Thetownend.com

Well again I may as well start a thread I guess.

Town unbeaten in 4 consecutive games with 2 wins and 2 draws.

Doncaster are sat in 2nd place in the table with 6 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats on 20 points, 1 point behind the leaders Port Vale.

They have 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats in the last 7 games, although they lost to Man Utd in the MMC on penalties.

Donny leading scorers this season are winger Luke Molyneaux on 6 and the 38 year old Billy Sharp on 4.

Defender Tom Anderson will definitely be missing after his ban for being sent off was increased from 3 game to a 6 game ban for threatening and abusive language to a match official in the 3-0 defeat to Chesterfield.

Town have only beaten them twice in the last 8 games, the last win being 4 games ago when Wakeling scored the winner. And we have only beaten them at home once in the last 7 meetings.

What team and formation/style Kennedy will choose will be down to injuries/dropped players although I am sure there will be a few square pegs in round holes and we will play with 3 at the back, the rest is a mystery.

Think this would be a tough game even if we had a full squad to choose from. The way this mysterious illness is going around I'm expecting at least another surprise name missing.

Got to be 0-2 Donny and a slight but not remarkable increase on the gate to 6,369.

Good yardstick this game - we've beaten a few fairly bad teams, now let's see how we do against a team that's actually competent (and very much not local).

Not expecting much but we live in hope.

Swindon 1-1 Doncaster att: 7,430 (530)

They have lost to Harrogate,Newport and Chesterfield so a glimmer of hope there?

Been watching Donnys last few games on highlights, they seem pretty susceptible to teams running at them through the middle, they don't have the most mobile of defenders. We have scored a few goals this term already using that tactic (when we keep the bloody ball on the deck).

Always a bit of hope, thats what kills you.

But, conversely we have lost 4 games already (3 at home) and one of those was to the bottom club Carlisle who looked terrible but we still managed to lose.

Swindon 2-1 Donny, Att: 7,129 (371)

True that but what I meant was that they've lost to teams we've got points from.🙂

Town 0-6 Doncaster att: 6,229 (604 away)

Oh no I get that mate but this league is so wide open again this season, anyone can beat anyone.

So little in terms of quality so far in our games, only really PV and Walsall have impressed me at all. Cobble together a few lucky wins and its wide open. Consistancy is always the key and thats something we just dont have yet at all.

https://www.soccerstats.com/homeaway.asp?league=england4

Donny and Gills  are both W2 D1 L2 away (411, 402 at home respectively).

Beatable. Maybe they'll attack more than Carlisle and Harrogate, thus leaving space.

Absolutely mate. Gillingham were top 2 weeks ago,they've just lost 3 on the trot

Fancy us to get at least a point as long as Kennedy starts the in-form players. I would go with Barden McGregor  Soborwale Wright Cox Kilkenny Oforborh Clarke McGurk Glatzel and Ameen in a 442 diamond. Of course he will play with 3 at the back and include Freckleton, Cotterill and 1 of either Smith or Drinan or Tshimanga depending on fitness.

I would love us to ditch the five/three at the back!

I think most of us would, the problem is we’ve recruited exclusively to play with wing backs and don’t have anyone to play a more defensive full back role

A mistake we already made previously.

Think Cox, Freckleton and Sobowale could play full backs. But we're not going to change, so it's moot really.

Definately Freckleton, Longelo and Sobowale can all play fullback and have done previously.

Cox is more of an ex winger turned into a wingback (his own words in the interview he gave BBC).

But agreed, I think 90% probably of us would prefer a 4 at the back rather than the 3 with wingbacks.

Molyneux is going to decimate our left hand side.

Think he scored twice against us last year as well?

He is their most creative player by far and agree if we give him time and space on our left behind Cox he will be a major problem for us.

(from the Moonraker report of the presser)

This illness that's been going round sounds a) really quite bad and b) like it's still going round

Probably caught verbal diahorrea off of our exceptional manager.

Moonraker article confirms Ameen back with the u18’s this weekend.

You could play 4-2-3-1 -

                                  Barden
       Sobowale       Wright.      Delaney     Longelo
                            Ofoborh.    Kilkenny
           McGregor.          McGurk.         Cox
                                   Glatzel

That side has real potential

I think a 4231 formation would have suited each of our squads post Wellens better than 352

In a 4-2-3-1 I think you'd play Smith as the front man and Glatzel off one wing, no?

