Thetownend.com

 :cry:

1-5

Angry fanbase.

Sorry, not going to be around to transcribe Flynn's excuses this week.

Meh, That is all.

2 ST holders here not bothering.

Nothing good to predict, that is for sure.

Pre-match music sorted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgw_RD_1_5I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgw_RD_1_5I)

I’ll be there purely because I’ll be seeing some mates in the Merlin pre match. The football afterwards is just an annoying after thought.

How I'm viewing boxing day right now. Made plans to go out. The football just fills me with dread. Been almost very home game this season but i can't see me going again much now.

I'm not quite at my "last straw, no more money to the club" way I got under Power, but I'm being pushed that way.

Its all getting very predictable anyway.

Not his fault, players arent listening, no point in signing anyone as they will be unfit, will change it up in January (which will change to tough market/ priced out come January*), occasionally dig out some players but never Austin, blah blah blah.


* which will then change to business will get done late in the window, which will then shift to probably be unattached after the window closes, which will then put it back to the current scenario.

Stats for last 10 league games......

Town
P10 W3  D2  L5   F14   A16  PTS 11

Stockport
P10 W10  D0  L0  F25  A6  PTS 30

Peak Swindon to jam a win on this one

That's what I was thinking
Stockport must be due a slip up as well.

Really can’t see it.  Despite everyone blaming Flynn/Morfuni the fact is the players are fucked.  Wafer thin, lightweight squad, not entirely their fault, but no excuse for lack of fitness or interest. Injuries/suspension’s just can’t cope with the squad we have.  Going to be a long season, hopefully we’ll get through it without entering the bottom three.

only 2 go down to non-league right?

Sorry,  old age !!

it's all good! :) are we saying 3rd from bottom would be something we would take right now?

Swindon 1 Stockport 3 att: 8,750 (650 Hatters)

Stockport -2 is 6/1. Having a bit on that

I wonder if Clem will have a secret bet with those odds😁

There is absolutely no way we can live with Stockport, might as well stay at home really. on proper.

3-1 Town

As things stand at the moment - Probably !!.

Looks like Stockport have sold around 1k tickets

We are (somehow) going to win this game.

Then, the usual suspects on Facebook will post 'Where are the moaners now'

I can see it a mile off.

"tHe pOwEr cLeM oUt mOb R qUiEt tOnIgHT!!!!!!1111"

Cretins.

So a 4-7 type scoreline again this Sat, with disgruntled away fans complaining about our stewarding and facilities?

I will down a few in the Gluepot and enjoy a good piss take session.

A pre match Newcastle Brown in the County.

Then it might go downhill.....

We got to win again soon?

It will be interesting to see what the fans reaction is if we get beat will they vent their anger towards Clem or even Flynn.

Quickest presser ever. Shade the player on duty 3 statements, Flynn 5 or 6. Nothing of substance.

Clayton out, JK who I presume should be JCain is out, Ward won’t be seen in a Swindon shirt again, Genesini is a good kid. Devine in January.

""It's a young squad.""

Oh, no, O'Leary.

Bit of good-ish news. Looks like Khan hasn’t been picked for the Gambia squad WC qualifier next week

Club just tweeted he's mutually agreed to withdraw from the squad.

guessing because we have no players we've asked kindly

Poor bloke, gets called up and is asked to withdraw due to the ineptitude of the management team in not providing a proper squad.

Bet they laid a guilt trip on him

Bet they try pulling a stunt like this for AFCON too.

He was on the bench last time out, right?

Perhaps they weren't going to play him so it makes sense for all parties.

Didn’t bother asking about Shade then

We are going to win 3-0 today. Then, a story will break later this evening that Clem has agreed to sell the club to a highly ambitious billionaire.

https://media.tenor.com/aJlDzGSWpDEAAAAC/pig-fly.gif

Spotted over Swindon

If we get anything from this game I'd be surprised, squad seem knackered. Heading to the game regardless, hopefully we can steal some points and at the very least not pick up any injuries or suspensions

.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-p_9q3WoAAOFFa?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

Williams Kokolo debut for Shade and Saidou Khan returns for Kinsella.

Bench looks a little stronger than recently now too.

So Stockport 12 wins in a row, Swindon 4 defeats in a row, I wonder how this will pan out.

Important how we start today, can’t start the game like we did last week.

And we cant finish the game as we did on Tuesday!

Seven professional footballers as subs for the first time in a fair while.

Mind you the Stockport bench looks absolutely stacked.

I’m think saying that of Dworzak is pushing it.

So we’ve got a 5 minute window after half time to win it

At most, if we cant get 5 goals in that 5 minute spell we are fucked!

Who is this new fella, I seem to have missed his arrival?

5 of Stockports subs make it into our starting XI

Some boos when Austin's name read out in the line up

Well, he has a pro contract, I'm not going much further than that.

It was announced around midday
https://x.com/Official_STFC/status/1723309345608196395?s=20

TBH even if we were on a run of 5 wins in a row I would still be thinking that a draw would be a good result today.

Only a fool would not bet on Stockport, irrelivant of current Town form.

Thanks.

I've got bloody away commentary on ifollow!

Have you tried changing audio in the settings menu (bottom right) to home as it may be on away audio.

My home stream won’t work.
Away stream works but zero sound

Meh

No home pics. Got away comms.

I'm enjoying Ifollow's eclectic colours for the teams.
Town in purple and white and stockport in green and black!

No such option on a firestick!

Have you tried changing your monitor colour balance? :D

Ah sorry I thought you meant on proper iFollow :)

Williams Kokolo looks quite a solid unit, similar build to Egbo.

Better than the no sound I have probably

I mean in the overlay, you cheeky minx

Bodin on Cocomms.Loud and clear for me

oh it's changed now. Ifollow must have seen my feedback above

Good chance for County

And again

Great dig by Hutton. More shots pls

Hutton good shot from 30 yards with his wrong foot, saved by the keeper.

