Tuesday 24th Nov Fixtures

[CTFCfan99]

Why do we always fuck it on a Tuesday

 

[masi51]

Well we are down to 10 men and have been for the 5 minutes due to the stupid subs rule, essentially ending any sort of hope we had of getting back into the game.

Dont understand.....you made only 4 changes

 

[Bottega Don]

Tonight showed the difference between a smart manager and a manager who thinks he's smart.

Both teams in good form, Evatt quite rightly sticks with the formation and team that is getting the results.

Cox tries to overcomplicate things and change them for zero reason.

Deservedly beaten by a better team.

 

[BlackHaddock]

We looked awful for the first 30 minutes, just like the last four games and I expected the worst. Then we turned into a football team again and took the game to Crawley, really pleased we managed to control the tempo of the match and see out the last few minutes.

 

[AR27]

Non league here we come.

 

[Bottega Don]

Dont understand.....you made only 4 changes

You're allowed to make 5 changes but have to do them in 3 substitutions.

It's a ridiculous rule.

 

[BarraMatt]

Our worst performance of the season - Oldham have barely had to do anything second half and still scored two.
And the worst of our fans are calling for the manager's head on social media now.

I'm not calling for his head yet as we are 14 games in to our first season in the FL for 50 years but I feel the question has to be asked as to why he was identified in the first place, especially when there didn't seem to be any recruitment process where a number of candidates were assessed. In his early interviews I had the impression that it was a job that just landed on his lap.

The experiment of a younger manager worked with Evatt but as the season ticks on I feel more like we should have opted for someone with knowledge and experience in the league.

It's very concerning that the general belief is that we've been playing generally OK of late but still have only two wins to show from it - my worry is that it is the best we are capable of.

 

[Shrimper92]

I guess our winning run had to end at some point

 

[pontoonlew]

What a response that is, great performance and a fully deserved 3 points after a horrible start.

 

[masi51]

Still can and will go up. Squad/team is a lot more balanced even Baptiste is playing well behind a decent keeper.
Good players not even making the 18
Evatt said he may bring another 4 in January......Keeper, Hard tackling Midfielder and someone to take pressure off Doyle are a must.
Blessing in disguise being out of all the cups, it will impact on lge 2 teams seeing one or two teams down to the bare bones now.

 

[Moomin]

Col U at home. Tough game and I have a feeling we may fall to a second home loss in 4 days.

This is why I never win my bets.
Great win though and brilliant to see Bowman get a hattrick to shut up the haters.

 

[masi51]

You're allowed to make 5 changes but have to do them in 3 substitutions.

It's a ridiculous rule.

Honestly did not know that cox should have changed two banks of 2 and held one back........
Think you will be ok, i would have taken a point before the game.......you ran into us a fortnight too late.
Aug/sep/oct best we would have got tonight was a draw

 

[FGR Stroud]

Nearly 70% possession but 0 shots for 40 minutes. First shot on target after 46. Rush missed a sitter for Southend.

Southend look decent tbf. Either that or we're fucking shit. Hard to tell at the minute.

+1

 

[Monkey Tennis]

I'm not calling for his head yet as we are 14 games in to our first season in the FL for 50 years but I feel the question has to be asked as to why he was identified in the first place, especially when there didn't seem to be any recruitment process where a number of candidates were assessed. In his early interviews I had the impression that it was a job that just landed on his lap.

The experiment of a younger manager worked with Evatt but as the season ticks on I feel more like we should have opted for someone with knowledge and experience in the league.

It's very concerning that the general belief is that we've been playing generally OK of late but still have only two wins to show from it - my worry is that it is the best we are capable of.

Changing manager isn't gonna solve anything now - who is going to come in and do better?

I mean, two poor performances in the past month and people are saying "get that c*** out of my club" etc. It's the default position of the entitled football fan nowadays.

Would I have picked Dunn? Almost certainly not, but I also can't see who else would have us playing better. We're bloody Barrow - we should be bottom of this league, yet we've held our own in just about every game.

All I'm saying is that if we're going to sack a manager for that, then we're never going to succeed - most of those fans would have had Evatt out after 10 games last season and the season before.

 

[ShrimpsMeltdown]

So annoying that we've lost that, 2 punts from Ash Hunter has won it, Salford brought nothing else to the table.

We've dominated most of the game but barely done anything with the ball, then we waste the few chances we actually get.

5 subs available and Derek doesn't use any. Frustrating.

