I believe they are staying up until Tuesday. I’m not sure how beneficial it is when they’ve been up here since Tuesday for the PNE game. It’s a long time away from families with kids, training at a different place, living in a hotel.
Rotherham looked decent and we looked bad. But I do feel and see signs that we are heading in a direction that we can eventually be happy with our team and club.(not based on today’s game tho! )
Is it the worst thing we don’t go up this season? This squad still needs more moulding and engineering to become a competitive championship side. If we did go up this season I would be full of dread all summer waiting to start a season of getting battered week in week out.
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Still lots of work to do and lots to change both on and off the field. Especially to get a club that has the potential we do to the place it should be.
So back to scoring goals again but also back to giving them away at the same time.
Hopefully this game is a blip for the back 3/5 rather than a fundamental inability to be solid at the back whilst offering anything going forwards.
One thing is for sure and that is that we're currently not a championship quality team and need quality reinforcements in order to be serious about getting out of the league.
The back 3 had a mare, granted ....... but the midfield was virtually non-existent.
Completely over-run in midfield, no one held the ball, no one tracked back. At least after Karoy came on there was finally a bit of endeavour and fight for the ball.
Midfield has been poor all season - none of them can tackle and bring the ball forward at pace, we're ponderous on the ball, over or underhit all our passes and get outplayed constantly. Only time the midfield look half decent is when the opposition stand back and let us play which isn't going to happen often at this level. Coventry, Docherty and Berry just too lightweight. As are Taylor, Anderson and Campbell.
Our only creative threat is from our wide players. Doesn't matter how good your forwards and defence are (and our defence isn't all that) you need to get the midfield engine room right to succeed at any level and we haven't done that since Lee Bowyer's promotion year. Since Dobson was allowed to leave we've had no-one who can break up play in midfield.
We have some raw talent up front in Leaburn and Kanu plus some experience from Aneke and Godden and some raw talent out wide in Small, Ramsey and TC - the rest of the squad is meh.
Ramsay might be our best player. And an on form Jones is up there.
Was today a blip or just back to what we've been for most of the season ?
Yes, we had previously been 6 unbeaten in the league but that included 3 draws......all 3 being 0-0. We are never going to set the league alight & not going to go on an amazing winning run to force our way into the play offs.
Would have been a good day to steal a march on the other teams chasing a top 6 spot as many around us failed to win. I said on the pre match thread we had a big 3 games ahead of us & fell at the first hurdle.
We have 6 games now before we play away at Birmingham with 4 being at home. Need no less than 14 points from those games otherwise the season will def be over.
It was unexpected, as while we were turgid for much of the autumn, we weren't being cut apart like we were today.
Thankfully I didn't go today or even watch the stream. Tuesday has to show a bit turnaround, or else we can effectively write off this season. I had wondered about the lack of rotation, and barely using the bench in recent games. The Tuesday cup game and the travelling would have had some impact on our energy reserves.
As far as I know we stayed up North after the Preston game and are in fact still staying there for the visit to Bolton.
That might explain it. If they’d been on the piss for three days.
Rotherham looked decent and we looked bad. But I do feel and see signs that we are heading in a direction that we can eventually be happy with our team and club.(not based on today’s game tho! )
Is it the worst thing we don’t go up this season? This squad still needs more moulding and engineering to become a competitive championship side. If we did go up this season I would be full of dread all summer waiting to start a season of getting battered week in week out.
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Still lots of work to do and lots to change both on and off the field. Especially to get a club that has the potential we do to the place it should be.
Really good post. I think, taking today's performance out of the overall season performances, that we are still short in key areas. I might be alone in this assumption but I don't think Alex Mitchell is a player who would be comfortable in the division above and Gillesphey has already proved that he did not cut the mustard in the championship, both players lack pace and positional sense is sometimes lacking. The wing backs have been a real plus this season and even if we did lose Small then we still have Edwards and Ramsay. The midfield is where we lack depth, Coventry, Anderson and Docherty could make the step up but there is no width and very little creation, Up front is a real question mark, plenty of players to chose from but only Leaburn and Godden have held down a place in the side and I'm not convinced in either Ahadme or Tyreece Campbell, they both work hard and Tyreece is a threat but both have no end product. On the plus side the kids could provide some of the answers but this is a young side overall and at the moment only Zach Mitchell and Daniel Kanu look able to handle the demands of the first team. Overall I think we are five players short and those players would have to be a step up on what's in the squad at the moment, and that will cost.
