Playoff 6 pointer (4th vs 5th) Swindon vs Carlisle | 10/08/19

[shoddycollins]

Don't know how to sum that up like. Until we scored Swindon might have been well on top but we were keeping our shape and doing just enough to keep them out. I wouldn't go so far as to call us comfortable, there was some luck involved with the one that hit the bar and Anderson's poor finish, but we weren't all over the place and had we carried on playing as we were then I think holding out for a win or at least a draw would have been doable.

But like immediately afterwards we just totally went to pieces, aided by some confusion over a double substitution. Don't know what happened but Phillips and Lumsdon felt certain there was no way the marking leading to their second goal was planned; having our smallest player try to mark their biggest, then Carroll was poor when he came on and that was our big hope as fans that he would really sure things up for us, and then he gets sent off.

 

[Carver]

Don't know how to sum that up like. Until we scored Swindon might have been well on top but we were keeping our shape and doing just enough to keep them out. I wouldn't go so far as to call us comfortable, there was some luck involved with the one that hit the bar and Anderson's poor finish, but we weren't all over the place and had we carried on playing as we were then I think holding out for a win or at least a draw would have been doable.

But like immediately afterwards we just totally went to pieces, aided by some confusion over a double substitution. Don't know what happened but Phillips and Lumsdon felt certain there was no way the marking leading to their second goal was planned; having our smallest player try to mark their biggest, then Carroll was poor when he came on and that was our big hope as fans that he would really sure things up for us, and then he gets sent off.

It's just one that they are going to have to put behind them and move on from.

I just hope Pressley grows a brain and learns from this colossal screw up or he can fuck off.

 

[hellogregory]

Maybe if he brought Carroll on for an ineffective midfielder (like it was crying out for) and kept the shape the same, leaving Carroll and everyone else playing in their positions, instead of hauling off the winger who’d just made a goal, shifting players around leaving confusion amongst the players as to who was playing where.

Pressley got too much wrong today.

 

[shoddycollins]

It's just one that they are going to have to put behind them and move on from.

I just hope Pressley grows a brain and learns from this colossal screw up or he can fuck off.

Late goal for us if anything annoys me even more. Just shows what could have been possible if we'd kept our heads about us

 

[Carver]

Late goal for us if anything annoys me even more. Just shows what could have been possible if we'd kept our heads about us

Pressley is an alright manager when we're playing at home but he is an absolute shit away manager. Our away record under him since he took over is bloody awful!

Sagaf getting a goal gives him some cred. Not bad for a trialist signing.

 

[hellogregory]

Pressley is an alright manager when we're playing at home but he is an absolute shit away manager. Our away record under him since he took over is bloody awful!

Nail on the head.

 

[Chris FGR]

Sounds like a top quality game between 2 genuine title contenders.

Swindon have recruited very well, and Carlisle are miles better then some of their fans are letting on, especially with Balotelli and Chalobah still to come in.

 

[Bottega Don]

We should look at bringing in this Olomola fella, we need a goalscorer

 

[Carver]

Nail on the head.

Yeah he is like John Ward in a way.

Not ideal if you pay good money and travel to watch us away.

 

[hellogregory]

Yeah he is like John Ward in a way.

Not ideal if you pay good money and travel to watch us away.

In recent years under Curle and Sheridan we’ve had some poor away performances, but there was always a good one in between, or at least a good result.

Since Pressley’s took charge I’ve done a few aways last season and they’ve all been dire. They reminded me of our away efforts under Kavanagh.

I won’t be spending more money on aways until I see serious signs of improvement.

 

[Chris FGR]

You battered us at our place under Pressley, one of the best sides to come to TNL last season. Only didn't win cos you couldn't hit a barn door.

 

[Indian Dan]

A comfortable win despite the score line - should really have scored at least 2 more.

Cant say I didn’t warn you about Carroll!

Carlisle tried to play football and their winger - Thomas? - was a real handful. Wouldn’t mind him.

After 2 games we at least look like the making of a decent side. No way will Carlisle struggle.

 

[Big Bird]

6 points out of 6 and the home form monkey off our backs already. All that counts this early in the season.

Still looking to strengthen as well so not quite the finished product but early signs are encouraging.

 

[Carver]

In recent years under Curle and Sheridan we’ve had some poor away performances, but there was always a good one in between, or at least a good result.

Since Pressley’s took charge I’ve done a few aways last season and they’ve all been dire. They reminded me of our away efforts under Kavanagh.

I won’t be spending more money on aways until I see serious signs of improvement.

Only one away win under Pressley which was his first, that poor 1-0 win over Port Vale last season.

 

[shoddycollins]

Think I'm recovering from the agony of listening to that dross on the radio now. On paper the result doesn't look too bad (though our xG tells a different story), at least we're putting chances away when we get them. Listening to the game was a wholly depressing experience just because of how little it seemed as though we were going to get into it.

No idea how that guy on the Swindon board felt that the commentators on Radio Cumbria were watching everything through blue-tinted spectacles. I can't claim to be an unbiased observer of whether they were biased or not, but if they were as biased as he seems to think they were then the Carlisle fans on here would be fuming at how we'd been robbed of 3 points in a match we'd dominated and we certainly didn't get that impression from the commentary. I think he must have been sat outside a pub full of Carlisle fans with no battery on his radio thinking it was the commentary he could hear.

Hopefully turns out that Swindon do this to everyone this season.

 

[Carver]

I've seen the goals and what a shitty goal for us to concede, Swindons first goal.

I have not heard Pressley's interview yet but I bet he talks shit and says we should look at the positives. What? The positive of McKirdy and Olomola setting up and scoring a good goal and you then take them both off.

