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[andyst79]

Is it any coincidence he's back in the starting lineup and we manage to produce that kind of display?!

[Chris Black come back]

That felt like a game he was uniquely ill suited to play in.

[Nudga]

Bad, bad call from GM that.

[andyst79]

Any one of them could have been hooked at half time but if the engine room isn't functioning the defense & attack look equally as bad.

[Fortune-WestForever]

I thought there were far worse performances out there than Close tonight.

Had a good 60 minutes the other night and to be fair to the guy he’s still coming back from a hefty injury. I didn’t think he’d have got a contract extension but fingers crossed he’ll come good this year (maybe I’m being overly optimistic).

Ultimately, I think Grant got the team wrong tonight and was tactically outdone. I can’t get my head around the fact that Harrogate struggle with crosses in the box and set pieces and we don’t start Ironside to really take advantage of that.

Hopefully, they have a good look at that, all take some responsibility and bounce back at MK.

[Lesonthewest]

Thought it when I saw the team, poor decision. They knew what he was about so just stood off him knowing he wouldn't hurt them, he retains possession in these games, that's it.

[StocksArmy]

McCann wants us to press and win the ball high up the pitch. The only time he should ever play in my opinion is when we are defending a lead and need to keep the ball. Apart from that no thanks. If McCann persists on playing him we will not get out of this league.

[McCammon egg n chips]

This will be an unpopular opinion.

But all this talk about starting ironside is nonsense. He's well out of form. Hasn't looked like scoring in any appearance this season.

Sharp offers us much more. Namely a striker who plays in a box and is willing to have a shot.

Ironside needs to calm down his hold up play, face the goal, get in the box and start taking shots. It's not too much to ask for a striker.

[ncRover]

One of the many strange decisions from McCann tonight.

[PDX_Rover]

This will be an unpopular opinion.

But all this talk about starting ironside is nonsense. He's well out of form. Hasn't looked like scoring in any appearance this season.

Sharp offers us much more. Namely a striker who plays in a box and is willing to have a shot.

Ironside needs to calm down his hold up play, face the goal, get in the box and start taking shots. It's not too much to ask for a striker.

To be fair, Ironside hasn't really had a look in has he? He'll come good.

[dickos1]

Thought close and McGrath were our best players today by some distance

[sedwardsdrfc]

Is there news on why Westbrooke didn’t play? A bit strange given he was one of the best players at the weekend. Close has only had a run out in the silly cup so probably could have done without starting so soon and been given more minutes from the bench.

[Cramby10]

Astonishing pile on taking place here. There’s always a scapegoat.
He was decent. Only one that could look after the ball.
There were at least 9 worse players taking part for us today.

[Alan Southstand]

The set-up of the team was totally wrong. Harrogate are a bog standard L2 side that play to their strengths. And that was good enough to beat us, tonight.

GM has not got the midfield sorted yet. In patches, we’ve been good, but you have to be mindful of the opposition and how they play and we’ve never done that on 5 occasions, so far, v Harrogate. His substitutions were baffling tonight, as well. We steadily got worse as the game went on.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

If we play the press, there's always pros and cons because the risk is the midfield anchor gets exposed while the other two are pressing. The same applies when Broadbent or Westbrooke or Kelly plays.

It comes down to what the manager wants to do tactically and when. I just think we need to be a bit more selective when we press and play more as a unit with Bailey being a tad less adventurous so we're a bit more secure without the ball.

BUT. we are 12 points from 6 games, so bang on track. Is he getting it right or wrong?

[dickos1]

The set-up of the team was totally wrong. Harrogate are a bog standard L2 side that play to their strengths. And that was good enough to beat us, tonight.

GM has not got the midfield sorted yet. In patches, we’ve been good, but you have to be mindful of the opposition and how they play and we’ve never done that on 5 occasions, so far, v Harrogate. His substitutions were baffling tonight, as well. We steadily got worse as the game went on.

Why were they baffling?
We needed a goal so he brought more attack minded players on, nothing baffling about that

[In the box]

That felt like a game he was uniquely ill suited to play in.

Close wanted too long in the ball and they just ran through him !!

[Ryaldinhio]

That felt like a game he was uniquely ill suited to play in.

Close wanted too long in the ball and they just ran through him !!

As they did everyone else.....?

How much better did we play once he went off???????

Close gets too much stick. He is a class player and were it not be for injury issues he would not be roughing it in League 2.

IMO we should retain him for next season in L1.

[Thorney]

The set-up of the team was totally wrong. Harrogate are a bog standard L2 side that play to their strengths. And that was good enough to beat us, tonight.

