Thetownend.com

Could really do with a win here, four losses in a row is not what any new coach needs.

Looking at the presser notes, it's not great news on injuries:


Last game of RHM's suspension. No new injuries. Expecting a pretty similar team to vs Sutton, just because we don't have much else.

Salford 3 Swindon 0 Att: 2690 (650 Town fans) plan for a rebuild in the summer!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VeD97eGN1wk

Unfortunately can’t see anything other than another defeat, however would be just typical Swindon to somehow shithouse a 1-0 win

Another defeat.

We need the injured players back asap, then Morris can start with a clean slate, its not his fault he has inheritied an injured and weak squad, difficult to change things in the 1 day of his appointment before the deadline window closed.

Very disappointed Tomlinson is quite away away. Discussion about this have happened elsewhere on the TEF about it being a bit of a loss leader so we can buy for next year - I'm a bit surprised given we seen to be chasing every penny.  Perhaps the Peterborough deal over wages is good.

Lavinier a big loss too. Was starting to make big impacts in games.
-------
Given its 'as you were' I'm a bit worried about this one. Austin and a couple of others will have heavy legs.

Cain will be fresh, wouldn't be surprised to see him come in. Let's see how he looks with khan along side.

I was inexplicably optimistic Tuesday, can't see beyond a 2 goal loss here

We haven't had a draw for a while, so I'll predict a draw.

Yeah, the only real options I guess are Cain, Wakeling and Darcy over Kadji, Jephcott and McEachran. I wouldn't be surprised to see McEachran start from the bench after starting on Tuesday.

I watched the EFL highlights from Tuesday night and the pitch at Salford looks awful!  :(

Had one more recently than a win  :cry:
 
Just can't see us keeping the scoring down against a team of experienced giants so may have to go gung ho.

4-3 defeat

I bought a ticket as Im working in Victoria Warehouse in Manc on Sunday so it worked out well to go the day early.  It was back when I was full of optimism about a new broom and all that sort of shit.  Im now tempted to stay at home but I may as well go.

3 nil loss incoming.

https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/1626572299137691649


 :( :badmood:

The tone of this tweet says all you need to know about the clubs ambitions- underdogs at Salford.
'Premier League Thinking'  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I keep predicting defeats and we keep getting them so I'm going for a win this time. 2-1 in our favour with a brace from Charlie.

I've witness two games this year, Harrogate (A) and Walsall (H). Both defeats, so I'm hoping the record improves tomorrow. Not optimistic but stranger things have happened.

Injuries and suspensoins are killing us right now. Expect Cain to start after being on the bench midweek.

Can't see us winning this, Salford to win 4-0

The injury situation is mad. Has any coach had to shovel so much shit straight away? Fucking hell.

The comms just gets worse, that's shocking wording.   It's not as if the P word hasn't caused them an issue in the last few weeks.

Can anyone who's been to Salford remember if there's anywhere to stick up a flag in the away end?

Thanks.

Another turgid Morris performance and resounding defeat.
How long are we going to put up with this?

Maybe wait to see whether the performance is indeed turgid before asking the question?  Hell, we may not even lose.

(https://i.giphy.com/media/WRp58hy5gmfjpMzHAZ/giphy.webp)

Given he defended SL for a long time, I'm 99% sure he is mocking people who wanted Lindsey out quickly. It seems to have become an ongoing shtick.

Which is weird considering they were proved right, so why on earth would you mock them?

Not to mention the obvious differences to the two situations that he either lacks the mental capacity to understand or doesn't care and is being a twat anyway.

Really not sure what the angle is with it.

: 🎣

Yep i remeber being stood infront of one at the back of the terrace last season.

Thanks, £m 웃.

(https://media.tenor.com/h3oGlz5RHcsAAAAM/fishing-sassy.gif)

Town win 6-5
Att: 655, three hundred twenny eight from Town
BTTB
Any player to make a blatant handball but the ref shrugs it off. Full Time report states, 'Although it looked like a handball - I'm led to believe the ball struck his penis'

Salford in raptures as they release a 656 point plan as to how they will definitely be a Premier League side within four years. They miss out the Northern part that precedes Premier League.

Jeffcott sent off

Another cock and ball story from bamboo  ;D

If ya can't laugh when faced with relative adversity, what can ya do?  ;)

We are going to win tomorrow.

Back of the terrace.
See you tomorrow.

We may but will the Town?  ;)

I bloody hope so fella

Feels like it may already be over on current form. Got the same feeling I had after the Newport and Orient games last season. Although, this time it’s the middle of February and we still have 16 games left to sort this out.

Hoping to see some ‘Big developments going on behind [in front of] the scenes’. A performance suggestive of a side capable of putting on some late season form when it matters.

COYR

Pre match about to dull the senses in The Paramount.
It needs doing.

Have to admire the clever marketing that sold Manchester as a funky destination to visit.
Haven't seen any beggars, there's normally one on every street corner.
Are there death squads in operation?

So, it all seems a bit in the doldrums doesn't it.
On the pitch and amongst the fans.
Going to the game has just won out over going on a Mark E Smith pub crawl. Then again visiting any pub around here would pretty much fulfil the latter.
Must try and make time to visit a Joseph Holt pub.

Our first encounter with a dodgy weather beaten pitch today.
Overnight rain, so could cut up.
No excuse for it these days.
Salford could do with wealthy owners who are prepared to put some money in.
At least the conditions might not be conducive to playing out from the back today, which might help us.

Another 100% record to defend today after 2 successive wins here.
A draw would stop the rot.

Hopefully the pleasant walk from the tram stop to the ground won't be the highlight of the day.

Expecting a 2-3 goal dicking.

Nah, we won’t score that many

Where is your piece of piss 4-1 win today? :D

Fuck that

This is when you know we're shit.

Johnathan Smith on co-comms today.

I was thinking the very same thing!

