Thetownend.com

We move on (apparently).
Most in the top half of the table seem to be improving, except for us. This will be a very tight game but something has not been right at home all season.

Swindon 1-2 Exeter att: 9,794 (away 1,102)

3-1 defeat

Att: 7,999

0-3.

Season over.

Swindon to suffer a single goal defeat in front of 9,645 fans with 1,285 Etc fans there.

Another boring 1-1 draw, att 9,190 with 1,150 Grecians

Etcetera have already sold a 1000 tickets  ;)

More of the same old shit. Why would it be any different?

I didn't know that hence my amendment!

Get it forward  ;D

SORT IT OUT GARNER!

Remember the last time we were poor in a home midweek game, Stevenage? We hammered the Cobblers 5-2 On the Saturday, is it too much to expect a repeat?

65% possession the result doesn’t matter.

Etcetera fans seem fairly confident.

TBH even when they brought 2k last time they barely sung at all, several smaller followings were much louder than them.

In the words of Jose.....

(https://i.ibb.co/wBXMNwR/Untitled.jpg)

I wonder if any more of their ‘boys’ are going to get decked in The Merlin by a shirter?

It’s not difficult to ‘out sing’ us at home. The atmosphere at home games is appalling.

That's what I thought

It has been very quiet barring the City game and even then it wasn't that great, but Exeter have never been known for the vocality of their fan base even against their close rivals.

Town 4 - 2 Greaseballs
Att: 9.836 (1.352)
3 Yellow Cards
Over 10 corners (6+ Town)
21 shots (Town)
5 on target (Town)
Barry MoM

 :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint:

Vocality ! Ooh get you PV !! Bet a cloth-eared Cornishman told you that.

Not buying the pessimism on this thread, it don’t fool I !

Yay, Banker is back  :)

No I have been to Exeter vs Plymouth and torquay games as I only live a 20 mins or so drive from Exeter and I haven't been impressed, same applies to all South West teams though its not just you, for the size of the crowds they have Plymuff fans don't make much noise and Yeovil are a joke.

:)

Truro City though, I hear they have a very vociferous backing ;)

And trust me, the pessimism really is meant genuinely from most posters.

We are very hit and miss, when we are good we are very very good but when we are bad we are awful. Especially at home this season.

As mentioned on another thread, I went to a recent match at SJP. I could discern some faint noises coming from the "big bank". Some wazzock also had a drum.

Drums do not belong inside football grounds unless they are from a band performing on the pitch pre game.

I can remember Millwall taking over the bank around 1976 and they had a massive drum banging all game 

I have say on balance 90/10 I don’t like drums, ok, the only exception to that is the drumming at Aldershot, they or that person really goes for it and they know what they’re doing too. Other that that nah.

Another priviso is that they are not stood anywhere near you while doing it!

Make it make sense

Are you still bitter that the England band rejected your application

Sorry I don't include forum babel fish :)

I have been rejected by better.

Jaybox and Co?

Wouldn't mind seeing an ensemble perched up on the bank.
A good filler for those all too frequent quiet moments during games.
Something in the style of Buena Vista Social Club would do the job.
A bit of Son Cubano in the background would help to up the tempo I'm sure.

Anyone else got the Great Escape theme tune going around repeatedly in their brain or just me?

https://youtu.be/3KippOtDVa4

And this for the team entrance....

https://youtu.be/RzRwM_WZRNk

Purlease! I said better :)

No mate thats your brain trying to figure a way out :)

There are 2 perfectly adequate sized holes either side of my head!

Not with headphones on!

Or the Brain Escape barriers as they could be known as!

Sorted.

talking of the great escape, it was ultimately only as successful as the wooden horse escape a few months before - 3 escapees.

the wooden horse escape was genius

Can anyone remember when a brass band pitched up in the TE side of the Arkrells for one game? Such a faint memory and for the life of me can’t remember the year! Could have been around 2006/7 maybe? Or I might have just dreamt this 😂

But they own their own club. A little known fact, they don't mention it very often

Can only base it on Barrow but the atmosphere away was pretty shite as well.

So much of it comes down to the acoustics of the stand you're in. Our away support is pretty decent but put us in an open end, like the Stratton Bank, and we seem pretty quiet.

I think the problem at home, as has been mentioned before, is that the people that will sing are spread out, so unless it's a big crowd the Town End doesn't make much noise either. I like a sing and a shout, and yet the Rovers game was the first time I've been in the Town End for at least a decade because the view is so shite.

This is a constant gripe and not sure what the reason is. Is it the style of football? I don’t know, but the atmosphere is like a relegation season without the bile. The Town End must have lost some ring leaders. All it takes is a few beers. I used to do my best, but I’m a DRS man now with my boy. There’s a few lads at the back of the DRS (approx 165) who give it a go, but their timing is…… pretty appalling. It’s so good when you get some to and fro between the Town End and DRS - happened most under Sturrock and then PDC, but that has hardly happened all season.

Atmosphere is mostly driven by what's happening on the pitch. To be fair, a league 2 match away to Barrow with a below par performance and result is hardly going to be bringing the noise.

I gave up when all the strange little fuckers appeared post lockdowns T2 & 3 are on the most part full of really really strange fuckers who moan for 90 minutes week in and week out, and a little group just by the tunnel who on Tuesday had more than one rendition of "Crawley Town shagged the referee".

We rarely get periods of sustained pressure and the build ups are invariably slow and methodical. We don’t seem to like a tackle to get the blood up.

Read somewhere that of our 3 red cards this season 1 was in the 97th minute and the other 2 after the game had finished.

It's why I go to T1  :)

What is this word "tackle" you speak of? I'm sure it's association with football ended around the late 90s.

Barrow was crammed in like sardines in a covered stand.


I would get that but there was no atmosphere to start with (Russ Abbott would have been disgusted) it only got worse as the game went on.

Strange, our fans are usually good away.

Back to the game. This is a massive 6 pointer. Get to the game on Saturday and ramp up some noise. Even get some of your plastic mates along, Man U and Liverpool aren't playing. COYR

Yeah agreed. Been to a number of away games this season and our support was excellent.

Well, if we must draw conclusions from a single game then I'm going to say it was because you were there and you ruined the mood  ;D

I hope that Garner makes a few changes on Saturday just to shake it up a bit. With Reid suspended and Davison presumably injured, I would leave out Hunt, Conroy and Gladwin and go with this starting XI.

Woolacott
Tomlinson, O'Brien, Cooper, Odimayo, Iandolo
Lyden, Williams, Barrie
Mckirdy, Mitchell-Lawson

Hoping that Tomlinson will offer more attacking threat than Hunt, with the option of  cutting in on his left foot.

'Republica - Ready to Go' needs to be played pre-match. That seems to have stopped and with it the atmosphere*











* No idea if that's the reason but it was played on the radio the other day and reminded me of times I used to go regularly to the CG and the atmosphere was generally decent from the off.

that song irritates me. I put it in the 'lazy' song category that radio stations out in when they can't be arsed to spend money on something better. You can add 4 non blondes to that category too

besides, I thought it was played Tuesday?

Your boy Jayo and his crew stopped going in the Town End during the Flitcroft era. Soz.

“I’m ready to go” was played on Tuesday

Ah ok, wasnt aware of that. Clearly it didn't have the desired effect then.

I was a big fan of Republica in the mid/late 90s. 

HAROOOOOOOOLD

That's it now

It was also fucking pissing down, freezing cold and you couldn't see half the pitch due to the stand itself blocking the view.

Most unenjoyable match this season.   Restaurant afterwards was nice though.

Every once in a while I glance to the back in the hope of seeing your beautiful beard. This explains a lot. I'm upset now.

I’ll do everyone a favour and put Exeter in my bet tomorrow.

Worked wonders when I did the same with Cobblers.

I listened to their album the other day actually. It hasn't aged very well, I mean there is a lyric that includes the word 'Mega Drive' in it!

Exeter have sold 1,190. Nice to actually have more than 150 away fans coming along  :D

It's a great turn out considering they only average around 5500 for home games

Cash in the till.

Fair fucks to them, thats a decent turnout.

We need a few home wins otherwise less cash in the till from home fans!

Kids and I going to the game for a change. Nice to have the ability to go without any birthday parties/football tournaments/days out..

I wish it was 5500 ! Your average home attendance wouldn't even fit into our ground, so it's a grand day out for us. You might be forgiven for thinking it our 'cup final' but Rovers away at the end of this month has already sold out.  :D

Almost a full squad, new loanee striker itching to fly out of the blocks, even the skipper has had a new haircut. We're hot on your heels with a game in hand, should be a cracker. Unfortunately, I share the pessimism on this thread, it must be the Wiltshire air !!

Need to get the wind tunnel switched on for this.  Given our shit home form I can only assume it's one of the things left to fix on Clem's snag list.

Nope its pessimistic air down on the North Devon border too!

Careful what you wish for. Lewis Ward was our 'keeper on that day, a calamity, he don't like the wind !

Its ok barring injury to Jojo he wont be starting for us. Hi kicking is at times utterly woeful.

I see your mates on the Exeweb are very confident with pretty much every poster suggesting an Etc win.


And finally you guys are STILL bitter about us beating you in windy conditions?

Yes back in 1896 the club had a meeting and decided...do you know what will fuck up Exeter in 120 years time? if we align the County Ground pitch so the wind blows from one end to the other.

Lets play the long game with them, lets say 100 years? no lets give it that extra 20 just to make sure....

Darn, was hoping Jojo was Senegalese. Yes, it's not the best.

Misplaced, PV. The form book is not always a good guide, and why I'm pessimistic. Your home form is temporary.

Misreading, PV. No bitterness at all, most of it is tongue in cheek stuff.

Davidson in with a chance tomorrow. Odimayo was slightly injured for Crawley but is OK now. Baudry is fine. Payne training but a game too soon.

Cheers, from the presser I assume

It won't be a problem. As part of the plan PV mentioned, all players that join Swindon undergo intensive training in a wind tunnel to ensure they are equipped to cope with the harsh conditions at the County Ground

Swindon player medical....

(https://media3.giphy.com/media/cOEHZYZ9l2H182HQbY/giphy.gif)

Ooh, 20mph winds at 3pm tomorrow. Good news. :)

I hear McLaren are bringing their f1 car down for correlation testing

You're joking, not another one ? Oh, for god's sake, honestly, I can't stand this, there's too much wind blowing at the moment, why does it need to do it.

Swindon ask for help from fans for tomorrows game vs Exeter!

(https://i.postimg.cc/RZKvwVFB/bravecat-20180906112834.jpg)

20mph? That the merest zephyr.

Like this?
(https://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/file/width/640/media/11806967/03~Z-Cars.jpg)

Exeter keeper tomorrow  ;)

https://youtu.be/O4tVtfDTqJs

I’d love to own one of them now.

