Saturday 30th September fixtures

[YEO YEO YEO]

Lincoln won't have an easier game this season.

Darrell has got a hell of a job on his hands.

Yeah, see my comments above. You kept going, but such a lack of quality in the squad. Your number 10 looked terrible and was pulled off after 30 minutes. If we had a front line it would have been much more comfortable. No doubt Wed against West Ham took it out of the players, so scoring 2 early goals worked well and allowed us just to give Chelteham the ball and do nothing with it.

 

[hellogregory]

23rd December is going to be a straight shootout to see who spends Christmas Day bottom of the league.

 

[Si Robin]

Yeah, see my comments above. You kept going, but such a lack of quality in the squad. Your number 10 looked terrible and was pulled off after 30 minutes. If we had a front line it would have been much more comfortable. No doubt Wed against West Ham took it out of the players, so scoring 2 early goals worked well and allowed us just to give Chelteham the ball and do nothing with it.

That is our record signing. Looked fantastic second half of last season, but has been dreadful so far this season.

 

[Marked Ox]

Bad feeling about this game against Stevenage. For the first time this season we are setting up very differently. With no recognised centre forward again, I can see the logic somewhat as I think Bodin will be outmuscled on his own.

We have gone for wingbacks for the first time. This will either be a masterstroke or you'll see us completely disorganised and see our set up go pear-shaped, quickly!

Manning is definitely showing we have flexibility in formation and approach within the squad. I like that he isn't wedded to one style.

 

[dwightyorke]

The reason why we won today is because we have Dion Charles who will score 20 plus goals this season and vale have nothing upfront. There was also a Bolton fan earlier saying vale are there bogey team but that's nonsense as we always beat them. They have only beat us 3 times in history and only once at vale park and that was in 1988 before if anything were there bogey team.

 

[K-Win]

September looked a hard month.. absolutely smashed it.

I still won't believe anything's changed until we can nick a point off Charlton.

 

[hellogregory]

Let's be fair - Mellish was at fault for the Vale debacle, though Andresson could probably have done better with it. At Stevenage Andresson earned us a point, one error not withstanding. Harsh criticising him for the Lincoln goal IMO.

If he's the worst keeper you've seen playing for us you must be pretty young.

I’ve just been reminded of his other calamity at port vale which had slipped my mind. He spilled a shot like he did at Stevenage but was also saved by the flag.

Again I challenge anyone to find a goalkeeper in our history with as many amateurish errors in 5 and a quarter games as Jokul has. I’d be amazed if there are any even close.

 

[valefan16]

It was a game of two halves, you’d have thought the teams had swapped kits at half time!

First half was the worst we’ve played all season for me and we shown Bolton far too much respect and gave them freedom to play, made them look like Barcelona and it’s massively frustrating because we’ve got where we have being positive with the ball and there was nothing to fear today by just doing what we had all season.

Goal I’d need to see back if it was a foul on Ojo but we’ve long enough to deal with it and some bad luck with Cass slipping which gifts them the chance.

Second half we came out and played like we have been, put Massey and Thomas on and it was rolls reversed, we played some lovely stuff and Bolton resorted to lumping it and it just coming back like we did first half.

Had the chances to get a point, Garrity and Balmers header but we are missing a number 9, we are a striker away from being able to challenge and it’s why we’ll probably fall short. Loft being injured doesn’t help and Wilson is a number 10.

Referee was meh but the linesman was awful, Bolton had 2 or 3 good chances before they scored and all of them were offside, he was miles behind play! And the Wilson foul was ridiculous.

Bolton had a couple of decent players, the striker they took off really changed the game as he held everything up for them and was excellent (Ndulu is it?)

The number 3 was a bit of a tool, seemed to want to fight everyone and lucky to only see one booking.

Overall not too down hearted, frustrated by the first half as we don’t lose that if we play our normal game but second half was excellent and this is still a young side and new group coming together.