Must admit I haven't looked forward to a game less than this since Sheridan left.

Very low expectations for me today.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FpQO2BaWIAE2Oq2?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

Cain for Kadji and Wakeling for Jephcott reduces our physicality a fair bit. Adeloye back on the bench for Kanu.

I’m going to be positive and say 2-1 town.   Just so they can get our hopes up and the cruely crush our dreams once again.   :headhurts:

Is Kadji injured?   He’s not even on the bench!

Right, in the ground, back of the terrace.
Unobtrusive & going sight unseen as usual.
Hopefully won't get covered over by some manky flag.

Bare patches on the pitch. Nice.
Quite breezy but maybe less so than in the city centre this morning.

I see several Salford fans on their forum are not confident about playing us on the back of 2 winless games, they are stating how scared they are of Charlie Austin, and rightly so.

must be I suppose

Jonathan Smith (PDC era midfielder) on co-comms I think, trying out some new co-comms recently. He's still playing for the *other* pretend Manchester United side.

IFollow is only giving me the option for radio commentary. Is there no TV option today?

Are you overseas? Saturday 3pm games only available to those with handy private jets.

Pitch looks... brown.

kadji is out through illness. just heard on BBC wilts

Pitch is pathetic.   

Interesting as they're meant to be more of a footballing side than most in L2, it doesn't look like it'll help that!

Ten points for Salford playing The Pogues (and not *that* one) before the game.

He's unwell

they'll don't egg chase on it do they?

I know they get a lot of rain up there but it looks pretty shit

Don't think so, the Rugby League side play in Sale.

Oh good, Matt Smith (the massive striker version). That'll end well.

I do like our black and white away kit

Morris Out

0-1

That was really neat to be fair.

Probably four players without anyone tight to them involved in that move though. A long way to go, but not good.

soapy tit wank

Pathetic!

Cain and Iandolo both defending on their heels. Really poor stuff.

(good finish tho)

Classic Iandolo
Classic left side
Classic Swindon

I'm a lot behind but fucking hell that was simple cut 1-0. yes they played it well but not a foot near them. nice finish

midfielder nearly waltzed through a minute before too

That goal was easily avoided. They are playing the type of style we should.

McEachran's first touch looks some way above what you'd expect at this level, reminds me of DJ a little who just seemed to be able to control the ball better than his teammates.


Agree, it was a nice training ground routine, but our defence were about as active as the cones you'd play it round in training...

Get a firestick with IPTV on and everything is available.

How far clear of the relegation spots are we? Fuck we're awful right now.

How can we look vulnerable when we have a corner ?

16 points, I don't think we'd go down if we lost every game for the remainder of the season, we already have three points more than Oldham (23rd) got last year in total.

I'm only 10 minutes in. we've had the ball a bit after the goal but we've got fuck all challenge coming in from central midfield.

jeeez

No home comms,even on the app?

I’m sorry to play my usual tune, but Iandolo has missed about 80% of his passes so far.

He's been the more impressive wing back so far... and I don't mean that as a compliment!

Both full backs are poor and have been for a while.

Agree. Khan is watching people run past. Not sure what Cain offers. McEachran and Iandolo sharing same space with FBT.

Shape looks all over the shop

Cain looks neat and tidy on the ball, but agree he looks a passenger off it.

Cain had done bugger all since he's got here.

but it's very early days for him

Proper shocking challenge from Iandolo there, very lucky to get away with that! Basically stamped on the lad's ankle from behind, not even given as a free kick. As they say, you've seen those given!

And Hutton seems to be carrying on working to rule and not running at players.

The difference in defensive organisation is stark between these two teams

yup.

teams have also got wise and tried to cut him out.. But no denying he's miles off where he was before the window

Very lucky for Salford that the ref has decided to keep Iandolo on the pitch.

Nice! 😂

Khan’s got good feet. Like the way he drives forward. 

1-1

 :clap: :clap:

Lovely stuff. Wakeling's first goal since October! Proper Hutton cross as well.

1-1 Wakeling good finish.

Let’s hope we can hang on for the point now.

Very tidy finish

Jakey Wakey!!!!! GET RIGHT IN

Get in Wakeling. Hopefully a much needed confidence booster for him.

Really unusual finish there, he sort of helped the cross in its way rather than a traditional shot. Worked a treat though!

Nice one Jakey nice one son, nice one Jakey lets have another one!  :nod:

what a finish!

It's always our home comms that don't work. Bloody annoying

Nice finish from Wakeling. Hope Hutton has now remember what happens when he crosses!

I wonder if this is the first time a League Two game has featured a Gambian on each side? (Khan and Touray)

Reading this thread, can somebody change the tagline to 25% supporters, 80% moaners.  Turning into Arsenal TV this place..

Happy clapper!!!

When one starts they follow like sheep!

:D

How have they not scored there.

Class from Wakeling. Giving ball away so cheaply. Hutton’s gotta keep getting at them on the right

Credit where it's due, efficient use of space to park the coaches on the roof of the stand.

Just caught up!

Hospital passes between Clayton, FBT to Khan who tries to dribble out from the box and gets tackled by 2 strikers, one of whom whacks the ball against the bar!

Still strange how little we are trying to get it down the right

Salford's defensive shape really is excellent, they shepherd our passing back into our half again and again without really having to put too much pressure on, just make the easiest ball a ball backwards and watch us go.

we've been a tad fortunate, but 1-1 so who cares

We don't usually need much encouragment to play a backwards pass.

They transition well too. There is a gaping hole in the middle of our midfield.

Oh fuck FBT's hurt himself and immediately flagged for treatment. Looks he might have got stuck in the pitch. Real worry that.

Without much beef, Wakeling wins more 50/50s than he has a right to.

Season truly over if FBT is injured.

Collectively that's a fair summary of the match - we look to have the more talented players, they look really well organised and drilled and play as a team well. Probably not a huge surprise we're short on that front considering we've had the new manager only a few weeks, but it's clear how much work there is to do on the training ground when you see how Salford perform as a unit.