Rotherham looked decent and we looked bad. But I do feel and see signs that we are heading in a direction that we can eventually be happy with our team and club.(not based on today’s game tho! )
Is it the worst thing we don’t go up this season? This squad still needs more moulding and engineering to become a competitive championship side. If we did go up this season I would be full of dread all summer waiting to start a season of getting battered week in week out.
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Still lots of work to do and lots to change both on and off the field. Especially to get a club that has the potential we do to the place it should be.
Really good post. I think, taking today's performance out of the overall season performances, that we are still short in key areas. I might be alone in this assumption but I don't think Alex Mitchell is a player who would not be comfortable in the division above and Gillesphey has already proved that he did not cut the mustard in the championship, both players lack pace and positional sense is sometimes lacking. The wing backs have been a real plus this season and even if we did lose Small then we still have Edwards and Ramsay. The midfield is where we lack depth, Coventry, Anderson and Docherty could make the step up but there is no width and very little creation, Up front is a real question mark, plenty of players to chose from but only Leaburn and Godden have held down a place in the side and I'm not convinced in either Ahadme or Tyreece Campbell, they both work hard and Tyreece is a threat but both have no end product. On the plus side the kids could provide some of the answers but this is a young side overall and at the moment only Zach Mitchell and Daniel Kanu look able to handle the demands of the first team. Overall I think we are five players short and those players would have to be a step up on what's in the squad at the moment, and that will cost.
Are you saying Mitchell would be comfortable in the Championship? I think you’ve got a double negative in there @Bailey.
They came back after Preston, now staying up for Tuesday, training facility in place. Ideally walking the Penniine Way to get there after that. Poor by whoever decided to come back after Preston, a week in League 1 away from loved ones isn't exactly tournament football.
They came back after Preston, now staying up for Tuesday, training facility in place. Ideally walking the Penniine Way to get there after that. Poor by whoever decided to come back after Preston, a week in League 1 away from loved ones isn't exactly tournament football.
I have sympathy here, would have needed to find 25 odd hotel rooms and a training facility at 2/3 days notice. Not an easy ask
At half time there was a brief interview with Mark Fish in which the goals from our famous win at Arsenal, Lisbie's hat trick against Liverpool and a win over Chelsea were shown.
And after that, we go back to watching a completely inept performance at all levels against a mid-table Rotherham team.
The last 20 years really haven't been kind to us. And after a performance like that it is hard to see things changing soon.
Then we had people that cared beyond the bank balance. Hopefully the Yanks will f*** off the three idiots we have and start again.
It was pretty bad but .... are they all a bit knackered? We aren't usually so "last to the ball". Even TC looked like he was having trouble keeping up, when usually he's out-sprinting pretty much anyone. If thats the reason , fair do's, but its a bit worrying when they have to play again Tuesday. Push on? Or do we look for many changes Tuesday just to give the current squad a bit of a breather, and accept a defeat again is a real posibility?
Was today a blip or just back to what we've been for most of the season ?
Yes, we had previously been 6 unbeaten in the league but that included 3 draws......all 3 being 0-0. We are never going to set the league alight & not going to go on an amazing winning run to force our way into the play offs.
Would have been a good day to steal a march on the other teams chasing a top 6 spot as many around us failed to win. I said on the pre match thread we had a big 3 games ahead of us & fell at the first hurdle.
We have 6 games now before we play away at Birmingham with 4 being at home. Need no less than 14 points from those games otherwise the season will def be over.
It was unexpected, as while we were turgid for much of the autumn, we weren't being cut apart like we were today.
Thankfully I didn't go today or even watch the stream. Tuesday has to show a bit turnaround, or else we can effectively write off this season. I had wondered about the lack of rotation, and barely using the bench in recent games. The Tuesday cup game and the travelling would have had some impact on our energy reserves.
As far as I know we stayed up North after the Preston game and are in fact still staying there for the visit to Bolton.
They must be homesick then, thus explains the performance.
Rotherham looked decent and we looked bad. But I do feel and see signs that we are heading in a direction that we can eventually be happy with our team and club.(not based on today’s game tho! )
Is it the worst thing we don’t go up this season? This squad still needs more moulding and engineering to become a competitive championship side. If we did go up this season I would be full of dread all summer waiting to start a season of getting battered week in week out.
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Still lots of work to do and lots to change both on and off the field. Especially to get a club that has the potential we do to the place it should be.
Please tell me your second paragraph is a wind up.
They came back after Preston, now staying up for Tuesday, training facility in place. Ideally walking the Penniine Way to get there after that. Poor by whoever decided to come back after Preston, a week in League 1 away from loved ones isn't exactly tournament football.