As long as I didn’t actually need it to get me somewhere.

Apparently the Exeter fans have been given the Great Western and Cheekies, as were the gash  ??? Strange

Who wants some hope for the Exeter City (in 8th place) game tomorrow?

Our record vs Top Half teams:
P 14, W 8, D 3, L 3, Pts 27

Our record vs Bottom Half:
P 13, W 3, D 7, L 3, Pts 16

Which in a curious statistical find, are identical records to our home and away records!

Swindon Town scale of competence:

Away to top half - fucking dynamite
(P 8, W 6, D 1, L 1, Pts 19)

Away to bottom half - decent
(P 6, W 2, D 2, L 2, Pts 8 )

Home to top half - decent
(P 6, W 2, D 2, L 2, Pts 8 )

Home to bottom half - shocking really
(P 7, W 1, D 5, L 1, Pts 8 )

Here's how many games to go vs each segment (as it stands - tables change of course)

Home vs Top Half - 5 games
Home vs Bottom Half - 5 games

Away vs Top Half - 3 to go
Away vs Bottom Half - 6 to go

Did he mention what the problem was?

Looked a bit like cramp when he went down after they scored

Garner said tight hamstring

 I agree gladwin and conroy need to sit.  I would like to see a formation change to control the midfield more, especially if we were to get a lead.  seems like once we get a lead without a midfield presence the other team just keeps pounding us until we give up a shit goal or set piece.   

Maybe a 4-3-3 since we really dont have another striker other than mckirdy so use speed on the outsides?  Sporting KC here plays this with the 3 midfielders in a triangle (a holding midfielder to help with D some) in the midfield and the wingbacks run.

Something just needs to change because what is happening at home simply isnt working.

Another exciting 90 minutes of end to end, toe to toe nail biting football. Or maybe 90 minutes of Garnerball, devoid of thrills and spills. Enough to send the crowd into a coma.
4 - 1 to Exeter.

Haven't seen Exeter play this season but can't imagine them being a big physical side or a get in your face kind of team, which would suit us. If they try to 'out pass' us I can see us winning this fairly comfortably. Going to go for a 2-0 home win.

Got my bet on. Included Exeter. Guaranteed Town win.

You can all thank me later.

With an old school ex-centre half as manager no surprise there’s more physicality these days in contrast to the tippy tappy Tisdale era, but not overly so. Difference is we don’t tend to be bullied any more, which was often the case previously. Should be a good match up, looking forward to it !

Defeat. 0-2

It will be a delight to see Sweeney at the CG again

Oh the irony if the Town faithful chanted ‘who ar’ ya’ at such a well distinguished bona fide Town Legend.

Exeter are no better than us this season so I'm not sure why people are expecting us to get battered.

Sent from my CLT-L09

They’ve also got Coffee Grounds. Not sure if he’ll play.

A rock at the heart of the town defence. He didn't put a foot wrong in his illustrious career with us.

Or a heroes welcome when his name is announced over the PA system.

Grounds really is a Town legend, do not be disrespectful to him.

He was an outstanding performer in every game he played for the Town.

A genuine star player.

We have missed his inability to head a ball, to run and his unerring knack of giving away penalties.

I hope he plays just for old times sake!

As stated above, Sweeney should be talked about in the same realms as Don Dogers and Stan Harland etc, the cult hero of a generation of Town fans.

Do you remember when they did the competition (under Fitton?) with a raffle to sponsor the Bank?

Would be a little tempting to make it the Pierce Sweeney stand.

Trust he was paid for his month's graft.  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Fortunately we didn't have to pay him a penny as his contract started officially on 1st July and he left us on 2nd July! even though he sign pre contact forms on 11th June, he obviously didn't like driving round the Magic Roundabout every day.

The club have announced there will be a minutes applause prior to kick off in memory of Jamie Vincent and Steve Finney.

Also I understand there will be a chorus of "Walking in a Finney Wonderland" in the 9th minute as a tribute specifically for Steve Finney too.

Not confident at all. Think we’ll lose by one or two goals. I also confidently predict the officiating won’t be very good

How things have changed for the Town treating Exeter  as a big game ,"jesus"its Exeter. 4-0 to the town and top2 by the end of February  :D

Most interesting today will be how we cope with forced changes.
Not having our regular ball playing players available will we revert to a less possession based game and go a little more direct quicker?
Can’t see us moving to a new formation though.

It’s Exeter not Man City.
Time to leave - COYRds.

Never forgiven Exeter for doing a smash and grab raid on us on Boxing Day in 1979 beating us with a late goal in the 85th monute in a 2-3 defeat, they were awful and really grab and smashed us in front of 11,606 with about 300 from Exeter.

That was after we totally demolished Bury 8-0 at home in the previous game.

As I won't be at the game, our chances of winning have increased dramatically. Very tight 2-1 win.

Any chance of Tomlinson coming at LWB instead of Iandolo, who takes a midfield spot for the missing Payne and Reed?

I would like us to play 442 with Tomlinson at LB and Iandolo pushed to a wide midfield role with Odimayo at RB and JOB and Cooper at CB. But I cant see it.

Unable to attend today, so reckon we'll win 3-1

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FK1mrnMXIAQF5Df?format=jpg&name=medium)

Oh Dion

Urgh Gladwin…

(As we all said before the Port Vale game where he played well)

The lesser spotted Baudry too.

So Conroy. Injured or dropped?

So, Garner is playing the old ‘Conroy has an injury’ scam.

Tough on Iandolo, though.

Conroy is injured.

Strategic injury knowing he’d be dropped?

Iandolo has provided much of our forward impetus in the last few games, has he been dropped, rested, or is suffering an injury?

Apparently no, an actual injury so I hear.

No T'Internet BBC Swindon pre game today then.

Yeah, such a scam. It’s not like Conroy to be injured is it

:D

Let’s hope the others take their chance then, could struggle to get a game again if they do.

This is true, hes been poor in the last handful or more games but he can still pick out a pass at times, but when hes offkey if often results in a goal.

Big chance for AK to step up, I would personally prefer 4 at the back at home rather than the "effective 5 or 3 with 2 wingbacks" at the back, we shouldnt set up as heavily defender biased in home games IMO.

I think the extra midfielder would work in our favour in home games at least.

It will be interesting to see how we do without Conroy. A lot of fans calling for him to be dropped & the injured has forced Garners hand.

Get the impression because Conroy is the ‘ball playing’ centre back Garner is unlikely to drop him of his own accord.

Let’s see what today brings.

Well let’s hope for something similar to Northampton game, we kept it much more simple that day and paid dividends with the result.

I see ex Town stalwart Sweeney starts but the ever reliable Grounds can only make the bench today.

They have the fairly recently deceased Una Stubbs at CB which may play to our advantage certainly at set pieces as shes not as mobile as she was a pre season.

I would guess we will set up like this today-

                     Wollacott
     Odimayo    O'Brien    Cooper
Hunt                                   Tomlinson
                       Lyden    
Gladwin                              Williams
            McKirdy
                        Davison

Isn’t Tomlinson supposed to be a bit of a whizz with free kicks

He is a dead ball specialist and can whip crosses in with both feet and doesnt mind having a pop from distance too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_RoOt5I7aQ

Why is that?

Great so now I’ve got theakston’s raging boner blocking my view as well as the pillars today.

No idea but its not great, I hope they bring it back as I miss it.

what is the bbc channel on the internet saying when you turn it on?  all of a sudden the internet nor the app for bbc radio will work for me, something about contractual or technical issues.

I guess I live in the US but the iplayer for radio is supposed to work here.

Its exactly the same as your error, contractual problems or something, like they have turned it off for everywhere not just outside the UK.

Nothing as stupid as it being fa cup weekend even thought we aren’t in it (and never are this late anyway)

It could be? I have no idea!

RIP Steve Finney and Jamie Vincent thanks for the memories.

Glad they have done that.

Oh fucking great, Dave Fucking Miserable Bastard Hockaday.

great move and cross from Tomlinson but the keeper saves it.

Awful wind assisted clearance into touch by their keeper.

So we have the wind

Tomlinson out of position allowing a cross by them, corner to City.

Speak for yourself farty.

Saving tackle by JOB there, corner to them.

Not liking the look of this!

Great JOB.

He's very good at this level isn't he!

Town struggling to clear the ball at the back.

Gladwin manages to break up an attack. Ours.

Gladwin with an awful touch to Hunt there gives away a throw in our half.

Gladders with an accurate pass then and we were in!

Davison nearly put through there from Gladys.

Another corner to them.

Good block by Lyden, we are not defending corners very well.

Bodies on the line time after time here.

McKirdy put through clear but he tries a shot from too wide into the side netting.

Really needs to give to Davison there.

I think he never got past taking a shot from the second he got the ball.

It’s the Finney song.

AK had a bit more time with that clearance than he realised, we have no talkers at the back.

We havent got a grip on this game as yet.

Well, we aren't going to complain about doing nothing with possession! We don't seem to be able to get the ball!

It’s bypassing our midfield at the moment.

Good shot from Tomlinson from 30 yards but the keeper collects it fairly easily.

Tomlinson not afraid to have a crack from distance.

We are definately letting them have more of the possession which is unusual.

Have we got a midfield?

And cutting inside onto his favoured right foot ala Matt Ritchie used to but with reversed prefered foot. The inverted wingback/winger.

Good ball from Lyden to Williams but his cross doesnt find a Town player and is cleared.

Ref orders free kick to be retaken from exactly where it was originally taken.  :crash:

Lyden kicked in the face, not deliberately though.

possibly exeter will wear themselves out by the 2nd half...they are really swarming every ball...

Tomlinson puts in a lovely delivery but we dont win the header.

Now gives us a kick for a high foot when Lyden was diving at knee height.

It’s going to be another long afternoon with Darren Drysdale.

They are playing the high press game and we are letting them.

Something familiar about that!

I never realised how much of a clogger Sweeney is, he wouldnt have fitted in very well with how we play this season, more of a Flitcroft style defender.

Tomlinson just over the bar.

He's having a cracking debut so far!

So close. Tomlinson’s more direct than Iandolo.

You can see the difference in our play without the usual players that are comfortable on the ball.  The lack of Conroy/Reed/Payne has meant there are are more longer passes which means McKirdy and Davison are going to have to be better with their receiving of the ball than they have been so far to manufacture some chances on goal - otherwise it will be a similar story to Tuesday.

Like the look of Tomlinson so far, more Dynamic than Iandolo and hopefully better at the defensive side

Definately, his delivery is excellent and he is taking up some great positions too.

Great cross from Tomlinson, inches away.

What a ball Tomlinson

Tomlinson is having quite a start here.