I do want to see the Ofoborh-Kilkenny double pivot, like a L2 Pirlo/Gauttso, but it's not going to happen even if Kennedy goes, this is Russell's system.

You could but you are playing 4 players out of position and 2 who aren’t fully fit.

Personally I would pick a 433 4231 442 every time vs 3 at the back.

But I/we don't pick the formation and Kennedy/Russell seem stubborn in the 3 at the back formation.

Who’s out of position? Cox is a winger (converted into a FB), so is McGregor. Both full backs are in position… ??

Interesting Moonraker stat:

Doncaster are another bogey team for Town. Of the teams Swindon have played 30 or more times down the years, the Robins’ win rate against Donny is lower than against all opponents bar Blackpool.


You could have given me a lot of guesses for the side we have the lowest win rate against before I'd have got Blackpool I think.

I know recently our performances against them have been really poor, but didnt know that.

I do remember that we always seemed to lose or draw with them though. 13 defeats and only 6 wins in 30 meetings is pretty shit.

There was a period in the late 90s/early 2000s where we seemed to draw every time we played Blackpool.

In fact, having checked, we played them 12 times between 1995 and 2005, drawing 10 of those ties. One win and one defeat in there too.

2004 - Igoe is "injured" from a tackle by subsequently red carded Ritchie Wellens. 2-2. That's my favourite away one of the 2 or 3 I have been to up there..


Sammy eye glue was never winning Mastermind, but you couldn't help but like him

When I think of Blackpool, the game that springs to mind for me always is the 2-6 home defeat early in 86/87...0-4 at half time, they must have had the bollocking of all bollockings from Macari. Came out and 'drew' the second half 2-2. The support from the Town End during that second half was un-fucking-believeable. Hard to imagine it now.... different times...different Club...

Not sure if it was the same game but remember playing Blackpool around that time on a Tuesday evening and there was a Blackpool fan pissed up giving it large on the touchline in front of the Arkells.

Probably was, the 2-6 was a midweek game...

All ready been mentioned but lots of draws against Blackpool on the 00s.

Our win record against them isn’t great but their winning record against us probably isn’t that great either.

Might see what Barden is made of today as Doncaster are top when it came to shots and 5th when it comes to hitting the target, but 16th in % of shots of target.
We on the other hand are 9th in the shot table and 20th in getting them on target and rock bottom in % of shots on target.

Then again, with this being L2 the safest place could yet be between the sticks.

It's a Markus Fjortoft day.

Today's game will be a barometer for me, may come to next week's game against the Jills

This pleases me, hes great on co-comms.

I'll be at Jills, don't let that sway your decision either way!

Will be following this one from out in the Balearics with a couple of Estrella’s, hopefully I won’t need more to forget about it.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GaQQcBhXwAAlRHM?format=jpg&name=large)

One change from Cheltenham
©️ Clarke continues in midfield
↪️ Joel Cotterill back in the XI

Disappointed he dropped Ofoborh TBH.

No McGurk

Kennedy blatantly doesn't rate him.

At home, I do not mind it too much as teams usually come here and are fairly defensive so negates the need for him a little. In saying that, Donny are flying and I cannot see them sitting back with 11 men behind the ball, so this is one of the home games I'd have started him for. A Harrogate at home for example, I would not. Think he is much more effective for us away from home.

Cotterill for Ofoborh is brave because it'll be all anyone talks about if we lose.

Three centre forwards on the bench and playing one up top also rogue.

Last week all of our best stuff started with Ofoborh, I understand your point but I rate Ofoborh much more than I do Cotterill TBH who flatters to decieve.

Personally I would rather have seen McGurk on the bench ahead of Tshimanga or Drinan.

I wonder in what scenario he will bring on 3 strikers?

Probably being 1-0 up trying to hold a lead...

Yeah, he was excellent last week. Cotterill I am still unsure on. Strangely, reminds me a little of Alex Gilbert when he was here. Tidy in parts, but lacks a bit of confidence

Kennedy is such a stubborn f*ck !  :badmood: :badmood:

Seems when he has a choice is when he starts to make weird choices. I hope i am wrong

Also hoping that McGurk is one of the players he mentioned was ill

😂

..or Cain, or Minturn, not sure what three strikers on the bench is intended to achieve.

