Saturday 9th October

[Chief Rocka]

Are you going in disguise saturday.

In the Millhouse corner for a change, I’ll give em a wave.

 

[PuB]

Gillingham at home. Given there form we got to be looking at 3 points. Most of our fans are hoping Morris goes a little more attacking and maybe bloods one or two of our exciting youngsters mainly Tabiner or Charlie Finney.

It really wouldn't surprise me if Mandron and or Kashket come back to haunt us and the Gills nick a 1-0.

Mandron has been poor so far, bar a couple of games, some of the fan base are starting to think he’s just not interested. Kashket has been good, plenty of effort but just not getting the luck in front of goal. I think he was man of the match last weekend as he ran his proverbials off all game.

Wouldn’t be surprised if the former was dropped for this match and replaced by Walker, who scored two in the pizza cup on Tuesday night.

 

[The Terminator]

Away at Doncaster, tricky game - They're still 9th in the table and have some useful players in attacking areas, despite what their fans are saying they will cause us problems. Can understand their fans frustration after losing to the bottom club Tuesday.

Wellens going back there for the first time since his sacking a year ago, he has said in his time with us he shouldn't have gone back there as the job was far too big for him, the squad needed a too big an overhaul and he didn't seem to get on well with the person in the DOF role if there is one, think there were a few clashes with what players should be signed there.

I'd expect us to make one or two changes after losing last week, Aaron Drinan will likely start in place of Charlie Kelman and Jordan Brown or Craig Clay I think will start in the centre of midfield with Darren Pratley rested.

I will be staying over night for this one, train up in the morning and train back the next day. Annoying as I originally got the train for £25 with a railcard.

 

[hellogregory]

A few weeks ago I would have had this down as a game we should be picking something up from if we are serious about a mid table finish, but all of a sudden Hartlepool look like a team. Scoring goals and picking up points against some of the more fancied sides in the league.

We were terrible last week. The problem is we have zero creativity in our team, no one who can make something happen or put in a decent cross. We rely on defensive calamities or a set play to score. Basically defend even half competently and Carlisle won’t score past you. Half of our squad is out injured which also doesn’t help, we pick up at least one injury every week, guaranteed. The latest one looks like being Callum Guy which leaves our midfield looking desperately lacking in quality and experience.

I can see this being another desperately poor impotent performance and sadly I can only see one outcome and that’s a revitalised Hartlepool turning us over.

Hartlepool United 2-0 Carlisle United

Keith Curle extending his impressive record against us since leaving.

 

[Chief Rocka]

Revitalised Hartlepool is a leap, we’ve had one win in 12 which was a good performance, we still couldn’t beat a hopeless Gillingham and got a very lucky point at Mansfield.

2-1 either way, pondlife on both sides out in force.

 

[Conker]

Mansfield seem to be either brilliant or shit with little in between. We've been off colour for a couple of weeks and need to get a foothold. I fancy this to be our first draw, but wouldn't be surprised to see it end up 3-0 either way.

Been shit very little this season, wasteful would work though.

 

[MWS]

What i suspect will happen against Bradford is we will control the game........and lose

 

[Indian Dan]

We’ll stick one right up Fatty Evans’ arse tomorrow.

St. Evenage 1 - Swindon 4

 

[hellogregory]

Revitalised Hartlepool is a leap, we’ve had one win in 12 which was a good performance, we still couldn’t beat a hopeless Gillingham and got a very lucky point at Mansfield.

2-1 either way, pondlife on both sides out in force.

Revitalised from a week ago.

4 goals and 4 points from Mansfield away and Doncaster at home.

Beat us on Saturday and suddenly you’re only 6 points behind us

 

[Monkey Tennis]

Been shit very little this season, wasteful would work though.

I'm only going off Mansfield fans' comments on here - whether that's wise or not...

 

[Cas]

We’ll stick one right up Fatty Evans’ arse tomorrow.

St. Evenage 1 - Swindon 4

90 minutes of balls being launched into your box, with that donkey Piergiafanny shirt pulling and being in the refs ear for the entirety of the match. Lovely.

 

[F!RTHY]

What i suspect will happen against Bradford is we will control the game........and lose

Hmm …

 

[Cas]

It’s just a gut feeling - and we lose these types of games.