So far Tomlinson is looking like the left back/wingback we have wanted for a couple of seasons.

McKirdy with so close to a great pass to Gladwin who doesnt have the legs to get to it.

And that’s why McKirdy doesn’t play in others.

Another corner to them.

Cooper doesn't want to give the ball away like that when carrying it out of defence, he will get hammered for trying stuff like that

Gladwin did look like he was treading water though when put through.

Think Gladwin was running through treacle

😂😂😂

Easy save from Wollacott.

We are missing a mdifielder sat in front of the defence to break them up as Reed usually does, Gladwin and Lyden are standing off them too much and giving them too much space and time unchallenged.

Tomlinson and O'Brien making the game look easy. Everyone else, not so much.

McKirdy wins a corner.

Beginning to think I'd be reasonably happy with a point. Keeps the status quo and all that

Nice move by town there from the throw in but we cant get the shot near the goal.

I have a feeling McKirdy will score today, Exeter are no great shakes but we are standing off them too much so far giving them chances.

McKirdy has got his 50p legs on. Got no control at all.

Cooper with a  good tackle in the box.

Our front 2 are just not good at receiving long direct balls, touches not good enough - we miss Simpson for that

No but he makes up for that with speed and enthusiasm.

Tomlinson to take a long free kick from the touchline.

Town win a corner.

Tomlinson has a great delivery.

This is the first game I have watched where the corner kick actually makes it to the 6'

Gladwin not at the races today so far.

Why does Hockaday think this drifting towards a 0-0?

O'Brien looks a talented CB from what I've seen so far.

Exeter look alright going forward, we look pretty awkward and clunky today.

No idea, both sides seem likely to score.

He outlawrensons Lawrenson for contemptual melancholy

Presume he meant towards half time

Timewasting at the throw in, so the ref slows it down.  :crash:

I counted six Etc players in our box.

Overuse of the short corner to blame for this.

Being direct has a time and place. Using it in correct time and place doesn't make you hoofball merchants but unfortunately Garner is stubborn to say the least.

Great tackle by Tomlinson.

HT 0-0

Then he adds 5 secs et. Tosser.

Enjoyed that. We look tighter at the back,for sure. All the new loan players look impressive - Tomlinson and O’Brien very much so.

Could go either way, this. Exeter look very decent.

0-0 . Ten fold improvement in the defence today, focusing on defending rather than trying stupid things, nice to have 3 centre backs that can head the ball. Tomlinson looks very useful especially with dead balls. Gladwin just isn’t a centre mid, he won’t commit to tackles. Second half will be hard against the wind.

Agree about the defence. They've been under a lot of pressure, but have looked more solid so far than any combination I've seen in the last couple of years.

Bit of a nothing game to be honest. Looked solid enough but neither team really putting enough together to score

Was always going to be a tight game

I didnt really enjoy that much at all, and I think Exeter look very average we are just giving them too much time and space. Defensively they look like cloggers and not pacey at all.

Could go either way with a wind assisted goal.

Tomlinson is a star in the making with a great delivery and positioning.

Pretty easy to pick out the standout players in that half - Tomlinson followed by O'Brien. Cooper and Odimayo made a couple of decent challenges. The rest have been inconsistent.

The midfield has been overrun again.

Upfront, Davison isn't as good as Simpson, who made space for McKirdy. With noone to make space for him, McKirdy has looked poor.

I do wish you'd give the oppo a bit more credit sometimes PV.

Scrappy, chances, no real pattern, could be winning.  Not sure if that was good or bad to ne honest.

Our defensive approach really annoys me.  So passive.  Just drop into set positions.  Today especially, with the wind, there were multiple times where we allowed their player to drop and get the ball from the keeper.  Some players were thinking of pressing but nobody else was signaled.  Two players worry about one player.  Needs work.

Tomlinson has looked a real upgrade.  We have two full backs on the pitch who can use both feet.  His crosses were deserving of someone anticipating them.

Gladwin is a waste of space against any team with energy.  The game is too fast for him.  Sad because he has some talent in that right boot.

Get some shape on the ball amd we can go on to win.  Get pinned in by the wind and it could go the other way.

Barry for McKirdy 2nd half is about all I can see. Maybe Iandolo for Gladwin.

Of course I am biased but I dont see that much in them TBH ther finishing so far has been poor and we have stood off them letting them dictate the play in the middle. Defensively they look slow, they are a top half side but I dont see them as being title challengers.

Maybe East for Gladders

Security repeatedly asking people at the back of the DRS to sit down.

Quite why I don’t know.

They have to do something!

maybe anybody for Gladwin....even if you have to drag someone from the stands....

Daresay Williams will be pulled sooner or later. Maybe for Ellis?

I would do this, East is a 45 min player and first half on Tuesday he looked decent but 2nd half he looked poor hence being taken off.

Pleasing approach play but bugger all end product.

Agree Tomlinson looks useful. That feckin wind :) is behind us now.  

Yeah,I thought he played well 1st half

I would keep McKirdy on though as he looks eager and is full of running, just the jury still out on Davison though but I am not sure that McKirdy and Barry work together.

Oh and get the ball to Williams as he looks like he can pass any of their defenders with ease but we just arent getting the ball to him enough.

Cooper and JOB both very good. Tomlinson is fucking brilliant. They are leaving Davidson one on one. Very brave. I have a feeling we're going to spring that trap at least once.

Really good game, this.

Think we’re doing ok. Need to up it. Midfield three are leaving a lot of space outside, and leaving Hunt in particular to do a lot of work. Davison does not stop running. Tomlinson is a find. We’ve held our own.

I personally think it better playing against the wind that with it behind you, much easier to play the longer passes, which is the approach we are taking today.  Hopefully it will help the front 2 actually control a ball

JOB makes his first mistake giving the ball away at the back.

In theory it shouldnt make a huge amount of difference to us as we try and keep the ball down and run with it which shouldnt be affected by the wind as much as the hoofer teams like Flitcroft sides.

Everytime he says Caprice,I keep repeating it in a Donald and Davey Stott voice

Good hold up play by Davison there.

McKirdy wins a corner.

Lyden’s been a bit hot and cold today.

Ooooh close Macca

Great run by McKirdy and the keeper saves it.

1-0 Tomlinson cracker.

He’s thoroughly deserved that today.

Great looking prospect.

1-0 Tomlinson.

Great build up between Tomlinson, Williams and McKirdy

A new hero is born!

Might as well have the MotM vote now. What a player.

How did we not pick him up as a kid?

Can he play like this every week and can we buy him please?

Well he is a Swindon (Chisledon) lad so why not? :)

Hope Garner gets some credit. Must have been a difficult decision to leave Iandolo out

Wollacott good save.

Good save Jojo.

We have been crying out for a good left back for 2 years and Tomlinson looks to be that.

Lyden down injured just for a change.

Tomlinson delivery has been on point today. Something we have been crying out for to be honest. Iandolo deliver has been hit and miss (recently it’s been decent be be fair though).

Watch him turn to crap now and be the next Dominic Thompson

Yes, especially with him being a MotM contender in the last 3 games

Lyden back up hobbling.

TBF he looks miles ahead of DomTom today with his ball delivery.

Caprice looks like he went to Willy Wonkas barber shop for an "Oompah Loompa" cut :)

I think you need to allow for the Sheridan factor with any loan player last year.

Lyden down again.

Iandolo on for Lyden.

Swindon time wasting with 25 minutes left to play 😂

That looks like Achilles to me, hope I am wrong

Keep losing my connection. Hope this is weather dependent.

Not sure this stiffens up our midfield.

They’ve got 11 men ‘n all!!!

Town should have had that throw.

Did I see Barry taking his top off

East would have been the more logical replacement for me, we may be surprised by Iandolo in midfield.

1st touch by Iandolo was clever and a nice pass.

Corner to Town.

Yep.

Barry on for Davison.

Harry & Barry upfront

Day O! Harry Barry Fronty.

Barry bottled that tackle.

Att: 10,642 with 1,260 Etc.

Over 9,400 home fans is brilliant.

Good break by Exeter after Williams was felled but his shot is weak and at Wollacott.

I see East was taking his top off on the bench.

Easy save again for Wollacott.

Low gate Tuesday makes sense. A lot of non season ticket holders just made a straight choice.

Good home gate even without another game this week though.

What a touch and lay off from Barry

Another good pass from Iandolo there.

Wollocott with a good low claim.

Lovely pass from Tomlinson to Barry there.

Williams and Barry could have some dreamy exchanges once they've played more games together.

Ha Pox losing to 10 man Pompey

Awful long shot high and wide from Exeter luckily.

We need a second here me thinks

Got away with that there, unmarked in our box.

Only 62 mins. Weird 3.20 kick off.

Williams looks absolutely knackered.

Didn’t even last another two minutes

1-1

That was a good goal. A fourth 1-1 in a row?

Great goal. Deserved as well unfortunately

That had been coming.

Just no midfield...

Unstoppable finish, took it really well.

Fuck off.

How many opportunities did we have to keep the ball there? Gave it back to them about 4 times in the build up to that.

Great finish but fuck me that was a lesson in everything not to do.

Poor pass from Barry there.

Hockaday writing off Barry. He really is so punchable.

Who are we going to blame this week?

McKirdy losing his rag a bit now.

1-2

FFS

Oh fuck

Oops. We’ve beaten ourselves.

FFS a complete lack of a midfield. This is all on Garner!

fucking hell. subs have killed us. not Garner's fault that lyden crocked.

but..

Dear, dear, dear

How can you put this on Garner?

Suckered for a second successive saturday

Should have had 10 penalties

This team under Garner has zero game management, its so frustrating. So many points dropped by clueless tactics when we're winnng and inviting pressure on to us.

I still think we have half a chance of making the play offs but I've zero faith in Garner having the tactical nouse to win a two legged affair, let alone a final.

Garner out. Fuck this shite.

Not sure we have even got in their box 10 times!

How can you not?

JML the saviour coming on for AK.

The midfield had been overrun for the last 20 minutes, a centre midfield of Williams, Iandolo and Gladwin is hardly going to cut it at this level. Our lack of bite in there is an increasingly significant issue.

Oh good. JML to save the day.

Fucking hopeless, coming 30 miles off.

5 mins added.

Swindon too naive. That’s about the 4th game I’ve watched now where we have been in the lead with 10 minutes to go and instead of Walacott slowing the game down he just looks to take goal kicks quickly. Criminal.

Simply not having any bench players that can come on for the midfield is a killer....each match the game is lost towards the end because the legs are dead and nobody to help out.
Gladwin just slow
Williams can't seem to play past 60 minutes

Garner out. Had enough of this shit. 14 home games and 3 wins

Second rate coach not a manager

Wellens is available😀

We are so shit at home. Fucks sake. I need a fight.

