Thetownend.com

Swindon 2 Doncaster Rovers 1 Austin & Williams Att: 9,788 (380 Donny's)

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

Lavinier still out. Shade doubtful. FBT been ill.

Piece of piss ,4-1.

They're one of the most underwhelming clubs in the football league, whilst there are plenty of examples over the last 20 years, this is another club we should be streets ahead of, yet they've had numerous times in the second tier over us in that time. Think they've now found their natural level and will Bob about the lower leagues. 3-1 Town

Not sure on exact score but notable key points:

Att: 10k+
BTTS
BTTYC
An injury of some description
A silly yellow/red/penalty of some description
I think Town will win

At least 12 "like I said" quotes from Morris  :D

He ain’t another Pee Lower is he? “Like you say, as you say” 🙈

In that pre match interview above, I reckon there were at least 10 of them!  :pint:

Too many injuries and too weak in defence still, can't see past a defeat.

Who do we actually have in defence then, Brennan and presumably Clayton has to start? Ellis continuing at left back, Hutton at right back?

I'm assuming that Tomlinson and Devine aren't fit.

I did think Kadji/Cain did a better job of providing cover to the defence vs Newport than we generally have this season (helps that there were two of them rather than just Khan trying to do it himself), but it's still hardly inspiring.

Donny aren't very good at all, surely we can eek out a draw JJ?

They beat Tranny on Tuesday 2-0. They are 2 points behind us on the same number of games.

Last 6 games - Swindon  W2 D1 L3
Last 6 games - Doncaster W3 D0 L3

I just don't think we strengthened the defence enough in the window to cope with Baudry, Devine, Harries, Lavinier, FBT and Tomlinson(ironically) missing and MacDonald sold, then having to play Iandolo at LB and a not fully fit Clayton and Brennan in the middle.

I think we can win it, but  JJ and the injury list make a compelling point/
Khan is still suspended too right? (2nd red)

That's fair enough, I'm only really repeating what a Donny fan has been saying on a different forum and apparently they were very fortunate to win on Tuesday - irrelevant I know as 3 points is 3 points.

I agree with you about strengthening. Can you imagine if we hadn't managed to get Tomlinson over the line as well? (well aware he is currently unavailable due to knack) I reckon FBT will be ok for Saturday, an illness is not likely to keep him out. (our medical team might disagree mind you) If he is missing, then yeah we are up against it. Clayton played 30 minutes last Saturday, but he might not yet be ready for the full 90, we might have to thrown Minturn into the mix also.

Actually no idea if Khan is in or out - "ends 11th" on EFL site, Inclusive or exclusive?

RHM is ends 18th, I assume violent conduct is 3 matches, therefore it must be inclusive and so no Khan.
No doubt the LS pod will confirm when I listen.

Khan is suspended Batch.

So we think we're missing: RHM and Khan (suspended), then Harries, Baudry, Tomlinson, Devine, Lavinier, Shade, Brann and perhaps FBT injured/ill? That'd be ten first team pros out, which is quite the list. Have to be realistic and say most clubs would struggle in that position. Not signing another defender on deadline day really looks to have been a fuck up.

Yep.

Appreciate it might be short term pain for long term gain but if Tomlinson isn’t fit - then what was the point?

Even if he gets fit within a few weeks he’s still not going to be match sharp for a while.
Probably just get into his stride as the season ends.

Answered your own question. We have an option to buy at the end of the season.

Not great for this season though.

Then we should have either;

Gone in for him in the summer
or
Basically written him off (for this season) and got another short term CB / LB in

‘Boro fans seemed to think he would be out till March and that’s why a loan move to (ironically) Doncaster fell through. March is still 3 weeks away

Doncaster views on the upcoming game.

https://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=287101.0

I do think that if we've managed to take Tomlinson off of Peterborough's hands with an already in place agreement to sign him in the summer (I think they need to be compensated with a 'development fee' as he is only 22) then it's a great bit of business for next season.

However in order to properly arm the squad for the run in, depending on just how long he is out for, (you wonder if this is why Doncaster pissed about when they had the chance to sign him?) it has to be said that it's poor recruitment. The messed up Malachi thingy-Walcott transfer and perhaps not getting an experienced CB on a short term deal to add cover and experience might come and bite us in the arse. Hanging onto the coat tails of the play-offs seems our best chance this season given our current state in my opinion.

Feels like that. Strange decision to go all out on Austin and Morris but leave the backdoor wide open.


Any news on Brand? Why on earth is it taking so long  :hmmm:

From JM's presser yesterday -

"We're still waiting for confirmation. The amount of conversations that have gone on between Chelsea, Swindon, and the EFL has been very high.

It's frustrating, but fingers crossed it can be completed quickly."

2.5 weeks really, Don't forget February is a short month :)

When’s our first March fixture?
The 4th?
Which is 3 weeks and one day away…

Will be going to this one but looking at Nemo's list of players being unavailable I don't think I will be celebrating a much needed win somehow. Charlie will get us a goal but I can see Donny scoring a couple. 9,821 in attendance with 292 Doncs travelling down.
Hope the crowd get behind the new manager and the team from the off.

Why does everything at the club take so long? Need a rocket up the ass of the club. Missing out on the Spurs defender could cost us promotion this season.

Wakey wakey.

Because behind the scenes it’s still a bit of a shambles as they are still under staffed.

You only have to look at the fact that someone from the foundation is acting as a temporary club secretary (as mentioned in here) and the club were looking for volunteers to deliver lunch to the training ground.

That lunch thing is really puzzling. Surely one of the youth team can drive and there is a van or two lying around.

Injuries or no injuries the team tomorrow would still have the same deficiencies.  

We are basically completely lacking in 2 key positions, an experienced centre back and an experienced ball winning midfielder that the club don’t seem to think is a position that exists. These are probably the 2 most important positions in the team and to be lacking in both areas is pretty much unforgivable and will be the difference between challenging and not challenging come the end of the season.

Does it worry anyone else that we're (seemingly) still short staffed behind the scenes? I'm completely sympathetic to the fact they took over a basket case and the Trust volunteers etc. helping out short term were totally fine by me. But Clem/Angus have been in charge for almost two years now, you'd kind of imagine we'd be better set up behind the scenes with the right people in the right roles. Are finances that tight that we can't afford admin staff?

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'm led to believe that we are still well behind the curve with regards to staffing the club off the field. The club appears to be cutting corners by not properly recruiting and paying the market rates for these positions. I'd be surprised if Morris and Brand (if he ever gets here) put up with an alleged lack of professionality behind the scenes.

It also screams Sunday League doesn't it?

TBF to Clem/Rob they have focused on getting money in and getting the debts down, which they have done really well. As a fan they have looked to try and improve our experience & most of the stuff that’s struggling is not impacting us, but you have to think at some point they need to sort it out.

I know that there are things they are keen to do, but are just not willing to spend a lot on doing it, rather trying to rely on volunteers & goodwill.

I’d be loathed to knock them as it feels like they are trying to do the right things

Sadly it's an indictment of lower league football. Even money clubs like FGR rely on volunteers to bring lunch to training ground etc.

Yeah nearly all league 2 teams are doing it now you are right

What’s wrong with Deliveroo

Its a fucker of a cycle to Calne

Or even...tinpot!

I hate to be downbeat about the club I bloody love but with all the delays (yes we can all agree that the club "was saved" and there are some great actions in progress AND I fully understand that we can't expect everything at once) that seem to happen, the recurring theme/issue does seem to be STFC.

*A red flag for me at present is it appears no experienced managers want to work for Town. By that, I don't mean dinosaurs. Whilst Jody Morris seems like an exciting prospect (which let's face it, that honeymoon period won't last long no matter how much hope we have), I personally would have much preferred him as an assistant. There's nothing wrong with giving someone a chance of course but surely that's better via transition?

All the managers appointed exclusively under Clem have never managed before, they've either been an academy/dev style coach (Garner), an internal appointment (Lindsey) or a relatively well known former pro, who is an experienced no.2 and "might" be ready for management (Morris). It's possible had someone like Morris been the first kind of managerial appointment I'd look at it in a different way but it does seem to be that there is something that is just making experienced football managers stay away (once they know what's what). It can't purely be "the model" as Garner and Lindsey were at the club before SdM started his mobile phone salesman type of pitches.

I want Morris to do well (it may not seem like it from the above) and I hope he does but surely at the same time it is fine to ask questions and be doubtful, especially when the infrastructure of the club appears to be incredibly fragile?

The bottom line for me is, if the club can afford to pay Charlie Austin's wages (and a very good bit of business that has been) then they can definitely afford to pay/hire/contract a company to deliver fucking sandwiches (even make them too) and/or other more important operations surrounding the day to day running of the club. Even if you paid every high earner at the club £100 less per week (maybe x8 players), that's c£42k pa reshuffled straight away. Not sure about you lot but last I checked, hiring a sandwich courier for a few hours per week didn't cost that much; not even in Shoreditch ;)

*Mods if you wish, you can move this to the "New Beginnings" Thread or similar if you feel it has taken up the Matchday Fred. Apologies in advance :)

But why do it if they don't need to? There are people doing it who are happy to so why bother? Mental what people get so upset about. Rattling sums off like the club have not thought about ffs

I’d hazard a guess that Morris was more expensive than Artell. Any experienced manager that wants to work in L2 probably isn’t much good. You seem to be in prime club bashing mode for some reason.