Completely agree, no excuses - we should win.

I'm hoping we've turned a corner in 'these games' when we beat bogey side Harrogate last week. No excuses tomorrow. Front-foot from the off, and beat these. We're at home and we're the much better team. Then again, our worst performance last season at home, for me, was probably against Hartlepool and Dave Challinor. He'll have his side set up to be workmanlike but we should have too much quality for them.

 

[F!RTHY]

I'm hoping we've turned a corner in 'these games' when we beat bogey side Harrogate last week. No excuses tomorrow. Front-foot from the off, and beat these. We're at home and we're the much better team. Then again, our worst performance last season at home, for me, was probably against Hartlepool and Dave Challinor. He'll have his side set up to be workmanlike but we should have too much quality for them.

Hope you’re right, Cas.

I look at the players they have:

Crankshaw: will come here with a lot to prove.

Sarcevic: always has a blinder against us

Madden: see the above

It won’t be easy, but I’m confident enough to say they will not dictate play. Stinks of a last minute equaliser/winner does this one. For who, though?

 

[Cas]

Hope you’re right, Cas.

I look at the players they have:

Crankshaw: will come here with a lot to prove.

Sarcevic: always has a blinder against us

Madden: see the above

It won’t be easy, but I’m confident enough to say they will not dictate play. Stinks of a last minute equaliser/winner does this one. For who, though?

I quite liked Crankshaw, but I don't think he'll cause us too many problems tomorrow. Can't see Sarcevic or Madden getting much joy out of our defence either - I'd back Platt to dominate any of their front players.

I don't think they'll dictate play either. Get an early goal like in previous weeks, but this time push and be ruthless and grab a second. We'll be fine. We're only losing if the performance is our worst of the season.

 

[EricSabin]

Salford at home. Pulse is racing.

 

[AdamStag]

Been shit very little this season, wasteful would work though.

Imagine what would happen if we had a top forward playing

Think it’s a sign of where we’re at that we’re so ridiculously wasteful upfront with the chances we create were still the 3rd highest goal scorers in the league.

 

[Sestonpoolie]

Revitalised Hartlepool is a leap, we’ve had one win in 12 which was a good performance, we still couldn’t beat a hopeless Gillingham and got a very lucky point at Mansfield.

2-1 either way, pondlife on both sides out in force.

But only one defeat in eight.

 

[Conker]

I'm only going off Mansfield fans' comments on here - whether that's wise or not...

I’m not saying we cannot put in a stinker, it’s never usually for an entire game though.

We did fuck up a lead against Hartlepool in our last league game, and to be honest we usually hit a slump after we drop points late on in a game, hopefully beating Derby in the pizza cup on penos mean we are over it.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

But only one defeat in eight.

Theres a lot of clubs around us whos form is way below ours, Fans sometimes only see the negative(DickieDosh)

 

[BlackHaddock]

Creepy Crawley haven't won away yet, we haven't won at home yet.

No idea if either of us will break that duck, most likely going to be a draw!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Mandron has been poor so far, bar a couple of games, some of the fan base are starting to think he’s just not interested. Kashket has been good, plenty of effort but just not getting the luck in front of goal. I think he was man of the match last weekend as he ran his proverbials off all game.

Wouldn’t be surprised if the former was dropped for this match and replaced by Walker, who scored two in the pizza cup on Tuesday night.

Mandron is an incredibly lazy waste of space. I was delighted we got rid and even more delighted that we've upgraded on him judging by CBRs recent form.

Kashket was a headless chicken and a crock. I won't look back at him favourably. But he also didn't fit our system. A victim of Artell's haphazard recruitment to an extent. But I don't think he was ever committed to this club.

As for the game: this is a must win for us. We have to be more attacking and win against a side who've only scored 3 in the league all season else I'm going to start thinking we're gonna drop down the table after a good start like we did in 2016-17 and 2017-18 in League Two.

But Gillingham always have a knack of playing us during their own bad runs and getting a win against us.

2013: We were the bottom 2 and both couldn't buy a win for love nor money. Gillingham won 3-0 at Gresty Road under Martin Allen.

2020: Gillingham rock up at GR after not scoring in 10 or 11 hours of football. They leave with a 1-0 win.

2022: We go down to Priestfield as Gills are on a long winless run. We lose 1-0.