This!

Kokolo inches away from getting to the ball 1st in their box but they get to it first and counter and Mahoney makes a save.

Bloody hell, this could be 7-4 again

Attendance definitely feels more sparse today as you’d expect. Also I notice a load of bulbs are out on the Arkell’s/Bank pylon, lucky we don’t have any midweek games as they are shit at the best of times.

Defence already struggling, leaving them 1 on 1 every time is suicidal.

Its end to end but Stockpot have had the better chances so far.

Corner to Town.

I firmly had down at the 4 :D

Town End looks about half the usual occupants today.

Good save by Mahoney.

Stockport hit the post.

Kokolo fouls the winger near the corner flag.

Awful shot luckily well over the bar from that free kick.

Nothing changes. Huge gaps at the back.

Nice tackle by Kemp but his cross is intercepted for a conrner to Town.

Kokolo looks very rusty. Austin dropping pretty deep, but Kemp running on beyond him it should work

Foul on Hutton near the corner flag, a FK as good as a corner here for Town.

Yellow for Sarcevic.

Mmmmmm, pie

Don't worry about it ifollow, i'd hate to see a replay of that foul

Good FK by Kemp thats cleared and it comes to McEachran who volleys it back in but its cleared.

Just tuned in from a hot and sunny Tenerife - Have I missed owt other than Ward gone, Kokomo in and 0-0 ?

Go cycle up Teide again

McEachran on the deck and looking very injured.

Hutton sounding dangerous so far. Still can't understand the Genesini "situation". Now a "rusty" Kokolo gets in ahead of him

McEachran now back to his feet.

Great chance for Brewitt well over the bar unmarked header, bad miss.

Brewitt really ought to have scored. He's done well to miss

Too hot! Too old! Too fat!

Genesini looked decent in his 2 appearances so far, I dont get it either, altho Genesini is a natural right footer he looked decent at LWB.

Never foul by Dokes there, he won the ball cleanly.

Great free kick by them! high wide and into space......

Austin's doing well to make space/nudge stockport players off him. It's so tight whenever he does though.

playing for time already

Agree with Bodin, if Stockport took a shot instead of trying to craft the perfect goal we might have been in trouble

Thet are taking one or two extra touches at the moment than they should be.

Try another stream, one of my streams has the away comms, one has home

They are a yard fast than us and seem to win every 50/50 ball and break with speed as a unit and defend as a unit, without excelling they look just solid as a team.

The lino on the DRS side is spectacularly shit.

1-0 Kemp

Good goal from Kemp.
ABSOLUTE WORLDY OF A KNEESLIDE!!

Massive deflection but you dont shoot shoot you dont score, well done Kemp.

That knee slide was superb.

Huge deflection. Take it.

Kemp is that good he'd planned for it

KEMPES!!!!!

Mario?

He does that :)

Kokolo wins a corner.

Kemp to Young who flicks it over the defender then volleys it wide, what a move but such a poor final finish.

Young's toepunt just drifts wide. Get another by half time and we only lose 3-2

I like Mr Kokolo so far. Big unit. Good positioning. Bit of pace

Super Mario!🙂

I was thinking more of this one :)

(https://media.tenor.com/GlLSmZ96kGcAAAAM/mario-kempes-goal.gif)

This Lino, the player was clearly offside again but missed again. That’s the 4th or 5th he’s been miles out of position.

For a team top of the league and having arrived on a 12 game winning run their away turn out is a bit shit, cant be many more than 800 there.

What a player!

Sarcevic off with looks like a dislocated shoulder, hes been at the heart of every move for them so far.

Kemp or Kempes? :D

We look shakey defending their corners and free kicks still.

Bloody hell, I'll be amazed if they don't score from a corner

Absolutely both! Anyone that can make me not miss Jonny Williams must be good!🙂

Mahoney with another good save.

Hutton got away with that as it looked like a pen to me.

5 mins added time.

No doubt there was holding but the fella just led down instead of a "footballing move"

At least the ref seems to be not giving fouls for both sides, not favouring either team.

There was a huge element of "I am going to the deck now no matter what".

HT 1-0

Watching the replay - their striker timed his run perfectly for when Brewitt is looking round to see where the strker is

A good enough half from town. On another day would've been down but maybe today is our day?

Kokolo looks an upgrade. The continued openness of midfield scares me. Would be interesting to see a good RHM running the channels against these big centrebacks

It was a nice move, a very good low save too by Mahoney who TBH has kept us in the game so far, many other keepers wouldnt have got near the 3 great saves he has made.

These officials are particularly incompetent, FBT fouled their guy but gets the foul and their guy booked for complaining.

Yup, bad body position from Brewitt. But that's why he's league 2 innit.
Mahoney has been great so far

RHM would have some joy against this lot. Some big units but don't think they'd like his pace.

Stockport look threatening.

We have a LB/LWB who seems to know how to defend!

happy with that. Tight game, hope they don't find their shooting boots

Some battle this week and getting some reward. Stockport aren’t all that and all the more frustrating that if we actually had a half decent owner & built a squad we’d be in with a chance this season.

I will be astonished if Stockport do not score.

Its not 1 way traffic by any means but Stockport look capable of scoring with every attack, just keep them away from our goal for another 45 mins (plus stoppages)!

Ref missed a blatant handball by their player, right in front of him too.

Att: 8,475 (770 Stockpots).

1000 down

Looks a lot less there

Kokolo definately looks like a footballer and not just an athlete.

TBF for a team on a 12 game winning run and top of the league thats a shit turnout by them too.

Ffs

was it?

Pen to them.

Penalty, awful defending left them clean through

Yeah, Mahoney cleans him out sadly

1-1

1-1

1-1

Never a pen for me.

They'll run away with this now.

Mahoney nearly got to it too.

Hutton lucky not to be booked for kicking out at Touray. Ref could turn this into a royal rumble

Time for a collapse

Inches wide by Town by Kokolo.

