Thetownend.com

Who's going?

Feel like the fans being back is going to be a hindrance tbh.

Who's going?

At least Wellens new club wont have to worry about ticket allocation. They didnt even bother opening the ground yesterday evening for their Mickey Mouse cup exit at home to Leicester. (Muskwe scoring twice will earn him a loan move to Salford in January)

Aren't they in Tier 3? Or have I been wooshed?

:)

Even when they are allowed they won't need a ballot :)

Has everyone given up on this season already, 15 fucking posts for a thread about this weekends match? Let's be having you  :)

Has everyone given up on this season already, 15 fucking posts for a thread about this weekends match? Let's be having you  :)

Some of us have got work to do you know :)
1-2 - decent performance ultimately undone by some form of defensive calamity. Sheridan shows Barton how it's done by nutting him through the dug-out

Has everyone given up on this season already, 15 fucking posts for a thread about this weekends match? Let's be having you  :)

Has everyone given up on this season already, 15 fucking posts for a thread about this weekends match? Let's be having you  :)

Has everyone given up on this season already, 15 fucking posts for a thread about this weekends match? Let's be having you  :)

Genuinely excited to see the team News. Genuinely expecting excitement to disappear following the team News.

0-2

What do you do for a living just out of interest, I work from home on my own in an office in the garden thus I have an excuse to be fucking around on here all day as its my main contact with the real world during the day!

Pretty much same as, except I use what used to be the box room (or was optimistically described by the estate agent as "an additional guest bedroom" - possibly if you have lots of dwarfs coming to stay or people who like to get out of bed and leap straight out of the window). I am genuinely envious of the "office in the garden" setup. I had a mate who had that setup years ago and it's something I've always fancied.

2-2

Curran with a brace, in addition to a heroic defensive display.

I think we will probably line up as ....

                        Kovar
Odimayo   Baudry    Conroy      Grounds
              Grant          Lyden
                     M Smith           
DJ                  T Smith                Payne


Subs:
Fryer
Fryers
Curran
J Smith
Caddis
Haines
Parsons

Depending on fitness levels etc of the players coming back from injury.

Sound quality on iFollow a bit crap today?

Grant appears to be hobbling to me.

As in walking in your direction or genuinely crocked?

A beep and now the sound has fone

Hope off, Smith on

Sheridan just has not a clue. Hope playing sort of lwb sort of left forward. No right side at all. M Smith ending up out right side. Grant doing nothing. Just a mess. Get hope off. Get to a normal back 4. J Smith to play right side. DJ Left.

Burns has Hope in his pocket

We've had chances. We really have.

Fleetwood obviously trying to shut the game down and sit out the 1-0, but think we've looked promising in the last 20 minutes or so. All the subs have had a positive impact.

Jaiyesemi now hurt.

I suspect this might be a minority opinion, but I felt we were pretty good in the second half, especially after the substitutions. That's the first time I've seen Sheridan really change the game with his subs - probably not a coincidence that we also had our strongest bench in ages. Fleetwood are a good team, and if we hadn't fucked up easier fixtures it wouldn't be a loss we'd linger too long over.

Great to see Fryers back, great to see J Smith back. There's hope there, but we still have the major problem of looking a lot more threatening in build up play than the amount of goals we score would suggest. Need to get a few slices of luck and show a bit more intent earlier in the game.

Nudge on Payne, although gentle, was a pen.

On the note of Jonny Smith...not heard much from  RapidFlyer lately. Hope all ok?

Just feels like a team in flux and a club likewise.
It is what it is.  

Sheridan thought that he started with a 3-5-2. I'm struggling to think who the three were, as neither Odimayo nor Grounds were playing in a 3, so maybe they were as confused as I was. And he said Donohue wasn't fit to play today. I think he still doesn't know who his players are.

Fine m8, just frustrated watching that !!

Given Fleetwoods position and the way we played later in the game gives me far more optimism for the second part of the season as they were nothing special.

It was great to be back today.

The game was shit. Fleetwood didn't do anything much, they didn't need to do anything other than score, be organised and kick in with game management.

We were totally devoid of any attacking threat. Lump it to Tyler Smith doesn't work - something Wellens also tried. I'd have put Hope along side him myself.

Yes we had a flurry at the end. Sort of. Yes it was a game we could have got a point from. But make no mistake, today's performance was relegation standard.

Good to hear. Frustrating is a word  :hmmm:

My thoughts exactly, well I thought they were a bit shit, Town were just a bit shitter. Glimmers of light though. Your lad did well when came on. If a slight knock back, he'll likely miss Tues but ok for the following Sat? Zeki did well as did Conroy, DJ and M.Smith. All about getting a few players back and them all gelling.

