Thetownend.com

The threat of an early kick off has been averted.

The threat of a Josh Davison sinking us remains.

Provided the whole thing isn't frosted off

Wimbledon are joint second in the 'last 6' form guide, with 14 points (Orient have 15). They have conceded 0 goals in their last 4 games (w3 D1)

We are 11th with 8 points. The wins v Hartlepool and Mansfield seem such a long time ago.

In fact our mid table form is true even if we go back 10 games (12th, 14 points), the spell includes our golden spell of 4 wins from 6 games.

Wimbledon are only 2 places and 2 points behind us now.

Davison has managed 7 goals in 27 games, 1 goal in every 3.8 so less than Jephcotts strike rate(1 in 3), they should be more scared of him than we are of JD.

From the Dons forum, they seem a bit undecided about Josh so far, most recent posts at the top.


Hes a pretty decent jobbing L2 target man, nothing more nothing less, but probably better than Adeloye has so far showed us. I hope Adeloye comes good but I just can't see it so far.

Not sure that needed a probably.

I was giving him the HUGE benefit of the doubt :)

Could JD be the new Alex Revell?

We will see, this (if hes fit and picked) will be his first ever game against Swindon after being a non used sub for Charlton against us in the LC in 2020 being the only time hes been in a squad against us in his previous 160 games.

Davison is (still) the type of striker most teams in our division would love in their squad as an option but none of the top teams would want him as their man striker.

Indeed, hes a decent squad player but I wouldnt want to rely on him for a promotion push, would I have wanted us to spend £160k on him? absolutely not.

£160k seems a bit too steep for me.
If for arguments sake the asking price was half of that - I’d have gone for it tbh

Kinda need to know how much we spent on Hutton/Khan and what the agreed fee is for Jephcott to judge that, but the club aren't very transparent on fees paid.

Off on a tangent, but, I'm kinda wondering whether the Jephcott deal will actually happen.

I liked Davison but looking at how we are set up to play even if we spent 160k on those 3 i would still pay that rather than 160k for him

What do you think the chances of this going ahead are? Looks like temperatures may dip as low as -4/-5. That’s quite borderline in terms of the protection that the pitch covers offer if I recall correctly.

50/50 I reckon

I can remember in 1980 before the Wolves league cup semi final they covered the pitch with straw. I'm surprised more clubs don't have the balloons over the pitch filled with warm air like Leicester did all those years ago but I guess it comes down to cost

If the game does go ahead, we potentially may have something of an injury crisis. With Khan presumably missing through concussion protocols and Harries out long term, additonally Gladwin, Clayton and Jephcott allwent off injured at Crawley added to which I see Baudry has picked up an injury in the match at Newport. Hoping by default and on a positive note this should though put an end to playing 3 central defenders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7hEqCdAwjs

(or 4-3-3, or 4-1-2-1-2)

Given our list of injuries - and I am led to believe the list might actually be longer after yesterday, (don't know full details) it might be helpful to 'forget' to put those pitch covers on this week.

I saw this on twitter so fingers crossed.

I have been checking the forecast fairly regularly as I haven’t yet bought my tickets. Looks like we should have a few hours of above freezing on the Saturday morning with nadir temperatures the night before of -2 to -3 so I am reasonably optimistic it will go ahead on the basis of the current available information.

Come on Clem install undersoil heating😀

Don't forget the elf and safety issues in and around the stadium. If the place is like an ice rink it may be deemed too dangerous.

I wonder if they have a team or even volunteers that salt all around the stadium.

thermometer touched -5 this am..

it's about 4c now

let's hope the frost covers don't get penetrated (mmmatron) on the DRS side, the sun doesn't get round there too much to defrost it

Hasn't been raining, so pretty dry.

Good point! Before this cold snap it had pretty much been raining every day non-stop so perhaps I was in precipitation auto-pilot!

