Thetownend.com

Come on then. Might as well ask.. Who's going to win tonight?

Just askin!!

That deserves a cunting. Have one on me!

Vigs can't even make the bench for this!

Best matchday thread ever.

Who is Romanski?

Polan Romanski.... 

Gareth Ainsworth on the bench, at 44. As a substitute.

Is this the tin pot thingamy that were boycotting?

You have your answer.

As long as no-one gets injured out sent off. All I care about.

fucksake

Huh?

For those who actually attended (if anybody) I'd be interested to hear how Knoyle, Iandolo & Woolery did?

the only thing this can bring is injury and tiredness.

they'll go on about momentum I'm sure

sooner we are out the better

Nothing happened in the first half. The second half was more of an event at both ends (which isn't saying much), and Swindon edged it. Once again, a set piece did the damage.

Plusses? Like Lancashire, Robertson looked more capable next to the excellent Preston. 3 clean sheets in a row shouldn't be sniffed at, and I think Wycombe were closer to their first team than we were. Knoyle tried hard and is an attacking threat - but I wouldn't pick him over Purkiss yet. Anderson is badly out of position but he does work very hard, every time. Cook is growing in confidence all the time. There's a lot of Wes in him.

Cons? I like Smith but, even tonight, he managed to get senselessly booked for kicking the ball away. We'll need to play a game without him or Norris soon, and we'll notice it for sure because there's no presence with Woolery or Gordon. Elsnik strolled a bit, and shouldn't play ahead of Goddard. Especially on Sunday. Dunne was back to his old ways of giving the ball, and fouls, away cheaply. Picking Iandolo out of position is our youth policy in a nutshell.

But it was never going to be a thriller, and it's another win.

A belated thanks for this! Onto tonight & as much as I despise the format I'm not going to buy into the theory that if we don't talk about tonights game it's not happening. So on that note how are we not using this as an opportunity to give Tom Smith a run?

The match is being shown live on iFollow for UK subscribers if anyone is interested.

I am bored and its a free match so am watching, its not very good so far...that is all.

when you say uk subscribers, you mean fee paying uk subscribers right?

only I'm a free subscriber and it's wanting £5. fuck that

Yes mate the monthy radio only commentary subscribers.

Ah right, literally nothing to see here then :)

You aren't missing anything anyway, its like a reserve fixture, FGR are shockingly bad and can't string 2 passes together, probably the worst side I have seen all season, we are a bit better but its not a good game at all.

Mullin is trying hard to get their right back sent off, who has been booked already for pushing Mullin into the dugout.

Its wierd playing with 3 centre backs again.

Lancashire taken a heavy bang to the head, blood everywhere.

I would imagine LP won't be very happy with DF if we lose this & cut off another revenue stream. I'd imagine the first real internal pressure may come his way if we lose this tonight.

FGR are awful, we are better but not by much.

The FGR number 2 Bennett will get sent off if he isn't taken off.

Mullin and Anderson are the only 2 players who look good enough today, Knoyle looks a fair bit off the pace at RWB, Iandolo has made a couple of runs from LWB but his final ball has been awful.

The rest are just going through the motions, we have not looked under any attacking pressure at all so far and although we have had 7 corners and all the attacking play we don't look like scoring.

I would say there is about 1,000 there if that with about 35 from Nailsworth.

Oh and just seen that Fitzroys son and ex Town yoof Jordan Simpson is playing for them today.

Norris injured again.

Fucks sake...

quite.

ankle I read. so that's something.

Awful defensive error cost us a goal at the near post with only FGRs 2nd shot on target all game.

soapy tit wank

Cannot see Flitcroft lasting much longer

FGR look a lot worse than Newport as well.

Been all Swindon but we just can't hit the net.

on the plus side. no more of this shit or any other cup competition.

concentrate on the league time...

a lot worse than Newport. Jesus.

FGR still havent strung more than 3 passes together in a row.

depressing

6 wins in a row to 4 defeats in a row, that really is depressing.

Didn't Flitcroft go on a 12 defeat streak at Bury? Worrying

I'm pissed off he hasn't even looked at Tom Smith.

Dunne we know...

I agree.

Anderson sent off for dissent now! FFS

This. Fucked me off more than anything tonight this has. Why bring on Dunne at 0-0?