Half time 1-1. We've not been terrible, but there have certainly been a few heart-stopping moments defensively. Our goal was a throwback to the month or so where Hutton looked a class above.

We seem to have a different physio. Wasn’t it normally a young lady with a ponytail?

You'd think with all their cash they could afford a half decent playing surface.

She's on matenity leave I think.

…you mean on secondment to her family?

the good:
-drawing with a team very good at home
-coming from behind
-some of our retention has been ok if not damaging
-wakeling back on score sheet

the bad:
-rode luck given they've hit woodwork twice
-fbt looks fucked
-while he's hamstrung by many many well documented factors, I'm struggling to see what Morris MO is. Rome wasn't built in a day I know

 :D

:D

And this is a bad thing because?

Wakeling back in the score sheet...think that might be in the wrong column...

have we triggered the release clause, or is that a little way off?

because I edited the post and put it in the wrong section


yup 🤦

Think it’s a bit too early to calling for Baby Out!

Just teasing 😉

I think this has been the case for quite some time.

😁

I’m a bit surprised we’re playing Cain behind Khan. Cain’s getting completely bypassed so far.

FBT continuing. Salford bringing on a second big striker.

FBT not continuing, gone down off the ball. Darcy coming on it seems, so change of shape to a back four coming.

He is walking off at least. Hopefully not too bad.

Fuck sake! Another fucking injury

That's fucked it

4-2-3-1 I think with Darcy, Wakeling and McEachran around Austin.

Their players do seem to hit the deck very easily

FBT being injured is rough. Darcy as a replacement sub is even rougher

Prove us wrong.

Playing a notably higher tempo attacking game since the sub.

Done.

Let’s hope we can hold on this week

2-1

Lovely! Slice of luck as Darcy's cut back gets tackled into the back of the net under not much pressure, but by God we'll take it! The slide tackle nutmegged their keeper too for added comedy.

RONAN DARCY BABY.

Please hold on.

Piss and panic incoming!

WOW

Thought Darcy had taken it too far, but for once it was Salford’s defence that was caught out of shape

Great break by Darcy and mcechran to hook it over the top for him. Great finish from the Salford defender.

More pace in the attacking play than before, caught them a bit cold. The three behind Austin linking up nicely so far.

nice build up...a tad fortunate but who cares

Better than a slice of bad luck :pint:

Att: 3,008 (715 Swindon)

After the elongated shit show, 715 is mighty impressive.

I was just thinking the with FBT going off we had a little less left footedness on the pitch.

Don’t get me wrong, he is prob PotS so far, but what’s left on the pitch is perhaps more balanced.

How long left😀

Co-coms is decent today.

McEachran is a lot more niggly than you might expect for an attacking mid, he's got those PL tactical fouls in him.

I think I agree. The back five leaves that gap in midfield, which the 4 allows us to fill better.

Salford seem to have a banner of my avatar behind the goal. That's odd.

Plenty left to fuck it up again

Louis Barry and Callum Morton on. Not bad bench options those.

🤣

Hopefully Barry has one of his anonymous rather than one of his awesome games!

Wakeling gets a yellow for a really good tackle.

Finally some shithousing.

Pretty much why he should be playing left back rather than the sack of shit playing there currently. Really need that extra centre back to allow that to happen.

Think I’d like to see Shade on for him soon.

Wouldn't mind seeing Shade introduced, but I think most of what we've done well since the sub has come through the McEachran/Darcy/Wakeling front three.

Would like to see Jeffers on personally

Salford #8 coming on looks even more prematurely grey than Caddis!

I suspect McEachran might be off for Shade first.

And indeed it is. Another bright performance for McEachran.

Just seen the stats and it looks a proper smash and grab (probably more so than it feels watching it) - Salford have 10 shots, we have 2 - one on target - and lead 2-1. Hopefully we can hold onto this, feels like it would be a really important win in the context of the season.

You’d have to say the ref’s been a bit kind to us this afternoon

Odd moment here, something's happened with Khan off the ball and Hutton's been booked for timewasting as the referee whistles *after* he'd thrown the ball in, thus wasting more time than Hutton was trying to...

Khan,for fuck sake calm down

Khan would have seen red for that if the ref had seen it

There's definitely a version of this game where we've been down to 9 men and got a shoeing, but I'm glad to have not watched it!

7 fucking mins added FFS.

7?????? Ffs

7 cunting mins added... :(

Khans a fucking idiot behaving like that

What did he do?

Think the odds on Brynn getting a yellow in the next 6 minutes would be quite short.

Slapped their player in the face off the ball

Fucking happy slapper!

Brynns kicking today  ::)

Lucky result.
Should be enough to see us stay up.
Result.

Get in! Season over?

Good win. Take the points how ever they come so long as it's not via a points deduction

'We've come from behind,
we've come from beh-ind.
Salford got slapped up,
We've come from behind...'

#WAMRAWA

 :pint: :pint:

We did a win.

Smash and grab  :toocool:

FT 2-1 happy with that.

First up, absolutely delighted with the win. Not a perfect performance by any means, but better and the points matter more than anything else.

Overall, it was a game of a few key phases - the first half, we looked a better side on the ball but our slow, patient attacking play seemed to play into Salford's well organised defensive structure. We had a few defensive lapses and were probably lucky to only concede once, and then to equalise with really our only bright moment - which was Hutton suddenly remembering the footballer he can be and crossing for Wakeling to finish rather uniquely.

Credit to Morris, he seemed to realise that the slow play wasn't working and when FBT got injured, we brought Darcy on and the three-behind-the-one of Wakeling, Darcy and McEachran attacked at a much higher tempo and clearly discomforted Salford, our brightest 15 minutes of attacking play under Morris by some distance. We improved after FBT came off, which was definitely not what we would have expected! This led to our second goal, which was a slice of luck but caused by the higher tempo play.

