Thetownend.com

Bring it on.
I see we haven't beaten a team at home in the league by more than 1 goal since Rochdale in August. Be nice to get a 2-0 or a 3-1 for a change.
Crewe beat Orient in the cup and have just beaten ColU, but they are bottom.

3-1 Town after conceding a 2nd minute goal.

3-1 att: 9,621 (193 away)

The 3 ticket bundle deal starts this match so I am predicting a slightly higher crowd.

First I've heard of it?

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2022/october/match-ticket-bundles-now-available/

Apparently Colchester missed 2/3 golden chances and Crewe we’re lucky to win.

‘Lee Bell has confirmed this morning that leading goalscorer Baker-Richardson will be out for ‘the foreseeable future’.’

I hope the three match bundles continue and i hope it isnt a method of bumping up Boxing day.

Im all over that deal.

Crewe got their first win in 8 league games with a 1-0 victory over bottom of the table Colchester on Saturday.

Alex sit in 16th place with just 5 wins and 7 draws so far but having lost just 5 games which is the 7th lowest loss count in L2 (we have lost 3 making us equal 2nd lowest behind Orient).

So far they have score just 16 times (5th lowest in L2) and conceded 20 goals which is only 2 more than Town have conceded.

Their top scorer is striker Courtney Baker-Richardson on 7 and Daniel Agyei on 5, the rest have scored single goals only.

They are currently managerless with ex player Lee Bell in temporary charge of team affairs as they look for a new manager after Alex Morris unusually stepped down to become assistant manager only 2 weeks ago after a winless run of 9 games.

Crewe have ex Town midfielders Conor Thomas and Charlei Colkett in the squad and tend to play in a 4321 Christmas Tree formation with the Sambou up front as a target man.

They were very lucky against Colchester with Colchester having the much better chances but the very tall young Crewe keeper Arthur Okonkwo (on loan from Arsenal and Wollacott lookalike) won all the plaudits with his MotM performance after Colchester had 13 shots against them with 6 on target.

From the Crewe forum after Saturdays win....

2-1 Swindon Att: 9,210 (280 away fans)

Got Swindon defeat written all over it hasn't it!

Believe this lad is now out injured - Courtney Baker-Richardson

He is indeed, a bad hamstring injury.

As I was writing it thats all I was thinking too!

Piece of piss. 4-1

You’ll get it right one day Aud !!.

Got it spot on April 15. Harrogate 1 Swindon 4

Better than JJ’s perennial 0-0’s!

I reckon there will be goals for both sides.

Could be 3-2.

Need to win this one.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9mB3RJDDxOI

Crewe are without their top scorer and I think they have another striker coming back from an injury who isn't ready to play. I suspect this Crewe side won't be as open and expansive as previous sides down the years. (I think we have a good reckon against them at the CG historically)

I think they will be compact and it may be a similar game to the Tranmere one, possibly settled by a single goal.

I do worry that teams that pack the defence and press eventually make us play "safeball" - i.e. play it around the back.

If we can take an early chance it could be a comfortable win though.

For that reason. 3-0

I'm trying to get the 3 ticket bundle but they don't give you the option of trying to pick a seat, it just allocates an available one for all 3 games. Any way around this?

I also just tried and it doesn't look like you can. Just for testing purposes I chose Arkells tickets and it put me in a crap block at the front. It might be worth tweeting the tickets office (you are probably not on twitter mind you) or giving them a buzz.

I have given up predicting in recent games, TBH I got more right at 0-0 that you did with 4-1 piece of piss wins ;)

I'll probably just book the tickets then sit where I want  :)
Can't see a sell out in the TE for any of these games.

I thought the people in the TE did that anyway? :)

We stand where we want, we stand where we waaaaant....

Great news that's he's almost ready for selection

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TrbTrkzGhb8

2-1 loss today I think

So, once more unto the breach dear friends.
Not referring to the game itself but to the little person that sits behind and the battering that the back of the seat will take, plus the inevitable foot in the lower back through the gap and the occasional slap to the head from a flailing arm.
All good fun.  ::)

do you sit in front of Johnny Williams? :)

I'm sure that little Jonny would be much better behaved.
Hopefully sitting on the bench in Qatar won't lead to any mischief as the attention span is put to the test.

Got my 3 ticket bundle  :toocool:

Remember watching David Platt playing for Crewe against us in the 80s.

Platty played 3 times against us for Crewe in the mid 80s and scored once too, fellow future England midfielder Geoff Thomas also scored that game.

Thomas went on to score twice more against us, once for Barnsley and once for Palace in 12 games and only once ever was on a losing team against us, and that was when he was at Crewe. Platt only played twice more against us after leaving Crewe and failed to score against us again for Villa and then Forest.

They also launched the careers of Robbie Savage who played against us twice for them.
Dele Adebola who played 9 times against Swindon.
Future England midfielder Danny Murphy who played 3 times against us.
England cap Seth Johnson, also a midfielder.
Jamaican international Clayton Donaldson.
Wales international midfilder David Vaughan.
Swindon born England international striker Dean Ashton.
Eire international Paul Tierney, albeit he was only on loan there.
All of whom played vs Swindon while at Crewe.

In games between Swindon and Crewe over the years Swindon have come out as winners 21 times with 6 draws and 16 defeats in the previous 41 meetings, scoring 64 goals and conceding 50.

In games at the County Ground though Swindon have won 14 of the 21 games, drawing 3 and losing just 4 of them, scoring 40 times and conceding 20 goals.

Swindon have just 1 defeat against them at the County Ground in the past 11 games dating back to 2002. That was a 1-2 defeats in 2019 when Doughty scored with a penalty.

Our biggest win vs them was a 5-0 in 2013 when Mason scored a hattrick and Ranger and Luongo completed the rout.

Crewes biggest win was a 1-3 in 2002 when Super Sam scored with a penalty.

We have had 6 penalties against them in the 21 games and 2 times they have scored OG's. We have only conceded 1 penalty against them at home.

Got FBT to score anytime @14/1

He is definately our biggest threat from corners, could be on a good thing there, hes due another goal.

Anthony Grant on comms today :pint:

 obviously the best

Makes sense, ex Town and Crewe player and although he is not the most eloquent of commentators he is enthusiastic and friendly and can read the game well. I enjoyed him earlier in the season vs Stevenage even though we were convincingly beaten in that game.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fh7pFTIWIAAagpn?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

Same team and bench bar Copland as backup keeper.

Cool.
We can now play guess the formation.

I’m still not convinced we played 352 last week

 I have put a couple of pounds on Hutton to score

I dont think the 352 reverting to 4 at the back when going forwards works very well at all.

I hope we start more as the 442/433 that we finished the game with. We looked far better 2nd half when we went 4 at the back.

He has deserved a goal and is due one after hitting the post at Mansfield, hes never scored a league goal as yet after 101 league level games.

He has only ever scored 1 goal for Yeovil in the Conference.

I still think it was 442 last week but the midfield 4 was 3 CMs 1 LM and no RM.

We definately ended the 1st half like that but early in the game I would suggest it was definately FBT as the left of the 3 CB's, it was flexible but not actually very good, the goal we conceded showed up that. FBT, Harries and Brennan weren't sure where they were supposed to be for the goal all looking at each other.

Did Lindsey say last week why Shade wasn't playing or on the bench, as hes not there again today, must be an injury surely?

Bit of a hammy

Cheers, shame as hes a good option to bring off the bench later in games to add a bit of pace.

Was expecting a change or two but we'll see how it goes.

Felt he could have been exactly what we needed when Iandolo went off last game. Rather than a right back

Looks good to me if it goes 4-3-3, then Darcy could be more on the wing out of Khan's way. 2-1 to us .

I agree totally on that.

Wakeling header from a Gladwin cross, easy save though.