Maybe if the cunt had actually played at a semi decent level he might have a single solitary clue about gamesmanship and how to hold a lead.

It is impressive how much Exeter is able to continue to have this much energy to challenge the ball.

Garner out. No fucking clue.

Exeter far better game management than we did.

FT 1-2

Oh dear. I hope this one wasn't the ref's fault too.

Enough is enough. He’s clueless setting his team up.

We’re going nowhere with him.

If Reed hadn’t of got himself sent off last game…

It’s just all blah

One striker and he’s nursing an injury…

That spells the end of our play off push I think.

Disappointing

Davison,although not great,assumes importance on the back of that

All we do at 0-0 is keep the ball despite going nowhere most of the time, yet we go up and suddenly its the last thing we do.

We took a quick free kick when McKirdy was down ffs. WE WERE ONE FUCKING NILL UP, WHY ARE WE TAKING QUICK FREE KICKS!?

Wake up Garner you clueless cunt.

fucks sake. abysmal after we scored

still think JoJo skills be saving that deflection or not . But it was coming

Tomlinson easily mom.

Barry this far a waste of a loan

Lack of midfield every game at the end and lack of knowing how to slow a game down and protect the lead is just killing this team.  just simply allows the other team to be able to attack to equalize or go ahead...
Gardner need to figure something out with personal to get the midfield to be at least present at the end of the game.

"it's only Exeter" but they take the spoils.

3 points from 12. We’ve gone to pieces. Can’t underestimate how much we’re missing Payne. I hope we can get this new team to gel, but as we strengthen in defence, we look weaker up front.

Hang on a minute chaps!

We haven't been able to bring in decent players and have been at the mercy of loans. Our squad has no depth.

We are down Reed (stupidity) and Payne ( injury). They, plus McKirdy are our best players.

Today, Tomlinson looked superb until he scored. After that he struggled

Our midfield was overrun most of the game, but when Lyden went off we were in trouble.

Davison going off and being replaced by Barry wasn't good  Barry should be brought on for Williams or McKirdy. He's no CF.

Most teams do at the County ground

Barry (so far) just looks like a light weight attacking midfielder of which we have plenty.

Whatever the shortcomings of our squad, they’ve been there all season and Garner has done nothing to address it.

I just don’t think he can think beyond the academy way. He’s tied himself to that and it’s going to be the end of him.

Shit home record, and yet we turn up. We need a proper manager.

Next Saturday must be a guaranteed 3 points though

Logged on just to say "all about game management now"...and call me a kipper...Exeter score...and then again FFS.

Concentration and focus of late meaning the inability to put teams to bed is beginning to lose Town valuable points.

Even if Town had managed to claw back a point the cracks are pretty visible. I'm usually one of the last to bring pessimism to Town chances of promotion in a league campaign but Clem, Garner...you're starting to let it slide fellas.

Can't 100% say for sure if this is on Garner but concentration for a full match does come from applied focus and instruction via management. If the players aren't listening to him then questions must be asked why?

