Saturday 6th February

[Back in the DHSS]

Interesting views on the tackle by Spearing in fairness.

The main guy wasn’t too bad but Dave was talking over him, making weird noises, didn’t know some of the laws of the game (Clarke’s is obstruction every day of the week!) and had no idea of the names of our players.

At half time he then starts arguing in the back ground

Don’t condone the abuse towards them on Twitter mind, especially on the TRFC radio where they’ll probably see it.

In real time I thought Spearing took the ball, not the man. Not sure if Clarke trapping the ball between his knees constitutes obstruction or not?
Wouldn’t of thought Dave Higgins is the type of character to be offended by anything the twatterati have to say about him to be honest.
Wish we had a podcast like Ale and Vale.

 

[Pablosammy]

Interesting views on the tackle by Spearing in fairness.

The main guy wasn’t too bad but Dave was talking over him, making weird noises, didn’t know some of the laws of the game (Clarke’s is obstruction every day of the week!) and had no idea of the names of our players.

At half time he then starts arguing in the back ground

Don’t condone the abuse towards them on Twitter mind, especially on the TRFC radio where they’ll probably see it.

Not obstruction at all. There is no rule to say you can't carry the ball between the knees like that, it's just so awkward that is never normally practicable to do!

I had to do some reading up, because I assumed it was an illegal move too, but I've been corrected.

 

[BarraMatt]

David Dunn retweeted a Cambridge fan saying we were better in the reverse fixture, which we were. That settles the argument, Dunn can have his job back.

 

[kieran_vale]

Listening to it now.
One thing I will say in defence of our commentary is that they are all amateur and get paid little or nothing for their endeavours. I thought they were more tuned in to the state of play than BBC radio Stoke were for the reverse fixture. In my opinion Dave Higgins should replace Gary Lineker on MOTD lol.
Anyway each to their own. Good podcast by the way, these lads should be doing your match commentaries.

That podcast has been one of the few things have actually enjoyed about this dogshit season. The only thing that will come close is once the season ends. Can’t remember who was on the Radio Stoke commentary on the first game but if it was Blakeman then that’s a fair point.

Just started listening and Bez gone right in on that Tranmere commentator. And I thought I was harsh on him

 

[valefan16]

Not obstruction at all. There is no rule to say you can't carry the ball between the knees like that, it's just so awkward that is never normally practicable to do!

I had to do some reading up, because I assumed it was an illegal move too, but I've been corrected.

He kneels over the ball first so Guthrie can’t challenge for it. It’s there the obstruction occurs.

 

[valefan16]

That podcast has been one of the few things have actually enjoyed about this dogshit season. The only thing that will come close is once the season ends. Can’t remember who was on the Radio Stoke commentary on the first game but if it was Blakeman then that’s a fair point.

Just started listening and Bez gone right in on that Tranmere commentator. And I thought I was harsh on him

I only started listening to it after Mansfield debacle and it’s been really good. The McCombe interview was good the other day.

The players seem to like it too... which is always a worry! Mills probably isn’t a fan mind!

Some good points... need the manager sorting ASAP, be it McGreal or give Flitcroft what he wants rather than penny pinching. Carols great but has been a few big errors of judgement this season that she will learn from.

Need to somehow find 45-50 points to stay up and have a real look at how we’ve so badly fucked this season up, the reasons why we’ve failed well below expectation and what needs putting right to get the project in the right direction. Get rid of the bad eggs, sort the leaks coming from the club would be a start.

 

[kieran_vale]

I only started listening to it after Mansfield debacle and it’s been really good. The McCombe interview was good the other day.

The players seem to like it too... which is always a worry! Mills probably isn’t a fan mind!

Some good points... need the manager sorting ASAP, be it McGreal or give Flitcroft what he wants rather than penny pinching. Carols great but has been a few big errors of judgement this season that she will learn from.

Need to somehow find 45-50 points to stay up and have a real look at how we’ve so badly fucked this season up, the reasons why we’ve failed well below expectation and what needs putting right to get the project in the right direction. Get rid of the bad eggs, sort the leaks coming from the club would be a start.

