Saturday 12th August 2023

[The_Viking_Magpie]

4 goals from 4 different players already, but I get your point.
Smith's sending off was for an off the ball stamp that the 4th official spotted. He'll have a 3 game ban for that.

Good to hear. He was needlessly a d**k to both opposition players and fans when battering Notts on the opening day.

Indicating the scoreline to the away support is fine and expected but the rest was bizarre. Needed reminding who he played for to temporarily calm him down.

 

[Optipez]

Absolutely shite that. 3-2 to Notts was very flattering towards us. We need to ditch our current system pronto as it is not working. Rose, Vernam and Eisa are not a front three.

I'm bowled over that Hurst started with that combo again. He doesn't seem to know what to do with the players he has right now, which is quite concerning. Hopefully this is partly to do with the team gelling.

Notts were fairly decent today though, not taking anything away from them. Could have and should have been a bigger margin than a single goal victory for them. I was thinking we were lucky to go into half time level before we went 2-1 up thanks to a combination of them switching off and a lovely assist from Mullarkey. Mad that we could have drawn that without a somewhat fortuitous equaliser to make it 2-2.

One thing that was very frustrating was that we weren't pressing Bostock better. Get into him and stop him getting the ball down and across to their more dangerous players. Notts very organised in the middle of the park. Palmer was quality for me today, very clever player who created space for them time and time again. Nemane and Crowley constant threats down the right. If Nemane had better end product he's a L1 player no doubt.

Not a good day at the office for us at all, feeling fortunate that we escaped a spanking. Best team on the day won that, no complaints at all here.

I'd agree with all that. We need a centre half and ideally another centre midfielder as if Palmer gets injured we've no replacement for him. He's been fantastic for us the last two years.
I was surprised how basic you were. I know it's L2 but you barely strung three passes together and apart from set pieces didn't actually offer much threat.
The game is played noticeably faster than the NL and we're having to adapt but we showed signs that we can up our tempo today and still play the way the manager wants.

 

[Son of Cod]

We still desperately need to sign a defender, got away with it today - Rawlinson was abysmal.

Different story going forward. Jones and Nemane out wide with McGoldrick/Crowley in behind Langstaff is a lot of fun.

Grimsby were very disappointing

I expected Langstaff to be quiet and to maybe pop up and score, but I thought McGoldrick was gonna have a bit more about him today. Only really excelled at tussling a few times, looked very slow. I know what your saying though, at times you've got 5/6 players steaming forward...but somehow Bostock is the one lashing the ball home. If I lived in Notts and was a neutral floating footy fan I'd be seriously considering a ST down at ML. Gonna be a very fun season there.

 

[Stocky]

Not rocket science this league but yet again we're dicking about trying to re-invent the wheel with new players that don't fit our system.

 

[jacobncfc]

On us, we’ll get there but the balance isn’t right yet and we still need a centre back in. Can probably get away with one of Brindley and Rawlinson but not both.

Going forward we were good. Wing backs especially, Jones is looking fit and strong and is some footballer, and Nemane caused enough chaos to provoke a mercy sub for the left back after about half an hour. Think if we can just do alright first couple of months and stay in touch then we’ll have done fine and will improve as this goes along.

 

[Son of Cod]

I'd agree with all that. We need a centre half and ideally another centre midfielder as if Palmer gets injured we've no replacement for him. He's been fantastic for us the last two years.
I was surprised how basic you were. I know it's L2 but you barely strung three passes together and apart from set pieces didn't actually offer much threat.
The game is played noticeably faster than the NL and we're having to adapt but we showed signs that we can up our tempo today and still play the way the manager wants.

Yep basic, definitely a good adjective for that performance. We played some nicer stuff against Wimbledon without really threatening, so I guess it's a least a tiny bit reassuring that we took our only two real chances today because if we can combine being that clinical with better build up play we'll be alright. Think it's a case of poor selection/tactics in tandem with a load of new players.

 

[Son of Cod]

Jones is looking fit and strong and is some footballer

Knows how to go down like a sack of spuds too.

 

[Optipez]

On us, we’ll get there but the balance isn’t right yet and we still need a centre back in. Can probably get away with one of Brindley and Rawlinson but not both.

Going forward we were good. Wing backs especially, Jones is looking fit and strong and is some footballer, and Nemane caused enough chaos to provoke a mercy sub for the left back after about half an hour. Think if we can just do alright first couple of months and stay in touch then we’ll have done fine and will improve as this goes along.

