Matchday 3 - 19th August 2017 Thread

[Impish]

Interesting viewing at the top of the table. I'd say the current top 4 are the 4 strongest sides in the division and they're clearly not hanging about.

With Exeter's unfortunate injury problems I think we could have a similar scenario to last season and Cov Luton and Swindon may well run away with it.

 

[FGRJC]

Loved that today what a game!! First 20 minutes we made Yeovil look like Barcelona, second half we were much better and made them look like the dog and duck! Buzzing to get our first win!!

 

[AdamStag]

Interesting viewing at the top of the table. I'd say the current top 4 are the 4 strongest sides in the division and they're clearly not hanging about.

With Exeter's unfortunate injury problems I think we could have a similar scenario to last season and Cov Luton and Swindon may well run away with it.

If you base how sides will do after 3 games you're dafter than what you post suggest

 

[Impish]

Basing it on their squads and how they've started. They were my top 4 in the league table prediction (as well as Lincoln) and they all look like they're doing the business. Someone like Carlisle could maybe have a say in it if they can bannish the memory of last season's collapse but play offs is the carrot for the rest of us I'm afraid and there's no shame in that I might add.

 

[jacobncfc]

We are over bollocksing up the opening day and ready to shithouse our way to promotion, lads. Be afraid.

Even scored with a slide tackle to round things off today. Vintage Nolanball.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Loved that today what a game!! First 20 minutes we made Yeovil look like Barcelona, second half we were much better and made them look like the dog and duck! Buzzing to get our first win!!

But but but League 2 is going to be a piece of piss. All I'm saying about Yeovil is 8-2.

 

[Kenneth E End]

See the Stevenage stewards ain't changed, every away fan, and I mean everyone subject to strip search before entering

We've been subject to it every away match for the last 5 years.

 

[Kenneth E End]

As above really, I'd have preferred Mullins instead of Rea or if he really fancies Rea over Sheehan. Said it before but still don't rate Sheehan as a centre half really, gets out muscled too easily for me. His set pieces and play with the ball though are decent so can see why he does it, but that centre half pairing is a little weak if you ask me.

Well you were incredibly wrong with this.

Mullins was appalling on Tuesday night - obviously playing like someone who hadn't played much football recently. Sheehan was absolutely immense yesterday.

I wish people would stop judging defences in the first weeks of the season; every defence is the same - still getting back up to speed.

 

[Chris FGR]

But but but League 2 is going to be a piece of piss. All I'm saying about Yeovil is 8-2.

No one fucking said that ffs. We have a tight budget and a young squad, we can't throw around silly money like you do. We're gonna try to establish ourselves as a sustainable EFL club and then push on.

We got massive ambition and we'll try and get to the Championship and push on from there in the next 10 years or so according to DV, who has even refused to rule out FGR becoming a Premier League club one day which will be great, but he's a realist and knows we need to grow our fan base in our new stadium first. We're gonna do it sensibly and this season is all about consolidation.

Gonna fucking enjoy every win, cos it will be hard won.

 

[Gladders]

We've been subject to it every away match for the last 5 years.

Yeah but Luton fans can't even be trusted to take coins into a ground.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Well you were incredibly wrong with this.

Mullins was appalling on Tuesday night - obviously playing like someone who hadn't played much football recently. Sheehan was absolutely immense yesterday.

I wish people would stop judging defences in the first weeks of the season; every defence is the same - still getting back up to speed.

Yeah i was a little bit wasn't I!

Firstly though, that view wasn't formulated on the first few weeks of the season. I saw Sheehan play centre half all last season and a fair chunk of the season before! He had a good game yesterday to be sure, was excellent in fact and up there with Lee and Stacey for man of the match but against a very limited attacking threat from Colchester.

Just my view of course but I think he struggles with the physical aspect of playing centre half which can cause problems when so many teams down here are so physical. His abilities with the ball, bringing out of the back and starting the play are beyond question really, the defensive side of things, the physicality, dealing with balls into the box which has been something of an issue under Jones generally, I think can be questioned. Personally think that's a pretty reasonable view given his body of work at the position to be honest, so I'd argue the opposite - don't make your judgment on the basis of one good game! (and to be clear, he has obviously had more than one good game at centre half) - He was also helped by McCormack doing a fair bit of unseen work in front of him so that's good to see as a lot of the "issues" I have picked up on with him may very well be down to the fact we had nothing in front providing any sort of meaningful protection to the defence previously, with that now added. To be extra clear as well here I don't think he is a bad centre half at all btw, he's very good.

