Been to last two games and yet have still decided to go Shrewsbury on Tuesday. For those who think we have reached rock bottom, don't think we are even close yet. Will continue to support the team as best I can but they don't half make it difficult sometimes.
Nowhere near good enough. Against Fleetwood there were at least signs that the team knew how they were trying to play. Yesterday I wasn't convinced the players were behind Robinson.
Rudd - couldn't be blamed for the goal, we had enough chances to clear the ball but didn't. A few saves but only what you'd expect.
Byrne - a decent outlet with his pace and willingness to run with the ball. Their left back looked even quicker though.
Bauer and Tex - look like they're getting worse but could be the poor team around them.
Page - think that was the first time I've seen him. Not impressed.
Holmes - not looking the threat he was at the start of the season under Slade.
JFC - set up at least one chance, but overall not looking an improvement on what we had.
Konsa - he's a good young player and bound to go in the summer but not sure he adds a great deal going forward. Not surprising given he's more of a defender/defensive midfielder.
Aribo - didn't get in the game. Has some nice touches. Don't think he's as good as some think, at least not yet.
Mavididi - first time I've seen him live, some good touches and wanted to run at players. Probably should be up front rather than out wide.
Novak - a few decent headers at goal but outside of the box offered little. Too slow to be a lone striker, doesn't have enough to the rest of his game to make up for it.
Crofts - predictably didn't add what we needed.
Watt and Magennis - didn't really make a difference.
Really worried about the rest of the season. Don't look like scoring a goal, defending is worse than it was under Slade and we still need around 10 points to be safe.
We did switch to 4-4-2 after Magennis came on but we need to be starting that way. Forget trying to learn 4-2-3-1, we need a few results and a lot of them won't be here next season.
Didn't pay attention to Robinson at MK Dons so never had an opinion but having seen him as our manager I'm not a fan. Some seem to love him, particularly on the Facebook group, I don't get it myself. Appears to have one way of playing, a big weakness Peeters and Luzon also had. Lots of waffle but only getting worse on the pitch. Talking about next season and putting blame on players before we're even safe.
Don't want another yet another manager sacked but not convinced he's going to turn things around. Next season is almost completely irrelevant at the moment until we're safe.
Players are in general good quality for this league and there were good individual performances from aribo mavididi and that is about it for the positive. If robinson has got his players (less the elusive decent striker) then he at least has to get them playing together and for each other. The defence needs time together and someone needs to be shouting far more in defence as their goal was all our fault. Bauer or tex needs to be loudly commanding the defence and rudd needs to be positively talking loudly to that person. Robinson must see this as a priority. Aribo is similar to jordan cousins and must start each game. The passing was better yesterday minus any killer passes from midfield. The passing improved only because bury did not press us as much as oxford. It is back to basics for robinson and i am surprised that the effervescent karl picks the still water novak as a striker; he must think what on earth the club are doing with such a player. Lots to get on with karl so start earning your money. I believe we should keep robinson until the end of next season and changing things now would make things worse
I agree with all of that except Novak (and I'm not his biggest fan) actually made an effort, got into one or two decent positions, and was unlucky not to score. The missed header in the second half blotted his copybook though. Magennis on the other hand wasn't at the races, for reasons unknown.
Movement and trying to create some space to receive a pass seemed to be non existant from Magennis and Novak. In saying that I assume this is down to poor communication and confidence in midfield players. We have been lacking a real leader in our team for some time and don't see Holmes as the answer. Scoring has now become our biggest problem. Defence is OK but expect more from Tex and Bauer.
Football for a fiver bingo. Got a full house today.
1) Kid sitting behind me kicking my seat back. 2) Gormless dad of said child who was unaware of the annoyance his little one was causing. 3) 2 blokes in front who spent most of the game discussing who would qualify for the Champions League, whether Wenger would be at Arsenal next season and the like. 4) 5 young lads a few rows in front with seats in the centre of the row who had obviously had a good few beers before kick-off. Spent the entire game climbing over people to go to the toilet or buy pies and chips.
And then that performance.
Football can be for five pence next time and I shall say no.
