17/10 match thread!

[CrazyImp]

I don't even think Sparrow was being that serious, unbelievable mini-shitstorm this, must be having a right old giggle to himself.

 

[Sparrow]

I don't even think Sparrow was being that serious, unbelievable mini-shitstorm this, must be having a right old giggle to himself.

This forum really does outdo itself sometimes.

Is the storm over yet, can I come out now?

 

[Vanni]

Fair enough that you were only talking about away games, I didn't catch on to that and I apologise for it.
What I will say that you were still being biased because you weren't referring at all to our form at home this season, something which Hurst has improved on since last season.
IMO, our poorer away form comes down to poor performance, not so much as setting up defensively. At Altrincham, Chester and Braintree, we were woeful. Down to Hurst? Possibly. He was not setting up the team for the point in these games.

No need to apologise Paul, we're only airing our views and we all have different opinions. The thing we're not agreeing on is how Hurst sets up his side for away games. Tbf, as I'm not a Grimsby fan, the idea that I have that PH takes a cautious approach comes from the times our sides met in the conference, and the live games I've watched on BT Sport. I'll also admit that looking at your side's away results may be another thing that's further convincing me that he's to blame. Dropping the strikers for certain matches is another thing.

I could be wrong of course, and it could be down to bad luck or simply poor performances, but rest assured I only want to see Grimsby back in the league asap.

 

[Greenacres]

You should try dropping down a few more on top of that. We had several games at UCL level where one or more of the officials were openly Kettering fans. If fans of your local rivals are officiating your match then you have a much better shout for bias...

Or maybe even have a go yourselves. I wonder how many on here have ever tried refereeing? I guess it will be a few, but probably not too many at a high level. I have tried it a couple of times and wouldn't dare to suggest that I spotted everything, but fair to say that both teams suffered the same disadvantage without any element of bias.

 

[Son of Cod]

Come on SOC, you can do much better than that, and your reply is disappointing. I agree with 99% of your posts, but not on this one I'm afraid.

Unbeaten runs are great of course, but you need to put things into perspective. An 11 match unbeaten run by a side like Boreham Wood or Southport would be seen as a great achievement, and quite rightly so, but a similiar run by a Grimsby or a Cheltenham doesn't exactly raise eyebrows, though it's never a bad thing of course to go one such run.

You've also got to take into account the number of wins and draws in such runs. Grimsby's run is 5 wins and 6 draws, and in itself, that's decent. Problem is that when one looks at your away record, and see that you've only won twice away, with 6 draws and a defeat. More worrying is the goals scored column, as your lot have only scored 13 goals on the road, and that includes a 4-0 win at Southport. I'm not saying that result doesn't count, but if you take those 4 goals out of the equation, you'd get 9 goals in 8 matches, and that is simply not good enough for a promotion seeking side.

Grimsby may not have had the best budget in this division over the years, but it's always been a top 5 budget according to those itk guys, so 'consistent top 5 finishes' is hardly surprising. Add a very healthy home average attendance, and the financial benefits this brings to the club, and it makes it even less so.

I know how your manager sets his side up for away matches, and that's the problem. Hurst seems to be only interested in making the play offs, and to me that's not the right approach to take. It would make sense if this league still had the likes of Fleetwood, Stevenage or Crawley, but it doesn't have such strong consistent sides anymore, so the title's up for grabs if Hurst decides that making the play offs isn't good enough.

He can get the ball rolling by abandoning his cautious approach and go out for the 3 points irrespective of whether the game is a home or away one. What I'm saying is only what every neutral fan thinks. Speak with fans of any club and they'll all tell you that this is, and has been for some time now, the major stumbling block to Grimsby winning the title.

You can disagree with what I initially responded with all you want, however it is true.

Those away draws have come at Kiddy, Lincoln, Chester, Wrexham, Braintree and Torquay. The Torquay result is disappointing, however it was highlighted before the match that that wasn't going to be a straightforward one. Lincoln are looking decent this season and with it being a local derby it was never going to be easy. Cheltenham, Wrexham, Braintree, Dover and Eastleigh have all also dropped points at Chester. Everyone in this division knows the perils of Braintree away. Wrexham shouldn't need any justification. Kiddy was the first day of the season, however it's perhaps one of the more relevant matches to highlight here. If you read the match reports, listened to the commentary or saw the highlights of this match you'd know that we spent the majority of this one on the front foot. Just like we did in the following home victories against Barrow and Bromley and just like we tried to do in our second away match at Altrincham. However, those away matches gave us a grand total of a single point from a possible 6.

You say you know how Hurst sets us up, away from home. Then, you're aware that we play 4-4-2 almost every single match and quite often with the same players. I do wonder whether or not you've considered the possibility of a more cautious away approach being at least in some way down to the players as well as the manager?

With regards to other fans telling us that a more reserved approach on the road has been what has stopping us from winning the title, I don't fully agree. It wasn't long ago that we were consistently grinding out 1-0 wins away from home and were being held back by our home form. Worth noting that we've been lambasted by several times on here regarding complaining about drawing matches while occupying a playoff spot, too.

Not buying this notion that 11 matches unbeaten is run of the mill form just because we're one of the bigger clubs in the division, either.

Don't get me wrong, I have always said Hurst isn't perfect and I do think he deserves to be criticised at times. However, not as much as he does. He certainly doesn't deserve to be called "the luckiest manager in the division" when Brabin is spending another biggest budget of a Conference season at a new club and Hockaday merely has a job.

 

[gijsbert_bos]

Something to consider alongside Grimsby's less-than-stellar away record thus far -

Grimsby have played 5 of the bottom 6 away

Someone on our forum has done some analysis and it turns out that Guiseley have had the easiest start (based on average position of the teams they've played), closely followed by.....


.....Grimsby...

 

[Son of Cod]

Something to consider alongside Grimsby's less-than-stellar away record thus far -

Grimsby have played 5 of the bottom 6 away

Someone on our forum has done some analysis and it turns out that Guiseley have had the easiest start (based on average position of the teams they've played), closely followed by.....


.....Grimsby...

Start? We're 18 games into the season. We've also played 8 of the top half and have been beaten by...


...0 of them.

 

[GuiseleySteve]

Only based on the first eight games i believe. I've said all along the early fixtures were very kind to us and without a regular finisher to take our plentiful chances, have under achieved.
I still expect us to stay up but not to climb much higher than the 18th pkace we are currently in unless we become more ruthless in front of goal.

 

[CrazyImp]

Bit of a non-story I'm afraid - a squad of Grimsby's quality will always have the ability to pull off the trademark Paul Hurst 1-0 away win against a top 10 team when required. Therefore they can afford to drop the odd point or three against a middling side, as their "start" illustrates.

Either way, it would be a disaster of epic proportion for them to not achieve a play-off place.

Guiseley will struggle for the entirety of the season. They can't score.

 

[Southern Shayman]

Lincoln fans need to stick to their rate the ref rather than this shite.

 

[CrazyImp]

Lincoln fans need to stick to their rate the ref rather than this shite.

Maybe you should stick to just being shite, it's suiting your lot rather well this season.

 

[Southern Shayman]

Maybe you should stick to just being shite, it's suiting your lot rather well this season.

 

[Railway Blue]

We've only had 4 subs for last few weeks!

Haven't you got any youth team players signed up that can sit on the bench?