Crowley I thought was really good today, his constant movement and passing suit our play.
I think Williams is sending a message to the recruitment guys by not putting Tipton on the bench unless he's injured.
Defence definitely needs upgrading this week.

 

[PuB]

1-0 to us flattered Stanley this afternoon we should have been out of sight based on the performance, Stanley weren’t bad though and I genuinely thought they’d nick an undeserved point towards the end, luckily enough they didn’t. Not sure I’ve seen a taller team for quite some time though.

 

[Meadow]

Glad to take a point off Hollywood FC.

As much as I love him dearly, Ali Al-Hamadi must never be allowed to take another penalty.

 

[Gunit]

Was it an obvious red on TV? Just heard the scream and presumed it was a hand in the face.

Didn’t have any of it on camera. Stamp seems to be the call.

 

[AdamStag]

Relatively easy stroll for mansfield who dominated the game from start to finish, morecambe were a shambles and offered nothing at all.

They came with a game plan to defend and hit on the break but the tactics didn’t allow them to do so and even when we’d scored their tactics didn’t change.

2 goals in the 3 games we’ve scored which is actually disappointing as we should’ve scored more.

 

[Ellis]

Dodged a bullet with Powell, Wrexham lads.

All the nonsense pre season about playing a new way, our DOF getting a chub-on announcing Nick Powell when all we needed was a striker.

Should have spent Powells eye watering wages on Armstrong.

 

[Ellis]

Need a quality target man or to sack Challinor.

His football works, yet we’ve done nothing to build around it. Diabolical and knew this was going to happen.

 

[Gunit]

Yep basic, definitely a good adjective for that performance. We played some nicer stuff against Wimbledon without really threatening, so I guess it's a least a tiny bit reassuring that we took our only two real chances today because if we can combine being that clinical with better build up play we'll be alright. Think it's a case of poor selection/tactics in tandem with a load of new players.

Is Wilson injured?

 

[Master D]

Challinor out calls. Wow.

Pressure getting to these Stockport lads early doors.

 

[PuB]

Challinor out calls. Wow.

Pressure getting to these Stockport lads early doors.

Dreams turning in to nightmares in the Manchester area.

 

[Son of Cod]

Is Wilson injured?

Yep, Hurst said he'll be back in contention for August Bank Holiday week all being well. Annoying as he looked lively in pre-season, he should walk into the team when he's back going off Vernam's and Eisa's starts to the season. Is he better in a two or a three up top?

 

[Ellis]

Challinor out calls. Wow.

Pressure getting to these Stockport lads early doors.

It's not a Challinor out call. It's just the reality that we have a dogturd Director of Football who acts like a child in a sweet shop incapable of actually building a squad. Powell was dropped on Challinor who has already admitted he doesn't know how to play him.

He's a good manager at this level but is incapable of changing his tactics to get the best out of the squad built at odds with his style. He talks the bull shit about not needing a targetman despite playing with one, to huge success, all of his management career and that we will play a different style of football then proceed to cross it 50 times (6 successful ones) with a team of midgets.

He's letting himself down with his inability to change his tactics, and Wootton being out until at least October will cost him his job because it's clear our DOF seems to think we can just sign shiny championship toys and walk the league - the arrogance is breath-taking.

Our DOF could do the simple fix which is to bring in a targetman as cover until October so Challinor can actually play his tactics effectively but we won't and we will be playing catchup as we always do trying to save our season.

 

[Spanishstag]

It's seriously impressive and really nice to be able to get nearly 13 k at home, clear benefit of having 4 stands at the stadium.

Great but you cant accommodate 4 thousand stags fans

 

[PuB]

It's not a Challinor out call. It's just the reality that we have a dogturd Director of Football who acts like a child in a sweet shop incapable of actually building a squad. Powell was dropped on Challinor who has already admitted he doesn't know how to play him.

He's a good manager at this level but is incapable of changing his tactics to get the best out of the squad built at odds with his style. He talks the bull shit about not needing a targetman despite playing with one, to huge success, all of his management career and that we will play a different style of football then proceed to cross it 50 times (6 successful ones) with a team of midgets.

He's letting himself down with his inability to change his tactics, and Wootton being out until at least October will cost him his job because it's clear our DOF seems to think we can just sign shiny championship toys and walk the league - the arrogance is breath-taking.

Our DOF could do the simple fix which is to bring in a targetman as cover until October so Challinor can actually play his tactics effectively but we won't and we will be playing catchup as we always do trying to save our season.