Don't forget the gormless ones who walk in staring at their ticket trying to figure out where their seat is, even though there are about 15,000 empty ones around them in full view
Another dire performance. I didn't think it was quite as bad as last Tuesday's, although Bury are much weaker opposition than Oxford.
It was an aimless and pretty toothless first half. Our play was very pedestrian and carried little threat, save for Novak's two efforts, his header onto the bar from a good JFC cross and the goalie's point blank save following a corner. We conceded one of the most inept, comedic goals I've ever seen at the Valley - or, for that matter, up on Plumstead Common or Charlton Park. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of us (in so far as there was any to start with) and, as others have observed, there was a complete lack of leadership on the field.
With the exception of his cross for Novak, JFC carried on where he left off on Tuesday and looks a liability, Aribo was struggling to get into the game and Konsa wasn't at his most effective. Crofts injected some urgency after half time, as he scuttled around like a crab on amphetamines, but, unfortunately, he has the turning speed of an oil tanker and most of his passes were misplaced.
Bury - for all their limitations - were the better side in the second half and could easily have added to their tally. Their passing was superior and they opened us up repeatedly down the flanks. Yes, their keeper made a couple of good saves (as did Rudd) and Novak missed a good chance but we never really put them under any sustained pressure. Our play was characterised by a lack of tempo, drive, energy and cohesion. When out of possession, we seem to have no idea of how to press effectively and, to compound matters, seem to specialise in conceding cheap free kicks.
As to individual performances, I thought that Page was atrocious and even managed a Daniel Seaborne moment in the second half, when he ballooned a simple pass into Row Z of the West Stand. He is not in Morgan Fox's league as a footballer but is potentially a natural successor as a scapegoat. The left back slot is set to become a problem position for us. Tex looked sluggish again, although Byrne did quite well at right back. Up front, Novak lacks pace and contributes very little in terms of bringing others into play but his movement in the box was good on the rare occasions that we managed to get a cross in. On another day, he could have had a couple of goals and I'd persist with him, given Magennis' current form. Holmes had a better second half and at least he is always looking for the ball, even when things are going badly. Malvididi will obviously be a big loss if he's out for a significant period of time, given that we're looking toothless at present.
Where do we go from here ? The Form Table posted by @Mark_West49 makes sobering reading and there is usually one team who get sucked into trouble from mid-table - could that be us ? Given the lack of stability at the club and a team bereft of confidence, maybe it could. Coventry and Chesterfield are realistically down but there are two other relegation places up for grabs - Swindon and Port Vale are 8 and 9 points behind us with 12 and 14 games to go respectively (we have 13 to play). We have some tough games coming our way in March and I'm finding it difficult, at present, to see where the wins are going to come from.
We should be able to scrape together enough points to get over the line, although it's not totally inconceivable that the last game of the season against Swindon at The Valley will not be the dead rubber we all thought it was going to be. Ajose won't be able to play in that one under the terms of the loan, although it would be more than a little ironic if he went on to score the goals to enable Swindon to potentially overhaul us in the table.
Robinson is obviously feeling extremely vulnerable, as well he might, and I think he'll be gone if we lose at Shrewsbury and Northampton this week. I don't want to see that as we desperately need some stability but the team look to be on a downward spiral and, if Robinson can't turn it around fairly quickly, Duchatelet will instal Congo Chris as an interim/quasi-permanent head coach. I imagine that Meire and Richard Murray will be reluctant to see that happen because of the ramifications reputationally and in terms of season ticket sales but the decision will be Duchatelet's and his alone.
Let's hope we can cobble together a couple of results this week.
As we approach the box, I can see the cogs whirring in the man's head: What do I do now?
We have the ball in midfield, advancing and free, yet the pass is slightly behind his runner, so he has to check – we've lost it.
In and around the box we push the short pass – intercepted by opponents. Good players are quick, instinctive, and accurate.
Our players are stretching – physically trying to retrieve the misplaced pass. This is busking, desperate men, hoping for a ricochet, a bit of luck. Something might happen.
Ball bobbles around. A shot – shanked. That's poor. Novak trundles around – One month ago we were even worse, with the dreary crab-like sideways moves: the absurd idea of holding possession. We got bogged down, intercepted by a sprint from our opponents, and beaten by Oldham.