Its the dew that's the problem, its not rained here for a week or so but was like a bloody ice rink in parts walking to school this morning!

Not much info from Lindsey in the presser. Macdonald OK, RHM in contention.

Baudry off for a scan. Khan feeling better but have protocol to follow.

Kept schtum on any others.

He doesn’t respond to questions about whether our ‘style’ can get you promoted out of L2 - so he can’t even defend his ideas.

We’re in hospitality for this as we have a couple of birthdays coming up so hoping it goes ahead

Just had -6 in the car

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L91xJmeyCEE

I see the club have a form of covers on the pitch in preperation for this, hopefully its enough to resist the frost, especially on the Shrivvy Road side.

Swindon 1 Wombles 1 Att: 7,945 (250 away) subject to match being on.

Batch's cheapo Chinese weather station watch: https://www.wunderground.com/weather/gb/swindon/ISWIND76

Last night -6.6 measured (2 am, above freezing 5am)
Current temp 1.6

If it was really -6 that's going to be proper touch and go. Hope Power didn't get the covers on the cheap (soapy tit wank) or we have better ones.


edit: proper Lyneham obs was only -4 (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/observations/gcnsfxv5m)

I know it's a bit further north but Crewe's game with Orient has already fallen foul to the cold snap. Accrington v Pompey is off in league one.

I read somewhere that all EFL clubs must have and use frost covers, I'm sure there is a limit they work too. I have a sneaky feeling our game will be off.

Club tweeted covers have done the job and will be left on tonight.

Not supposed to get quite as cold tonight

What score if the match is off?

If this goes ahead all signs point to a nil nil draw

yeah just saw that, seems my sneaky suspicion may well be inaccurate.

Lindsey at his deluded best

“Last week we got into good areas with great build-up play, some of the best build-up play we have had all season, but the final decision was poor.’

Our shots on target will be the same.

Unbelievable- not sure what game he watched. 
That performance was unacceptable, Sherdanesque in fact. 

How far back is he taking build up play?

Maybe we were shit hot in the warm up

14th minute.

1 minutes applause for Harry Parker.

Rest In Peace young cousin x

There is a minutes applause in the 1st minute as well for the young ladies goalkeeper Carla Heaton that died last week too.

Depends on many factors at the time of the rescheduled match!

Fucking hell, don’t do drugs kids.
What the fuck was he watching.

I see that a week after us getting rinsed by Crawley, bottom of the table Hartlepool managed to beat them for their first away win in 9 months.

Fucking shambles.

Rumour is a 10:00 pitch inspection

Shambles is being kind! 🤬🤬🤬

Where did you hear that?

From a friend who has organised our hospitality today.
They have said it’s just a precaution

Fingers crossed!

By lunchtime yesterday there was very little ice about so would be surprised if it's called off.

Its going to be fucking Baltic though!

But it was fine yesterday. And about 4 degrees warmer last night than the night before...

It would suit us on the pitch to be off, small crowd today as well I reckon

Oxford’s game today has been called off

Apparently Queens Drive is closed.

Might be open by football time, but worth considering an alternate route if not..

edit: oh, just the burger king bit. could make traffic busier I suppose

https://twitter.com/Adver_Jack/status/1601509280326483968?t=8MHhD3XnBYXt9Bud5FciKQ&s=19 (https://twitter.com/Adver_Jack/status/1601509280326483968?t=8MHhD3XnBYXt9Bud5FciKQ&s=19)

OS just tweeted it's on

https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/1601514092547563520?t=RCxTV81gjpxhjLe5AFB3Yg&s=19

👍

Feeble defeat to a Davison inspired side. 0-2

Everything points to a defeat, but I'll go for a win 2-1.

Shit, just seen I'm top of the prediction table!

Just been out for a 13 mile walk.

It’s frozen in places but anything getting any sunlight is fine.


A lot has been said over the break and the last few games about Lindsey and our style of play.
He needs a performance today. He’s had plenty of time to think about his formation/selection and we have players coming back in. The lack of creativity can’t be put down to the loss of Williams anymore.