I wonder if you’re the ones after that Harrogate striker, I think he’d be a good replacement for Wootton, but I see he did actually agree to play today.

 

[SaddlerJonny]

Stockport looked a good team up until the final third. All they did was put cross after cross into no-one.

We were battered first 25 minutes and maybe should have been a goal down after what looked like a stonewall pen to Stockport wasn't given - but after fantastic work by Draper, DJ put us ahead and we should have gone on to score another with Hutchinson in the first half.

Second half Stockport penned us in but without any real incisiveness, just playing it in triangles in front of our midfield and aside from forcing one good save from Evans, not threatening much at all. We scored another good goal on the counter-attack through some fantastic pressing by McEntee and that sealed the points. Nervy last 10 after they scored in injury time with the ref going on to play an extra 2 minutes additional time over the 10 announced, but in the end a fantastic win.

Stockport look a proper number 9 away from being a really good team. Oh and they also kept fighting each other in the away end, which was amusing to say that.

 

[BarraMatt]

Desperate times for Paul Parkhouse at Wrexham it seems, needs a win pronto.

 

[AdamStag]

It’s hard to tell after 2 games as is always the case

Good to get off to a good start but still doesn’t mean much.

 

[Stocky]

Stockport looked a good team up until the final third. All they did was put cross after cross into no-one.

We were battered first 25 minutes and maybe should have been a goal down after what looked like a stonewall pen to Stockport wasn't given - but after fantastic work by Draper, DJ put us ahead and we should have gone on to score another with Hutchinson in the first half.

Second half Stockport penned us in but without any real incisiveness, just playing it in triangles in front of our midfield and aside from forcing one good save from Evans, not threatening much at all. We scored another good goal on the counter-attack through some fantastic pressing by McEntee and that sealed the points. Nervy last 10 after they scored in injury time with the ref going on to play an extra 2 minutes additional time over the 10 announced, but in the end a fantastic win.

Stockport look a proper number 9 away from being a really good team. Oh and they also kept fighting each other in the away end, which was amusing to say that.

Completely agree your assessment of us mate. Any chance you can have a word with our Director of Football?

On the penalty appeal, Powell just doesn't help himself for me, goes down like a sack of shit, I can see why the ref thought nah fuck that not giving that.

Good luck for the rest of the season.

 

[Gunit]

Yep, Hurst said he'll be back in contention for August Bank Holiday week all being well. Annoying as he looked lively in pre-season, he should walk into the team when he's back going off Vernam's and Eisa's starts to the season. Is he better in a two or a three up top?

Wouldn’t know, we only ever play 2 up. I think 2 likely to suit him more, don’t think he’s enough to carry off central of a 3 and not suited to wide.

 

[Essex2Wessex]

I wonder if you’re the ones after that Harrogate striker, I think he’d be a good replacement for Wootton, but I see he did actually agree to play today.

He was subbed on to a sea (well, lake) of booing from home fans.

 

[AdamStag]

Tough rest of the month tbh, we’ve some seriously challenging and hard games coming up with doncaster away next up with home games against stockport bank holiday and bradford into just into sept.

Even after that there’s grimsby away and sheffield weds in the league cup.

 

[masi51]

Yep that’s one of the worst halves of football I’ve seen from us and we’ve managed to score twice.

Things righted themselves second half

 

[Mighty_Bantam]

Absolutely shite that. 3-2 to Notts was very flattering towards us. We need to ditch our current system pronto as it is not working. Rose, Vernam and Eisa are not a front three. I'm bowled over that Hurst started with that combo again. He doesn't seem to know what to do with the players he has right now, which is quite concerning. Hopefully this is partly to do with the team gelling.

Notts were fairly decent today though, not taking anything away from them. Could have and should have been a bigger margin than a single goal victory for them. I was thinking we were lucky to go into half time level before we went 2-1 up thanks to a combination of them switching off and a lovely assist from Mullarkey. Mad that we could have drawn that without a somewhat fortuitous equaliser to make it 2-2.

One thing that was very frustrating was that we weren't pressing Bostock better. Get into him and stop him getting the ball down and across to their more dangerous players. Notts very organised in the middle of the park. Palmer was quality for me today, very clever player who created space for them time and time again. Nemane and Crowley constant threats down the right. If Nemane had better end product he's a L1 player no doubt.

Not a good day at the office for us at all, feeling fortunate that we escaped a spanking. Best team on the day won that, no complaints at all here.

I'm surprised Eisa got a league club, let alone seems to be in their starting eleven.

Unsure what the expectation of him is, but he isn't good enough.