League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 3 minutes ago, GKing521 said: It’s not great that whatever they had been working on in the last 10 days just absolutely failed under its first test. I know. I hate failing-adapting-and then winning. . It really is pathetic. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritchierich Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Just listened to MMs post match interview and managed to jot most of it down in case you missed it: ”…we’re shite, not good enough to play entertaining or attacking football, going back to 8 at the back and grind out results because that’s all we can do. Everyone I’ve signed has a pulled hamstring or is a bit shite so it is what it is. Did I mention how shite we are at football? Anyway, we love Frank. See you at Maidenhead, wherever that is, it’ll be shite but we’ll battle all the way, or at least part of it, maybe. Christ I’m fed up, why are we so shite…….” 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP1960 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 5 minutes ago, GKing521 said: It’s not great that whatever they had been working on in the last 10 days just absolutely failed under its first test. Why can't we have entertaining winning performances Mr Mellon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 7 minutes ago, Ritchierich said: Just listened to MMs post match interview and managed to jot most of it down in case you missed it: ”…we’re shite, not good enough to play entertaining or attacking football, going back to 8 at the back and grind out results because that’s all we can do. Everyone I’ve signed has a pulled hamstring or is a bit shite so it is what it is. Did I mention how shite we are at football? Anyway, we love Frank. See you at Maidenhead, wherever that is, it’ll be shite but we’ll battle all the way, or at least part of it, maybe. Christ I’m fed up, why are we so shite…….” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsEddie Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 2 hours ago, Wardie said: Let's put the "offside" down to shite refereeing then. About time we got the rub. Had the luck of the draw twice then, Stones was offside against Hartlepool at home too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 22 minutes ago, BP1960 said: Why can't we have entertaining winning performances Mr Mellon? Because we haven’t the players to do it. I was an advocate of changing formations, but tonight was clear to see that with the players at our disposal we have to play 3 centre halfs with wing backs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsEddie Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 6 minutes ago, daniel said: Because we haven’t the players to do it. I was an advocate of changing formations, but tonight was clear to see that with the players at our disposal we have to play 3 centre halfs with wing backs. Hoping he will give it a go when the likes of Walker, Dallas and Norwood are back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 15 minutes ago, LaticsEddie said: Hoping he will give it a go when the likes of Walker, Dallas and Norwood are back Midfield not good enough, so I don’t think we’ll see anything other than 532 this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudemedic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 1 hour ago, BP1960 said: Why can't we have entertaining winning performances Mr Mellon? Because Darren Royle hired BL9 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradKnowles1 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 We tried to change shape and it didn’t work. Mellon has now worked out we’ve got to play the 3 or 5 at the back. Midfield needs to do better they always want to go back. I specifically watched Lundstram for a spell. He gets the ball passes backwards and does not move into space. not been a fan of Green but he came on and gave us something different. was always going to be a hard watch that but a wins a win 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deyres42 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Top 2 budget but we can't expect entertaining football, something has gone very wrong somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaw_blue Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 23 minutes ago, deyres42 said: Top 2 budget but we can't expect entertaining football, something has gone very wrong somewhere. Winning more than we are losing which is a very rare feat at this club, how do you figure something has gone wrong? He's been in the job 2 minutes and the almost certain 1 nil defeats for the last 5 years have turned into narrow wins. It might not be prime Barcelona, in fact it's not even prime Tranmere Rovers but it's progress 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP1960 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 (edited) 7 hours ago, daniel said: Because we haven’t the players to do it. I was an advocate of changing formations, but tonight was clear to see that with the players at our disposal we have to play 3 centre halfs with wing backs. So what's the point of bringing in an attacking left winger who will undoubtedly go on to play at an higher level than us? Edited February 14 by BP1960 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Branston Pickle Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 5 wins out of 7, 6th in the league, and people are whinging. Please lads, get a time machine back to 1989 because those days are long gone. We're in the 5th division, and this is what 5th division football looks like 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I was surprised about the move away from the back 3 once Hogan came back. I would have understood it more if it had happened in the games he was suspended. But that back 3 was integral in our best run of form of the season. Kitching also looks better starting from a higher position up the pitch. And our strikers do a better job of bringing him into play when he’s already in the opposition half rather than having to come from deep when he plays full back. I thought Hammond was better last night although still a long way to go. Lundstram for me is still disappointing. Is it a confidence thing? If a risky pass is on or if someone has a marker anywhere near him he seems to turn that pass down in favour of the safe one. But it’s not just him who does that. We’ve had a fair bit of disruption over the last few weeks with new signings, injuries and postponements. Forget the 442, it’s in the past and we don’t have the players for it. Stick with the 352 and get better at it. It won’t be tika taka but the football will improve with familiarity and we will start to get more convincing performances and wins again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigDog Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 10 minutes ago, Guy Branston Pickle said: 5 wins out of 7, 6th in the league, and people are whinging. Please lads, get a time machine back to 1989 because those days are long gone. We're in the 5th division, and this is what 5th division football looks like But it doesn’t have to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 10 minutes ago, Guy Branston Pickle said: 5 wins out of 7, 6th in the league, and people are whinging. Please lads, get a time machine back to 1989 because those days are long gone. We're in the 5th division, and this is what 5th division football looks like I think this is what Mellon was effectively saying in his post-match comments and it's hard to argue against it as the numbers don't lie, taking our overall form into account. Given where we are as we come into the latter phase of the season, does he spend time and effort changing our style of play or does he lean into a system that, however ugly, has picked up much better results and has taken us into the Play-offs? Again, it's hard to demand a significant change. That said, Mellon suggested he sought to change our approach and style at home because our results have been relatively poor and has concluded that, after one half of one football match, it isn't worth it. That washes right now, but he needs to work out a better system in the pre-season for 24/25 because our results at home, while better than under Unsworth, remain average: P8 W3, D2, L3, with two of those losses coming against sides in the bottom four. My point being that the gritty, determined style (i.e. win by any means) isn't producing consistently positive results. I'm happy to go along with it if it means getting out of this division this season but the idea we have a sound system - and whether Mellon is of that view is unclear - isn't credible. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 11 minutes ago, Guy Branston Pickle said: 5 wins out of 7, 6th in the league, and people are whinging. Please lads, get a time machine back to 1989 because those days are long gone. We're in the 5th division, and this is what 5th division football looks like I hear you Guy- and as long as he’s winning it’s fine. But you do have to caveat the football, because even Mellon is now saying it’s not going to pretty. So without the result, I understand why people say it’s really poor with the money spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 1 minute ago, Astro said: I think this is what Mellon was effectively saying in his post-match comments and it's hard to argue against it as the numbers don't lie, taking our overall form into account. Given where we are as we come into the latter phase of the season, does he spend time and effort changing our style of play or does he lean into a system that, however ugly, has picked up much better results and has taken us into the Play-offs? Again, it's hard to demand a significant change. That said, Mellon suggested he sought to change our approach and style at home because our results have been relatively poor and has concluded that, after one half of one football match, it isn't worth it. That washes right now, but he needs to work out a better system in the pre-season for 24/25 because our results at home, while better than under Unsworth, remain average: P8 W3, D2, L3, with two of those losses coming against sides in the bottom four. My point being that the gritty, determined style (i.e. win by any means) isn't producing consistently positive results. I'm happy to go along with it if it means getting out of this division this season but the idea we have a sound system - and whether Mellon is of that view is unclear - isn't credible. Great post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Branston Pickle Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 4 minutes ago, League one forever said: I hear you Guy- and as long as he’s winning it’s fine. But you do have to caveat the football, because even Mellon is now saying it’s not going to pretty. So without the result, I understand why people say it’s really poor with the money spent. I agree, it's not pretty to watch. But we haven't been pretty to watch for over 3 decades now, give or take patches in the odd season. At least we're actually consistently winning games for once Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceskylatic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 7 minutes ago, Astro said: I think this is what Mellon was effectively saying in his post-match comments and it's hard to argue against it as the numbers don't lie, taking our overall form into account. Given where we are as we come into the latter phase of the season, does he spend time and effort changing our style of play or does he lean into a system that, however ugly, has picked up much better results and has taken us into the Play-offs? Again, it's hard to demand a significant change. That said, Mellon suggested he sought to change our approach and style at home because our results have been relatively poor and has concluded that, after one half of one football match, it isn't worth it. That washes right now, but he needs to work out a better system in the pre-season for 24/25 because our results at home, while better than under Unsworth, remain average: P8 W3, D2, L3, with two of those losses coming against sides in the bottom four. My point being that the gritty, determined style (i.e. win by any means) isn't producing consistently positive results. I'm happy to go along with it if it means getting out of this division this season but the idea we have a sound system - and whether Mellon is of that view is unclear - isn't credible. Indeed, at this stage of the season it makes more sense to continue with a formula that’s produced a decent return of PPG, even if it’s less than aesthetically pleasing. On a separate note, sounds like Norwood could be back a lot sooner than originally anticipated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sloshed Joe Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Loved watching Fondop & Garner last night, especially in the second half. Garner really enjoys the battle. He was backing in, niggling away at the cloggers marking him, getting a few digs in and generally being a shithouse pest. Great stuff. Fondop took some damage as well. Kept his cool despite some clatterings. Gave as good as he got. Held the ball up well at times & did his defensive duties at corners. He celebrates winning a few throw ins and got the crowd going. People talk about entertaining football, but I was entertained by the battling display in the second half. We stood up to the challenge and found a way to win. The period around minute 90 where we won a series of corners and throw ins to waste time was just as satisfying to me as a flowing, passing move. Managing the game and seeing it out comfortably is something we normally struggle at doing, so big thumbs up from me for how we kept the door shut once we were winning. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pidge Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 10 hours ago, BP1960 said: Do they have fitness tests before they sign for this club I wonder? Strange question for someone who knows so much about recruitment. What do you even mean by fitness test? Are you talking about assessing the risk of injury, because the fact that players get injured after being signed seems to be your point? Or are you talking about assessment of VO2 max? Or are you talking about joint range and muscle strength assessments? “Fitness tests” is such a simple term. Players signed at our level have to be a bit of a gamble. The better quality players are often being let go by teams higher up the pyramid because of their injury record or age. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 1 minute ago, Sloshed Joe said: People talk about entertaining football, but I was entertained by the battling display in the second half. We stood up to the challenge and found a way to win. The period around minute 90 where we won a series of corners and throw ins to waste time was just as satisfying to me as a flowing, passing move. Managing the game and seeing it out comfortably is something we normally struggle at doing, so big thumbs up from me for how we kept the door shut once we were winning. That’s a very fair point. Winning ugly, can still have a lot qualities. My gripe was in the last two games we didn’t show any of what you mention happened in the second half. If we’re at it, by competing, battling, and putting a shift in that’s fine with me. The problem comes when we sit off and don’t play. Then you literally have nothing to get behind. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_mighty_bosh Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 11 minutes ago, Sloshed Joe said: Garner really enjoys the battle. He was backing in, niggling away at the cloggers marking him, getting a few digs in and generally being a shithouse pest. Great stuff. He may not have the legs or the pace that he used to have, but this doesn't leave players and is exactly why Mellon brought him in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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