 

[shoddycollins]

I have not heard Pressley's interview yet but I bet he talks shit and says we should look at the positives. What? The positive of McKirdy and Olomola setting up and scoring a good goal and you then take them both off.

Not really, he seems to be well aware of what the problem was in terms of the midfield being too weak. He calls it what it was, a bad performance, and says that he was hoping to address this by bringing Carroll and Loft on for McKirdy and Olomola to sure things up.

I mean I can see how on paper he's taken off two more attacking players for more physical replacements and that on paper Scougall is a more combative player and that's why he says he left Scougall on, but taking off two players who have just created a goal seems like plain old bad karma, and so it went.

 

[Indian Dan]

All this Carlisle bollocks about impending doom. Fuck sake, guys. You’re not half bad.

 

[shoddycollins]

All this Carlisle bollocks about impending doom. Fuck sake, guys. You’re not half bad.

Was how poor we were not as evident from the terraces as it was over the radio?

 

[Indian Dan]

I watched via iFollow. We played well, for sure, but I thought you looked OK for the most part. Your big problem was losing the ball carelessly in midfield.

Your 2 wingers were ace. It won’t take much to tweek that team into a right good unit.

 

[shoddycollins]

I watched via iFollow. We played well, for sure, but I thought you looked OK for the most part. Your big problem was losing the ball carelessly in midfield.

Your 2 wingers were ace. It won’t take much to tweek that team into a right good unit.

Scougall and Bridge are both more like 10s than midfielders. If you think of midfielders as being 4s, 8s and 10s, then our midfield was one 4 and two 10s. Carroll should have been another 4 but sounds like he was stuck more on the left wing. Sagaf is an 8 I think, and Etuhu when we returns will be a huge boost, he's a good solid 8.

 

[shoddycollins]

Had a chance to watch the goals. Swindon's first goal, it's Mellish on the left again. I mean the ball goes into a crowded box where NKP and Webster both have chances to deal with it but it all comes from Mellish not doing anything to prevent the Swindon winger running with the ball and putting in the cross. I hope Iredale being on the bench is just due to a fitness worry that should be OK by next week and not because Pressley sees Mellish as the best option (that said, we've not really seen Iredale competitively, Mellish could well be the best option but if that's the case then we're gonna get done down the left hand side time and time again).

Second goal, our shortest player trying to mark their tallest at the corner. For all Swindon's dominance, to go behind to a set-piece is annoying, we should be dealing with those. It wasn't long after the substitutions were made and Scougall's positioning was just all wrong after that.

There was some confusion as we had the players ready to come on with the score at 0-0 and by the time they came on it was 1-1. There was some changing of minds, so penny for Stephen Pressley's thoughts during that spell, whether he somehow forgot to communicate who marks who at corners or something. Like I said, taking off the two players who had just a minute or two beforehand combined to put you in front just smacks of bad karma whatever tactical sense it may make to toughen up when you're being battered on the pitch.

Sending off, just a very rash challenge, you can see why the referee goes straight for his pocket even if Pressley thinks he was too eager to send Carroll off. I'm not sure if there's necessarily any malice behind it though as the Swindon fans who confronted our commentators felt; perhaps a bit too much adrenaline but I don't think he was trying to hurt the Swindon lad.

Third goal, we're all out of position at the back with the Swindon able to run through a gap as wide as the ocean between Webster and Elliot and have the easiest job to just slot it home. Probably were just throwing everything forward in search of an equaliser. To be fair we did get the goal we were after, just that by then it was only a consolation.

Overall... it could have been a fairly dramatic (and undeserved) smash-and-grab. Swindon probably missed more chances than they scored from and we got two good goals against the run of play, but conceded two to a set piece and to throwing ourselves forward looking for an equaliser. From the defending team's perspective, all goals are preventable but I think those were more preventable than the average goal.

 

[Carver]

All this Carlisle bollocks about impending doom. Fuck sake, guys. You’re not half bad.

Well we're supposed to be the Man City of League Two this season, so for us to lose a single match is a disaster!

 

[Agombar stool]

Great to get our home monkey off the back early on. It sounds like Carlisle were decent opposition. When we went 1-0 down I thought it was a case of 'here we go again' but we have showed good heart and desire to come back and win.

On to a tricky game at Exeter next weekend. That will be a huge test!

 

[shoddycollins]

Great to get our home monkey off the back early on. It sounds like Carlisle were decent opposition. When we went 1-0 down I thought it was a case of 'here we go again' but we have showed good heart and desire to come back and win.

On to a tricky game at Exeter next weekend. That will be a huge test!

Not sure we were decent opposition from what I was listening to. Some decent players for certain but if we play like that all season then most teams will beat us (which isn't to take anything away from Swindon's performance). Sounded like the 2 on our side of the scoreline very much flattered us and was down to McKirdy and Thomas on the wings being able to break against the run of play.

 

[shoddycollins]

We should look at bringing in this Olomola fella, we need a goalscorer

Fingers crossed we're on the other side of a Paddy Madden situation. When Madden couldn't get into our team we loaned him to Yeovil (both in League One at the time). Yeovil went and challenged for promotion while we found ourselves struggling at the wrong end.

Come January, Madden was the league's top scorer and we were so far apart that there was no way Madden would have been happy to be recalled to Carlisle, so we sold him to Yeovil and they got promoted to the Championship.

This was before the transfer windows too so we could have recalled him at any time. Can't remember how the club reacted to him doing so well at Yeovil but I think the gist was similar to trying to keep a player who wants to leave and feeling it will unsettle the squad. Also he would have been out of contract anyway so he'd have left for free and this way we got a bit of a money.

To be fair Madden had been with us for a couple of years by that point and played in many games without ever impressing so you could argue if we'd recalled him he would just go back to that.