Garner had managed before.
If Morris wanted to be an assistant manager he’d have probably followed Lampard to Everton?

Fuck knows what everyone’s obsession is with after food training.
JuSt GeT a SaNdwHiCh CoMpAnY tO dO iT - yeah because I’m sure that’s exactly what our players have after training a quickly put together mass produced BLT
GeT a YoUtH tEamEr To DrIvE a VaN - maybe the youth team are training to? Maybe we don’t have a van just sat around? If we did that people would be quick to complain our youth players weren’t good enough and part of the reason was instead of training they were dicking about delivering fucking sandwiches

Of course all of that would go away if we built a new training facility with a kitchen included in say Highworth or something…with a golf course or horse stables

I find it reassuring that this is the only off pitch stuff people can find to whinge about.

What a long way we have come in just over 18 months.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Back to Brand- anyone know where the hold up actually is? Appreciate Morris and the club cant officially come out and say what the score is but it seems an odd one. Never known of an Assistant requiring some sort of clearance to get started.

Surely the process is we approach Chelsea and say we want your employee, they say it will cost you this much and we either pay it and take him or we dont pay and he stays... he looks to have left Chelsea but not started here . In any case hoping its resolved ASAP- if hes not in the dugout until after the Sutton game thats 16% of Morris' games for the season without his right hand man, Salford a fifth etc. etc.

During times of despair, after Newport Saturday as an example, this is what I think to lift the immediate gloom.
However I am desperate for success and progression. It feels that we are almost there with the best platform to build from in years. Notwithstanding that we are damaged goods due to the long suffering we have endured.

of course we should have. we cocked it up

it isn't, but let's not upset the apple cart

It was to that post in question though. The things people are moaning about lately are so trivial it's unreal.  Football fans are a very needy bunch these days

Light on central defenders but had a whole month in the transfer window to address!

It's still coming across as fucking tinpot though.

Anyone looking in would say as much too. I'm allowed to say my club feels as if it is being run in a tinpot way, using that they do not have a fully functioning operations staff at the club. A pretty standard need for probably every professional club. So I have concerns there.

Unfortunately I'm not going to be gullible enough to believe every single word that comes out of a suits mouth at STFC as gospel, whether that be former supporter turned club mouthpiece, a bumbling waffling former PR dude or a glorified strayan plumber (let alone the other suits like Zav/Xav, Keily, Hart etc).

But hey, I'll say no more on it on this thread.

Bringing it back to tomorrow, I still think Town will scrape a win.

Need to get back to winning ways today. Close win 2-1

Whereas you command such gravitas.

2-1 win

2-1 win......but I think it will be to Donny!

Anthony Grant with Hawes today.

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

FBT fit, Iandolo stays at left back. Darcy in for RHM, Clayton for Brennan.

Unsurprisingly, a weak bench I think

Looks a good starting XI to me.

Tomi! Tomi! Tomi!

Iandolo again. Sigh.

Stronger first XI than I had feared.

No alternative really is there? FBT at left back would mean Brennan at CB with Clayton. Personally I think FBT is so valuable in the middle that it's worth the risk.

Try supporting players, not knocking them.

Yeah that definitely makes Iandolo left back the lesser of two evils over playing Brennan, IMO.

Anyone else having issues opening iFollow strem today?

What do we reckon the formation is? 4-4-2?

4-2-3-1  :hmmm:

4-3-3?

yes

All ok right up to the "watch live now" which doesnt open anything?

Same here and no listen live option

I’m fine and dandy with the stream

same here

Seems to be working mobile app but not browser.

You are on ipad though arent you on the app? not via browser.

Yeah, through the app. Can also watch via my iPTV package

The General on co-comms today.

Why do people get in the ground so early?

(https://i.postimg.cc/FFJF36FB/330517082-636063068327514-7864228884443580799-n.jpg)

Can you not use the app?

Don't want to miss the Rockin' Robin Haka?

Yes but watching on a 4 inch mobile screen isnt the same as watching on a 28 inch monitor!

Oh dear, the General isn't very good at co-comms.  ;D

Kadji and Hutton both giving the ball away cheaply so far.

Iandolo very easily beaten by their winger but we managed to clear the ball when the cross came in.

Doncaster are pressing us very high so far.

Ground looks pretty full, atmosphere sounds pretty non-existent.

Luckily so far Doncaster seem to be playing walking football. they have started the game better than we have so far.

Lots of ambiguous ground noise but no actual backing, looks around 11k attendanced to me.

All Donny so far.

has Morris fed them tranquillisers?

Good cross by Iandolo but its easily claimed in the end.

Christ on a bike! We are dire!

Ten mins and only been in their half once!

Someone swapped it with the lunch when they took it to the training ground.

We look lethargic and can barely string 3 passes togehter.

Got away with that shot by Donny just wide.

Optimistically, I'd say that we have room for improvement.

Very very slow. Lindsey esq.

Playing fatigued

Anyone listened to this 'Squad Goals' shit on BBC Wilts online. It's utter brain dead tosh. Absolutely gash

My God, this is tedious.

FBT doesnt look as comfortable on the right side of the 2 left footed CB's.

65% possession, no shots, corners or fouls🤔

hahaha like it

I think every single Town player so far has given the ball away cheaply so far.

I'm not sure Wakeling or Austin have touched the ball to lose it, have they? The other nine absolutely.

Brynn with a good save for a corner.

Cain's looking a bit loose here.

Both had at least 1 touch and gave it away earlier :)

He was the same at Newport too, disappointing.

He’s had 110 minutes now.
At what point do we admit Morris was the wrong choice?

I did fear this would be a problem.

Grant's co-commentary style is mostly disappointed/disgruntled noises and to be fair, it does work well with this pattern of play.

Crawley winning🤣

I know it’s mega early days for Morris and everything but we look worse, and even less threatening than we did under Lindsey.

He is one breath away from exclaiming "For Fucks Sake" all the time.

Er yes, we've played 35 minutes under him with 11 men. Let's hold off on judgement a little...

I would say that "so far" it has been very comperable to a Lindsey performance, last week and this week so far.

But its far too early to tell really.

100%, we just had an "up Jonny's arse", I suspect he's a real watershed risk.

Williams more or less doing it on his own so far.

So am I.

No, let’s not.
That’s 35 minutes more than most gave Lindsey
MORRIS OUT

‘Next time he won’t be up Johnny’s arse’ Commentary by Grant! 😂

We need to win this today with two horrible away games coming up.

:D I think we all are so far, its poor.

Sorry. I’m way behind you!

Williams shoots from 35 yards and its tipped round the post.

Odd goalkeeping, a sort of limp punch at a shot on target from a long way out under no real pressure.

OMG Iandolo that was a truly awful throw in which could have been an asset with a good throw in down near the corner flag.

My bad, I thought they’d been training most days over the last couple of weeks.

General's spending more time going ooh at goals going in elsewhere than watching our game.  :D

Need to get Grant in the dressing room at half time.....

"Chas keep doing what you are doing, Williams you are great...the rest of you can fuck off" which seems to be the way of his commentary!

Im finding it quite grating! Also, it sounds as if Hawes is scared of him.

Darcy, Kadji and Cain look a bit lost in midfield so far and making numerous errors.

Darcy especially is all over the place.

I definitely wouldn't want it every week, but I'm quite enjoying it whilst the game isn't very good. It's a bit like sitting next to someone in the stadium who wants to commentate on the game throughout.

I like how he credited Mansfield goal to Louis Reed who isn’t in the match day squad

That Olowu is a shit strirring twat going into Austin after that fracas.

+ Clayton miles off the pace

Wakeling isn’t at the races at all.

Agreed, he hasnt been for weeks.

We haven't got any races to be at.

Hutton hasn’t once made an attempt to go by his man and get a ball in the box, as he has been doing that last few games.

Awful  by Kadji there too gave it away so cheaply.

Not sure hes been in their half yet even.

They need a rocket at half time for sure

We are like GWR, far too many passengers today.

Cain's actually becoming a liability now.

You could choose to pick out just about anyone, but almost the entire team is off the pace. Williams looks threatening but even he's given the ball away a few times. No point picking out individuals really here, just need to improve across the park.

Indeed, you can pick huge holes in every permormance bar Brynn, Williams and Austin today.

Something needs to be done to change it up.

Feels like I’m watching a training session, with some experimental shit going on an the back, and they’re all hungover. So many individual mistakes, not helped by the “style” at the back.

Not much on the bench, though. Jephcott or goal machine Tomi for Wakeling.

as bad a half as I've seen all season

That Olowu is kicking and pushing Austin around at every opportunity and the ref not spotted any of it.

2 teams playing walking football.

Two central strikers Jephcott and Austin second half maybe?

Clearly needs something more than a slight personnel change.

You weren't at Crawley. Haven't been that angry for a while.

Wakeling felled on the edge of the box.

