Thetownend.com

…the least anticipated league game in the clubs history?

I expect the same starting XI and same formation from Kennedy who is very quickly giving me Jody Morris vibes.

….yawn.

Comfortable loss again, 2/3-0.

Even by our standards, amazed that no new signings after the mess last Saturday. They really don't care at all and you can tell.

I'm done with blaming managers now. It all stems from above, nothing will change until these amateurs have gone.

Is Ofoborh as a #10 in Jacob Wakeling left wing back territory for stupid ideas?

Won't even watch this one for free. Expect to lose by more than one goal despite Crewes apparant also shitness.

2-0 defeat on this occasion.

We never win there. And we're a terrible side.

3-0 defeat.

Crewe 1-0 Swindon attendance: 3410 (away 460)

Massive improvement on last week. Only 3-1 to Crewe

After both teams shipping plenty last week, I have a feeling this one will be a near-chanceless 0-0 with both sides barely attacking and then both managers saying they're pleased to have tightened up the defence. A real footballing classic.

Crewe 2 Swindon 1 att: 4,459 (510 Town)

Clem may get his way and have his club bottom of the league by 5pm if results don’t go our way.

This. doesn't matter who you have in the dugout with amateur/crap owners.

How many managers has Clem had in just over 2 seasons: Garner, Lindsay, Gunning, Morris, Flynn and now Kennedy.

Failure is at the top- you cannot keep pinning it on managers

0 : 0, attendance 4,389 (321 Swindon)

I think it’s fair to say the problems run deeper than the manager & have done for a while but I think it’s also safe to say most managers haven’t helped themselves with some of their team selections, tactics & formation.

If Kennedy swapped two midfielders round our side would be better for it & we can all see it…

I will blame the manager though for playing our defensive mid as a 10 and our 10 as a defensive mid.

When Kennedy first came in I thought he was a breath of fresh air.

But it's quickly become apparent that just like Flynn, he'll do anything to defend this regime so long as he gets his pay cheque at the end of the month.

Would love a manager to just come out and tell the fans how it is.

Never going to happen of course. But it's just saga after saga.

Players handing in transfer requests, phantom injuries and 'failed' trials. And that's just on the football side of things.

Defending the club is fine and normal in my book. We'll never get the truth out a serving manager,. Just a version of.

What's worrying me about Kennedy is happening on the pitch. Players look out of position. There's no plan.

But he's played at a high level. I've played Ciren league. Hopefully I'll see why I'm wrong fairly soon.

Anyway, the only way I'm watching this game is if jet lag  gets me again. Currently -8hrs time difference

As Mourinho & Rooney have proven playing at a shit level doesn't stop you being a great manager and playing at an elite level doesn't make you a good manager.

Crewe 2 Swindon 0, att 4200 (402).

Seen nothing to suggest we are going to cause them any problems, despite how bad they appear to have been so far.

Us older fans remember the good times under Macari, Ardilles, Hoddle, McMahon & Di Cannio even if short lived.

Yeah, regardless of the manager - they aren’t going to slate the ownership: they want / need to pay cheque.

Same way we probably wouldn’t slate our employer on local radio that someone connected would hear.

…as Batch has said - the on pitch stuff has been crap & the tactics within the midfield are bizarre

Good summary.

Wouldn't suprise me though if those off the pitch are having an input on what happens on it still

Perhaps but apart from living out some weird football manager phantasy what could they possible think they can get out of interfering?

Zav still giving advice to the strikers on the training pitch?

Would have thought they’d open the legends lounge today, obviously not. Feels like a big own goal, and unsurprising all the same

Pre match no need for self harming when following Swindon in Albert's Corner.

Wouldn't normally grace a pub with a less than 4 rating in Google, but needs must.
Anyway, dutifully sat here with trackie bottoms tucked into white socks in an effort to blend in with the natives.
Don't wish that I lived in Nantwich though and the lack of tatts and minus the brusque manner could mean some hard stares at a possible inerloper.

An uninterrupted week on the training ground should hopefully see some signs of link ups & structure developing in this team.
More importantly would expect a dramatic increase in the number of crosses today.