Not sure who he will pick, where and with what formation but a poor performance and a bad result today and I think he’s on very thin ice. Even earlier in the season when results weren’t great there were hints of improvements and the fact we were building something. Now it feels like we peaked away at Mansfield and that was it.

Not quite do or die for Lindsey but another negative result and the option of getting someone else in to get his feet under the desk before the window must start to enter Clems mind…

If Lindsey doesn’t turn this around on the next couple of games a change should be made.

With injuries, Williams, Darcy and Reed will all play.

I see the weather has got to you   :D

my view tldr: Expecting drab game. Hope to nick it. Fans will turn soon.
----

I'm not sure what to think really.  I could see signs of improvement, which did happen in the leadup to Mansfield. And he's since been robbed of some key players to injury and the World Cuo since then.

In addition Rome wasn't built in a day. Or a transfer window requiring a massive rebuild. One with a change of approach from the higher ups that at best was always going to need tweaking to get right.  Immediate success was a tall order, moreso with coaches learning on the job to become managers.

And yet

The month or so has been drab, dull, boring. Team setup has been poor, its not working yet is constantly defended as being right. I go today in the expectation of another snorefest, and with the hope of nicking a goal whike avoiding frostbite.

That we are in division 4 and falling off the playoff places is disappointing to say the least, thought there's a long way to go. Yes things take time, but as fans we've been bumming around in the Rochdale division for too long - and expected to try to kick on from last season given the state of the club is improving.

Regardless of whether he's up to it, you have to ask how much of the recruitment and "style" pressures are coming from above. May be anywhere from none*->a lot.

* well OK the spreadsheet was at least used to find players to look at...

Tbh, Batch, I expect a drab game every game.

Baudry has done his ACL - career ending juding by his instagram

 I am going to ifollow this one - Cant find the enthusiasm for a dull no score draw

Could have gone, work came in and thought why not. Now finish at 3.30pm so will miss the first half and not worth the ifollow on top of wasted season ticket.

Going into such an important period with lots of games and points needed to stay in the mix. Always want the best but we are dangerously close that mindset of will a scrappy win change anything other than keeping lindsey in a job for a bit longer. Glass has past half empty!

Wimbles only have had 1 defeat in the last 12 games in all competitions, that was a 2-0 defeat in the FA cup fo Chesterfield.

In that run they have got an away draw at Salford and inflicted 1 of only 2 total defeats so far on Orient.

Only Bradford, Doncaster and Rochdale have a worse recent run of results than us.

They have the massive striker Kyle Hudlin on loan from Huddersfield who is the leagues tallest player at 6 foot 9.

Their top scorers are Ethan Chislett and Ayoub Assal both on 7 goals and Josh Davison on 6.

Train cancellation means I'll miss kick off, so fully expect us to score our only goal of the match within the first few minutes

Sky sports reporter and part time clem morfuni cheerleader Chris Hull tweeting out that the ground staff deserve a beer for getting the game on is a bit unfortunate

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fjnvw2xXoAEasrv?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

4 changes.

Ah, the tried and tested 1 CB line up.

What could possibly go wrong.

I would think we will go with -

            Brynn
Hutton Brennan FBT Lavinier
Darcy  Iandolo  Reed  Williams
      Shade  Wakeling

Oh the lovely Dave Hockaday on comms too to rub salt into the wound.

So could be 5-3-2 with Lavinier and FBT in the middle or 4 at the back with Ellis in midfield. Certainly looking a bit bare bones.

Physically, that’s a piss weak midfield.

It's all we have mind, not like bringing Aguiar in is going to beef anything up.

Absolutely.

Thats probably our weakest starting line up this season, if not since Sheridactyls time.

Why am I even going to the game today? It’s bloody freezing outside and you lot don’t seem to have any hope.

