to keep the width would have been key, as would having Sharp and Ironside on from the 40th minute to find the space in the box and convert the possession. It wasn't Sbarra's fault, it was Grant's. Bad changes, made at the wrong times cost us the game.
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The thinking was surely that Sbarra is just about the only central midfielder we have that has creativity sufficient to put a pass through a sitting defensive side. Other option is Kelly who can run on and run through. McCann did both. Neither really worked.
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There were lots of things wrong today and Grant must take some responsibility.
As many have said he should have made changes early after the sending off, he should have introduced Joe of Billy to play with Street.
In this game and most of the season, majority of our play in out wide, we need to get more bodies central.
When you are chasing goals to win, can anyone tell me why you would bring Street off, given his recent performances. It’s a diabolical decision by Grant.
I get why Street was taken off, with Wimbledon sitting so deep there was no room for Street to get in behind with his pace, we needed someone that could get the ball and hold it, Ironside of last season was that man, sadly this season he looks a shadow of that player
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Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Just to confirm it's obsession not onsession, & also should have, not should of. You are also creating things in your head again to try to back up your argument, it's a complete & utter phallacy that I have a negative, (there's your favourite word again) obsession with most of our players, complete & utter rubbish. He didn't play well last week, & he didn't today. No big deal, just the wrong substitution in my opinion. Crack on making things up & throwing out your little insults.
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You are not obliged to support us !
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Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Sbarra worked against Cheltenham because they still wanted to play and especially after we were 1-0 up there was just acres of space for him to trot in to. Today Wimbledon had no intention of playing, they took their forwards off and sat in deep - we could have the ball without challenge up to their 18yr box - it was after that we struggled to find space and work a chance in a crowded box. Sbarra isn't the man for that job, keeping Gibson on to keep the width would have been key, as would having Sharp and Ironside on from the 40th minute to find the space in the box and convert the possession. It wasn't Sbarra's fault, it was Grant's. Bad changes, made at the wrong times cost us the game.
Agreed, we should have brought on Sharp much earlier to play alongside Street, not Sbarra.
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A really frustrating and inept performance, especially considering how big an opportunity this was to beat a promotion rival with 10 men for most of it.
We were slow and predictable, hardly testing their goalkeeper. And it took a deflected long distance effort from Sterry to get something past them.
Our lack of quality and poor on-pitch intelligence has been evident all season. Players just don't seem to rise to the big occasions often enough and produce something when it matters.
We are yet to beat anyone at home in the top half this season. Nor have we come from behind to win.
Yeah, this was just one game, but it just feeds into a bigger picture that doesn't give much confidence that we have what it takes to navigate a tough run-in or playoff campaign.
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The thinking was surely that Sbarra is just about the only central midfielder we have that has creativity sufficient to put a pass through a sitting defensive side. Other option is Kelly who can run on and run through. McCann did both. Neither really worked.
Agree. The lines were too rigid and predictable.
Second half v 10 men, we had the width with Sterry and Senior, so Gibson and Moly can and should have come inside more often.
We had them starting to wilt and making unforced errors...the two corners they gave away cheaply, so we created that uncertainty. Street sometimes should come short and then someone like Bailey or Moly, or Gibson to make the runs in behind. They scored from their midfielder running in from deep and we've seen Bailey do it before but there was little effort or intelligence to keep pulling them out of their comfort zone by mixing it up.
When I saw Sbarra coming on, I really hoped Gibson would be yanked as he was wasted out wide and ineffectual. Then Billy on with Street so we still had that mobility up front. I think GM went sh*t or bust too soon and should have left Ironside as a last resort.
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Someone back up the thread said that we didn’t put any (not many) crosses into the box, but we did do.
There were a few really good ones which flashed across the face of goal but no one got on the end of them.
It is really difficult to find a way through a penalty area that has eight defenders and a keeper in there.
I’m in the camp that says Sharp should have come into the game much earlier than he did as until the 85th minute Wimbledon barely got into our half of the pitch after the sending off in the first half.
The time wasting by the keeper was also an irritation but that was the refs fault.
He could have stopped it quite early on with a yellow card but despite waving to the keeper to get on with things he declined the option of stopping it.
That gave the keeper the green light to continue doing the slow walk etc.
Also, while I’m ranting, when are the rules going to change to prevent the time outs? The keeper did the sit down thing at least twice.
My pal at the game suggested that instead of giving the ball to the keeper on resumption, why not have a contested dropped ball in a designated place, maybe 30 yards from goal or even on the centre spot.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
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Why do people keep saying Billy cost us 3 points today? We didn't drop 3 points, so how could he have done?
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Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Just to confirm it's obsession not onsession, & also should have, not should of. You are also creating things in your head again to try to back up your argument, it's a complete & utter phallacy that I have a negative, (there's your favourite word again) obsession with most of our players, complete & utter rubbish. He didn't play well last week, & he didn't today. No big deal, just the wrong substitution in my opinion. Crack on making things up & throwing out your little insults.
In your opinion he didn’t play well last week,
In mine and the managers he did!
And deserved a go again today,
In the minutes he’s played over the last two games we’ve scored 3 and conceded none, in those same games when he’s been on the bench we’ve scored zero and conceded 1.
Seems to me he’s made an impact, if he came on and scored a hat trick you’d find an excuse why.
And don’t pretend you aren’t negative, you’re up there with the most negative on this forum and have been for years
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
We’ve won a lot more than we’ve lost this season,
But listening to folk like tou, you wouldn’t believe it
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
Because we have enough to regularly batter the weaker sides in this division. But against well organised defences, we struggle every week.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
We’ve won a lot more than we’ve lost this season,
But listening to folk like tou, you wouldn’t believe it
Yep, agreed, only two teams have won more L2 games than us so far and if we win on Tuesday, no teams will have won more games than us.
Also, only three teams have scored more goals than us and we have only had two matches in which we have scored four times so the goals have been well spread.
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The big concern for me was our inability to see the problem in front of us and change the plan to deal with it.