Half time. A flock of pigeons descend to the turf. Fat bloke on tannoy SCREAMS about a kid in Bexleyheath who has won “A Fun Day Out At Charlton”. Bill laughs loudly. Pigeons zoom off, swoop around and descend in a perfect curve on the left wing.
Mavididi is planets above us – that fantastic run at Rochdale, where he seized the ball from inside our box – ran past five men, ran – and shot at goal.
Can you imagine Crofts doing that? Aribo? Ulvestad? Or your hero, Johnnie Jackson!
Today, Mavididi sprinted over to the corner, muscled the defender off the ball, came away with it and almost scored. I like Josh Magennis, partly because he did that three times and scored a hat-trick against Bristol Rovers at The Valley.
Killer has it – and Mike Flanagan, and Walshy, and Martin Robinson. Paddy Powell. They are brilliant players. Tough. Intelligent. Aggressive.
Our dull little men at Sparrows Lane have a lot to learn.
He said the team changes were not based on what happened on Tuesday, they were changes he was going to make anyway.
He cracks the joke (again) about playing a right winger at right back."Exciting" and "as you can see", it shows we are going to take the game to Bury.
Leaving out Magennis was always intended as part of his recovery from injury.
"What's been said since Tuesday is just the truth". "We've got to do our talking on the pitch, them kind of results can't keep happening."
"Today, going with that young team, is aggressive...very aggressive. That's what we want to see, we want to see goals here. We've got to put goals in the back of the net more than the opposition, a lot more now. Not just winning by one, it's about scoring goals. We've got to put ourselves in the clear and that's the objective behind today."
Anyone at the game recognise any of this?
That's deliciously silly, almost surreal: Robinson: "We've got to put ourselves in the clear and that's the objective behind today."
My answer is: "Let's sit down and see where we stand."!
I haven't seen the disallowed goal again but nobody seeemed to question the ref's decision so it was probably right. My only slight gripe about the ref yesterday was when he should have played advantage and made us take the free-kick which Ricky took and went straight into their keeper's arms. We were about to put a cross in. Who knows it may have been claimed and cleared by a defender. The ref wasn't breaking any rules and has the right to bring play back but it was one where I he could have used a bit more common sense and let play go then when play next stopped, then booked their player. Otherwise he probably had an okay game as I didn't really notice him. But you cannot blame him for the result.
Remark on Radio5 today referred to this .. (I have copied the relevant part from wiki) ..
Bury won the FA Cup on 21 April 1900 they beat Southampton 4–0 in the FA Cup final at Crystal Palace, and returned to the London venue in 1903. The second win was achieved without conceding a goal in the entire competition, including a record FA Cup Final score of 6–0 over Derby County on 18 April, which remains the highest ever victory in an FA Cup Final
Now whod'a thought it ! the second win referred to, according to John Murray, the BBC football correspondent, is the only instance of a team winning the FA cup without conceding a single goal.
How has Robinson not seen that the players are struggling with this rubbish formation, half the time they are all over the place, pointing out too each other where they should be going. 4-4-2 is the simple answer to what we need, back to basics no messing around, otherwise if Robinson continues this stubbornest of trying to play something that clearly has not worked since his been here, Relegation is gonna be a certainly soon in my view.
No shit Sherlock ! I agree 100%. 4-4-2 back to basics for crying out loud.
went yesterday, sad sad state of affairs nothing going forward fucked off on 80 mins as wanted to watch the rugby and get a seat in the pub, very much of the belief of if they cant turn up why should i, feel sorry for the fans that have season tickets, i reckon this crowd could do the undoable and take us out of the football league.
The goal was farcical: three clearances in the six-yard box straight to the opposition, the last of which even they couldn't miss from. There was more movement from the scavenging pigeons than our lot... I had to remind both myself and the lad that this is third division football with third division players. I hope we get dragged into a relegation dogfight. At least there will be a scintilla of excitement as we finally avoid relegation. Oh well, more booze to round up a wretched week.
That goal is literally, hand on heart, the worst goal I've ever seen us concede.
Has anyone else honestly seen us concede a worse one ?