Longelo has got forward but then fiddled around.
King has been alarmingly passive.
Sobowale on the other hand looks to have a surging run in him but the end product may well be not very good.

I can the see the attraction of playing Ofoborh as a no 8. Decent feet for a big guy & can strike a ball well.
Need to see a lot more of Clarke & it’s borderline unfair to put a young relatively untested lad in the key position.

Will happily take a very forgettable 0-0 from this and move on.

A visit to the very excellent Crewe Dog could be the highlight of the day albeit a relatively brief one.

The well of enthusiasm is still relatively full.
Wouldn’t want it to run dry but the possibility is there.

With the way it is hooning it down a tad west of Heathrow, the possibility of anything running dry is very slim at the moment.

If it is pissing it down in Crewe, the prospect of a waterlogged pitch must be a factor?

The sun is shining & the rain has stopped.
"It's a Beautiful Day" blasting out on the jukebox.
What could possibly go wrong.

Swindon turn up & start playing?

…the football, usually.

Cain in for Ofoborh

Interesting

The bench without Khan and Mcgurk is laughable.

This Khan thing is winding me up. If he's fit and a move isn't materialising then get him on the bus. For fuck sake.

What are we paying him for?

Sounds like they're trying to force Khan's hand to get him to move on. Making him know that if he wants to be playing football it needs to be elsewhere.
Add in the cryptic comments re McGurk and it doesn't sound like a healthy atmosphere all around.

We’ll end up mutually terminating Khan I expect.

Then paying him up will be used as an excuse as to why we can’t bring in a replacement.

I also wonder if Cain has been bought in to be the QB & Cotterill will be pushed further forward (doubt)

This

Cotterill has one of those annoying play every game loan contracts i bet

He might even be a decent player for all we know.

I'd really hope we wouldn't agree to that, considering he got less than 90 minutes league football *in total* at Stockport last season.

So yeah probably.

No looking forward to this!

Might depends on if anyone else was changing him.

If your Swansea you want him playing don’t you? Particularly after his Stockport loan. So you’ll loaning him to the team that offer to play him the most (as we all do with our young players on FM)

If multiple clubs were in for him then I can see why we’d attempt to get him by offering Swansea a more favourable deal.

…but if there was no other interest then we should have done a deal that suits us more than Swansea.

Raining there, a sparse looking crowd, but a good picture on Sky Sports.

Weather looks nice. It's bright sunshine up in the north of Scotland!

It’s 25° here in Tenerife.

Unsupported location so I can’t watch the game.

Shame…

It's 12 degrees here and very dark...

It’s very agricultural!

Lots of hoofs!

"If you come to crewe we will bovver you and if you bring your brovver he will get it too,crewe Alexander,crewe Alexander football ball club" ah the seventies were good.ha

Glatz, OMG.

How have we missed that  :D

First piece of football and Clarke and Glatzel miss a sitter

Game has settles down a bit now after a very hoooofball start.

We've created the better chances, Crewe trying to play more football but it's not great viewing either way.

Get Cotterill off, a liability at the minute!

Cotterill really is terrible isn’t he?! He seems miles off the pace, always caught on the ball and now booked because of it.

For a team that's meant to be quite defensive, we look awfully vulnerable on the counter

I'm up at 4:30
My ifollow sound is like Hawes and Harley are gargling
Coterill is shit
Both teams no quality but there are chances for both so at least it's not dull

Fairly watchable so far. No a great advert for quality, but plenty happening.

The midfield I'd to easily passed through...

Cotterill off the pace , Clarke weak in the tackle and Cain being Cain..

Seems like King can’t defend for toffee as they keep getting in down our right, their player just seems to amble past him.

Cotterill a complete passenger. No where near good enough.

Sounding like most of the new signings are shite😁

Pretty sure King said on his arrival he can't defend. He's all about get the ball forward.

So a poorer version of Hutton.

Basically what chesterfield fans said. Which is ok if he gets forward and gets shots & crosses in.

Can't moan about the lack of crosses so far

How is Clarke captain?