Ha ha and soon followed by Bennett as I suggested earlier!

doesn't count though, it's the farce cup. not carried into league

ft

How long is Flitcrofts' contract, just as a matter of interest?

Rubbish game, against a rubbish team, we are rubbish!

Will the red card count for league games?

I’ve been told it’s actually a year?

Checkatrade only.

Runs out tomorrow

:) :)

mullin could be injured (groin)
Norris (ankle)
linganzi (tightened up again)

marvelous.

two years was reported

Forest Green were awful - we totally dominated the game.......but lost ! Not so much of the hoofball today and we got in in a lot of early quick crosses but none of our forwards were up with the play to latch onto them, particularly with Woolerys pace, there was not enough support.

Not playing Brophy or Smith in a game like this is ridiculous - Flitcrofts relentness preference for 'his' players is bloody minded and costing us bloody games....Grrr ! Why oh why bring on Dunne instead of giving Smith a chance to show what he can do - we already know what Dunne can(t) do for us FFS !!
Must admit I'm losing patience with that bloody minded Northerner Flitcroft - talks a good game but........ ? !!

This.

And why play Norris who is still not fully fit and Taylor in midfield where he past his best? does not make sense to me.

Also,

Once again an inept referee who got steadily worse as the game wore on, we certainly seem to get them.

Does anyone else find watching/going to the games a chore?

Last year yes, most definitely. If I didn't have the STs I'd have sacked a few off.

This year, for whatever reason, not yet. The football is as bad in a different way, the home form is useless, but for whatever reason I'm not dreading going yet.

Yes!!!

And its worse than last year. i'd rather watch a team try and pass the ball and use than this crap at the moment. People like Dunne cant even play a 10 yard pass straight. You can actually see Purkiss/Taylor not give him the ball because they know how it will turn out.

We probably all agree that the middle ground between Williams and Flitcroft is the place to be. I'd rather be on the Williams side that this crap. Remember Flitcroft built this entire squad himself, something Williams never had the chance to.

Christ, things must be bad if people are hankering after the good old days of Luke Williams!

It's just the other end of the shitty stick that is supporting STFC - at the moment.

On Tom Smith, I have heard that the management team are not happy with his attitude currently. Hence why he has been sent to Bath City on loan.

Confidence must be pretty low in the squad at the moment and the recent internal shenanigans with Vigs I wouldn't imagine is helping morale in the dressing room.

Final thought, apart from Taylor's deliveries (and Hussey's from earlier in the season), do we actually ever create chances from any other sources - Norris' penalties aside?

the attitude thing would explain a lot given he didn't get a look in with Williams either.

Didn't someone on here post previously that he has something of a 'billy big bollocks' attitude.

I think it's a bit too early for the alarm bells to start ringing... if you go back to half time at Blundell Park we're 2-1 up, OK not playing well, but that is only 1.5 league games ago.

We've 32 points, and in Div 4, 46 is usually around the safety mark. However the remaining games in 2017 are all horrible, with just Crewe providing something appetising on paper. So it's entirely possible we could enter 2018 with something similar to 10/11, whereby a fractured dressing room caused the garnering of only 13 points from the last 23 games.

Slides need to be halted, and it is here that Flitters' Bury stat gnaws away, however it is just conceivable that going into the Accy game as massive underdogs might just help us....

Watching last night on iFollow I didn't think there looked like any confidence problem with the players, there was lots of back slaps going on (friendly ones) when stuff didn't go our way, Vigs seemed friendly with the defence, the only anger or attitude was Anderson kicking out at the dugout and time board when he was sent off, there doesn't seem like any issues between players to me.

We were all over them with probably 80% of the play, FGR were terrible and did not string any passing moves together their game plan was hoof it long from defence at every chance, which we dealth with in all but 2 shots, one which Vigs saved well and one which they scored from.

We must have had 12+ shots and hardly any on target, Taylor was playing in the centre and was still the only one going past his man and crossing, there was virtually nothing down the right at all, Knoyle looked lost at times with nobody to pass to in front of him but was reluctant to run past his man even though he has a fair amount of pace.

Mullin and Anderson and when he came on Woolery were really up for it.

Its pretty obvious we are crap in front of goal, Woolery looked good when he came on right up until his final shot, he missed a one on one from 6 yards out(ish).