They go down to 10 and we struggle to puncture their low block, we move the ball too slowly and to lateral to catch a break.
I'm not sure why we didn't swap our wide players about to get Mols into the game, he gets marked out of it, sulks and we struggle. We bring on a midfielder who then strugglers to make an impression? and then cap it off taking off the only player who has pace up front? we really do make it hard for ourselves and you have to question the rationale behind some of our decision making both on the park and certainly of it.
This team now needs to push on and ensure promotion as i just don't fancy our chances in the playoffs. The big problem then will be the close season rebuild because this team is too slow, too weak and has limited vision to ensure survival in the next tier.
Like BST has been saying every week, we have struggled against the better teams in this league, the best teams in this league would all be prime candidates to come straight back down under current performances.
A point from a game where we could of got none is a plus especially with the results elsewhere but we do like to make our fanbase suffer.
Typical Donny!
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I bet that fans of lots of clubs are saying just the same things dd.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
We’ve won a lot more than we’ve lost this season,
But listening to folk like tou, you wouldn’t believe it
Look at the games we have won this season and how much possession we have had… the majority of our wins have come against teams that at least try to play a bit. Harrogate one I remember where we beat a team that camps in, struggled against teams like that generally tho.
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I bet that fans of lots of clubs are saying just the same things dd.
Except port vale. I’d imagine they are fairly chipper tonight.
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Wow! Some of the comments on here are truly mind boggling and seem to be completely divorced from reality.
You’re not vintage 1970 Brazil! You’re not going to batter teams every week, never mind teams fighting just as hard as you to get into automatic or play off places.
What you are is a very, very good League 2 side with a great manager, good owners and a very decent fan base that can create a great atmosphere.
You’re in a league position that most other teams in the division would kill for and it’s still all to play for.
I get that as football fans we’re often irrational and it’s easy to think that you should put in a performance every week, whoever the opponents but some of you need a serious reality check.
The bare facts are though that you must be doing something very right to be where you are right now.
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I bet that fans of lots of clubs are saying just the same things dd.
Except port vale. I’d imagine they are fairly chipper tonight.
Yes, they will be tonight but throughout the season it will have been plenty of moaning and groaning from their fans too.
They are the title favourites IMO now.
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Wow! Some of the comments on here are truly mind boggling and seem to be completely divorced from reality.
You’re not vintage 1970 Brazil! You’re not going to batter teams every week, never mind teams fighting just as hard as you to get into automatic or play off places.
What you are is a very, very good League 2 side with a great manager, good owners and a very decent fan base that can create a great atmosphere.
You’re in a league position that most other teams in the division would kill for and it’s still all to play for.
I get that as football fans we’re often irrational and it’s easy to think that you should put in a performance every week, whoever the opponents but some of you need a serious reality check.
The bare facts are though that you must be doing something very right to be where you are right now.
Again, exactly right!
You will find this forum is full of folk who can’t wait to complain and be negative
One point off automatics with a game in hand and anyone would think we’re about to be relegated
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Wow! Some of the comments on here are truly mind boggling and seem to be completely divorced from reality.
You’re not vintage 1970 Brazil! You’re not going to batter teams every week, never mind teams fighting just as hard as you to get into automatic or play off places.
What you are is a very, very good League 2 side with a great manager, good owners and a very decent fan base that can create a great atmosphere.
You’re in a league position that most other teams in the division would kill for and it’s still all to play for.
I get that as football fans we’re often irrational and it’s easy to think that you should put in a performance every week, whoever the opponents but some of you need a serious reality check.
The bare facts are though that you must be doing something very right to be where you are right now.
well said...
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Wow! Some of the comments on here are truly mind boggling and seem to be completely divorced from reality.
You’re not vintage 1970 Brazil! You’re not going to batter teams every week, never mind teams fighting just as hard as you to get into automatic or play off places.
What you are is a very, very good League 2 side with a great manager, good owners and a very decent fan base that can create a great atmosphere.
You’re in a league position that most other teams in the division would kill for and it’s still all to play for.
I get that as football fans we’re often irrational and it’s easy to think that you should put in a performance every week, whoever the opponents but some of you need a serious reality check.
The bare facts are though that you must be doing something very right to be where you are right now.
The point here Stocksbridge is that if we were commenting on where we are in the league and in relation to our rivals such unhappiness would seem “irrational”. But for fans like we all are, each match is the latest episode in the journey and we go into it with hope and in this case come away with disappointment. As a fan we could stay at home and contemplate where we are in the Table and relish the woes of our rivals, but we crave good football and convincing performances that boost our pride in our team. We might get home after a good win and find that we have not improved our position in the table, but the true fan is more content than if his team have played dismally yet not lost ground in the Table. That would be scant consolation. But
Today we were disappointed as we have been all too frequently this season and we can see that in a sense we are where we are by default.
We certainly are not “negative” we are vibrantly positive in our hopes and ambitions and see those who regard themselves as “positive” on the back of mediocrity as the odd men out.
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I bet that fans of lots of clubs are saying just the same things dd.
Except port vale. I’d imagine they are fairly chipper tonight.
Yes and last week it was Bradford. Plenty of twists and turns left yet! We are right in the mix.
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The bare facts are though that you must be doing something very right to be where you are right now.
don't let facts get in the way of a good moan though - perceived wisdom on here is that the only reason that Rovers are in their current position is that the rest of the teams in the division are all shite... :pinch:
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We are where we are by default
If that’s not a comment to end all negative comments then I don’t know what is
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Wow! Some of the comments on here are truly mind boggling and seem to be completely divorced from reality.
You’re not vintage 1970 Brazil! You’re not going to batter teams every week, never mind teams fighting just as hard as you to get into automatic or play off places.
What you are is a very, very good League 2 side with a great manager, good owners and a very decent fan base that can create a great atmosphere.
You’re in a league position that most other teams in the division would kill for and it’s still all to play for.
I get that as football fans we’re often irrational and it’s easy to think that you should put in a performance every week, whoever the opponents but some of you need a serious reality check.
