The Paddock v Steve Evans (Carlisle v Mansfield)

[shoddycollins]

I'm sure part man part beetroot Steve Evans is looking forward to revisiting Brunton Park for a continuation of last season's towel-based banter.

Happily for him and sadly for us, this is one game I can't see us getting anything out of. Our defensive partnership of Ellis and Parkes has looked pretty good so far this season, however Parkes is now suspended and we have no proper cover at centre back. We'll probably play Liddle there on Saturday, it's irrelevant how we cover Parkes' absence, for all intents and purposes we don't have a defence.

3-0 Mansfield.

Any Stags fans making the trip up to Carlisle to enjoy your second win of the season? Hard to believe last time this fixture was played we won 5-2 to go top of the league.

 

[AdamStag]

I'm sure part man part beetroot Steve Evans is looking forward to revisiting Brunton Park for a continuation of last season's towel-based banter.

Happily for him and sadly for us, this is one game I can't see us getting anything out of. Our defensive partnership of Ellis and Parkes has looked pretty good so far this season, however Parkes is now suspended and we have no proper cover at centre back. We'll probably play Liddle there on Saturday, it's irrelevant how we cover Parkes' absence, for all intents and purposes we don't have a defence.

3-0 Mansfield.

Any Stags fans making the trip up to Carlisle to enjoy your second win of the season? Hard to believe last time this fixture was played we won 5-2 to go top of the league.

Don't worry, we've our own defence that doesn't appear to be able to defend crosses, and on top of that we have a keeper that has lead boots on and refuses to come off his line, EVER.

We've played well going forward in general, but our defensive lapses are concerning. I'd go for 2-2

 

[shoddycollins]

Don't worry, we've our own defence that doesn't appear to be able to defend crosses, and on top of that we have a keeper that has lead boots on and refuses to come off his line, EVER.

We've played well going forward in general, but our defensive lapses are concerning. I'd go for 2-2

we haven't played so well going forward, we move it around well enough in the attacking third but can't finish for toffee.

A little glimpse at the stats maybe highlights where we're going wrong.

In every competitive game this season, we've had more of the possession, and in every league game we've taken more shots, with the exception of Cheltenham who shaded both yet we beat them 3-0. Yet we've only won 2 league games, oppositions are making a habit of outplaying us without really needing to dominate posession or make lots of chances. The tactic for beating us is simple, chill out while we fanny about with the ball, making nice little triangles and looking all slick and talented, we'll do that for a bit and then finally blast the ball a mile over, or wide, or both. All you need to do is wait until you can get the ball of us, then go up the other end, score. Actually Parkes has made it harder for us to score against, however without Parkes we're back to being piss easy.

 

[hellogregory]

Definitely another defeat here.

As I say, we're not a terrible team, we're better than I thought we'd be at the start of the season, but our strikers are absolutely toothless so we'll always struggle to beat decent teams even if we play well. We won't go down, but now and then we'll come up against teams with better players 1-11 like last week, and Saturday will be no different. Add the fact that our only good defender is suspended...

I agree, a 3-0 defeat. I won't be too concerned, I'd rather we kept the margin down to 1 or 2 but that may be a lot to ask.

Accrington away the following week is a more realistic game for us which we need to get at least a point from after back to back defeats.

 

[AdamStag]

Cool, so we're both crap and going to lose, excellent

 

[shoddycollins]

Cool, so we're both crap and going to lose, excellent

You went for a draw... I had a look at Stagsnet and they're all confident this is going to be an emphatic Mansfield win.

 

[AdamStag]

You went for a draw... I had a look at Stagsnet and they're all confident this is going to be an emphatic Mansfield win.

No, I said i'd take a draw now if offered, which i would, as we'll lose

 

[cufc17]

4-2 win, Bennett hat trick.

Surprised Mansfield have only won once in all competitions so far, though I still don't think they'll be top 3. Sounds like they played very well against Luton last week so it'll be a tough game.

As for us, I'm reasonably happy with our start. Only disappointment really was the result last week. Performances have generally been decent, though Parkes will be a huge miss in defence.

I'll take a repeat of last season's home game, not the away one..

 

[hellogregory]

Don't remind me of that away game. Think that's our worst away performance I've seen since the Easter Monday horror show at Accrington 3 seasons ago!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Not sure we will go away from home and win 3-0. Bar the Accrington away match we've played well in the league games, I said it wasn't an easy start to the season with the fixtures. Hopefully we are running into Carlisle at the right time.

Towelgate was the best thing about last season.

 

[shoddycollins]

Not sure we will go away from home and win 3-0. Bar the Accrington away match we've played well in the league games, I said it wasn't an easy start to the season with the fixtures. Hopefully we are running into Carlisle at the right time.

Towelgate was the best thing about last season.

Even better than Open Mind Bar?

 

[Richard Cranium]

Even better than Open Mind Bar?

I don't remember that one

 

[shoddycollins]

I don't remember that one

Nice sofas upstairs, you were almost falling asleep.

 

[Carver]

Mansfields attack is shit, so I'm confident we will keep a clean sheet and get an injury time winner right before saving an injury time penalty against a hyped up team of bottlers and send the what 60 or 70 Mansfield fans away with nothing but a realisation of how tinpot they still are and always will be.