Still, if I’m to watch 1 of my teams lose today then I’ll happily sacrifice the Town

Pitch looking very good all things considered.
(https://i.postimg.cc/52zY7TMy/Fjnu-C1b-WQAEp78-J.jpg)

Obviously skullduggery bad etc. but this really does feel like one we should have left the covers off by accident for. Hopefully it turns out to have been a genius decision in a couple of hours.

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

Someone I know has spoken to Clayton and thinks he'll be out 6-8 weeks, if that's news.

Good to have JW back. Think we may be fairly reliant on him for attacking prowess today. Need a win from somewhere. I thought some of the quotes from SL in the press conference were really worrying. He can’t really have thought we attacked well last week, so why go out of your way to lie about it? Is that for the benefit of the visiting manager?

Hope to see something very different today, or else the lure of the early World Cup game may be too much. Come on Swindon!

Thats very bad news. Hes a bigger miss than MacDonald or even Williams or Gladwin for me.

Can only see a defeat on the back of another poor performance today unfortunately. 0-3

Team warming up as a four at the back without Ellis, Lavinier left back FBT in the middle.

As I suggested then.

Wonder if the "useless" Davison has improved

No Hawes?

Seems to be more 4-3-3 with Williams back.

Anything happening?

All the attacking midfielders and strikers are pretty much interchangeable this season, flexible is what Lindsey says!

 Having watched wall to wall international football, this looks a bit shit

Never!

Looks like the injury crisis extends to the commentary box where the presenter guy whose name temporarily escapes me is doing commentary as well as presenting. Will need a strepsil by 6pm. He also said box entry a few minutes ago which raised a smile.

On the pitch, no. Davison just had a shot well saved.

 That Davison looks useful

72% possession thus far. Scintillating stuff.

Shade looking bright so far (sorry).

Nice touch by the club to remember a family member of one of our TEF contributors. RIP 14 year old Harry Parker.

Not knocking you or the viewpoint. Have seen lots of versions of this on socials etc, not just in relation to STFC. I find it surprising, the standard at the World Cup is not amazing IMO. Excitement levels have been up there though.

Are these comments from people that usually don’t watch any non-Swindon football? I don’t think any national side would be troubling the top of the prem.

On a less serious note. Is Lavinier wearing Razor Ruddock a shorts? They look massive!!!

No shots on target again yet - they’ve had 3

Wakeling did his turn round the defender again, really like that move.

Not going to oversell it but we've been okay so far. Iandolo looks much more comfortable centrally, our midfield looks more coherent than it did on paper.

Just my view - currently watching us on one screen and the WC on another. Wasn't aware of what might be on tick tock etc

Strange how stats are used to sign players but are ignored when serving up dull football.

FBT booked for dissent

The direct comparison must be stark. Like when the kids play at half time  :)

Lavinier looks an alright footballer but is very conspicuously right footed, he's cut inside a lot and really tries to avoid using his left.

Our football has been a bit higher tempo/more direct today, this isn't the dull possession football of recent weeks, even if it isn't yielding many chances yet.

Shade at times has the look of a player that could really impose himself in games, athletic, strong etc. Just not really happened for him yet. Do we play him in his ‘normal’ position anyone know? I have no knowledge of him pre-Swindon.

Think I agree with Hockaday. We play box to box but when we get to the danger zone we lack ideas and quality.

Assume it's Hockaday one co-comms. He's very critical for someone who could be best described as a journeyman player if I recall.

HT 0-0

Half time. It's not been bad. It's not really been good either, but there's a bit more coherence in our team than in recent weeks. Just seem a bit shot shy. Need a bit of luck I think.

I should probably clarify that I'm painting the spare room whilst watching so it is literally watch the game or watch paint dry. The game is winning, but it's not by a long way.

H-T

0-0 at FT wouldn’t be a huge surprise would it.

Shade has played left wing, left wingback, right wing and centre forward in his career so far, he has also played as a number 10 at Leicester.