This game could be played with theme tune for Benny Hill in the background

Being completely played out of position
Of course he’s going to be shite

2 awful teams

No quality

It's a sad state of affairs when the best an STFC supporter cam expect is a draw against Crewe in LG

He should still have the basics,

Yes he's an attacking midfielder but should still look comfortable on the ball and have spacial awareness

He has shown neither..

Good header from Smith finds the back of the net, but pushed off the defender first. Disallowed

Seen those given plenty of times, but ultimately right decision from the ref

Glatzel fires high and wide from a Smith knock down.

If Glatzel was a new signing, & we hadn’t seen what he can do last season, we would probably be slating him for being shite based on his performances this season so far

Thank god someone else doesn't think he's fucking maradona

Glatzel clean through on goal on half way line but brought down by Demetriou who got a yellow. Any closer to goal and that was a straight red

Signed Glatzel in the last window with a particular style in mind. Then promptly changed the style entirely this window and amazingly he's not the right player for it.

We won't ever move forward under this ownership anyway but it's not helped by completely changing the plan every transfer window.

HT 0-0

Not much between the sides.

Crewe are currently bottom remember!

Looks like village green stuff to me.

Sounds riveting😁

Key issue to take away that half:
Cotterill is a terrible addition and a waste of a loan

From what I've seen this season Clarke is no better!

Well, I'm probably on my own but we were far better than them and should be at least 2 goals up. So,almost inevitably we'll lose. Loads of crosses in from both sides which is what we all wanted. Wright and Hall great at the back and I'm impressed with Bycroft's kicking and Smith had an outstanding half.They've created nil so far. So,probably end up losing 1-0

Not a thriller.

I agree with both of the above...

I'm still struggling to see what MK is trying to do. Whack it up to Smith and hope for the best?

Positives, the defence looks fairly solid and Harry Smith is a monster of a target man. But apart from that, I'm struggling. Mark Kennedy used to be a premier league footballer, the way we are playing is absolutely brutal lottery football.

Cotterill and Clarke seem shite to me. Harry Smith is playing very well with our hoofball tactics and ineffective midfield, is this all we've got this season?

Keep the crosses coming and Harry will hopefully nick us a scrappy 1-0 win...

iFollow sound suggests it's live from the Titanic, Coterill appears to be in a time warp, Crewe show nice touches now and again and then not.  At least there's a reaction after that last game.

Yeah. You’re definitely on your own.

It’s 2 terrible teams with no really quality in either. We try to score via lumps into the box, they try to score from counter attacks and neither team are any good at their ‘style’.

I don't think you're struggling to see what MK is trying to do at all, sadly.

The midfield is such a mess, just play Oforborh in front of the defence and get rid of this quarterback shit, Cotterill just gets crowded and loses the ball every time.

I'm surprised 🙀 I never said it was quality but If people can't see we've created the better chances so far,they are blinded by negativity. Last week many were saying, why play Smith if we don't put in crosses?  And just to remind people, it's League 2, of course both teams are terrible, it's a terrible league as we keep being reminded

It’s so lacking in atmosphere it’s like watching a session on the training pitch. Sums up the quality of the game and the enthusiasm of both sets of fans!

Sounds like the bottom of Div 4

Drinan for Glatzel
Clarke for Oforbor

Crewe almost score seconds after the subs

Hanging on a bit now

Crewe take a quick corner, cue highlights

If it's possible, we are getting worse

Getting on par with last week...

This
Is
Shit

We've only had one real shot in target haven't we, the good but rightly ruled out Smith header?

Passage of play where both teams try to outdo each other in how cheaply they can give the ball away

Crewe hanging on now

No, we had a much earlier Smith header on target, direct from a corner I think.

Cain also had a shot from 25+ yards out that was slightly softer than mcdonalds ice cream. But it was technically on target.

Our passing is fucking attrocious.

The basics of football.

Sobowale for Longelo again

We are actually getting worst as the game goes on. Impressive…

I feel sorry for the forwards

Absolutely no service they are having to run their bollox  off chasing pointless longballs

The midfield cannot tackle or pass, no creativity nothing...

King cross/shot saved

Confidence, or lack of I think. Same for Crewe, must not lose mentality.