Donny seem to have gone three at the back to match us up.

Could actually work in our favour as they normally play 4 at the back but apparently have all their fullbacks out injured.

Has Cotterill started every game this season? If so i suspect a has to play clause

That he's been available for I think, missed a few with Wales.

I'd be amazed if we agreed to that, he played about 200 minutes over the whole season last year on loan. I just think Kennedy really rates him.

I mean considering last week we looked at least semi competent for 60 or so minutes before doing our best to chuck the game away you’d think logically there would be no reason (other than forced injuries & suspensions) to change the starting XI…

…but here we are

Yep he has, as has Freckleton too.

I also think calling that ‘three strikers on the bench’ is a bit kind too…

Find it mental there is no creativity on that bench. Been told that McGurk is definitely not one of the ones who is ill so even more strange considering 3 of those players will be nowhere near fit on the bench

Good that he's not ill because he definitely couldn't afford to lose another stone!

Agreed.

Ofoborh shagged Kennedys mrs or something? Fucking hell.

Despite all that it's not an awful line up so fingers crossed it does not come back to bite us on the ass

Cynical!

Either that or he refused to give Kennedy one🤣

Donny Fan on twitter:

it’s decent, very very attacking, should be pushing for a few goals today, with 4/5 attackers on.

I think looking for logic in Kennedy’s selection is a pointless exercise.
Random as fuck. Some of his decisions make Gunning look like a master logistician

I wouldn't have dropped him, but least when Clarke gasses out on 60 we have a replacement in Offy.

Hope it's not too late by then.

3 strikers on the bench is bizarre if not totally availability induced.

I am losing faith in Kennedy as manager.

I feel if we win it will be despite his team selection/tactics rather than because of them.

I sort of both broadly agree and think that's not a five to 3 take, if you get what I mean? Let's see how it goes.

Ground look super empty. wouldn't be surprised if we've dropped into the 5k zone

The team plays well in spells when we keep it down and dont hoof it high and long, if that was pressed into the team then I feel we would beat most teams in this league.

At Cheltenham we played a low passing game right up until Ofoborh went off and then we reverted to hoofball.

This team does not do well when we rely on that approach, but keep it down ad we can outpass most teams in this league.

From the camera position it looks similar to the Harrogate crowd but with a few more away fans.

Just out of interest - is the CG the only stadium named after a fan?
Usually if stadiums hold names is ex players or ex managers etc

Impossible for me, I never had any.

If I did, it would have been long gone before now.

Glatzel pressing wins Town a corner from Freckletons cross.

Sobowale gives them a corner.

Donny pressuring us from set pieices, creating a few chances.

Great cross by Molyneux cleared by Freckleton for a corner.

Cox fast deep cross by Cox to Glatzel but its about a foot too far.

Nice tracking back by Kilkenny and he wins the ball back.

Hospital defending.

Freckleton with a trademark mistake and Donny have a great chance but waste it.

Sobo fouled on the touchline in their half 35 yards out.

Butterworth clever free kick to Glatzel behind the wall but he cant get a shot in.

Too much pissing around with the ball outside of their box by Town and the chance goes to waste.

Wright wins another corner.

Poor delivery from Butterworth, chest high to the near post.

We are putting too many early poor passes in to Glaztel which he has no chance of winning with that quality of pass.

We just need to slow it down a bit. Tempo is too fast for what we are capable of.

We can play against this lot. They have 2 very immobile centre forwards. We should have a spare man on quite a lot of occasions.

Not sure Cotterill has touched the ball more than twice so far, and Butterworth is always looking for a backward pass rather than a forward pass, which is frustrating to watch it times.

Cotterill gets away with a soft header back to Barden and Wright saves him with Sharp closing in on goal.

Cotterill coming back in screams *has to play* due to loan agreement if I've ever seen one.

Cox lovely pass to Wright who takes it into the box and tries a shot but its well wide, good chance.

100%

Kilkenny with a chance but cant get the ball in, despite Hawes calling him Butterworth!

Cox short corner to Kilkenny but he tries a shot and its wide.

Wright makes a good saving block as Sharp shoots.

Sobo with a nice long pass thro to Glatzel but the keeper just gets to it first in the box.

Kilkenny sold short and Donny rob the ball and have a throw in.

Cotterill with an awful touch gives them the ball in our half.