We need shooting practice more than anything, if we had scored then FGR would have crumbled, their right back doing his best all game to get sent off which he had happen at the end despite the ref who seemed unwilling to send him off earlier in the game.

So what if Tom Smith has an attitude if he can deliver the goods on the pitch....he can't be any worse than Dunne who looked poor again when he came on and Linganzi who fell over his own feet a few times.

We're in a bad run of form and people are over reacting. It'll pass eventually and hopefully we can hang in or around the top 7.

Tom Smith in danger of becoming the new Storey isn't he? I don't know if he's good, bad or indifferent as I've not seen enough of him play to make that judgement. But nor has anyone else - we keep doing this, hype up some young lad as the answer to all our problems because the player not playing always looks better than what you've got. Then half the crowd fucking destroys them when they don't deliver to our (over-inflated) expectations.

Exactly, its not like we are creating nothing and leaking goals (other than Saturday) we are losing games by a solitary goal and still creating lots of chances but not hitting the back of the net.

Maybe after 10 losses ina  row then his job might be on the line but we won 6 in a row before this.

I still think we will be in the play offs at the end of the season.

That is true mate but this happens at every club not just ours, a talented youngster comes through the ranks and the fans hope and pray that he becomes the new messiah.

We are lucky that in the past we have sold a lot of good young talent who went on to become good players, we have also sold a bigger amount of young players that have gone on to achieve nothing, and the fans all say "He would have been better off staying at Swindon and learning his trade with us instead of following the money". Alex Henshall, Ben Tozer, Leigh Mills etc spring to mind.

Its just fans showing optimism that we can still create or have a hand in making good players that can go onto bigger better things and that they can help our current situation/plight as the fans rarely call for them to play when we are doing well its almost always when things are not going so well.

Yeah I get that, but the weight of expectation does the player no favours and I'm fed up of reading that Tom Smith is somehow the answer to all our problems. He may well be for all I (or anyone here or on social media) know; equally he may not be. The fact that successive managers (whatever you think of them) haven't apparently thought he was ready suggests he probably isn't. Yet, anyway.

My issue with Smith not getting game time is that when I've seen him I've been impressed & that was in a higher division. He scored a good goal at Crewe & was excellent against Rochdale in, iirc, a 3 with Iandolo & somebody else. He shirks no challenges (see last season on James Hanson who was as big a brute as you will come across at this level) & is largely suited to L2 given that it does tend to be a lot more physical down here. Add that to Dunne's clear limitations & it winds me up to see him not get given a chance. Last night was an obvious opportunity to give him a run. I was surprised to not see him start & even more surprised to see Dunne get brought on at 0-0.

It really wears thin when people go complaining that these players are not being used as though they are the saviour. The reality could well be that they are just not that good or, in Smith's case, there may be other reasons. We all want the next generation of Thomspons to come through, but some players just ain't that good.

The brief viewings I've had of Smith so far suggests he will offer a damn sight more than Dunne is at present in, for me, the most important part of the pitch. DF's comments that what goes on between the two 18 yard boxes is largely irrelevant means he clearly sees things differently to me & presumably many others.

FWIW I don't think Smiths omission from DF's thoughts is down to ability. It may well be down to the attitude problem that has been mentioned on here previously. Just a hunch on my part based on nothing other than what I've seen of TS so far.

Whereas I've heard others say that he gets lost in games and is rated mainly because he scored a scorcher once.

I don't actually have an opinion either way as I've seen so little of him. What I do know, however, is that people that are managing football clubs tend to know a fuck ton more about the game than those that voice their opinions on the internet. Myself included. I think they are likely to have at least some idea of what they are doing, and I know who's opinion I'd rather take. Asides from very few exceptions.

Agreed.

From reading this thread it does seem that Smith is becoming the new Miles Storey?

Definitely.

I think smiths performance against Rochdale, while impressive given the circumstance, was overblown by many (and I said so at the time, so don’t @ me, haters)

Given two successive managers, who see Tom Smith perform every single day in training, haven’t really used him since (particularly Williams and his more youth-oriented approach) would suggest that *maybe* he isn’t as good as the hive mind thinks.