Tomi will be more useful than Wakeling. May as well go Gav Gunning direct with 3 forwards and Williams as the number 10.

This must be the worse midfield so far this season, on paper and on the pitch.

Cain hits the bar.

HT 0-0

Very poor.

Only positive is that we aren’t losing.

Surely we can’t be that bad second half.

Think I might sacrifice Wakeling and Darcy for Minturn and Jeffcott.

Minturn enables FBT to go LB and offer a threat going forward. Iandolo pushed into midfield. Williams moved more central or on the right.

Well, not a good half obviously, but Doncaster haven't really been close to capitalising. It feels like we have a lot more in the tank, just need to improve in just about every position. Not a bad place to be, as bad as it has been to watch.

Not much on the bench, so hopefully Morris can get more out of the eleven on the pitch. I think most of them have it in them.

Cain's FK right on half time was a bit good. Looking forward to seeing more of that.

Fuck me, is Lindsey back?

Absolutely. But I'm not the person running the club. Just a fan/pleb/bottom feeder.

================

A weak bench as expected so hopefully no second half injuries as Donny seemingly starting to put the foot in/shithouse. The starting XI is good enough to win and I do think Town will still win. Ironically, maybe via a penalty.

Unfortunately the pace currently seems slower than a Ben Gladwin focussed Scott Lindsey set up. With no real impact forthcoming from the bench, let's hope Morris can apply some tactical nous and Town can grab the win.

Yeah at this point I think I'd start Minturn and Clayton CB. Two left footed CBs are a problem.

Pretty much as poor as it gets really, Morris has been left with a bit of a nothing team on this evidence.

This midfield has absolutely nothing about it, a couple of youngsters & Darcy has left us with pretty much no options. Kadji and Cain seem to have no confidence receiving the ball around our box or passing through the lines and on the rare occasions they do it’s usually a hospital ball. As off form as he was no one can tell me Reed wouldn’t have massively improved our midfield compared to what we have out there today.

My bad ;)

At least Khan is back after today.

We miss his energy and also miss Laviniers drive too.

I know I am a broken record, but this has been the issue all season with recruitment.  Pretty much everyone we have brought in has been an immediate down grade on the person they are replacing in the squad.  I'll buy the concept that they may, in some case, have room for development and eventually be better/more valuable.  That doesn't help when the immediate aim should be getting out of this division.  We have built a team for resale or three years from now.  Our entire midfield today, assuming Darcy is in the three, are players who look raw and learning the game.  Nice touches, potential, the odd good flick and pass, but mixed in with panic, rushed decisions or the complete opposite of dwelling on the ball - all things inexperience cause.

We’ve still had 66% possession & made 345 passes.
Not sure what Reed would add to that?

Another 43 passes (31 sideways) maybe?  :hmmm:

For all that Wakeling has made errors, that's the second defender he's got booked. (Hawes says the same while I am typing. Grant can't bring himself to praise...)

A calmness that is basically nonexistent today and an option for our centre backs.

Am I being overly cynical in thinking Wakeling is preferring to get fouled than having to run through?

Cain FK from 25 yards just over the bar.

Cain 30 yard screamer just over the bar.

Good cross from Donny inches from the striker, great chance.

We're doing a bit better. Kadji, Cain and Wakeling improving.

Tempo of this game has gone up several gears this half.

Hutton really isnt in the game at all today, not playing his normal game of running at them and getting crosses in, I think hes only done that once so far.

Great ball from Clayton to Williams in the box but they defend it well.

We’ve got probably the best striker in the league playing for us. He’s totally ineffective as we haven’t got the ball anywhere near him all game!

Is that because they are pressing Hutton before he gets the ball under control

Yellow for Iandolo but the Donny player really makes a meal of that foul, diving cheat. Minimal contact.

Wakeling cross just in front of Williams. Good chance.

No contact at all

That Hutton cross had snow on it when it came back down.....wtf was that?

Tempo and performance has stepped up a couple of notches this half.

Fans getting louder now.

They call it "looping" :D

I call it a shank.

End product isn't there yet, but Wakeling's getting more involved than in the past several games.

Not sure as I think he meant to put it that high, wrongly so.

Agree, he's looking for work constantly. Plenty of grumbling about his performance, but he's probably had ten times more touches than some of the other attacking players. It doesn't help that Grant made his mind up about his performance after 15 minutes.

Random burst of violence from Ronan Darcy wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

Wakeling has stepped up this half for sure, I think Grant is expressing his frustrations at the whole performance and Wakeling seems to be the nub of that for him.

Brynn saves for a corner, it looked to be going wide anyway though.

His only contribution, other than a high shot 2 mins before.

Wakeling inches from a long clearance from Brynn, great pass and so close.

Oh dear

0-1

bollocks.

no tackle from an exposed Clayton

Awful awful awful defending from Clayton.

MORRIS OUT

Arse.

For fuck sake.

Our squad is thin bare but even so, this is miles off the mark. Not good enough.

I think Clayton hasn't made a tackle because he's trying to cover LCB and LB with Iandolo well up the pitch. Bit of a sucker punch that really. Come on Town, this is completely winnable.

Good news is we won't lose because we lost vs Newport and we don't do the same result consecutively...

Game over. 0-2

0-2

Play offs look unlikely. This team just isn't very good.

game over

Iandolo nowhere to be seen down the left surprise, Clayton a poor attempt at a challenge and it’s 1-0. And now it’s 2. Shambles.

Okay we might lose.

We wont come back from this.

Gav Gunning 4 points 8 goals
Jody Morris 0 points 1 goal

…after 2 games each.

Turning this shit off. Pathetic.

Well there we go.  :crash:

Play offs seriously a struggle now.

Anthony "I told you so" Grant. Bit annoying

Why oh why did they not sign a centre half?

Absolutely nobody near him. Good finish but poor shape from us, Hutton and Cain chasing back both run into the box leaving us with a huge gap on the edge of the box with Molyneux stood in it making tea. We have four defenders on two forwards in the box and then a man on the edge of the box unmarked.

Joking aside where's the new manager bounce?

Heading for mid table mediocrity, disjointed squad Morris to rebuild in the summer. Another season in this shit league😡

Danny Cowley has it locked up in his cupboard.

We look worse than when Lindsay was here but the playing style is the same. Slow, backwards, yawn. Nobody looks comfortable on the ball, nobody taking responsibility to go forward. Barely tested their goalkeeper. Utter shit.

People can stop mocking the neediness of fans now regarding the very clearly sleepy/understaffed situation at the club. Its fucking cost us massively this season.

Difficult to fault the effort this half just the quality has been poor.

Even Stevie Wonder can see we needed another CB in the window.

Whoever is responsible fir our transfer dealing needs relieving of their duties, absolute shambles of a squad.

WE HAD A PERFECTLY GOOD CB BUT WE LET HIM GO
WE ALSO SIGNED FBT AS A CB
BUT WE ALSO SIGNED AN INJURED LB TO REPLACE FBT

more evidence that academy football won’t cut it in L2.

I'm not much of a tactical analyst, but I'm not sure either of those goals were the centre back's fault - both looked to be caused by a loss of defensive shape. Clayton is trying to cover the LB and the second, we have four on two in the box and Molyneux unmarked on the edge.

Put Gunning back in charge, we actually looked decent under him. Rest of the season has been middling

But would David Artell have had a key?

Yep

Bit premature? Maybe let the new manager work a little longer with his squad?  ::)

7 goals conceded in the last 3 games Macdonald hasn’t played.

Spot on

Not many have come out of this with any credit but Darcy has been fucking awful

Can Sandro get out of our club please?

45 mins of pissing about and not getting our of our half, followed by two powder puff goals. Fucking done with this shit. This fucking player stats bollocks doesn't work

I can't see Austin being here next season.

Williams injured

he's only got a 6 months contract 😁

I know what you mean really

Jonny Williams injured to add a shit-encrusted lining to a very grey cloud.

Along with a few thousand fans

Him and about 4000 fans

Yes please

Having scored his first league goal last week, Adeloye must be unimpressed with Abu Kanu coming on ahead of him.

Williams slowly walking around the pitch.

didn't see what happened to him

A couple of players apart this squad is one of the poorest and most unbalanced we’ve had at any level on recent evidence.

Att: 9,486 (283 Dons)

Anthony Grant. Who cares you're a Spurs fan? You were a good player for us but you're a worse co -comm than Phil Smith. Coming across as a bit arrogant to me

Williams is having his right arm held pretty limp as he comes past the Arkell's.

Well that was a mad 5mins that basically won the match for Donny.

Before today Donny were about 15th and Town 8th. Result pending, Donny go above Town into 9th and Town drop into 10th.

Whilst it's obviously not good enough reading for Town at present, he league is that shite (or possibly competitive :hmmm:) that any team from right down to AFCW in 15th could quite possibly still make the final auto place. 12pts separate 13 teams.

Town are only 3pts off the POs as it stands and a couple of wins put them right in the PO mix again. Autos might seem a stretch at 10pts away...but still doable with a good run.

All it would take is 10 draws  :soapy tit wank:

bUt He CaNt PaSs…

And now commenting on Southampton. If he can't be arsed to watch this game he should be sitting at home on his phone.