3-5-2 again then

They don't seem to put much pressure on possession which should really help Gladwin. Give him time on the ball and he's a rolls Royce.

Anthony Grant just said, Iandolo is a very good left back😀

He isnt always right.

We're notably trying to keep the ball in play and take restarts very quickly, I wonder if they have fitness issues?

We're let him off the odd blooper on the radio🤣

Town in control so far without creating too many good chances.

Oh Ronan Darcy that was absolutely zero IQ stuff.

Pen?

I can't express how stupid that was. Tried to turn on the edge of our box, fucked it up then compounded the error by bringing down the Crewe player for no reason at all. Soft, but they'll always be given and there was absolutely no need.

0-1 not sure about the pen TBH. Most refs would have given it.

Fuck me Crewe have done nothing all game
Time wasting from 5 mins in at 0-0

They are going to be dreadful rest of the game.

Another early goal giveaway.

Think it was a harsh pen but we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position in the first place.
Pure stupidity

Yup they will be unbearable now, time wasting from the off, sitting back, now they will be even worse

Also the mascot getting the refs attention because the opposition player hasn’t placed the ball in quarter for the corner is a first…

They're not very good, we should still win this but have really created an unnecessary problem for ourselves.

Fucking useless. We should be battering these melts.
Twat scores and thinks he's scoring fir Barcelona.

Harries injured. Gonna be like for like change but probably shouldn't be.

Blimey. This has been trademark Swindon so far.

Only one team even remotely interested in trying to win this…

…and it isn’t the team that’s winning

100%

FBT not having his best game so far.

Frustrating, we are playing balls that we shouldnt, just calm the fuck down and get back to playing football again.

We should be battering shit sides like this, but look fucking clueless.

What percentage of Iandolo’s crosses hit the mark?

TBH not many this season, he tends to over hit them so much.

Crewe arent here to play football they are all about containing us, and rightly so. We are struggling to break them down.

Good block and a good tackle from Iandolo in our box there. His defensive positioning isn't always great but his actual technicals are alright.

Anthony Grant is certainly an interesting one on co comms. “Uh oh” x5 every time Crewe attack  

Think I may have to mute it actually. “It’s a goal” as the ball falls into the hands of Brynn :D

And he called a goal on the last attck by Crewe when it was easily saved by Brynn!

He commentates a bit like a guy in the crowd. Some of it is quite fun but there's not really even an attempt at analysis, just positive and negative noises.

Hutton is getting some good low crosses in so far, just need Jephcott to anticipate them and attack the near post for them.

Crewe are a really poor side but we just cant break them down.

Powder puff football.

Really needless yellow

That's a yellow for Brennan but not sure it needed the full four rolls.

Almost some comedy keeping by the Crewe keeper there. But he got away with it.

We somehow seem to be outnumbered at both ends repeatedly.

For a game we’ve been in control of, it is concerning how much more threatening Crewe look on the attack

That’s a common occurrence in most games of ours.

Is it me or is Hawes getting names wrong more often? Mistook FBT for Darcy there.

Crewe manage to scramble the ball clear yet again, then Jephcott gets in a header thats saved.

It is a constant thing this year.

Saying that he mistook Odimayo for Baudry last season :)

3 mins of added shitness.

Confusing Darcy with Shade was a highlight.

As Grant says "its just tooooo slow".

There's mistaking someone and there's just saying the wrong name because you say hundreds of names every game. It's not ideal but he's still miles better than every visiting commentator I've tried.

Morecambes comms were easily the best 2 years ago, brilliant and funny.

Wouldn’t argue with that.

Really poor header by Iandolo from the cross.

HT 0-1

Really poor and slow.

Well, pretty typical Swindon performance. Look in control, but moments of madness at the back and in midfield has allowed Crewe to feel like this is a winnable game. We are brilliant at giving teams low on confidence (Hartlepool, Colchester etc) a real sniff of coming here and winning. Aware we won those games, but so much tighter than it needed to be. Not  expecting 5-0 wins against these sort of sides, but we make them far more tough affairs than what they should be.

Well, that was very disappointing. Two pretty poor sides, and make no mistake, we are a poor side at the moment. We put good crosses into the box but we're simply not set up to be a balls into the box side - Wakeling and Jephcott are nobody's target men. Since Hutton's improvement, we seem to have stopped playing through the middle and Gladwin after a great start to the season has become a passenger.

Frustrating one. A very winnable game, but will need the manager to change things up now, not on 70 minutes.

First 25 or so minutes it was all is playing quick, attacking (but not overly threatening) football (which is what we needed more of last week) and Crewe time wasting.

Play ourself into trouble, penalty, goal and we lost our way for 10 or so minutes.

Got better last 10 of the half but not nearly threatening enough. Most coming down Hutton whose crosses at least go in a dangerous area if not directly to a red shirt. Iandolo can’t cross at all. Which very much echos what’s I said last week.

Not sure we have a game changer on the bench.

Odd half that. Not causing them enough problems, very adept at causing our own though.

Been plenty of times this season where we have been much better after half time. Hopefully another one of those today.

COYR

Same old every single week. We just haven’t got enough creativity to create chances. Without Williams we’re even less creative than usual. There are no through balls to our strikers, everything is to feet. Jephcott and Wakeling don’t link up together at all. The only outlet is Hutton, there are literally no other methods of creating anything. Fucking awful and the same every week.

If Crewe score early doors I’m off home. Fucking cold, on my own today and have a pain my shoulder which is shooting down my back and pulling on my neck. All in all a miserable afternoon at the theatre of despair.

Streaming problems meant I saw Darcy's moment of madness, the penalty, and Then Iandolo heading wide before the ref blew for 1/2 time! Guess I was saved the shite between looking at comments!!!

I'll use my Twitter summary

#stfc

Played ok but other than crosses from Hutton, 90% not really causing issue, we've no real attacking pattern. No danger. Same old.

Penalty harsh .

Like Baudry but he's positionally suspect in this system

I wouldn’t go as far to call it shite.

It’s just not threatening enough.
For all of Huttons crossed we aren’t getting enough on the end of them and troubling the keeper. I’d like to see some smashed in hard and low as I’d fancy Jephcott or Wakeling to get a foot on it more so than a head…

Oh its not shit by any means its just lacking in any killer edge, we have controlled 90% of that half but our chance creation seems poor, Hutton gets crosses in but Jephcott doesnt attack the near post enough for it to be a good opporunity for us. Otherwise we are always looking for one extra pass before it goes into the box allowing Crewe to get more players behind the ball and snuffing us out.

Concur. When we have the ball it’s very controlled and comfortable. Final ball just not dangerous enough.

How do we change it though? Adeloye? Roberts? It’s the approach or emphasis that needs to change - not different personnel playing the same way.

Hopefully I get to see some of the second half!

Roberts for Iandolo and go 433. Maybe get Reed on for Khan too.

I'd bring on Adeloye. He's shown nothing so far, but he's the right profile of player for this game. Let him prove whether he has a future here.

Oh Ellis.

FFS Iandolo.

I won’t bore you again with my views on Iandolo.

And then Jephcott scuffs a great chance too.

Stonewall penalty but offside. This is frustrating.

If Iandolo was right footed he’d be playing for Chippenham now.

Swear the only thing he offers is a left foot

Grant’s analysis is very “guy at the pub” I would find it funnier if we weren’t losing.

Jephcott volleys a 25 yard shot thats well saved.

Don’t like pointing out the obvious, but my god, this is shite. So predictable up front

We are fucking terrible.
Crewe ffs.

Crewe should have scored with that unmarked header at the far post.

Hutton is probably our best player, but he's not a great marker at set pieces. Not really sure why Agyei is his man though.

Feels like we're about five minutes away from Grant going full TEF and calling them all useless fuckers.

No, he was way behind him though and should have at least put in a challenge.