What a run by Young

Thats what he does best.

Jake Young looks to be labouring but very often seems to have another gear. Unlucky that the shot rebounded wide off of Kokolo.

Another corner to them.

Brewitt with a diving two footed challenge! Good job no one else was around

They head just wide free header 10 yards out, got away with that.

Chazza is dropping too deep. We need more up top, the ball is just not staying away from our goal

Thats the 2nd time today he has done that, he did it at Colchester on Tuesday too.

Awful defending yet again

He hasnt contributed enough for me today so far.

Defence is awol again, their starting to get in behind and down the sides with ease.

Hutton shot blocked.

RHM on for Austin.

we have summoned RHM. Who knows what happens now :D

Better cross by Hutton.

2-1

Young.

FUCKING GET IN!!!!!

Jake fucking Young.

Typical Young goal, that.

FUCKING HAVE THAT!!!!

Great turn and finish

Great finish by Young there.

A goal! well done us

Diving Northern Bastards.

What’s with the long throws today. Makes a change.

Please can we hold on.

Lino in front of the DRS has looked utterly uninterested all game. Insane how that wasn't a foul on Khan

Desperation :D

Getting tetchy now

Nasty foul on Kemp there 30 yards out, chopping at its finest.

That's the same challenge Mahoney made, why hasn't their no.4 been booked?

Cynical as fuck. No idea why he hasn’t been booked.

Kemp FK deflected over the bar.

I really hope Kokolo is called Bill by the town players

Mahoney has a rush of blood to the head, got away with it tho.

Unfortunately not, they call him Will.

Lino managed to not see Hutton being dragged back on that break

Khan silly yellow for kicking the ball away.

Just to clarify - this wasn't a police joke. I am not that witty

free header ffs. bit of a slip

2-2

2-2

Brewitt gets very angry after he lets a fucker go across his front and score doesn't he? Fucks sake

Poor marking, totally unmarked at the near post, free header, good cross.

Stockport who looked a bit panicky for a while now look to have the upper hand.

Pathetic defending.

Absolutely amazing safe from Mahoney but where the fuck are our players?

Fantastic block by Mahoney saves us again.

Kokolo makes a solid tackle there.

I’d take it if the ref blew up now!

(Great save Mahoney)

Khan is gonna sent off soon.

This will end in tears!

wHeRe iS oUr DEfENcE???

good finish. 2-3

Our defence is beyond a joke and that is squarely on Flynn and Hatswell. They have to try something different as we can’t keep conceding like this.

2-3 cracker

Hilarious. Going down.

Unstoppable.

Sigh

We all would have!

Lovely finish but that was really poor. We look terrified in defence

Kokolo off
Shade on.

The shot yes. The movement to get the shot away, very stoppable

Indeed, parting of the waves ahead of him.

Good finish, but, UGM and McEachran were fancying around standing off. That gave ‘Odin’ the chance to shoot and claim Valhalla!

Why doesn’t the ref book their players when they poleaxe Kemp on the edge of the box?!

On that showing I like what Kokolo brings to the team. A solid debut.

Sacrificing a defender for a passenger

Allowed him to advance 20 yards without a challenge. He surely has to try going back to basics at the back we’re way too open.

Shade loses the ball cheaply but wins it back very well.

Totally agree. Hopefully he can go 90 mins soon

Didn’t see Kinsella come of.

Win, lose or draw there has been far more effort by our players today but still lacking defensively which has (or will have) cost us.

Came on for McEachran when Shade came on I think, I missed it too.

Yeah, thus far we’re competitive but ultimately getting beat by a better team that have exposed our (well known) weaknesses.

Fancy first touch, drag back, fall over as the ball goes out of play - Tyrese shade

We haven’t used RHMs pace at all since he came on.

Same for RHM.

We tried then, and RHM falls flat on his face under no pressure!

Don’t think I’ve seen him touch the ball since he’s come on!!

Kemp just wide from 20 yards.

Flynn needs to start getting a fair share of the blame, we can’t be expected to get results if we basically concede 3 every game.

Look at the quality they just brought on with that triple sub. It’s a joke

8475 in the ground

Every one of the subs they just brought in gets in our starting 11. Recruitment has been appalling.

The 3412 formation is a risk to maximise Kemp. But it does mean we can't have a single passenger in defence, which we have recently.
It also relies on midfield having the legs to have an impact going forward and back, which having very few pros in the squad is optmistic.

At what point do we question Flynn sticking to this approach? We don't have the players or the squad for it

It shows the gap between the teams when they can bring on Madden and Powell with 1,000 1st team appearances between them.

Dont think I’d blame him today. This is a good side and we have looked better today defending on the left. Kokolo a big upgrade on the ‘injured’ Ward.

We just need to replace others in January and end of season.

I have been questioning 3 at the back all season, spoke to 2 TEFers this morning about this very thing, we just dont have the players to play that formation, I hate 3 at the back and always have done.

I don't tihnk we've turned their centrebacks all game

Take Young and Kemp out of that side and we’re proper shite

Young has today, twice, but Austin and RHM havent got close to it.

2-4

I like 3 at the back, but it can't be them isolated, just like in their fourth goal

We literally can’t defend, that’s on the manager.

He scuffed the shot in.

17 goals conceded in 4 games

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

14 goals conceded in the last 3 games, despite scoring 7 ourselves.

BRING ON DWORZAK

7 fucking mins added.

It’s the midfield. So lightweight and not and not really defensive at all.

Our form is dreadful.

Defence has been a problem for god knows how long and here we are, still conceding goals with ease.

Flynn is doing a pretty good job of unravelling his standing as the only one in the STFC building with credit in the bank right now.  To continue to play the way we are is either stupid or arrogant.  We do not have a defender in the team and seemingly little chance of getting any, but to continue exposing them is reckless.

The whole place is in real danger here.

As Aud says, no Kemp and no Young and we are fucked. Proper fucked.