Wins😀

Don’t think I’ll be rushing back to the UK for the POs.

One of the most sobering afternoons in some time at the County Ground. Dismal. I’m not sure what is more depressing - the absence of individual quality, or what seemed to be a plan to play “patient” possession football, with zero licence to create.

Fed up with the "we're aiming for promotion " bollocks. How about telling the players. Think I'll spend my weekends being less stressed for this season.

Sounds crap and completely flat. Maybe we can see if Artell is still available.

When Sandro talks he reminds me of a second hand car salesman

Two poor sides, separated by a couple of sucker punches from the best player on either side. I'd be surprised if either side made the playoffs on that display, but you have to hope there's more to come from Town.

Only the second back-to-back losses of the season - Crewe and Crawley before that. Now two tough away games. Need four points, which is going to be a tough ask.

Time for Sandro to fuck off, our January transfer business has been nothing short of shameful, one of the worst balanced squads we’ve ever had.

Abysmal

Can you see the likes of Cain and Darcy playing a different way?  The recruitment has been an utter shambles against any measure other than making a couple of quid quickly, or maybe very long term.  If the objective of the club was Promotion, the recruitment team never got the message.

For all the people who can, rightly, point at each individual departure and say it was the right thing to do, or they can be replaced etc.  The issue was we, by choice, dismantled a squad that had got into the play offs.  Not add to it, not sprinkle some development talent and extra immediate experience in where needed, no.  After several seasons of having to build a squad for every season on the fly due to finances/ownership issues, we finally had an off season where we could build.  Instead, we chose to rip and replace - and we all know how hard that can be and how hit and miss it can be down here.

Can Conroy, Hunt, Reed, McKirdy, Gladwin etc be replaced, of course they can.  Should you let them all go, probably not.

Austin aside, every signing has been a gamble.  Even Tomlinson - a good signing for the future (given he was injured) but knowing that he wasn't available, why on earth do you sign him to replace a first team player?

Austin just put a booing fan in his place with support of fans around. calm verbal not physical

Not good, but you're not going to write off a manager on the basis of a couple of games with a braindead sending off and a weakened squad. We were desperately short of a CB and a defensive mid today. Khan will help but we're that short of cover we might need to sign a free agent CB at the least.

There is nothing on his CV that makes me understand how he is in the position he is in.  I am not even sure how he'd get an interview if it came across the CEO's desk in an application process.  I have no idea what he is like as a person, it just looks very very odd to me.

We can't blame the manager but can blame Sandro.

And Khan is hit and miss - the fact we suddenly "need" him is a big worry.

Same as Robert, he's obviously a good persuasive talker in interviews.

Wigan, obviously

But how do you get an interview with less than 6 months experience in football and a CV showing you may be OK at determining betting odds or a bit of event hob nobbing?  For a job as Technical Director of a League Club?  Maybe BetFred might take him, for a Commercial Manager role or something, but not what we were looking for.  It's bizarre - and while you can provide some rope for people to gain experience and hope there was some magic not visible to the outside world, all we are seeing are the results of having such a lack of experience running the shop.

True. The squad balance is so clearly shambolic. I can see Morris using that as a (pretty valid) excuse soon for writing off this season and telling us how exciting it will be when he builds his own squad.  ::)

To top it off there are some irritating fuckwits on my bus. Gonna get some beers in.

Has it ever been said why he left Wigan after doing well there🤔

Less than 6 months, outside of a transfer window by and large, working for a club of his mates Grandad?  There were no better people likely to submit CV's?

Go easy on the booze😀

More or less what Wellens did in his first season, and he was 100% correct. But bringing in Austin doesn't say "we go again next season" - even if every other transfers we made more or less does. It's incoherent.

The other worry is that L2 next season looks like being a lot harder with money at the clubs that come up from the conference as well as Gillingham.

What I’d love to know how Gunning made this team so unLindsey like for two games and then the new manager comes in and we’ve regressed into that possession for possessions sake team.

The big red flag should be < 6 months after joining and right before the transfer window was about to open with nowhere to go.  Doesn't smack of choice.

I never knew that.

In fairness - one game we were against 10 men for most of it, and the other he had to react after a tactical fuck up almost exposed us to a trouncing.  He was able to roll the dice in both games with zero pressure for long term results.  Throw some spaghetti at the wall and some will stick could well be what happened.  We have no idea if he'd be able to sustain results/goals long term by playing basketball for a full season.  Not saying it wouldn't work, just that very few Managers would risk their pay that way.  Keegan maybe.

No better time than now to start looking for a new TD, Clem.

New manager, same Lindsey-ball

No time like now for ditching this academy football shite and go back to men’s football.

Anyone know what happened between Austin & the town end at the end of the game?

https://twitter.com/smthleon/status/1624453310253092867?s=46&t=ZI-27cbOlwg7SXCu839aSw

Some fan giving it the usual i pay your wages crap apparently
He got put down in the end

The thing is Rob, had I written the paragraph above that you have, I'd be getting pelters right now. SdM is a billy bullshiter, anyone who can't see that...I mean he works(ed) in PR... it's in the name "Professional BullshitteR"

"...'I should point out that PRs aren’t the only bullshitters; but if they are not paid to bullshit, to present their clients in the best possible light, what are they being paid to do?'

His point isn’t the simple one that PR people are liars (that would be easy to deal with). It’s that PR people are not neutral voices, they’re paid advocates who represent a particular perspective. The distinction between ‘the truth’ and ‘the whole truth’ is made in the oath taken in a law court. PR people can and should tell the truth, but have little credibility on ‘the whole truth’ as this involves the perspectives of competitors and opponents."

The above is essentially SdM in a nutshell.

Should be Sandro facing up to the fans, he’s the one that deserves the angst.

That was cunting crap.
Yes Morris is long term appointment
Yes injuries, suspensions.

First half was amongst the most tedious shit I've seen this season. Slow, error ridden and BORING. Williams and Caine had shots, so I guess that's something.

Cain and Kadji were poor in the middle. Men against boys. Clayton looks like a man who has had a spell injured, Hutton was shit, FBT was not quite his usual self and Iandolo was Iandolo - which in today's game was above average. 

Darcy worked hard, as did Wakeling. But to no real effect. Austin was at a level consistent with the game. Get him into a danger area and you know he'll come alive. Like last week he may as well watched on iFollow.

Williams at least has a bit of quality, but not enough to take a game by the scruff of the neck.

Second half did show some improvement. Didn't really create anything though. And Doncaster, who to their credit were well organised and pressed us well, did. Two chances, two goals. Clayton didn't do well on the first, and from my angle Brynn should have done better with the second.

Not sure what else to say. It was a bollocks game and the season is fast headed down the crapper.

Marvellous.

Too many left footers who don’t have a right will make us very predictable. Weird nuance but one that won’t get picked up on “the model.” Last week was crap but down to 10, today was a bag of shit. Morris will have to work out what we need for next season because this one will evaporate fast. We were lucky where we were with Lindsey and regression to the mean normally happens. We’re a few players short and it’ll tell

Hutton really annoyed me with a couple of minutes to go. He was tackled, didnt go down, and made no effort whatsoever to try and get the ball back from the opposition player

100% with you Batch

That was really bad.

Morris gets a free pass but I really expected more from him especially with in game management. It wasn't working from the go.

Hutton looked like he was told not to go forward very unlike him positional today. Both Ellis and him had absolutely nothing in front of them.

The cardinal sin is to play darcy and Williams together. Float around the same places.

Cm was disappointing, totally outplayed, passed and moved!

Need to forget about this one quick as that's as bad as it gets

I did mention previously that due to him not getting his move/contract demands matched, he will drop in performance. We've seen his performances dip in the games post transfer window  closing - unfortunately.

Got shot down for that too. Clear to see the player is unhappy but hasn't really earned the right to a wage increase just yet. Maybe end of season if he performs to the level we know he can. I do think though that the club SdM will sell him in the summer instead though.

What the fuck is going on with this Ed Brand situation?

What a waste of an afternoon. We were lucky to come in at half time level, started the second half better and then capitulated. Did we even manage a shot in the box? Feels like all our chances came from afar after faffing about with it in defence and midfield. Can only hope we improve, but with a handful of exceptions it's been dreadful all season and we're lucky to be anywhere near the playoffs.

The longer this drags on you wonder whether Morris will reconsider his position. From the outside we just look such a shambles and it must be even more frustrating for him.

It's STFC we're tinpot and out of our depth a really well run club in all areas.

That was not very good. A question.  Why do we try to play quick freekicks just so we can pass it round and send it fucking backwards.

So frustrating. You don't win through just by having possession.

Genuinely think this is what will happen, wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him walk.

weird isn't it.

are we still under certain conditions with the loans we've received?

does management salary count towards FFP/wage cap?

I was also thinking the same as Morris seems the type who wouldn't take any shit and would walk away.

Leaning that way as well, then the club would really need to answer to the fans.

This is because the league is either incredibly shite so teams can afford to fuck up a bit or it's very competitive and teams are similarly matched. No matter how it is termed, Town are still in with a chance (even autos), just need a smidge of winning consistency not even an unbeaten streak is needed. Could probably afford a form similar to something like WDLWDLWDL and still end up in the POs or even grab 3rd.