Dave Shipperley's own goal from near the half way line, was definitely worse. You don't know you've been born
Not sure what the highlight today was , split between the synchronised actions of the pigeons , the first ever decent crossbar challenge that just missed and the quick fire one twos between Charlton and Bury players that led to their goal
The defending for their goal was comical - great teamwork!
It was a crap performance. They were awful and barely deserved to win, the goal was a comedy show. We had a couple of decent chances but against a poor team at home, not nearly enough. No leaders on the pitch, not sure why Jackson isn't getting involved while we are massively struggling, he can't be any worse than the players out there. He's always likely to score from a set piece and has the passion that we are bereft of. I don't blame the players, they are mainly average League One players who we've got on the cheap or free. I wouldn't say they didn't put in effort just very little ability.
I'm not a fan of Robinson, he comes across as an attention seeker which would bother me less if he seemed to be able to get something out of this squad which he obviously can't. Whatever any of the usual suspects tell you, the club is broken on all levels and there really is no redemption for RD and KM. Just hope the damage they are inflicting can be repaired once they decide they've had enough. In previous poor seasons you always had the hope that things would be better the next season. That is plainly not going to happen with this lot and that's what I can't get my head around.
in this league all these wanky formations with sub standard players will get you nowhere all you need is to play good old fashioned northern team hoofball to a good target man in the box 'ajose maybee' we are simply not good enough to play passing football from the back ffs just hoof our goal kicks and free kicks into the box
I agree with much of your post, but Ajose a target man ? He's vertically challenged, he's shorter than Solly, I've seen bigger garden gnomes. A target man you say ?
I go back to Curbs, sorry, but he was successful. When you are on a run of defeats, work on your defence, stop the goals going in even if it means a few draws. Once you get your confidence back from not losing then slowly start on the forward play. The trouble is, both Slade and Robinson got the draws right but did not build in the confidence, so we went back to losing. I do not go to see them live as much as I used to, but from what I read from other supporters, most of our players are good enough to succeed in this division, so where does the blame lie? It seems to be that we are not a united squad, which is what KR has hinted at, so who is to blame? At the end of the day as much as I want to blame RD and KM, surely this lies at KR's feet, it is up to him to make the squad work for each other and use tactics that the players can subscribe to, to be successful. No one expects it to happen over night, but I would have thought by now, we would have seen some improvement, but we seem to be getting worse
Nowhere near good enough. Against Fleetwood there were at least signs that the team knew how they were trying to play. Yesterday I wasn't convinced the players were behind Robinson.
Rudd - couldn't be blamed for the goal, we had enough chances to clear the ball but didn't. A few saves but only what you'd expect.
Byrne - a decent outlet with his pace and willingness to run with the ball. Their left back looked even quicker though.
Bauer and Tex - look like they're getting worse but could be the poor team around them.
Page - think that was the first time I've seen him. Not impressed.
Holmes - not looking the threat he was at the start of the season under Slade.
JFC - set up at least one chance, but overall not looking an improvement on what we had.
Konsa - he's a good young player and bound to go in the summer but not sure he adds a great deal going forward. Not surprising given he's more of a defender/defensive midfielder.
Aribo - didn't get in the game. Has some nice touches. Don't think he's as good as some think, at least not yet.
Mavididi - first time I've seen him live, some good touches and wanted to run at players. Probably should be up front rather than out wide.
Novak - a few decent headers at goal but outside of the box offered little. Too slow to be a lone striker, doesn't have enough to the rest of his game to make up for it.
Crofts - predictably didn't add what we needed.
Watt and Magennis - didn't really make a difference.
Really worried about the rest of the season. Don't look like scoring a goal, defending is worse than it was under Slade and we still need around 10 points to be safe.
We did switch to 4-4-2 after Magennis came on but we need to be starting that way. Forget trying to learn 4-2-3-1, we need a few results and a lot of them won't be here next season.
Didn't pay attention to Robinson at MK Dons so never had an opinion but having seen him as our manager I'm not a fan. Some seem to love him, particularly on the Facebook group, I don't get it myself. Appears to have one way of playing, a big weakness Peeters and Luzon also had. Lots of waffle but only getting worse on the pitch. Talking about next season and putting blame on players before we're even safe.