McGregor doing really well winning the ball from the Donny winger.

Its certainly been a lively end to end game so far.

Clarke sells McGregor a dud and that could have ended as a hospital ball if McGregor didnt pull up.

Great defending by Sobo with Sharp clean through.

Cotterill wins the ball well and takes it past 1 player and then passes it straight back to them.

McGregor gets a foot in and gives away another corner.

Barden mistake from the corner and McGregor tips the ball over the bar almost on the line with his head.

Barden with another huge cock up gives them the ball but Wright saves him.

Close up on the dugout shows Mildenhall getting very angry with Drinan.

Glatzel is doing very very well with some poor passes put to him but he is by no means a target man and Butterworth isnt giving him much support so far.

Butterworth with a soft yellow for a foul about 30 yards out.

Donny with a terrible long free kick straight into touch.

Sobo with nearly a great 50 yard crossfield diagonal, a foot too heavy to Cox.

Kilkenny has put in a lot of hard running trying to make up for Cotterill who is a passenger so far today.

Kilkenny cross straight in the mummy daddy button of the Donny defender.

Good control by Glatzel who finds Cox but he loses the ball, good chance really and poor by Cox.

Wright with another good block.

Feels like a game carefully designed to change nobody's opinion on anything so far. A footballing Rorschach Test.

Butterworth felled from behind, 40 yards out.

2 mins added.

Cox with another bit of loose play lets it under his foot for a throw in.

HT 0-0

Not great, not shit, not many good chances for either side.

Sobowale and Wright pretty much faultless so far.

Competed well enough. Not created much

Wright to DMC at half time?

Doncaster nothing special, but top teams are supposed to find a way to win.

We've done ok.

Due a goal attacking the town end.

We'll see.

Not even in jest....

54% possession, two shots, neither on target.

Solid but excitement free. This feels a bit more like what we expected from Kennedy

Just going on trends, relatively solid at the back, let's make it interesting - the Kennedy effect

Whyy is Ofoborh not part of the group when warming up. Did it pre match too.... Oh he just has.

Smith incoming? Not out on pitch with other subs

Edit. Ditto longelo

Edit edit: both now or and warning up more rigerously. Incoming I think

First game I’ve watched since Crawley.

It wasn’t too bad. We looked like we wanted to move the ball quickly & go forward with it & we did to an extent just without looking threatening at all.

Doncaster much the same just looking a bit more dangerous from set pieces.

Crying out for a McGurk

Smith on for Glatzel.
Longelo on for Cox.

So Smith still hasnt shared a pitch with Cox!

Wtf. Glatz off, Cox off

Longelo and Smith on

Donny get a cross in and Barden claims it well.

The decision making on subs by Kennedy, although not as crazy as last week, just baffles the hell out of me..

Not just you mate.

Good defending by Freckleton there.

Sobo loses the ball then wins it back and then gives away a corner!

We’ve lost all shape since the substitutions

Freckleton is just a disaster waiting to happen.

Smith header to Clarke but his cross is blocked and cleared, good chance.

I would rather have seen Glatzel stay on and Butterworth go off.

Fragileton

FFS Cotterill why did you pass it and not try a shot? great play by Kilkenny though.

Barden low save tipped round for a corner.

Sounds familiar

Save by Barden from Sharp.

0-1

Well colour me shocked. From a corner

Header at the far post with lots of defenders around him. Not unmarked but may as well have been.

Probably deserved on this halfs attempts so far.

Late to the party but if you’re bringing Smith on aren’t you better off keeping Glatz to play off him.
Not sure Butterworth offers….well, anything

I think Preston have the ''Linda Moon Arena''

HTH  :soapy tit wank:

I would

Shocking cross by Cotterill to the far post.

As I suggested earlier too.


Stupid sub.

I mean I get that I this is only the third game I’ve watched after Chesterfield & Crawley but that first half seemed alright to me.

I didn’t think it was crying out for half time subs at all

….so why?

Clarke 30 yard low shot saved.

Ofoborh and Tshimanga on.

Clarke and Cotterill off.

I have to admit I have been impressed by the on loan Chelsea keeper Sharman-Lowe for Donny today.

More defensive cock ups by Town but we get away with it.

Exactly, this what the Kennedy masterclass is all about, enjoy it while you can, we are witnessing genius at work..