GM has not got the midfield sorted yet. In patches, we’ve been good, but you have to be mindful of the opposition and how they play and we’ve never done that on 5 occasions, so far, v Harrogate. His substitutions were baffling tonight, as well. We steadily got worse as the game went on.

Why were they baffling?
We needed a goal so he brought more attack minded players on, nothing baffling about that

You can bring on all the attack minded players you want but unless they fit into a formation then its baffling.

There wasnt any structure to that 2nd half. Why was molly moved central and clifton wide.

[pib]

I’ve been a big fan of his, but not sure that was the game for him tonight. Harrogate were physical, aggressive, getting on the 50/50s and second balls. Could’ve done with someone more combative in there but not sure we had the personnel without Kelly available.

[Padge_DRFC]

Did more then Clifton. Forgot he was playing. Again!

[Cramby10]

Did more then Clifton. Forgot he was playing. Again!

he’s a strange one isn’t he? Anonymous is a word I would use so far. I haven’t seen enough games this season to form a fair opinion on him yet. But from what I have seen I’ve no idea what he offers our team.

[dickos1]

The set-up of the team was totally wrong. Harrogate are a bog standard L2 side that play to their strengths. And that was good enough to beat us, tonight.

GM has not got the midfield sorted yet. In patches, we’ve been good, but you have to be mindful of the opposition and how they play and we’ve never done that on 5 occasions, so far, v Harrogate. His substitutions were baffling tonight, as well. We steadily got worse as the game went on.

Why were they baffling?
We needed a goal so he brought more attack minded players on, nothing baffling about that

You can bring on all the attack minded players you want but unless they fit into a formation then its baffling.

There wasnt any structure to that 2nd half. Why was molly moved central and clifton wide.

When you’re chasing a game that’s what happens, the barrow game last season there was no structure to that but it obviously worked.
Harrogate sat back the whole second half so it made sense to get as many attack minded players on the pitch, as we didn’t need the defensive minded players

[ncRover]

Did more then Clifton. Forgot he was playing. Again!

he’s a strange one isn’t he? Anonymous is a word I would use so far. I haven’t seen enough games this season to form a fair opinion on him yet. But from what I have seen I’ve no idea what he offers our team.

Good off the ball and strong in the tackle but it’s not working with him there at the moment.

Sbarra was one of our main signings and Grant said we’d been chasing him for a while… so why isn’t he playing?

We need some creativity through the middle for when Gibson and Moly can’t get going. Clifton and Bailey as the more advanced midfielders aren’t that.

[drfcsteve]

If Close doesn’t look good you have to look at what’s going on in front of him, last night not a lot. If players are making runs and finding space he has the ability to pick them out.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I thought Close was good first 30 minutes. But we stopped doing what we were doing well through midfield, good one touch stuff, no point playing Close if we're not going to play that way.

[selby]

  I have been his biggest critic for a couple of years, to me he has little vision and penetration just the easy five to ten yard easy pass  a lot of the time to players not in good positions or marked tightly.
  Can't tackle, that was highlighted in the first half last night with three risky half hearted attempts on a Harrogate player on the edge of our area who just brushed him off.
  And causes us to lose defensive shape in the middle of the park and is overpowered in mid field.
  We had 68% possession  last night and created next to nothing, and if he has a run of games what is the betting he get's a lengthy  injury again.
  The result and performance was not a surprise to me  last night, I could feel people thinking some players were better and in better form than they can regularly produce after watching them over the last few seasons, and couldn't believe that we had gone with no pace in central defence after Olowu's last few performances  as the second goal highlighted when their forward carrying the ball over a 40yard distance left our two in his wake, that is worrying together with the gap left by the two defenders for him to just run into between them.

[Copps is Magic]

I am also a critic of Close but you can't blame last night on him. His passing was pretty good in the first half.

[selby]

  Copps, they are nothing passes, very rarely punitive, and allow the oppositions defence to mark up and organise.
  And when they get the ball he is the one to attack as he has not got a tackle in him, nor is like they did last night on a few occasions likely to use the tactical foul to stop a counter attack and stop the game.
  He is easy on the eye, attractive to some by the looks of it, but is  easy to play against, its as simple as that.

[ForsolongaRover]

It is difficult to be an effective midfielder if you are not physically resilient. With his record of injuries, avoiding tackling and contact is sensible for him, but it means the rest of the team have to carry a non combatant.

Opposing teams will have picked up on this in their preparation and he would have to be outstandingly good to play the game in the way that he is forced to, to make up for it.

I really don’t think he’s that good.