He does sound very frustrated with our players.

•Get into a promising position
• Wait for Iandolo or Hutton to make a run out wide.
• Cut inside and then lose possession OR cross.
• Cross gets blocked or no one is around to get on the end of it.
Rinse and repeat.

The forwards have been gash today.

Att: 8,734 (167 Crewes)

No changes here is pretty ridiculous.

Getting closer...

Gladwin to Jephcott who heads against the bar.

I feel for them, we have two sub 6ft strikers and we're playing a crossing style. It's just square pegs in round holes. Both have shown quality but they'll never shine in the style we've had in recent weeks.

Agreed.

Gladwin hits it from 25 yards and it nearly clears the Town End.

Grants "ut oh" count goes to 100+ with that last attack by Crewe :)

We’ve not had 1 decent home performance this season.

Any chance of a sub? Goodness me

Embarrassing, from the 1st minute . Thanks Swindon,  2nd division football again next season.

Rochdale?

Please take Iandolo off.

We're 1-0 down after 75 minutes at home and we haven't made a sub (bar the injury like for like at CB). Either the manager doesn't trust anyone outside his first eleven or it's an absolutely bizarre move.

Crewe arent by any means timewasting.

Grant’s not improving my mood.

“He’s in, he’s in!”

Adeloye and Lavinier about to be given nine minutes to change the game.

Can Lavinier play on the left side?

I love Grant but he has been over critical of Town fans frustrations and Town players and their ability.

Jephcott off for Adeloye and Brennan off for Lavinier.

Such a depressing afternoon. Shown such minimal quality in the final third

Reed for Khan please

Load of shite.

Not been a good game for Khan today.

Why so late in the game when we're losing .....baffling😡

Fucking terrible.

More timewasting game management by Crewe.

Crewe player rolling into the pitch whilst injured is a bit funny even if it is very frustrating.

You diving fucker.

The comic timing was pretty good there mind.

6 mins extra punishment added.

Crewe have not had a single yellow for timewasting, which is absolutely masterful work from them to be fair.

6 mins to avoid another Lindsey head down post match interview.

We’ve gone downhill rapidly since that Mansfield game.

Flattered to deceive.

This is turning into a farce.

Hearing some brave Crewe cunts battered a disabled fan. Wasn't planning to go to Crewe but might be now.

We're going to get a red for dissent here to put a particularly rancid cherry on this cake of pure shit.

Wakeling felled just outside the box central.

Reed coming on like the old England hockey guy who used to come on to take corners.

Reed on to take the free kick.

Good free kick, fumbled and saved.

Gladwin sponsors MoM. Not a deep pool to choose from.

FT 0-1

Shocking stuff. Really concerning how pathetic we looked in front of goal

Shocking. Old school division 4.  :crash:

Absolute dog dirt!

Mad considering they’ve been time wasting right from the start. Even before they’d even got into our half let alone scored.

they was fucking awful

Fuck it piss poor again time for Lindsey to go as nothing is going to change with him in charge. We need somone who can motivate and organise this group of players otherwise we're a mid table team going nowhere.

What a crock of shit.

I know I sound like a broken record this season, but we are just not good enough and that itself is not good enough.  We have assembled a semi competent L2 team that can win some, but there isn't a team fighting for the top 3 who would be worried about us.  To not be in the equation for that fight is what irritates me, at this level.  I repeat, I am not saying we are a bad team, just not good enough for what we should be in a second season at the bottom level with the revenue we would have pulled in, regardless of the debts.

Harsh on the Manager, there really isn't that much to work with.  Adeloye was our only attacking option really and he managed to avoid being involved in the game entirely bar falling over a couple of times.

That was deeply frustrating. Don't be distracted by the ref there, we were architects, planning consultants and builders of our own downfall. Crewe were well organised in defence to be fair, but we're very predictable and very bad at converting the crosses. It's square pegs in round holes all over our attack at the moment and Lindsay clearly doesn't trust anyone on the bench. Not good.

It's all about opinions but I disagree. Reed is a shadow of a player from last season what's happened to him, Wakeling has great potential and Jephcott was sought after by many teams. Today we had 70% possession and should be beating teams like Crewe convincingly considering we still have a decent midfield on paper even without Williams.

The mistake for the pen really played into their hands. Meant they did not have to force anything. Shit moment for Darcy, but he has been a net benefit this season.

Our style of play does not do well against anyone not trying to attack. Too immobile, too one dimensional, and too conservative a lot of the time as well.

Not sure with the personnel we have what could be done much differently. Formation shift would have been nice to see I guess.

What sort of player would people like to see come in, in the window?

For me it would be someone with some pace that wants to take on his man through the middle.

Darcy, Khan and Iandolo offered absolutely nothing today.

Iandolo has played 100 odd games for Swindon. It's pretty clear that if he's starting we're struggling.

Need Joniesta back big time.

That definitely needed changing earlier but not sure what Lindsey could do with the options available

Iandolo was fucking turgid but who else was there?

The only change we could have really made was earlier was getting Reed on but not sure that would have helped us look any more threatening.

Officials were terrible and Crewe the biggest bunch of cheats I’ve ever seen.

That said we just aren’t good enough- 1 point from 2 home games just isn’t acceptable if we want to challenge for top 3. Not enough strength in depth I’m afraid to have any chance of promotion this season

And most weeks we will win these games - hence why we are 7th.  The team is not goo enough to compete for the top three, as things stand, that is my frustration.

Jephcott is meh - can probably get on the end of some chances but he doesn't offer enough beyond that.  You can carry that type of player when someone is bullying the defence around him I think, but Wakeling isn't going to ever be able to do that job.  As a pair, they don't look threatening enough and Wakeling is the better prospect.

Who else can we bring on up front?

We don't have anyone in midfield who offers something different.  Reed is not going to make us suddenly more dynamic, he will offer more  of what we already have.

Iandolo is a decent pro, not much more than that.

Not a single central defender who can take a defence by the scruff of the neck.  Clayton is a good talent, but we really lack a presence and organiser of the team.

Nobody on the subs bench offers much more than we what the first XI provide.

It's a whole lot of OKness.

The sky is not falling, but it's really irritating that we do not seem to have assembled a top three challenging squad.

I back Lindsay, but quite how you can go from the best performance of the season playing 4-4-2 diamond to the next 2 league games, 3-5-2 is beyond me.

It's meant we've played Harries and not Reed. Which fails the common sense test

Oh dear
Real poor performance
Simply not good and will be interesting how SL will describe this bad set back.
Clear for everyone to see this squad is missing Payne. An experience general who can drive forward.

If I were the gaffer I would have definitely hooked Iandolo for Adeloye and pushed Wakeling wide left. He at least has the ability and close control to get past people.

….or even pushed FBT out there.


All he did was cut inside and run/pass it sideways or hit the first man - and on occasion cross to exactly where there wasn’t a red shirt within 10 yards

What this side has missed the last two games (imo) is a Harry McKirdy.

Sure, he probably would have got sent off for calling Crewe cheats or the Ref a clueless cunt (both true) but he probably would have bagged a brace first.

Another absolute shit show of a performance. Completely devoid of ideas other than get the ball to Hutton and cross to the two smallest forwards in the league. Moving away from 4 at the back seems to have been done just to get Ellis in the team. FBT was performing quality at full back but now we are stuck with Ellis there who offers next to nothing.

Changes made far too late, for those that say there were no options, Reed is one of the best passers in the division and when you need to unlock a defence surely he gets more than 1minute. Subbing a striker for a striker says it all about Lindsays management today.

Not one player can hold there head up high following that performance. Had to laugh at the way Crewe celebrated the win, for a team in 15th  :smugfu:

Only performance that was more laughable was the officials. No time wasting at all when you look at the yellows and time added on! Ironic that the only decision he did get right was the penalty!

