Tuesday 2nd March 2021

[Shrimpurh]

These are very bleak times.

View attachment 13898

Very interesting table

 

[The Terminator]

Our team has enough talent in it to produce so much better, plenty of opposition fans have said this season that we look a decent enough outfit. Not saying we're good enough to go up, but certainly to push for those top ten places.

Sadly though I think the game has changed for our team, new management coming in and 6 of our better players out of contract in the summer - All capable of playing in League One and likely holding out to sign for League One sides, even more so now the salary cap has been scrapped.

While the majority of the of the rest of our current squad know they won't be here next season (We have 6 contracted players for next season, one of which is out on loan to Aldershot), combine these last two points with the fact Embleton was unable to sustain a playoff push and we find ourselves as it stands in midtable with a squad thats under performed for 6 weeks, is out of form and could potentially be sucked into a relegation battle unless a few heads are smashed together and ideas and motivation levels improve, because I think our squad now cannot be bothered anymore.

We've not won away from home for 4 months - 6 games played in that time (Could've been 8 but 2 games were postponed because of the weather) 5 defeats and we've regularly been shipping 2+ goals in away games - So Grimsby have a chance tomorrow of getting something out of our game.

Unless Jobi McAnuff can find some answers quickly, I'd expect a proper manager to finally be hired to build a new team again for next season, because now it feels like sleep walking into nothing and maybe a scrap at the bottom.

 

[chipmunx]

Very interesting table

yep - lets just go off that and relegate Grimsby and Colchester now....

 

[valefan16]

yep - lets just go off that and relegate Grimsby and Colchester now....

Small positive for us that two below us are in worse long term form and one is taking 12/13 games to gain a point. Keep that trajectory I will be relatively relieved! Doesn’t work that way though!

 

[Kendalcufc]

Someone on our message board mentioned the parallels between this season and our season in the conference back in 2004/05.

We were flying high, hammering teams, neck and neck with Barnet. Then the floods hit. We couldn't train, we had to play games at other clubs grounds. Our form fell of a cliff. Pretty similar story to this season with the weather postponements and covid breaks.

We went 9 games without a win, dropped out of the playoffs. We then got our act together winning 6 in a row that dragged us back up into the playoffs before finishing the season in 3rd. We then of course eventually won the playoffs.

1 point out of 15 is very poor however as that conference season shows there's plenty of time left to get our act together.

3 points against Colchester might kick start another 6 game winning streak like that season. At the very least let's get a win before we hit 9 without a win.

 

[AR27]

The Mansfield side we played earlier in the season were the worst side I've seen us play so far. But of course they're a different proposition now under Clough and a bit like us in how they've moved well clear of danger.

Not sure what to expect from them though, in terms of either coming to park the bus and nick a point or if they'll come and have a go at us. We’ve dealt with both threats well in the last few weeks but Orient nearly got a point last week after defending deep.

Andy Cook missing is a loss considering he's in form and Rowe still looks to be suffering the after effects of illness, although he will most likely start.

Tight 1-0 win is my prediction.

 

[pontoonlew]

Cambridge fans, purely for betting purposes, is Hoolahan likely to get a game considering it’s a Tuesday?

As for our game, it’s Sod’s law Orient have sacked their manager, stinks of them winning now.

 

[huddsmoose]

I suspect Hoolahan will be rested. It's not a guarantee, but following 90 mins and a long journey on Saturday it's probably far more likely he'll not be involved.

 

[Andy Proctor]

Vales next 3 games are Salford away loss, Cheltenham away loss, Oldham at home loss dont know the fixtures after that but it will be loss loss loss

 

[chipmunx]

Vales next 3 games are Salford away loss, Cheltenham away loss, Oldham at home loss dont know the fixtures after that but it will be loss loss loss

IF you lose them 6 you'll be below Southend, us and maybe Colchester....

 

[Bottega Don]

We will be missing both our starting CB's tomorrow, Taft and Onariase.

This means a half-fit McGahey and Bedeau, the latter gave away two penalties last time we faced Cambridge.

Going to be a fun game.