The defence don’t help themselves but get no help from midfield.
Never been a huge fan of 352 with wing backs but it’s literally the only forward we have the personnel for.

Can’t go 442 as we don’t have wingers. 433 doesn’t leave a free role for Kemp plus we don’t really have wide strikers. 451 again no wingers.

Start planning for next season in the January window……but what league🥺

Did Flynn play the Kamikaze 3 at the back style at Newport?

I thought they had ‘big’ players

Alarm bells ringing at a deafening level

Which says a lot about the squad we have built - it's too small and has no flexibility as a result.

I'm done, they can all fuck off. Not going back until new  commited owner in place.

it's not going swimmingly with them tbh.

midfield is wank

Sliding down the table. Say goodbye to Kemp and Young in Jan: relegation on the cards.

Aaaah,Jacob Wakeling,swoon.....not replaced etc etc

Well yes.

Captain Obvious.

Fire sale to go along with the half price shirts I bet. Anything that isn't nailed down will be going.

Power in disguise.

You dont win games if you dont have a defence, simple.

Strong defences dont lose you games. In that I also include midfielders who can defend.

Our defence leave us exposed and our midfield gets cut through like butter too lightweight.
There bench is strong too

Wish I’d stayed out sunbathing!

As good as fbt has been, he fucked it right up for their 3rd. We make it so fucking easy for the opposition

At least it took 70 minutes to collapse this week!

Encouraging performance against a well-funded team who are going to win the league.

The problem is Flynn is recognising that the defence is shite as it’s been letting in goals all season!

Is or isn't?

Spot on :clap:

24 points from 29 games needed.
It’s going to be tight.

The Club, in public, are seemingly happy with it though?  Flynn has consistently said it's not a squad size issue and the owner said he gave them a competitive budget.  neither support the "obvious" reality, do they?

Fair point.

…better start planning our National League away days now…

Sifting through the thread not sure Austin got a mention

I actually don't think Stockpot were all that, seen better sides here. We just made mistakes. Getting fucking boring. Fuck em, will be saving me some dosh.

He did - Replaced by RHM

RHM and Shade contributed nothing when they came on.

It’s all very well Clem saying he’s coming over to ‘oversee’ the January transfers, but why can’t he fucking make sure we’ve got the right squad AT THE START OF THE SEASON instead of trying to fix it in January?!

It’s an absolute joke and he’s taking us all for a ride.

Gotta be honest, didn't even notice Austin was on

Cheers, that’s around the time I lost interest ;)

No, they are good.  They are strong throughout, which gives them a degree of consistency.  No standout players, but they'll break down most teams this season.  They are a bit relentless.

Which was when Kokolo went off, Stockport "shaded" it after that.

Very good!

Threadbare, weak as piss defensively squad beaten by strong, well funded, and structured squad shocker.

You could predict the last 15ish minutes or so before kickoff just by looking at the lineups. They had Knoyle, Touray, Camps, Madden and Powell on their bench who all walk into our first XI and we had Shade and Kinsella. Doesn’t matter how the match was going, once players got tired and both managers had to turn the benches, they had better (even that’s underplaying it) options than we did.

Last 10 games, very worrying

What??? We're not bottom?

Plenty of time😁

We’re essentially playing 1 CB - Brewitt. FBT and UGM are not CBs. Which makes it all the more odder that we keep getting overrun in midfield. Way too many footballers for L2 and not enough, no nonsense cloggers. No physicality in midfield - Kemp, MCreachan, Kinsella, Cain all lightweight tiddlers.

We don’t have the personnel to change the way we play so we’re stuck with Russian roulette football. Got away with it more often than not first 10 games but chickens coming home to roost now.

Drop a goal and we collapse game after game. Losing mindset, half the team must be looking forward to January and getting the hell out of Dodge. I think we’ll probably just have enough to avoid the drop but it’ll be brown trouser stuff.

Did better than I thought we would, not surprised at all to see our players fade as the match progressed, we were completely out of it after the 70th minute. Think unless we can get ourselves a nice few goals for a cushion in a first half of the game, we're not going to get much in the way of points until January at the very least

Austin fucks me off now to be honest. Big wage, big waste of time.

We carry him through games. We don't even press with him as he sits in midfield.

First half when we decided to press it was with a trio of Kokolo, Young and Kemp.

Flynn firmly in blaming the players and calling them out mode now judging by that interview. Would be nice if he’d take some responsibility but doesn’t seem like he’s capable of that, Walsall fans said the same about him.

I'm not really sure what he can say to be truthful but that was an absolutely "nothing" interview with Flynn. It's almost as if what happened on the pitch was nothing to do with him.  Losing faith with him I'm afraid. Still not sure why he signed Kinsella when he didn't fancy him at Walsall.
 

 stockpot seem to have all of the ingredients for success. Really quite depressing

We've conceded 14 goals in 3 games. That is fucking embarrassing. If they can't even sort that out then you deserve fuck all support. Also, we tried to get the atmosphere going in the Arkells,  fuck8ng waste of time. Like 4k zombies   ::)

The EFL rules permit promoted teams to have budgets not limited by normal rules, it's grossly unfair, even without the Town's playing budget being very debatable.

Ummm it’s 17 in 4 games so currently 4.25 goals a game over that period.

We were warned…

he won every flick on her could. Is that enough?  that's a different question.

FBT can play proper CB effectively, he did so for most of last season and was our best defender consistently. He's being asked to do something different this year, and I agree it's leaving us very open.

That’s what I meant. Those 2 aren’t being asked to play CBs. They’re being asked to be ball carrying defenders so when that ball gets turned over up the pitch they’re out of position. Can’t really blame the players too much if they are, by and large, carrying out orders.

For me, as always Austin was much, much too deep but concur with you he was winning a lot of flick ons and him going off and no one winning anything in the air for us definitely contributed to Stockport getting a foothold on the game.