At present it doesn't look likely they will do it. Town aren't lucky to be where they are, they are there because they've had the results in the division that puts them there. Where some luck might come into it is that similar patterns of inconsistency of several other teams - possibly around 14 in total - to Town means if a few of those teams improve by just a bit, and the others continue their pattern then you'll reap the benefits of that.

Yeah let’s hope he walks away.
Useless cunt.
100% losing record.


…people saying what a good appointment he was two weeks ago now people gagging for him to go - just so they can have something else to use to moan about the club.

Think a lot of you prefer it when we are shit and things aren’t going well.
Probably miss Lee Power.

Please remember that you're not allowed to state that the club you support is;

A bit Sunday League
Tinpot in areas
A shambles
etc.

May mercy prevail over your wrath.

I guess the idea is to instill a culture of 'intensity' to catch teams off guard...I don't know really because at elite level everyone is doing it. Except it only really works when that intensity is progressive and the ball is moving (or attempted to be moved) in the direction of the opposition goal...

The whole set up at the club is completely wrong to get out of league 2

You need some physical players- we seem to recruit the same type of player who look lightweight for this division


We need to face facts. Until we balance the squad and have a mixture of younger and more experienced players we aren’t getting out of this league

Good post, the squad is too lightweight and inexperienced for league 2 football.

I don’t want him to walk away, I think he is a good appointment.

But something doesn’t feel ‘right’

Where are people gagging for him to go?

The thought crossed my mind as well. It’s barely 3 weeks ago he would have been told that yes, he can have Brand, and that he can have the signings we desperately need. He’s lost three senior players, hasn’t been given his assistant, and we had a poor deadline day - which leaves serious question marks. It would be interesting to know what the real story is, and who is culpable.

And no, I’m not gagging for him to go. I want him to stay and prosper. I think people are simply pointing out how frustrating that past two weeks must have been for someone who would have been given certain assurances….

Much as I tried, I couldn’t make out what was being said

1) I don't think people are hoping he walks away you daft cunt. They're are saying he may do if certain things aren't in place that he was promised/sold by SdM/Clem etc. Brand might be one of those things. Those are totally different approaches. I personally don't HOPE he walks away but it would not surprise me one bit if he walked away before the end of the season.

2) Yeah we all genuinely miss Lesaune Lee's 'pashun' and openness. Actually the one thing that stands out that he did do ''well'' was helping out Martin Ling in regards to his mental health...but helping someone in that regard is different to running a football club; we all know that Pashun Power was only interested in making money for himself.

So don't be a silly boy DiV trying to get a rise out of folk. That's my job - apparently.

Fuck this - off for a Milk Stout or 5  :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint:

Said the same on twitter, he'll walk when he realises he's been sold a pup. Or him and Austin can try and get Clem to wake up.

Its ok though, the stratton bank will have a roof on it

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

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nf17fty-yTE

Today was as bad as some of the Lindsey games his season. Morris gets a free pass but I really hope today isn’t a showing of the football we can expect.  I still reckon we are trying to play a style of football that we don’t have the right blend of players to do it. Round pegs in square holes probably sums it up.

Can’t really single out any players performance to be honest as they were all equally as guilty as each other.  Williams was probably my pick of the best.

It will be good to have Khan back he will add a better dimension in our midfield with Caine and the Bristol lad.

Brand was in the stands today watching the game, not sure what’s happening there but I’m wondering if it’s financial constraints and the wage

Brand has been on the training ground too.
But it must be so frustrating during a game to not have your number 2 next to you, especially when things aren’t working.

In this very thread.
Not in the sense they don’t think he’ll be a good manager but in the sense it’ll be more fuel to add to their fire about how shit & tinpot this football club is and how SdM is worse than Hitler etc etc

18 'as/like I said'
3 'sucker punch'
&
1 'get some food'

 :pint:

He does have a nervous itchy head!

No one has said they want him to go. They think he MAY go though.

Stop trying to fit it to a narrative that you seem to think is prevalent when it is not. People can think some elements aren't too great whilst also recognising some are. The sheer limitations of your (and others) capacity at being able to understand this is seemingly incredulous.

Purely looking for rises from people who haven't even stated 'I WANT Morris to walk' or similar but for some reason you trying to state that they have. Odd.

That’s not what anyone said. Stating the manager sounds frustrated and expressing concern he might feel let down by those above him is pretty understandable but then you knew that.

As for SDM he’s something straight out of the Lee Power era and the sooner he’s gone along with a couple of the other hangers on the better!

When you’ve accepted that we’re going nowhere this season it becomes easier not to fucking explode at the sheer ineptitude of it all. What decent players we thought we had are going backwards and those we thought would improve with a bit of experience haven’t.

The whole model is a crock.

Just read back and I have to agree with most on here particularly Batch’s summary. The first half was poor with only Williams looking useful after a quiet start. Midfield non existent with only Williams looking to run with the ball. Clearly changed things second half with Wakeling more prominent by playing more centrally. Poor defending for the first and poor goalkeeping for the second. Donny were well organised particularly the three big lads at the back. Man of the match for me was the Referee !!!
Nowhere near good enough for a playoff place, far too lightweight at the back and sadly missing a playmaker type. 

I’m resigned to another season in League 2.

We simply don’t have the right mix of players to challenge, and it’s no surprise Morris has pointed out on several occasions we are short. Cain and Kadji is a midfield pairing which would thrive in development football but just isn’t going to get you out of League 2. Darcy is a nothing footballer for me, at best would be cheap back up but he should not be starting.

We are disjointed at the back playing a LB at centre half , inexcusably sold and failed to replace our captain who was the experienced, ‘no nonsense’ type we were all crying out for last season and Iandolo has gone so far backwards it’s ridiculous.

Wakeling really shouldn’t be playing this much football, he’s suffering for it but we just don’t have any other options.

Austin’s performance mirrored Jephcott under Lindsey - completely starved of service.

We’ll have some false dawns no doubt with positive results here and there, but Morris will have worked miracles if he gets this side into the play offs.

I didn’t think we’d see a worse transfer window than last summer, but I think we’ve managed to achieve that on the early evidence…

Ugh. I agree with Chang.

I feel the same and deflated.

We were so deprived of wide players in the squad today and that's all I'm clinging to for the rest of the season.

shade, lavinier, Khan, and tomlinson would have changed the starting 11/bench.

The one remaining positive is Morris on the training pitch- time to prove yourself!

He was in the directors seats today with an earpiece and was communicating with Steve Mildenhall with it from what I could gather.

I don't read it they way. More just worried the shambles will see it happen.

I do wonder why Brand would leave an elite academy role at a club who have the best faculties working with most talented young footballers around to come here as a No2

A route into first team football?
A reunion with the man he worked closely with previously?
More money (?)

I want to be positive about Morris but that is the most worrying thing for me.

Positives from today

We did get crosses in much earlier than under Lindsey and on another day would have had more success.
Cain has a free kick to match Read.
Clayton getting 90 mins

Negatives
4-2-3-1 didn’t work and this was blindingly obvious but morris didn’t change it until it was to late.
Lack of effort - the team really didn’t put ina shift and we’re rightly booed off
Cain and Clayton had a bit of a mare particularly in first half.
We so miss khan as midfield is to soft.
Wakeling and Darcy on pitch at same time leaves us way to light physicality wise.

The manner of the defeat is what is more worrying I can forgive many things but they laid nothing on the line today it was a meek and pathetic performance.

Doncaster well they didn’t look great but they did work hard and constantly pressed up top making it hard for us to get out.  We on the other hand had Charlie expected to do same on his own.

Mid table mediocrity this season unfortunately

Possibly right on all three although I would be surprised if he got more money here but I wouldn't really have a clue on comparison salaries.

If I had to guess the same with Garner to Charlton, announcing Austin, announcing Morris, not getting the paperwork in on the Spurs CB.......dithering and shit/no admin.

I don't like excuses, but it is fair to say we are pretty limited in choices and changes we could make.

Personally I'd have put a more orthodox 2 up in wakeling and Austin and brought Darcy back into midfield 5 (3-5-2).  But maybe they'd be tripping over each other.

Are you reading the same comments as me?

People are clearly saying they're fearful he'll just pack up and fuck off because we're a shambles behind the scenes not that they hope he'll fuck off because he is shit.

I can't see it being that simple given the efl are also being consulted.

my opinion is that either we are mandated to get fa approval on everything, or we are in disagreement with Chelsea over compo/release terms .

never really bought the spurs CB thing. Or rather not totally. There had to be a reason we were late, wage cap or similar. Or maybe they remembered we fucked them over with the luongo sell on!

This

Probably been done for a while, they might announce it before the end of the season.

I haven’t said people want him to fuck off because he’s shit.
They hope he fucks off so they have another stick to beat the club with. Then they can brag about how they told us the club was shambles all along.

The first half was as turgid as any Scott Lindsey team, it was truly fucking dire.

The second half showed some improvement and I thought we were going to sneak it 1-0, but once we conceded the two goals we just didn’t show the determination or will to get back in the game.

