Cheltenham v Carlisle

[hellogregory]

Yeah so a match that I class as quite important even though it's early in the season. After back to back defeats against teams I'd expect us to lose against, it's games like this against teams that aren't expected to be up there that we need to be picking up points this season if we are going to stay up.

I'm not worried by the 2 defeats as like I say I expected to lose both, but defeat in this match could actually leave us bottom of the league if results go against us. I did predict us to finish bottom but I'd still be bitterly disappointed if that's where we end up. We have made some decent enough signings since I made my prediction so I do now think we stand a chance of staying up, but if we lose this then that'll be 3 defeats in a row and alarm bells will start to ring.

Prediction 1-1

 

[Si Robin]

As I said on the Tuesday night thread - our home form in 2019 is superb (one defeat all year) but we have players dropping like flies already. On this basis I'll take a 1-1 draw.

 

[shoddycollins]

I'll be watching this on iFollow.

We really really need to bounce back from what's been a poor couple of games. They may have been teams we'd expect to beat us but the manner of the defeats hasn't been good.

I see HG has rolled his optimism back from being 'confident of staying up' to merely thinking 'we stand a chance of staying up'.

 

[hellogregory]

I’m confident that we stand a chance of staying up. It may only be a chance, but the important thing is that it is a chance, Shoddy.

Must not lose this, otherwise an early Salford goal on Saturday could see fans start to turn on Pressley already.

 

[Posh Harry]

I’m confident that we stand a chance of staying up. It may only be a chance, but the important thing is that it is a chance, Shoddy.

Must not lose this, otherwise an early Salford goal on Saturday could see fans start to turn on Pressley already.

The fans turn on pressley. Fucking hell hg you are hilarious. You turned on him the moment he walked through the door.

 

[hellogregory]

The fans turn on pressley. Fucking hell hg you are hilarious. You turned on him the moment he walked through the door.

Well that’s a lie, but keep going.

 

[Posh Harry]

Well that’s a lie, but keep going.

Ok. So it took what, 45 minutes?.

 

[shoddycollins]

I'm absolutely confident that provided we win 6-0 tonight and if we make eleven more signings and one of them is Balotelli, and only if we beat Salford as well, and provided that the harvest moon is not obscured by cloud and Jupiter remains in the ascendancy, that we will go into the final two months of the season with a reasonable chance of avoiding relegation.

And you can't accuse me of lacking confidence. I said I'm confident, it's right there... third word in this post.

Secretly I think I'm being too optimistic and my confidence will bite me on the arse at the end of the season.

If we only win 5-0 then I might revise my prediction.

 

[shoddycollins]

Thought a little summary of HG's views on the Carlisle manager situation since just before Sheridan walked would be amusing.

Even I had no idea just how amusing.

The lack of quality in our final third is clear for all to see. Sheridan has to make strengthening that area in January number 1 priority.

Sheridan resigns

It’s not just because we have no manager. We’d have lost this game with or without Sheridan

note: this was in the match-thread for our game against Mansfield which we won 3-2.

they [the board] will no doubt be thinking [...] We’re safe from relegation, let’s go all cheap on Sheridan’s replacement, we’re going to lose players this month but because our league status is secure for a year we don’t need adequately replace them until the summer.

Pressley appointed

Feel sorry for Pressley, he’s on a hiding to nothing inheriting a squad that is in healthy league position but now the only way is down having been significantly weakened this window while all the other teams around us are strengthening.

this was before Pressley's first game by the way, so these complaints are about transfer activity that happened in the spell we were without a manager

Need a win to stop this rotten run of form. It will come a time when questions will start being asked of Pressley if he can’t turn things around, especially when you consider the form we were on when he got the job.

one month later after two defeats and two draws.

Steven Pressley is doing a terrible job unfortunately.

People will defend him, but he’s took over the in form team in the league, lost a few players granted but been backed to strengthen, and he’s turned us into one of the worst teams in the league.

How audible were our “We want Pressley out” chants? Just wondering whether our manager and directors will have picked it up from your boxes and dugouts.

Really, it doesn't seem to make any difference who our manager is.

 

[Howzy]

Our home form is outstanding. We have several players out though i think we should still win we are a completely different animal at home.

 

[hellogregory]

Try to contain yourself shoddy, I’ve literally no idea what you find amusing.

If you’d had to travel and sit through some of the away games I did at the back end of last season you’d have been posting exactly the same about the job pressley did. Admittedly the board did end up backing him more than I expected, but I stand by everything I said about the job pressley did last season.

And I’ve no idea what you find so hilarious about me asking Tranmere fans how loud the pressley out chants were from the away end. As I was actually in the away end it was a genuine question.


Oh and for the fucking record, I won’t be one of the fans that turn on pressley it we lose the next 2 games. But I guarantee some will. I expect us to struggle this season, and given how shit Holdsworth did over the summer which pretty much ruined our preseason, it’s going to take a while pressley to put his stamp on the team with these players having recruited so late.

 

[hellogregory]

Absolutely fucking dreadful first half. We are shite.

Big improvements needed

 

[Howzy]

I wasn't at the game but apparently Carlilse started well for the first 15 mins we then took control for the rest of the game bar a spell where Flinders made a couple of great saves 2nd half. about how I thought it would go...

 

[hellogregory]

Slightly better second half, we were on top but only created 1 chance and could’ve conceded a 3rd. The shockingly shit first half killed the game, it was simply awful.

No getting away from fact it’s a terrible result and an awful start to the season.