 

[PVFCdyl]

Think it’s time for Askey to go. Same mistakes week after week and that tonight was embarrassing, before this run we’d won more in a week than Stevenage in a year.

Absolute horror show and a relegation battle looks the focus now.

There’s still plenty of time and opportunity for us to reach the top 7 but Askey is not the man! The longer we wait the more we jeopardise this season!

I don’t think we have the best squad in the league, we lack a goal scorer but I think it’s plain to see that we don’t know what we’re doing on the pitch. That’s a managerial issue, wrong player choices, playing players in the wrong position, and no alternatives.

McKirdy was shit tonight but he was played in the middle, he’s a winger.. Montano is garbage at left midfield, Burgess may as well have been isolating for the past 2 weeks because he’s been none existent yet he still gets picked. I know it’s easy to sit here and criticise a manager and say these things but 5 games we’ve lost and he’s stuck to the same shit!

We’ve mentioned that some players look like they have no passion, no fight, and don’t want to play but I don’t blame them. Askey has his golden boys who just won’t get dropped. Half of this side won’t get another opportunity to start and they know it. The second the regulars return they will be sat on the bench and brought on for the last 10 minutes, 15 if Askey feels generous.

Games are coming thick and fast so I hope Carol is prepared to make big decisions before it’s too late to selvage

 

[The Terminator]

A largely forgettable game with Bradford - Settled on a set play, with a fantastic delivery from Jordan Maguire-Drew which Dan Happe buried.

The closest either side game to breaking the deadlock in open play was via their own centre halfs putting into their own nets!

I didn't think Bradford were too bad until they fell behind. They setup well against us, we rarely got in behind them as they sat deep and waited for our backline to make a mistake, which usually they average one per game. They targeted our right back as well Sam Ling, who has no positional sense at all and with more care could've punished us more. First time this season in open play we've barely created anything, only one shot on target which was the goal.

Once they fell behind though, they seemed to run out of ideas and energy and apart from set plays, I never felt in too much danger.

We're now punching above our weight in 8th, we would need our whole squad to stay fit to stand any chance of the playoffs. But for now I'm happy with us keeping our heads above water.

Huge credit to Ross Embleton - 6 Weeks ago there were alot of questions being asked and there didn't seem to be much progress. But now we're keeping clean sheets more frequently to go with our scoring. As long as he doesn't try and be too clever like he did at Colchester a few weeks ago by needlessly changing a winning formation we will be fine this season.

 

[Hurrikeen]

Classic Latics - we don’t lose midweek games.

As I said in another thread earlier, we’re excellent going forward but the fact we’re garbage at the back will likely prevent us doing anything of note this season.

Having said that, 6 wins in our last 8 games in all comps. Promising.

 

[masi51]

So annoying that we've lost that, 2 punts from Ash Hunter has won it, Salford brought nothing else to the table.

We've dominated most of the game but barely done anything with the ball, then we waste the few chances we actually get.

5 subs available and Derek doesn't use any. Frustrating.

Serious question...why did you release Tutte...And have you someone as good as him in midfield??

 

[Carver]

We’ve looked like the young team we are tonight. A lot of young boys showing their inconsistency and naivety tonight. Tranmere’s midfield have schooled our inexperienced lads tonight which hasn’t happened for a while.

That's why the experienced Furman should be playing in our midfield and not Joe Riley, he's not even a midfielder!

Patrick has to start now too.

 

[Vale on Trent]

It’s the hope that kills you I guess.

It seems as if all the positivity around Vale over the last 12-18 months has somehow been zapped in the space of a month. Only at Port Vale FC.

Askey has gone from being a favourable manager backed to get us promoted to now having fans wanting him out. This has happened from seemingly no where by the way, it’s crazy how quickly things can change in football.

10 days ago against Tranmere we were 2-0 up at half time whilst being on the verge of the automatic places. We then somehow managed to lose the game and suddenly find ourselves 11th and unable to create a chance on goal. I’ve realised that when our backs are against the wall we crumble. There’s suddenly no fight or energy, just a sense of feeling sorry for ourselves.

 

[Myblueheaven04]

Classic Latics - we don’t lose midweek games.

As I said in another thread earlier, we’re excellent going forward but the fact we’re garbage at the back will likely prevent us doing anything of note this season.

Having said that, 6 wins in our last 8 games in all comps. Promising.