After we went 2-1 up, we sat in a bit more and survived a few more heartstopping moments. There's a version of this game where we lost heavily and were reduced to nine men, but a bit of luck with the second goal and all the officials not looking at Khan's slap gave us the result we really, really needed. Think we scored more goals than we had shots on target, which is seriously efficient stuff!

It'll take a really good run to get us into the playoffs, but this is a great first step. Come on Town!

Excellent the season starts now!
I wonder if Gary & friends attended😀

Was it a great performance? no. Were we a bit lucky? definitely. Do I give a shit? Absolutely not.

Hopefully gets us rolling under Morris. Hopefully this one is the metaphorical “one off his arse” needed to turn our season around.

phew. great win that.

vintage town, no. 3 points yes

Proper smash and grab. Let’s hope we can get a centre back in that allows FBT to return to left back assuming he recovered for the next game. How many times can Iandolo prove he’s shit before he gets dropped.

Good day results wise though and looks like Lindsey is taking Crawley down.

I didn’t really enjoy that game.

Thought we were poor in the first half. Better balanced after FBT went off. But we looked poor in possession and brittle out of it.

Khan could have been sent off and also given away a penalty on Barry towards the end.

Stats of 2 shots all game with only one on target shows how lucky we were.

I hope we don’t have to watch us grind out results like that for the rest of the season.

P.S. Still pleased we won though!

Iandolo is all over the place. He presses when he shouldn't. He drops off when he should press. His decision making is awful.

Have to agree. Gives the ball away far too cheaply too, often in our half.

Just don’t get it. Dropping Iandolo is pretty much the only thing we haven’t tried. I’d have Clayton and Brennan centre backs and FBT left back and get Iandolo out of the team rather than persisting with him, or can’t be any worst.

We all agree. Just got to ride it out until we have Tomlinson fit, or another CB so we can move FBT there (hopefully not a bad injury).

He's playing because nobody else is fit to play LB. There's no point getting mad about it.

Not true though is it. We could start FBT left back and play Clayton next to Brennan.

Unexpected and bonus win. Had to ride our luck a bit but will take that after the last few games.

One step at a time. Take the points to get us rolling, and performances come in time. The effort was there in the 2nd half. I didn’t think that Khan on Barry was a pen either. With so many injuries, and an inability to drop players out of form, we may just have to grind the results out…

FBT - "too early to tell" - hip and medial

Morris:
- Asked for certain things against Sutton
- Wanted us to be able to defend our box. Showed them a video this morning
- Loads of things we have to improve on
- Defenders took responsibility
- Defended from the front
- Hard earned
- Defended the box better than yesterday
- Dont think we have had any luck for the 3 games before this
- Gave them too many opportunities for them to press
- Only very small periods of the game when we have been good at the front and back
- Take care of the passes and keep them clean. That makes the other team work more and lets us rest
- Workrate today cant be faulted
- Knew that the pitch would be poor. Put it up in the team meeting that he didnt want the pitch to be an excuse. If a bobble killed us, he told the players he didnt mind
- Made too many mistakes still
- Pleased we didnt fold to give them the opportunity to score a second
- Nice to get first win. But more pleased for players and fans as the last game was hard to take
- Players put a shift in.
- A lot of work to go still
- FBT is not one to come off the pitch if there isnt something wrong.
- Dont know the extent, but hip and knee
- Brand: Good for fans to get confirmation from the club. Morris knew what was going on for weeks. Will be happy when its all sorted.
- Kadji: Has been ill for a couple of days. Wasnt fit to train or travel yesterday.

715 away fans, well done.

Well we definitely managed to shithouse a win, albeit 2-1 despite only having 1 shot on target.

Much needed win for everyone, just need to get players back fit to give us a few more options

The change that Morris made when FBT got injured won us that game.  If that was Lindsey he would have brought Minturn on and stayed with the formation, so hopefully that is a sign that Morris is starting to impose his style onto the team.

At least it looks like we dodged the Duncan Ferguson bullet..  Happy that we seem to be starting to move in the right direction and am looking forward to see what Morris will do when he gets a semblence of a squad back.

Well called Duke glad you and all the away travelling fans were rewarded with a win 👍🏻

Important win today

Finally a win. Much needed. Dug in deep. Bar the kicking at the end Brynn was great at claiming crosses. Clayton solid. FBT a big old loss. Iandolo hopeless, doesn’t have a clue does he? Typical the injury of FBT came from Iandolo getting skinned- how’s your luck 😭. Mceach unreal in the middle, smart smart player. Cain anonymous imo. Khan very lucky not to get sent off at end, great player but a little brain dead at times. FairPlay Darcy, been very weasel like recently but a lot of energy today, changed game. Class for Wakeling to get back in the goals- much needed. For once watched on ifollow today, not sure if I’ve missed it last few weeks but noticed a lot more energy and press today. It’s nice to see fight.

Unreal turnout from the fans, 700+ For our third or fourth visit here that’s a brilliant turnout. Now fucking smash Harrogate.

To be honest I'm not sure I'd have brought Darcy on either

too lightweight on a heavy pitch.

except he wasn't, and even match winning cross aside had a useful cameo

That’s bullshit.
We all know Lindsey would have bought Darcy on









…and moved him to RWB and Hutton across to LWB and Iandolo to LCB.

Not about the performance all about the result.
A poor game but we will take that.

On train back home. Cracking day with some old friends drinking around Manchester.
We have to get out of this League.

:D

Got a bit of luck for a change.
We'll see if it's enough to reboot the season.

The way Salford played out from the back at times in the 2nd half was a bit like watching us in the first.
Neither of their CB's looked particularly comfortable in receiving the ball.

We improved in 2nd half following the enforced change & withstood the bouts of pressure fairly well.
Could maybe have made more of some of the counter attacks.

Come back wins on the road are always good.