It's better than I thought it would be.

Absolutely, we look quite threatening even if we havent had much on target yet, Williams is making the difference. But, conversely we look like conceding with every Dons attack.

 Still think this will end up nil nil

Without being particularly good, I’d say we look like we are better at football than them.

We need a goal, haven’t scored many recently, it shows I think, hesitating to pull the trigger. If we can find the first goal from somewhere then I think we are capable of playing a lot better with the monkey off.

Maybe RHM can conjured up a bit of magic with 20 to go.

Did I hear on the commentary correctly that Lindsey was here with Wellens?  I ask because today's tactical approach is very similar to that season with the fullbacks pushing up high and a midfielder dropping into their space to act like a QB.  I know Wellens did this because it puts a big gamble on the opposition midfielder - does he follow our player so far or keep the shape.  Either way it creates space.

This then feeds into Hockaday's comments about it not being decision making, more being execution.  I'll go a step further and suggest it's showing up the lack of talent in the team and highlights Reed being utterly surplus to requirements in such a system.  His game is all about getting the ball centrally and trying to pull the team towards him.  It is noticeable that Iandolo and and Darcy drop into the fullback spot far more frequently.

Shade continues to be as I assessed him early - someone who probably stood out at youth levels due to his physical attributes.  As he hit mens level everyone else can deal with that now.

Ideally you have Williams playing the Anderson role from that Wellens team if we want to play to play this way.  The issue is upfront - can Wakeling do the Yates role?  He hasn't shown it yet.  Can someone do the Doyle role? That just leaves Shade to do the Isgrove role, and he looks pretty abject at doing that.  

Ultimately it looks better, but we are far more open as well.

Just mentioned the Jephcott situation again. You have to assume that Plymouth would be very happy to sell at this point. Not sure we’d be as keen at pulling the trigger.

Underwhelming so far, felt like a great signing at the time. Though the service to him has been shit in almost every game he has played.

I'm really excited to see what he can offer.

Dons players like to make a meal of things.

For me Wakeling does not work as a lone central striker, hes way better coming off the wing ala Yates.

Iandolo, where attacks go to die.

It was a lovely move until he got to it.

Sub time soon surely?

What a pass from Lavinier to Williams and then hes close with a long range shot just wide.

Beaut of a backheel from Ellis there though. Not going to say he's the best player on the pitch, far from it, but he looks more comfortable as a central midfielder than a wing back.

This consistent no excitement football is bordering on Malpas esq - we have not reached Malpas standards yet, but keep on going this way and we will soon be in Malpas territory..

This is shite. Pub beckons

I think that’s right. I’m not completely against him but he never but never delivers around the box.

Absolutely he does look better in the middle

I agree. At times we flatter to decieve, all pass and no threat.

Shade good effort and great save point blank.

Hutton very quiet this afternoon.

Great save Dons keeper, Shade hit that very hard from very close.

Still no shot on target. They’ve had 5.

Christ, something has to change - and soon.

Wow a genuine shot on target!

Oh dear Iandolo :(

Wakeling off?!

Roberts for Wakeling is... not the obvious change

Still going with a single striker.

Att: 8,413

Bloody hell. That’s impressive.

Deserves something better to watch.

RHM coming on

David John Murray Tower coming on for Dons.

Timmmmmmmber!

Does anyone else really like the World Cup habit of punishing every second of time wasting? Wish they do it in the league.

If Hockaday is right and AFCW are happy to draw, they must not have watched us in the last few.

I like the principle, but on the other hand I don't really want to see another 12 minutes of this.

A few weeks ago Darcy shot every time. Now he seems to have stopped entirely. Coached out of him?

On one hand yes, but can you imagine having to watch this for another 15 mins of added time

Been quite impressed with Morgan Robertssince he came on.

He did and looked good then the game after he shot all the time and all were wasteful. I think thats more of his own choosing to not shoot.