When clark is fit that defence will improve. When we were a great team in the 80s & 90s we had to score 3/4 goals to win games, if thats how we get out of this league i wont grumble

 

[Si Robin]

As gutting as it is to concede with practically the last kick of the game and not get the 3 points, I have to say that Cambridge were, by a mile, the best team I've seen this season. It was only our good defending that kept us ahead.

First half was very nip and tuck and second half we really defended the lead well, but the equaliser was certainly no more than they deserved.

 

[SVH]

When did Cheltenham turn into Wycombe? Big lumps, taking long throws and long balls.

They’ll be up there come the end of the season so a decent point. We switched off at the end of the first half to concede a silly goal and Mullin should have put us one up after 25 mins.

Last kick of the game and you want it to drop to the highest goalscorer on Europe. Magic Mullin.

I think 8th is definitely on for us now.

 

[Brox]

What a relief that it is. I know Vale were poor and missing players but we deserved the win tonight, we were the better side for 80 minutes before a tense final 10 minutes or so.

We had a helping hand with the first, the Vale defender gifting us a throw and then his eagerness to make amends guided the ball into Oteh's path, who did well to beat his man before finishing well. Newton was guilty of missing a sitter right on half time but made good with a goal early in the second half, Pett put a lovely ball in his path, one on one he rounded the keeper to make it two. We looked more likely to add a third but with 10 minutes left Rodney took his chance well guiding the ball into the bottom corner with Vale's first effort on target. Vale pressed in the final 10, was a bit nervy but we just about saw it out.

If Vale had managed to level it'd have been a real blow, potentially a season/job defining blow. Was massively impressed with Oteh today, took his goal well and absolutely ran himself into the ground. Oteh and Newton showed flashes of good link up play vs Morecambe 10 days ago and showed signs of promise again today, I'd stick with them up top for the foreseeable and see what happens. Not going to get carried away with one win but it makes a refreshing change to be happy after watching us!

 

[Si Robin]

When did Cheltenham turn into Wycombe? Big lumps, taking long throws and long balls.

They’ll be up there come the end of the season so a decent point. We switched off at the end of the first half to concede a silly goal and Mullin should have put us one up after 25 mins.

Last kick of the game and you want it to drop to the highest goalscorer on Europe. Magic Mullin.

I think 8th is definitely on for us now.

Since we realised that we can score a lot of goals from that way of playing.

I think we're playing a game of needs must at the moment. The number of games is catching up with the players now, so fancy football is not necessarily going to be the order of the day.

 

[Trapdoor]

Any Col U fans care to comment on what the fuck happened there?

 

[valefan16]

It’s the hope that kills you I guess.

It seems as if all the positivity around Vale over the last 12-18 months has somehow been zapped in the space of a month. Only at Port Vale FC.

Askey has gone from being a favourable manager backed to get us promoted to now having fans wanting him out. This has happened from seemingly no where by the way, it’s crazy how quickly things can change in football.

10 days ago against Tranmere we were 2-0 up at half time whilst being on the verge of the automatic places. We then somehow managed to lose the game and suddenly find ourselves 11th and unable to create a chance on goal. I’ve realised that when our backs are against the wall we crumble. There’s suddenly no fight or energy, just a sense of feeling sorry for ourselves.

I don’t think Askey can have any excuses now. Lost 5 in a row

1 to a non league side who had been struggling in their divison

2 defeats to really poor sides in 23rd, one against a side who’s won 3 in 40 odd games

Blew a 2-0 lead then a 3-2 lead after 93 minutes

another 96th minute

Hard luck stories for the first 4 or do you make your own luck? Tonight was bang out of order, to look disinterested and lack effort was disgraceful. Players had a chance to stake a claim tonight and didn’t. Only Rodders can have any pride in his efforts tonight.

I dare say he will get the weekend when we should have a few big players back, certainly Legge and Joyce and possibly Amoo but he has been well backed, got a stable club and failed.

We lost 8 all season last year, already 7 this. Not good enough. Carols first crisis and she needs to handle it soon because anything less than top 7 would be a huge failure for the club and way we are heading we will be scrapping to stay up.

 

[Casey]

Didnt watch the game as I'm at work but the Crawley forum is beginning to question the team selections.
Not quite sure what Yems could have done with our defence with no right back and our best defender injured but I have to be honest and say our midfield is too small. We are being overrun most weeks but we get away with it because we are always like to score a goal (Carlisle excepted).

I think we're good enough to stay out of trouble but I can't see us troubling to top half.

Casey

 

[LS Bantam]

McCall out is louder than ever, I just can’t see how anyone could improve this squad given how bad it is.