JoeP

Utterly bizarre subs. You don't take off your two best players..

He was in my living room...

Bars low, but I don't think we've actually been that bad...

He'd probably edge in there, along with Gardner and Big Mike.

The fans accepted it was over because of what was happening on the pitch. How are the fans supposed to change that, when they can't encourage, criticise or even stay silent, because of the supposed negative effects it has? It's nothing to do with the fans. The players and management have created the air of resignation. If the players are influencing the players that much, we need new players.

Sorry, that is nonsense. Sing encouragement? The players can't handle the pressure.. Criticise? The fans make a toxic atmosphere.. Do absolutely jack shit and stay silent? The fans should be lifting the team! The fans cannot win and it's a complete and utter cop-out blaming them. What would really fuck me off more than losing these next two games is winning both of them in style and missing out on the play-offs. The players have had umpteen chances - for the fans, for the club, for themselves to make this a successful season and they've chosen to approach a load of crucial games like it's a knockabout in the park. If the fans are having that much influence on it - we need to get rid of the lot and spend money on personalities ahead of perceived talent. Players who genuinely want to be here and who want to do well for themselves and the others involved. Players who who won't sulk when the chips are down. Players who will encourage others and work hard. This lot tick none of those boxes...

Do you not want to give our heroes a rousing send-off on Saturday??

Ah, Sharpy..I wonder if he still thinks he should get the Everton manager's job? Yes, it was Leeds. It was "Only" 30 years ago - you're ageing us all, Dave!

How many did they start with??

1-0 Shots.. Not looking good for our heroes in blue and tange...

Yes, fair points there - the world's changing and we've got to change with it. And we've got to review why things haven't worked out so far. But how beneficial is the new way of working for lower league clubs? We can't afford all the data scientists, fitness and recruitment people, etc. Arsenal say, can however afford to hoover up dozens of players based on stats with the possibility of just one turning out to be a world-class player. We can't. We need to sign players that aren't risks (I know every player is a risk, etc..) yet have less resources to do it. It's a different game down here - if we're in a position to evolve to the next level at some point, then I'm all for all the different departments and personnel, etc but we are where we are and I think it needs to be fairly streamlined. It'd be interesting to see how the smaller clubs currently sat above us in the National League work when it comes to transfers - given it's only us and York that seem to be using Statbomb, for example. While the world is changing, etc the human psyche hasn't changed beyond that for a team to work, it doesn't just need good participants, it needs good personalities too...

I don't - as I say (again), I'm hypothesising. I'll also say again, I'm open to hearing about how Statsbomb works, put I'm going to make a fairly safe assumption that it's something to do with player stats. The clue's in the name. As we've also had/got a stats department, I'm going to suggest a lot of our signings are heavily based on stats - otherwise there'd be no point in the department existing. Is the old-fashioned scouting still a thing? I'm pretty sure I read somewhere it's not. Neither is the manager driving the length and breadth of the country to watch a player they're interested in signing, as far as I'm aware. I'm of the opinion that it should be the manager and the manager only who makes the call on signings as he's the one that's going to have to mould a team with them. So if we've got a stats department, recruitment department (previously Steve Thompson?) and the Coach/Manager with an influence, it seems like too many cooks to me and you end up with a scenario where the manager has to work with players he might not want, because other people have had an input.

Meh, I'm all ears (or eyes..) if you want to let me know how it works... I'm just hypothesising. Recruitment's been crap, we've had a stats and recruitment department, we seem to have signed a lot of decent players on paper, who just haven't gelled. Doesn't seem beyond the realms that we've looked at player stats, gone "he's got those stats, he's got those stats, lets sign them" without looking at the player as a character..

I hope someone explained to him before he took over how much money he'd lose. We own the ground and there's £5 million loan (?) available to the club, so we're not in imminent financial danger, are we? He's wasted loads of cash and will probably need to waste a load more before we get to where we need to be. Hopefully he's got it to spare and is willing to take the hit!

You're right there - which is why this "Statsbomb" nonsense needs scrapping. It might work for Arsenal, but I can't believe it really tells you anything at this level. You think about successful teams we've had in the past - they were all full of characters. The late 80s/early 90s sides were full of them. Paul Warne sticks in my head for some reason. You also had proper leaders like Duxbury and Gregan. Dux in particular wasn't the most gifted footballer, but got stuck in every week and encouraged others to do the same. I can't see anyone even nearly like that here. I think it's irrelevant who the manager is, the dynamic just isn't right in the squad.

It appears we've relied heavily on stats (which seem to be working for York (the other club using Statbomb) as well for them as it does for us) and previous achievements have been the key factor when we're looking to bring players in. I think you need the right chemistry in the squad as well, though - there is no way that exists amongst this lot..

But we've got a group of solid footballers. Every signing made, I can see why we've done it. Previous promotion winners, Players of the Year and League One quality. But it isn't working. It's a team we need. You need quality - of course you do - but you need the right team spirit too.

I dunno - I don't think he can really win in interviews. Say everything's fine and he's blowing smoke up our arses. Says - accurately - that things aren't well and it's a bad move and demotivating. I don't think there's anything wrong with what he's said and the timing, which is when we're almost certainly not going to make the play-offs. Something needed to be said about these players. The changing room is not harmonious. The other option was to pretend everything's fine and nothing will change moving forward. As I say, we've signed a group of individuals, rather than a team. We need to address that. We need good characters, along side talent. I think Gardner is a good character to have around, Fondop is and Conlon is supposedly too. It it'll be a surprise to no one who I think is bottom of the list on that front!

I agree, but one person's "telling people they're shit" is another person's "demanding higher standards of others". Apparently...

Well that's the $64,000 question, innit? We've got a squad of previous promotion winners, Players of the season at other clubs and League One strikers, but they've all been woeful under two managers and look like they don't want to be here. Actually, if I could hazard a guess at what the problem is, we've signed too many individuals based on Statbomb or whatever, rather than built an actual team. We need personalities probably more than quality and this lot don't have that. I'd actually keep the likes of Fondop next season to have around the place as what he lacks in talent, he makes up for in attitude.

Can't argue with the interview.. He's being as honest as he can be. Didn't try to kid anyone. These players have failed under this manager and failed under the last manager. Unsworth tried to bluff his way through interviews, but Mellon is painting a more believable picture. The problem is we're stuck with a lot of them next year too. I can't see it getting any better. It's not a stretch to think Mellon's been given a dud hand - it seems even more dud than he initially thought. It would need an exceptional manager to get something out of this lot. So exceptional, such a manager probably doesn't exist. It's not worth rolling the dice by getting rid of Mellon. Give him time and see how it goes, but we've stitched ourselves up next season with the players we've signed and contracts we've handed out.

Nah, I don't think that's right. There's no way Willoughby and Tollit are "crap" in the context of our first eleven today. Shez's starting eleven against Dorking at the start of last season are better than what we've got now. From there we've chucked money at it and it's somehow worse. Something ain't right..

Why is it ridiculous? Both scored today and I don't believe for a second that's down to them playing at a "lower" level. It's us that's the problem, not them...

There might be something in this, but it's hard for someone in his position to walk away from a three year (?) contract. The lengthy contract doesn't always just benefit the employee!

One thing we can surely agree on regarding Norwood is that he definitely doesn't give a shit what the fans think?