High point of the second half was the postman arriving with my copy of the Loathed Stranger fanzine and a classic programme from 1974. It hasn’t taken much to distract me from this durge of a game!

First game I've watched (on tv), fucking hell we are shocking.
If we play like this all year it'll be one long old season.
We.can barely string more than two passes.

We just played 4 passes down the right and fashioned a chance!

Very good move with a great ball in by Sobo

Just realised I forgot to do my bloody prediction today!

We have nothing to offer

Defenders who can't defend
Midfielders who cant tackle, pass or track runners
Forwards who cannot finish

 We couldn't pass wind at the minute.
 There's no impetus to drive on and get at Crewe.

 welcome to the National League

We've been better than Crewe, for sure. An awfully low bar mind.

I think it's going to be a tough watch this season, but if we nick a late winner it doesn't really matter.

Mitchell for Cain

This is already looking like the 2 teams who'll be going down this year.

More or less my thoughts. Still really hard to see how the goals for column is going to be troubled much.

Dyson for Clem would be nice :D

After the march kennedy will think we were awesome blah blah

And he will mention that he’s an intelligent man.

 Not sure that this is the right version of the 'vision' we've been sold on.
Been taken for idiots again.

We will sign 3 on loan, get rid of 2 next week and the Clemites will be happy and claim it is a sign of serious investment

Gifted Crewe a shot on goal in the 94th min

Boring as fuck. Pathetic football club.

That was like watching a division 4 game from 1974, just on a better pitch.

A great advert for L2 football on Sky.

Well that was awful. We are in big trouble, this team have nothing about it but a hoof. Should have lost it at the end but thankfully Long shanked it.

FT 0-0 Fucking awful!

If that is the completed team then we are in severe danger of relegation out of the league.

Very poor indeed.

1 point closer to safety

Another lacklustre day at the office

Att 4,402

Fucking awful again.

but we brought in some big defenders. I kept reading that this was the answer to our woes.

Utter dross from both teams.

We may have edged the dross, but we didn't deserve to win. Crewe missed their big chance at the end thankfully.

It's a point. But it answers no questions. Largely - what the fuck are we trying to do.

Crewe haven't scored at home in 10 hours or something silly like that. Draw away, and win your home games and we're up.

This week's recruitment is vital to see what kind of season we've got to look 'forward' to. It's not been good so far.

Absolute garbage....

It needs more than Tschimanga before deadline.

On the showing so far we need virtually a whole new squad...

15 odd signings have made us worse than last season and that a very very low bar..

63% v 55% passing accuracy. Says it all really.

That's a relegation team, need 4/5 players before the end of the month. We'll be lucky to get 1.

Well that was rubbish rubbish rubbish nothing to say we wont be relegated .Another lack lustre performance  something realy needs to change and quick. :badmood:

 Kennedy will probably say we played well.

Better side (not a high bar, granted).

Not many chances created, not much structure or ideas in our play. In recent times when we haven’t been scoring goals, I have at least thought the odd small change could make a big difference. It feels like we are miles off causing good sides problems.

As has been said “We will lose loads of games” playing like that, Not seeing many green shoots.

We were slightly the better team but not by much. Dreadful quality. Thought the full backs did ok, Smith worked hard, Will Wright was decent and Cain probably our best midfielder which says it all.

Need to sort the midfield quickly.

I did say.

If anyone finishes below Swindon and Crewe this season and stays up I'll be surprised.

You really think we didn't defend well today? Blocked and cleared everything. Denied Crewe a single shot on target. I get the criticism but credit where it's due. Wright,Hall and Freckles were very good today

Two very poor teams.

You're overestimating the quality in this division I think. Watched Grimsby the other day, terrible

In fact at times Crewe made us look good.

I have to agree Adje. I thought defensively we were really organised. It's certainly the best part of the side. I liked what Sobowale offered when he came on.

Defence is fine, Harry Smith as a target man is fine. It's the other stuff that needs work.

Terrible game of football with neither side being an advert for a footballing team.

Drinan Smith doesn’t work.  Glatz showed glimpses but looks like a round peg trying to be put in a square hole.

Cotterill I just don’t know what to think about him and I think Clarke needs a McEachren type player to see more of him.