I think we'll win tomorrow 2-0 but I really wouldn't be surprised if we lost this game 1-0. It's the sort of thing we're renowned for doing.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

I quite liked Crankshaw, but I don't think he'll cause us too many problems tomorrow. Can't see Sarcevic or Madden getting much joy out of our defence either - I'd back Platt to dominate any of their front players.

I don't think they'll dictate play either. Get an early goal like in previous weeks, but this time push and be ruthless and grab a second. We'll be fine. We're only losing if the performance is our worst of the season.

We’re not very good and I expect us to lose but you needed a 95th minute goal to rescue a point against a Wimbledon side who we’ve played and beaten and who looked a poor side. You’ve also lost to Colchester who were even worse.

So I’d suggest you mustn’t have been that great against those two?

We’ve played 15 games in all comps this season and there hasn’t been a game with more than one goal in it so except it to be tight.

 

[Stocky]

I can't see us getting a result at all. We need to start getting a bit down and dirty and grinding things out. We've picked up points at home when we're pretty much always been the better side and should have had even more on a couple of occasions. But away we're still in our NL Champions mode of just still trying to dominate (without ever actually really dominating) wherever we go. And it's yielded fuck all so far. Feel we almost need to have that point in our pocket before a ball is kicked mentality where we soak it up a bit and grow into it like good away teams do.

Think Crankshaw is out so no old boy hoodoo for Bradford to worry about there, we're still misisng 5 or 6 but I'm not going to down that line of excuse only 2 or 3 would be in contention for me- MSH, Crankshaw and one of the injured left backs.

I'll be there, looking forward to going to Valley Parade again (I know it's got a sponsorship name now but damned if I can remember or that I'd use it). Shame about the train strikes, I reckon that's shaved a fair few off our away support. Would have been a doddle from Manchester Vic.

I think we'll break our 1 goal swing either way record and lose two zip. That Cook will score.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

I can't see us getting a result at all. We need to start getting a bit down and dirty and grinding things out. We've picked up points at home when we're pretty much always been the better side and should have had even more on a couple of occasions. But away we're still in our NL Champions mode of just still trying to dominate (without ever actually really dominating) wherever we go. And it's yielded fuck all so far. Feel we almost need to have that point in our pocket before a ball is kicked mentality where we soak it up a bit and grow into it like good away teams do.

Think Crankshaw is out so no old boy hoodoo for Bradford to worry about there, we're still misisng 5 or 6 but I'm not going to down that line of excuse only 2 or 3 would be in contention for me- MSH, Crankshaw and one of the injured left backs.

I'll be there, looking forward to going to Valley Parade again (I know it's got a sponsorship name now but damned if I can remember or that I'd use it). Shame about the train strikes, I reckon that's shaved a fair few off our away support. Would have been a doddle from Manchester Vic.

I think we'll break our 1 goal swing either way record and lose two zip. That Cook will score.

Well you've disappointed me, in the sense that I had a bet on you. Of course I want you to disappoint next week, but what is the problem - your squad looks strong in every position?

 

[hellogregory]

Just heard from Carver. He’s already taken 4 Pools fans down. He’s hoping to be in double figures by 3pm. Then he’ll start on the seats.

 

[pontoonlew]

Surprisingly we’ve reverted back to 4-4-2 despite playing well with a back 3 last week. No Lewis Richardson which is a blow, it looks a slow lineup.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Well you've disappointed me, in the sense that I had a bet on you. Of course I want you to disappoint next week, but what is the problem - your squad looks strong in every position?

Does it?

We’ve only got four marquee players for this level and they’re all really slow (just like most of our squad) and two of them in Sarcevic and Madden are now past their peak.

We’re extremely short on pace, power and athleticism throughout the team and particularly in attacking areas.

We’re probably around 4-6 points short of what we should have on the balance of play from games and only Mansfield were significantly superior on the day so far for me (when we’ve kept 11 men on the pitch) but we hand goals to the opposition on a plate and we reliably only ever seem to score one goal in every game.

 

[BarraMatt]

Don't fancy us after seeing our lineup.

 

[chipmunx]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1578732256583069696

lump on Mansfield today - can't see us scoring with Moyo as Centre forward (now watch him get a hat-trick.... NOT)