I mean don’t get me wrong. I don’t think Austin was doing enough and I don’t think him staying on just to win headers would have change the result but we didn’t get any better for the changes.

RHM did nothing.

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbprLVlCk8Y

There will be no squad strengthening in January- we have no money and will also lose Kemp/Youngs goals.

Let’s hope the sale rumours are true as if not I can see us in a relegation battle

Although all the blame doesn’t lie with Flynn find it baffling that he has been given a contract extension with a 30% win rate and on this run of form.

The buck ultimately though stops with the owner. Certainly be lucky to break 5k crowds next year if he is still around

Looks like he was given the buffer of an extension in case any new owner wants their own man in and he was threatening to walk if not.

I disagree - think FBT is only a passable centre back, cover if needed.  He is not good enough at the nit and gritty of defending.  He is a good enough left back at L2 level who looked OK last season because we were pretty abject then as well.

Same goes for Godwin-Malife for me.  He looks every bit a right back playing centre back.

Brewitt is not a top 3 team first choice centre back either. 

All three of them look good in games because they are OK on the ball, join attacks or have a decent one on one battle from time to time.  But most of the hard work for a centre back is not when a player is back to goal having a tussle with you.  It's spotting incoming runners, tracking players running across the box, judging though balls etc.  They are all pretty poor at that and as a unit, they are terrible at defending.  I wouldn't mind betting that they feel happier when getting an assist or goal than they do when getting a clean sheet.

Add to that mix the fact we have no full backs playing alongside them because they are always galivanting off up front, then the only way you stop goals is having a midfield wall in front of them - and we have a picket fence full of holes. 

When we can attack a team and get on top of them, we can score goals and get some wins.  When we don't score, or the other team matches us, or presses that shape, we look like we will concede with every attack.  That is no way to get promotion, even if it may be fun some times.  For all those heady days of winning by several goals, you get this run.

Flynn has been dealt a shit hand with the squad size (i doubt this squad costs the same as the 2019 team for example), but he is in worrying Country if he decides to stick with this Kamikaze approach.  He doesn't have the squad depth to enable the pace to be retained, or options when it isn't working with the first XI.

Oh, that's not so bad then  :suicide:

N9, no its not.

What's fucking frustrating about this division is that most squads are nothing special, but you get a squad to play with confidence and as a unit, and they do well.  Ain't fucking rocket science.  Fuck em, had enough.

My thoughts:

If this was an isolated game then losing 4-2 to a flying team and playing well for 60 minutes isn't a disaster.

That in itself is hard to accept - should we be happy with such things. It's this our new place in football.

First half I thought was a bright game with Stockport getting into decent positions before shaking their shot, though they did hit the woodwork.

We also looked bright and when Kemps deflected shot went n I wouldn't say it was underserved.

Stockport looked better after half time and Stockport really started to expose the fact we play with high wing backs. Mahoney was a bit unlucky to concede the penalty but he did clean their man out

I thought we'd collapse, but w can't back to life a bit and retook the lead.

Looked like it would be a good game for us

But sloppiness and shitness found their way in and with a team like Stockport you can see they are solid and know what they are doing. As someone else said, their subs didn't disrupt them and ours did. The end result was inevitable.

Honestly, our midfield isKinsella is pointless. Not a bad player but we already have one 6/10 every weeker in mcEchran. Shade will be going. Khan is hot and cold. Don't think any of them win much and offer little protection to the back 1.

Only 4 points from the playoffs. soapy tit wank.

Well his last Jan transfer window was as bad as it gets. Totally cut out legs out. Imagine a similar one is incoming unless he is coming over to sell the club which i half expect.

I can’t imagine there’s an abundance of quality players within our price range in January.

Which lets all be honest, should still see us on a higher budget than we're on now when compared to other clubs attendances and ticket prices.

Better from us but we came up against a much better side.
Our squad simply not adequate. Frustrating.

Agree.

Security had to be called to the Corporate lounge in the Arkells stand after the match.

One supporter mouthing off that we’re useless and he could do better etc etc.
Another supporter basically told him to zip it. They were either ends of the room and they ended up squaring up to
each other.

This will only get worse unless every sane fan who can tell we're going nowhere but to non league under Clem stops going.

Too many not only happy to eat a shit sandwich and tell you it tastes nice, but get angry at anyone suggesting it doesn't taste very nice at all.

People need to take a chill pill!

It’s a game! We lost (again) and it’s disappointing. But, there are much worse things that can happen to us. We could be ‘living’ in Gaza or Ukraine!

Perhaps the club could use this an idea to raise funds.

Clembots vs other fans in a ring to raise money for transfers

I expect Powers Platinum security thugs that are for some reason still on our books are licking their lips at the prospect of some bovver.

The most frustrating bit for me is this isn’t your normal just a shit team stuff. Forgetting the off field nonsense we are playing a style that to be successful over a sustained period requires us to regularly score 3 or 4 goals in a game. It’s just fucking stupid.

I'm sure most posters actually realise that - I mean, it's sport.  Just because a post suggests negativity or positivity, doesn't mean the individual is off to the funny farm.

On a personal level, I'm enjoying a nice bottle of La Crema tonight, or two.

If we rip away the context of the underlying structural issues, this is my current biggest worry.  We know we have a poor squad, with no options and we know we are not going to add to that anytime soon.  In the meantime, the one thing we can do is extract the most we can from what we have.  Right now, we are busy providing real life evidence that doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of insanity.  To continue leaving the defence so exposed, when it is so bad at defending, is just nuts.  We are not even in a shootout anymore, the impact of games on legs means we can't sustain the back and forth rhythm of the earlier games.  We are much slower in build-up now, which means we don't have as many attacks, but we are still as exposed at the back.  It's like watching some odd Training sessions right now - set-up for a 4 on 4 counter attack, with everyone at half way.  I'd be amazed if any other wing backs in the league spend as little time defending with their back to their own goal as ours do.