My son asked me today, do we have enough points to stay up, I think that shows which way this season is going

A smidge different as playing personnel but Town also had spursy lad, Fagin-Dodger or whatever his name was, on the training ground too... :hmmm:

No one has said anything of the sort!

I didn’t realise just how bad our form is.

3 wins since October, which is 3 wins in 13 games. 

neither did I. thanks for that

Based on our last 100 games in league 2 we're about on par where we should be.

Between Sutton (H) 13th September and Mansfield (A) 29th October we won 7 league games out of 10, losing only to Stevenage and Northampton (although we also lost two FL Trophy games in that run)

The game after that was Stockport in the FA Cup which more or less broke us - that's the start of Quagmire's 3 in 13 run, 12 in the league plus the FA Cup exit. We've failed to score in six of those games, scored 12, conceded 18.

*I really hope Jody Morris fucks off so I have another stick to beat the club with. Then I can brag about how I've told all of you that the club is a shitshow all along!

I hope that satisfies DiVs appetite enough to now justify his narrative and we can all move on. I can see where he might be coming from - even if NO ONE has actually seriously stated the above.







*I genuinely do not want this to happen, what might be different is that I felt Morris would be a better No.2 but as others have stated, I think we all want him to do well and be a success whilst he's here. But there is a caveat/feeling that he may walk if he hasn't been given the resource he has asked for/was guaranteed/agreed to sign when negotiating becoming Town manager. That's it. I wouldn't mind one bit if Jody Morris took Town all the way to the Champions League Final within 6 or 7 years as manager but I think there is a higher chance he would walk before the seasons end than that happening

7 of them 18 have been in the last 3 games, which is worrying.

Last 10 games

That's quite an interesting stat Jimmy and I guess covers all of 19/20 season, all of 21/22 season and this season (22/23) to date?

I guess 19/20 season probably skews that a smidge and I feel last season and this season seem more similarly matched...these two seasons also seem very similar to the Flitcroft season. If only in whereabouts Town might finish this season.

Still hopeful of Town finishing in the POs due to how wank the division is but it'll be a glaring indictment of where the club are at currently, if we do indeed consider how poor the league really is.

PS: Is that last paragraph also me laying the seed to bash the club if they don't make the POs?! Possibly so but it definitely isn't me saying I want the manager to walk is it? Just making sure :)

I think anyone on here who was to accept a finish outside of the PO spots was a good thing or decent would be very disappointing to read imo.

Think its 6 not 7 but coincides with old MacDonald, Gladwin and Reed all disappearing.

Awful transfer business, utterly clueless.   You can't expect kids who've played a handful of games to be consistent enough to get you promoted.   They need people to mentor and guide them.

Today, the 1st half was as boring as I've ever seen.  Just do not understand how they expect 10k people to pay for that every week.

Gilingham - 3
Newport - 2
Doncaster - 2

Apologies beer got the better of me again

Spot on.
We are going backwards on the pitch.
First 11 no where near the quality we had last season. Sure more depth but they can stick the model up their arse if they think that is acceptable.
90 minutes of shite. Pissed off, the drive home felt endless.

The transfer window a shambles.

If we use 75 points as the Magic number for 7th spot we need 33 points from 17 games (51) win 10 draw 3 lose 6 or win 9 draw 6 lose 2 (highly unlikely)

Bristol Rovers went on that fantastic run coming from nowhere but they brought in quite a players in the January window to strengthen their squad......

This season is pretty much done, we're a poor side now.
TBH it doesn't feel that we've really tried on the pitch this year.   

I assume Lindsey didn’t agree with the strategy of selling the captain and vis captain in Jan, which is why he went to Crawley. Maybe that had to happen to pay for Austin … clem would then be responsible for that not Sandro

I don’t think financially things are as good at the club as what is portrayed- back office and shop staff often paid late.

So much for transparency

Without knowing the specifics of what went on, there's no point in blaming individuals.  What we do know is that the last 2 windows have made us a significantly worse side than we were this time last year, so the recruitment strategy isn't working and lessons need to be learned.

Making up the numbers in div 4 is an abject failure so it's clearly not intentional.

My son works for club and has not been paid late.

From Pookeman
‘My son works for club and has not been paid late.’

Well, over to you then…

Agreed, even prior to today’s shambles my old sixth sense was niggling away as there now appears to be a distinct lack of “spirit” in the team which all successful sides seem to have. The body language of the players (and even Morris today) do not appear to be as one which is not a good sign in a team situation.

Perhaps this game was only a blip in the ongoing saga of STFC but I am concerned that we are nowhere near where we hoped to be this season and the next couple of fixtures will tell us where we are actually heading.p

Fucking hell. That was grim.
 
Baffling to see posters on here more interested in picking holes in what others are saying about current ongoings at STFC than addressing what’s actually happened/happening at the club.

Drama/Overreaction if you’re moaning about Morris. He’s had two weeks. 1 day in transfer window (coincidence
? Haha). He’s gonna need time. Big old change for him in all. Back him fully. He’s been pretty open in his frustrations already, ie not getting players in deadline day, training ground, Ed Brand…

As for the game. No shocks they peppered our left side- wonder why? I wasn’t Macdonalds biggest fan but fucking hell we missed him today. Midfield? Don’t even get me started. Weasels. Darcy bottling every tackle and just moves about like a headless chicken. Seen more fucking bark in a sausage dog than him. Kadji played like a 19 year old who’s only ever had a run of more than 2 games at Bath city -oh wait. Jake Cain is supposed to be an upgrade on Louis Reed? Fuck me. cain might turn out to be a good player - but if he’s not a better player than Reed right now then it’s even worse business than we first thought, thought it was bad enough selling to a promotion rival. Wakeling seems absolutely shot of confidence/form. Some of these players just ain’t up to it. Austin’s a legend and all that, and will score goals if we get into him in the box- but whilst we’re unable to find his head/foot in box- in the nicest way he’s offering very little. Players didn’t look up for it today imo? Fans flat as fuck, wouldn’t think it was Morris first game. Zero push in week from club about it either. None of it helps.

Is Ed Brand really an issue with EFL? Or is slow slow compo Swindon striking again? Issues with garner, issues with Lindsey… who knows.

Fucking rotten transfer window - January Replacements - Kadji for Gladwin. Cain for Reed. Macdonald gone, yet no replacement and we needed a centre half regardless of Macdonalds future. Shot ourselves in he foot. Get this average age down any more it will be a cunting nursery.

Where I know a few Wigan fans who have never heard of him, and they are on their supporters trust

I can't see a team needing 75pts to make get into 7th place. If 75pts was the target, that would mean Stockport (currently in 7th) would need to maintain around a 1.8ppg form in order to finish where they are now...ironically reading the "Last 10" chart they have a 2.0ppg form! It certainly means Stockport can probably afford to drop form a smidge, maybe even as low as 1.5ppg and still finish in that final PO position.

Only 4 teams in the division are on a 1.8ppg form or better (from the last 10 games: Stockport, Colchester, Carlisle, Sutton). We can probably discount Colchester, who on 31 games have 34pts so even if they maintained their very good run of form (2.0ppg) would only manage 64pts and at best would probably miss out on POs by a couple of wins, possibly a case of too little too late. That leaves only 3 teams on 1.8ppg or better. If maintained Stockport would finish on 79pts and would probably see them finish in 4th place, maybe 3rd if Carlisle's form were to dip. Carlisle (1.9ppg) would finish on 82pts and possibly see them hold their current position in 3rd or maybe 2nd if Orient continue their dip in form. Sutton (1.8ppg and in a similar pts situation to Town but much better form) would finish on 70pts and I think that could be the ballpark figure for finishing 7th. Poss 69pts or 71pts. But not 75pts. It seems too high and the league is poorer than that overall.

Let's consider Town's form, which in the last 10 is poor at 1.1ppg. Maintaining that form, they would finish on about 61pts. Which of course is not good enough. A form of 1.6ppg would see them finish on 69pts which might be enough if others form were to dip but that could rely on GD and is pushing it a bit. A form of 1.7ppg though would see them finish on 71pts which I think would be enough to clinch 7th. It's certainly a big ask to see a 55% improvement on Town's current form, from next Tues onwards though! If they went on an unbeaten WDWD form at 2ppg rate (an 82% improvement effectively overnight...) then Town would finish on 76pts which would most likely result in a comfortable 4th place finish.

It certainly makes the versus Sutton match a "must win" on Tuesday if Town are serious about making the POs at a minimum so that match does become a PO contender "six pointer".

Anything written above was all a quick calc so apologies if any errors. Here's a "Final Table" based on all the teams current pts and applying ppg (from their last 10 games) form using the chart you posted. If nothing else it is interesting to see where each team would/might finish. Currently Town would finish about 15th...which I don't think any of us would accept.