 

[Sydney Posse]

After the abject performance, weird team selection and weird substitutions at Crawley (who fully deserved the win) I am hoping our manager has got the “let’s try something different bollocks” out of his system and sticks our strongest side out for Walsall tonight. Walsall like a draw when on the road, that’s no good for either team so hoping for both going for the win and us shading it UTC. A few injuries and suspensions will not help our cause

 

[Bone Idle]

Tranmere away!! can't see past a comfortable home win, but you never know with us i thought the same last week at walsall and we came away with all 3 points, we seem to be a different side away from the rodney parade cabbage patch but i think tranmere will be too strong for us tonight with or without vaughan (if still injured)

 

[Boz]

We struggle against sides who play like Newport, from what I’ve seen expecting a similar approach to Stevenage, though with a more talented squad. We lost that one 0-1.
The rumour mill has been on overdrive re Vaughan ranging from playing tonight to out for 6 weeks+. I’m not expecting him to start which will involve tactical adjustments, all bringing issues of their own. Nugent isn’t ready for a full 90 yet, which would have been the simplest option

 

[Pablosammy]

We struggle against sides who play like Newport, from what I’ve seen expecting a similar approach to Stevenage, though with a more talented squad. We lost that one 0-1.
The rumour mill has been on overdrive re Vaughan ranging from playing tonight to out for 6 weeks+. I’m not expecting him to start which will involve tactical adjustments, all bringing issues of their own. Nugent isn’t ready for a full 90 yet, which would have been the simplest option

Call me a pessimist, but I'm predicting a loss. Newport always score away, and we haven't kept a clean sheet at home since November. If we struggle to break down Newport, and I suspect we will, I think they could easily nick it.

Hope I'm wrong!

 

[Conker]

The Mansfield side we played earlier in the season were the worst side I've seen us play so far. But of course they're a different proposition now under Clough and a bit like us in how they've moved well clear of danger.

Not sure what to expect from them though, in terms of either coming to park the bus and nick a point or if they'll come and have a go at us. We’ve dealt with both threats well in the last few weeks but Orient nearly got a point last week after defending deep.

Andy Cook missing is a loss considering he's in form and Rowe still looks to be suffering the after effects of illness, although he will most likely start.

Tight 1-0 win is my prediction.

Clough is big on a quick start, we have never parked the bus under him, you will see us defend deeper if we are winning but nothing extreme. I see you lot are looking for that 5 win record for first time in ages, we’ve already done that this season!

I’d take a point happily, not sure what to expect because we have been inconsistent last few games, likely same side that played on Saturday because we don’t really have any other options.

Lapslie is still out, I’m sure every manager playing Mansfield is happy about that!

 

[Andy Proctor]

IF you lose them 6 you'll be below Southend, us and maybe Colchester....

The 2 fixtures after the 3 ive mentioned are bolton at home and Newport at home. Bolton will definitely be a loss there in great form and we are in terrible form I cant remember the last time we beat them at home and they will want revenge for that freak 6 3 win earlier in the season. If we were playing Newport now then I'd fancy us to get a draw or win but no doubt by the time we come to play them they will have a fully fit squad and be back in form again.

 

[valefan16]

The 2 fixtures after the 3 ive mentioned are bolton at home and Newport at home. Bolton will definitely be a loss there in great form and we are in terrible form I cant remember the last time we beat them at home and they will want revenge for that freak 6 3 win earlier in the season. If we were playing Newport now then I'd fancy us to get a draw or win but no doubt by the time we come to play them they will have a fully fit squad and be back in form again.

Bolton were in great form and we’d lost 5 on the spin last time so you never know.

It just needs a couple of quick wins to ease nerves. If we can win 2 of the next 5 then we go into the last 10 thinking 2 more wins probably does enough and we’ve got Barrow, Colchester and Grimsby away and some of the mid table rattlers.

Need some injuries to clear up though. We are actually in a slightly better points tally than the other 2 relegation battles we have had at this level since relegation and in both cases barely improved that tally up to game 35 but don’t want another Chesterfield/Notts Co humdinger at Grimsby and Barrow late season really!

 

[Soz]

please can we just get the dodgiest pen of all time and win 0-1?

 

[FGR Stroud]

Bolton were in great form and we’d lost 5 on the spin last time so you never know.

 

[masi51]

Bookies again have priced all lge 2 games wrong.......How can Cambridge be 23/20 at home to Scunthorpe
Tranmere 6/4 Home to Newport and Bradford 8/5 home to Mansfield.......crazy

 

[shoddycollins]

Come on! You can beat that lot!

On paper you'd think, though on recent form there's not much between us and our away form has been poor all season long. Thought Harrogate and Oldham would be two fairly decent games for us against opponents on poor form and we were fairly comprehensively beaten by both so to go and get rolled over by Colchester wouldn't be a surprise result at all.