 

[Vanni]

Mansfields attack is shit, so I'm confident we will keep a clean sheet and get an injury time winner right before saving an injury time penalty against a hyped up team of bottlers and send the what 60 or 70 Mansfield fans away with nothing but a realisation of how tinpot they still are and always will be.

I'm only quoting you as I've got a feeling you'll be deleting this post like you've done so many before. Hope you don't mind buddy.

 

[shoddycollins]

Any club from north of Nottingham whose fans are allowed into the Beehive are tinpot.

 

[Carver]

I'm only quoting you as I've got a feeling you'll be deleting this post like you've done so many before. Hope you don't mind buddy.

Why?

We dicked them 5-2 at home last season, so I'm sure that will be playing on their minds some and we hardly ever thrash teams so I doubt they'll have got over their shame.

 

[AdamStag]

I'm only quoting you as I've got a feeling you'll be deleting this post like you've done so many before. Hope you don't mind buddy.

Our forwards have done just fine, it's our defence/gk that are the worry.

However, it is a dreadful attempt at fishing

 

[Carver]

Our forwards have done just fine, it's our defence/gk that are the worry.

However, it is a dreadful attempt at fishing

I don't fish mate, just because I'm being critical of your club doesn't mean I'm just here looking for a bite.

I actually am telling you truthfully what I think of your club and from what I've heard it is your teams attack which is your real worry.

 

[hellogregory]

This will be the second week in a row where Carver's dug himself a huge hole that come Saturday night he can't get out of.

 

[AdamStag]

This will be the second week in a row where Carver's dug himself a huge hole that come Saturday night he can't get out of.

Does seem an odd thing to state with the forward options we've got and that they've scored 7 in 4 games.

Guess things will come out in the wash.

 

[Carver]

This will be the second week in a row where Carver's dug himself a huge hole that come Saturday night he can't get out of.

The only way we will lose this is if the referee is on their side and they cheat or they simply get very very lucky.

I've got my excuses ready and they're always valid ones.

What about you Greg? I take it you've got your negative word dictionary at the ready regardless if we win or lose?

 

[hellogregory]

The only way we will lose this is if the referee is on their side and they cheat or they simply get very very lucky.

I've got my excuses ready and they're always valid ones.

What about you Greg? I take it you've got your negative word dictionary at the ready regardless if we win or lose?

Read further up Carver. I'm expecting defeat simply because they have much more quality throughout their team. I won't be negative about it unless it's a shambolic 6-0 hammering or something. Defeats like this don't worry me. I've seen enough of us over the past few weeks to be confident we'll stay out of trouble whilst knowing we don't have enough to trouble the top 7, particularly in attack.

 

[Richard Cranium]

This will be the second week in a row where Carver's dug himself a huge hole that come Saturday night he can't get out of.

Hopefully

 

[shoddycollins]

He must be planning something for when we get stuffed 3-0 as he surely expects to have to eat his words.

Not with HG though on the not being bothered about defeat though, he seems to be already in the relegation battle mindset, and gratuitously so. We've got enough about us to survive, getting beaten by better teams most weeks is to be expected. Honestly at this stage in the season, even if I think we probably are heading for a bottom-half finish I'm not willing to just accept that, I still cling on to hope that we can win this one and then bring back a result from either Accrington or Coventry and turn out to be good enough for promotion after all.

It's not that unrealistic, it's a shit division, only four games in and there are only four unbeaten teams. Swindon getting rolled over by Crawley says everything, this league is getting worse by the year thanks to the Premiership stitch-up and we need to get out of it or wind up doomed to stay here forever once the gulf becomes too great.

 

[hellogregory]

He must be planning something for when we get stuffed 3-0 as he surely expects to have to eat his words.

Not with HG though on the not being bothered about defeat though, he seems to be already in the relegation battle mindset, and gratuitously so. We've got enough about us to survive, getting beaten by better teams most weeks is to be expected. Honestly at this stage in the season, even if I think we probably are heading for a bottom-half finish I'm not willing to just accept that, I still cling on to hope that we can win this one and then bring back a result from either Accrington or Coventry and turn out to be good enough for promotion after all.

It's not that unrealistic, it's a shit division, only four games in and there are only four unbeaten teams. Swindon getting rolled over by Crawley says everything, this league is getting worse by the year thanks to the Premiership stitch-up and we need to get out of it or wind up doomed to stay here forever once the gulf becomes too great.

Now I didn't say i wasn't bothered about the defeat. I said defeats like this don't worry me, there's a difference. I'll still be pissed off with the loss, but unless it's an absolute hiding, in the grand scheme of things it won't worry me going forward, just like last weekend didn't.

And I'm not in the relegation battle mindset, I was before the season starts but I've seen enough to think we're better than that. I am however in the mindset that we won't trouble the top7

 

[AdamStag]

I've always liked the Carlisle lot. (Less carver) funny and as pessimistic as us lot

 

[shoddycollins]

I've always liked the Carlisle lot. (Less carver) funny and as pessimistic as us lot

We're all refugees here from our respective messageboards. I've seen the sort of stuff that gets posted on Stagsnet and I'm sure you've seen the kind of stuff they come out with on Cumbrians.net.

 

[hellogregory]

I've never posted on briancums.net

 

[Carver]

At least Mansfields chief executive is far better looking and more pleasant to look at than ours, I'll give them that.