Plant was outstanding and Arblaster again was by far the best player out there, he’s going to be a Premier League player without doubt (possibly this season if the Blades recall him).

Pleased with Debrah as well.

For all the talk of Bolton’s injuries we missed some key players today, was crying out for Chislett and Mitch Clarke and certainly the option of Loft. Big blow losing the Yak early on too so hopefully he’s ok.

Onto two tricky away games but overall can’t complain about our progress after 10 games and a last 16 at least in the Carabao.

 

[hellogregory]

This clown should never play for the club again. Lavelle even points and tells him as the player is running to the ball, but he’s too fucking dosile to realise what’s going on.

https://twitter.com/wwfcofficial/status/1708169505979937204?s=46

 

[leedsvaliant]

It was a game of two halves, you’d have thought the teams had swapped kits at half time!

First half was the worst we’ve played all season for me and we shown Bolton far too much respect and gave them freedom to play, made them look like Barcelona and it’s massively frustrating because we’ve got where we have being positive with the ball and there was nothing to fear today by just doing what we had all season.

Goal I’d need to see back if it was a foul on Ojo but we’ve long enough to deal with it and some bad luck with Cass slipping which gifts them the chance.

Second half we came out and played like we have been, put Massey and Thomas on and it was rolls reversed, we played some lovely stuff and Bolton resorted to lumping it and it just coming back like we did first half.

Had the chances to get a point, Garrity and Balmers header but we are missing a number 9, we are a striker away from being able to challenge and it’s why we’ll probably fall short. Loft being injured doesn’t help and Wilson is a number 10.

Referee was meh but the linesman was awful, Bolton had 2 or 3 good chances before they scored and all of them were offside, he was miles behind play! And the Wilson foul was ridiculous.

Bolton had a couple of decent players, the striker they took off really changed the game as he held everything up for them and was excellent (Ndulu is it?)

The number 3 was a bit of a tool, seemed to want to fight everyone and lucky to only see one booking.

Overall not too down hearted, frustrated by the first half as we don’t lose that if we play our normal game but second half was excellent and this is still a young side and new group coming together.

Plant was outstanding and Arblaster again was by far the best player out there, he’s going to be a Premier League player without doubt (possibly this season if the Blades recall him).

Pleased with Debrah as well.

For all the talk of Bolton’s injuries we missed some key players today, was crying out for Chislett and Mitch Clarke and certainly the option of Loft. Big blow losing the Yak early on too so hopefully he’s ok.

Onto two tricky away games but overall can’t complain about our progress after 10 games and a last 16 at least in the Carabao.

It was a strange first half as we just sat off and watched them play about..any team would look like prime Barcelona. Second half we played how we have been doing and they were just hacking it anywhere at times. Also started doing that time wasting (particularly the keeper) that I thought there was a new directive to stamp it out). We had Dion Charles then we win that game, but that's what a bigger budget gets you. Forrester looked like he did for us, not good enough and special shout for the linesmen who'd clearly forgot the offside rule.

 

[Moonie]

I think the best I can say about that Carlisle side was they never let their heads drop and showed good togetherness and fight, but there wasn’t much attacking threat on show - though the black lad up front (Ablade, I think?) had some nous and skill.

There wasn’t much attacking threat from us either in fairness, but we got the goals.

I don’t think we pressed home the one-man advantage that well, and we still lack a coherent style as a team, but oh well, shouldn’t moan too much after a win.

Thought you looked decent up until you took the lead. Don't know whether you sat off us deliberately after that or whether the halftime substitution changed things, but we looked most likely to score in the second half - until you actually did. Big chances for Maguire and particularly Lavelle which we didn't take. No idea why we persevere with Luke Plange at this point. He's incapable of taking a man on.

Need to ditch the three at the back and get an extra body in midfield to to allow Gibson and Moxon the freedom to get forward more.

One thing's for sure - keep making stupid mistakes and we're going to be in trouble. This takeover needs to happen quickly to allow Simpson to plan for January.