The bare facts are though that you must be doing something very right to be where you are right now.
SO
The issue is that we are bankrolled this season to a very generous level for L2, but we've picked up just 4 points against top 10 opponents in the past 11 games stretching back almost 6 months.
We are a very, very ordinary side plus Luke Molyneux. When he has an off day like today, we are a very, very ordinary side.
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We are where we are by default
If that’s not a comment to end all negative comments then I don’t know what is
How do you know it's a very generous level for L2?
I've been asking this for a while.
I appreciate TB backing but who knows what has been spent and what scale to judge it against?
For me I would say its among the top 4-6 in the league and we performing around that, maybe slightly above that?
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It’s totally irrelevant who we’ve picked the points up against, we’ve got 5 games left and win our game on Tuesday and we go 2nd, yet people like you keep going on about how ordinary we are etc etc, it’s great that someone from the outside has come in taken a look and told you all how pathetic you’re all being
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It’s totally irrelevant who we’ve picked the points up against, we’ve got 5 games left and win our game on Tuesday and we go 2nd, yet people like you keep going on about how ordinary we are etc etc, it’s great that someone from the outside has come in taken a look and told you all how pathetic you’re all being
Not sure if that's for me Dickos? Hope not because I have been saying all season that we are up there!
Tuesday is massive now, not be all and end all, but 3 points would be a big step in the right direction.
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Before today’s kick off what position were Wimbledon in ?
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It’s totally irrelevant who we’ve picked the points up against, we’ve got 5 games left and win our game on Tuesday and we go 2nd, yet people like you keep going on about how ordinary we are etc etc, it’s great that someone from the outside has come in taken a look and told you all how pathetic you’re all being
Not sure if that's for me Dickos? Hope not because I have been saying all season that we are up there!
Tuesday is massive now, not be all and end all, but 3 points would be a big step in the right direction.
No mate,
Was replying to the negative chap who posted before you
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It’s totally irrelevant who we’ve picked the points up against, we’ve got 5 games left and win our game on Tuesday and we go 2nd, yet people like you keep going on about how ordinary we are etc etc, it’s great that someone from the outside has come in taken a look and told you all how pathetic you’re all being
It isn't irrelevant though is it?
Because four of our final 5 games are against sides currently in the top 10. And we are still showing no sign of improvement against those sides.
We MIGHT still step up, but you are being wilfully blind and trusting to luck if you ignore that record.
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Before today’s kick off what position were Wimbledon in ?
Anyone know
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5th
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In GM interview he talks about overloading down the sides with Sterry and Senior get further and doubling up. But Grant what about trying to Molyneux on the left and Gibson on the right using their natural foot getting behind the defence putting in crosses. Could have had Ironside and Street together especially after they went down to 10.
Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Just to confirm it's obsession not onsession, & also should have, not should of. You are also creating things in your head again to try to back up your argument, it's a complete & utter phallacy that I have a negative, (there's your favourite word again) obsession with most of our players, complete & utter rubbish. He didn't play well last week, & he didn't today. No big deal, just the wrong substitution in my opinion. Crack on making things up & throwing out your little insults.
In your opinion he didn’t play well last week,
In mine and the managers he did!
And deserved a go again today,
In the minutes he’s played over the last two games we’ve scored 3 and conceded none, in those same games when he’s been on the bench we’ve scored zero and conceded 1.
Seems to me he’s made an impact, if he came on and scored a hat trick you’d find an excuse why.
And don’t pretend you aren’t negative, you’re up there with the most negative on this forum and have been for years
Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Just to confirm it's obsession not onsession, & also should have, not should of. You are also creating things in your head again to try to back up your argument, it's a complete & utter phallacy that I have a negative, (there's your favourite word again) obsession with most of our players, complete & utter rubbish. He didn't play well last week, & he didn't today. No big deal, just the wrong substitution in my opinion. Crack on making things up & throwing out your little insults.
In your opinion he didn’t play well last week,
In mine and the managers he did!
And deserved a go again today,
In the minutes he’s played over the last two games we’ve scored 3 and conceded none, in those same games when he’s been on the bench we’ve scored zero and conceded 1.
Seems to me he’s made an impact, if he came on and scored a hat trick you’d find an excuse why.
And don’t pretend you aren’t negative, you’re up there with the most negative on this forum and have been for years
Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Just to confirm it's obsession not onsession, & also should have, not should of. You are also creating things in your head again to try to back up your argument, it's a complete & utter phallacy that I have a negative, (there's your favourite word again) obsession with most of our players, complete & utter rubbish. He didn't play well last week, & he didn't today. No big deal, just the wrong substitution in my opinion. Crack on making things up & throwing out your little insults.
In your opinion he didn’t play well last week,
In mine and the managers he did!
And deserved a go again today,
In the minutes he’s played over the last two games we’ve scored 3 and conceded none, in those same games when he’s been on the bench we’ve scored zero and conceded 1.
Seems to me he’s made an impact, if he came on and scored a hat trick you’d find an excuse why.
And don’t pretend you aren’t negative, you’re up there with the most negative on this forum and have been for years
Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Just to confirm it's obsession not onsession, & also should have, not should of. You are also creating things in your head again to try to back up your argument, it's a complete & utter phallacy that I have a negative, (there's your favourite word again) obsession with most of our players, complete & utter rubbish. He didn't play well last week, & he didn't today. No big deal, just the wrong substitution in my opinion. Crack on making things up & throwing out your little insults.
In your opinion he didn’t play well last week,
In mine and the managers he did!
And deserved a go again today,
In the minutes he’s played over the last two games we’ve scored 3 and conceded none, in those same games when he’s been on the bench we’ve scored zero and conceded 1.
Seems to me he’s made an impact, if he came on and scored a hat trick you’d find an excuse why.
And don’t pretend you aren’t negative, you’re up there with the most negative on this forum and have been for years
No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
We’ve won a lot more than we’ve lost this season,
But listening to folk like tou, you wouldn’t believe it
Never mentioned today!