Flynn has to find a variation that he can use to stem the tide a little.  We can't suddenly find five defenders, but we can tweak the system a little.  Maybe keeping the entire back three....back?  If Clayton was fit, I'd have FBT at LWB to add some solidity on one side at least.  Or maybe play one forward with Kemp in behind and add another holding midfield body, especially if the wing backs will continue as wingers?  Something different.

I've said it before, but I'd move FBT to LWB and Dokes to RWB and get some proper out and out defenders in at CB. 

Its the only way I see 3-5-2 working going forward.

I know it's a stat that portrays the bleeding obvious but even so I found it interesting to see that only the top side have scored more than us and only the bottom side have conceded more

we are 4th from bottom in the form for over the last 10.

our home form last 6 is reasonable.
out away form....

Harrogate is massive with still unbeaten Mansfield next up at home

He really can't.  From November onwards last season we were the worst team in the EFL.  
He's a decent left back at this level but a crap centre half.

Hutton hasn't done too bad this season. Plenty of assists. Like to take his man on. Very direct which is good to see.

Flynns last 42 games as a manager are quite scary. (21 with us, 21 with Walsall)

Played - 42
Won -  7
Drawn - 19
Lost - 16

There are a few cup games in there, and I used 21 for each club as that’s how many games he’s had with us. But if that was over a league season, it would leave him on 40 points with 4 games remaining.

Last season Rochdale went down bottom on 38 points and Hartlepool with 43

Rochdale went down on 38, Hartlepool 43

Fuck knows what I looked at then  :D

Edit - I can tell you what I looked at, the goals for column  :D

Shouldn't be an excuse but we are off the back of most likely the most testing run we'll have for now. Clearly failed it but unlikely to carry on maintaining the current form.

Can't see us getting relegated but with this side as it is, highly likely to end up 14th -20th. The saving have is it's only league two, the standard outside the top 6 or so is shared shite, and we take a slice of it.

What’s worse is that we have probably 4 of the best players in this league - Young, Kemp, Hutton and Mahoney. If Flynn can’t build at least a competitive side around those 4 he needs to be gone. He bangs on about getting players in and out in January but if he just replaces players but continues to play the same way nothing will change.

He either believes totally in having 2 ball carrying CBs - in which case I doubt he’ll get better than UGM and FBT - or he’ll have to ditch it and get a couple of hairy arsed CBs and completely change his approach. Of course, doing that is admitting he fucked up in the first place.

I don’t even think the poor defending is majority down to the players or even the formation - it’s the style of play / instruction.

In FM terms - it’s like we are playing 352 ‘all out attack’ when really we’d be better off playing 352 ‘counter’ or ‘standard’

I wouldn’t be against a 4411 back to basics next game just to stop the rot.

I guess you’d probably have to go Dokes, Brewitt, FBT, Kokolo as the flat back 4. Hutton, McEachran, Khan, Shade as the midfield 4. Then Kemp off of Young.

Few square pegs in round holes but we have little room for manoeuvre. I’m certainly not convinced by that left hand side but I’d rather have Shade further up the pitch away from defensive duties.

I’d probably even consider sticking Kinsella in midfield and McEachran on the left or even left back.

The whole debate on squad size has been done to death repeatedly but to not try ANYTHING different tactically is unforgivable.

What the worst that could happen?

Maybe a 4231

Dokes
Brewitt
FBT
Kokolo

Kinsella / McEachran
Khan

Hutton
Kemp
RHM / Shade

Young

I'd drop one of our strikers and add in a holding midfielder (I assume we can sign one who isn't 5' tall?) in free agency.
Go for a more orthodox 352
Kemp basically plays as a ten/off the striker, just let him go nuts, tell the remaining striker to stop dropping deep just to get a touch and start stretching teams.

I think the underlying factor is that our midfield are fucked and we need to have more bodies in there to share the workload

Concur. A lot of shade thrown at the defence but feel if you are going to play 352 with very attacking wing backs you need a holding midfielder in the three who has the nous and thought process to drop back 10 yards when we attack.

The DM drops into CB and shifts the two wide CBs wider to create a make shift back 4.


So if Hutton & the LWB bomb forward - DM drops and the back line becomes Dokes, DM, Brewitt, FBT.

I’ve said this over and over this season, Khan is not a holding midfielder and it is costing us.

I don't think we play with a holding midfielder. I think McEachran and Khan are both great players at getting the ball forwards in their own ways and will fall into the back line when UGM and FBT go forwards, but they're not defensively minded which I think we need

Bring back Darren Bullock or Scott Leitch. FFS this is League two. We need someone who loves a challenge.

Football has changed that teams do not get in each others faces anymore. Let's go back to the old skool.

Corrected for you.

I can't tell if serious...but I don't think it's so much the ability to dispense a crunching tackle, more someone with a specific purpose and the ability to not just get pushed over

It’s about discipline, being in the right place and working as a team.

We have too many players dropping their positions and roles. Consequently, their team mates are out of position as they are trying to cover.

We keep talking about gaps in our midfield. Stockport had 3 solid rows of defence. They then attacked in waves.

I'd say that Stockport were superior to anything that we've encountered so far, by a distance.
They should go on to win the league comfortably if they manage to negotiate the usual potholes of L2.
Very impressive the way that they swarmed over us in first 15 mins & could have been game over had it fallen for them a bit better.

Then saw the game out with ease in last 15 or 20.
An attribute that we've been lacking this season (and last) and with which the points total would be looking a lot better than it is now.

No danger of relegation with this current team but a bit worried as to what the side will look like at the end of January.
As much as I like both GM & Khan maybe there is a case for sidelining both in favour of a couple of midfield dogs of war types?
Would need to be technically competent but more than happy to do the dirty work of closing down, breaking up play, tracking back and taking up covering positions.

we were brilliant for 9 games. shit for next 8. I hope you are right and the truth lies in-between.

@quaggy ok goals for not points 😁 But the points tally still puts us in deep shit

Just what kind of player does Flynn envisage getting in in January? Unless he’s going to change the set up and ‘style’ it seems a pointless exercise.