In my own opinion I don't think Sheridan has much clue. The players certainly have ability (fitness aside) but then do they want to play for him? If anything I feel they are playing for Tommy Wright rather than Sheridan. If he is here long enough and keeps us up, that's fine but I certainly feel that this crop of players can do much more. They or something is not maximising that at present and as a fan I can only speculate on that being a number of factors. I know one thing, us Town fans deserve some kind of fucking good break.

How was the match day experience then, Batch (and any others who went)? Town End vocal?

Just spoke with him and his knee is ok, it was a pressure twinge from the block tackle and he is about 70-75% fit  So just needs some more training as he has only had 2 sessions in 3 weeks and his speed will increase dramatically. Didn't open up fully but glad to see he made an impression.  I am really hoping we can get a full squad fit in the next 2-3 weeks as it will really help and also put pressure on increased performances from individuals who don't want to lose their shirt.
I don't think we have fielded the same team for any period of time... settled teams win well....so here's hoping we go on a run now of positive news ...

If he says Pitman is out for 6 games when he meant to say Smith, he obviously doesn't.

Proof Sheridan is talking some bollocks when questioned on formation and players available. 352 my arse. He also said:

'(Dion) Donohue wasn't fit today who played  there last week...'


Yet Andrew Hawes didn't correct him on it.

The search for shape and movement continues.
Difficult to find many positives from that. Slow, ponderous and predictable.
Decent Start for Dion Conroy and Some much needed pace from Zeki Fryers.
Jonny Smith added some much needed width and created chances.
The Fleetwood keeper should have sat down and leant against the post for most of the game.
That front line was woeful and sadly we can’t change it.

Above all great to be back though but we are sleepwalking back to League Two.

Has anyone considered the possibility that Wright is effectively manager, and Sheridan may not be around for much of the week? Wright has never been a manager in name and maybe doesn’t want to be, but he’s the only one who knows the squad. Sure those in the know could confirm or deny. Sheridan suggesting Donohue wasn’t fit makes him sound a right plank.

Agree with this. Why we didn't just chuck Pitman on is beyond me

I mentioned this shortly after his appointment but suggesting it on here was considered the biggest of all sins seen since the evolution of mankind. Subsequently was told I was ridiculous to suggest such.

Think you need to stop taking massive personal offence every time anyone disagrees with you. It's a forum. There will be discussions. Not everyone will see things your way. That's how it works.

I even quite enjoyed the mating cry of the lesser spotted FOOORRRWAAARRRRDDD beast.

I mentioned this shortly after his appointment but suggesting it on here was considered the biggest of all sins seen since the evolution of mankind. Subsequently was told I was ridiculous to suggest such.

Still, funny how he conveniently was "house hunting" on the day of the pre-match presser. More absent than Boris and seemingly only there when absolutely required. I better go back in my hole now...I'm about to get told I'm being farcical and that I'm slagging off the club.

Probably wasn't Pitman on the bench but Jonny Smith  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: Either way, the "manager" likely didn't have a clue who was on the bench.

Glad your lads and yourself 'enjoyed' the afternoon PaulD. It feels to me personally that we are going to be in for a very interesting January.

Unfortunately a team resembles the "manager", take a look at Liverpool under Klopp - vibrant, charismatic and brimming with energy. This team is lethargic and monotonous (which wasn't the case at the start of the season), which reflects how the manager comes across in his interviews

Looking for somewhere to live rather than delivering sound bites to the Adver. Disgraceful!

Unfortunately a team resembles the "manager", take a look at Liverpool under Klopp - vibrant, charismatic and brimming with energy. This team is lethargic and monotonous (which wasn't the case at the start of the season), which reflects how the manager comes across in his interviews

The miserable manc we heard from last season certainly didn’t have a side in that mould...so there can be exceptions   ;)

You've managed to give "interesting" a very sinister tone there :( Sadly, think you might be right.

Interpret as you wish  ;) It wasn't necessarily intended to apply just that tone though. "Interesting" for many factors are my own thoughts and the one you describe may be a possibility.

I always quote Terry Pratchett (sic Chinese Proverb) but for many reasons in 2020/21...'There is a curse, they say: May you live in interesting times.'

Not a particularly good game to watch. I nearly fell asleep on a couple of occasions.

We didn’t know what to do.
Just not warming to Sheridan. Despite injuries just think he is limited as a Manager and it is starting to show.

Plenty of endeavour and some neat tidy football.

But how on earth are we going to score a goal? What pattern of play are we looking for? Through balls? Crosses? Cut backs from the byline?

We don’t seem to know what we are trying to do with the ball and usually ends up with DJ or JS having a hopeless pot shot.

