Clueless

[StocktonRover]

DS needs to either 're think the tactics and formation or go. We will not get out this division with him imo while playing that way. I'd wager teams like  to play us atm.

Even the Sutton fans last week were singing 'can we play you every week'.

The Sutton fans hardly made a noise until they were 2 up and then it was little more than a whisper?

[Prez]

The most infuriating thing for me today, was when we conceded, i thought well at least we will come at them now.

It was totally the opposite. Bradford raised their game not us and pressed for the second goal.

Left it to the 80th min to get two strikers on the pitch, add to that the ridiculous playing out from the back, leaves me thinking does DS really know what he is doing?

A Yorkshire derby at home, and all we can do is try hit the opposition on the counter.

Awful tactics all round.

[Bessie Red]

I don't know what it is with DS but he seems to be a manager who gets all the big calls wrong.

Today we played a team with two very experienced midfielders in the middle, when we should of been pressing them and keeping the tempo high what did we do, we played snail slow from the back, straight into their hands, it allowed them to push up in midfield, close us down at the back and prevented us from gaining any forward momentum. Worse still we needed pace and guile on the flanks, who do we have who can give a decent impression of that skill, yes that's it Moly, where was he, sat in the stand with us, instead we play a player who should of been in the middle and harrying their holding midfielders.

We could all see where the game was going from around the hour mark, but DS was very slow in implementing  a change, allowing them to gain the ascendency that led to their scrappy goal.

In the meantime we still persist with the slow and painful for us playing out from the back, now im no football coach or tactician but even i know that playing this way is supposed to draw the opposition onto you to then allow a quick counter strike forward and getting your attacking players up the field and attacking them when they are stretched and lacking in numbers, did it happen, even once today, did it buggery we insisted on playing a flat back 5 which in effect caused us to have even less going forward when we had a break.

These tactics area all well and good for PL players who have skill, speed, guile and strength, we have very little of that in our side and it looks a piss poor imitation, there's a reason these players are plying their trade at the lowest level of pro football, to me the managers not as bright as he thinks if he keeps on insisting we play a system that will just not work for us, our players and more importantly us mugs who pay for it all.

To me the seasons gone, again, the experiment with our management team sounded good but we don't have the finances to bring in the right type of players to function in it and to push us into a play off position, we are just too brittle, our supposedly better ball players cannot function in the white hot heat of a fourth tier game!

What i'd like to see is some honest truths banded around in the dressing room, when we look at our playing resources and who we want to keep next season and offer contracts too it looks bleak, i'd let most go, start again and i'd also relieve the head coach if he cannot get a tune out of players who should be capable at this level but are playing a system that they are just not good enough for.

Thinking back to the days of Dave Penny and his attacking 442 with honest lower league players who knew what was required and did what it said on the tin, if we can't afford the right type of player then i want to see us play a simple 442 with big strong athletic players, they may be lacking in finesse and skill, but the honest endeavour and graft will give us something to watch that does not bore the pants of everyone in the ground.

Im really struggling to remember a game that i really enjoyed watching, win, lose or draw, the product now is just an awful regurgitation of what gets played in the upper leagues, it just does not transplant well to this bottom tier, i don't care what anyone says, i'd rather watch a Steve Evans type team than this gunge.

Utterly pissed off with it all, sick of going home thinking I've wasted another couple of hours of my life at this soulless and penny pinching club. The product since McCann pissed off has been truly, truly dire and getting worse, if such a thing exists.

We truly are in the brown stuff with no easy way out. more than anything the club needs a full reset, owners, players, manger the works. Roll on another wasted season, with this mentality we will struggle to maintain this position next season, you don't need to be mystic meg to see, it truly stinks.

And like a real sucker for punishment we've already paid for another season of thrills!!

Good post this and I think will probably reflect what many are thinking. We need to understand what league we are in. DS seems to be like alot of young coaches nowadays who have be taught to play out from the back, is this what coaches taking their badges today are being told. He's like a robot that refuses to change and just bangs on about the process. Well the process should result in scoring goals and not conceding them and we are crap at both at the moment playing the way we are. He need s to change the process to reflect the level we are at and not try and play like Man City with lge 2 players.

[ravenrover]

3 at the back against a lone striker, week in week out, why?

[Lesonthewest]

DS needs to either 're think the tactics and formation or go. We will not get out this division with him imo while playing that way. I'd wager teams like  to play us atm.

Even the Sutton fans last week were singing 'can we play you every week'.

The Sutton fans hardly made a noise until they were 2 up and then it was little more than a whisper?

Doesn’t make it any less true, we are easy to play against. I would say there are quite a few clubs fans would say the same, Hartlepool being one of them.

[Retdon1]

I don't know what it is with DS but he seems to be a manager who gets all the big calls wrong.

Today we played a team with two very experienced midfielders in the middle, when we should of been pressing them and keeping the tempo high what did we do, we played snail slow from the back, straight into their hands, it allowed them to push up in midfield, close us down at the back and prevented us from gaining any forward momentum. Worse still we needed pace and guile on the flanks, who do we have who can give a decent impression of that skill, yes that's it Moly, where was he, sat in the stand with us, instead we play a player who should of been in the middle and harrying their holding midfielders.

We could all see where the game was going from around the hour mark, but DS was very slow in implementing  a change, allowing them to gain the ascendency that led to their scrappy goal.

In the meantime we still persist with the slow and painful for us playing out from the back, now im no football coach or tactician but even i know that playing this way is supposed to draw the opposition onto you to then allow a quick counter strike forward and getting your attacking players up the field and attacking them when they are stretched and lacking in numbers, did it happen, even once today, did it buggery we insisted on playing a flat back 5 which in effect caused us to have even less going forward when we had a break.