League Two PPG Final Table
==========================================
Team                    Played      Pts      PPG      Pts Gain     Prj Pts
==========================================
Stevenage                 28          57         1.7        30.6            88
Leyton Orient             31          63         1.3        19.5            83
Carlisle United            30          52         1.9        30.4            82
==========================================
Stockport County        29          45         2.0        34               79
Salford City                30          48         1.7        27.2            75   
Mansfield Town           29          46         1.6        27.2            73   
Northampton Town  29         50         1.3        22.1            72
==========================================
Walsall                      27         41         1.6        30.4            71
Sutton United           30         41         1.8        28.8            70
Doncaster Rovers        29         43          1.5        25.5            69
Bradford City              28         43          1.2        21.6            65
Colchester United        31         34          2.0       30                64
AFC Wimbledon           29         40         1.4        23.8             64
Tranmere Rovers         30         41         1.4        22.4             63
SWINDON TOWN      29         42         1.1        18.7            61   
Newport County          28          30         1.6        28.8            59
Grimsby Town             26          33         1.0        20               53
Barrow                       30          42         0.7        11.2            53   
Harrogate Town          28          27         1.4        25.2            52       
Hartlepool United        30          26         1.4        22.4            48
Crewe Alexandra      28         34         0.7        12.6            47           
Gillingham                28         24         1.1        19.8            44
==========================================
Crawley Town          27         25          0.9        17.1            42          
Rochdale                   30          23          0.6          9.6            33

When Morris first came in he said high pressing football and mixing up styles. Reading between the lines I think he’s hinted that the players weren’t at the fitness levels he wants when they joined and to be fair the Gillingham game proved that with 3/4 players cramping up. Maybe yesterdays performance was a consequence of harder training and heavy legs, they seemed to lack energy and gave the ball away countless times with little or no pressure. When Morris joined I said to my old man we may lose the first few while the players get fitter, which is what’s happened so far. Do agree with all comments though recruitment in January was poor and very stupid to lose MacDonald and not replace him (FWIW the spurs lad may have been good but the defence would have still lacked experience).

This looks a bit ominous. If he’s out for a while we’re even more fucked.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid034gGxnurr6kZoHMM4YScyDNjbX3SiS4rhNXnRiQYAeRE1BpkQj6iMLpwaiT5cagcRl&id=100063706591918

8 out of yesterday’s starting 11 only had about 250 league appearances between them. Only Iandolo, Williams and Austin have any substantial experience behind them.

Add in Khan, Brennan, Lavinier, RHM and, obviously, our youngsters, it lays bare the sheer lack of EFL experience.

Surely, Morris - or any manager - must see the need for more experienced players. He must know we’ll never get promoted using the present model. Hopefully, part of him accepting the job was he has a more hands-on role in recruitment.

Your last paragraph might partially explain the time it took to get his signature? And on that topic, did I hear late into the second half of yesterday’s radio comms a mention by either AG or AH that Brand is at the club?

No he's not. Listen back to JM post match on BBC Wilts... he's massively pissed off with the situation hence people suggesting he may walk.

Still, at least we're doing God's work in Karachi.

Brand was there yesterday but was up in the stands

I meant to add the referee was poor too - how do the officials not see through the situation where a player goes down, rolls around a couple of times, looks up - sees no sign of a card for the tackler and so rolls again, card comes out, player makes a recovery like Lazarus. Maybe the NHS should get a supply of yellow cards to help people get better more quickly.
That happened on both Town bookings yesterday.

I was having the same thoughts on the way we played may be down to harder training, which would hopefully improve with time, do we have enough time left in the season though.

At the risk of going full spreadsheet, thought there was something interesting in the WhoScored player ratings/stats - they have Dylan Kadji as our best player yesterday by some distance (only player rated above 7). Raised an eyebrow but his defensive stats are actually low key impressive: 5 tackles, 3 interceptions. Interceptions in particular aren't something we've been very good at this season - only MacDonald, Brennan and Reed average 1 a game or better.

He did give the ball away a few times, but it's an interesting one, bit better at breaking up opposition play than I saw on the day. Worth keeping an eye on.

Perhaps not but similar could develop as we did under Wellens. Come in half a season in, work out what you like / don’t like and sort it out in the summer for a title charge next year. If we went up in current state we’d get battered next year which seems kind of pointless. Obviously want us to go up but maybe next year might be the better time for it

Useless managerial stat time.
Since Gorman I think that only Roy Evans & possibly Iffy managed to lose their first two games in charge.

Mighty oaks from small acorns & all that, so it's important to keep the faith.

Finishing in the a play off position is not out of the question and that should still be the aim.

Having Khan, Lavinier, Shade, Tomlinson & RHM available again will both improve the quality and provide some different options.
Lavinier in particular might be worth a gamble to see what he can do further up the pitch.

It would be very disappointing to end up outside the top the seven.
Having said that I'd trade the remainder of the season being written off* in return for automatic promotion next and consolidation in 2024-25.

*This means Morris getting the breathing room to learn the trade, improve the players, develop the preferred style of play, improve the infrastructure as he sees fit and getting the backing in the summer.

We also have to give Morris time to adapt as he will be used to working with players that are more technically gifted.

Anyway, didn't really give the opposition the credit they deserved

They may be 'limited' but aren't most teams in this league one way or another.

Firstly I thought they pressed our back line well from goal kicks, it made it hard to play out.

Secondly I thought they held shape and discipline well too. They slipped five into the back line or of possession and seemed to double up on Hutton when they could. He didn't have his best game.

Yes we deserved the goals poorly, but they kept us at arms length pretty much at all times. With a fully fit town squad maybe we'd have pushed them more.

Havent read back.

Sheeeesh!

That was proper dogshit!

I had to wrack my brains to remember when we played so bad (with me witnessing it in the stands)....Williams?

I was prepared to write off Newport as a blip but fuck me that was bad.

Nearly took the lead at the end against the run of play with that free kick.

Conceded two really poor goals from crap defending and it really should of been more.

I do not academy, tip tap football at this level.

67% of the play Saturday, 57% away at Newport and lost both.... against teams that didnt really need to up their game to beat us.

I didnt boo at the end but Charlie should just clap all four sides and walk off, dont engage with it. Harry Kane could of played up front on Saturday and not made a difference.

It does show, however, what Sheridactyl got away with.

IMO the appointment of Lindsey is proving very costly to this football club, Sandros bullshit spin about Lindsey being the obvious choice haunts me.

A season of reasonable expectation is slipping away from us.

I will be there tomorrow night. It can only get better.....surely?

You've done this long enough to know better.

But also unexpected wins occur all the time. Honestly. We are capable.

This is how I'm feeling at the moment. It'll take a concerted uptick in form to get back to play off contenders and I'm not sure we have the personnel for that currently.

Also thought that was a top away performance from Doncaster, they hardly put a foot wrong and didn't even need to resort to any dark arts. Second half they weathered our 'storm' (more like an April shower) and got two sucker punch goals. I've not watched them back yet but feel like Brynn should probably have done better at his near post. They kept us at arms length, it was comfortable for them. Great reward for the travelling fans.

Difficult to know where to start on looking back on Saturday, I felt fairly confident that Jody Morris would get off to a good start, and I dread to think how my 2-1 prediction has affected my top of the table perch in the prediction league!

The good news was that I was joined (metaphorically) by Antony Grant on the Ifollow comms, I enjoyed his musings last time but this time he grated somewhat. You have to give him his due that he watched the game as a fan but it would have been nice to have a bit more of his insight rather than 'Jesus Christ' 'Wake up Wakeling' etc etc as well as the constant focus on the Premier league scores. I suppose that sums up the overall performance that the general was so negative. First half seemed so sluggish, it looked like Doncaster had more zip about them and they moved the ball quicker than us in my eyes. Clayton and Wakeling couldn't seem to do anything right and Hutton's body language didn't look right either. The only positive was that Iandolo and Williams appeared to be working reasonbly well down the left, a couple of neat interchanges, but really that's scaping the barrel, a lot! Oh I forgot Jake Cain hit the bar with a free kick, he certainly looks like he's going to be useful from set pieces.

Second half there seemed to be an upping of levels and Wakeling must have taken the general's points on board as he looked a lot livelier. But despite that, not a lot happened, Doncaster looked comfortable, yet ANOTHER visiting goalkeeper picking up a pay packet for doing next to nothing, the stats say 1 shot on target but I can't remember what that was. The first change came on 78 minutes and did Jeff Cott even touch the ball after that? How on earth did the pitiful Ronan Darcy manage to play the full 90? I know there isn't a lot of options on the bench but surely Aguiar for 30 minutes was worth a go? Austin was frustrated, the crowd booed us off and it was a terrible day at the office.

I personally don't think JM is going to be able to get his ideas across in time to lead us to promotion this season, too many injuries and suspensions and not enough options at the back. On that showing Clayton and FBT doesn't look great, we are desperate for Tomlinson to come in and play. The midfield was pretty shocking as well, Darcy appalling and Kadji has a heavy touch on him, often his second touch is a tackle. Cain up and down. Up front Wakeling is really struggling and I think he might be trying too hard, he needs something good to happen on the pitch soon. And Charlie got bugger all service.

The ghost of Scott Lindsey still looms large, that has to change.

Not just the ghost of Scott Lindsey Bob the players he's been given aren't up to scratch!