Don't want another yet another manager sacked but not convinced he's going to turn things around. Next season is almost completely irrelevant at the moment until we're safe.
Another dire performance. I didn't think it was quite as bad as last Tuesday's, although Bury are much weaker opposition than Oxford.
It was an aimless and pretty toothless first half. Our play was very pedestrian and carried little threat, save for Novak's two efforts, his header onto the bar from a good JFC cross and the goalie's point blank save following a corner. We conceded one of the most inept, comedic goals I've ever seen at the Valley - or, for that matter, up on Plumstead Common or Charlton Park. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of us (in so far as there was any to start with) and, as others have observed, there was a complete lack of leadership on the field.
With the exception of his cross for Novak, JFC carried on where he left off on Tuesday and looks a liability, Aribo was struggling to get into the game and Konsa wasn't at his most effective. Crofts injected some urgency after half time, as he scuttled around like a crab on amphetamines, but, unfortunately, he has the turning speed of an oil tanker and most of his passes were misplaced.
Bury - for all their limitations - were the better side in the second half and could easily have added to their tally. Their passing was superior and they opened us up repeatedly down the flanks. Yes, their keeper made a couple of good saves (as did Rudd) and Novak missed a good chance but we never really put them under any sustained pressure. Our play was characterised by a lack of tempo, drive, energy and cohesion. When out of possession, we seem to have no idea of how to press effectively and, to compound matters, seem to specialise in conceding cheap free kicks.
As to individual performances, I thought that Page was atrocious and even managed a Daniel Seaborne moment in the second half, when he ballooned a simple pass into Row Z of the West Stand. He is not in Morgan Fox's league as a footballer but is potentially a natural successor as a scapegoat. The left back slot is set to become a problem position for us. Tex looked sluggish again, although Byrne did quite well at right back. Up front, Novak lacks pace and contributes very little in terms of bringing others into play but his movement in the box was good on the rare occasions that we managed to get a cross in. On another day, he could have had a couple of goals and I'd persist with him, given Magennis' current form. Holmes had a better second half and at least he is always looking for the ball, even when things are going badly. Malvididi will obviously be a big loss if he's out for a significant period of time, given that we're looking toothless at present.
Where do we go from here ? The Form Table posted by @Mark_West49 makes sobering reading and there is usually one team who get sucked into trouble from mid-table - could that be us ? Given the lack of stability at the club and a team bereft of confidence, maybe it could. Coventry and Chesterfield are realistically down but there are two other relegation places up for grabs - Swindon and Port Vale are 8 and 9 points behind us with 12 and 14 games to go respectively (we have 13 to play). We have some tough games coming our way in March and I'm finding it difficult, at present, to see where the wins are going to come from.
We should be able to scrape together enough points to get over the line, although it's not totally inconceivable that the last game of the season against Swindon at The Valley will not be the dead rubber we all thought it was going to be. Ajose won't be able to play in that one under the terms of the loan, although it would be more than a little ironic if he went on to score the goals to enable Swindon to potentially overhaul us in the table.
Robinson is obviously feeling extremely vulnerable, as well he might, and I think he'll be gone if we lose at Shrewsbury and Northampton this week. I don't want to see that as we desperately need some stability but the team look to be on a downward spiral and, if Robinson can't turn it around fairly quickly, Duchatelet will instal Congo Chris as an interim/quasi-permanent head coach. I imagine that Meire and Richard Murray will be reluctant to see that happen because of the ramifications reputationally and in terms of season ticket sales but the decision will be Duchatelet's and his alone.
Let's hope we can cobble together a couple of results this week.
The goal was farcical: three clearances in the six-yard box straight to the opposition, the last of which even they couldn't miss from. There was more movement from the scavenging pigeons than our lot... I had to remind both myself and the lad that this is third division football with third division players. I hope we get dragged into a relegation dogfight. At least there will be a scintilla of excitement as we finally avoid relegation. Oh well, more booze to round up a wretched week.
That goal is literally, hand on heart, the worst goal I've ever seen us concede.
Has anyone else honestly seen us concede a worse one ?