 

[codaplenty]

Orient were the dominant team in the 1st half.Fleetwood just couldn't keep possession. Whatever was said at half time worked and we were a different team in the 2nd playing some really good attacking football. Visitors made us work hard towards the end and they contributed to a very entertaining game. Credit to the ref for a good game, 4 seconds added to the 1st half which was how well he kept everything going
2 red cards right at the death 1 for each side but a deserved 1st victory of the season for the Cods

 

[GeneralLee]

Lost to Oxford 3-1 and can have no complaints, beaten by the better side.

We started well enough, took the lead after some good play by Roberts to set Hemmings away, he pulled it across to Reid who tucked it away to give us the lead. That was about as good as it got for us, Oxford settled and then took control of the game, bar a short spell in the second half it was one way traffic.

Greg Leigh struck twice either side of half time and Moore scored from a short corner that caught us out to seal the win.

We competed well but unfortunately their class proved too much. Have a feeling I'll be saying that a little bit more in the coming weeks, looking at who we've played, 10 opponents so far, the top 2 are amongst those but the other 8 are all in the bottom half, some tougher games ahead.

I think you’re being too generous in favour of OUFC! We out Stevenaged Stevenage, just! The fact we changed our entire game plan and style speaks volumes for the opposition. It was a real test, arguably the biggest of the season so far.

3-1 I think probably flattered us. The biggest difference was the quality more than anything, something we are blessed with across the pitch right now.

I don’t think we will see an uglier game played all season, though you are bloody difficult to play against!

On a side note I’ve just watched Steve Evans’ post match interview. Is it an Oxford thing or is he bitter about any side he loses to?

 

[thewwfc]

On a side note I’ve just watched Steve Evans’ post match interview. Is it an Oxford thing or is he bitter about any side he loses to?

Um…I take it you haven’t seen an Evans interview before then. Option 2 all day long.

 

[GeneralLee]

Um…I take it you haven’t seen an Evans interview before then. Option 2 all day long.

Plenty.

He’s very Oxford United-centric with every club.

 

[Moomin]

Today was poor, really poor. I was worried that we’d throw in a bad performance after doing so well on Tuesday and so it proved.

Northampton were up for it, and played very well. Hoskins took his goal brilliantly and I liked their no9 too. Guthrie at the back had the easiest day ever against the ineffective Sonny Cox. He just isn’t up to L1 standard. We desperately need a central striker. Muskwe isn’t far away but not sure that’s enough. We missed Mitchell, Niskanen, Rankine, Trevitt and Muskwe so much but the players coming in have to perform and they didn’t.

Caldwell’s post match was spot on and he fully credited Northampton saying they deserved 3 points. The only player who really played well was Sinisalo who kept us in the game, which says it all.

Need to improve massively against Charlton on Tuesday

 

[CTFCfan99]

Strange game at home to Cheltenham. Said before the game we needed to get an early goal to settle us in and sap their confidence, and we did just that. Cheltenham were terrible first half with a back 4, we exploited it well with 2 goals for Sorensen at RWB. Their no. 10 was rightly subbed after 30 mins, he couldnt do anything right. Not sure who he was.

2nd half, Cheltenham FINALLY changed their shape to what lookes like a back 5. We were happy to let Cheltenham have all the ball, they huffed and puffed, but i can't remember our keeper having a save. Lots of crosses etc, but not very dangerous at all. Very bizzarre game as it was too comfortable.

Just pleased we kept 11 players on the pitch with how strange some of the refs decisions were, scored 2 and kept a clean sheet.

Lowest home attendance so far with just over 100 away fans. I'm sure your new manager will get you going, but your team understandably is massively devoid of any confidence.

4 home gamea, 3 clean sheets, 3 wins and just the 1 goal conceded against Carlisle.

The back 4 was suicide against your wing backs and as you say, by the time we changed it it was too late.