Something interesting to note:

Yes, many like myself have been critical of the budget, depth etc.

That's all well and good when comparing us to the likes of Stockport, Wrexham etc.

However, quietly going under the radar are Crewe Alexandra. Many peoples favourites for the drop this year.

They have a smaller budget than us, also play a back 3 and prior to this season have a lot of players in their squad I wouldn't have deemed superior to ours.

Morecambe are above us. They had about 7 players in June.
Accrington Stanley are above us. Probably also on less of a budget.
Crawley Town. Under the manager we couldn't wait to get rid of. With a squad consisting of 2-3 players we were happy to let go.

For quite a while I've been defending Flynn thinking he's getting the best out of what he has. Now I'm not quite so sure he is.

Flynn is in prime ‘throwing the players under the bus’ mode.

We were discussing this on the way home, and son is convinced we need a Div 4 version of Rhodri. Someone who can sit in front of the defence, break up play and move the ball. Effectively a younger Anthony Grant.

We also need a central striker that can win a header & hold the ball up, he doesn’t need to score that many (assuming we can keep Kemp & Young).

First that that needs to happen is Charlie Austin off the wage bill. Easier said than done as nobody else will want to touch him.

Apparently on £3500 a week. We can get 2 bodies in for that. Who actually contribute instead of watching the game unfold around them.

Honestly, it's his name and reputation alone that's saving him. Pitman got loads of shit for performing the exact same.

With all the stuff going on off the pitch you’d expect a normal manager to deflect/protect the players, Flynn just seems to want to do all he can to shirk responsibility.

If he hasn’t already he’s surely going to lose the dressing room so it’ll be partly his own fault players aren’t doing what they are told. Walsall fans said exactly the same and as Quagmire pointed out his record at Walsall and now us is truly shocking and that’s not a coincidence.

Without doubt the best team we have encountered this season.

Noticeable how much Stockport have pushed on from last year when they were happy to shithouse their way to a win after the Wakeling sending off.

The 3 experienced subs they brought on in one go  at 3-2 to close out as we pushed for an equaliser whereas when we have been holding on away our choices are limited.

I guess it shows you need to build a side and that can take more than one pre-season.

How do w know we have a bigger budget than any of these teams. Rumours Harrogate have a bigger budget that ours even

It's pretty well publicised that Crewe operate on one of the lowest budgets in the division.

Regarding Flynn’s post match interview yesterday, I agree with what he says but I’m concerned about a couple of things.

1. He had a whole pre season (and a few weeks before) to work out that these players left over from last season continue to make the same defensive mistakes over and over again, you’d only need to watch brief highlight tapes of our matches last season to see that. It’s not a case of Flynn’s come in late and has to work with someone else’s squad, he had a whole summer to change personnel, you can see our better players are mostly those recruited over the summer, the remnants of last seasons squad have definitely improved but continue to make the same mistakes defensively and in some cases (FBT and Khan) are being asked to do roles that they shouldn’t be. Khan isn’t a DM, he’s combative but needs a DM alongside him.

2. Where’s the money coming from to make these squad changes in January. It’s not like the summer window when there’s a raft of free agents becoming available, the January window is notorious for being an expensive time to do business. Considering we’re struggling to budget for a couple free agents now, you can’t help but be sceptical at where this budget for Janaury changes will come from. Young/Kemp replacements won’t be cheap and those 2 if recalled will only generate us a small loan recall fee so where’s the budget to replace those two quality wise going to come from let alone extra transfers on top. Maybe Clem will come into January and magically inject the cash but I doubt it, can’t see much more than us recycling our loan spots in January.

Clem's coming back to oversee matters. All will be well

What I can’t quite get over is the fact that Flynn is just persisting with the same set up over and over. He simply has no plan B.

Maybe we should be packing the midfield, who knows, but try something. Players are capable of playing out of position. Look at when Alan McCormack went to CB and played like prime Beckenbauer.

He needs to try something because it is suicidal at the moment and digging the players out is a terrible look.

Overview, it's overview and he's not due in until late evening on 1st Feb.

Agree with you about the interview - he was heaping it all on the players, while distancing himself from all of the problems. I'm disappointed he resorted to this, as it's a poor character trait, I thought he was above that - perhaps it's a sign of how desperate he's getting !

Yesterday, in the main, the players put in a decent performance and almost matched a team top of the league. However, it's very apparent that we gave them too much space in front of our box, as demonstrated by their last two goals - our midfield did not get back to help out the defence. Although some of the players were at fault, it's something that could be addressed by a tweak of tactics, and that is definitely Flynn's responsibility.

It's obvious to most on here that we need a defensive midfielder to sit in front of and protect the back three. I know in an ideal world, we would've signed such a player, and may well do in January. However it's obvious we need to change things now, and that is very much Flynn's job. Surely 'converting' someone for that role is the short term fix. Why not put Dokes into that role.  He has the physicality and energy to do it, and at least when he goes on one of his surging runs forward there'll be a centre back still there to plug the gaping hole. Clayton would have been the ideal one to replace him in the back three, but I feel Minturn is capable of filling the role, particularly with Dokes providing extra protection.

Why oh why doesn't Flynn try something like this, or at least another change to the tactics, because surely it's obvious if you keep doing the same thing - you'll get the same result !!   :suicide:

Also sidenote, the atmosphere after we went 2-1 up was the loudest it’s been for a while. Shame that doesn’t get whipped up more often

Still lots to play for if the right signings and tactical changes are made. Fancied Gillingham have lost two more games than us, joint second highest scorers in the league one behind the leaders and still only four points off the play offs.

Clem it’s over to you :drive:

Any chance of anything coming of our season is if we can sign a centre back or holding midfielder now. Even if it’s until January and we replace with better quality then, it has to be filled now.

Yeah that seems more workable right now.

Carrying on doing the same thing is the definition of madness.