Dave Shipperley's own goal from near the half way line, was definitely worse. You don't know you've been born
But that's not really bad defending, that's a stupid mistake with an unfortunate consequence. Yesterday's goal was sheer incompetence unparalleled at this football club in my opinion.
There were four errors. First, the ref error, not giving Page an obvious free kick. Then, some awful control by Tex, letting through their forward. Then an impressive recovery by Tex to cut out the cross, but (this one's more unfortunate than anything else) giving it straight back to the crosser. Then, enter Jesus F**king Christ. The rest is misery.
Comments
Rudd - couldn't be blamed for the goal, we had enough chances to clear the ball but didn't. A few saves but only what you'd expect.
Byrne - a decent outlet with his pace and willingness to run with the ball. Their left back looked even quicker though.
Bauer and Tex - look like they're getting worse but could be the poor team around them.
Page - think that was the first time I've seen him. Not impressed.
Holmes - not looking the threat he was at the start of the season under Slade.
JFC - set up at least one chance, but overall not looking an improvement on what we had.
Konsa - he's a good young player and bound to go in the summer but not sure he adds a great deal going forward. Not surprising given he's more of a defender/defensive midfielder.
Aribo - didn't get in the game. Has some nice touches. Don't think he's as good as some think, at least not yet.
Mavididi - first time I've seen him live, some good touches and wanted to run at players. Probably should be up front rather than out wide.
Novak - a few decent headers at goal but outside of the box offered little. Too slow to be a lone striker, doesn't have enough to the rest of his game to make up for it.
Crofts - predictably didn't add what we needed.
Watt and Magennis - didn't really make a difference.
Really worried about the rest of the season. Don't look like scoring a goal, defending is worse than it was under Slade and we still need around 10 points to be safe.
We did switch to 4-4-2 after Magennis came on but we need to be starting that way. Forget trying to learn 4-2-3-1, we need a few results and a lot of them won't be here next season.
Didn't pay attention to Robinson at MK Dons so never had an opinion but having seen him as our manager I'm not a fan. Some seem to love him, particularly on the Facebook group, I don't get it myself. Appears to have one way of playing, a big weakness Peeters and Luzon also had. Lots of waffle but only getting worse on the pitch. Talking about next season and putting blame on players before we're even safe.
Don't want another yet another manager sacked but not convinced he's going to turn things around. Next season is almost completely irrelevant at the moment until we're safe.
Magennis on the other hand wasn't at the races, for reasons unknown.
It was an aimless and pretty toothless first half. Our play was very pedestrian and carried little threat, save for Novak's two efforts, his header onto the bar from a good JFC cross and the goalie's point blank save following a corner. We conceded one of the most inept, comedic goals I've ever seen at the Valley - or, for that matter, up on Plumstead Common or Charlton Park. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of us (in so far as there was any to start with) and, as others have observed, there was a complete lack of leadership on the field.
With the exception of his cross for Novak, JFC carried on where he left off on Tuesday and looks a liability, Aribo was struggling to get into the game and Konsa wasn't at his most effective. Crofts injected some urgency after half time, as he scuttled around like a crab on amphetamines, but, unfortunately, he has the turning speed of an oil tanker and most of his passes were misplaced.
Bury - for all their limitations - were the better side in the second half and could easily have added to their tally. Their passing was superior and they opened us up repeatedly down the flanks. Yes, their keeper made a couple of good saves (as did Rudd) and Novak missed a good chance but we never really put them under any sustained pressure. Our play was characterised by a lack of tempo, drive, energy and cohesion. When out of possession, we seem to have no idea of how to press effectively and, to compound matters, seem to specialise in conceding cheap free kicks.
As to individual performances, I thought that Page was atrocious and even managed a Daniel Seaborne moment in the second half, when he ballooned a simple pass into Row Z of the West Stand. He is not in Morgan Fox's league as a footballer but is potentially a natural successor as a scapegoat. The left back slot is set to become a problem position for us. Tex looked sluggish again, although Byrne did quite well at right back. Up front, Novak lacks pace and contributes very little in terms of bringing others into play but his movement in the box was good on the rare occasions that we managed to get a cross in. On another day, he could have had a couple of goals and I'd persist with him, given Magennis' current form. Holmes had a better second half and at least he is always looking for the ball, even when things are going badly. Malvididi will obviously be a big loss if he's out for a significant period of time, given that we're looking toothless at present.
