the_mighty_bosh

Unsworth is surely on borrowed time, it's been an awful first month of the season overall.

The only saving grace for him is that there should be some very winnable games in September with the squad we have.

Pete Wild was in the sponsors box today apparently.  Lock him in there until he signs a contract with us and Unsworth can go immediately after for me.

1 hour ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Be surprised if he starts another game. Benched for the season with only 20 minute impact camoes now.

Which is his best role sadly.

Although we should have enough decent strikers to allow for this, it would be nice if they were able to show it.

4 hours ago, PeteG said:

Really? I think the Director i'm talking about always conducted himself in a professional manner and had very little to do with the running of the club. I'm disappointed that you actually believe it wasn't in any way disrespectful but hey ho.

Saying that the fans were "killing the club" well before the Brentford game is conducting himself in a very unprofessional manner, especially as him and the directors he represented we basically doing just that.

Personally I don't agree with the way Matt Dean has handled this particular issue, but to compare him to anyone who had a major hand in our relegation season out of the EFL (the Lemsagams, Barry, Morallee etc.) he'll have to sink to much lower depths to reach their levels of nonsense.

4 hours ago, PeteG said:

Also think it's a bit ironic them calling for respect, when a member of the pod was shoving himself in the face of a Director at Brentford a couple of years ago with a phone in his hand, trying to record something, whilst the Director was in the Directors box with some of his employees and business associates.

There's enough spin there to make you Wimbledon champion.

41 minutes ago, bigfatjoe1 said:

I've been his biggest critic, but I have seen a change this season. It might be just me, it probably is, but he seems to be working harder. It was ridiculous putting him on the wing, but he put a shift in for the team.

He really frustrated me last season, but I'm more than happy to change my mind over him.

I'm pretty much 50/50 on him, but I thought he looked behind the pace of the play on a lot of occasions yesterday.  The exception being the through ball to Norwood in the first half where he was a step ahead of the play.

He may be the type of player who we miss when he isn't there, but in the formation we played yesterday I would definitely have had Reid on the right side in place of him.

On the other side, while taking into account that he was out of position, I thought Willoughby didn't quite look at the speed of this level yet although I think there's definitely a player in there that's worth persevering with.

40 minutes ago, kowenicki said:

Shite. Utter shite. 
 

Bad night for the bad night for the Unsworth out lads.

But it's been a great season so far for the Unsworth okey-cokey lads.

In, out, in, out, pretty soon we'll get to shake him all about!

Norman

Hobson

Hogan

Raglan

Kitching

Tollitt

Sheron

Shelton

Dickenson

Willoughby 

Norwood

Hobson is obviously a "make-do-and-mend" situation, I'm actually OK with Sheron and Shelton as a midfield two if there's a player like Willoughby who can drop deeper to get on the ball and attack-minded wingers like Tollitt, Dickenson or even Hope to give us a balanced attacking threat.  Also with Gardner's recent injury record I'd still only use him as a sub so to not waste one.

With no right back or right wing-back, there's no reason for Unsworth to persist with a 3-5-2.  If he does on Saturday then that's a big red flag.

8 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

I'd second Williamson. I don't think Kevin Maher would be a bad shout either. Gateshead and Southend were two of the most dynamic, proper footballing sides I saw us play last season.

 

I'd make a play for Wild too. I don't think he's out of our range. Might be a bit leftfield / long shot but I'd keep tabs on Notts County and Luke Williams. A few more defeats and they might get an itchy trigger finger. Could be timely for us. 

Williamson and Maher have both done well in tricky/very difficult circumstances, so I'd have no problem with them being in charge.

But if we're serious about pushing for the title and looking for longer term success, I don't think Wild is out of the question and we should absolutely make a big move to get him, which despite the immediate step down I think it would be a move that he'd consider to be worth it.

Talking out this after one game is extreme, but this is finally a time after so many years when a manager can't hide behind the factors at the club that are (legitimately) hamstringing him.  Unsworth needs to affect an immediate change in performance and attitude in the team which based on the last year doesn't look like coming around too quickly.

11 minutes ago, OneSizeFitz said:

Would be absolutely bonkers to back the manager to the extent they have over the summer and then sack him after one game... 

It would.

It's also such a monumentally bad defeat given the context that he's used up a lot of the credit/goodwill that he built at the end of last season, in a single game.

The rest of the club looks to be moving forward at a good speed, if Unsworth doesn't understand that he's not moving at the same speed as us after a defeat like that then he never will.

Feels like one of the worst results that I can remember in the near 30 years of being a fan, mainly because of the height of the expectations and the bump of just how bad the defeat was.

Unsworth is under pressure right from now.  It wasn't a flash in the pan, he resorted to all of the worst traits from last season.  Absolutely nothing against Southend who deserved the win and score, but that should never have been allowed to happen.

A bit late but just sent ️

52 minutes ago, rudemedic said:

It is my understanding that we dominated the game at Yeovil too and possibly a few other games in the second half of last season.