But he came on against 10 men last week with 13 mins to go with the score at 0-0 and we won 2-0. With him being heavily involved in one of the goals and playing well.
Of course if you’re a manager with the same scenario you’d try it again
But just because you have some kind of negative onsession as you do with most of our players then you go on about why we shouldn’t of brought him on
Just to confirm it's obsession not onsession, & also should have, not should of. You are also creating things in your head again to try to back up your argument, it's a complete & utter phallacy that I have a negative, (there's your favourite word again) obsession with most of our players, complete & utter rubbish. He didn't play well last week, & he didn't today. No big deal, just the wrong substitution in my opinion. Crack on making things up & throwing out your little insults.
In your opinion he didn’t play well last week,
In mine and the managers he did!
And deserved a go again today,
In the minutes he’s played over the last two games we’ve scored 3 and conceded none, in those same games when he’s been on the bench we’ve scored zero and conceded 1.
Seems to me he’s made an impact, if he came on and scored a hat trick you’d find an excuse why.
And don’t pretend you aren’t negative, you’re up there with the most negative on this forum and have been for years
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Exactly, my opinion. You really do struggle to to read other posters opinions without posting little insults don't you. Pretending? Oh dear how sad & immature can you get. No negativity here (there's your word again), just my opinion on the game. Keep going with your petty insults to posters.
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Hardly anything to lose sleep over. There's a reason they have only conceded 31 before today. They're a tough nut to crack.
It’s a good point South, that they are solid defensively. The team we have can’t move the ball quick enough to catch these type of teams out. We have an over reliance on Molyneux to create the spark. If teams keep him quiet then usually it’s game up for us.
We haven’t got anybody in midfield that controls the game, that is why we can’t turn those draws into wins at times.
A bit of perspective, we have drawn with a side that are just behind us in the playoffs .
I thought our supporters had seen a lot of seasons coming towards the end in the past. When have results gone to plan?
The end of the season always springs up funny results, odd happenings, like Billy Sharp getting sent off.
It would be great if we had a Sean O’ Driscoll style team, playing great football but we don’t have that. We found a way to get something out of the game. I’m disappointed we are not top, I thought by now we would be, but there isn’t a lot between any of the top four.
What I don’t understand is how Sbarra has been turned into a midfielder with no goal threat, the guy has been banging goals in for a few years now. A fair few teams wanted him.
I see us still going up as champions but it’s going to be tight. Just as we’ve dropped points, Port Vale and the others will.
We need other options than just relying on Molyneux. Somehow we have to get a midfield that can run a game. We have a decent side as shown by being fourth. It’s all down to the players whether they want it enough to go up as champions.
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I am the eternal optimist but like many on here I have waited all season for us to really click into gear and it just hasn't happened. The fact is the only reason we are in the mix at all is because it is an unusually low points tally for all the top 6, in another year we might be languishing in 7th or 8th place with 71 points at this stage. At the same time we have been desperately close to a different picture, if only Walsall had not equalised, if yesterday's referee had played the extra time he should have in the 1st half yesterday when we were mullering them, we might easily have won by 2 clear goals based on dominance / shots on goal. In which case we would be sitting pretty now and looking good for no. 1 spot. There is an element of one man team about us this season with most oppo doubling or trebling up on Mols to keep him out of the game, they couldn't do that last year when we had Adelakun as well. It's been the oddest of seasons, Sharp's stupidity yesterday doesn't help and the loss of Olowu for these last games is a major factor. My heart says top 3 but my head says different, whichever it will be it sure is a hell of a gripping ride.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport
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It’s totally irrelevant who we’ve picked the points up against, we’ve got 5 games left and win our game on Tuesday and we go 2nd, yet people like you keep going on about how ordinary we are etc etc, it’s great that someone from the outside has come in taken a look and told you all how pathetic you’re all being
It isn't irrelevant though is it?
Because four of our final 5 games are against sides currently in the top 10. And we are still showing no sign of improvement against those sides.
We MIGHT still step up, but you are being wilfully blind and trusting to luck if you ignore that record.
It’s not irrelevant if we are in the playoffs also.
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I am the eternal optimist but like many on here I have waited all season for us to really click into gear and it just hasn't happened. The fact is the only reason we are in the mix at all is because it is an unusually low points tally for all the top 6, in another year we might be languishing in 7th or 8th place with 71 points at this stage. At the same time we have been desperately close to a different picture, if only Walsall had not equalised, if yesterday's referee had played the extra time he should have in the 1st half yesterday when we were mullering them, we might easily have won by 2 clear goals based on dominance / shots on goal. In which case we would be sitting pretty now and looking good for no. 1 spot. There is an element of one man team about us this season with most oppo doubling or trebling up on Mols to keep him out of the game, they couldn't do that last year when we had Adelakun as well. It's been the oddest of seasons, Sharp's stupidity yesterday doesn't help and the loss of Olowu for these last games is a major factor. My heart says top 3 but my head says different, whichever it will be it sure is a hell of a gripping ride.
Last season we finished 5th on 71 points
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That’s the important point. Our run in to the end of the season is against a load of sides who all have something to play for and most of which are sides in the top end of the table and are a cohort we have struggled to land a punch on all season.
To get a consistent return of points in the remaining games we are going to have to beat sides around us. That hasn’t happened with any regularity this season.
Now a positive viewpoint would be that Vale aside, everyone around the top end has shit their pants the last month or two and we could somehow sneak a result against disintegrating sides, but that would rely us also not soiling ourselves in the final straight.
If you were being even more optimistic you would say that Grant has managed to get us to a place where we are grinding out points and we’ve got some special sauce in the 80min plus part of games. It’s not great to watch but has thrown off a few points that we would not have had earlier in the season.
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It’s totally irrelevant who we’ve picked the points up against, we’ve got 5 games left and win our game on Tuesday and we go 2nd, yet people like you keep going on about how ordinary we are etc etc, it’s great that someone from the outside has come in taken a look and told you all how pathetic you’re all being
It isn't irrelevant though is it?