I actually thought we were better going forward in the first half than the second but that's not saying much. Second half I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened aside from the officials making some really bizarre decisions that infuriated both teams equally.

The effort is there, but most of our players simply aren't good enough, which is down to those in charge of recruitment. I hope Clarke can get a tune out of them, and some have shown the odd flash of potential, but I'm not banking on it.

 

[Luke Imp]

Can't add too much more than others. I think a combination of the game being won at 2-0 and conserving energy meant it was overall a fairly poor game. At times it was that comfortable we were just going through the motions and there in body but not necessarily in mind. Very weird game IMO.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Fucking Barton lambasting individuals in public again. Ironically Luke Thomas (again), one of the more consistent performers this season

https://twitter.com/x/status/1708171951041048776

 

[Gassy]

Fucking Barton lambasting individuals in public again. Ironically Luke Thomas (again), one of the more consistent performers this season

https://twitter.com/x/status/1708171951041048776

Not sure what's worse, the ridiculous rant from Barton or that fact that BBC's quote is "sometimes it's not your day"

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Not sure what's worse, the ridiculous rant from Barton or that fact that BBC's quote is "sometimes it's not your day"

Bristol Posts headline will be different for sure!

 

[thewwfc]

well, the rest of us have been quietly pointing out he’s a toxic little c*** for a while now - sounds like the lightbulbs are finally turning on in BS7 too.

I guess perhaps people have liked the siege mentality or something (and of course getting you promoted helps) but maybe he’s coming to the end of his shelf life.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Typical deflection tactics. Blame the entire defeat on one player. Sounds like JB is feeling the pressure.

 

[kieran_vale]

Typical Barton comments but it’s just his way of doing things. Seems to be his management style to create chaos. Had some results doing it but at some point you have to think it’ll catch up with him.

 

[Si Robin]

Fucking Barton lambasting individuals in public again. Ironically Luke Thomas (again), one of the more consistent performers this season

https://twitter.com/x/status/1708171951041048776

He should be careful singling out Luke Thomas - didn't he have some documented mental health issues a couple of years back?

 

[Si Robin]

I actually thought we were better going forward in the first half than the second but that's not saying much. Second half I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened aside from the officials making some really bizarre decisions that infuriated both teams equally.

This is the big issue at the moment. We look solid with 3 at the back, but we have absolutely nothing going forward when we go that way. We change to a 4 and finally look like we have something going forward, but it leaves us as a mess at the back instead. It's really difficult to see what the answer is though.

I was watching on a stream yesterday and to be honest, I nearly fell asleep in the second half, it was that boring.

 

[coronakopite]

Best away day of the season so far.

Local steered us to some free parking. Didn't get past the Alexandra and it's home-made sausage rolls, pork pies & fantastic beers pre-match.

Cracking atmosphere with to and fro between fans in a packed ground and we grew into the last 10 minutes to nearly steal it. And it would have been a steal. We rode our luck (and the failings of Derby's ageing strikers) but the CBs (Bennet/Morrison) and keeper (Mannion) were magnificent and a great calming influence.

 

[Arbury]

Lovely ground is pride park, that far side is pretty impressive and even though we’re shoved in the corner it’s not the worst view in the lge, it’s probably better than my main stand seat at abtopia which has got posts in view!

As for the game, it was a pretty drab affair albeit with plenty of determination on our side and a lack of quality on derby’s side, they had one real good chance with waghorn in the 2nd half but other than that it was a midfield battle with neither side really doing enough to win it.

We’ll take the point and onto Barnsley Tuesday night.

KTF.

 

[EricSabin]

Just had a proper look at the stats from yesterday, Exeter had 64% of the ball and only one shot. Sounds like a decent defensive performance but also 12 shots with 8 on target shows we managed to be more ambitious than at Vale.

Reading at home Tuesday another good test

 

[Si Robin]

It's just come to my attention that so desperate are Shrewsbury to be the new Cheltenham Town, they've now gone a whole month without scoring as well.