A lot has changed since we last played Colchester. Back then they were still pretty fancied for promotion, their summer business convinced a few people they'd be one of the teams to beat a-la Port Vale and they started the season quite well. We were just improving following a bad start to the season and Chris Lumsdon on Radio Cumbria had this outrageous idea that we could challenge for promotion. Colchester were seen as a big test and when we won that game it was seen as a huge indication that we actually were as good as Lumsdon was saying, although Colchester were poor and some Carlisle fans at the time suggested that maybe it wasn't as impressive a result as first thought. They seem to have proven right as Colchester have indeed turned out to be a poor team and our promotion credentials have indeed turned out to be not all that realistic.

By the way, the Colchester forum makes no sense whatsoever, it's as though nobody's first language is English down there.

 

[dedwardp]

On paper you'd think, though on recent form there's not much between us and our away form has been poor all season long. Thought Harrogate and Oldham would be two fairly decent games for us against opponents on poor form and we were fairly comprehensively beaten by both so to go and get rolled over by Colchester wouldn't be a surprise result at all.

A lot has changed since we last played Colchester. Back then they were still pretty fancied for promotion, their summer business convinced a few people they'd be one of the teams to beat a-la Port Vale and they started the season quite well. We were just improving following a bad start to the season and Chris Lumsdon on Radio Cumbria had this outrageous idea that we could challenge for promotion. Colchester were seen as a big test and when we won that game it was seen as a huge indication that we actually were as good as Lumsdon was saying, although Colchester were poor and some Carlisle fans at the time suggested that maybe it wasn't as impressive a result as first thought. They seem to have proven right as Colchester have indeed turned out to be a poor team and our promotion credentials have indeed turned out to be not all that realistic.

By the way, the Colchester forum makes no sense whatsoever, it's as though nobody's first language is English down there.

We do have to win a game sooner or later, it can't go on forever. Given their respective form too, if we don't at least win one of this week's two home games against Carlisle and Newport then I think I give up.

 

[shoddycollins]

We do have to win a game sooner or later, it can't go on forever. Given their respective form too, if we don't at least win one of this week's two home games against Carlisle and Newport then I think I give up.

If we don't somehow pick up six points tonight then we're out of the promotion race altogether.

 

[Stripes]

Some very good players missing for us, but that is not as bad as when someone is lost unexpectedly. We've had time to fully prepare, so on balance we should get a result in what I expect to be a low scoring encounter. As we saw against Southend last Wednesday, fail to prepare, and prepare to fail. Southend fully deserved their win, they beasted us. You really do have to turn-up first before any other plans are considered. Another chance for some very good rested players to take their chance. We need to first turn-up, and stay tight for 30 minutes and then see what's on. Expecting something.

 

[SVH]

I fancy Southend to get something tonight, possibly a draw, along with Colchester which I also have down as a draw.

Some good value around like there was on Saturday. A nice little £560 acca won on Saturday thanks to O'Neil's 85th minute thunderbolt.

 

[Mighty U’s]

I listen to a few different podcasts that focus on Leagues One and Two, and read a couple of statto's blogs too

Which ones would you recommend? Lower league podcasts and statto blogs are right up my street

 

[shoddycollins]

Which ones would you recommend? Lower league podcasts and statto blogs are right up my street

D3D4 and Not the top 20 for podcasts, Paul Riley for stattoness (though some of his stuff is behind a £1/month paywall. Following their twitter accounts there's sometimes retweets to other podcasts that are less frequent too. For example there's a guy called Blades Analytics who, despite his name doesn't entirely focus on Sheff Utd. The NTT20 guys usually retweet him if he has anything interesting to say about L2.

 

[Back in the DHSS]

In recent times Tranmere v Newport league games have a history of being extremely dull affairs with few or no goals involved.
The last time Tranmere beat Newport at Prenton park was a Friday night game in November 1987 which ended 4-0. All 4 goals were shown on The Saint and Greavesy show the following lunch time.
RIP former Liverpool and Tranmere striker and ITV football pundit Ian Saint John who has sadly passed away today.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Some very good players missing for us, but that is not as bad as when someone is lost unexpectedly. We've had time to fully prepare, so on balance we should get a result in what I expect to be a low scoring encounter. As we saw against Southend last Wednesday, fail to prepare, and prepare to fail. Southend fully deserved their win, they beasted us. You really do have to turn-up first before any other plans are considered. Another chance for some very good rested players to take their chance. We need to first turn-up, and stay tight for 30 minutes and then see what's on. Expecting something.

Must disagree with your statement "fail to prepare, and prepare to fail".
Mark Cooper is meticulous in preparing the team and the loss to Southend was 'one of those things' that happen.
I believe that the Southend loss was because it was played only a few days later after FGR had a game on Newport's cabbage patch pitch. That game left a few of our players less than fully fit.