I have sympathy here, would have needed to find 25 odd hotel rooms and a training facility at 2/3 days notice. Not an easy ask
Rotherham looked decent and we looked bad. But I do feel and see signs that we are heading in a direction that we can eventually be happy with our team and club.(not based on today’s game tho! )
Is it the worst thing we don’t go up this season? This squad still needs more moulding and engineering to become a competitive championship side. If we did go up this season I would be full of dread all summer waiting to start a season of getting battered week in week out.
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Still lots of work to do and lots to change both on and off the field. Especially to get a club that has the potential we do to the place it should be.
No, of course we don't want to go up this season. That would be folly. Let's leave any promotion until next season when we have the chance of recruiting a load more dud players in the summer as we will have to replace Jones & Small who leave because their contracts are up & don't want to sign for a League 1 club. Much easier to replace them like we did May & Dobson.
They came back after Preston, now staying up for Tuesday, training facility in place. Ideally walking the Penniine Way to get there after that. Poor by whoever decided to come back after Preston, a week in League 1 away from loved ones isn't exactly tournament football.
I have sympathy here, would have needed to find 25 odd hotel rooms and a training facility at 2/3 days notice. Not an easy ask
They came back after Preston, now staying up for Tuesday, training facility in place. Ideally walking the Penniine Way to get there after that. Poor by whoever decided to come back after Preston, a week in League 1 away from loved ones isn't exactly tournament football.
I have sympathy here, would have needed to find 25 odd hotel rooms and a training facility at 2/3 days notice. Not an easy ask
I'm going to be charitable and say that I don't think they had been on the piss, although they certainly played like a bunch of bleary-eyed wastrels suffering from brew-flu. I think our problems are structural rather than bacchanalian. In the month since the First XI clicked, they've played six matches that have largely used the same personnel. We just do not have a good enough squad to chop and change. We do have a core of some decent players, but not nearly enough to be promotion contenders. Jones is able to pick a first team that on the day can compete with any in the league. What he can't do is keep picking the same team week after week and not expect any of them to start suffering from fatigue. Key issues for me are:
1. Goalkeeper. It was apparent last year the Maynard-Brewer was not up to being our first choice keeper. Early noises in the close-season suggested that this was recognised and that a new signing would be made. When it was, we got Mannion. The comment from Jones at the time was, "He’ll provide real good competition to those who we bring into that department". Despite Jones' suggestion that there'd be more options for this position, no-one else was signed. Maynard-Brewer and Mannion have different strengths and weaknesses but in terms of overall quality there's not much to pick between them. Both are both OK at this level, but neither appear to be promotion standard keepers. I would be quite happy for either of them to be our second choice keeper, but if we really want to progress, we really need a better first choice.
2. Defence. For the most part, Jones and Mitchell have been our real strength at the back. This week though they've taken turns at being the missing link. I don't think it's a surprise, these guys aren't getting a rest. The cover for them just isn't good enough. The third man in that defence, Gillesphey is often, but not always, the weak link. I think we need a better third defender. Gillesphey is good enough to be the 4th man and to give the others a much needed rest, but we need someone else as a mainstay.
3. Midfield. Need someone with more energy. Can anyone think of a midfielder in this league who can run all day, tackle and pass?
4. Forwards. Really not sure why Godden isn't starting. Also, we have some good individual skills up front but it doesn't always click.
Think they said on the telly no one under 26 was in the team for Rotherham, at that point they mentioned it , they may have subbed a young un on later. That seems bizarre for a league one team .
We need a reaction on Tuesday. Not the end of the world. The difference was they beat us physically across the pitch. So a 40/60 ball against them was their ball.
I’m agree. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a bit shocked if we look at the recent matches dinamic. We’ll see against Bolton if we get a good reaction at all. Hoping that 💪🏻.
Rotherham looked decent and we looked bad. But I do feel and see signs that we are heading in a direction that we can eventually be happy with our team and club.(not based on today’s game tho! )
Is it the worst thing we don’t go up this season? This squad still needs more moulding and engineering to become a competitive championship side. If we did go up this season I would be full of dread all summer waiting to start a season of getting battered week in week out.
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Still lots of work to do and lots to change both on and off the field. Especially to get a club that has the potential we do to the place it should be.
Please tell me your second paragraph is a wind up.
It’s not a wind up, I do believe that the is squad isn’t good enough to be promoted, and we need to build a better squad.