As for Mullins, can't comment on Tuesday, as its a nothing game I'm not interested in and I suspect he might not be either, but I'm just a bit curious as to what has happened there really. He had a decent partnership with Cuthbert going on and if I recall those where some of our strongest defensive performances of the season last year but he fell out of favour after being sent off at Wycombe and hasn't really come back into the picture at all really since then. I liked him in those first few games and felt yesterday if Jones wanted to play Rea, who is something of a favourite, a more physical centre half than Sheehan might have helped... as it is, it wasn't a big deal.

 

[WH_Stag]

No one fucking said that ffs. We have a tight budget and a young squad, we can't throw around silly money like you do. We're gonna try to establish ourselves as a sustainable EFL club and then push on.

We got massive ambition and we'll try and get to the Championship and push on from there in the next 10 years or so according to DV, who has even refused to rule out FGR becoming a Premier League club one day which will be great, but he's a realist and knows we need to grow our fan base in our new stadium first. We're gonna do it sensibly and this season is all about consolidation.

Gonna fucking enjoy every win, cos it will be hard won.

FGR SUSTAINABLE? what are you on?! you're just another version of fleetwood, doesn't matter what division you're in, its a soulless club with greedy players who don't mind playing infront of no one. The fans and atmosphere make clubs, not rich owners pumping silly amounts of money in. And lets be honest, your "biggest achievement" would never of happened in a million years without DV.

 

[Chris FGR]

FGR SUSTAINABLE? what are you on?! you're just another version of fleetwood, doesn't matter what division you're in, its a soulless club with greedy players who don't mind playing infront of no one. The fans and atmosphere make clubs, not rich owners pumping silly amounts of money in. And lets be honest, your "biggest achievement" would never of happened in a million years without DV.

Do some research before shit posting pal.

We got close to the National league play offs 07/08 well before DV took over. Wasn't impossible we might have gone up if we'd kept that side together. We were in that league for years and built a football league standard stadium without his money. We ain't soulless, we've got a LONG and PROUD history.

His money has helped, like Radford's has for you lot but we're not plastics. We've earned our place and our crowds are growing.

 

[Kenneth E End]

No one fucking said that ffs. We have a tight budget and a young squad, we can't throw around silly money like you do. We're gonna try to establish ourselves as a sustainable EFL club and then push on.

We got massive ambition and we'll try and get to the Championship and push on from there in the next 10 years or so according to DV, who has even refused to rule out FGR becoming a Premier League club one day which will be great, but he's a realist and knows we need to grow our fan base in our new stadium first. We're gonna do it sensibly and this season is all about consolidation.

Well if that isn't a contradiction, I don't know what is.

Dale Vince said promotion from this division was "easy" because of the four promotion spots. Granted, it should be because there's double that of the National League. But there isn't the guaranteed victories in this division like the one below.

FGR have a tight budget? You're spending about 200% of your annual turnover. Vince has bankrolled the club in terms of £10m in five years. Granted, Luton have also had substantial investment, to the tune of £38m+ in 10 years, however a lot of that money has gone on stadium payments. FGR have no foundation and to push onto the Championship is a million miles away quite frankly.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Yeah but Luton fans can't even be trusted to take coins into a ground.

Says Grimsby with about quadruple the number of banning orders.

 

[Maple Hatter]

Says Grimsby with about quadruple the number of banning orders.

When I first started going to games the hooligan problem was a big issue. We had a fair number of locals interested in attending matches for the violence however the problem has all but disappeared. There are hardly any games in this league that would encourage our locals to come out and cause trouble. Should we reach the championship then it may return but certainly not to the same extent it used to be. I think our fans have an unfair reputation, certainly from the police who turn up in numbers for both our home and away games. At the Yeovil home game for example the police were filming our fans inside the ground. There was no hint of trouble and you hardly have to have any knowledge of the hooligan scene to know that a fixture against Yeovil is not a high risk category game. The police and their so called intellgence seem to think otherwise.

 

[Sparrow]

This is the worst Grimsby Town side Garry Hill has ever seen at Blundell Park.

 

[Stripes]

FGR SUSTAINABLE? what are you on?! you're just another version of fleetwood, doesn't matter what division you're in, its a soulless club with greedy players who don't mind playing infront of no one. The fans and atmosphere make clubs, not rich owners pumping silly amounts of money in. And lets be honest, your "biggest achievement" would never of happened in a million years without DV.

Nothing stays the same forever. We'll make the most of it until it turns to shit. (Same as everyone else).
In the mean time were going about things in a half decent manor. It's not soulless, everything in proportion, the fans are turning up and creating a good atmosphere, better than at any time. We haven't paid any transfer fees that I know of (apart to agents) and were turning out our own players too, and getting good transfer fees. We've turned down two others that would have brought a lot money back into the club. We haven't brought any big stars in, (can't afford them now) that route seldom works, yes we tried it.