As I said last week - it's all starting to feel a bit Luke Warm. This could be Clem's first real boardroom test in terms of on field/management decisions. We all know what happened when the last incumbent owner kept an Academy Manager (in Reg's words "a cone carrier") on too long...

~~~~~~~

In other news apparently Oldham fans call the dinosaur's return "The Shezzarection" after managing to beat the shittest team in the EFL...I fucking threw up!

Oh and Hockaday can fuck off  :crash:

Just like Jordan Stevens

That game has finally killed my enthusiasm this season. As a Kent based supporter I’ve seen us 5 times so far this year and not seen a single win and enjoyed a 4-1 defeat. Based on what I see - I don’t know how we were ever near the top. We have no fight, no passion and no stamina.. and yes, not enough experience when we need it. We’ll probably thrash tranmere now but I’m not going to be listening

I think you are correct but it is a manager's job to overcome the player issues as well, his constant whining about the refs opens the door to stupid cards by players talking back to the refs.  A manager has to manage and maybe even get creative with the people he has to work with.  there are good players but some may have to learn something new to help out until others can play.

We do not have enough 'out & out' strikers, which is something which is possibly largely down to our financial position, but we also lack so-called game management ability - that I would argue is the job of a manager to deal with

Dogshit. Our home record is fucking embarrassing.  Fuck off Garner.

Hockaday:
- We deserved to lose
- The trouble with playing youth. Need some players who know what they are doing. Take your time with free kicks and corners etc
- First half: Swindon had no foothold. Second half. They started building from the back.
- Brilliant goal
- Should have killed the game after that
- Tomlinson was super. Made a mistake at the end, but impressive debut. Looks strong and made some crunching tackles
- O'Brien and Cooper looked good. Stronger that Odimayo.
- Hunt is Hunt and did well
- Lyden was a miss. Gave discipline. Iandolo went missing from a defensive point of view
- McKirdy had a couple of good runs. Involved with the goal
- McKirdy/Dvison looked a good combo
- Tomlinson for MotM. But think Davision had a bid part to play.

The manager has done pretty well if you compare with some of the awful managers we have had in the last 10 years. Would take this season over a Sheridan, Brown or Flitcroft one!

Perspective chaps!

Today was fucking crap though, as were the last 2 weeks!

Have we ever finished a match without a recognised centre midfielder or striker on the pitch?! I’m not sure how we’ve ended up in this position but it pretty much sums things up!

No - But we aren't going out of the league, which we could have been!

Perspective!

One comment where is Anthony  GRANT
Thats right he has gone

The whole season at home has been shite. What have you been watching?

3 wins out of 14 is Sheridan material. Fucking terrible

How is he getting on at Scunthorpe?

You cant have a McKirdy and Barry playing alongside one another, its like having a couple of kids up front. No strength or hold up play

How has he done well? He’s shown zero tactical nous, relying on the mantra of his academy credentials. If it’s not apparent to him now then we’ll never get out of L2. But I honestly can’t see him changing tack and I can’t see Clem binning him off any time soon.

I feel the feelgood factor is about to drain away.

What a waste!

Football is a fickle business

Losing the love for Garner and Garner-ball. For a team that is supposedly based on possession football, the quality of our passing is really poor. And that’s when our approach is to play the easy ball, not the purposeful ball. Countless Town sides passed the ball better than this one, and they knew how to play with pace and purpose too.

Garner is the beneficiary of what happened in the summer. If this was a normal season, the patience with him wouldn’t be there from the crowd.

On the plus side, a good ref.

Reminds me of the King era where we had some decent players with a manager with fuck all clue tactically. Difference was that unlike Garner, Kingy scouted and signed said players in the first place.

Garner:
- 65 mins we were very good
- Good game. Exeter played well
- We went ahead and then took a backwards step and dropped off
- Defend poorly for 2 goals which cost us the game
- Combination of things. A young group overall and a turn over of players with little training time.
- Frustrating past 3 games
- 65 mins it was good. Would have liked us to push on.
- Exeter played very well second half
- Dropped off physically and mentally
- Have to stay brave. Tried to sit on the result
- Enforced changed, which we didnt want to do. Studs fown Lyden's leg and Davison's hamstring
- Changes the dynamic without a big CF. Davison did well holding the balkl up
- Barry and JML have different strengths
- Lyden and Davision off: We lost a lot of power and presence
- Needed to find the right pass in the final third
- Great goal. Thought we would push on and try and score another
- Frustrating to drop out of top 7.
- Ahead of schedule where we thought we would be now.
- Turnaround we have had and number of games. Can't ask more from them without training time and telling them what we want they to do.
- Need to get a win quickly to turn things around
- Can change formation at any point. The formation we used was due to the players we had and those we have recruited.
- No magic wand to change formation without getting on the training pitch with the Tuesday turn around.
- Today they finished strong and we dropped off.
- We haven't got bags and bags of experience in the squad to grind out the game
- Conroy sore achilles
- Exeter didnt play midweek and we did. Changes the dynamic a bit. Maybe thats why we dropped off and they stayed strong.

We have decent enough players, shame about the management. We got the goal, but never looked like we'd hold on. Exeter were average at best but still did a job. I'm done for this season.

…and Kingy got by on signing some extremely good strikers who could get goals.

We couldn’t defend for shit but we always had goals in us.

Who cares. He'd have been a decent sub to help see the game out today.

I am not even angry or upset, it felt inevitable that we would throw it away.

Jbz loving this.

Yes, but, Sheridan lost away games too!

We are not bottom of the league. This season was about survival.

I am as disappointed as the next man. The last 3 performances have been very poor. But, I wouldn't send all of the players and management team to the gallows!

Hardly, my friend.

It's basically rinse and repeat, all season really.  The issue we have now is that Davison is looking, to me, like a downgrade and it's in the most important position.  He is not s bad player, he's sort of OK, but he's not great at too much either.  We lack a bit of control as a result - things bounce around ab it more and McKirdy is not going to hold the ball either.

you get tired of raising the same issues - the problem is Garner doesn't see the things we see as issues as issues himself.  It just all looks like an effort to make eleven players look better individually without any real thought as to how to create a team that can win games.

As things are trending right now we will drift to mid table - which is probably OK considering the mitigating circumstances at the start of the season.  Garner is doing a very good job of showing why someone should have him as Head of Development at a much higher level, but probably not going to get too many more chances as a Manager at a lower level.

Not wishing to stir up this particular pot, but I’d have Wellens back in a heartbeat.

He’d have a decent budgie for next season. Get him in now and get his feet back under the table.

Don’t know how wedded Clem et al are to the ‘project’.

We won't be relegated but we are folding more than a deck of cards. Our home form is fucking terrible.

I assume Clem gave Garner a couple of years on his contract, unless the embargo extends to coaching staff?

Get the feeling we'll waste another season on him before Clem wises up.

Wasn’t there today but saw a replay of their second and it looked like JJ should have saved it to me. Very poor game management by the sound of things on the radio.

Well I you're going to lose then do it this way, entertaining the punters.
You got tha atmosphere back albeit for 15 mins.
My verdict, same result but far more entertaining.

I think the root problem for me is that we're quite a nice team. I really can't imagine other fans come away hating anyone apart from perhaps McKirdy. If you look at Man City who are probably the model, they play incredible possession football and don't have a destroyer or anyone really nasty, but the whole team breaks up the opposition play with tactical fouls. We let football happen to us - we're trying to be Man City in possession (I did say trying!) but we're Liden U11s out of it.

Absolute shite. Seem to have lost our way massively. Confidence is the manager is starting to wain. Need a turnaround in fortunes quickly.

It took a deflection and was an OG off Cooper I think.

Getting booked and losing at home to Oldham

Sorry dude, but did you see how well he did at Salford and Doncaster?

You've basically said that you would get rid of a U23 manager and replace him with someone who had a lucky season with some injury prone players and a couple of Championship standard players in L2!

He would be shite!

Yeah. He had a lucky 30-odd games.

Don’t care what he did at Salford or Donny.

Tomlinson saying all the right things on the radio.

Tomlinson:
- Very frustrating
- Know we should have done better
- We stopped playing
- Good finish for their first one
- Should have been playing the same as we did for the first 70 mins
- Even after that we should have shut up shot
- Love it (as much as you can in a defeat)
- Been to the County Ground growing up. Always followed Town (Basically lied, as he could only name Nathan Thompson and Gladwin who used to be here)
- Heard about the project. Didn't want to go anywhere else. Welcome today was brilliant
- Lot to improve upon, but can make it at the top level. Want to learn a lot here and go back a better player next year.
- Heading in a positive direction. Believe we can get promoted this year
- Just about game management. Its an unforgiving league
- Should have managed the game better and defended better.
- Like the formation and playing wing back

Did you care what he did at Oldham, out of interest?

Sent from my CLT-L09

I think I've said the same myself.  We really do not look like a team that has spent very much time working out different ways to play without the ball.  Like w focus almost entirely about possession.

Guardiola's "genius" is how he sets teams up without the ball.  Of course it's all a focus on their amazing footballing ability and intricate patterns, but his different teams have all found ways of breaking up the oppositions possession.  Be that the aggressive press he had Barcelona manage, or the tactical fouls Man City will use when even a slight threat is felt.  The opposition don't get the chance to have periods of control as result and feel like they are under constant pressure.  Pressure fucks the mind.

Today, in the first half, we had the winds at our back.  Exeter realised that long goal kicks were risky, so sent everyone to the half way line but then had runners drop deep to accept the ball.  We didn't follow them until it was too late.  One or two times you can accept as the team following initial plans, but once we saw what they were doing, you want the team to adapt.  We don't.  We have the way we were sent out to play.  Garner pretty much admitted this by stating they could use other formations but would need time to work on them on the training ground - which basically means we can't adapt.

Well, normally, you look at a manager's performances before suggesting they would be a saviour!

We would not have won L2 under Wellens in a normal season. Crewe were better.

We made lots of chances for Doyle and Yates (especially Yates who ran and ran and created lots) but were as fragile as fuck at the back! But, we had an outstanding goal keeper.

My Doncaster supporting friend told me about the absolute shite he signed and the moaning and whinging (that we also saw before things clicked).

In a 1/2 season Garner has done OK.

In 30 games Wellens did pretty well.

Agree. Its depressing.

I thought we were past yearning for Wellens to return

In a 1/2 season Garner has done OK.

Sorry if you think that winning 3 in 14 home games is doing “ok” then I hate to think what you think is doing badly!

Context.

Our home form is pathetic regadless of context...

Got what we deserved. I knew and told my DNA, A) the equaliser was coming, B) when it did they rushed straight back to the halfway line ready for some more and that we’d be very, very lucky to hang onto a draw. And so it came to pass. One could argue we snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory but in all honesty as I said, we got what we deserved IMHO and fair play to Etc. Rather lose to them in a game like today playing the way they did than to the cunty teams like Crawley. Lastly, top ref and lino’s today.

A decent side would not have conceded 2 in the last 10 mins. Exeter were OK but not threatening. We still managed to fuck up. Mid table at best now.

Look. I'm pissed off. If you are trying to bait me, then I will respond.

We are mid table and not bottom of the fucking league! That is the only point I am making.

Doing badly would be where Scunthorpe are. That's also where Grant is. If he was still *that* good then he would be at the top of the table or in L1.

Grant did good stuff for us a couple of years ago. He's not the type of player that Garner likes. He was never going to get game time. So, let him go and get a final payday and adulation elswhere.

What players stood out for Exeter today

After the Crawley and Colchester debacles, the FA must have decided that a decent reff'ing crew was needed.

Their subs, who came on for tactical reasons.

Why should I care about that? He wasn’t my favourite for the job but he proved himself while he was here.

I don’t give a shit about how he did at other clubs. All that mattered was how well he did here

came away angry today. The honeymoon period is over.

We didn't even play that badly for 70 minutes and scored a good goal.

Totally fucked up the end of the match. Again. not a match we should have lost.

It's so frustrating because a pretty decent opportunity for a playoff place or better is slipping away.

groundhog Day at home.

Cheers. There's the answer then tactics again rather than beaten by a better team.

To be fair only Scunthorpe & Oldham have won fewer than us at home. About 90% of our supporters have only witnessed dross like today this season so it’s easy to understand the current feeling. If you haven’t been lucky enough to see us playing away then this season is up there with some of our worst.

Doing fucking badly isn't about being bottom of the league. Our home form is terrible, yet even Garner said he doesn't think there's a problem. Are you wearing his blinkers? Nobody else in the top half is fucking up as much as we are.

He did a great job for us and I am frustrated at 'academy football' as anyone.