Because four of our final 5 games are against sides currently in the top 10. And we are still showing no sign of improvement against those sides.
We MIGHT still step up, but you are being wilfully blind and trusting to luck if you ignore that record.
It’s not irrelevant if we are in the playoffs also.
People keep going on about how bad we are this season against the best sides so I’ve had a look into it and against the top 7 sides this season we have got 12 points from 10 games, looking then at the other 6 sides in the top 7 and how they’ve faired against the top 7!
Walsall 23 from 12 *
Notts county 13 from 10 *
Bradford 10 from 10 *
Grimsby 14 from 10 *
Wimbledon 12 from 10 *
Port vale 18 from 10*
So other than port vale and Walsall everyone else has faired very similar against the top 7 so it’s a bit of a fallacy that we’re doing so much worse than the other top sides in this respect
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If you were being even more optimistic you would say that Grant has managed to get us to a place where we are grinding out points and we’ve got some special sauce in the 80min plus part of games. It’s not great to watch but has thrown off a few points that we would not have had earlier in the season.
I thought we looked shattered late in the game yesterday, we couldn’t muster a chance in injury time as they were all too tired to get up the pitch once TSL got possession, which doesn’t bode well with Tuesday / Friday / Monday to come, plus the fact we had pretty fresh legs on and had played 10 men for 75 mins. Was crying out for Kyle Hurst. Not sure what Grant has got to freshen up anywhere, despite our big squad.
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Should have gone 3 at the back at half time, left it too late and when we did do that it was a waste because of the sending off
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People keep going on about how bad we are this season against the best sides so I’ve had a look into it and against the top 7 sides this season we have got 12 points from 10 games, looking then at the other 6 sides in the top 7 and how they’ve faired against the top 7!
Walsall 23 from 12 *
Notts county 13 from 10 *
Bradford 10 from 10 *
Grimsby 14 from 10 *
Wimbledon 12 from 10 *
Port vale 18 from 10*
So other than port vale and Walsall everyone else has faired very similar against the top 7 so it’s a bit of a fallacy that we’re doing so much worse than the other top sides in this respect
if you want to properly quantify this metric, you have to base it on results against who was in the top seven when the game was played, not now, or the opponents may not have been what is considered to be another 'top side' at the time
we fare worse if this is done, and you also have to look at the percentage of points gained to take in to account an uneven number of games played:
port vale - 22/30 - 73.33%
walsall - 21/36 - 58.33%
bradford - 20/36 - 55.56%
grimsby - 21/39 - 53.85%
rovers - 13/27 - 48.15%
wimbledon - 16/39 - 41.03%
notts county - 7/27 - 25.93%
along with notts you can also make the point that we've had an easier set of fixtures, only having to play nine games to date against teams who were top seven at the time of the fixture
so there...
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People keep going on about how bad we are this season against the best sides so I’ve had a look into it and against the top 7 sides this season we have got 12 points from 10 games, looking then at the other 6 sides in the top 7 and how they’ve faired against the top 7!
Walsall 23 from 12 *
Notts county 13 from 10 *
Bradford 10 from 10 *
Grimsby 14 from 10 *
Wimbledon 12 from 10 *
Port vale 18 from 10*
So other than port vale and Walsall everyone else has faired very similar against the top 7 so it’s a bit of a fallacy that we’re doing so much worse than the other top sides in this respect
if you want to properly quantify this metric, you have to base it on results against who was in the top seven when the game was played, not now, or the opponents may not have been what is considered to be another 'top side' at the time
we fare worse if this is done, and you also have to look at the percentage of points gained to take in to account an uneven number of games played:
port vale - 22/30 - 73.33%
walsall - 21/36 - 58.33%
bradford - 20/36 - 55.56%
grimsby - 21/39 - 53.85%
rovers - 13/27 - 48.15%
wimbledon - 16/39 - 41.03%
notts county - 7/27 - 25.93%
along with notts you can also make the point that we've had an easier set of fixtures, only having to play nine games to date against teams who were top seven at the time of the fixture
so there...
It's a tricky one, this. We played Gillingham at home early on and won when they were top of the table (I think), and Barrow early on when they were in a play-off spot. We won both, but since then neither side have proved to be one of the better sides in the division so the results don't look as good in hindsight. Particularly with those early fixtures, teams can be in a false position at the time of playing (fleeting early season form, one or two lucky results etc). The teams who are in the top 7/top half now are those that have been consistently amongst the best teams in the division over the course of the season, which is probably a better indicator of their ability.
Of course there are a number of other variables that are nigh on impossible to quantify (form at the time/injuries & suspensions/long trips on a Tuesday night after a tricky Saturday game) but for me looking at where the teams are now is the best reflection of how we get on against the better teams.
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People keep going on about how bad we are this season against the best sides so I’ve had a look into it and against the top 7 sides this season we have got 12 points from 10 games, looking then at the other 6 sides in the top 7 and how they’ve faired against the top 7!
Walsall 23 from 12 *
Notts county 13 from 10 *
Bradford 10 from 10 *
Grimsby 14 from 10 *
Wimbledon 12 from 10 *
Port vale 18 from 10*
So other than port vale and Walsall everyone else has faired very similar against the top 7 so it’s a bit of a fallacy that we’re doing so much worse than the other top sides in this respect
if you want to properly quantify this metric, you have to base it on results against who was in the top seven when the game was played, not now, or the opponents may not have been what is considered to be another 'top side' at the time
we fare worse if this is done, and you also have to look at the percentage of points gained to take in to account an uneven number of games played:
port vale - 22/30 - 73.33%
walsall - 21/36 - 58.33%
bradford - 20/36 - 55.56%
grimsby - 21/39 - 53.85%
rovers - 13/27 - 48.15%
wimbledon - 16/39 - 41.03%
notts county - 7/27 - 25.93%
along with notts you can also make the point that we've had an easier set of fixtures, only having to play nine games to date against teams who were top seven at the time of the fixture
so there...