On paper we have some decent players but we just have no game plan other than good it to smith for him to knock on to X player which doesn’t work

Oh & fuck off 5-3-2 it’s terrible and just does not work for us

Everything was last minute desperate lunges

Good defending is not needing to do that.

The full backs did not track the runners

0-0 away point, clean sheet,we build.

Tshimanaga close according to Kennedy

Also waxing lyrical about Gavin Kilkenny

He will probably stick him in goal

3 games no wins -4 goal difference. What a load of shit.

Draw all the away games will guarantee us 23 points😁

Huge annoyance for me was the three or four occasions where we had a break out wide, but it was Harry Smith crossing. So frustrating that our main aerial target was the one delivering crosses into the box. Shows that the current system is not playing to our (limited) strengths.

Sack kennedy crap tatics.

Kennedy's Lincoln side that finished mid table in League One.

46 goals scored, 46 conceded

So if anybody is expecting the football to become more entertaining. There's no evidence to suggest it will.

I'd take a goal a game right now.

That was woeful.
Two poor league two sides and a few angry exchanges at the end of the game.
Clap them off?
Not a chance.
Just do us all a favour Morphoney sell up and end the misery.

Sadly, there's very little evidence we'll score 46 goals.

That was bad- only positive really that we didn’t lose

Based on this brand of football I cannot see Kennedy lasting even if results pick up - the football is terrible

Oh and fuck off Morfuni- turned us into a team struggling in bloody league fucking two

I can’t even work out whether we’ve worked on any tactics or patterns of play. I miss trying to retain possession. I’ve got a feeling Kennedy would be unsuccessful even if we had a decent budget and DoF.

Take me back to suicide football at the beginning of last season

At least it was fun.

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AM6GkLhJNc

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs5Hci1WTLw

Angry exchanges between fans, players or players and fans?

Kennedy is going to put Jody Morris to shame at this rate…

Fans to the players.
A few boos at the end.

Extended highlights now up:
https://x.com/SmokeyTimRobbo/status/1827336298626949120

Well one prediction for the season is already spot on.

Kennedy's negative style of football has provided him with precisely zero grace period with fans.

I’m not sure it’s the negative football as much as it is the results.

This. No one realistically cares about the style of football we play if we win games. We played some lovely stuff under Luke Williams (at times) yet the results were awful and he never really got much backing from the fans as a result.

🤣🤣🤣

Blokes deluded. :doh:

His results are 2 draws and a loss in the league. Not exactly the sort of results that should have us all ready to jump off a bridge.
If we had had those results at this point last season the scores would have been something like 2-2, 4-3 & 3-3. We wouldn't have been talking about how shit Flynn was, how the tactics don't work or how he needs to go, we'd be talking about being unlucky and it'll come good.

But because the football is so negative & poor we can't see where it'll come good. So many of us aren't willing to say wait 10 games & see where Kennedy has us.

And I'm absolutely not say hey we should give Kennedy 10 games to prove his method, this team already looks bereft of confidence & he's not shown anything to make me think he'll turn that around.

A lot of people (rightfully) tore Flynna defensive tactics to pieces when we were having all those high scoring games.

He certainly came under scrutiny. We didn’t let it slide because it was ‘entertaining’

Maybe an over reaction from me but today and seeing us play and fans booing the players just bought back Sheridan days for me. I just hope our season doesn’t go that way

Oh, not good this early even if I can understand their frustrations.

Watching the Flitcroft team play was eye gauging stuff at times, we are worse than then and he was close to play offs.  It's a really tough sell playing that way if you are not doing well.  I can almost understand the rudimentary tactics, if we'd gone and recruited a good team for this level to play it.  Off of Smith you need some attacking creativity and pace, then the rest can be the plodders.  Our problem is the entire team is plodders.  Flitcroft had a semi OK front four - the aim was simple.  Seven players designed to keep them out, get it forward and let the four up to try and score.  It worked more than it didn't and yet I never wanted to see it ever again.  This time it looks a bit like that but with maybe one or two good players up top.