Everyone goes about it in there own way! Were all trying to get it right and mostly not succeding.

I do miss the Chicken Balti Pies at yours though. I had two last week.

 

[Son of Cod]

Says Grimsby with about quadruple the number of banning orders.

Taken from the most recent report...

Total Banning Orders
Luton: 28
Grimsby 27

New Banning Orders
Luton: 3
Grimsby: 1

Total Arrests
Luton: 24
Grimsby: 13

Apology accepted in advance.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Taken from the most recent report...

Total Banning Orders
Luton: 28
Grimsby 27

New Banning Orders
Luton: 3
Grimsby: 1

Total Arrests
Luton: 24
Grimsby: 13

Apology accepted in advance.

Ok I was clearly going from a report from a few years ago. But I suppose Luton getting double the gates, those stats look worse for Gy.

 

[Kenneth E End]

When I first started going to games the hooligan problem was a big issue. We had a fair number of locals interested in attending matches for the violence however the problem has all but disappeared. There are hardly any games in this league that would encourage our locals to come out and cause trouble. Should we reach the championship then it may return but certainly not to the same extent it used to be. I think our fans have an unfair reputation, certainly from the police who turn up in numbers for both our home and away games. At the Yeovil home game for example the police were filming our fans inside the ground. There was no hint of trouble and you hardly have to have any knowledge of the hooligan scene to know that a fixture against Yeovil is not a high risk category game. The police and their so called intellgence seem to think otherwise.

Likewise at Barnet. Looking for trouble that just wasn't there. If the fans were left alone, nothing would've kicked off.

 

[Son of Cod]

Ok I was clearly going from a report from a few years ago. But I suppose Luton getting double the gates, those stats look worse for Gy.

Double the arrests and triple new banning orders? Without going through all the old reports, there's no way of knowing when those older ones are from. Most of those existing banning orders were probably dished out for offences at away games too, for which our followings are similar on average.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Without wishing to wade in on the banning order debate and just speaking about our support generally, most of our fans seem to be pretty boring bastards, like me, and kids these days.

Atmosphere is pretty poor most weeks now to be honest, whether you think that's a god or bad thing is a matter of perspective really.
Think things have changed and the reputation we have had, deservedly arguably, is slightly out dated.

Talking about home games here, specifically as my away trips are sporadic at best.

 

[AmbiguousBon]

So frustrating yesterday, looked great going forward, but Sunday League at the back.

No way we should have lost it from 3-1 up but when your keeper decides to have 2 utter brain melts not a lot you can do. Fair play to Noble though, ran the game for FGR.

If we can sort the defence out we could be a decent side this season (although no doubt Khan and Olomola will go in Jan) but it's an Everest sized if at the moment.

 

[Chris FGR]

Thought you tore us apart at the back at times tbf, (not helped by our own Sunday league defending). Khan looked quality.

Cracking game though. Think both sides are going to score and concede a lot of goals this season, decent going forward but all over the place defensively.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Have we talked about Stech's save yet?
https://twitter.com/PollsFL92LTFC/status/899231232852201472

Class.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Already has the makings of being a bit of fans favourite, the second top quality save I've seen from him and he also seems to be absolutely mental as well which is nice!

 

[Bosox]

Have we talked about Stech's save yet?
https://twitter.com/PollsFL92LTFC/status/899231232852201472

Class.

And Walker's save for Colchester, from McCormack's thunderbolt, was immense as well. Two of the best saves I've seen live and in the same game.

 

[Vanni]

Nah, you're going a bit OTT with the praise for Stech. It may look impressive on first viewing, but watch it again and you'll see it's not that difficult. The header wasn't an especially strong one and it was directed at the middle of the goal. Plus, Stech wasn't wrong footed, as in he was going one way then changed direction to keep it out.

Still looks nice mind you, but hardly a top notch save.

And oh, did Colchester play in numberless shirts? That shirt's a commentator's nightmare.

 

[Son of Cod]

Nah, you're going a bit OTT with the praise for Stech. It may look impressive on first viewing, but watch it again and you'll see it's not that difficult. The header wasn't an especially strong one and it was directed at the middle of the goal. Plus, Stech wasn't wrong footed, as in he was going one way then changed direction to keep it out.

Still looks nice mind you, but hardly a top notch save.

And oh, did Colchester play in numberless shirts? That shirt's a commentator's nightmare.

Yep, Hollywood save. Could have maybe caught it if he wasn't trying to get himself trending on Twitter.