First half was really poor, second much better. The 4-3-3 suited us a lot better.

Ratings for me:
Brynn - 7
Hutton - 7
Brennan - 6
Clayton - 7
FBT - 6
Iandolo - 3 (he was absolutely dreadful today)
Khan - 7
Cain - 6
McEachran - 7
Wakeling - 8 (MOTM)
Austin - 6

Darcy - 7

Salford go to the top of the table for most barbaric toilet facilities. Hopefully the inch or so of fluid covering the floor was just water.

But at least the clubs in the northwest always have a good selection of sounds on before games.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr-IANU0v4Y
.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QE9zXa8r0Uc

jeez, I had a technical hitch and missed the one they hit the bar from 3 yards after we fannied about and lost it.

still, it matters not.

😂 tsunami in the toilet.
I shouted abandon ship as a wave came past my boots.
Pissing with laughter to a new level.

Ref Iandolo,glad it was not just me who thought this.       He was a complete liability, his touch at times is awful, passing poor and defending not existent.

There's probably about 500 blokes there for one shipping container pisser.  I dread to think what it was like when we took 1400 odd a while back.  I wouldn't get a license to open a venue to that capacity with facilities like that.  Piss poor.

It has been for about 3 years, he had a good 6 months last season mind

I think that's a bit harsh, as was the score of '3'.

He did a couple of good things in the first half. He wasn't significantly worse than others. I'd have scored everyone at 5s and 6s. Iandolo would probably have got a 5.

Ive always been quite well disposed towards Iandolo, but the last couple of games he has looked off of it.  His decision making of when to go and when to stay seems poor.  At least a couple of times he's gone for to intercept either with his head or feet and missed it letting the winger in.

I guess he's the best we've got until we can move things around.  Maybe he can shake himself out of this run of form.  Who knows.

I agree.

We will never do well until we don't have to play Iandolo.

He is fine as a squad player off the bench but this season has easily been his worst, hes always out of position, looking off the pace, giving away stupid soft passes close to our goal and in the opponents half.

For me I would rather play Cain in his position on the left and put another central midfielder in the middle instead of Cain.

FWIW I am yet to be fully convinced by Cain but he is head and shoulders a better player already than Iandolo.

I agree - also worth noting Wakeling was not helping at all last 15 mins on the left, but I’d put that down to a player who has rarely played that position in his career (knowing when to tuck in, lines to block etc). I’m sure that’s something Morris can coach with Wakeling and he definitely identified it as put Darcy there who covered much better

It’s taken 8 years but I’m personally convinced Iandolo can play left side of a holding two in a 4231 and nothing else.

In the long run his versatility has stunted his development

Interesting, overall I'd say Wakeling is about as good a forward defensively as I've seen at Town. Wonder if he was just knackered by that point!

that and multiple injuries

tying down his best position has indeed been an issue.

honestly thought we'd got there last year, but the question is would you play him there over a midfield specialist?

He's been a good 'team player' for us, I wish him no ill feeling.

Iandolo has always had the positional instincts of a school kid and been liable to big mistakes and players running in behind him. But in better teams (Wellens & last season) he has looked ok as the better players around him took the pressure off him and allowed him that extra time to either get back in position or extra time on the ball. When you largely dominate matches there’s little opportunities for the big mistakes to regularly happen.

In an average to poor team his mistakes are far more telling, being out of position or missing a tackle when you have an inexperienced and unbalanced team around you leads to chances and goals being gifted as we are seeing now on a regular basis. The injuries have clearly taken their toll and he seems to be lacking any speed now, he’s so slow to get off the mark the attacker is usually 5 yards past him before he gets going. I know Lindsey was interested (that doesn’t say much) but if I was him I’d be fearful of getting a contract at another league club now as it’s questionable whether he’s even a reasonable squad player anymore.

My son describes him as “A shit James Milner”, not in a bad way but he can fill in temporarily in a number of positions.

Always useful to have on the bench, but probably wouldn’t start in any position unless you have starters missing

Or a poor Phil Neville.....every club needs a utility player to fill various positions!

…quite a fair point - worth pointing out Milner started playing that role aged 35 for what was (at the time) the second best team in England who were chasing a quadruple.

Exactly that.

Need to start calling each other fam and blud for that.

That has been the most encouraging thing about Morris for me, so far. Lindsey would have us sleep walking to defeats.

We rode our luck defensively and got some luck at the other end as well, but delighted with that win.

Morris speaks well, I really think he'll do well for us when he's not being dealt the shittest of shit hands. He'd be a miracle worker to squeeze us in to the play offs this season with this thin bare squad Sandros spreadsheet has shafted him with.

Havent read back.

Tough watch that!

Half the pitch was threadbare and we still insisted on playing out from the back. Really got away with it when they hit the bar...easier to score.

Soft goal given away in the opening minutes.

Equalised with a great flick goal.

Improved second half.

Rest was a grind out.

Khans discipline is suspect, easily wound up.

Iandolo struggled.

Shame we dont have someone to foil off Austin.

Win is a win. Monkey off Jodys back...

Onwards to Saturday and thats going to be a tough old game.


NB - A mention to the away comms.

Brilliant that he knew all the players names...really quite a feat.

Mentioned them hitting the bar 300 time....one of the shots was offside FFS.

Wow, only 17 pages, we must have won!

Green shoots on Saturday really, it wasn't amazing by any stretch and for a team on a bad run, to concede after 3 minutes won't have helped. We did ride our luck at times, I wish midfielders (Kadji was lucky at Sutton midweek, and Khan on Saturday) wouldn't A - be put under extreme pressure and B - then try and dribble their way out of deep trouble in our own box. They hit the woodwork twice (one was offside) but with Khan and Mceachran in midfield we actually had a bit about us. Lovely finish from Wakeling, hopefully that does him the world of good after a bit of a barren spell.