That is another interesting take on things Herman.
As Nick says above there are lots of variables so it is difficult to say for sure where points against “better teams” come from.
As you probably know, BST has been banging on about this for quite a while and began by showing figures against teams who were in the top half when we played them but recently started to talk about teams in the top ten right now.
Moving the goalposts as he did probably suited his argument better but who knows.
Those percentages that you have shown probably put things more into perspective when comparing our points won against top seven teams to other clubs in the promotion race and we aren’t too different from most of them.
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I think at this stage of the season the better teams are the ones in the top 7.
Regardless of where they were earlier in the season, as has been mentioned we’ve played teams in a false position as would everyone
There aren’t any false positions now
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The current form table belies league positions.
Over the last 10 games, Walsall are bottom of the whole of L2.
Salford's home form is distinctly average; one win in six. Ditto Notts County.
Bradford's recent form makes them look beatable. The same could be said of Wimbledon so yesterday was, unfortunately, a missed opportunity.
Tranmere are now a form side as are Colchester despite having had a mini-dip. I really don't fancy playing those two right now.
We're not getting turned over and we're hard to beat. However, that won't get us an auto spot. Right now we're play-off material but lacking the momentum that you usually need to succeed. Teams will play us and think 'draw' minimum.
Have to admit that I'm puzzled as to why Westbrooke isn't featuring as he seems to be the only card we haven't played in terms of trying to inject a bit of creativity.
Whatever, it's a time for leadership, belief, positivity, bravery. Come on GM.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport
Err...
Do I need to explain?
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport
Err...
Do I need to explain?
You can’t have it both ways I’m afraid, either we struggle against better sides or we struggle against sides that play a low block.
If this was correct then we wouldn’t be where we are in the table,
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By the way. If you really think Tranmere played a low block against us, I'm really seeing why we have so many differences of opinion. Tranmere played an insanely wide open high press and we simply played through them and took them apart.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport
Err...
Do I need to explain?
You can’t have it both ways I’m afraid, either we struggle against better sides or we struggle against sides that play a low block.
If this was correct then we wouldn’t be where we are in the table,
Sit down and have a think. Then get back to me when you've got it.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport
Err...
Do I need to explain?
You can’t have it both ways I’m afraid, either we struggle against better sides or we struggle against sides that play a low block.
If this was correct then we wouldn’t be where we are in the table,
Sit down and have a think. Then get back to me when you've got it.
I think you need to sit down champ
All this constant negativity is messing with your head, searching for anything you can find to twist negatively, changing your argument to match your negativity
It’s constant
We could be 2nd in the table come Tuesday night but if anyone bothered listening to your drivel they’d think we were in the bottom 2
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So you didn't sit down and think then?
The point is, that ALL the matches you mentioned (including one that suggests you're making this up on the hoof) were against decidedly poor sides. Sides who we had the individual quality to break down (usually from a moment of brilliance by Molyneux).
My point all along is that when we play against a side with a DISCIPLINED low block, we are hopeless. Tell me who out of the current top half we've beaten this season when they were organised and set out to frustrated us.
Yesterday was the perfect example. We played 45 mins against ten men. We didn't once get behind them to get in a cross. We once got in almost behind them from a move through the middle (Gibson's ball to Street) but that was nothing more than a half chance. We persisted in an approach that went down the flanks, ran into dead ends and then recycled the ball to rinse and repeat.
Yes of course we go 2nd if we win on Tuesday. But the "if" is the thing. It's now been nearly 6 months since we beat a team in the top 10. It's going to take something far, far better than the ponderous pedestrian approach we showed yesterday to change that.
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PS
In that 45 mins against ten men, we forced their keeper into precisely TWO saves.
One was from a scramble from a set piece.
The other was a routine 22 yarder, straight down his throat. And THERE is the problem, very starkly set out.
On Tuesday, we are either going to need Molyneux to bring his A game, or we need to find a way to open up the spaces in the middle when they double up on him.
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The term low block in reality means sitting deep, just a horrible modern made up word
Teams usually sit deep because they find themselves under pressure.
I’ve no idea which teams we’ve beat who had to sit deep because we were on top, the fact of the matter is we have won more games than everyone in this league other than the top 3 and we have played a game less than everyone. So the point you’re making is just nonsense. And again you’re going on like we’re a truly awful team but we’ve beaten more teams than anyone other than the top 3
It’s a baffling take but not surprising
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The term low block in reality means sitting deep, just a horrible modern made up word
Teams usually sit deep because they find themselves under pressure.
I’ve no idea which teams we’ve beat who had to sit deep because we were on top, the fact of the matter is we have won more games than everyone in this league other than the top 3 and we have played a game less than everyone. So the point you’re making is just nonsense. And again you’re going on like we’re a truly awful team but we’ve beaten more teams than anyone other than the top 3
It’s a baffling take but not surprising
In very simple terms… There are teams in the league that want the ball and there are teams that want to play without it. We do a lot better against the teams that generally want it. As soon as we start playing against teams that force us to have 55~60% possession there is a correlation with the amount we struggle to create. Got all the numbers to align with this and it clear.
As ever with these things, you are entitled to disagree and that’s fine.
The thing with the vast majority of people that watch football is that they see what they want to see. That’s human nature in all areas of life. I try and dispel all that bias by relying on numbers to guide me!
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But at the end of the day we have won more games than almost everyone in the division. So there’s no way we should be criticising the number of games we’ve won or we can’t beat teams who do this or that. We’re as good as anyone at winning games that’s just a fact
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But at the end of the day we have won more games than almost everyone in the division. So there’s no way we should be criticising the number of games we’ve won or we can’t beat teams who do this or that. We’re as good as anyone at winning games that’s just a fact
If we don’t go up will you think it’s been a bad season? Or happy that we have been challenging at the right end?
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport
Dickos, what possession statistic from an opposition team indicates they played with a low block to you?
45%? 40%? 30%?