Agree McKirdy may have helped but I don't think Lindsey has the inspirational skills of a Wellens when needed.

Wish I'd had streaming probs in the second half too!

I only noticed 1 shot on target and 1 header against the crossbar. Also a shot way over the bar and a couple of tame headers wide.

We created nothing. Khan seemed to have been told to play holding midfield. Darcy ran from side to side. Iandolo miskicked all over the shop. Gladwin ran twice down the wing to give Hutton a break - although he fell asleep on the few occasions he needed to defend.

Jephcott headed against the bar but didn't do much else. Wakeling was looking to burrow through the centre or win a freekick.

FBT looked lost on a football pitch. Brennan seemed shocked when people passed to him. Lavernier looked to have eaten loads since he last played! Hutton showed pace and aimless crossing plus poor defending. Baudry didn't do a Baudry and Brynn was solid.

Odeloye is not a footballer. Reed must surely be working to rule!

Mid L2 level team.

I feel blessed that I don’t get to watch that turgid and bland football till Boxing Day. In advance of that date with destiny I may just stay in and be disappointed, at least I’ll be warm and won’t have to pay pub prices to get wankered in comfort.

Lindsay really doesn’t have a clue. 5 at the back for almost 80mins of the game. Two winnable home games & we end up with 1 point. Get him out now.

Today's attendances. Beat the the stains by more than 1000. Notts county got 16,500🤔

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/fixtures/_/date/2021001119

Good post surprised many don't see it that way!

I’d be surprised if many thought we had 5 at the back all game.
That was 352 all game long

not a great result but these things happen

  a separate attendances thread might be something to think about in future. wading through posts on the figures for other clubs isn't my thing

Not a great result.....it was shite. As for looking through attendances don't bother opening the link. Simple

Did enough for a draw. i.e.. Crewe were shit

Lindsey fucked that up. Kept doing the same thing even though it wasn't working.

We have Hutton playing well and crossing a lot but hardly any threat.

khan and iandolo were poor. Darcy not much better.

wakeling and jephcott not really in it.

it was a lot like last week funnily enough. That didn't work either.

The ref allowed Crewe to cross the line from game management to plain cheating time wasting. To the point that by the end they were taking the piss. Didn't lose us the game, but what a shit ref

1 point at home v 2 shit teams is disappointing. Top 3 looks well off. Playoffs are on but obviously this isn't good enough

 playoffs are well do-able and there is no reason to doubt that

Keeper was doing it (extremely obviously too) from 5 minutes in.
Ref could (should) have nipped that all in bud then. Give the keeper a warning. Next time book him.

…although has a keeper ever been booked twice and thus sent off for time wasting.

add that's at me I just meant the last 2 games weren't playoff standard.

Playoffs just isn’t good enough for me or a lot of the fan base. This club should be challenging for top 3. Playoffs are a complete lottery basically you’ve a 1 in 4 chance of getting promoted. We should be aiming for automatic as a minimum

Come on Jim, NC we’re lucky to get one man and his dog when they were going down, same as all the ‘big to good to go down’ clubs in the same position.

I thought we looked clueless today. A crap Crewe side with a teeny tiny support made us look even worse. Definitely going to their dump after what their scummers did today.

 thats fine but this doesn't match where we are in reality

Winning the play offs is good enough for me

 what are you planning to do in crue?

Support my club  ;)

bare in mind there are law enforcement posters on the tef

Nowt wrong in supporting my club.

I think you and your mate are tef law enforcement officers!

All well and good. Firstly we have to qualify to get in the PO. Secondly we have to overcome one of three teams equally as good as us (the table doesn’t lie), thirdly turn up on the day of the final to join the promotion party.

Tell me, how’s that looking right now? Now I know I’ve stated it’s my belief we will un cork the cheque book in January but let’s see how we’re placed on 01/01/23 then see who we get and who do we let go? After that it is the gunfight to the death up till May to secure that PO place. So many obstacles.

Edit. We could of course astound everyone and storm the league with who we have, that’s not looking to clever tonight as well.

thats a good post in my view

Won't happen

Play offs are the best way to go up…but…also the worst way to not go up.

exactly this

It's ok to change formation and tactics boss. We must be opponents ideal preparation/set up. This is what I find most frustrating.
''we don't change our tactics for anyone'' quote the other week annoyed me  :headhurts:

My question is what's going to change if we stick with Lindsey.

Nowt mate. He’s a clueless idiot.

He comes across as a decent guy but they often don't make successful managers.

 I think that hoddle, ardiles, macari and wellens were decent guys

McMahon wasnt so I hear

Stories about McMahon weren't good.

We’ve changed formation and personnel enough so far this season to suggest Lindsey isn’t afraid to change it up.

Think currently he’s a bit hamstrung by injuries and Williams going to the World Cup.
Like previously when we’ve not played well we could see alternatives - be that personnel or formation but what could Lindsey have realistically done differently with today’s match day squad?

Im sure I've heard this interview before!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_NHhAL64yZA

It's looking like it always does. A thing worth winning. My point was you can't just dismiss the play offs as "not good enough" when there's a chance of winning em

4 at the back.
brought lavinier on and pushed Hutton wing.
brought on Reed
etc, etc.

apparently this squad has depth. we've only lost Williams and some center backs. So where is the depth?

Good points. Also why make the substitutions he did make so late in the game.

Fair but not sure any of that would have made us more potent upfront or turned Iandolo into a footballer or given us any additional outlet other than Hutton.

Just as example. If Shade had been on the bench he probably could have come on for Iandolo and added something different. Or maybe you could have put him through the middle and moved Wakeling wide left.

There is depth, but it's all the same level and same type of player.  We have recruited a bunch of players on the hope they will develop but I just don't see enough of a talent level to compete for the top 3 positions.

We simply don't have any players that change us from what we start with.  We don't have any game breakers.

Ending up in the Play Offs is not to be sniffed at, but we look like a team that's in a bunch trying to get into them, not a team scrapping for the Automatic spots that just falls short and ends up in the Play Offs.

The hope is we continue to get points with what we have and stay in touch until January and then invest.  I just don't think we will - the entire summer showed us we shouldn't get our hopes up on investing in players who are geared up to have a crack at the top of this league this season.  Everything is about seeing if we can polish players who haven't quite made it yet but are young enough that we might get lucky.

An example for me on the squad talent level is that I think a player like Davison would improve our front line.  He is not, n my opinion, good enough for the next level up, so the fact I'd have him in our team right now shows we are just not good enough (when assessing our talent vs a top 3 team).

I'm getting proper pissed off watching us atm. We go from Mansfield away to this shit in consecutive weeks.

The way we set up isn't good enough. 5 at the back again isn't working and I'm fed up of typing it out.
We have a goalscorer we can't get the ball to.
A team only set up to play wide.
We have players I'm getting pissed off with when I shouldn't because I think they can be good players but they don't work for us. Darcy is having zero effect on games in his current role. For me his only role is as a 10. Not whatever he is doing floating around in the Louis Reed role.
Crewe changed players and formation. We didn't make a sub until 80 minutes! This is an absolute mirror of garner last season same time of year at home.

Pass, pass pass. Fail- other team counter. Pass pass pass

You have just saved me from posting.
Thanks as spot on.

We could all see it but clearly the Manager couldn’t.
Just ponderous and so bloody predictable. Why didn’t he change Iandolo?

Who for?

I see where you're coming from. just felt there was little to lose.

I completely forgot about shade, what's his injury?

Well they were a proper horrible bunch of wankers.
Now I get the time wasting, and even the diving to an extent, but some of their antics would have just been laughable if it hadn’t been for the ref falling for them most of the time.

However, this doesn’t take away from the fact that we were just not very good, and despite having plenty of the ball did next to fuck all with it.

We definitely had nothing to lose…but…we needed to drastically change something.