I'm not worried about safety in all honesty. I don't see how two of the bottom three can string together the results needed to do it even if we didn't pick up another point. With that said it does not diminish the fact this season has been a monumental failure. The squad whilst having some talent in certain areas lacks mental toughness and tactical awareness and it shows in our defending. I'm not even going to highlight one individual on that as we have tried various combinations involving all our defenders and they all have shown some serious glaring weaknesses.

Personally if it was me I'd give it to McGreal on an 18 month contract. Flitcroft does not convince me in the slightest and I think we've dodged a bullet there. I know people will say one of Carols criteria was previous success but that is all relative anyway how you define that. Let him come in, take 3 minutes to decide all bar about 5 are bums and then plan a big rebuild this summer. Regardless of that it must be said though Carol needs to take the blame for this in large part with the complete lack of any proactivity regards resolving this. If Smurthwaite still was owner he would have been hammered over this and rightly so. Don't want to be overly critical but can only say it as it is.

 

[E10rifle]

Its OK though. Josh and Mark Wright are getting a game.

How is old Brigadier Brylcreem getting on? Everything I promised and less?

 

[Kauto Star]

Why have we turned to crap?

Basically Yems has started to believe his own hype and thinks that whichever team he picks can win a game!

Harrogate got a red card. Will Smith sent off by the man in black.

Thats pretty much ninety minutes (including Tuesday) against 10 men without a shot on target! The only chances we are making are when Nichols drops deep, collects the ball and plays a midfielder through who either doesn't shoot or blazes it wide.

Its OK though. Josh and Mark Wright are getting a game.

Casey

How is Josh Wright doing for you. He had a shocking spell with us, never have I seen a professional footballer look less interested during games for us, the only thing he was interested in was not messing his hair up

 

[valefan16]

I'm not worried about safety in all honesty. I don't see how two of the bottom three can string together the results needed to do it even if we didn't pick up another point. With that said it does not diminish the fact this season has been a monumental failure. The squad whilst having some talent in certain areas lacks mental toughness and tactical awareness and it shows in our defending. I'm not even going to highlight one individual on that as we have tried various combinations involving all our defenders and they all have shown some serious glaring weaknesses.

Personally if it was me I'd give it to McGreal on an 18 month contract. Flitcroft does not convince me in the slightest and I think we've dodged a bullet there. I know people will say one of Carols criteria was previous success but that is all relative anyway how you define that. Let him come in, take 3 minutes to decide all bar about 5 are bums and then plan a big rebuild this summer. Regardless of that it must be said though Carol needs to take the blame for this in large part with the complete lack of any proactivity regards resolving this. If Smurthwaite still was owner he would have been hammered over this and rightly so. Don't want to be overly critical but can only say it as it is.

It’s a funny one, if your criticise Carol it’s like walking into a bar as an outsider in a Western movie, but your right she has made some poor decisions and needs to learn fast.

People have made the point that we seem to focused on the charity work and been shot down but whilst it’s admirable and great for the clubs reputation the eye does feel as though it’s drifted off the ball in regards to the football side of it.

Our best XI is one of the best in the league but we’ve not been able to get close to fielding it for much of the season and the players we expected to be good as cover have turned out largely to be awful. Robinson hasn’t performed, Mills crap, Fitz I think is ok but still below Monty, Whitehead is absolutely crap, McKirdy a complete waste of space despite all the talent.

The only real plus has been Rodney who was signed as a long term investment (worst game for us yesterday mine).

We’ve clearly got issues with the AppleCart, the amount of rumours and way things have gone, that side of it is almost like the Gannon era.

It has been a complete waste this season of a great chance to really push on from the success last season, a chance to push the positivity on. How many clubs have been backed like ours during the pandemic with 4000 plus season tickets sold and the shirts etc, almost all refused refunds on season tickets and 10 gamers last season too.

Like you said if Norman has overseen this season there would of been huge unrest, they’ve been lucky fans are not in as the atmosphere would have been very bad, can you imagine the fans after that Barrow performance for example at home? Or the away end at Mansfield?