But surely you can see his failures at every other club puts a shadow of doubt on whether he could do it again

I heard numerous comments today that showed the tide is turning. More than a few comments about how boring we are to watch. Boring, and ineffective.

Garner’s football actually risks undoing everything we’ve gained. Three wins isn’t good enough. The crowds we are seeing now are because people bought season tickets for the first time in years, reacting to Angus and Clem. That effort is now at risk….

Town lost Davidson and Lyden, while Conroy, Reed and Payne were unavailable.  Who was on the bench as replacements?  Tactically inept, I (And Hockaday) would agree, but not much to play with.  Exeter had a strong bench, a good starting eleven and the tactical nous.  How have they and Newport not been promoted over the last several seasons?

A whole host of managers have failed at Salford. Donny wasn’t a great gig for him, agreed.

No manager is guaranteed to be a success, but when you have one that has his failings laid bare for all to see at your club it’s time for some tough decisions.

Let’s not over look the fact Wellens build lasts seasons squad that got relegated.

I think you'll find that those at the bottom of the league are doing badly!

I'm not wearing anyone's blinkers.

With a few tweaks, things might look different.

Payne's energy in midfield is a big miss. Gladwin's sluggishness is killing us.

Reed is a big miss in midfield.

Williams and Barry (from the little we have seen) are impact subs or replacements for McKirdy and Payne when they are having an off day.

East should be cover for Lyden and Reed. Perhaps also brought on to pack midfield and close out games.

I'm happy with O'Brien, Cooper and Tomlinson (on today's showing)

Of our own players, I'm happy with Wollacott (Pulls off extraordinary saves, but loots a bit shakey at times), Odimayo (but he's apparently too quiet) and Hunt (who is solidly unspectacular)

Davison is not as good as Simpson was. JML is an athlete and not a footballer. The others aren't L2 standard.

Interesting that we looked scrappy today. Conroy's presence was missed. But, although he is comfortable on the ball, he seems to bugger it up a lot. Maybe he should be played as an extra defensive midfielder?

To be fair, the former owner who should be nameless provided a National League budget for League 1 and then allegedly encouraged him to jump ship to gain some pennies.  Poor Recruitment and then injuries mean almost certain relegation for Donny.  The issue at Salford was that he tried Wellensball on players not capable of it and pissed them all off.

I'm one of those that returned after Power legged it and I've been complaining for months about the boredom factor. Will I be buying a season ticket next season? No I won't. I've already spent that money on  cricket at Gloucester.

This.

This- think a lot of people won’t renew after the borefest this year. Angus/Clem need to be thinking about this as 3 home wins in 14 is hardly going to entice people to renew

Haven’t read back but today highlighted for me that we will never achieve anything under Garner.
He may well be a great coach but his style of play only works if we have the right players on the pitch.  And there lays the problem the moment Davison and Lydon went off we never had the players to bring on to continue playing the way we were.
Barry and McKirdy are like for like with Barry looking very light weight. Don’t get me wrong Barry will be a useful addition providing we are set up right, and we weren’t.
Also why the Fuck did Garner think landolo could play the holding midfield role, very naive on Garners part and that what’s ultimately cost us the game.
Whilst we may have strong subs, if you lose keys players that are pivotal to our style of play it’s like trying to fit round pegs in to square holes.

Williams was fucking awful today, he spends fee time much time rolling around too. He hasn’t been half as good as I expected him to be.

Thing is Garner had the opportunity to do that today and instead brought on Iandolo and thought a midfield of him, Williams and Gladwin would be enough to see out the match. No other manager on the planet would have tried what Garner did today, some of his decisions are just baffling.

And I might be wrong, but Davison didn’t look like he had to go off. He was still charging about. We missed him when he went off. Barry offered very little indeed. One trick pony - get the ball in the left channel, cut back, shoot. He’ll score a few that way, but he does it every time.

re: Williams - thought he was very good up to the last few games. Definitely dipped in form

I don’t enjoy going to the CG at the moment, and judging by the atmosphere, I’m not alone. I’m not averse to patient possession football, but too often our defence and keeper are left to unlock teams on their own; other than Reed, a lot of the times our midfield hide. So often our back five are left looking up field to a line of five “attackers” making little effort to get open. It shows so much at throw ins.

Player-wise, Williams has to do better. For an international player (albeit only Wales ;)) he goes missing too often, has zero pace, and goes over too easily. I’m also concerned that Barry might be rubbish for us. McKirdy wasteful again, Gladwin inconsistent and slow. Cooper and O’Brien decent again. Jojo made a great save, but then flapped when he should have caught one, stayed rooted to his line on occasion, and should have done better with the goal. Davison looked good at holding it up and linking play, not sure he’s had a decent goal scoring opportunity. No way Iandolo should come on as the base midfielder instead of East.

I also don’t think it’s a coincidence we only have 1 win in the 7 games we’ve been without Payne.

I don't have an issue with the need to take off Davison - if he has a tight hamstring you do not want to risk him missing multiple games.  The issue with that change is we have nobody to replace him and he is already not a good enough replacement for Simpson.  I know we have a tight budget, but why sign Barry?  If we can only afford one player, you sign a back-up or better player for the central role given we have a few who can play the buzzing around type player.  I'm not dismissing Barry, not seen enough, but his signing is a poor choice when you see our weaknesses/gaps.

Williams needs to be told he is not an Armadillo or Possum - stop fucking rolling up into a ball when a player comes near you.  Win the free kick by all means, but a few times he is still curled up in a ball and we are playing on.

Did Iandolo get used in that role earlier this season to poor effect, or maybe it was last?  I seem to remember him playing the holding role and being exposed.  He was like a ghost without the ball - didn't do anything bad as such, just didn't provide any sort of barrier.

Overall, we appear to have dropped a level through the Transfer window.  Garner is steadfastly sticking to the project and principles - it's not going to change.  Today is part of a process, not a defeat.  He will be the type of person who will look back on their career and remember all the players he improved, that went on to greater things.  Not the sort of person who looks back fondly on that 3-2 win dragged out of certain defeat once upon a time.  That's fine - he has a role in football, and as I keep on harping on about, it's likely above this level.  I can't lose much sleep about it - he is going to be our Manager by the end of this season.  The players are good enough to be in the hunt, so even if we lose the plot we probably still hang around in mid table.

I do wonder if he is so stuck on this he can't even be forced to adjust?  Chief Exec could easily have a word in the ear and let him know that things needs changing-up and see if he reacts to that, or just says fuck off, this is the way I do things.

interesting stat!

It’s very noticeable.

Not helped by losing Reed for two games.  Payne and Reed are key in getting back on track.

Nail on the head.

An inexperienced academy manager with an inexperienced team.
Game Management sadly lacking once again. You could read the script.
Midfield weak as piss and don’t have a physical presence.
Tomlinson good, back line as most games not bad but get fuck all protection from the Midfield with nothing on the bench to change it.
Missing massively an experienced physical presence in midfield. But don’t worry “the group” and the “project” are developing.
Very disappointed once again.

It’s telling that even you are starting to get disillusioned with it all. The club really need to take note as all the goodwill could ebb away and it will become a wasted opportunity.

That midfield comment relates to my view on how we play without possession.  Teams very rarely are forced out of possession via a few midfield battling tackles, or getting in their faces.  We rely on the other team making a mistake or defenders getting on top of their man once it reaches that level.  It's just far too polite as teams progress through us.  The defenders, as a group, look OK right now - but there is nothing in front of them.

The most worrying thing is, Garner makes the same mistakes over and over again and shows no sign of acknowledging them, let alone correcting them.

I don't think game management is even part of his ethos.

Watch every game and see it every game.
We play possession based football from the back but have a static disjointed midfield.
Anthony Grant whilst may not be the answer but a player of that calibre and experience of two years ago is drastically missing.
It’s going to be a long drive and back to Tranmere.

It’s not one player either it’s collectively what we have at our disposal.

Yes this season all about debt consolidation but the club was purchased at a considerable cost cheaper than what was being prepared to pay for it.
Some slack though on where we have come from but it’s expensive backing it from a loyal Supporter perspective.

Weak as piss as a Manager and won’t be raising his voice that I can guarantee.

Shite!

Everyone can see what is wrong.  Why can't the man who is paid to see it.

Midfield once again disappeared.  At 1-0 some went left, some went right, as they do every game, totally vacating the midfield.

We were in total control, then had to change it due to injuries.  But for 5-10 mins before their first goal it was wave after wave of attack but he didn't change it to shore up midfield.   Even after they scored he did nothing. 

Garner must be either too arrogant or too stupid to change it.

Players are decent but being held back by poor management.  He's clearly a good coach but is not a winner and very much in the Williams mould.

Was I dreaming or did I see that initially Clem Morfuni wanted Flynn from Newport to manager the team
Suggest that he would could haxe more passion moving forward
Thoughts

Spineless. Absolutely no bottle unfortunately.

Lacking leaders, big time. Nobody speaks on the pitch, do they? Whereas Exeter centre halves didn’t shut up whole game. I thought Conroy was a weasel of a leader, I don’t think today’s captain in Hunt said anything to anyone the entire game. Same old shit for the last 3/4 weeks. Very slow, very boring.

As for garner, serious questions need asking now and I don’t think calls to have him fucked off should be laughed at or dismissed how they was a week or so ago. Louis Reed, Williams, Payne start of season (I’d say statement Marquee names) and now O’Brien, Cooper and Tomlinson (who both have had championship mins this season)…. This embargo isn’t a valid excuse for me.

I agree, when you break down the teams above us in the league they aren't any better than us just better organised, take less chances at the back, move the ball quicker, have a better directive on how to change things, mentally stronger and seem to stick together as a unit on the pitch.

Exeter made subs, changed their system and overran us in midfield. We carried on what we were doing and made no attempt to counter it at all.

That comes from lack of directive from the bench.

It’s all very nicey nicey, arm round shoulder and let’s not shout at players…

Exactly but that dosen't get results.

I think this is spot on, they made subs and changed based on the flow of the match.  Town does not seem to do this well.  Maybe if a few of the midfielders get healthy and off suspension there will be more freedom with managing the team but i fear the manager hasnt show willingness to adapt during a match.  if he does eventually, there are good players.  The backline with the transfers is much better than it was.  But you can't ask them to stop a relentless attack due to there not being a midfield presence to help at the end of a game.

We were guilty of not playing the situation of 1-0 up against play off rivals below us with 10 mins to go and closing down the game.

In a similar situation in 19/20 Wellens threw on Broadbent as an extra centre half or brought on an extra midfielder. Garner was limited in midfield options but could he gave pushed Cooper into midfield and Iandolo or Baudry into defence?

Was I expecting us to set the league on fire this season? No. Did I even expect us to be as high as we are? No. Do I expect the team to have some adaptability when it comes to matches? Yes, I've seen Sunday league sides more adaptable.

I think at the core our problem is the squad is built off what we could get, and what has been added to (and taken away from!) it over the transfer window shows the precariousness of that situation.

Yeah Garner's pissing me off with the lack of a plan when it comes to games, you cannot set up the same way against a high press high energy side as you do against a low sitting, hoofball side. That's pretty basic fucking management but apparently something beyond what we've got right now.

I don't think it's asking for much for the team to be able to switch how they play dependent on the situation. I would imagine that's a pretty basic level of football ability. Three matches in a row we've been fucked over by a blatant inability to adapt. It's beyond a 'oh we haven't trained enough' or any nonsense Garner wants to pull out as an excuse. Own up to it and change your cocking setup when we're 1-0 up with 10m to go.

Any idea if the injuries we picked up today are serious?

When you have Williams and Gladwin in the same team for 90 minutes when neither has been able to last 60 minutes in previous games it’s hardly surprising we got done in the last 15 minutes yesterday.

We’ve now got a very decent defence but a defensively weak midfield and a non threatening attack.

Garner gambled on our midfield being able to produce more chances/goals then they would give away by being porous.

That’s worked to some extent but as a long term strategy it’s massively flawed.

The Pox were entertaining Pompey and still had 800 less home fans than us yesterday :D

I'm sure they'll console themselves having scored a last minute winner and sit 5th in L1

Sent from my CLT-L09

Couldn't care less.

1700 Pompey.

But you care enough to check their attendance and find out how many visiting fans there were to compare with us 🤷🏼‍♂️

So which would you prefer, getting 10k at home every week & finishing mid table, or getting 6/7k and getting promoted?

Attendances are not generally regarded as a measure of success.  I suspect that Sunderland and Newcastle are acutely aware of that.