These tactics area all well and good for PL players who have skill, speed, guile and strength, we have very little of that in our side and it looks a piss poor imitation, there's a reason these players are plying their trade at the lowest level of pro football, to me the managers not as bright as he thinks if he keeps on insisting we play a system that will just not work for us, our players and more importantly us mugs who pay for it all.

To me the seasons gone, again, the experiment with our management team sounded good but we don't have the finances to bring in the right type of players to function in it and to push us into a play off position, we are just too brittle, our supposedly better ball players cannot function in the white hot heat of a fourth tier game!

What i'd like to see is some honest truths banded around in the dressing room, when we look at our playing resources and who we want to keep next season and offer contracts too it looks bleak, i'd let most go, start again and i'd also relieve the head coach if he cannot get a tune out of players who should be capable at this level but are playing a system that they are just not good enough for.

Thinking back to the days of Dave Penny and his attacking 442 with honest lower league players who knew what was required and did what it said on the tin, if we can't afford the right type of player then i want to see us play a simple 442 with big strong athletic players, they may be lacking in finesse and skill, but the honest endeavour and graft will give us something to watch that does not bore the pants of everyone in the ground.

Im really struggling to remember a game that i really enjoyed watching, win, lose or draw, the product now is just an awful regurgitation of what gets played in the upper leagues, it just does not transplant well to this bottom tier, i don't care what anyone says, i'd rather watch a Steve Evans type team than this gunge.

Utterly pissed off with it all, sick of going home thinking I've wasted another couple of hours of my life at this soulless and penny pinching club. The product since McCann pissed off has been truly, truly dire and getting worse, if such a thing exists.

We truly are in the brown stuff with no easy way out. more than anything the club needs a full reset, owners, players, manger the works. Roll on another wasted season, with this mentality we will struggle to maintain this position next season, you don't need to be mystic meg to see, it truly stinks.

And like a real sucker for punishment we've already paid for another season of thrills!!

Absolutely bang on post. Sums it up perfectly

[Pliskin]

Bradford look quite ordinary, yet thoroughly deserved the win. We're just so bad.

We just played into their hands all game. They repeatedly snuffed out our 'playing out from the back' nonsense before it even got into their half. Our manager is so tactically inflexible that he doesn't even think to try something else. He just persists with the same old shit all game even when it doesn't work.

Even the goal came from a stupid corner given away by our goalkeeper trying to play like Ederson, even though he can't pass, chipping an idiotic pass into central midfield. It's just brain-dead football.

We're playing at home, at the lowest level we've played at for 20 years and we can't create a single chance. Not for the first time this season either. It's a joke.

The home crowd was understandably shit as well. The last two years has just totally drained the enthusiasm out of everyone. "Bring a friend" - at this rate plenty of folks won't even be bringing themselves next season never mind bringing anyone else.

[Sammy Chung was King]

If people do bring a friend, they won’t have that friend for long. Who would do that to a real friend anyway?, it’s bad enough you’re going through it.

In my opinion you play to the strengths of what you have. In your own half you play it safe, get it into their half, then you can play your football and take chances. I would love to see flowing one touch football but you have to adapt to what you have.

It’s no shame to lose to a decent solid team like Bradford, where the shame is, is that we were at home and went down with barely a whimper!
Let’s have a back four, two wingers, two midfielders and two strikers and go for the win.
We aren’t winning games trying to protect the defence, so go the opposite and think the best form of defence is attack.

I don’t care what anybody says, if you consistently give George chances he will score goals. He has been wasted for most of the season. Molyneux was banging them in for Hartlepool last season. Hurst started off promisingly and even he’s gone backwards.

If we don’t have the midfielder or a defender so we can play this way, take a chance on a free agent and get him fit. What have we to lose?
We aren’t going to make the playoffs if we continue playing this way. The manager needs to use what he has to their strengths then look at playing his way when he has the players capable of doing it.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Yeah bring a mate and and the end of that you turn to him and go  “that’ll be £21 please” I’d feel like a criminal.

I’m not a board basher but if they don’t understand the entertainment is awful and that ultimately drives ticket sales then god help us. Can’t flog a dead horse.

On the manager it does feel like they all go to St George’s training camp get a few badges and think they can play like Man City. Then they get a job and Steve Evans runs rings round them because he’s in touch with the reality of football at this level.

Hope it works out for DS but by been this stubborn he’s wasted the chance to go up this season. Next season we need to be flying to justify the way we’ve cost ourselves any chance of going up this year.

Concern is I’m not sure the players exist in L2 to do what the manager wants. And if they do they’ll have lots of options

[Sammy Chung was King]

To build a team that can play good football, you won’t get it with a budget that’s more like a whip around. In the summer the thing needs dismantling. Retention of players shouldn’t be that high. I would suggest many are playing for their futures in league football. I don’t see many of ours being lapped up by sides around the top of this league or higher.
 Every signing has to be with a lot of thought gone into where they fit into how he wants to play. We can’t afford to carry as many failures as we have.

Having said all that don’t be surprised if we get a few more good results to get hopes up, then another disappointing result just stops short of breaking into the playoffs. Our best first eleven is good enough to be in the playoffs, the fringe players they just aren’t anywhere near good enough. We have a lot of in and outers, one good game, then totally flat the next. No consistency.

[Usher down the wing.]

We are simply not good enough to play the ball out from goal kicks.

Agreed however, the alternative is a big boot upfield & how many times do we win the ball then (if Mitchell manages to kick the ball in play & not straight into touch)?

[sedwardsdrfc]

 No need to win the 1st ball just contest it and have the midfield set up to compete for the second ball.

It’s basics you teach kids. We’re so spread out because we are trying to play out that if any mistake is made or we don’t win the 1st they have acres to play in, normally driving at our goal.

conceding chances from restarts is a sign of a poor side imo