I did fear the worst when FBT went off but to be fair to him Darcy looked bright and sharp and a lovely 1-2 saw us take the lead. We definitely needed a huge slice of luck with it, something you definitely will take at this stage!! Good to see Shade back with minutes under the belt and hopefully with Williams coming back, we look a good side going forward - Mceachran looks a class act, he is probably playing well below his ability so we need to get promoted to probably have any chance of getting him next season. (Morris might have sway there mind you) What I did notice from Saturday was even though we held a slender lead, I don't think we sat back in our box and we were setup to cause Salford problems if we were able to break. I like that Jody Morris is clearly well aware tactically and we are a much more fluid side, this will make opposition managers' jobs a lot harder.

It wasn't perfect, but it was a start, a win on the board and with Harrogate at home up next, a great chance to get back in and around the play-off pack before a trip to the smoke and Wellens' boys.

Nah I take a fair amount of blame for that, I just cant be fucked on commenting on games at the moment so I probably would have contributed another 5 pages on my own. I can barely be bothered watching games with the dull dross served up a lot of the time.

As my post pre game states.

Hence the lack of my drivel which will please several posters I am sure.

At least we were in the last two games. With different luck we could have won on Tuesday but lost Saturday.

Probably not enough in order to progress to the playoffs this year* but now I hope we slowly see a journey from where we are to where Morris wants us to be (albeit with different personnel) . Not quite seeing that yet

*never say never.

I did wonder with you only popping up with score updates.

Not just you though, the MoM Thread has by far the lowest votes in a win of any time this season, less than half the Gunningmageddon game. There's a fair bit of apathy creeping into the online Town fans, even if the away hardcore is holding up really well.

Big win against Harrogate and that'll start going in the right direction I'm sure.

https://footystats.org/england/swindon-town-fc-vs-salford-city-fc-h2h-stats#2581049

Thought I go looking for some xG on this game to see if it reflected my memory... This site has Salford 1.33 to Swindon 0.64 which feels fairly reflective, albeit I think 0.64 is generous considering we scored with a wonder goal and an own goal with no other shots on target! It wasn't a proper smash and grab or anything, but certainly Salford had the better chances and didn't take them.

I am by no means blaming Morris its way too early for that shit but we seem to have gone slightly backwards since Gunnings gung-ho approach as stand in manager.

Its obviously very simplistic but in Gunnings 2 games in charge we had 45 shots with 19 on target.

In Morris's first 4 games in charge we have had 28 shots in total and 9 shots on target.

Yes there have been fitness issues and suspension issues but we went from a team creating chances and taking risks to a team who don't want to lose possession and without any risk taking.

On Saturday we had less shots on target than goals, which is some feat.

Also we are getting very few crosses into the box, Hutton went from 8 crosses per game to less than 2 per games since Morris arrived, could be a coincidence, could be that hes marked out of games or maybe his head isnt in the game/lack of form?

It just currently isnt very entertaining to watch and frankly it bores me a lot, I am hoping given time and players Morris will change that as he has inherited a weak squad in terms of availability/injuries but I fear that the players will return to fitness too late to get us into the play offs.

Would have been intriguing to know how the game would have panned out without the enforced change.
Would Morris have taken off one of the CBs for a midfielder anyway or the change in shape completely forced?

hopefully having RHM, shade and hopefully b Williams (soonish) back will give Morris the better forward options Gunninng had.

not saying he'll use them the same, but at least we'll almost be comparing apples with apples

There’s not much wrong with the squad quality wise. But we seem so disorganised at times with suspect individual decision making. This is what Morris needs to work on. I don’t think we need much of the training ground, individual player improvement, just a sound defensive organisation - which, tbf, we’ve lacked for ages.

One thing that pisses me off with the playing out from the back is the number of times we try it, get boxed in and then lump it forward anyway to clear our lines.

Exactly this, I know we have players missing and we may not be as effective as we were in those two games but it feels like the mindset of the players has changed. We are back to having as much of the ball as possible, even if we aren’t actually doing anything positive with it.

Just hoping that this is step 1 for Morris and once we have proved we can keep the ball we will look to move it quicker & create openings

The amount of times i said that to myself on Saturday!!

'What did we gain! from that!?'

Probably better than the approach last season where our ball playing defenders would then give it to a midfielder who was either closely marked or being closed down giving him no warning that he was about to be tackled!

Could easily have lost that game, our defence needs to be much tighter. Number of shots very low again. On a side note, I see Crawley managed 2 shots against Orient  :D

and now in bottom 2 but with a few games in hand

BRovers and the Piss Stains both dropping like a stone.

The comparison of shot taken in Gunning’s two games v Morris’s 4 is too simplistic for me.
Gunning had two home games against teams in the bottom six to seven, the first of which had a man sent off after 20 minutes or so.
Morris has had 3 away games, two of those against teams in a similar position to us, chasing play offs, one where we had a man sent off after about 15 minutes, plus a home game against a play off contender. He has also had a squad severely depleted by injuries and suspensions.
If we are going to make comparisons, can we at least think about them.

and playing each other Saturday

Khan has been charged by the FA for the off the ball incident.
That’ll be another ban coming, stupid twat.

Probably about 5 games

Fuck. Three games for violent conduct + two more for previous reds? Seems harsh but repeat offenders get hammered.

If it was five, that's a third of our games remaining this season.

What an idiot

I was fuming when i saw him biting at Lunds actions who went kept walking away and back to him on the wind up...

Just laugh it off for fucks sake....bide your time and nail him.

5 games minimum...another nail in the coffin.

Good he has been charged tbh. Might learn a fucking lesson.

This is the offence - handbags IMO https://twitter.com/vinny5_j/status/1628083588007620608?s=46&t=thQbVTLjryOTQ4tGYHlZ_w

He's 27, can't see him changing.   He'll be targeted for the rest of his career.