We’d have been better off chucking FBT up front and going long to him rather than bringing on any of our subs.

Fucking clueless.   Don't understand why SL couldn't see it.   Very disappointing after some top notch away performances

Agree with this, just don't get why we set up with a 3 at the back when the players can't do it.
 I don't think we've won a game all season playing 3 at the back and can anyone seriously say that Harries is better than Reed?

Harries?

Reed isn't a defender.

No he's a midfielder who might, on occasion, be in midfield.   3 at the back, at home, against a shit team is pointless.   Especially when you go behind.  With a 3 one of them must push forward into midfield.  None of our current crop are capable of that

I was genuinely being that thick there!

you could see Baudry pushing into that space. But  you are right, it didn't work

FBT kept driving forward with the ball but it was the lack of movement in front of him.
He’d always end up going back to worse yet out to Iandolo.

Not sure Reed would have provided any extra drive or defence splitting runs/passes.
He’s not that type of players. Bringing Reed on for Gladwin/Darcy/Khan would have been so like for like & not game changing imo.

I’m genuinely baffled how we’ve gone from looking lethal, playing four at the back with a midfield diamond, to deciding 3 at the back is the way to go twice on the trot, being toothless both times.

I was struggling to be convinced by SL up to the Mansfield game, so was relieved to see it suddenly click when it did. Back to running short on patience again now though.

FBT is clearly our best outlet down the left, so holding him hostage at CB is borderline criminal in my book. The midfield 3, I’m not sure what their roles are except for just floating about generally. Wakeling and Jephcott have nothing to feed off except the odd ball in from Hutton. It’s just so odd.

Lots of gloomy posts.

Today's performance was poor. But, it's to be expected, insomuch as our best player is away on WC duty, our defence is cobbled together and we have a set of inconsistent young players trying to make their way in the highest div they have played in.

I think we are a mid table L2 team. On a good day we can compete with most, but, there are the odd bad days and a number of frustrating ones.

Not sure that lambasting Lyndsey is the right call - It might be, but, others might only be able to get the same out of this group.

What about trying a back 4?  Reed instead of iandolo for example.

I'm sorry but too much of what happens is down to formation, square pegs round holes, in game management. Our budget and club expectations is above league 2 mid table and I'm not so sure our set up is.

Mistakes are being made that happened last season and our home form has reverted to type. Even before kick off I know what the game will be like.

I genuinely think that Clayton and Mcdonald injured panicked him big time and he is worried about the remaining strength of our cb pairings. To compensate he has gone 5 at the back. It's destroyed the midfield and attacking link up.

Can this whole group be happy with 1 point from 2 games which we should be winning. Someone said we weren’t 5-3-2, genuinely disagree as we were. Most boring game I’ve watched in ages

Tbf it wasn't truely a 5-3-2 as we are a dominating home team possession wise so it ends up as 3-5-2 for the vast majority of the match. To think that would result in a 5 man midfield is quite unbelievable as there is very rarely anything in the middle of the park.

Darcy wanders over to Ellis, gladwin wanders over to Hutton. Khan comes and receives the pass from a static cb. Then we are seriously banking on a fantastic cross and goal.

We could and should have won that game BTW but the set up, tactics and one dimensional route to goal is completely unneeded and by and large ineffective in terms of goals. We one a lot of headers from the crosses put in. But it takes a fantastic header to beat a giant time wasting keeper. As shown

Poor Ellis. Such a long servant but glaringly obvious he isn't good enough to be a starter if we're serious about promotion.

I have no sense of anticipation when he gets the ball. He either runs into traffic or his end product is poor.

Darcy. I just can't work him out. Is he good or not? because it took me 15 mins to even realise he was playing. What does he actually do? he's busy, floating around but largely toothless. Game seems to pass him by.

We were picking up wins not playing great a few weeks ago, side of a team which will get automatic... if we kept it up. It's around this time in the season where we should be starting to push on, players gelling, tactics working, etc. Get a run before Christmas and January doesn't look so duanting,

We've spent money, we are out of the cups, so no distractions.

I think I said it before, but it will be easier to justify calling for clem to spend money in January if it's building on a team pushing for an automatic than it is for one pushing for a play off lottery. There's a bit of leeway on building the club on prospects, but it's pointless unless we get out of l2.

Fucking Andy King got us to a play off in the league above with fuck all tactics and no money. Legend. RIP

Andy king was a great motivator who knew how to get the best out players.

5 at the back doesn't work, it makes us too slow in the build up, I really hope that's the last we see of it.

I see that, however, what I saw today suggests PO not within our reach. I’m pretty much a positive person regarding the Town until it’s mathematically impossible. So it’s still but fuck me not like yesterday it’s not.

Lavinier.
Iandolo was offering nothing, just can’t cross a ball.

We were losing 1-0 against a shite team, the clock was ticking, we did nothing.

That was so frustrating. Just not sure this thing with Reid and why he doesn’t want to include him. In a midfield of 3 I am not sure if Darcy works either.

All about opinions however to not change that yesterday until the latter stages of the game was criminal.

Taxi for Lyndsey. He's clearly not motivating the team, he has no tactics, can't see the obvious changes.

People keep telling me the squad is better than last year, it's not !

1 point in the last two home games is not acceptable. What is going on in training as it's not improving the team it's getting worse.

We all got very excited over one game away at Mansfield and we have been piss poor since.

Blake-Tracey might be going back to Burton in January. That would be a big loss.

I’m not sure Lavinier would have offered anything wide left? He didn’t last week against Tranmere he’s a right back.

Whilst I agree Iandolo needed to be taken off - I still don’t think bringing on a right back to play left wing would have added anything at all to our play.

Same with the clamour for Reed. I just think an earlier introduction for Reed would have just been like for like because again our ball retention in midfield wasn’t really the issue yesterday.

I think RobT said it - we have depth but it’s depth of similar players. So we can go like for like easy enough but we can’t really change things up.

Case in point we finished that game without three centre backs (MacDonald, Clayton & Harries) yet with Baudry and Brennan we still looked ok, sure Crewe weren’t the most attacking of teams but how many other Swindon teams down the years could cope with 3 centre backs out?

I don’t think they make them anymore but we need a Chief / Iffy type up front. Someone physical and someone who can get their head on crosses. Hutton also needs to drill more crosses low and hard.

A lot has been made of going from 442 diamond to 352 but obviously Williams at the advanced point of the diamond is a loss - who else do you put there? Darcy? Could do I guess and then Khan, Reed & Gladwin as the others.

Almost feels like we’ve changed formation to shoe horn Iandolo is. I mean he could play left central side of a diamond? If we were insistent to put him in.

I appreciate yesterday is just one game and I know he’s not long back after a length lay off but he offered us absolutely nothing yesterday. Didn’t go outside his man once, didn’t put one decent cross in & didn’t attack the back post once when Hutton had the ball wide.

If anything - our tactical change yesterday should have been to stick FBT upfront, go 343 and either get it wide and try and cross it to FBT or go long and try and have Wakeling/Jephcott feed off of him.

Andy King also had two of the best strikers in the division that season.
Obviously it wasn’t all down to them but if we’d had Mooney & Parkin upfront yesterday we’d have smashed Crewe.

Where did you hear that? I am hopeful we will put a bid in.

Swindon Advertiser on line

Not sure I've ever seen a game management masterclass like that before.
Except that it wasn't a masterclass, it was both pathetic & comical with some obvious plain cheating thrown in.
If Crewe were that desperate for the 3 points then just let them have them before the game and we all could have spent our time elsewhere.
The rolling back onto the pitch manoeuvre to then lie prone and the sudden onset of cramp will henceforth be known as doing an Agyei.

Football fans don't seem to raise the issue of value for money & entertainment value all that much.
I guess we are too invested in it to the point where seeing a win is more important than being entertained.
We leave the ground and accept that what Crewe were doing was just part of the game.