This second half has been absolutely appalling. Boos starting to ring out now

Its probably stats and fitness related but to the fans all of his subs seem a bit weird to most of us, and have all season.

Same last week

Bring on Smith if we're going to carry on lumping it by all means but we've brought the big guy on and then started playing it on the ground more. We've done half each of two valid but contradictory changes.

As I said pre game, if we get anything from this game it will despite Kennedys tactics not because of them.

1-1 Smith

Now for a winner!!!.

That was the sort of cross I hoped that Cox would have put in for Smith TBH until he took Cox off!

Hurrah.

The constants:
The manager makes subs at a point when none are really needed - Town concede shortly after

Sobo and McGregor will have bids on them in January. Town will definitely accept the first offer

McGurk and Cain clearly not rated by the tactical genius that bestows Mark Kennedy

How Butterworth, Freckleton and Cotterill seemingly start whenever available is incredible

--

Longelo and Smith combine for Smith to score. It's despite MK though, not because of him.

Butterworth with a lovely break but his pass was way too short to Smith.

B{Gl}en Close coming on for Donny. Will it be a fatal attraction?

I think Hawes missed a cheap trick there  ;)

Tshimanga turns and shoots but he cant get enough on it and its an easy save.

Penalty to them. Handball by Freckles.

Fucking jokers.

Shocking. We didn’t really deserve a point anyway

1-2

Agreed.

Just seen the highlight on twitter,  what an absolutely idiotic penalty to concede

Ah well, send him back please. And I don't want to hear Kennedy say "the lad's in tears"

That was shit.

We did to be fair

Not quite that good.

What a load of rubbish!

Disagree. We created one chance the whole game.

How many points dropped can directly be attributed to Freckleton?

Why does Freckleton play 90 every week?Why isn't the "experienced, large" Delaney coming on when we're level with little time left? It's all down to the manager I'm afraid

Kennedy's favourite costing us again. A useless manage r. Freckleton is utter shite.

Meh, same old Swindon.

Did ok, did the bare minimum to get back into the game.
Gave away a stupid a free kick, defended it stupidly, lost the game.

Like, I know we are Swindon fans so will always analyse our game more but that felt like we did more to beat ourselves than Doncaster did to beat us.

Kennedy, your record and football is terrible. Just go.

I don't know but I reckon more can be attributed to MKs tactical ability to fuck a game up.

Regardless, MK will throw Freckleton under a bus, right before then saying: ''he's in feckin bits, so i'm not not going to berate him too much Andrew, but yes - he was the reason we lost. I'll be starting him for every single game he's available though because he's great in training.''

He’ll probably blame Minturn and Mcgurk for the defeat

Lolz

And Cain too. Those three are completely useless cunts of course {but especially McGurk to MK. Far too technically gifted for a team like ours - in his mind}

That game actually cried out for a McGurk type to combine with Sobo/McGregor/Glatzel.

I agree re. Kennedy, he is atrocious.

No real surprises today.
Kennedy set us up to fail from the start.  Ofborh deserved to keep his place given his performance last 2 games but yet Cotterill comes waltzing back into the team.  Todays set up allowed Doncaster to dictate the ball so it was no suprise our game plan was to hoof it to Glatzel.

Just don’t know what the hype is about Butterworth utter dog shit again and just don’t know why he’s favoured over McGurk.  McGurk offers far much more creativity.

Overall a shit poor penformance caused by baffling tactics and game plan by Kennedy who should take the blame.

Silly penalty by Freckleton should be dropped but Kennedy won’t drop his favourite 3 (Butterwoth, Cotterill & Freckleton)

When the loan players are weaker than our own,send them back. Cain,McGurk,Minturn,Ofobohr,even Drinan  are better than Freckleton,Cotterill and Tshimanga

I think it’s safe to assume Freckleton & Cotterill’s inclusions are based on their loan agreements.

Further proof the loan system is fucking shit for clubs like us. At best you get some short term gain (Kemp & Young) but they soon get recalled or you get stuck playing players who aren’t up to it because it’s been agreed they will play…

We’d be better off terminating their loans (which I’m sure we either can’t do or would cost us to do so won’t do) and use youth teamers (who are actually ours) if we need a LCB & CM.