Rotherham looked decent and we looked bad. But I do feel and see signs that we are heading in a direction that we can eventually be happy with our team and club.(not based on today’s game tho! )
Is it the worst thing we don’t go up this season? This squad still needs more moulding and engineering to become a competitive championship side. If we did go up this season I would be full of dread all summer waiting to start a season of getting battered week in week out.
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Still lots of work to do and lots to change both on and off the field. Especially to get a club that has the potential we do to the place it should be.
No, of course we don't want to go up this season. That would be folly. Let's leave any promotion until next season when we have the chance of recruiting a load more dud players in the summer as we will have to replace Jones & Small who leave because their contracts are up & don't want to sign for a League 1 club. Much easier to replace them like we did May & Dobson.
🤦♂️.
I give up.
I mean it’s clear the point I was making is that the squad isn’t good enough atm, and rather than making dud signings as you suggested. Is that we make decent signings and build a squad more capable of having a decent stab in the championship. no need to read between the lines
I believe they are staying up until Tuesday. I’m not sure how beneficial it is when they’ve been up here since Tuesday for the PNE game. It’s a long time away from families with kids, training at a different place, living in a hotel.
Seriously? I know it's since been said they didn't stay up there after Preston but if they had then so what?
As someone with a wife and a young baby i'd be delighted to get 7 days peace!
It'd be 1 week at most, all expenses paid in a relatively nice hotel, where they kick a ball about for a couple of hours and then probably just eat, sleep, play computer games and watch Netflix the rest of the time. Not as if they're away in the army or working on oil rigs. Some of them probably spend longer away from home in an international break. A lot of our squad are really young as well so i doubt they've got any kids to miss.
Reading a few comments on players being "tired", and in fairness we hear this on the TV about footballers in all divisions, from the Premiership down. I think it's a very lame excuse to be honest. They are young men, whose sole job is to play football. The higher up the tree, the less distractions they have. Being athletic enough to run for 90 minutes twice a week is all that is asked of them fitness wise (fairly often just once a week). Far thinner squads used to see players who were ever present year in year out, there are still players who want to - and do - play in every match. If, at 25 years old they are not physically capable of performing at their best for 3 hours out of 168, they are in the wrong game.
Two good finishes from our forwards, otherwise disjointed up front, absent in midfield and calamitous at the back. It's been said before, but I'll say it again, we really shouldn't have got rid of these two:
Is that Brian May?
No, it’s Alfie May.
Is that the joke? It’s supposed to be May and Dobson? Weird.
Comments
we are a team that should be better than league 1, but we have been mismanaged and uncared for by numerous ownerships for years now. We need to build a team, and that will take time. Consistency with the manager, SMT and ultimately the team will allow us to become a stable club that will give the fan base what they want.
Hopefully the Yanks will f*** off the three idiots we have and start again.
🤦♂️.
I give up.
1. Goalkeeper. It was apparent last year the Maynard-Brewer was not up to being our first choice keeper. Early noises in the close-season suggested that this was recognised and that a new signing would be made. When it was, we got Mannion. The comment from Jones at the time was, "He’ll provide real good competition to those who we bring into that department". Despite Jones' suggestion that there'd be more options for this position, no-one else was signed. Maynard-Brewer and Mannion have different strengths and weaknesses but in terms of overall quality there's not much to pick between them. Both are both OK at this level, but neither appear to be promotion standard keepers. I would be quite happy for either of them to be our second choice keeper, but if we really want to progress, we really need a better first choice.
2. Defence. For the most part, Jones and Mitchell have been our real strength at the back. This week though they've taken turns at being the missing link. I don't think it's a surprise, these guys aren't getting a rest. The cover for them just isn't good enough. The third man in that defence, Gillesphey is often, but not always, the weak link. I think we need a better third defender. Gillesphey is good enough to be the 4th man and to give the others a much needed rest, but we need someone else as a mainstay.
3. Midfield. Need someone with more energy. Can anyone think of a midfielder in this league who can run all day, tackle and pass?
4. Forwards. Really not sure why Godden isn't starting. Also, we have some good individual skills up front but it doesn't always click.
no need to read between the lines
As someone with a wife and a young baby i'd be delighted to get 7 days peace!
It'd be 1 week at most, all expenses paid in a relatively nice hotel, where they kick a ball about for a couple of hours and then probably just eat, sleep, play computer games and watch Netflix the rest of the time. Not as if they're away in the army or working on oil rigs. Some of them probably spend longer away from home in an international break. A lot of our squad are really young as well so i doubt they've got any kids to miss.