It's not though, it's bringing the game into disrepute.
It could also easily be minimised by introducing a stop clock for goal kicks so the keeper can take as long as they want in their own time & not ours as paying spectators.
Stop the watch when a goal is scored, so that the partying team can amble back from one of the far corners in their own good time.
Same for injuries as well so that we aren't paying to watch both teams saunter over to the touchline for some coaching & hydration.

Not sure why the multiball system isn't used in the EFL.
When it disappears down the steps into the DRS concourse into a different spacetime continuum to eventually reappear from the far touchline after the obligatory delay.
It's all a bit tinpot. Can we have our ball back please school playground stuff.

And yes, people do tend to get grumpier with age.

Only thing worse than Crewe’s blatant cheating was the refs lack of action taken against it.

It was a disgrace & an embarrassment.

If I ever watch a Town side play like that - it would be the last game I watch.
Could bring myself to support that utter garbage.

Not one yellow card for timewasting - you have to be a bit impressed.

He also said he didn’t see himself playing for Burton again.

Taking yesterday in isolation then no, the playoffs aren't in reach.

Get Clayton back. Get Williams back, Switch to 4 at the back. Actually use substitute when needed (shade, Reed, lavinier), get a bit of confidence back and yes, we have a fair chance of playoffs.

heck, get a key man in January and the autos aren't gone.

still think we could finish anywhere from 3rd to 15th. Based on yesterday I think you know where, based on the recent spell we had before tranmere playoffs are still on

I’m with you but equally this rule for head injuries is now being exploited.
Just wish the cheating fuckers could be removed from the pitch immediately, need to have a good look at it and bring about a change.
One player went down clutching his ankle then the pain went to his head.

Equally 6 minutes of added time could have been closer to 9.

No excuses mind as to how ineffective we were against them.

Yeah, think we should let the physio on and the game continue and the player becomes illegible (so doesn’t count towards offside decisions) unless it’s a proper serious head injury.

Going down off the pitch to then roll back on the pitch is blatant cheating - followed by walking slowly to the touch line in front of the DRS to exit the field of play whilst he was on the line to start with - absolute piss take.

On one occasion the ref had to wave the physio on about 5 times before he came on…

Crewe had 30% possession and I reckon about half of that was goal kicks alone.

Like, if it was the last game of the season and they needed the three points that desperately I could just about understand it. In the grand scheme of things there really wasn’t anything at stake more so than a regular 3 points.

Absolutely classless behaviour

I said similar to my son yesterday, I think anyone who goes down with a head injury should have to leave the pitch & have a concussion check. Even if they get replaced with a temporary sub.

Incredibly frustrating game to watch and Crewe had a game plan which as unpleasant as it was it worked and they go home with the 3 points. Their players were literally laughing at the Town fans getting wound up and pushed it further and further once it was clear and obvious the ref was a wet lettuce. First season for me in The Don Rogers Stand and have never seen so many animated angry people sat around me before at a game. The same people that were applauding the take the knee gesture before kick off were later up in arms towards the end shouting various racist insults towards a couple of their players. Even saw one man pretty much run half way down the steps in a full on fit of rage before coming to his senses. Not much else to add other than we never had a plan B under Garner and even worse plan A at home doesn’t work with Lindsey.

That was fucking abysmal yesterday. Bullshit about us the stats telling us we dominated, we didn’t, we got Shithoused by Crewe who done a proper job on us in every aspect. The ex Oxford boy for them had us all on strings, the less said about him the better. Ref and Lino didn’t have a clue, Crewe did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Harries fuck ups in lead up to goal. He’s not good enough, simple. Neither is Brennan. FBT was best left back in league, pushed to Centre half and you don’t even know he’s playing. All so Iandolo can get in the XI- Iandolo has offered fuck all this season, poor in defence and poor in attack. Hutton the standout in defence, big future ahead for him.

Gladwin solid enough, tries to make things happen. Khan and Darcy however, awful yesterday.. Both look busy but offering very little at the moment. Khan doesn’t play forward passes, and Darcy does well at running into walls and lines of defence. Louis Reed in the 89th min? Do me a favour 😂😂😂😂😂😂. What’s he gotta do? One of, if not the, best in league last season. League 1 promotion winner season before. Crying out for him and still nothing, he’ll be gone in January 👍.

Wakeling tried hard, Jephcott also.

83 mins to make a sub? Yesterday, Lindsey appeared to be tactically inept. Need to fix up sharpish and find that form from 2/3 weeks ago.

Can all be upset as you like at Crewe shithousing and laughing at us


Mckirdy done it for a whole season last year 👍

It’s great when it’s for you, rotten when it’s against. It’s football.

Nah, McKirdy never stooped to that level and as a team we never employed those tactics instead of football.

Absolutely not.

I don’t ever recall McKirdy throwing himself to the ground and then lying there kicking his legs like a toddler having a tantrum.

classless, but they leave with the 3 points. It's up to the ref to get a grip imo.

do the end justify the mean? I doubt Crewe care.
------
what are people's view in the penalty?

To me, if that's done in the centre circle you play on. Just because there's contact doesn't mean foul.

But the modern game is what it is. I finished playing about 20 years ago, it's changed.

agreed

like I said early, they crossed the line from 'game management' to blatant cheating.

Do you think that was the managers tactics and the players were just going with his instructions as Crewe have never been that sort of team all the times I've seen them.

No idea. The way the keeper took his time from minute 1 I suspect the game plan was 'keep it slow at the start, get them frustrated'.

when the tit #11 "aaaaagh"'d and rolled 4 times  without really being touched, and our player got booked, it gave them a free pass to take it to the extreme.

That's my take.

The fact that the referee warned them on 18 mins about time wasting yet didn’t book a single player for it despite them doing it all game speaks volumes for how weak he was

The last time I saw a ref that clueless to 'game management' that was very much more on the side of blatant cheating was Port Vale at home last year when about four or five of their players undid their laces and did them up again.

Doesn’t sound like a vintage performance from us and sounds like an Oscar winning performance from the 2nd best football/railway town in the country. I think we are really missing Clayton. Although a lot of people were kicking off that we lost to Crewe, I did read that is their 3rd 1-0 in a row, probably not by accident. I wonder how long we will give SL and what the board’s realistic hopes and aims for the season are.

Not read back yet so apologies if repeating the same stuff.

I had technical issues on Saturday so missed the second half of the first half (that statement sounds confusing, apologies!!) but we started ok and it seemed like we were in total control without actually threatening their keeper. Their goal shows how quickly momentum can swing in football. It was obvious from minute one that Crewe were going to take ages over everything and disrupt any flow. And so after allowing us pretty much all of the ball for the first 20 minutes, they end up in our half and earn a corner and after pissing about with not putting the ball on the quadrant, earn a penalty from a nonsensical piece of play from Darcy. Too fancy by half and then a ridiculous rash tackle in the box. Of course it was ex-Oxford player Agyei who took great delight in his celebration, which looked a little silly as the only person it seemed to rile up was an 8 year old making wanker signs at him.

Second half I managed to see all of and sad to say it's just a pattern of how the season has gone so far, especially at home. (thankful now we have played Hartlepool and Colchester at the CG or things may be even worse) The football we play seems to be more hopeful and predictable than I would like and our plan A is to try and get the ball to Hutton, who more often than not puts in a wicked delivery that nobody gets on the end of. Opponents have worked this out and double up on Hutton leaving us to have to play down the left, which never seems to go anywhere. That said, we did have a trio of outstanding 'chances'. The header of the bar from Jeff Cott, the slash over the bar from Ellis with the goal gaping and the scramble when their keeper dropped/fumbled a cross. We huffed and puffed but Crewe saw the game out with some frankly hilarious gamesmanship.