Iandolo is the one we should be more upset about lack of game time imo. We’re alright in the middle for destroyers (which from what little I’ve seen is smiths strength) - we lack any sort of nouse on the ball which Ian can (and has) provided whenever he’s been given a run up the middle. Even when farmed out at left back against Newport he was comfortably our best player on the ball (and a part of me thinks it’s not a complete coincidence he was taken off shortly after he stopped hoofing it down the line)

I think a Smith or Dunne poll would shed some light on the overall thoughts on this topic. Also, & this isn't aimed at yourself, it seems as though others think that Smith is being hyped up as some sort of saviour. My thought process is that he is worth a run over the clearly limited options we have in there at the moment. Maybe then others can form some genuine opinions on him based on a decent run in the side.

Michael Pook was picked by four or five successive managers Dave!! It clearly works the other way in certain cases!!

MP once scored a last 10 minute hat-trick at Burton for Cheltnumb... who were 5-3 down at the time, all shots outside the area to win 6-5  :)

Fatbury might have got a little moist that day.

Remember that. He always gave his all tbf to him. He just wasn't very good that's all.

that wasn't my point.

My point was that with a misfiring midfield and a nothing cup of yesterday wasn't the time to look at him when will be?

we've seen Dunne.

I'd wholly agree with that. I was prompted to post by PV rather than you though, you fucking egomaniac :)

fuck you.

it IS all about me.

Well it is now, yes :)

I can promise you I don't see Smith as the new messiah, I think if he has a future at the club then Flitcroft should at least see him in a competitive(ish) fixture.

As Batch says we know what Dunne can do, which IMO is fuck all, I don't think hes not good enough, we know what Linganzi can do also, which is a bit more than Dunne but still not really good enough.

As you say none of us see him in training or in a match environment (this season) so can't say why he is out of the 1st 11, but he has promise much as Bodin did and we know how that ended.

I think Smiths future lies away from our club I am just disappointed that Flitcroft has not looked at all of the options available in a (slightly) meaningful match scenario, as IF and it is a big IF he is good enough then it would save us another wage with a new signing.

Yeah sorry, I phrased that badly - your post prompted me to post, but my point wasn't supposed to be a direct reply (which was why I didn't quote your post), if that makes sense :) It was more a general comment on the "Player who isn't playing being seen as the best thing ever when we're not happy with those who are playing" posts on here and more so on the FB group

If Smith has indeed been shipped off on loan due to attitude, would it be fair to say he's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy?

But we're just going round and round in circles.

If that's the case, and he isn't going to get on the pitch under any circumstances, where was the point in recalling him a week or two ago?

And the fact that he isn't worth a sub appearance ahead of Dunne in a game like that suggests that he isn't going to get on the pitch under any circumstances. You don't need to be 'the new miles storey' to get 20 minutes in a game that nobody is interested in. Robertson always gets a game in it despite the fact that he's been found out in the league several times and will obviously go in the summer.

Maybe Brophy is also a naughty boy, but the same principle applies.

And Iandolo is a midfielder who Flitcroft sees fit to keep playing at left back. Which I might understand if the left back wasn't playing in fucking midfield.

well said ferret

Iandolo in the last 2 games I watched him, Newport home and FGR he looked lost at LB LWB he is not a defender and doesn't get forward enough when he has the ball, he looks lost there, I would rather he played through the middle with Taylor back at LB.

Against FGR I think would have been ideal for Brophy to have got game time against a poor defence, when Taylor can do your fullback for pace then a bit extra pace from Brophy could have made a difference..

Spot on with all that

Cracking post. You've just earned yourself your first positive karma.

More importantly. just out of interest how do you pronounce Iandolo , I have always gone down the Yandolo route but is that correct?

Wasn't that last season!

Ian

The commentators seem to call him Eye Ann Do Lo.

Let's just call him Ellis.

Sometimes of course it makes sense for a youngster to start out in a new position, but not here. He can pick a pass, but he's not that quick and is not a ball-winner. He's clearly a relatively attacking central midfielder, and playing him at full back will achieve nothing other than to drain his confidence.

Taylor has done fine at left back, and half our goals come from his left foot (not always from set pieces either - goals vs Vale, Wycombe etc have been from deep crosses in open play). Ok, he gets skinned sometimes, but then so would Ellis.

Let's call him Stevie.

With an Italian surname like Iandolo then surely he should be called Luca or Giovanni?

I hereby name him llando iandolo

Lower case confusion all round.

Let's just call him Ells.