 

So for Yeovil I'd say we looked comfortable and a disciplined unit, but it's not a match that I'd think of as one that we dominated, nor that I can think of many we did.  More that we picked our moments to attack and made them count (something I'd happily accept this coming season if it's on a regular basis).  We deserved to win of course but that was mainly down to them being abysmally bad in attack.

I actually thought we were more dominant at home to Bromley the following week despite not winning.

We were 3rd in the form table since New Years Day 2023 behind the two teams that went up, we've kept the bulk of that squad and we've added to the squad with some high performing players from last year.

Playoffs should definitely be our minimum aim, top 3 would be a good season.

24 minutes ago, ceskylatic said:

Looked like 4-4-2

1st half: GK Hudson DL Kitching DC Cookson DC Hobson DR Sutton ML Couto MC Shelton MC Sheron MR Kofi STR Nuttall STR Reid.

2nd half: Norman DL Couto DC Hogan DC Raglan DR Chapman ML Tollet MC Lundstram MC Sutton MR Green STR Fondop STR Willoughby.

Interesting one playing Sutton in centre mid in the 2nd half.  How did he do?

3 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

Oldham Times

 

Looks like Rooney is one of those on the move then. Probably no surprise who the others are.

Disappointing about Rooney as he's the type of player who can make the difference in tight games with a moment of class (Woking springs to mind), however longer term I have no problem with Unsworth not accepting bad attitudes in the squad.

1 hour ago, Lukers1 said:

Rooney is being touted  around, bad egg the club apparently…

I wouldn't say that it's disastrous if he goes but it would be disappointing.  Having a creative spark in the squad is useful especially when Unsworth's natural inclination seems to be structure and defence first. 

That said we should have the budget at this level that means we don't need to take gambles on potentially bad influences.

9 hours ago, deyres42 said:

There's nothing funny about science.

You just aren't looking hard enough, because there's generally a bad pun in every single walk of life.

Anyone seen what Tope Obadeyi has been up to for Gloucester today?  A last minute winner to clinch them the final National League North playoff spot.

Dom McHale won their Fans, Players and Manager's Player of the Season too. 

16 hours ago, O.A.F.C. said:

That's a crazy stat comparing it to how many clubs we have in the North West

After last night's results it's looking pretty likely that Eastleigh is going to be my nearest National League ground next season...110 miles away from down here in Exeter. 

15 hours ago, JoeP said:

Wearing white shorts makes us shit..

Agreed, we need blue and red hooped shorts as well. 

On 4/8/2023 at 12:09 AM, Sloshed Joe said:

When we gonna get over the line in this bid to stay up? Thought it would be done and dusted games ago, but the pack around us keep pulling out big results.

 

Bottom 2 have gone.  Yeovil’s form is minging, so no chance they’re matching our tally. Torquay are the only slight danger to us. The 8 point gap should be insurmountable. But they’ve won 3 on the spin and got 10 points from their last 5 games.

 

Cant see Torquay repeating that form in the final 5 games. And even if they do, a couple more points for us still keeps our head above water. Plus there’s Aldershot & Dorking in-between us.

 

We’re safe, aren’t we? Aren’t we…?

 

 

It's extremely frustrating how slowly it's taking, but Wrexham aside we've been drawing rather than losing recently.  I'll be stunned if we go on a losing run from here although unfortunately I think we may draw our way to mathematical safety .

Add to that Torquay have Wrexham on the final day and I can't see them picking up the 3 wins more than us that they need.

That we should bring back the blue and red hoops home kit for next season...

...with the old style Chaddy the Owl who wore it.

15 minutes ago, Wardie said:

Feels like it but I much prefer mathematically safe myself.

Yeovil have Aldershot and Dorking over the Easter weekend which is their last chance of safety, but after tonight's result it doesn't look like they are putting up much of a fight.

52 minutes ago, St92 said:

 

Goal difference advantage wiped out now, and 2 teams below win, we're definitely not safe yet 

As bad as today was, if it had followed a couple of defeats I would've been worried.  But this is a freak result against a club that should be two levels above their current position and it's on the back of our three straight draws against mid-table teams.  I can see us picking up at least 6 points from the last 6 games which would be more than fine.

Add to that you have Yeovil who are currently losing, Gateshead who are going to have to fit in 9 league matches in a month with a small squad and York who are having a lot of off-field problems at present and I wouldn't be surprised if we stayed up without even getting another point.

50 minutes ago, St92 said:

 

We weren't and we still aren't. The teams below seem to be picking up and we are drawing too many and only 2 points from 9.

 

If we relax and think we're safe we could be right back in it within 2 games

We could still do with one more win to absolutely guarantee safety, but in reality there's more than enough teams between us and the dropzone who can't all go on a winning run.  Added to that Yeovil are on course to score less than a goal a game which doesn't bode well in a relegation battle.

After Wrexham on Saturday our run-in is mostly against mid-table teams.  Can't see us bombing for the rest of the season.