However, I’m not jumping on the pressley out wagon that’s started om twitter and Facebook. I don’t think he’s very good, but this team has been thrown together so late that it needs more time to be judged. There are some good players in there, but If we are still shite in 3 or 4 weeks time then maybe I’ll start to lose hope of him turning things around.

 

[CTFCfan99]

That's about right Howzy, as soon as we took the lead we looked comfortable and could have been 3 or 4 up by 50 minutes or so. After that we seemed to sit back and Carlisle had a lot more possession but no real cutting edge. They played some decent stuff but never really looked like scoring.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Slightly better second half, we were on top but only created 1 chance and could’ve conceded a 3rd. The shockingly shit first half killed the game, it was simply awful.

No getting away from fact it’s a terrible result and an awful start to the season.

However, I’m not jumping on the pressley out wagon that’s started om twitter and Facebook. I don’t think he’s very good, but this team has been thrown together so late that it needs more time to be judged. There are some good players in there, but If we are still shite in 3 or 4 weeks time then maybe I’ll start to lose hope of him turning things around.

Certainly seen many worse sides than yours, you're just lacking a bit of creativity and could maybe use another CB as our forwards Reilly and Varney (neither known for their size/stature) were winning everything against them first half.

 

[Carver]

Fucking garbage.

This has long been coming and I dont think we will get lucky to stay out of trouble this season like we did last season.

 

[hellogregory]

Fucking garbage.

This has long been coming and I dont think we will get lucky to stay out of trouble this season like we did last season.

We’ll be in and around the mire all season. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we do go down, I expected it and predicted us to, but some of the recent loan signings do look decent enough on paper, so if they can hit form we’ll have a chance of staying up. It’s going to be a struggle though, no doubt about it, especially with pressley’s inability to get away results.

 

[shoddycollins]

Same story as Mansfield. Look OK at nil-nil, concede and the game ends as a contest. We're decent on the front foot, but concede sloppy goals and when we go one-nil down we're onto the back foot and just can't find a way back into the game. It doesn't matter who we're playing, once we're behind and pressure's lifted a little on the opposition they can stop us with relative ease.

We've fallen behind on 17 occasions in 2019, and equalised 6 times. I don't know how those stats compare to other sides but they don't seem great to me, and we've yet to score an equaliser this season.

 

[Carver]

I was thinking our defence would be our strongest part of the team going into the new season, how wrong I was and our midfield is weak as fuck without Etuhu and losing a good player like Devitt.

As for the attack Loft does not deserve a starting place ahead of Olomola and McKirdy blows hot and cold.

But yeah the conference is probably where we belong now the way our club is run by these immovable old fuddy duddys.

 

[hellogregory]

The concerning thing for me is that the problems we had under Pressley last season don’t seem to have gone, despite it being pretty much a new team.

How many times did we all say about how physically weak and poor defensively our midfield was when he was starting O’Hare and Slater in the same midfield. Well now that’s the case but with Bridge and Scougall. As well as that, the inability to get points on the road still seems to be there.

Concerns but like I say this team was it together so late that it’s unfair to judge it properly till a few weeks time. That said, a defeat on Saturday and I expect some of the crowd will really start to turn on Pressley.
I think he is shite, have done for a while but I’m prepared to give him a bit more time to prove me wrong for the above reason.

 

[shoddycollins]

As for the attack Loft does not deserve a starting place ahead of Olomola and McKirdy blows hot and cold.

I think it was to be expected that McKirdy would be inconsistent. He had an outstanding opening three games and would be a bit much to expect him to just keep that up the whole season. He's had spells on loan for teams in this division before and would have been snapped up long ago / moved to League One if he'd been that good the whole time he was at Crewe, Stevenage and Newport. I'm sure though he is a better player now than he was in his previous loan spells, he's older now, more experienced and has the additional motivation of playing for a club he's contracted to but he'll also find far more is expected of him than it ever was before so it's still a big step in his career.

I wouldn't be averse to giving him a rest against Salford and giving Hope a start.

How many times did we all say about how physically weak and poor defensively our midfield was when he was starting O’Hare and Slater in the same midfield. Well now that’s the case but with Bridge and Scougall.

The saving grace there is that we currently have two physical and combative midfielders out of action. Thankfully Carroll's suspension has flown by (thankyou Carabao cup) and he will most certainly be in the squad against Salford. I hope he starts.

 

[Carver]

The concerning thing for me is that the problems we had under Pressley last season don’t seem to have gone, despite it being pretty much a new team.

How many times did we all say about how physically weak and poor defensively our midfield was when he was starting O’Hare and Slater in the same midfield. Well now that’s the case but with Bridge and Scougall. As well as that, the inability to get points on the road still seems to be there.

Concerns but like I say this team was it together so late that it’s unfair to judge it properly till a few weeks time. That said, a defeat on Saturday and I expect some of the crowd will really start to turn on Pressley.
I think he is shite, have done for a while but I’m prepared to give him a bit more time to prove me wrong for the above reason.

I'm sick of him getting us to play it out from the back all the time when we're in League Two ffs because we don't even have the defenders capable of playing like that by the looks of it as Webster and Knight Percival can't pass the ball for shit.

I don't think Pressley is any good as a manager at all, the only thing he seems good at is sounding competent in his interviews which is how he probably landed the job. But I think the overall problem with us now is not just down to the manager, it goes beyond that to our owners who I'm not even sure who the hell runs our club anymore because they're always silent. Having one of the lowest budgets in the league says it all really and we are where we technically should be.