Yes.
We should be seeing close to 10 minutes most games but very rarely see more than 5 or 6

I’d watch for as long as it takes for us to score.

You dont want to watch another 4 hours of this do you? :D

You might regret that!

We've looked alright in spells and cameos, but we have all the finishing ability and ruthlessness of a basket of baby bunnies.

Yep. Part-timers. 🙄

Oh good, the Messi Ronaldo debate, I didn't think it was possible to get more tedious but that will do it.

Say what you like, but this is 1000 times better than last weekend

Oh it is, by miles, but we will don't really look like scoring, but as a performance 100x better.

Low bar

That is true. At least this is being played at a faster tempo.

Darcy sponsors MoM. Not sure I see that, but there are a lot of 5.5 and 6s here, nobody standing out really.

5 mins added time.

For me I would say Williams or Lavinier.

Adeloye not getting on here is a pretty poor sign for his future at the club, you'd think.

Roberts dives in the box. On replay seemed 50/50.

Don't think that's a pen, but it's not a dive either. Certainly seen them given, clash of ankles and just up to who you think was going to get the ball.

Surely a nailed on pen ffs

Mixed views there then

It could have gone either way but I do think Roberts was looking for any contact, as he should do really.

Looks like working the two hours I have to normally sacrifice paid off today.

Much better all round performance today but we are still weak in front of goal.

FT 0-0

Stopped a bit of rot I guess. Not many talking points, not a pen for me, but shame it wasn’t given all the same.

Come on England rescue the day  ;)

Forgettable but broadly okay. A lower midtable game. January is going to be crucial.

Hope Lindsay doesn't just talk about the pen appeal in the post-match. We need to be creating more chances and showing just any ruthlessness at all on a more regular basis, we're completely toothless even if we're the better team in the midfield third.

It's better, but it's quite frankly not good enough.  Second half Wimbledon decided to take the point and we did at least have some individual impetus at times, but we lost all sense of shape and pattern.  None of the subs improved us, Roberts looks quite poor to me.

Overall an improvement on recent weeks, but how many teams fans go away from a game against us thinking "they are one of the best teams we have faced this season"?  I doubt very many.

The penalty was not one, Roberts ran into the back of their player falling over his leg.

Shade should have done better with his shot, but so should have Davison for them in the first half.

We are just an ordinary team.  Quite frustrating we haven't kicked on from last season and really need some changes in January to get near the top three.  Otherwise it's a grind for the remainder to keep in and around the play offs.

Nail on the head I think. We're not bad, but this squad is a midtable side without some serious attacking firepower (and a centre-back, based on the injuries) added to it.

Boxing day then I'm done. Can't be arsed with this dull negative shit.

Roberts is making the step up from Banbury. Today he showed flashes of improvement.

RHM could have scored with almost his first touch. Jumped well for his header

If Shade had put his shot a foot to the left it would have been 1-0.  As it was, it was a great save.

Think we could have played all night and wouldn't have scored.

No threat in the final 3rd.

We did a shot.

Not as bad as I thought it would be under the circumstances of injuries and Wimbledon being in good form.

I wouldn't call it a good game though

It was cold and the game pretty dull.

Posh is a man of many words :)

We are a mid table team and the football is dull and boring

Clem needs to make a managerial change now in my view pointless doing it after the jan window

Forced to stay at home and watch on the box with Covid today. Can’t say I was gutted to have to do that. Improvement from last week, but one shot on goal is not ok.

If I had a quid for every unnecessary extra touch we take, I‘d have my thermostat set to “totally tropical”.

So many players falling over, missed touches and errors today from both teams: it looked to me like it would always be 0-0 unless a mistake cost a goal.
I was half expecting it to be abandoned.

Absolutely boring negative shite.
Dreading the drive to Barrow.

pre match beers superb ⚽️

I enjoyed my pre match drinks from flavourly

There's a non-zero chance that may be the highlight of the day.