Maybe Carol hasn’t read the fans because she’s not had the fans in to see the frustrations they are suffering?

 

[Soz]

I've not read any reaction and not listened to ale and vale yet but I'm not surprised they're talking about the commentary. It was so poor that i was laughing through quite a bit of it. at one point it seemed like they used fouled as an alternative to tackled when vale were trying to win the ball, they were throwing it around that much.

there was the actual foul by monty when he nudged into vaughan going for a header and they both went "woahhhhhhhhhhhhh" as if it was some knee high studs first karate kick challenge, and then nothing on the worst tackle in the same which was the spearing one.

I'm all for hearty challenges but he could have hurt our player there, the days of "he won the ball" are gone when you scythe through the back of a player to get there. I don't think it was a red but I think some refs would have thought about it. I think the ref overall was ok but he lost control of the game after that. Vale started feeling aggrieved and were throwing ourselves down under any challenge and tranmere started targeting hurst trying to wind up him up to get a reaction.


As for the game, no complaints and I think 3-1 flattered us a bit, general play was fairly even but tranmere just too good going forward, created way more and way better chances with the quality players who can put them away more often than not.
I don't think we were necessarily poor today, not compared to some of the games in the last few months, we just played a good team.

 

[Soz]

He kneels over the ball first so Guthrie can’t challenge for it. It’s there the obstruction occurs.

forgot this one. you definitely can't just dive on the ball. should have been an indirect freekick i believe.

 

[valefan16]

forgot this one. you definitely can't just dive on the ball. should have been an indirect freekick i believe.

Correct, neither that or the Spearing one would have made a difference mind, we’d just have huffed and puffed as usual.

 

[Soz]

And sinclair got booked for moaning about it and you can clearly see 3-4 vale players actually stop and look at the ref like "wtf". That was a poor one.

 

[Bone Idle]

What to say! first half we were utter dog shite and grimsby played us off the park they should have gone in at ht with a lead as they deserved it, bennetts brain fart tackle did'nt help and it was a deserved red card thats 5 reds now in7 games its not good enough and flynn has to sort out our discip[ine or we will be in deep shit with the efl, second half we were a lot better with 10 men the couple of subs helped there we scored a good goal by maynard and should have had another when scrimshaw was 1 on 1 with the keeper we were also helped with the fact that grimsby did'nt turn up for the second half, but a welcome 3 points and an end to our 8 game winless run, as for grimsby they showed they have enough about them to get themselves out of trouble with their new recruits they just need a little time to gel.

 

[valefan16]

And sinclair got booked for moaning about it and you can clearly see 3-4 vale players actually stop and look at the ref like "wtf". That was a poor one.

Referee was alright until that tackle then seemed to lose the plot

 

[Pablosammy]

And sinclair got booked for moaning about it and you can clearly see 3-4 vale players actually stop and look at the ref like "wtf". That was a poor one.

But it was hilarious, regardless of whether it was legal or not!

 

[Vale on Trent]

We are shit, end of discussion. I’m sick of analysing it every week, to get to the conclusion that we are shit. Regardless of whoever our owners are, we are still shit, just as shit as we were under Smurthwaite. I’m sick of being shit for nearly every season of my life. Sorry for using the word shit so much!

Tranmere are probably a similar sized club to ourselves but their squad and management team is light years ahead of ours. The one time we went all out to get a decent manager (Micky Adams) we got promoted and then finished around 10th in League One. We could have easily gone all out on a quality striker or centre back. Instead we have a massive squad of average players, some are even de-registered which sums it up.

We should be renamed Cheap Option FC.

 

[RLC]

The problem we have with the commentary is that BBC Merseyside no longer cover our games, so we can't simply tap into a local radio feed like most clubs at this level. So we are then faced with the alternative of using volunteers or paying for a professional commentary team, which is not cost effective in the middle of a pandemic.

I don't like our commentaries, other than on the rare occasions when Clint Hill is involved, and I complain about them constantly, but I can understand the club's dilemma.

 

[Casey]

Josh Wright report.