First time I have seen the incident. What a fucking idiot. Just back from suspension and he does that, I hope Morris does something appropriate. The general lack of discipline throughout really needs to be sorted.

The start of the tussle looked to be right in the ref's eyeline.
Seemed more concerned with Hutton taking his time with the throw.

Might be worth a trek for a personal hearing?
The wrath of Khan does need to be sorted out by the club.
Photon torpedo more effective than a rocket in this case.

I find it incredible that the ref was looking in the direction and did nothing to stop it, quite frankly i refuse to believe he didn't see the scuffle. Or the nearside lino. Or fourth official.

I also find it incredible Khan has been goaded into raising his hand.

Also - we won! incredible scenes all round

He got away with it. That’s all that matters

Fucking clown. Is it 5 games due to it being his third offence?

I thought him and Hutton would be two we’d sell in the summer, shit like this might push them even more into it. Great player but clearly has no head.

On twitter it seems the Salford player initially pushed Khan and Khan grabbed his arm.
Khan then pushed him and just child like behaviour afterwards
Agreed, Khan did then openly push the Salford guy possibly on the chest.
But violent conduct is taking it a bit far don't you think ?     

Fuck sake, did no one check his temperament stats before we signed him?
His behaviour has got worse since Morris came in. What is he coaching these players?

What? He was sent off twice before Morris arrived, he’s been the same all season!

Khan is one of the signings I can sort of get behind.

If he was the Khan we see when he walks the MotM vote, every week, then he'd be at least a league above this.  Clearly he has a high peak performance level, but he also has games where he lacks discipline in the footballing sense, and others where he lacks actual discipline.

I imagine we identified the maximum performance level and thought we could work on one or both of the problems.  He'd benefit from having an A Grant type of player alongside him, to take the flak , or a calming senior pro who knows when he needs a little clip around the ear himself.

Problem when he becomes the number one choice though.  If he is 27, you really are gambling on being able to curb either of the negatives to his game.

I’m struggling to understand your constant anti Morris agenda.

What is happening here.
The Salford player pulled him back Khan reacted
The referee booked Hutton for time wasting and Khan pushed the Salford player.. well a wee bit more.
But surely not career ending Get rid behavior.
Khan does shows energy and a bit of passion
Basically everything that we required from Gladwin
I say give the guy a break

I assumed it was DV sarcasm as some sort of protest/point about how Lindsey was treated by fans.

not certain though

It was sarcasm.
Not for any particular reason.

…but…Morris wasn’t exactly known for his good behaviour.

I’m struggling to understand why we are happy to tolerate shit performances, poor results and incredibly  poor discipline under Morris.

Is he because he’s a ‘name’ is it because he was in our Premier League sticker book one year?

Any less of a name everyone would shouting and stamping their feet to get him sacked.

You were on his back before a ball was kicked. He’s 4 games in ffs with a squad decimated by suspensions and injuries.

I doubt many would be after getting any new manager sacked after 4 games.

Yeah, our fans haven’t wanted a manager sacked after 4 games since August.

Not true. Most didn’t want him in the first place. Big difference. A poor start just compounded it.

Are you advocating every subsequent manager should be treated like Lindsey for no other reason than it would only be fair to do so.

Yes, that’s exactly it.
No manager should be given a fair chance.
It’s only fair.

That's the way I read it, picking up the rather blatant difference between when things happened with Lindsey v. the same people now saying its nothing to do with Morris and give him time.

Football fans in being fickle shocker really.

As for the Khan thing, what pisses me off as much as Khan being a bit of a tit is the authorities selectively picking up things after the event in some cases and not others, so charging Khan when the ref didn't see it v. that VAR fuck up with may cost Arsenal the title, I know they can't retrospectively change that but it still gets on my tits that they will act in some cases.

DiV
On this occasion I need to agree with others in saying your comments are in reference to Jody Morris are 100% Bollocks
Perhaps if things don't improve after 10 games of next season perhaps. But not now

Yes, they are deliberately over the top and absolute bollocks. That’s the point.

Still, we’ve heard of Morris he played in the Premier League once or twice so we’ll give him time.
You’re willing to give him the rest of this season and 10 games of next season?
That’s better than the 27 seconds you gave Lindsey I suppose.

If you can’t understand why a person who has had senior coaching roles at derby and Chelsea is given more rope than a person who’s had senior coaching roles at forest Green rovers then I don’t know what to tell you

DV misses Lindsey  :(

Despite Scott Lindsey being proven to be a bag of shite. He's sure showing us anti Lindsey brigade.

Nope, I wanted Lindsey out the day he was appointed.

Unlike you fickle lot - I’m judging Morris the same way I judged Lindsey.
Ugly, boring football and poor results. Yet its tolerated because???

Lindsey had all summer with the players where he had final say over players coming in, apparently.

The fact you think Morris should be treated the exact same and that they've had the same crack at it is astounding. Never mind the fact that those who thought Lindsey would be a failure were proven right.

Typical mocking fans who showed negativity. Look how clever I am.

Even if they were proven to be right.

And even if the situations you're pretending are the same, are completely different.

Ignoring their pedigree, Morris and Lindseys starts are not close to the same. The only way your mocking fans makes a crum of sense is if you lack the mental capacity to understand coming in after a January transfer window with a depleted squad already assembled, is not the same thing as being in charge from the start of the season.

Fuck me, what a numpty.

I think it is tolerated more because -
1. injuries and suspensions accrued before he became boss

2. the squad was inherited and not brought together by Morris, whereas this squad was put together almost entirely by Lindsey or with Lindseys input (Sandro).

I will judge Morris when he has had time to assemble his own squad and get them playing how he wants.

It was obvious from the first few games that Lindsey had assembled a squad that were not up to the task yet we never added to it in the transfer window, we just lost 3 of our most experienced and consistant performers and replaced them with injured or (currently) inferior players.