Fax machine will work in a few sales and then mysteriously break before the deadline on the replacements again, I suspect.

The problem is Flynn isn’t seeing what we’re seeing!

The more I think about it 4-2-3-1 should probably be plan A and 3-5-2 plan B.

A 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 if we are winning with 10 minutes to go!

Someone remind me. We were linked to various CBs in pre season - Demetriou, Farquarson, that bloke who decided to go back to FGR, the fella who went to India, probably 1 or 2 more.

Would any of them be expected to play as UGM and FBT are now playing? UGM wasn’t a CB at FGR. FBT wasn’t a CB until forced into it here by necessity.

So was Flynn trying to recruit for a different system than we are now actually playing?

UGM played 26 times in league 2 for FGR when they won the league. Almost all as a CB in a back 3.

Before he signed for us I was reading the FGR forum and they said he was predominantly a RB/RWB and filled in at CB due to necessity, playing 3/4 of his 100 odd games at RB/RWB.

No idea what his own preferred position is though.

But was Flynn recruiting for ball playing CBs or was he forced to play that way due to what players he ended up with when the window shut.

I think he’s fine for a RCB in a 3 with 2 other strong defenders but having him, FBT (a left back playing CB) and Brewitt (who has improved but still has question marks) is probably going too far.

If we went to a back 4 then I think him RB and Hutton in front would be acceptable.

Now if you want to look into rumours a bit more and the Nathan Thompson and Farquharson rumours, that’s a completely different ball game. You’d have Farquharson RCB, N.Thompson in the middle and FBT probably LCB, a completely different style back 3

Was Tomlinson ever on the radar? Anyway, it’s not the personnel I’m on about. It’s whether Flynn would have still set his team up the way we’re playing now if some of those rumours had come off.

He's always played a three but I don't remember him having two attacking CBs at Walsall or Newport.

Tbf, who does?

I understand the point you're making.

And no, I don't think it would've changed how we played.

You can argue Edwards would be starting ahead of Brewitt. Then you could make a case for Moore-Taylor over FBT and Farquarson / Thompson over UGM.

But we were never going to sign 3. Also, the midfield remained the same so it would just be different players being exposed instead.

I don’t think it would have changed our style or formation but different centre backs with different attributes might have changed exactly how the back 3 played.

Yes but when you look at the profile of the players we tried to bring in...

Moore-Taylor is a left sided ball playing centre back. Much like Clayton and FBT. I don't see how he'd of really changed us.

Edwards I'm guessing would've been the no-nonsense Brewitt role. Perhaps his leadership would've organised us better.

You can make an argument  to make the right sided CB more defensive, and taller etc. I don't see it as a necessity though.

Good teams defend from the front. If you press high and work hard, you keep the ball away from our defence.

We have Charlie Austin who although I'd never accuse him of not working hard, much of his energy is wasted filling in ridiculous positions. He can't lead a press. We need an upgrade. A big, mobile target man would make the world of difference to this team. Somebody who's willing to run as much as Kemp and Young. Even if he only scores 7 or 8 a season. We NEED that type.

Yeah I'm still convinced Austin can be a big player for us and isn't shot if we can just manage to get him to concentrate on goal scoring.

Going with 1 out and out striker will help us manage his minutes better too, until Young goes back in Jan at least.

Micky Demetriou has impressed for Crewe this season, I think he was a bit of a miss (assuming we tried to sign him)

So, lets say that Clem robs that magic money tree at the back of the DR stand and has some spare cash

We need an overhaul of the squad, there are probably about 5 or 6 players that can be relied on to start week after week, and that includes the 3 loans, so that is a massive overhaul needed.

Usually when signing players and letting others leave that is a gradual job throughout January, we have not got that luxury, and assuming 2 of the 3 loan players will be recalled, we could be in some serious trouble come the end of January if recruitment goes the same as the summer with players going elsewhere and wages staying high.

.

What does that chart say? That Mahoney is more likely to get a goal than Charlie currently?

Not scoring - threat. So, I presume, a clearance from Mahoney had the same threat as a pass from Austin during the game.

I was probably more of a threat to the Stockport goal sat at home watching on Ifollow than Austin was.

There will be no overhaul will at best be rearranging the deckchairs

well quite. In the recent past the January transfers have come 11 weeks from now, not 7.

We have 13 matches before the end of January. There will only be 16 left.

Oh he is seeing it alright. He just doesn’t have the depth or quality to do too much about it. He’s is firmly putting Clem on the spot and do what he’s promised in order to get him to sign his contract extension .

I fear the same.

Has he been promised a 'war chest'?

Igoe was in a midfield with miglioranzi, ferry was in a midfield with Douglas, hazard played with hoddle. So you need a good balance I guess.

It isn’t just what Flynn was promised. It is over 5,000 season ticket holders.

To be fair it was Angus who made the promise. That’s what got me to buy a season ticket.

I think we are dancing on the head of a pin if we are saying “Angus said it not Clem.”

Not really - I had more trust in Rob.

And he's now gone - genuinely do you trust Clem out of interest?

Havent read back.

I walked out feeling that a straight 2 zip defeat against the best team (IMO) in this division would of made me feel better. Its the hope that kills you.

We just cannot defend! Week in week out and its getting boring now.

The highlights are a horror show.

The rot needs to stop and fast. Im just relieved that we have some points in the bag!

Last 4 games we’ve let in 12 goals in the second half alone.

In 3 of them we were in a good position to win.

Another stat from Saturday. Stockport had 16 shots at goal, 12 were from inside the box, 3 of their 4 goals were from inside the box.

Still, 3 years ago today

Could be less if it is Sell to Buy - Shade will raise a few quid, not sure if there is anyone in the youth team interesting other clubs that might raise a few ££ more

Hazard/Moncur/Ling all had MaClaren to look after them.

A lot of Clems loyalists are dying on that hill tbf.

This made me smile. Thank you, i needed that