 I don't like and never have done, the DOF model.
 I believe that we always had a bit more success in the
 Past with a studs in the grass type management set up.
 They had freedom to implement their own tactics, have a
 Clear hold and control over the team, buy in players that
 Were recruited to improve the squad and not be
 Developed in the hope they could be sold on 18 months
 Later for profit and so on.
 I think that although it's a popular thing these days, it has
 For our club altered the whole scope of what the team
 Should be about
 Call me old fashioned but if Kennedy didn't have any
 Interference from above, he just might be able to just get
 On with the job and start winning games.
 The DOF just seems to me like more like the type of role
 That actually hinders the manager rather than giving him
 Some on field freedoms.
 
 

I watched today on sky+ and perhaps this is a controversial opinion but I don’t think it was as bad as some say (context considered). If I watched the match in isolation it was undoubtedly poor but having been at the games vs Wycombe, Chesterfield, Walsall and having watched Crawley on tv I think there were improvements. Both teams were coming off the back of heavy defeats and so I am sure they would have been keen to avoid defeat above all else. We certainly seemed to be on the front foot in the first half and were crossing more. Both teams overall were quite poor and we seemed to be looking to bypass the midfield with the long balls. Harry Smith did very well and seemed to win everything in the air. He can probably consider himself hard done by for the disallowed goal as I think that goal would have stood under a different ref. I would like someone to ask the question about Cotterill and what he needs to do to be dropped - for me he was a clear weak link and I wonder if it is in the terms of his loan agreement to play every minute. If that is the case I would rather not have him in the squad. Not sure what he adds and definitely not sure what he adds in his current deep lying position when we have a wealth of other players who can play in that position.

Structure is irrelevant, man City have a DOF, teams have won this league playing all sorts of formations and styles so that doesn't matter either.  The problem we have is that nothing is joined up and lessons are not learned.  Tippy tippy midgets to hoof ball giants - there is a middle ground!

At the mo our only tactic is to twat it into the channels.  If we are going to do that why play wingback?  Play 3 up top or 442 or get a mckirdy type with pace and flair who just lingers around up top waiting for it.

Twatting it to noone is stupid and a bit of pragmatism is needed, but that has been in very short supply for a long time.

Also Cotterill is not a CDM, it's clearly contractual that he has to play there, but Kennedy won't last till the end of September if he keeps playing him in that role.   

I've been to all the competitive games before today, which I watched on sky "bunch of cunts" sports.

I thought we played well for 20 mins against crawley, but apart from that have looked clueless and I'd be surprised if there are 2 worse teams in the division than the 2 we watched today.

It's early days and crawley looked abysmal this time last year, but we desperately need the manager to open his mind to other options as plan A will get us relegated.  It won't work with the players he has and is failing to get anything out of glatzel, clark and OB4 who are decent at this level.

I for one pleased with the point.

Manager is a bit soft and suggests will have an excuse for every situation. But ask yourself, what other options are currently available for STF  ?

Not to me it's not. We were clearly the better team in that game and created the best chances and defended well when called upon and restricted Crewe to 1 clear cut chance in the 94th minute. That Glatzel missed 2 gilt edged chances is a worry though. Last season I remember many people saying you don't necessarily need small technical players to get out of this division and i think the idea that we are already one of the 2 worst teams in L2 is pessimistic to the extreme when I guess most of us have only seen 3 other teams. I'm of the opinion that 10 games in will give us a clearer picture

I agree we were the better team yesterday, but both were poor and the game was dour to watch. On that performance and our previous league games I can't see other than relegation battles for both of those teams.
I suppose there were a couple of positives from yesterday. We managed to get more crosses in, though quality was definitely variable, and the defence was generally solid, though weren't tested greatly.
The shortfalls in permanent signing recruitment has been well lamented here but the loan signings we've made is a real disappointment to me. Other clubs at this level, and us in the past have used the loan market to nicely enhance the squad with some very good young prospects. Although only a handful of games in I don't see either Cotterill or Freckleton as good enough to demand a place in the team. Both have given away possession in dangerous positions in every game and seems to be weak links that oppositions can target.
Maybe this last week of the transfer window can bring in some improvements but I'm not holding my breath!

