Londonboy

Yep kind of agree

Let's be honest defensively we have been a shambles in Mellon's first 2 games in charge...and im not sure what has changed. We conceded 4 goals in 7 games before he took charge and then 5 in 1 game and 15 mins! I'd like to think he would look to shore things up again as his first priority. 4 out of the next 5 games are away games at Alty, Newport, Woking and Barnet so he needs to sort it the fuck out quickly.

You got that wrong!!

Interesting staring Hope and Big Mac??

Anyway back on topic.... We have an experienced and proven new manager in Mellon, who is better placed than anyone to get the best out of Norwood, which we havnt seen yet. I'm predicting him getting 20+ more goals from now until the end of the seson. So with the classic new manager bounce, a sold out away following local derby this weekend and a current unbeaten in 7 run, we should piss over Rochdale on Saturday, and move into the top 7 next Tuesday night after mullering bottom of the table Fylde. Onwards and upwards... See how positive I'm being!

You do know Gateshead are the second highest scorers in the league with 34 goals this season and got to Wembley last season...I think our fans could suffer similar...

The ship is steady but who wants bloody steady! 18 months ago I would have taken steady but now I want a manager with some experience and drive who can get us out of this division. ST in my view wasn't the right man to do this so I look forward to seeing who we appoint. Frank Rothwell is a doer and my guess is this time round he will be having a big influence on the type of individual who gets the gig. Btw thanks Thomo for being a great ship steadier!

Unfortunately based on our results to date and from what I have seen to date, top 7 will be a real struggle...

Cant blame them. Unsworths still available....

Just the 118 years then....

Absolutely right. Probably the best barometer of where we currently are, is that we are now 1/3 way through the season and are 6 points above 2nd bottom Kidderminster and 16 points behind 2nd placed Barnet! Promotion with this squad of players is a million miles away.

Problem is this unbeaten run is against teams currently in 15th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd, ......and we have just drawn at home and looked absolute shite against the teams in 21st and 22nd place. To me our lack of width is just as big a problem as the lack of creativity in the midfield. We also seem to be dead against using the loan market to freshen things up which I just don't get. Surely with our off field progress, improvements in facilities and the boards apparent ambition, we would be a good option to blood some up and coming stars. We should also be relatively well connected to many top tier teams. I'm sorry but with this squad and current manager we will be back down below halfway by the end of November, unless we can bring in 2 or 3 quality loan or new signings and get a permanent manager appointed. And next weekend is really likely to be the first time in our history (I'm guessing) that Oldham Athletic will not make it into the First Round draw of the FA Cup..Happy fucking days

I didn't see last night so can't comment, but from what I have seen over the past few weeks, and heard from those that went last night, I'm sorry but the only identity I see, is us dropping deeper and deeper in the 2H of games inviting teams onto us.

Yarddog makes a decent point that needs to be taken into account when assessing if he's the right man or not. ST has been in his Head of Recruitment position since November last year, and as all can see the ballance of the squad is way off and just isnt right. Not saying he made all the signing decisions but I'd imagine he made all of the recommendations to the board, on who we should bring in and many have been below par. Not the man for me i'm affraid...

Only 5300 there tonight...not great weather but clearly the floating fans are still not convinced.....

At least i got it in on time!

Nothing but a comfortable 2+ goal win is acceptable tonight. Maidenhead are poor and havn't won since Aug 19th. Their September record was P7 W0 D2 L5 F2 A12 Pts 2 3-0 for me. Norwood to create havoc...

Agree with all this

Frustrating thing is we have spent crazy money relative to most in this division, and we're still given the runaround by a bunch of part timers....

Not all our fans are entitled and unrealistic, in fact not that many of us are in my view. Like it or not we are are the only ex Premier League team to play in the National League, so surely we are allowed some level of expectation based on this, our pre season investments and board ambition? I also dont think anyone is saying Thomo is not doing a great job because he is! I just think that he has dropped on with a run a reletively easy games that even Rhino would have probably done OK in. Our next 4 games also look pretty friendly, with games against more bottom 8 teams in the main. This is coupled with our "star" midfield signing getting fit and Ward and Gardiner coming back, so let's just keep things going as we are for a while and see how he does in November when the tougher games begin. This should give him enough time to get the team playing with his clear identity and then make a call from then. No rush to change anything at the moment until we are 100% sure.

Sorry if unclear Tru Tic, but I didn't imply Kidderminster played us off the park. A draw would have been a fair result there I think. It was Wealdstone who passed is off the park.... I do hope we take our time on the next mangers appointment though. There really is no rush at the moment, and if and when the board think Thomo deserves it I have no issue with that. Just think he needs to demonstrate we can go tow to toe against decent oppo.

Sorry Big Dog! I didnt see your post until after I had posted in the Wealdstone thread and have repeated some of your excellent points!! Great minds and all that !!

Bit of a delayed response on this but there are a few points I'd like to make about Saturday and Thomo. Firstly we were outplayed by Wealdstone big time and anyone who thinks we were not is deluded. We were really lucky to scrape a point....as we were lucky to scrape a win at Kidderminster midweek. Wealdstone played decent football, always looking to get the ball forward and to feet, passed us off the park, and got the ball wide to quick trickey wingers which caused us all sorts of problems. It was far too easy for them to pass both around and through us, and they just looked a better drilled team than we did. Our tactics were clearly not to press our opponents, which I assume came from the manager, and which I just dont get. We just seem to sit in and invite pressure. If we had lost 2 or 3-1 we couldn't have complained. We were just far too narrow and created very little in the whole 90 mins. The gap between our midfield and front men grew bigger as the game went on, and we lost possession time and time again trying to play passes which just were not on. I know it's been said many times but Shelton and Sheron just cant play together if we want to play a front foot progressive game. Again as some have said already, the set up in the last 2 games, particularly at Wealdstone, have been no different than at for example Boreham Wood or Chesterfield. It was classic Rhino tactics sitting deeper and deeper, with no real ideas on how to turn things around. We should be giving our oppo far more to think about. The positives were we squeezed out a point, are now unbeaten in 4 and Lundstram looked OK when he came on, at least looking for forward passes rather than sideways and backwards. We need to remember Thomo has been in charge of games against relegation fodder in 24th, 20th, 19th and 15th so far. Our next 4 games are against 21st, 17th, 7th(Dogdale) and 22nd so let's not get carried away. He really couldnt have chosen a better run of games to cut his teath! We should be sitting safely in the play off places after the Fylde game in my view, so let's judge him on the games in November and after this, before considering giving him the job full time. He says he knows what to do to put it things right so lets see what he can do, because it's not quite right at the moment. I sat next to Frank for the 2H at Wealdstone and he made a few comments about our negative approach, and didn't seem particularly impressed with it, so I'd expect him to sanction a couple of loans/signings to bolster the midfield and wide areas in particular in the next week or so. Dont get me wrong, I'm delighted with the results since Thomo has taken charge, and it seems to be much better at home, but I see far more away games than home games these days, and to me our away performances under Thomo have been no better under Rhino. We have Alty, Dogdale, Woking and Barnet all away before the end of November, with hopefully a fit Ward, Lundstram and Gardiner available in midfield, which will give us a better idea of how he see's us setting up, and if we are serious promotion contenders.

Dickenson was awful yesterday....looked absolutely knackered from the start