I am confused.

I've always liked Llandogo... in the Wye Valley

(http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/70/76/707625_b309c23f.jpg)

Remember being in the Sloop Inn, after a few days walking and hearing the locals talking about developments in the build up to the Falklands War... scarcely believing what I was hearing.

I assumed he was welsh?

He may be, it sounded Italian to me!

Born in Chatham. Middle name Carlo!

My view is that as Dunne and Linganzi are both supposed to be defensive midfielders - screening the back 3 or 4 - they have both spectacularly failed. We’ve all seen inferior teams waltz straight through the midfield.

So why not forget that and go for a midfield that can at least create a bit - the defence will be under pressure with or without those 2.

Linganzi has described himself as a box to box midfielder.
Don't think we've seen the best of him yet.
Should be encouraged to just turn and drive at the opposition.
A big lump running at defences would do some damage at this level.

As for Ellis, scored a very good goal in the trophy last season.
Thought that might be a breakthrough moment for him, but then he got injured.
Worth sticking with, but not sure that Flitcroft sees him as central midfield option.

Will be interesting to see if Twine gets a chance to progress here, as of the youngsters he is the one that has been bigged up the most by the manager.

I think Flitcroft has made it perfectly clear, via words and actions, that the middle third of the pitch, actually, 50% of the pitch, is largely irrelevant.  That a midfielder occasionally gets in possession of the ball in that part of the pitch is an inconvenience.  It seems apparent that they probably do not spend much time on the training field working on how to move the ball through the midfield, and it's left to individuals in those circumstances to react and shift the ball quickly, either back to a defender to lump it, or, just as frequent, to move it forwards with little need to worry about where.

The only time we look good on the ball, in my opinion, is counter attacking.  By it's very nature, it's an unexpected transition of play, and the players are more prone to playing off the cuff.  Whenever there is time, or thought goes into what we do, it is geared towards getting the ball in the final third through as few passes as possible.  Just look at our kick off for example - play it back, then to the left back, then forward down the line.  In fact, it is likely that stats might show we use the left back to play a much higher percentages of balls through than our right back.

Linganzi wants to be a ball player, he just isn't much cop.

Dunne seems more than happy to not have the ball - he does his level best when a full back has the ball to ensure he is not a viable passing option in fact.  This is either personal preference or by design, I imagine a mix of both.  We should probably just switch to a 5-0-5 or a 6-0-4.  The only change I think Flitcroft could make, as I assume he is who we get and his style isn't going to change, is to ensure wide players are wide players.  I'm not sure we ended up with 5 central forwards by design as much as a quick push to get numbers.  Two out an out wide players might add something.

Which to be fair is exactly how Di Canio used to play, he was just a lot better at it and we had the players to drive forward.

Also Iandolo is 100% an Italian name.

I think Flitcroft's comments about the middle of the pitch are being massively, and unfairly, being taken out of context or, at the very least, exaggerated.

Go back a few games and the defence was looking more solid with Dunne in front of them, is it just a case that now he’s one booking away from a suspension he’s stopped tackling.

He’d probably have been better off getting a booking & a ban than how he’s played in the last few games

It's a combination of things - the matches themselves give a clearer indication, which is why I referenced actual match situations that seem to play out regularly, which suggests a tactical preference.

Good post earlier Rob. The real problem for me with DF's tactical preference to bypass midfield is from a defensive rather than an attacking preference. The amount of times an opposition player has picked the ball up in his own half & run 30 yards before somebody attempting to tackle him is scary. Stevenage's fifth on Sat being a prime example. If you watch the goal back you'll see that the space Newton runs into was afforded to him by Linganzis laziness in getting back. That goal was massively avoidable if Linganzi had had the desire /fitness etc to track the runner. There's probably other examples this season where surges from CM have led to goals either directly or in resulting passages of play shortly after. If Smith isn't going to get a run so we can see what he's made of then I would say that 1, if not 2, CM's would be my priority in the window.

I have not seen Dunne play a good game yet but I have only seen 7 games so far this season and he has played in every one.

He is never available as an option going forward and shirks from tackles, they said after the Grimbsy game on the radio that he is no longer in danger of a ban for one more yellow card as he has now passed the amnesty date....I thought that was the end of December but they suggested it was the start of December.

This is a much better post than my poor attempt at humour deserved.