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The term low block in reality means sitting deep, just a horrible modern made up word
Teams usually sit deep because they find themselves under pressure.
I’ve no idea which teams we’ve beat who had to sit deep because we were on top, the fact of the matter is we have won more games than everyone in this league other than the top 3 and we have played a game less than everyone. So the point you’re making is just nonsense. And again you’re going on like we’re a truly awful team but we’ve beaten more teams than anyone other than the top 3
It’s a baffling take but not surprising
In very simple terms… There are teams in the league that want the ball and there are teams that want to play without it. We do a lot better against the teams that generally want it. As soon as we start playing against teams that force us to have 55~60% possession there is a correlation with the amount we struggle to create. Got all the numbers to align with this and it clear.
As ever with these things, you are entitled to disagree and that’s fine.
The thing with the vast majority of people that watch football is that they see what they want to see. That’s human nature in all areas of life. I try and dispel all that bias by relying on numbers to guide me!
This. In spades.
The "Low Block" thing isn't anything to do with a side being under pressure. It's a tactic, deliberately chosen by some teams.
"You have as much of the ball as you want. We will snuff you out then hit you hard and fast on the break when you lose the ball having over committed.
Walsall, back in December, when they were head and shoulders the best side in the division did exactly that to us at the Bescot. We had 57% of possession and managed a single shot on target and only 18 touches in their box. They hit us hard and fast and often. Had 34 touches in our box and beat us comfortably.
They are nowhere near as good now, but did a similar-ish job on us last week. We had 65% possession to their 35%. Yet they had more shots on target and more touches in our box. Only 35% of our passes were forward ones. They had less than half as many total passes but of those, 58% were forward passes.
That "Sit back, stay disciplined then break at pace" is a tactic which, when done well by decent sides, frustrates us over and over again.
Conversely, our best performances this season against good sides are when we've done that to them. In particular, Bradford stands out, where we had 40% possession but more shots, more shots on target, more touches in the box and a very high percentage of our passes going forward.
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But at the end of the day we have won more games than almost everyone in the division. So there’s no way we should be criticising the number of games we’ve won or we can’t beat teams who do this or that. We’re as good as anyone at winning games that’s just a fact
If we don’t go up will you think it’s been a bad season? Or happy that we have been challenging at the right end?
Obviously the aim before the season started was promotion and with 5 games to go we’re odds on to gain promotion.
I just think the negativity is astounding when looking at all the facts laid out.
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No doubt about it, we’re impotent against teams who ‘sit’. Not an attribute to take into the play-off’s!
Been saying it all season.
If you can play a disciplined low block against us, we are truly clueless. It's happened week after week after week. Today was just that on steroids.
Week after week after week. Yet we can go 2nd if we win our next game. Interesting take.
What happened in all the games we won then against teams with a low block?
Which games are you talking about? Where we have beaten teams playing a low block?
Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport
Dickos, what possession statistic from an opposition team indicates they played with a low block to you?
45%? 40%? 30%?
Read my post I’ve no idea which teams have sat deep, but usually teams sit deep because they’re struggling to get a foothold on the game
The fact we’ve won as many games as anyone else in the division almost tells you we win games against a whole range of tactics
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Dickos, you were asked which teams with a low block we have beaten.
You answered Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport.
So you must have had an idea of how to define it in those games?
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Thank god we don’t have to play PV again. Looking at the highlights of their game yesterday i reckon they would batter us the way they are currently playing . They will be on my coupon for a win next week.
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Dickos, you were asked which teams with a low block we have beaten.
You answered Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport.
So you must have had an idea of how to define it in those games?
Billy has just explained low block as a team surrendering possession, in all the games mentioned we had more possession.
So again he can’t have it both ways. We’ve won these games having most possession hence beating a team in a low block!
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By the way. If you really think Tranmere played a low block against us, I'm really seeing why we have so many differences of opinion. Tranmere played an insanely wide open high press and we simply played through them and took them apart.
You’ve just explained low block as a team not wanting to have possession, we beat Tranmere with almost 60% possession so yes I would suggest by your definition they played a low block
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Dickos, you were asked which teams with a low block we have beaten.
You answered Carlisle, Tranmere, harrogate, Gillingham, Accrington, Morecambe, Newport.
So you must have had an idea of how to define it in those games?
Billy has just explained low block as a team surrendering possession, in all the games mentioned we had more possession.
So again he can’t have it both ways. We’ve won these games having most possession hence beating a team in a low block!
In those games here are the possession stats from opposition teams:
Accrington 59%
Morecambe 58%
Gillingham 56%
Carlisle 52%
Newport 51%
Tranmere 44%
Harrogate 41%
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Accrington had 40% and we won 4-1.
Billy has picked out the Tranmere game as a team definitely not playing in a low block, yet they had only 44% possession. So by his own definition they were in a low block
I think he’s confusing himself, my only
Point is we beat teams who adopt a number of differing tactics and were as good as anyone in the league at beating teams.
The league table shows this.
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Dickos.
I know you're in that "arguing for arguing's sake" mode again, but why do you insist on ignoring the issue about whether the team having little possession against us was actually any good?
I'll come back to the Tranmere game.
They absolutely did not play a low block. They played a cavalier, in fact suicidal high press. They just weren't very good at winning the ball. So we had both a lot of possession AND open space.
Have a look at the rabble that they were in the play that led to the sending off.
https://youtu.be/Ek-9z395nGE?si=z87aCOf9wzV2NsbO
By no possible means is that a disciplined, organised lie block.
My point, as I'll state AGAIN, is that we struggle badly against sides that play an organised, disciplined defence then hit us hard and fast on the counter. It there for anyone to see in the numbers, the performances and the results.
PS. If you're going to argue facts, get your facts right. Otherwise it just looks like you're making stuff up.
Both home and away against Gillingham, they had more possession. We won both.
At home to Newport, they had more possession. We won. Away, we had more possession and lost.
Away at Accrington they had far more possession and we won.