Don't go applying context. Its the exactly the same situation and people are only giving Morris more rope because he played in The Premier League. Lets mock the people that were proven right about Scott Lindsey har-har, I am so smart.

Out of interest DV, who would you like to have seen appointed?

That's exactly it.

I will add though that I'd hope to see something to indicate what he is trying to do, even if some of the current crop can't do it.

We've not seen that yet (with good reasons as said above). You'd hope to see it in a few games for though.

Absolutely mate. We have currently little style or direction on the pitch, something we suffered from with Lindsey in almost every game he managed us for.

I actually disagree with you slightly Batch. I'm totally useless when it comes to tactics etc but I do think we've seen signs in the 4 games that Morris is nowhere near as rigid or one-dimensional as SL was. There seems to be much more fluidity in the way he sets up his sides, players positions seem to move around a lot more than they used to. There was a piece online (I can't remember who wrote it sorry) that did some analysis on the Salford game and suggested we were using 'funnel pressing' (nope, me either) very well to stop Salford playing as efficiently as they have been.

Clayton has already come out and stated that Morris and Brand are the best coaches he's worked with (he wasn't going to say anything differently was he!!) and he came from Liverpool. I completely agree that fans should judge Morris on more than the end of this season, to do otherwise would be somewhat unfair.

How dare you disagree, I know all
oh wait, fuck all.

yes we have seen more flexibility in formation. Personally I'm struggling to see a default style. it's been a bit scrappy for me.

I think Morris has shown slighlty more nous about changing formations when they arent working, although that seemed slightly more evident on Saturday when forced into the change. He still changed the formation correctly.

I am not sure if we would have won without the enforced substitution though.

That is the most encouraging part about Morris so far, despite overall results. He tries something different when it isn't working rather than sleepwalking along with it.

That used to frustrate me about Lindsey more than most things he did.

When a plan or tactic wasnt working he would just replace as near as like for like with subs (and too late to affect the game) and not change the formation or tactics which blatantly werent working rather than tying out a different approach.

Think this is the one.

https://www.totalswindon.com/sport/funnel-pressing-and-how-swindon-town-stopped-salford-city-from-playing/

I can answer that, Duncan Ferguson..  he mentioned his name so many times I thought he was his agent at one point.. :D

The same DF that has a worse record than Morris even though he came in earlier in the transfer window, has a bigger budget and arguably a more talented and larger squad to pick from than us.  Make of that what you will..

One point from 5 games at FGR's Duncan Ferguson, that is.

Aaron Aardvark no doubt.

Look, we or most of us get it, but your sarcasm act is shitter than mine.

C'mon DV this is just making you come across as more of a dick than you already are  :soapy tit wank: Although there is hope, just go and spend a day on a Flerfer forum and you'll not only not feel like a total dick any more but feel like a pioneering scientist; trying to talk to people from 6th Century BC with views fixed to the same time period, except that you're talking to them in the present day  ;)

Ferguson Out.

That's it, thanks!

Khan accepts the charge

sigh

though really, was there ever going to be a different outcome if we didn't (increased ban!)

CWIG clearly can’t get enough of it.
Chomp chomp chomp chomp

That's very nawty  ;)

Ferguson in?  :hmmm:

Funnel press is fine against passing sides like Salford but useless against hoofers like Harrogate, Newport and Sutton.

That's where Mr Morris and his flexibility earns his corn. :)

And loses it vs Newport and Sutton ;)

Ah yes, the time honoured tradition of getting laughed at on the internet for being a mong and then claiming you're fishing. A tale as old as time.

Just need to say that I'm 'raging' next.

5 match ban for Khan. Idiot.

Misses a third of the remaining games this season, will be 8 matches missed this season through suspension total. That's not ideal.

Proper.

Back for the last ten games,  just enough time to prove himself - if he’s going to.

Not ideal. Time for Kadji to shine!

I dunno. I’d rather Williams comes in. Whilst Kadji has looked ok, mobile and what not I’m not entirely sure he helps in terms of the set up, he falls more into the headless chicken bracket for me.

2 games as a pro footballer. I am sure the young lad is appreciative of your support

They're totally different players. Kadji is much more physical and destructive than Williams, who is by far our best player on the ball but about as much use off it as a wet sponge. If we're playing 3-5-2, McEachran and Williams are probably playing for one position with Khan/Cain/Kadji.

is Williams available?

(https://gifimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/kenneth-williams-gif-2.gif)

I thought Kadji looked quite useful against Doncaster. He clearly has talent and looks the sort of player that will improve no end after a few more games. If Kadji gets a decent run in the team, which he probably will now due to Khans stupidity, I think he will make a name for himself. Just a shame he is on City's books ! 

That’s not what I meant. He was all over the place as he was keen to be involved but that’s not always a good thing, I say headless chicken as he was running around all over the place seemingly without a plan at times. To me that seemed detrimental to the team as it left the midfield in a bit of mess and people were always out of position. You can have a player play well individually but not necessarily help with the performance of the team and I felt that was the case with Kadji and was born out on Saturday when the midfield look a bit more stable. He’s very raw and with such a young team already I’m not sure he’s really what we need at the moment.

I was more impressed with him at Sutton.

I get what you are saying, and you aren't saying he can't be the next vierra.

Bedding in takes time. We don't have that this season.  Though I think we are knackered now.

why oh why didn't we gamble and keep Reed and Gladders.. £100k made back in the playoffs.. guess we can't afford such gambles any more

Clayton would have been worth trying in a holding midfield role, aside from the fact he's now the senior pro at centre back.

Kadji is all we have really.  Cain is not going to be that more physical defensive cover type of midfielder and Williams and McEachran are essentially the same player, a drifting attack minded creator.

Plenty were more than happy to see those two go - as always, it's not the letting go that's difficult but finding someone better.

Yes. In fact all three departures in the window were regularly criticised by the majority of fans. The abuse of MacDonald after the Gillingham away game was among the worst I've ever seen.