Can't help but feel this is an opportunity for 3 easy points gone. Crewe were not up to much at all and  as someone on our Watsapp group said on Saturday, why do we have so many defenders on the pitch at home? Why have we abandoned the diamond that worked so well at Mansfield? I think we miss the spark that Jonny Williams offers. Without him it's very slow and ponderous. Ellis was very poor on Saturday, obviously that is magnified by 2 sloppy bits of play, the dolly of a chance he whacked over the bar and the piece of play where he lifted the ball over the defenders head only to run the ball out of play. Gladwin and Hutton were decent down the right but apart from that, it's all very meh. Darcy runs about a lot but doesn't appear to have too much end product, he's very much a poor man's Jack Payne. I don't think Jeff Cott really adds a lot to the side, very unlucky with the header and neat and tidy but he's not exactly showing the goal machine vibes he showed when Plymouth got promoted.

It would also be nice for the Louis Reed situation to be clarified. Obviously the club can't say if he has a move arranged or whatever but I suspect, reading between the lines, we've offered him a contract and he's stated he's decided to leave when the contract comes to an end and SL is trying to work out the best way of playing without him. I really do think he should be in the side, much more often than he is. 2 weeks break now for SL and I think he needs to go back to the drawing board. Since Mansfield we've been pretty poor and I think he should really needs to take the shackles off this team, especially at home where it's been well below par. I think he has the tools in the squad to do something, but at the moment it's still not quite there.

Oh and I completely overlooked the best part of Saturday - Anthony Grant's commentary!

I did smile when he was asked where Ellis' best position was and Grant replied 'on the bench'. He did explain he was kidding. He was getting more and more frustrated as the game went on. 'Jesus Christ' he stated as a stray pass went out for a throw in. I really enjoyed him as a summariser, he was interesting, amusing and involved.

Not aimed at you specifically, but reading this reminded me of a thought I had when following the game via Twitter on Saturday afternoon, everyone was saying that Reed should come on as if he would be some kind of saviour, but hasn't he actually been pretty shite on the few occasions he has played this season, seems to have become that player we have every season who gets better and better in the fanbases eyes mainly by not playing, see also Grant the other year and Twine for many years.

Not seen enough of Reed this season to suggest he’s been shite, plus always difficult to make an impact with 5-10 minutes here and there.

What I will say though - is our passing and ball retention in midfield isn’t an issue. Khan, Gladwin & Darcy can do that. It’s the final third we are lacking, it’s the killer pass, the gliding run past a few players, the defence splitting pass.

Personally don’t think any of the above is something Reed excels at / can do better than the others playing.

Again, just my opinion but we could have bought Reed on at half time and I don’t think it would have made any difference to the game. It would have just been more of the same.

Now for arguments sake - say it was Jack Payne sitting on our bench not playing; I’d be screaming for his inclusion because he’d offer exactly what we are lacking.

I’ve said it plenty in this thread but the changes that needed to be made Saturday just weren’t there. We needed more in the final third / out wide.

I could understand the clamour for Reed if we were struggling to keep the ball or our short passes were awful or there was no link up between defence & midfield but that’s fine

For example last season - we were getting bullied in games and our ability to shut up shop and see games out was terrible, therefore perfectly logical to call for Grant to feature because he can do those things…

My view was by pushing in an extra midfielder we didn't have much to lose. Get Gladders more consistently forward, he's the killer pass man, get Reed deep to try and protect the back 4 and spray the ball, then you have Darcy and Khan to do the running. Or push Iandolo in and sacrifice one of them (though Ellis was having a stinker).

Sacrifice width, admittedly. Maybe vulnerable down the wings.  But it wasn't working anyway.

Yeah it's probably completely knee-jerk to be fair and you are right, Reed wasn't particularly good towards the start of last season, but I just think from what we saw last season where he was consistently good that surely to goodness he is a player that if used correctly can be an important cog in the side. For all the positives that Khan has brought to the team, he is a bit of a one-trick pony where he can use his spin to get away from opponents, but whilst his ability with the ball at his feet is better than Reed, I don't think he has the same awareness or ability to spread the ball as well as Reed can. Thinking about it now, Darcy and Khan are quite similar, they are good at dribbling the ball from one side of the pitch to another, but that's about all we are getting from them. Gladwin seems to be the only player that has the passing vision and ability to use the ball in a way that stretches teams. In the second half Baudry and FBT were able to bring the ball up to the halfway line and beyond but (maybe due to a lack of movement) then were a bit like rabbits in the headlights and the ball didn't make it's way much further up the pitch than they brought it. Perhaps Reed wouldn't change that but surely having a midfielder try and dictate the play in those positions would reap more benefits?

Div has made some good points that perhaps Reed wouldn't have changed much on Saturday but the dribbling play of Khan and Darcy shuffling left to right just didn't seem beneficial and so a change of direction might have worked. Get Reed to ping balls for Wakeling to chase down the left for instance.

I think it’s telling, and baffling, why we always take a short corner yet seem willing to hoist in crosses from out wide in open play. Just like last season the number of headed goals from crosses is negligible. If we see Hutton as the main provider with his delivery we need a certain sort of striker to be in the box. For all their attributes neither Wakeling or Jephcott is that kind of player.

I wondered before the season started if promotion was our main objective or whether it was showcasing the young talent we recruited for future sales. Obviously the latter should help the former but at the moment the set up and style looks like achieving neither.

To be fair we don't always take short corners. We've now got Gladwin or Darcy putting in floaters towards FBT. It's all fairly predictable though and achieves exactly the same result!!

I think we'll pan out mid table this year.

I'd suggest both. I'd say Clayton and Wakeling look to be on the path to saleable, maybe Hutton.

But not yet.

Can't really see that in others yet.

anyway ..
------------
Maybe unfair question, but would you sign Jephcott?

I probably would if it wasn't a  top end cash deal. I know there's a decent scorer in there but we are not really unlocking it enough.

hope springs eternal

based on how we use him its a complete waste of money for a good goalscorer. it seems like we need to sign a peter crouch type to sit in the 6 yard box waiting for a cross.

Think it will still depend upon January, we are probably only a couple of players short and only 7 off the auto's (and still in the play off's) if we can kick on in January with a couple of good 'ins' still got a chance I reck?

Albeit, I fear what could make or break however is how we manage without Williams for the next month as we seem pretty clueless at the moment?

Just wondering if it's Lindsey's tactics making us clueless as we can't rely just on Williams

Has Jephcott really scored 5 in 11 as per Wiki?

Talk about reality not matching perception if so. But he must have played more than 11. Surely.

It reminds me a bit of Delfouneso, he would make runs into the channel but the ball would just be passed sideways across the pitch rather than played into him. After a while he seemed to just give up making those runs as the ball was never played.

We need someone in midfield who can pick that pass

I would sign him. He is young and has a good goal scoring record. That alone would make him a saleable asset. A few tweaks to our system could see a much greater yield in front of goal.

He's scored 3 in the last 5!  Not sure what games you are watching.   

it's not the eyesight, it's the memory after

you have to be happy with that, you really do

Jephcott is a Lineker/C Allen type of player - they will be in the right place often enough in the box.  Those players are worth having, so I'd sign him, BUT, he won't get involved enough in the rest of the game.  You need him to have a bully of a partner or a bunch of players with the legs to get him into the game.  I had no issue with selling McKirdy given what we knew, but we didn't add enough up top to counter that loss.  Hepburn-Murphy will not be that player to compliment Jephcott either.

We had the best 2 passers of the ball in the division last season. Conroy and Reed.
One no longer at the Club and one the current Manager won’t play.
The only threat remains down the right with Hutton. Very predictable at present and need to quickly change something.

I think it’s more Payne that we miss, I thought Darcy may be the player that could do that but it doesn’t look like it at the moment. Both Reed & Conroy were more longer passers of the ball, a bit like Gladwin this season, but we don’t seem to have anyone who can play that killer pass around the box.