Yeah I noticed this with the manager, think this will grate on fans quite a bit if we continue to be this turgid

I'd like to see Mitchell given a start in midfield. Looks to have a bit aggression about him and an ability to get about the pitch

In his post match the manager said he doesnt want to play Mitchell and Kirkman often

To put yesterday into statistical perspective,  Crewe had 63% accurate passes and we had 55% which was the second worst in the football league.

This week's transfer dealings are crucial and our next game against a confident Notts County side is going to be telling.

And that is 55% against Crewe who are languishing with us.

Stats so far this season.....

Expected Goals 24th
Shots on target per match 22nd
Accurate passes per match 15th
Goals conceded per match 16th
Interceptions per match 22nd
Yellow cards 3rd

Last season there was lots of anti comments on various sites about the tippy-tappy posession football which as not working and now we have turned 180 degrees and that is not working either so where do the team go from here? I have not got a clue.

Defensive signings looked good pre-season as we knew that was needed, midfield looked okayish if there were some quality additions (which never happened) and the signing of Smith gave us the "big lad" up front that so many wanted as well.

Painfully obvious from the few games so far it is failing badly, precious little football played, hoofball the predominate method and very little in the way of anyone having the ability to get the ball down and make an incisive pass.

The club has a few days to add to the squad which even the uninitiated can see is badly required to hopefully raise the very low bar of football we have currently see but am not confident that will be the entire answer.

There is the old saying from Brian Clough that it takes six months for a player to really settle into a team which means next January we could have a bunch of world beaters!

Unfortunately we currently look as disorganised on the pitch as we seem to be off it. I really can't see a lot else for us aside from this 'rinse and repeat' method the owners seem to be applying. U der Clem and Co I really can't see us progressing anywhere and seasons like last season and the season before (caveat, this season could be amazing) are going to become the norm.

Not the thread for it, granted, but surely the Trust need to come together with potential new owners and offer something brighter for the future. This tombola style, chuck shit at a wall and hope it sticks way the football club is being run is not going to work, however we 'change our mindsets'

Agree. The reaction has been well over the top. 3 league games in with a near on total new side, what do people expect? Certainly had more than enough chances to win yesterday and Smith's disallowed goal was touch and go. Crawley we could have won too, Walsall was not great but even their goals were a mixed bag.

Not been easy when the manager has been absent more than normal in preseason due to personal reasons too.

Like you, I say give it 10 games and then see where we're at. Delaney to come in along with Tshimanga, possibly McGurk and likely another 2, will certainly be a boost.

Remember it's league two, and the passing stats will be skewed playing more direct.

But every other club is in the same position, yet we appear to be failing miserably yet again. Be well surprised if things improve, they didn't for the previous 8 months. People seem to be accepting of this dire shit. Jeez.

Let’s not forget that Garner had no pre-season and came close to getting us in a play off final. Organisation is key but so is quality players which you can’t compare the current crop to the teams Wellens and Garner assembled.

Why do we need to wait 10 games into the season for them to gel together

95% of yesterday's team were in early so had virtually a whole pre-season to gel, that's what pre season and friendlies are for.

By your logic we should ditch the friendlies and just start off with the first league game of the season.

The abysmal performances ate either down to...

Poor players - looking whose come in unlikely
Although Cotterill and Frecklington di look out of their depth at times and not ready just yet.
Formation and tactics - More than likely- players looking unsure of how to play the tactics

At Crewe the defence did look more solid but there were still to many last ditch tackles due the midfield and wingbacks not tracking back as a wing back that is part of your job...

The midfield is so weak , players playing out of position or just not good enough?

Last week of the window will be key , untried youngsters us not the answer

That’s the issue. Our fanbase do a lot of moaning on socials but next to nothing to get rid of the owners apart from not attending

Could never see us doing a Blackpool or Reading in terms of protest even if we went down and struggled in the conference

Of the things to worry about, I’m not sure passing accuracy percentage is on the list. The main reason that number is so low is because a large chunk of our ‘passes’ are long balls which generate 50:50s (at best). There were far too many, in my view, aimless long balls, but that seems to be the closest thing to a plan at the moment.