One goal in 4 games and 1 shot on goal again in a home game isn’t good enough.

We really should be going for the autos- playoffs would only be good enough if you win them of which there is a 1 in 4 chance and the form team hardly ever goes up (look at Northampton)

It's just boring and insipid.  I can't imagine any non die hard signing up to another season of this.  Those of us that gone for years are considering our sanity.

Boring and winning is OK, dull and mid table is not

In 23 games (21 league + 2 proper cup) we've scored 2+ only 4 times.

We cannot create chances for shit.

We can't create shit chances either.

Expected a defeat.
Still, a point could be crucial in the battle for a top 10 finish.

Three consecutive failures to trouble the goals for column. Not good.
It's snowing here but I suspect that not many of us are walking in a Lindsey Wonderland at this moment in time.

Methinks that Williams should be playing in the no 10 role and not out wide.
The play perked up in the second half on the occasions that he dropped into centre midfield to pick the ball up.

My son was mentioning that Lindsey had said on the radio about trimming the squad.

That’s a bit concerning as looking at yesterday we had 1 (Hutton) of our first choice back four playing in their preferred position (FBT) is our left back.

We don’t have a backup keeper.

We were missing two of our starting midfield players (Khan & Gladwin) but because we have depth there we could cover it with Reed, Darcy & Iandolo but didn’t leave us with much on the bench.

Our first choice striker was also missing, but we have cover in Wakeling.

There are a couple of fringe players that we could lose (Adeloye & Aguiar spring to mind) but feels like we need more players in to just stand still let alone kick on.

January is going to decide whether we’re a mid table team or are going to challenge for the top 7

As I pointed out in the Crawley thread the other day, we have 29 contracted pros including loans - we have a lot of numbers, just not in a balanced way.

Brann, Minturn, Roberts, Parsons, Cowmeadow, Devine, Dabre, Harries, Aguiar, Massey, Adeloye and Hepburn-Murphy is 11 of our 29 and hardly any of them have played more than the odd cameo.

We have a bit of an injury crisis at the moment, and don't seem to be reaching into this group very much.

This is not a "happy clapping" post but just to put it into context with last season.

Currently we sit in 8th place with 32 points after the first 21 games, we have scored 24 goals and conceded 21.

Last season after 21 games we were 7th on 34 points having scored 29 and conceded 24.

Of the promoted sides after 21 games .....

FGR were 1st on 44 points, Port Vale 5th on 35 points, Exeter 8th on 33 points, Rovers were 17th on 26 points.

There is still all to play for but we need bodies badly to compete for places/strengthen the team.

The team as it stands is bang average with a few poor players and a few very good players, we need to remove the deadwood and get in players who can compete now and not just be a possible future star by taking a risk on signing them.

I didn't hear Lindsey pre game saying he wanted to "trim the squad" but if thats true then we are going to struggle to be even mid table this year with the amount of injuries we are suffering.

Keep playing that style of football and the crowd will stop coming in the numbers they are, Clem has rode the crest of a lot of the goodwill but that could well stop if the performances carry on in such a poor vein.

We just don't seem to be creating the clear cut cances we were last year even, but for me the main difference was that we had a livewire in McKirdy who could create chances and goals out of absolutely nothing and Simpson had grabbed 10 goals too at the same point, whereas Wakeling and Jephcott have only got 10 goals between them. Its also telling that McKirdy is still our 4th highest goal scorer this season and he only played 3 games!

And no I am not advocating getting him back as whats in the past has gone but he was a true creative attacker, something we don't seem to have this season.

Agree we're in a similar position to last season at the same point. But last season we'd pulled a squad together last minute and the club's stated ambition was staying in the football league. This year Lindsey, MacDonald and others were happy to say from Day One that the goal was promotion. The club set the expectations, I don't think it's unreasonable that fans are a bit itchy about them not being delivered. It's not beyond saving though.