We are missing a lot of players.  Last seasons team beats this one and the team from a few years ago beats both of them.  The positions of each team tell the story.  I think if we had put this team together last season it would have made more sense, given the financial situation and the lack of a pre-season to sort out proper recruitment.  We have gone backwards a year - some of them will improve and be better players for next season but many are not really what you would base a top three challenge around.

We passed the ball 570 times on Saturday
Passing the ball is not our issue

 Offloading Conroy has had nothing but a positive effect on the team

Really?
Ineffective going left to right.
We need a diagonal or a pass through the centre. I know teams set up with two tight banks of 4 but we have to find better defence splitting passes from the back or midfield.

Not the biggest loss with Clayton but right now without Clayton or MacD we are struggling.

not sure I got an answer. How long is shade out for?

Wellens team a million miles better than this one.

Only minor I believe.
Could feature at Crawley.

that's good, thanks

I'm not saying he's the saviour, but he is a sort of wildcard that's good to have as a 'something different' option

Just one of those of keep on willing for more.
I am sure there is a better player than what we have seen so far.

Agree with this. Gladwin is the playmaker this season. He's different to Reed but having as big an impact as Reed did last year.

We don't miss Conroy as his legs have gone and the gap between how good he thought he was and reality was far too big. Just need Clayton and MacDonald back fit.

Darcy was the Payne replacement but nowhere near his output at the minute. However, Williams has gone up a gear and hidden some of that until the last couple of weeks.

Get the centre backs fit, Williams back, 442 diamond and then add another (more physical) striker and box to box centre mid in January and there's no reason we can't go up autos. Look at Rovers last year who were woeful first half of the season and then got it together.

wonder if being allowed to play 90 minutes and regularly has helped him (Williams)

to be fair a year of light touch may have been needed to get to this stage

I should add - we need that extra box to box midfielder to be left footed, because FBT won't attack/cross particularly so need that other centre mid in a diamond to also be able to give us width.

With Darcy/another right footer that position will always cut in. Which is fine if you have a Nicky Cadden type overlapping, but it's not FBT's strength.

Cannot have Iandolo at LB/LWB again either - he cannot defend and although decent technically, instead of putting balls in with his left foot or taking players on down the channel, he just drifts inside to nothing repeatedly.

Fair point - however these issues aren’t exactly new.
These same issues were present last season with Reed and Conroy in the side; you could argue they added to this issue.

The difference makers with regards to the slow sideways passing last season were Payne and McKirdy - who evidently we miss (which is no surprise)

Added Reed & Conroy to Saturdays game wouldn’t have made an difference

And we had either Simpson or Davison occupying defenders in the middle, regardless of opinions on either.  Both offer more than we are getting now.

Not so sure, think what we see is what you get.  He probably looked amazing at younger youth levels but then quickly dropped off as everyone else got older/bigger.  I can see why we would have a shot at developing him, but I don't think he has much more to give.

Personally I still think there is a player in Shade.

I do think he (and Lindsey) doesn't know his best position though, from what I have seen hes pretty decent when he actually gets inside the box. Hes quick and has a bit of control but can't cross to save his life and his long shots are often (but not always) well wide of the mark, or straight at the keeper.

If I were Lindsey I would try him as a 2nd striker, defenders look like they struggle to control him when he has the ball but his final ball is often a shot, that when hes wide left, is almost always on his right foot cutting inside from 20 yards or so out.

If he is closer to the goal when he shoots then I think he would at least make the keeper make the save and then Jephcott/Wakeling could pounce on any rebounds in the 6 yard box.

So I wouldn't play him wide left or right but put him right in the middle alongside Jephcott, maybe push Wakeling out a bit wider left and Hutton wide right to get balls into the box for Jeff and Shade.

Is my take on Shade.

Probably worth a try, you make a lot of valid points. He is a good option off the bench too so it’s a shame he hasn’t been available as an impact sub recently.

I have no idea if there is a player in Shade and/or what that player might be.

I do know he’s not Iandolo though.

He must have had some talent spotted when he was 17 at Solihull Moors as he wouldn't have been picked up by Leicester as they are pretty well known for spotting talent.

He has also been an U20 international for St Kitts and Nevis, so he has something, yes they may not be the best side but it still takes a modicum of talent to be picked at any international level. He played 5 times for Saint Kitts and Nevis in the 2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship and scored 3 goals playing as a striker.

Ty has a fair amount of height and bulk for a winger too and I think that could be utilised at attack where we are lacking height.

I understand he played for Solihull as a striker and was converted into a winger by Leicester after playing for the U23 side as a striker and scoring 7 goals in the PL2.

So being a striker is not an alien concept to him.

exactly. players he signed without stats and money

Loved Kingy, fortunate to get to know him well.
Some memorable stories. Went on the beer with him once in Flitwick as he bought a pub.

Without doubt an old school Manager.😂

We paid for Parkin and Mooney was on shit loads. Stop drinking

King definitely had some tight budget seasons but that really wasn't one of them. With the way the club's gone since, I wouldn't be totally surprised if Mooney is still the highest paid player we've ever had. It's an interesting one to think about. Maybe someone in the PDC season, although that was maybe more volume than one high paid player. I have a vague memory of Gary Roberts rumoured to have been on quite a lot?

How much was Mooney on? I read on here I think that we had a player on £14k per week in the PDC era. Could be true, could also be exaggeration or total bollocks.

I can imagine we were paying pretty big (by ours and Div 4 standards) wages across the board in the PDC era, add to which how much we likely spuffed up the wall paying players off when numb nuts fell out with them.

I suspect its out there somewhere, but I cannot imagine PDC was working out the goodness of his heart either.

I thought Birmingham were paying some of Mooney’s wages for that season, part of the reason he buggered off to the piss stains as we wouldn’t pay him as much or offer a longer contract

I heard this too.

I can’t remember if Birmingham were still paying him 8k a week or he was on 8k a week (and probably still paying between 6 & 7)

Which has already been alluded to - was the reason it was a one year deal, no extension and why he didn’t stay.

762 tickets sold for Crawley so far.

We normally sell out there. Broke 1,000 on the last 2 occassions I think.

I wonder what reception Dion will get.

Says 1600 is away maximum

I know we sold out a couple of years ago under Phil Brown, although officially only 1,377 Town fans it was officially a sell out, and last year we played them the numbers were limited to just over 1,000 (1,041).

I think he is still out injured. He wasn't in the squad in their 0-0 draw at home to Gillingham midweek.

Is that a new injury or recurrence of what's kept him out of most of the season as I thought he was playing for them recently.

I see creepy are still managerless too after the sacking of Kevin Betsy 7 weeks ago.

Not a notion Jimmy, sorry. I'm sure DOB probably knows more.

No worries Bob.

Same injury as MacDonald torn shoulder muscle after a challenge from Akinde evidently.

Ouch! He's not having a lot of luck DC

My opinion only.
Went for the money and not football career.
Frightening what they are paying the top earners, even more the Manager just sacked.
Just not sustainable with crowds just over 2,000.

Clearly football still not being monitored.

Suspect the same with Dominic Telford.

Can't see it ending well at Crawley myself, their owners seem well intended but I'm not convinced it'll work. Think they wanted to take over Bradford before Crawley but their fans were not having it.

They wanted to assemble 2 strong teams of 11.
Propped up by Bit Coin investors, a case of either when it goes pop or when they get bored.
At that point they will disappear into obscurity.

Telford was signed on one good season at Newport.
Previously bang average at Plymouth.
They are playing with two under performing “small” strikers.

They raised £3m from an NFT sale so have the money for now.  No idea how repeatable that is because i'd have thought people will quickly get bored watching them lose every week on ifollow.