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By the way. If you really think Tranmere played a low block against us, I'm really seeing why we have so many differences of opinion. Tranmere played an insanely wide open high press and we simply played through them and took them apart.
You’ve just explained low block as a team not wanting to have possession, we beat Tranmere with almost 60% possession so yes I would suggest by your definition they played a low block
Then I'm afraid you don't really understand the "low block" concept.
Tranmere were an absolute rabble. We were talking about it during the match after 10 minutes. We hadn't seen a side as badly mismanaged as that. They were playing an insanely high press when we had the ball at the back but never looked like actually pressuring us, and we simply played through them, combining possession AND space. Plus, they had a player sent off after 54 minutes.
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They are all shit. We beat them because they are shit. However they play, they are shit. Tranmere was the worst side we have played at home since the conference. Terrible.
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Dickos, you keep missing a very relevant word out of BST’s analysis and that word is either disciplined or organised - take your pick. The better sides have much more of a coordinated approach to how they defend.
It’s not good enough to just ‘sit deep’, it’s got to be combined with organisation, discipline and very hard work. Take Saturday’s game, for example, after the final whistle. The Wimbledon players weren’t running around high fiving one another, half of them were flat on their backs gasping for air!
2 things made the difference in the end:
A - BS getting himself sent off, and
B - the referee chose to add only 7 minutes additional time (which should have been 10 minutes minimum).
Another thing that infuriates me is - I’ve just watched Tranmere’s 3 goals in their comeback v Accrington - all goals came from outside the 18 yard area! Why don’t we try it now and again?
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Tranmere were horrific.
https://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/news/2024/december/22/highlights--rovers-3-tranmere-rovers-1/
Just on the extended highlights, there's three occasions where they tried to fly into high press challenges in our half, got nowhere near and left us acres to run into, before on two occasions bringing us down with desperation fouls (one leading to the first goal)
Then the lead up to the sending off was proper Keystone Cops defending.
Anyone calling that approach a disciplined, organised low block needs to put their phone down and get out for a walk.
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The only point that matters is nobody other than the top 2 have won more games than us and they’ve only won one more and we have a game in hand.
So we’re just as good as anyone at winning games regardless of how they set up, we must be better than others at beating other tactics or maybe everyone is shit at playing against teams that set up deep.
It’s all pretty irrelevant, the fact is win on Tuesday we go 2nd and the other fact is nobody has won more games than us if we win Tuesday
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We are playing largely good sides in our remaining games. We haven’t been much cop against good sides. That’s the important point. Could change, but this season we’ve struggled to best good sides and we need wins, not draws.
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If we are all talking about form against top teams etc why not look at the revers fixtures of the ones we actually play?
Salford - Drew (Won in cup)
Tranmere - Won
Colchester - Drew
Bradford - Won
Notts C - Drew
So out of the 5 we play we have not been beaten.
You can apply stats and figures to back up any narrative you want.
I really don't get the negativity on here. It's L2 we aren't Real Madrid or Liverpool not sure what you all expect.
We have the opportunity to win the league or go up in autos and almost guaranteed playoffs as back up.
Out of all the clubs in L2 we are up there among the best whether you like what you see or not.
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We are playing largely good sides in our remaining games. We haven’t been much cop against good sides. That’s the important point. Could change, but this season we’ve struggled to best good sides and we need wins, not draws.
We’ve done more or less the same as everyone else around us against the good sides and most of them have to play two from the top 7 too
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At professional level even quite low in the games pyramid teams have the ability to react to the way other teams set up.
The opposition are no mugs, Robinson although a manager that has always had money backing him at the level he has managed at has been poor at getting his teams the success their investment warranted.
Like Jackson at Wimbledon he builds teams mainly in the perceived image of himself dour, disrupting play, technical and cynical, the way they both played Friday at Notts County and against us Saturday. Not the type of teams you want to be playing with a lot on the game.
The good news is because of that they are inconsistent getting results as tems with more flair win more games over a season forever contenders rarely winning things.
There are no half way houses we are in the position we have to go for it, and to be honest we are a better side doing so and all the clubs around us are in the same position it's that tight. The team with the most confidence in themselves and willing to go the extra mile to achieve winning games will be the successors for automatic promotion.
If we give our all and fail the last thing we as supporters should do if they give their all is criticize, giving their all like at Charlton is not failure, either by the management or the players.
As a team over the season could we have done better? I think we can all agree yes luck also playing a part, but, we could also have done a lot worse, overall we have done ok.
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We are playing largely good sides in our remaining games. We haven’t been much cop against good sides. That’s the important point. Could change, but this season we’ve struggled to best good sides and we need wins, not draws.
We’ve done more or less the same as everyone else around us against the good sides and most of them have to play two from the top 7 too
Ok, let's take in your argument on its own terms.
We have played 10 games against sides who are currently in the top 7.
4 of those games were in the first quarter of the season.
We beat PV, Grimsby and Bradford away, and drew against Notts C at home. 10 points from 4 games.
In several of those games, the opposition took us on and played a very attacking approach. And we matched or more than matched them. Because we are very, very good when we have space to get at defences.
But here's the thing.
Other teams are generally managed by sentient beings.
Anyone who watched us take Bradford apart and didn't think "Oh, wow! We really have to keep it tight when we play Donny!" shouldn't be a football manager.
So pretty much every good side we have played since, has played a deep, organised, massed defence, then sprung on us hard and fast when we lose the ball.
And we have struggled against that approach. There's no arguing that. We haven't been unlucky against that set up. We've looked blunt and vulnerable, by comparison to how easily we pick teams off when them come at us.
So, in the most recent 6 games against sides currently in the top 7, we've lost at Walsall and Wimbledon, at home to Grimsby and PV, and drawn at home to a shockingly out of form Walsall and a Wimbledon that played half the game a man short.
Do you see my concern?
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No I don’t!
We’ve done the same as everyone else in the top 7 other than port vale and Walsall.
Picking out the games where we’ve struggled when we’ve won more games than practically anyone else in the division is negative to the extreme