We’ve been crying out for Lyden to add balance to the team all season so the fact he wasn’t on the bench again today is a big worry.

tbf, he seems to be trying to get us to be more solid at the back, and build from there. We're not shipping 3s and 4s any more, but it's come at the cost of creativity going forward and we're still not picking up enough points. If he can keep the improvements at the back, and revive the creativity going forward, we will be fine. Remains to be seen if he can pull that off

Just not warming to Sheridan. Despite injuries just think he is limited as a Manager and it is starting to show.

We’ve been crying out for Lyden to add balance to the team all season so the fact he wasn’t on the bench again today is a big worry.

Unfortunately a team resembles the "manager", take a look at Liverpool under Klopp - vibrant, charismatic and brimming with energy. This team is lethargic and monotonous (which wasn't the case at the start of the season), which reflects how the manager comes across in his interviews

We are short of quality upfront.
If we can’t add to that we are in serious trouble Mate.
No structure or purpose to our play and the addition of Jonny Smith lifted us. We simply don’t have a League One standard forward.

One further thing to note.  Our bench looked pretty sad today.  Barton and his cronies seemed to have energy about them, life and spirit.  We seemed to have a depressed looking Sheridan and the other bald geezer.  Was all a bit sad.  Seemed to infect the performance.

Looking for somewhere to live rather than delivering sound bites to the Adver. Disgraceful!

For me the problem is blatantly obvious... we have no midfield.

Tyler smith has prove he can score goals if you can get him into the box, he isn't a target man and struggles to hold up the ball.  Pitman can score goals if you get the ball in the box, he can knock on a header but again you need chances.

All to often we play down the wings and then meet a dead end as there are no options in the middle of the park, so we have to pass back up the same wing and recycle possession.
 
On Saturday there was a gaping hole in the middle of the field, grant held back to protect the back line but there was nothing in front of him to pass to. So we got left Matt smith trying to wonder pass his way through the game or a lot of very muted runs down the wings.

If we had a decent midfield for the defenders to rely on I am certain that we would see less mistakes. At the moment its 10 oppositions players attacking 4 /5 town defenders whilst the rest of the town squad wait for the ball to be won back.

For me the problem is blatantly obvious... we have no midfield.

Tyler smith has prove he can score goals if you can get him into the box, he isn't a target man and struggles to hold up the ball.  Pitman can score goals if you get the ball in the box, he can knock on a header but again you need chances.

All to often we play down the wings and then meet a dead end as there are no options in the middle of the park, so we have to pass back up the same wing and recycle possession.
 
On Saturday there was a gaping hole in the middle of the field, grant held back to protect the back line but there was nothing in front of him to pass to. So we got left Matt smith trying to wonder pass his way through the game or a lot of very muted runs down the wings.

If we had a decent midfield for the defenders to rely on I am certain that we would see less mistakes. At the moment its 10 oppositions players attacking 4 /5 town defenders whilst the rest of the town squad wait for the ball to be won back.

Spot on this. From the current squad our midfield options are Anthony Grant, who is playing every game with an injury so is at best operating at 70% of last seasons form , Matt Smith, who has done tremendously well, has certainly made a positive impact but is hampered by having a lack of support around him, and  finally Jordan Lyden, who seems to be permanently injured. Haines is clearly not fancied by Sheridan, otherwise would have had a game or 2 by now.

We need a 3 in midfield in this league, so are making do with Jack Payne, who flatters to deceive in the more attacking midfield role. We have not replaced Doughty who imo offered much more than Payne does. Until Lyden gets fit, I feel we may either revert to the Caddis experiment to play alongside Grant or indeed try Odimayo in that defensive central midfield position, freeing up Smith to play further up the pitch, as he will offer more assists/direct goal threats than Payne.

As many have said on here, we have a very lopsided squad with loads of defensive and wide forward options when all are fit, but a lack of midfield players. Also if T Smith is going to play, you have to play another forward up top with him. All in all it's a buggers muddle!

At times Grant looked barely mobile on Saturday. Doesn't look fully fit to me. Think it was recently mentioned he was carrying an injury/playing through the pain.

Yep. 2-3 weeks

Yep. 2-3 weeks

Grant is injured. Smith has played way too much football. Both of them are 50% of where they can be and we're desperate to rotate in there.

We're just drifting towards the rocks at the moment, rudderless.

Grant's injury seems to be one of those weird ones where running at full pace he seems largely OK but at low speed (jogging/walking) he seems to be struggling. It must be the starting and stopping where there's pain and imagine the cold is making it worst, he needs a couple of weeks rest but we just don't have any option but to play him.

Reckon he will be rested tomorrow.

4 games too late :-(