Absolutely its still got a great chance but if we are "trimming the squad" then it wont happen, for certain.

Scoring goals is the problem blatantly. Also the style of play does not endear fans to the management at the moment, although the game at Mansfield was a great performance which makes the results since then seem all the worse.

Amazing that 8,500 turned up after a string of listless performances and the weather being arctic.

Don’t know how long that will last if things don’t change.

That was a great attendance considering how cold it is and how expensive everything is plus on top of Xmas etc

It shows what can be done from this position Venks. But we had to put a monumental run together at the end of the season. Can lightening strike twice.

Far too many injuries, a transfer window and a lot of points to go to know how it will end

clearly things aren't great right now

The comparison shouldn't be last season - that's what we achieve when our backs are against the wall.  It should be the Wellens season, that's what we should be expecting as a club with the right backing and preparation.  In 2019 after 21 games we were top with 42 points, scoring 37 and conceding 22 with 13 wins.

Sorry, there isn't a time period in our history where we should be "happy", or even close, with being in with a shout of the play offs.

I'd be hunting down two wide attacking players right now - get Williams in at 10 and Jephcott/Wakeling up top.  Those two signings could at least provide the attacking impetus we so badly miss right now.  I'd actually take an entire squad overhaul, but that is unrealistic.  We need to copy that Wellens season now - it was evident we were trying to do it yesterday but do not have the players.  Stick Isgrove and Yates into the team from yesterday for Shade and Iandolo/Darcy and we create more.

Should we have had a penalty as I haven't seen the incident.

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

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTOtu8RQ8mQ

No

Cheers Robert.

Got to get in the box for that to happen.

Lindsey says their mindful of that😀

Saturday's game was a marginal improvement on recent games. Going with the back 4 was definitely a positive start, but the squad is really being tested at the moment with the injury list lengthening. Given all that went on over the weekend I'm already forgetting about what happened at SN1 but Wimbledon seemed to have the better chances in the first half, Davison shooting straight at Brynn I think was about the best thing of note.

We huffed and puffed second half and having the extra bodies in the final third helped, and I know I sound like a broken record here but yet again we didn't look dangerous and I think had only 1 shot on target, which to be fair was a brilliant save from their keeper. I thought Wakeling was non-existent, (I wondered why we wouldn't give Adeloye 20 minutes for Jake W) Iandolo yet again looking a shadow of the player he was last season, (perhaps playing so close to Shade is having that effect! :)) and despite Williams and Darcy injecting some much needed pace and energy, we never really looked like scoring. RHM looked lively when coming on and looks like a better prospect than Shade, but overall I think it's 2 points dropped against a very poor Wimbledon side who had they showed a bit of ambition may have gone home with the win.

I would say it was a huge improvement on Crawley, but thats not too difficult!

Williams made things happen which we have badly been missing but Wakeling cannot play as a lone striker for me, we missed Jephcott, but he had not a lot of service yet again so I don't hold Wakeling at fault at all. Hutton looked good first half but hardly had the ball in the 2nd half.

I hope FBT stays until the end of the season, hes really handy at LB or CB and never let us down, hes on a season long loan but I fully expect the new(er) manager at Burton to recall him in January leaving us significantly weaker.

Iandolo looks far better in central midfield, hes been terrible most of this season out wide, as Red Frog says...he is where attacks go to die. Even his normally excellent crossing is poor this term, need a proper left sided midfielder/winger to replace him.

RHM does look a bag of trick and the sooner he gets to full fitness the better, hes a good option off the bench at least.

I thought Davison was very poor and wasted 2 guilt edges chances in front of goal, much like he did for us too often last season, on that showing I am glad we didnt spend £160k on him.

Overall not too disappointed with the result against a side unbeaten in a long time but I am disappointed in our actual chance creation which again was really poor.

Yeah marginal is probably harsh. Somewhere between Marginal and Huge!