If we were playing sideways football and that was the % then I would worry. There were some sloppy misplaced short stuff yes, but that is perhaps more symptomatic of our well-reported midfield and positional issues.

So second lowest in the football league doesn’t sound great, but says more of us having probably the 2nd shittest tactics, rather than the 2nd shittest players/team (I hope!)

And neck ache :D

Trust need to find a buyer willing to go public.
People can post all these bullshit Chinese whispers about all these alleged interested parties but until it’s public knowledge the large majority of fans won’t believe it. Be it head in the sand or cynicism.

Ultimately the way to get Clem out is the exact same way Clem got Power out.

For once I agree with everything you have said!!.

…not to get battered 4-0 by Walsall would definitely be one of my expectations regardless of how ‘new’ the side.

Let’s also not pretend we are the only club with a new manager & new team. Massive squad turn over is not just a Swindon thing.

What, by screwing the fans and the club for every penny they can ? ,  they’re already doing that.

I think 3 games in is too early to be sure where we are at too tbh.

But it's fair to say that the first 4 games are a bag of shite in the main. And it's fair to say if things don't improve we could be in the shit.

Teams do start poorly and go up.
Teams do start well and go down.
Teams do start poorly and go down too

It does appear the club is on a downward spiral with the elusive Ozzie at the helm.

Not saying it'll take 10 games to gel, as I can see a little bit of improvement from where they started already, so to see where we're at, at that.

Ok, but friendlies are a hotch potch at the best of times, and as we've seen, the manager, especially a new one,  being away for periods of time will have an impact, regardless.

Look, I'm not saying it's great but the reaction has been OTT given these circumstances.

I agree with Cotterill and Freckleton, the latter surely wasn't signed to be a starter, but here were are. With others still to return and come in, I'm fairly positive that things will pick up, but will reassess come another 7-10 games.

In answer to your question: because there isn’t a better alternative - so probably best to back the team to improve.

Lumping Freckleton in with Cotterill is madness. Freckleton has been ok to pretty good, Cotterill is utter garbage.

Yeah Freckleton was brought in to be left sided centre half cover and is pretty good for that role. Delaney when fit will take over.

Cotterill was seemingly brought in as the starting six if they couldn't get Bostock and is just nowhere near

The reaction has not been OTT in my mind, if anything it remains a bit muted still.  This is Division fucking four people.  I am not saying we should win every game, but we should look like a team that other clubs would be worried about playing, a team intent on competing right at the top.  We look like also rans, because we are at the moment and have been for a while.

I've not been impressed by Freckleton so far.
In my mind not an upgrade on any of last season's record breaking defence.
If Minturn isn't being selected ahead of him it doesn't say much for how he's going to be allowed to develop under this
management team.

Fotmob has Freckleton as our best player so far, WhoScored have him second after Smith

https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/teams/9795/stats/swindon-town
https://1xbet.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/9/Seasons/10344/Stages/23429/PlayerStatistics/England-League-Two-2024-2025

Wow! However these ratings are done they seem to be seeing things that most here aren't. He was MotM Vs Chesterfield and out top rated Vs Crewe but polled 1 and 3 votes respectively on the MotM voting here.

Small sample size by Freckleton has seemed solid & unspectacular to me. Almost unnoticeable in way (which is kinda good for a defender)

I won’t be jumping up & down and suggesting he’s a must sign player but similarly I’m not going to be raging if Kennedy keeps picking him.

Not our biggest issue by far

I mean to be fair, he's going to play ahead of Minturn because he's left footed. And he's playing left sided centre back.

Minturn is trying to take Hall or Wright's place. Which isn't realistically going to happen unless injuries or suspensions happen.

This.

Creativity and passing are way bigger issues.

Looking at Hall's record I'm pleasantly surprised the injury hasn't already happened.

You don't have to wait for 10 games. You're quite entitled to write em off after one game if you wish. Personally I always thought friendlies were for the purpose of actually establishing what your best eleven is,and to be fair,they got it pretty much right in my opinion. I think most of the players have the potential to improve as a team. Saturday was a definite improvement on the previous week, I thought(not that it could've been much worse,granted)