He has not made an assist, not created any chances and has given away a penalty.

Hard to say for sure how well he is doing but since he has come into the side the midfield has gone walkabout. I'm not sure if it's him or because the shape of the team has been upset by forcing him into it. Hessenthaler is the only, half way, defensive midfielder we have. To accommodate Wright he is playing on the left and while he may think its great to go trundling down the left wing we are very exposed in the centre. The times we see the opposition run from their penalty box to ours without a challenge is becoming farcical!

What is clear that an already light midfield has now seemingly stopped trying to get to any second balls and closing down is now seen as an optional extra. Is it all Wright's fault. No, but he is part of it and our manager needs to make some hard choices and make those choices quickly.

Casey

 

[Boz]

With regard to the refereeing in the Rovers v Vale, there were a couple of incidents in the first half where Mr Young got it wrong; the arm/elbow on Vaughan, no effort to play the ball, no card shown and the failure to award a free-kick to Monthe, though apparently realising he'd made a cock-up he blew up for a non-existent foul in the resultant Vale corner. When the referee doesn't make a firm line, then players are inclined to take more risks.
Spearing's was a genuine attempt to get the ball a successful attempt at that, but there was contact with the man and while it's a great retro tackle from our viewpoint, in the current climate I'd have expected foul and card.
The Clarke incident, would have to look at again, as can't recall how he came to be on the ground in the first place. A lot of referees would have blown up and given the free-kick to the defending side in that circumstance, due to the risk of injury to the grounded player.

On our commentary arrangements, it's as RLC says. I actually prefer it when Dave Higgins is on as they tend to stick to talking about the football more, when both the commentators are not ex-footballers, their minds tend to wander, they talk about anything but to the extent of missing key incidents, like red cards. Clint Hill is better but doing scouting work now, so doubt we'll hear from him much, but he was good at it

 

[Roger Stone]

What to say! first half we were utter dog shite and grimsby played us off the park they should have gone in at ht with a lead as they deserved it, bennetts brain fart tackle did'nt help and it was a deserved red card thats 5 reds now in7 games its not good enough and flynn has to sort out our discip[ine or we will be in deep shit with the efl, second half we were a lot better with 10 men the couple of subs helped there we scored a good goal by maynard and should have had another when scrimshaw was 1 on 1 with the keeper we were also helped with the fact that grimsby did'nt turn up for the second half, but a welcome 3 points and an end to our 8 game winless run, as for grimsby they showed they have enough about them to get themselves out of trouble with their new recruits they just need a little time to gel.

Pretty much summed it up. Much better after going down to 10 and saw game out quite well. Encouraging debut for Farquharson - could be a find. Looks like Flynn has uncovered a couple of non-league gems with DLK and Farki. Early days of course.
Complete lottery playing at home due to the pitch, we need to find a way to grind out results at home, maybe Taylor up top is a better option and more of a target man.
I think we've recruited well in the Jan window, albeit Twine will be missed but Gambin has made a good start in terms of goals / assists.
Must stop shooting ourselves in the foot with the red cards. Btw its 4 reds in 5 games for us. Quest incorrect last night stating 5 in 7 as they included Crawley's red against us. Still shit and discipline has to improve.
Thought Grimsby were decent particularly first half. Should be ok to stay up.

 

[valefan16]

With regard to the refereeing in the Rovers v Vale, there were a couple of incidents in the first half where Mr Young got it wrong; the arm/elbow on Vaughan, no effort to play the ball, no card shown and the failure to award a free-kick to Monthe, though apparently realising he'd made a cock-up he blew up for a non-existent foul in the resultant Vale corner. When the referee doesn't make a firm line, then players are inclined to take more risks.
Spearing's was a genuine attempt to get the ball a successful attempt at that, but there was contact with the man and while it's a great retro tackle from our viewpoint, in the current climate I'd have expected foul and card.
The Clarke incident, would have to look at again, as can't recall how he came to be on the ground in the first place. A lot of referees would have blown up and given the free-kick to the defending side in that circumstance, due to the risk of injury to the grounded player.