Yet it seems that Mad Gav managed to banish said ghost for the games he was in charge, if it looks like Morris is going to just play back and forth tippy tappy in front of teams again I can't see him getting very long before we just have a repeat of the outcome for Lindsey?

Don't disagree with any of that.

It really doesn't bode well that a team should be so flat and play so badly for a new manager when, in the previous two games they showed signs of being a decent team.

You can't help but wonder WTF is going on behind the scenes.

Keep seeing the idea that it’s the players, Sandro & even SL to blame for the turgid crap that was served up on Saturday. If that’s the case then how come the team played with so much more intent in the two games under mad Gav?

I understand that it’s going to take Morris time to get the team playing how he wants, but I don’t see how we can keep blaming everyone else

Let’s be brutally honest, on reflection Grimsby were awful on the day and gave up once they were down to 10 men plus there was the Austin bounce.

Against Gillingham it was just a basketball match, neither team could defend for toffee and it was just pure chaos on the pitch and Gillingham sitting back whilst not being able to defend played right into our hands.

I think it was more coincidence with the opposition and way the matches went rather than anything specific Gunning did.

If you want to be brutally honest Morris is an academy coach & is trying to play the same way as Lindsey.

Regardless of how poor Grimsby & Gillingham might have been we played with far more attacking intent.

We didn’t spend the game aimlessly passing the ball across the back four with little or no attacking intent.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think Gav was the answer, but the players seemed to play with much more freedom, maybe it was just lower expectations.

Hopefully I’m right here, but people aren’t stupid. If it’s obvious to us that the academy approach isn’t working then it needs changing. Carrying on regardless isn’t an option. The club goes nowhere, the young players recruited cannot showcase their talent to attract a decent fee, fans drift away. What’s the point. Nobody benefits from that.

Let's hope he's experienced enough to know when to inject a bit of pragmatism into things.

With SL the players didn't seem to be improving again I'd hope that JM can do better.  

It's very early days and the squad is seriously short of experience.   We've also changed the entire midfield in Jan which will take weeks to get to any sort of rhythm and rips the heart out if the team.   It's a huge risk and borderline  suicidal really.

It was interesting watching some of the build up to the Superbowl this week that they were praising coaches that play to the strengths of their players rather than have a rigid system of play.

I think that’s even more important for teams like us, because unlike under Paolo we can’t just keep signing players to fit how the manager wants to play. It’s going to take time for Morris to get in players to play his way, just hope he stays around long enough to build his team.

Neither did I, but it would have looked odd standing at the bus stop  :)

Posh - I would say mad Gav had better options available to him, especially on the bench. That certainly helped him in the gills game. He did have the balls to change it mind

I'm not saying the game plan under Morris looked good. But I'm not sure whether it's a fair comparison until some absentees/injuries come back.

We’ll need to give Morris more than two games before we can accurately suggest what is going on.

From the extremely small sample size of Gav & Morris it looks like a former lower league player setting up / managing a lower league team v a former top level(ish) player who has spent years as an academy coach working with technically gifted youngsters trying to get lower league players to play like top young talent in games not really based on results.

It’s a fair point, and we did say before the game Saturday the missing players was a concern, what was worrying was the lack of urgency with the players.
The good thing was that Morris (in his post match interview) said the same thing so hopefully it’s something he knows needs to change

It is a good point, for both games he had Lavinier, Khan and Shade available, all of which would either start or be capable of changing the game coming off the bench. As well as MacDonald starting the Grimsby game which helped.

None of those 4 have been available since Morris took over.

Considerable mitigating circumstances.

I gave this answer before, I think it is really tricky to read anything into the two games of interim charge.  In the Grimsby game they went down to 10 men and in the Gills game a tactical blunder put us on course for the wrong end of a rout.  Fortunately in the latter they did not score more than 3 in the first half and we did fix the mistake.

Both games though are marked by the people being in charge being able to fully gamble - hence the disaster that unfolded for the first 30 mins or so in the Gills game.  Their future careers were not on the line, they knew they could roll the dice and afford to spend all the chips.  I do not think they'd continue in the same approach if they were taking full control, otherwise every team would try it.  Very few teams have been a success by just throwing caution to the wind on attacking intent  Kevin Keegan is one of the few Manager I can think of in the English leagues and he got worked out - the last few games as England Manager were dire.

The one thing we can read from those two games is that the players have it in them to play a different way.  If Morris can find a tune then he maybe can extract more than Lindsey from them.  It will be tough though, we've ripped apart last seasons team on purpose and ended up with one that does not look good enough for promotion on paper.  The play offs are not out of sigh though - but it won't be long before a few teams begin to pull away.

The support this season has been excellent as far as numbers are concerned but the atmosphere on Saturday was non existent. A few tried to get things going but most were just resigned to the inevitable outcome once they realised it was like watching the Lindsey show part two. A young lad sat next to me turned to his dad and said “this is boring can we go home”? This was before Doncaster scored ! This summed things up for me, I looked around at my fellow Town fans and whilst most were following the game there was no real enthusiasm or excitement on anyones face.
I travelled 120 miles to watch the game and yet again left at the end without booing the team off but I did feel I had been duped into paying to watch unimaginative,unattractive and uninspiring football. Foolishly I arrived early thinking there would be a new manager introduction and with it an attempt to get the atmosphere a bit more buoyant. I fail to understand why the club continue to miss these opportunities to engage with the supporters.
I want to believe in the relatively new direction the club are going but something doesn’t feel right to me.

Can someone start a Sutton matchday thread.

Long short: When I do I can't use my phone app to reply in it.

The presser is due to start any time now..

The biggest problem with the way that we play is that we seem extremely reluctant to move forwards with the ball at any kind of pace. This means that we become very easy to play against because we can easily be contained in our own half by 2 or 3 opposition players pressing us.

When we get the midfield involved, more often that not they play the ball backwards again as its the safest option. Players in the middle need confidence and abiity to move forward with the ball and find a pass to the feet of an attacker, or a through ball, or in front of a winger/full-back. Trouble is at the moment, our two midfielders are both youngsters who look like they have an awful lot to learn in the game before they are ready for this level. I'd be tempted to drop Williams back into one of these positions as we know he's very comfortable on the ball.

I know its not a great comparison, but I watched Man City yesterday, who are presumably the playing style we're looking to implement (yes I know their players are far superior) and the way the full-backs pass to the midfielders, and then move forwards with the ball really isn't that complex. Yes they make it look easy because they're so good, but what's the point of trying to play this way if we haven't got the players to do it?

The biggest warning sign for me at the moment is the amount of chances we are making. Next to none. And we simply won't win enough matches when we struggle to score when more often than not, the opposition will score against us.

Talking of Lavinier, in one of the press conferences, SM said he was very surprised to see him being utilised as a LWB, so it will be interesting to see where he plays him once he is fit again.

I think the club misses Danny Lee - which is a worry, because you shouldn't be reliant on a single person.  It was a year ago now, but my visit to the club shop suggested we were run by a team of willing but inexperienced volunteers (I assume they are actually paid employees, but that was the vibe).

Look, the problem with academy football at our level is that the players needed to pull it off have to be good.

To nullify it at our level opposition players only have to be competent.

Agreed. If we go to academy footy + a couple they have to be league competitive, i.e.  capable of promotion.

It only costs £3 a game to watch the likes of Liverpool academy BTW. Value for money?

Suppose depends what you want to watch and what attachment you have to the clubs involved. Its a tenner to watch a Northern Prem game in comparison where the quality will be invariably worse, but be more 'action' involved.

Tomorrow:

Williams is out with concussion. We knew instantly he would be unavailable, and we are assessing him. He took a really bad knock and he wasn't feeling great. Shade, Lavinier, Tomlinson not available. RHM still suspended.

yeah, sorry, it was silly. Just frustration at club direction bubbling through again.

Urghhhh. We are fucked with the squad we have at the moment then

As we have been have playing the same style of "possession" football for one and a half seasons now it is painfully obvious that any self respecting opposition manager would be getting the same feedback from their tactical scouts and work out a plan to negate us. That was obvious from the first whistle again Saturday where Doncaster pressured fairly high, kept a good shape and let us pass around at the back to our hearts content without causing them any real problems. On the odd occasion we did move forward with a greater intent and there was the possibility of something happening, it all came to nothing and the shots on target stats say it all. I would assume that JM has enough about him to realise that we are struggling somewhat and can work a little bit of knowhow to get us back on a more even keel.

I worry we just can't do that with the best 11 we have available at the moment.

Its League Two ffs. Too many mistakes happen defensively to willingly play with the ball in the wrong half for large chunks of the game.

It’s what I said earlier. It’s difficult to play successfully, but easy to nullify by opponents at L2 level.

What's the league got to do with it? I am agreeing with you aren't i that the starting 11 isn't any fucking good? What you disagreeing with now for the sake of it

No, I'm not. I'm agreeing. It didn't really read clear. Its my frustration with the style of play. Even if you have the best players in League Two if you piss about it at the back for too long you will concede. Its the nature of the level.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/21361022/charlie-austin-funny-comeback-confront-fan/

What you're gonna do, yeah, is in about half an hour, go home, have a pint and a chinese, yeah? PARK LIFE