New Year's Day 2024

[BarraMatt]

With that incident McClean one again gets to the ball first heads the ball and then the Barrow player smashes into him, I was shocked when they got a free kick for that. One of the Barrow players also accidently headbutted the back of Fletchers head in a different incident, presumably Fletcher should have been sent off too.

Still hasn't stopped a couple. of Barrow fans calling for an independant police complaint about him. I kid you not.

I wouldn't pay much attention to the odd one or two on our forum. One of the posters on there rang the club reception once because he'd heard a rumour Mark Cooper was leaving to join Bristol Rovers.

 

[Chris FGR]

Always knew we were good. One of only 44 EFL sides still unbeaten in 2024.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1742223331447750969

 

[EnglishRed]

I wouldn't pay much attention to the odd one or two on our forum. One of the posters on there rang the club reception once because he'd heard a rumour Mark Cooper was leaving to join Bristol Rovers.

Oh don't worry I realise it's a fringe few, all fanbases have them, it just amused me.

As it's transfer rumour season I am currently trying to work out what sort of person makes up some of the rumours you hear flying around - generally about which player is leaving and why, none of which ever have any basis in truth. Some people are bloody odd.

 

[Son of Cod]

When Artell took charge of us we were in a relegation scrap. Philosophy went out the window and we played fast, direct and physical football which saw us comfortably survive.

I think the reason we were poor for the first half of the following two seasons was almost certainly philosophy based. He had players like Michael Raynes, who was useless with the ball at his feet, playing tiki taka football at times which was a disaster. Artell also never had a Plan B so we always pissed about with it at the back whether we were 4-0 up, level at 1-1 or 4-0 down. His adaptability since that first half-season with us was truly non-existent.

I think Artell is a bit complacent and expects to survive comfortably. Indeed, I believe Grimsby will myself, but that's why he's implementing his philosophy immediately rather than scrapping to get to 50 points then worrying about his philosophy.

My bigger concern with Artell is that he's said he's changed but he hasn't. His interviews after games are a carbon copy of ours. If you win it's down to him and his tactics but if you lose then it's the players fault and not his. Steve Davis was the same with us too. It's a trait I never like in managers and, luckily, we have a manager now that takes far more accountability than either of these two.

Interesting. It's a weird situation in that having this philosophy is both a positive and also immediately concerning. The lack of Plan B is already apparent and I'm hoping that's more to do with the players we have at our disposal than a lack of ideas on Artell's part.

Artell learning from his mistakes was indeed a bit of a buzz topic during the unveiling and subsequent interviews so I'm really hoping that wasn't all hot air.

It's been such an odd start for him really. The fluctuating from one extreme to another is accentuated by having been preceded by almost three seasons of very safe but often drab Paul Hurst football.

 

[Tinpot and proud]

Has Pete Wild started enjoying 2024 yet?

TBF I think Wild enjoys most days more than most mangers......there’s really little pressure on him from the club.

 

[Conker]

I’d say we had four decent chances each. Though yours of slightly better quality.

Oates was laughing and playing up to the crowd. He was hurt a bit but mainly trying to avoid a booking. He was fuming when he realised he was being replaced. Clough told him to go down the tunnel but he didn’t want to.

not confirmed exactly what happened to Oates yet (going for another scan) but rumoured to be ACL and confirmed to be out for a long time, just to confirm how ridiculous your avoiding a booking comment was.

 

[Ellis]

not confirmed exactly what happened to Oates yet (going for another scan) but rumoured to be ACL and confirmed to be out for a long time, just to confirm how ridiculous your avoiding a booking comment was.

Big Ben 1 - 0 Rhys Oates

 

[Stocky]

not confirmed exactly what happened to Oates yet (going for another scan) but rumoured to be ACL and confirmed to be out for a long time, just to confirm how ridiculous your avoiding a booking comment was.

It was a really poor tackle from him on Hinchliffe, I know he'll say he was going for the ball and was just late but he really was reckless with it. Obviously reckless enough to cause injury for himself, however hopefully he recovers well. Good player, always caused us problems when he played against us vs Hartlepool.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

not confirmed exactly what happened to Oates yet (going for another scan) but rumoured to be ACL and confirmed to be out for a long time, just to confirm how ridiculous your avoiding a booking comment was.

It was our commentator on the stream who said this.

 

[Stocky]

It was our commentator on the stream who said this.

I'll be honest I think JK may have got some of that wrong. I was in the Main Stand. He was laughing and joking as a bit of a defence mechanism because he had to walk right in front of the Cheadle End and was getting stick and then I saw Clough say something to him, impossible for anyone but those two to know but I was pretty sure Clough was just asking him what he'd injured.

 

[Conker]

It was a really poor tackle from him on Hinchliffe, I know he'll say he was going for the ball and was just late but he really was reckless with it. Obviously reckless enough to cause injury for himself, however hopefully he recovers well. Good player, always caused us problems when he played against us vs Hartlepool.

Ey I’m not disagreeing, was no need to go for it as he did.

 

[Ellis]

Yeah it was very much a 'am I bothered' routine after basically being turned into a pantomime villain and having to limp around half the length of the pitch. Don't think he was getting grief because he was injured and if JK/our commentator suggested he was playing injured it's pretty poor form as was obvious when he walked past me he was in a lot of pain. Initially it did look like the typical routine of feigning injury to avoid a card for all of 20 seconds though.

He was getting a bit of stick as in my opinion whilst you want your striker to go for that type of ball, it was a bit overzealous and deserved a booking. Unfortunately its caused a serious injury - if he hadn't hobbled off and given a bit of stick back I'm sure we would have been as dignified as you guys were with the Knoyle injury. (Just ignore my tongue in cheek comment above, hope he recovers quickly and we both go up!)

Feel like there have been loads of ACLs this season across every club. Feels very odd, not sure what has changed? I was taking the piss when I said Knoyle and Pye on here were season ending injuries but predictably they actually are..

 

[Richard Cranium]

Big Ben 1 - 0 Rhys Oates

Stockport 0-2 Mansfield

 

[northstandexile]

It was a really poor tackle from him on Hinchliffe, I know he'll say he was going for the ball and was just late but he really was reckless with it. Obviously reckless enough to cause injury for himself, however hopefully he recovers well. Good player, always caused us problems when he played against us vs Hartlepool.

He did exactly the same last season at Bradford City by running into and fouling a big centre half and was injured for months.

 

[BarraMatt]

Yeah it was very much a 'am I bothered' routine after basically being turned into a pantomime villain and having to limp around half the length of the pitch. Don't think he was getting grief because he was injured and if JK/our commentator suggested he was playing injured it's pretty poor form as was obvious when he walked past me he was in a lot of pain. Initially it did look like the typical routine of feigning injury to avoid a card for all of 20 seconds though.

He was getting a bit of stick as in my opinion whilst you want your striker to go for that type of ball, it was a bit overzealous and deserved a booking. Unfortunately its caused a serious injury - if he hadn't hobbled off and given a bit of stick back I'm sure we would have been as dignified as you guys were with the Knoyle injury. (Just ignore my tongue in cheek comment above, hope he recovers quickly and we both go up!)

Feel like there have been loads of ACLs this season across every club. Feels very odd, not sure what has changed? I was taking the piss when I said Knoyle and Pye on here were season ending injuries but predictably they actually are..

The ACL was only invented a few years ago, hence you hear about it more these days.

It's the 2020's metatarsal.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

The ACL was only invented a few years ago, hence you hear about it more these days.

It's the 2020's metatarsal.

Pah! Tore mine 20 years ago