On our commentary arrangements, it's as RLC says. I actually prefer it when Dave Higgins is on as they tend to stick to talking about the football more, when both the commentators are not ex-footballers, their minds tend to wander, they talk about anything but to the extent of missing key incidents, like red cards. Clint Hill is better but doing scouting work now, so doubt we'll hear from him much, but he was good at it

There was no decisions that would have changed the game like the first tie at least when he disallowed two good goals, gave two penalties that were not etc.

More an observation from the pod, 20 years ago Spearing tackling that way gets fans going and the argument is are the rules now way to soft. In the current rules it’s potentially a red but the rules shouldn’t be that way.

The issue with the commentary is our fans paid a tenner for that as the IFollow wouldn’t use ours from a studio, the guy was bias beyond comprehension and absolutely dreadful, as a home fan I guess he’d be popular but when it’s servicing both sets it was poor, especially as it’s a paid for service from our fans too.

Ours can be pants as they waffle on about wrestling and stuff for some reason but generally is more balanced if split between both sets.

Was funny though and has caused some stir that’s probably taken some flack of the team in fairness!

Like I said though for all our failings by far and away the best team we’ve faced and I’ve seen all our games this season, wrongly relegated in my view with it being so finely balanced and as a victim of the PPG decision (all be it we agreed to it) I did have sympathy so is probably justice if you do get promotion first attempt. How could Northampton that were falling like a stone go up when they would possibly have dropped out the play offs instead. It was criminal.

 

[saddler78]

What to say! first half we were utter dog shite and grimsby played us off the park they should have gone in at ht with a lead as they deserved it, bennetts brain fart tackle did'nt help and it was a deserved red card thats 5 reds now in7 games its not good enough and flynn has to sort out our discip[ine or we will be in deep shit with the efl, second half we were a lot better with 10 men the couple of subs helped there we scored a good goal by maynard and should have had another when scrimshaw was 1 on 1 with the keeper we were also helped with the fact that grimsby did'nt turn up for the second half, but a welcome 3 points and an end to our 8 game winless run, as for grimsby they showed they have enough about them to get themselves out of trouble with their new recruits they just need a little time to gel.

How is Scrimshaw doing for you mate?

 

[pontoonlew]

Nice to see Newport fans saying we’re good enough to stay up but we’re fast running out of games to do so

 

[Bone Idle]

How is Scrimshaw doing for you mate?

Early days yet bud, looked ok in the few opportunities he's had and scored a nice goal at oldham, time will tell i guess.

 

[Bone Idle]

Nice to see Newport fans saying we’re good enough to stay up but we’re fast running out of games to do so

We are only half way through the season bud! plenty of time for you and others to put a winning run together and pull away from the bottom.

 

[GTFCfish]

We are only half way through the season bud! plenty of time for you and others to put a winning run together and pull away from the bottom.

Unfortunately at the minute we’re only producing 45 minute performances though, if we can turn them into 90 we have a chance but with every passing missed opportunity the chances are getting slimmer.

 

[Robshep]

Unfortunately at the minute we’re only producing 45 minute performances though, if we can turn them into 90 we have a chance but with every passing missed opportunity the chances are getting slimmer.

Look at Hartlepool the year we went down. 10pts adrift and stayed up.

 

[Vanni]

Yep they were excellent at ours earlier this season and I’m not surprised they’ve reached the top three now. I’m more surprised they’ve only started showing form now.

I know I said on the other thread that it's not a good idea to rate the other sides after watching them in action just the one or two times but I agree that Tranny were very good that day.

I like to think that us Cambridge fans do have a good idea on what a good top 3 side looks like considering this is our 7th season down here now. That game was only the 3rd game of the season and we were on a high coming from those 3-0 and 5-0 wins over Carlisle and Morecambe, and Tranny were missing a few regulars as well. And yet they were much better than us all over the park and I felt we were lucky to get a point that day. Watching on ifollow makes it hard to say with any certainty whether a player has strayed offside or not, but I remember thinking at the time that their lad was onside and their late 'goal' was wrongly chalked off.