So? Who asked you?

Unfortunately we don’t have the depth to make game influencing changes. Players form will dip in and out however would still have Conroy, Reed and Payne in my starting line up when available.
Equally we have been dealt a blow having all of our first half of the season loans and momentum ripped apart by losing them to their respective parent clubs.
New loan players don’t look bad and something to work with but need to get some stability and that winning momentum as soon as possible.

The latter without a doubt.
But hey we have to console our bitter disappointment some how.

Just an observation, but presumably as it doesn’t agree with your view I’m not allowed to express it.

Indeed, but I’d prefer it was because the bastards had lost

Out of interest - who would you drop for Conroy? Despite conceding 2 goals I thought we strangely looked good at the back yesterday, the issues were in-front of the defence.

Can't wait for the next attendance update.

Sent from my CLT-L09

Start of second half, Town upped the tempo, thought uh oh, now on the back foot. Then the Tomlinson goal ( what a prospect you have there ). As Garner observed the team seemed to switch off, physically or mentally, to sit back on the lead. Change of shape helped our cause, and had Man City scored our first the pundits would have been purring. Think we deserved it on the day, but Town away at ours on a Tuesday night will be a whole different prospect undoubtedly. Hope you all make it to help boost our coffers, as we did yours, should be another cracker.

FGR will go up on attendances of 2500.

Your manager made substitutions that positively changed the game for you. Our manager made baffling changes (necessitated by injury?) that had the opposite effect.

Lovely finish for your first, but enabled by the Town midfield sleeping on the half way line. Your guy’s run literally from the half way line without a red shirt getting close enough to worry him. All the best for the rest of the season.

Not a bad Nadine Dorries impression.

+ Dale Vince's financing.

Clem doesn't have that amount of money. and neither does the club itself while we are paying off debts

Agree with this, the defence were largely faultless yesterday and Cooper seemed to do a fair bit of organising back there. If Conroy ever gets back in he certainly shouldn’t be the central centre back again, Cooper has already made that his own.

The problem was the midfield we had for the last 20 minutes, everyone could see it bar the manager. Iandolo, Williams and Gladwin were never going to see the game out, all 3 of them are scared of making tackles. Even with our lack of options Garner needed to do something more clever to shore up the midfield. Also it doesn’t say much about East that he can’t even get on the pitch when we have no centre Mids on there.

Thats what i was eleuding to a wealthy owner is more important than a few thousand through the turnstiles.

We haven’t actually looked bad all season at the back, sure one or two nightmares, Orient being the stand out.
Conroy is the best passer of the ball we have, him and Reed compliment our style and the players that we have brought in to play the “5” that we are comfortable with.
Tough call to drop anyone to be fair.

Did you notice yesterday with the Exeter press we ran out of ideas and went diagonal to O’Brien very Wellens style how he deployed Woolery. It wasn’t working.
Not knocking Cooper, as looks a good solid player however he was responsible for the second goal.

Will keep banging on about the same issue, it’s our midfield.

Grant was voted MotM in both games hes played so far for Scunny.

Sad. Nice you don't post often.

But what you’ve just said there is our problem all over, in complimenting him you don’t mention what should be his core skill….defending. Conroy is a non-league centre back with a league 1 passing range, one shouldn’t negate the other. Conroy should either be in the team as a deep lying centre midfielder to utilise those attributes (but he isn’t mobile enough) or not at all. Instead he’s shoehorned into the team and it becomes an issue when his defensive frailties are exposed, I think we’d all agree with one thing for sure though and that is that he’s not a captain.

We then have the same problem in midfield where we are constantly looking to shoehorn Gladwin, Williams, McKirdy and now Barry into the same team and as a result you end up with the last 20 minutes yesterday where we arguably had our worst midfield ever because there wasn’t actually one.

Good to hear. Having seen them recently, that's not a huge surprise.

Sheridan has picked up 4 points from two games!

Managed to turn all notifications off yesterday, so didn’t know the score and watched the whole thing on ifollow today. I thought it was a fairly good performance and big improvement on the last couple of home games for the first 70 mins.

Then, we seemed to be so lacking in fitness more than anything. It wasn’t just Gladwin (who I know many don’t rate, but thought up till then was one of the best on the pitch) and Williams (not a good performance) but they were clearly spent by then. It was only from that point we seemed to struggle with the wind. Did it get worse, or was that tired bodies?

Liked the move for our goal, but we gave them far too much time and space to shoot. Lucky deflection in the end. Again, though not many chances created by us, without a 9 we look blunt at best. Hopefully we can turn it around, hard to see how though.

TBH he hasnt actually stood out apparently just that hes blatantly far better than the players around him.

The Grant situation remains one of the main concerns I have with Garner. To quote an earlier poster with Garner having ‘weak as piss’ management skills I can’t see him ever signing strong personalities or proper leaders who just want to win. I don’t think Garner would be capable of managing this type of player or risk a player having more influence than he does and that will remain to our detriment.

Nobody cares what you think either.

Ooh, feeling a bit bitchy today 4D?

 :cry: :cry: :cry:

The man was mean on the internet.

“non league centre back.”
I’ve heard it all now 😂
Still we all have opinions. I wouldn’t put Conroy in midfield by the way.

I wouldn’t either but get the impression (rightly or wrongly) that it’s right up Garners street.

Agree. Rightly or wrongly Grant was shunned from the team and what concerns me the most is the absolute insistence on always thinking you can pass your way to 3 points. Tbf Garner in the presser yesterday did say that Lyden and Davison going off was costly for us as it affected our ability to be physical… but then why did we get rid of Grant or not replace him with a similar aggressive central midfielder. Sometimes you have to grind out results and it feels like we only win games when we pass teams off the park (which hasn’t happened recently). We’ve got to start finding ways to win ugly at times, otherwise we won’t be a top 7 team…

Agree with this.
When the game gets ugly or you need to dig deep in midfield we just don’t have the players (or player).

Lyden out for 8 weeks.

That's him gone in the summer then!

so frustrating, but no point in keeping him with his injury record

Shame as he definitely has quality but always likely to miss loads of games throughout the season.

Really?! So we’ve got to get through the rest of the season with one central midfielder as going off yesterday East doesn’t seem trusted.

Conroy😀

Where's that come from? Thought Garner said it was just a dead leg

Yeah I can’t see this anywhere either but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true. Garner probably feels silly re: Grant now. It may trigger a change of formation.

Nah, post something to lighten the crap result and just get derisory comments from smart arses. Should know better really.  :)

Don't flatter yourself

 ???

Is this True, or a Tailsmedia wind up?

Sadly injuries follow him.
A decent player but struggles to play a decent run of games.

Hoping 2 to 3 weeks.

Not great news if true

fingers crossed.

does seem a bit early for a diagnosis thinking about it. let things settle down for a couple of days and assess its the norm

God help anyone who thinks the best way to close a game out is a midfield 2 of Gladwin and Iandolo..

For all Chorley's excellent recruitment from scratch, only having one striker in the squad who can win a header is an absolute stinker.

Not sure this is a Chorley thing

Garner did the same thing at rovers

We can only sign those players who are available and whose wages (or our contribution to them if on loan) can be met within the terms of the embargo, and who want to come to Swindon rather than to anyone else who is chasing them.
It also seems that Chorley has targets identified who would fit the game plan and who we really want which makes sense.

Recent weeks have been difficult - Payne has been missed, KKH’s recall has reduced the attacking threat his pace brought, Simpson’s recall was critical, not least because Davison appears currently only to be able to last about 70 mins. The need to sub Davison and  Lyden’s injury changed the game yesterday - and with Reed suspended the options were reduced. After Iandolo replaced Lyden, I was surprised East didn’t come on for Williams after 70 or so minutes.

If Garner really wanted to try and shut up shop, especially when Lyden went off, he could have brought on Baudry and moved Odimayo into midfield. He could also have brought on East instead of Barry to attempt to pack the midfield and shithouse the final 15 minutes. It’s called being pragmatic.

Neither replacements would have entered Garner’s head.

I know people are saying how we are lucky to be where we are considering pre season etc, and we are using this season as a catalyst for next season. I can't help feeling we are throwing away an opportunity this season. It's not a great league is it? I see this season as likely to turn out a missed opportunity as we seem incapable of turning around our home form. That's a big shame.

If we don’t go up this season - it’s likely we lose JoJo, Payne, Reed and Williams on top of the loan players we currently have. Add to that an injury prone Conroy and Lyden - and it’s almost another complete rebuild.
We can’t keep doing that every pre season if we want to progress.

This is it for me. Missed opportunity on the pitch and off it. We got a “new ownership bounce”. We didn’t need to go up to build on it necessarily, we just need to play entertaining football to get the home crowd on board (and to retain season tickets) and keep some of the core of the squad. I struggle to find an excuse for the football we play. It’s sedated the crowd.

I do think we have to be realistic regarding how good we think some of these players actually are as well. There is a reason they are here at a club with one of the lowest wage bills in the league due to embargo.

Don't get me wrong i get annoyed at these tactics and the subs really piss me off at times  but with what we have i kind of accept that this season. What worries me more is when we are 1 up with 10 left our keeper is trying to launch quick counter attacks or we are taking quick throw ins and free kicks. That is awful game management and unforgivable at any level

As ever I haven't read back but 36 pages is quite a meaty match day thread so lots to read this morning! :)

Obviously the 'big' news was that Conroy had been dropped/was injured and wasn't in the starting 11. Baudry back on the bench. O'Brien, AK and Cooper I felt was our best back 3 on current form. First half I thought was even and it was clear Exeter hadn't come for a point so turned out to be an even side between what looked 2 good sides. Second half we managed to get ourselves in front with a lovely goal from the impressive Tomlinson. I personally thought McKirdy was abysmal first half but lifted his game in the second and a neat assist to find the loan man, who was given way too much space in our box. Great finish through the keepers legs!

Then it seemed to go wrong. We seemed fairly comfortable but after we scored it all seemed a bit muddled. At times we seemed to be trying to kill the game with quick (and often sloppy) free kicks and at other times we appeared to be breaking up play with 'treatment' for injuries. I think this might have played into Exeter's hands as they didn't panic and the impressive Jevani Brown curled in the equaliser. They continued to dominate and a poor header from Cooper fell to Dieng who unleashed an absolute pile driver that Jojo had no chance with. (clearly fake news!)

Yet again we fail to see out a game when we held the lead. Unfortunately Davison is our only big target man and had to be subbed for Barry. I think it's going to take a few games but Davison and McKirdy could form a partnership, hopefully as bright as the one formed between Simpson and Harry before Ipswich recalled the big fella. McKirdy and Barry up front just won't work in my eyes. It's still very early days but Barry needs to get up to the speed of league 2 football fast if he is going to be an asset. On the positive side, the loan defenders look excellent, Cooper aside from his poor header for Exeter's winning goal, was good again, O'Brien imperious and Tomlinson looks a cracking little player. That said, only 2 clean sheets in recent matches says it all. I know he's a popular player but I thought Williams was garbage on Saturday and spends more time on the floor than a fucking yoga mat, I wish he would get on with the game, he's clearly talented but needs to do more for me. McKirdy was gash first half, he seems to be trying to win games on his own. Second half was a bit more measured and a nice assist for our goal. Also, with Lyden going off crocked, is Ellis Iandolo the best option in midfield? He did ok, but even though we seem to have loads of midfielders, having to play a left back there doesn't bode well! That's 2 wins in 10 now I think, I appreciate the recalled players have really fucked with our plans but Garner needs to get a grip of what is going and turn this around. At the moment it's too easy to play against us, we setup the same way every match, play the same way every match. We've been found out and need to offer something different.

Tranmere tomorrow night is not the game you want when confidence is fragile. If we can get away with a point, i'll be delighted. I think not winning against Scunthorpe on Saturday is unforgivable.

fair comment, to me it seems we were very close to being able to challenge

But could be very wrong, I admit.

With the January rebuild the jury is out on Barry and Davison. Not that they are bad players, but whether we can get them to fit in and provide what Simpson did.

Payne will be a boost when he's up and running

Nice summary BO. Pretty much how I saw it. I am concerned that Barry is going to be Gilbert MK2 but hopefully it's just a case of getting up to speed. There is no way we should be playing him and McKirdy up top together.  

For some reason, after about 75 minutes, our central midfield disappears and we end up with a weird back 3, 2 wingbacks and 4 or 5 playing up front off the shoulder of the defence. This happens regardless of the state of the game and I've seen it a few times now.  It just makes us so easy to break through.  