Where do we go from here ? The Form Table posted by @Mark_West49 makes sobering reading and there is usually one team who get sucked into trouble from mid-table - could that be us ? Given the lack of stability at the club and a team bereft of confidence, maybe it could. Coventry and Chesterfield are realistically down but there are two other relegation places up for grabs - Swindon and Port Vale are 8 and 9 points behind us with 12 and 14 games to go respectively (we have 13 to play). We have some tough games coming our way in March and I'm finding it difficult, at present, to see where the wins are going to come from.
We should be able to scrape together enough points to get over the line, although it's not totally inconceivable that the last game of the season against Swindon at The Valley will not be the dead rubber we all thought it was going to be. Ajose won't be able to play in that one under the terms of the loan, although it would be more than a little ironic if he went on to score the goals to enable Swindon to potentially overhaul us in the table.
Robinson is obviously feeling extremely vulnerable, as well he might, and I think he'll be gone if we lose at Shrewsbury and Northampton this week. I don't want to see that as we desperately need some stability but the team look to be on a downward spiral and, if Robinson can't turn it around fairly quickly, Duchatelet will instal Congo Chris as an interim/quasi-permanent head coach. I imagine that Meire and Richard Murray will be reluctant to see that happen because of the ramifications reputationally and in terms of season ticket sales but the decision will be Duchatelet's and his alone.
Let's hope we can cobble together a couple of results this week.
We have the ball in midfield, advancing and free, yet the pass is slightly behind his runner, so he has to check – we've lost it.
In and around the box we push the short pass – intercepted by opponents. Good players are quick, instinctive, and accurate.
Our players are stretching – physically trying to retrieve the misplaced pass. This is busking, desperate men, hoping for a ricochet, a bit of luck. Something might happen.
Ball bobbles around. A shot – shanked. That's poor. Novak trundles around – One month ago we were even worse, with the dreary crab-like sideways moves: the absurd idea of holding possession. We got bogged down, intercepted by a sprint from our opponents, and beaten by Oldham.
Half time. A flock of pigeons descend to the turf. Fat bloke on tannoy SCREAMS about a kid in Bexleyheath who has won “A Fun Day Out At Charlton”. Bill laughs loudly. Pigeons zoom off, swoop around and descend in a perfect curve on the left wing.
Mavididi is planets above us – that fantastic run at Rochdale, where he seized the ball from inside our box – ran past five men, ran – and shot at goal.
Can you imagine Crofts doing that? Aribo? Ulvestad? Or your hero, Johnnie Jackson!
Today, Mavididi sprinted over to the corner, muscled the defender off the ball, came away with it and almost scored. I like Josh Magennis, partly because he did that three times and scored a hat-trick against Bristol Rovers at The Valley.
Killer has it – and Mike Flanagan, and Walshy, and Martin Robinson. Paddy Powell. They are brilliant players. Tough. Intelligent. Aggressive.
Our dull little men at Sparrows Lane have a lot to learn.
My answer is: "Let's sit down and see where we stand."!
Bury won the FA Cup on 21 April 1900 they beat Southampton 4–0 in the FA Cup final at Crystal Palace, and returned to the London venue in 1903. The second win was achieved without conceding a goal in the entire competition, including a record FA Cup Final score of 6–0 over Derby County on 18 April, which remains the highest ever victory in an FA Cup Final
Now whod'a thought it ! the second win referred to, according to John Murray, the BBC football correspondent, is the only instance of a team winning the FA cup without conceding a single goal.
I'm not a fan of Robinson, he comes across as an attention seeker which would bother me less if he seemed to be able to get something out of this squad which he obviously can't. Whatever any of the usual suspects tell you, the club is broken on all levels and there really is no redemption for RD and KM. Just hope the damage they are inflicting can be repaired once they decide they've had enough. In previous poor seasons you always had the hope that things would be better the next season. That is plainly not going to happen with this lot and that's what I can't get my head around.
But i could be wrong
We go again Tuesday.