We all want our team to win at the weekend - It makes the working week more bearable! But, success moving up the pyramid requires a strong foundation. Teams that are successful have to 'tweak' as they move up and not change dramatically.

With the loan systems as it is, a successful side is built upon a strong spine within the club supplemented by a good loan or two. What we have, at present isn't a strong enough spine. We rely too much on loans. Maybe the players you have listed are only stepping stones to enable others to develop and become ready to be that strong spine.

The worst thing I have seen with promotion is the Wellens team getting promoted and all of the players leaving behind a far worse team in a higher division. Still, with a goalkeeper not giving away 3 points every week and a manager coaching the players and holding them to account, we could have stayed up!

Think that's how we all saw it.

I have some sympathy with the fact that we have made some pretty big changes in the January window and haven't been able to spend much time on the training pitch working on team work. In other words, it might take a bit of time to gel.

Playing like strangers on the pitch, poor performances by key players, in game injuries, lack of pace and energy, strange substitutions, limited like for like options on the bench and lack of experience lost us a game we should have won.

Havent read back....dint want to see anything connected yo us or football after that result on Saturday.

For the first time is was fuming.

Threw it away.

Exeter about on par with us i reckon, good side for top ten but not a great one and wont get get automatic, it was all nip and tuck, we scored and i thought we could kick on.......we imploded....again.

Great goal for the equaliser, lovely view from the TE, although someone took a stooping header in midfield with a better placed player behind him in the build up, who could of taken a touch with his feet.....Gladwin? dunno.

I thought Wooly had the winner covered but was obviously wrong footed.

Game management again...

Colchester was criminal but Saturday was something else.

Anyway...on to Tranmere...I feel the season slipping away...shame.

4D is some kind of weird attendance nonce.

Lyden has ruptured his Achilles.

TBF so am I, but I only look at ours and the rest of our division

I’m assuming that means a long lay-off

Fair enough PR.

I've ruptured my achilles in both my right and left legs. Obviously I am not a professional athlete but both took 6+ months to get back to any semblance of excercise. Depends on the seriousness of the rupture but I wouldn't have thought Lyden would be back this season. It unfortunately leaves us very very short on numbers.

Means East will have to play - Or perhaps Conroy in that position. But most likely Garner will put Gladwin there!

Haven't you got to sort your ring out?

Could Odimayo play there? He’s decent on the ball and doesn’t get beat much 1 on 1… athletic too. Would fit some requirements to play holding midfield for sure

No chance of yours falling off you fat cunt.

fucking ouch.

if that's a proper job then that's very long term as above

FOOTBALL : @Official_STFC midfielder Jordan Lyden faces lengthy absence because of ruptured achilles, described as "huge blow" by Head Coach Ben Garner - out for "months rather than weeks" #stfc

Gareth's a bit scratchy today.

With Reed, Payne and Lyden out it's going to be interesting to see what side we put out tomorrow night!

Judging by Saturday it’ll be Iandolo.

Got to be East surely? Thought the Iandolo decision was a bit strange.

If he starts East he’ll effectively be admitting he got it wrong on Saturday which I can’t see happening. Would imagine East’s confidence is shot now as can’t be that great not being able to get on when there’s not even another player in your position available.

That said Garner will probably change 5 players in order to play East tomorrow and justify it by saying he’s playing a different system compared to Saturday rather than just admitting he cocked up.

Even more concerning exposing the weak midfield after losing Lyden for the season.
Genuinely gutted for the lad as so much bad luck with injuries, clearly a decent player when available.

Odimayo has to be pushed into midfield. Baudry/Conroy go into the back 3. Hopefully Payne is back.

Is Davison OK or crocked?

Edit. Davison is good to go. No Conroy - having a scan. Lyden out for months. No free agents out there - keeping Harry Parsons not loaning him out again.

We are a short time into a long term project and are ahead of where we expected to be.

I did say at the time that i feared he had done his Achilles, was hoping I was wrong.  The way he was walking after the challenge looked ominous to me.  That is his season done, and probably his STFC career tbh..  I feel really bad for the bloke because he is a great player when fit..

I cant see AK being played in CM, both Conroy and Baudry have both played in DMC roles so would be more likely, Aguiar is also a CM although a more attacking option, East played well there last week for 45 mins then badly faded. Payne should be in contention but its unlikely he is ready to start, and Iandolo looked ok on Saturday when he came on.

We have options but not great options, all because Reed was a twat and couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Yeah I think that's the last we'll see of him in a Town shirt unfortunately. Played less than 50 games in almost 3 seasons & when we run a small squad you can't carry players. We have 3 this season, that can't go on.

Not sure when his contract is up? If its at the end of the season, then, yep, toast.

With our new back three looking as good as anything I've seen in the last two years, I'm hoping this might be a chance to put Conroy into the libero role he could excel at, with enough defensive ability to make tackles and the creativity to be a good out ball for attacks.

Looks as if tomorrow will come too early for him though.

Looking likely we are going to have to sign a completely new defensive line in the Summer at this rate.  Being forced to play loanees over our own players, the insistence of some that Conroy isn't good enough and the contract situation with Akin (who actively looked to move on last season) doesn't hold much hope of any of our CB's from this season being around next.

Might be a good thing, might be a bad thing..  anyway you look at it though it is not ideal

Unless I'm being thick, isn't a libero a sweeper? As in, you want him to play behind the 3?

You are correct, the Libero role is a sweeper role usually adopted by a CB but behind the defence rather than in front of the defensive line as Hoddle used to play.

Personally I think Conroy could do well in the Hoddle/MacLaren role as you don't need to run around so much, he can spray a decent pass and there is always somebody behind you to tidy up if you lose the ball rather than him being the last defender which he often is when forced into an error.

It gives him an extra insurance if he gets caught out in possession yet is still there to release the long ball which we do miss when he isn't playing.

While I'm not against giving Conroy a go in the holding midfield role, I seem to remember it not going well when it was tried before?

Oh, did I nutmeg myself? Anyway, what PV said, I imagine that playing him in front of the defence à la Hoddle might end up being his best position.

I have long thought that about our Dion, despite several posters vehemently disagreeing with my opinion. I think it may just work.

You're not going to play a sweeper behind three centre backs though, surely? We'd need to move to two CBs to make that feasible.

I am not going to disagree with you, my concern would be it would just add a further potential confusion to a defensive line that already doesn't seem blessed with much footballing nounce, communication or ability. Conroy doesn't seem the most disciplined player and having him wandering about, especially with a defence trying to play a line for offside has potential shit show written on it!

No which is why Libero was mentioned, in front of the back 3 bot behind them.

Garner doesnt seem to like 2 CB's so I would prefer Conroy as DMC with Reed being the ball carrying midfielder of the 2 central ones.

I guess we wont know unless its tried.

We don't really tend to play the offside trap under Garner and rarely get given the benefit of the doubt by refs!

I see something like
        
                          Wollacott
Tomlinson OBrien Cooper Odimayo Iandolo
           Gladwin.    East.    Williams
                   McKirdy.   Davison

I'm sure I heard somewhere Tomlinson can play right or left

Hate the idea of playing a defender in midfield just because they can pass it or are athletic.

David Luiz all over again.

Being able to read the game, in and out of possession is a critical skill and if you haven't played in DM then it's a big ask to for them to acquire it overnight.

Not sure why you would drop Hunt from the right?

I think Iandolo will come in for Williams

I think Tomlinson would offer more going forward and Iandolo's best position is left wb in my opinion. Just me tho possibly!

Possibly would, but I think that we will get targeted down the left.

I would be interested to see how things worked out with Iandolo ahead of Tomlinson.

Iandolo's weakness is defending, but he has linked very well with Williams of late. I don't think Williams played well at the weekend, nor do I think he has 2 games in 3 days in him. So, would Tomlinson and Iandolo on the left work?

For me Iandolo is best winger/left midfielder as crossing is his best asset and defending is probably his worst asset IMO.

Didn't Wellens try Conroy as a defensive midfielder in 2018/19 when he was coming back from his first knee injury? Not sure it worked but he was struggling for fitness at the time.

Maybe Brandon Cooper to step forward into the role?. As mentioned earlier the 3rd central defender these day doesn't do the Glenn Hoddle type sweeper who could push forward and dictate midfield but he was one of the greatest midfielders of his generation even in his mid 30s.

I’m certain he was played at CDM by Wellens and possibly by Sheridan too. I also recall he didn’t do too badly there at all

Better than the Caddis CDM game...

This. Playing conroy or odimayo anywhere other than centre back (or at a push full back) is stupid and would fail spectacularly

There are a lot more examples of a CM stepping back into defence than vice versa, right? Or is my memory selective?

I'm essentially only thinking of McCormack, but I'm sure there are others...

Grant did it for a bit

Well yes, but I think you could probably argue either way about whether it worked out well or not...

I only recall seeing Conroy play at CM with my own eyes once which was at Northampton away on Boxing Day a few seasons ago. From memory there was a reason it was a short lived experiment.

I certainly wouldn’t put Odimayo in there, a solid defender but far too limited with the ball at his feet.

If East doesn’t start on Tuesday then it really doesn’t say much for his future prospects here.

Conroy is injured anyway so it is not going to happen tomorrow, and Reed is back Saturday.  My view is, if people really don't think he is good enough for the Sweeper role, then his time here is short lived. 

Worth a try I would say

Fuck it, wollacotts good with his feet. Stick him in the middle of the park, he’d be more mobile than conroy

... and put Iandolo in goal.

Put Garner up front and see how pissed off he gets when the ball gets passed sideways and backwards!

On the Monday Night Panel Jonny from the Adver said that Garner said Conroy was injured. But, he heard that Conroy was dropped on Saturday and he allegedly took it badly and drove off.

Shame Jonny didn't reveal where he heard it😀

Wouldn’t be the first time Conroy has allegedly taken news of being dropped badly. Some captain.

Adver must be pretty sure to make a claim like that. Interesting that someone said they saw him leave at midday from the ground.

Another case of him throwing toys out the pram? No player is bigger than this club, cheerio if he wants to be a Diva 👍

Poor if true as he's paid to represent the club.

I must add that he was using lots of caveats with it and didn't say it was substantiated.

It may be complete and utter B/S.

If he wasn't injured and dropped he could have come on as sub for Lyden at CDM. Double whammy if Adver are right as could have helped close out the game.

Straight into touch or to a team mate who was closely marked?



Sent from my SM-A125F

Duke will be able to confirm I’m sure - seems plausible and I doubt someone from the adver would risk mentioning if it was bollocks.

Conroy’s car was still in the car park when I drove out on Saturday.........

don't think that rumour is true, think he really is injured

Maybe Jonny shouldn't have said anything I felt it was based on hear say rather than fact.

100% fucking bollocks.
People making shite up.

The lad has an Achilles strain, a result of knee surgery which needs to be managed.
Scan and fingers crossed nothing long term.

As for tantrums complete shite once again.

No more from me on this subject and take this as you want but fact.

I heard he drove into a blind alley.

Like must of the bollocks on this forum then.

Spot on

Sorry. Just reported what was said. He heavily caveated it, but added at the end that 'there's no smoke without fire'. So he 'implied' the rumour might be true, which was why I posted.

Nuff said - Looks like bollocks. We move on. I'll take the positives from my post. The first few words were good, but I need to put more punctuation. In fairness, I haven't had chance to practice formal writing since school - Except for in work. Well, I have a process. When I follow it, noone can live with me. I just need to go back to the first few words and take the positives from that. It was, after all, a good performance.

I can't stand that phrase.   It's the sort of thinking Donald Trump relies on to justify any of the utter bollox conspiracy theories or slander he comes out with.

Don’t take it personally from me Mate I know your intentions are always sound 👍
Just a little wound up as some of the shit also being posted about Lyden makes my blood boil.

Half these fuckwits won’t be travelling to the likes of Tranmere or Carlisle but when I hear the shit about 2 players that didn’t get paid pre season, don’t go on the piss, train fucking hard, potentially could lose their career I respond.

Rant over.

shit about Lyden? missed that unless it was in reference to the penalty the other day, which he did have a brain fart for

Corrr Dukey firing shots this evening 🔫 🧨

Are the Man City selection toys out of pram murmurs complete shite? Not a nibble attempt, a genuine question. 

Different discussion Mate.

So did he throw his toys out the pram before the Man City game?

Given how DOB responded that's how I read that also. If that's the case and it is true, surely that is undermining the manager and that's going to cause an issue with discipline within the squad?

From the captain too….

Conroy, man city, DOB...

wtf are you all talking about?

Conroy played against Man City. What’s supposed to be going on?  Whispering bollocks I presume.

There was a rumour that he was meant to be dropped for the Man City game, threw his toys out of the pram after being told and Garner gave in to his sulking and started him.

ah, I see, thanks