I would have preferred Harley Hunt back on loan than Freckleton

First half I thought we were okay, second half we really lost the plot. Don’t think a draw would’ve been unfair, but it’s irrelevant. It’s another defeat and another one at the CG. MK has clearly ran out of ideas and a change is needed. Feel bad for Freckleton because he should be dropped and out of the firing line. Will Wright got him out of jail a couple times today

And we likely won't hear from the cunt before 6pm anyway.

He's got to go. Just an awful manager.

6,837 crowd? Can't believe people still go to watch that.

Yeah but likely about 1.5k ST holders weren't actually there. And Donny seemingly brought about 500 with them


Edit: 449 Osmonds

I’m not one to call for a managers head, but I just dont see any redeeming qualities in Kennedy. He so out of his depth, it’s unreal.

He’s got a nice voice. As long as you aren’t listening to what he’s actually saying

Ok then. With what you have seen so far, in your opinion, is he good enough?

None :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: that’s what im saying. Needs sacking asap!

Kennedy out. Clem out.

Good job Morfuni increased the budget. Those scarf lundin giants Bromley are breathing down our necks…

You said you weren’t calling for his head?

Who is this cunt saying that it's been a good start to the season? And then says, what do the fans expect. Jesus, it's car crash, get him off the airwaves.

I cant imagine anyone ( even the hardcore fans of the rising tide) thought we were going to win that . A draw would have been a very good result but we are just not very good.

I meant to say, I’m not one that usually calls for a managers head but for Kennedy I am.

"Re players mistakes."I always ask players if they meant to do it,and if they say no, I say don't worry about it then"( Mark Kennedy )
😃

We deserved a draw.
We didn't get a draw.

On one hand we probably matched top of the league. The kind of performance that should see mid table tedium.

On the other we created very little. Again.
We conceded stupid goals. Again.

Still in a relegation battle. Fact.

If it was, I would have got it - one hundred percent. But maybe not I one hundred percent, I got it.  ;)

#IOwnTheClubOneHundredPercent

He's very experienced though, don't you know. And he loves the system being played. None of it is his fault too  ::)

On the other hand….was the bloody ball….

But thats the problem, I can't see us beating Morecambe or Colchester, and they're down here with us.

Freckleton needs to be dropped, he’s just a liability now and is woefully short of confidence.
Ofoborh was awful when he came on
Couldn’t understand why Glatzel went off for Smith, apparently was injury so made a bit more sense then.
Cotterill was really poor.
Barden was really good or really bad, dropped a couple of easy crosses but made a couple of really good saves.

Another game we probably didn’t deserve to lose, but we did and unless we sort out how to defend set pieces properly it’s going to keep happening.

A great weekend ruined by a stupid decision by Freckleton :(

Please tell me this wasn't said

Clayton is still a free agent.
If fit would slot in nicely at LCB.

.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5HkhwYhSQ&t=20s&pp=ygUPc3dpbmRvbiB0b3duIGZj

This guy will defend Freckleton at all costs.

Fair enough. I hope it's worth losing your job over.

TBF he does say that he is 'BEYOND LIVID'

For one game until he gets injured again

We do literally have a (we assume) quite expensive, experienced LCB on the bench, he's just not quite fit yet. I do think (although with ever reducing confidence) that Delaney was meant to fill that role all season and Freckleton's just been unlucky in a way to be undroppable. Hopefully Delaney is ready by next week.

What’s confused me is when Delaney has played it’s been at least half spent in the centre of the 3 and they’ve spoken about him playing in there.

If that’s the plan when he signed then that’s confusing as we allegedly only dipped in for Freckleton when Delaney was crocked beyond the season start.

Regardless though, think Freckleton needs taking out of the firing line now if Delaney can manage it. Run with a back 3 of Sobowale, Wright, Delaney. Obviously the ideal right now would be Wright, Hall, Delaney but as expected when they signed, Hall is probably only going to only manage limited minutes.

Sadly unsurprised to see Cotterill come straight back in to the XI. Nothing against him, he’s a steady player but you’d question whether he’d have come straight back in for Ofoborh after last week if he wasn’t a loan player. Glad to see Smith get a goal, hopefully him and Glatzel can create some sort of partnership moving forwards when both fit.

All a bit meh at the moment. We’re running in that expected pattern that I mentioned of 1 win, several draws/defeats, 1 win, etc repeat. Just about enough to keep the heads above water and managing to scrape a result out the bag when pressure is approaching its limit.

The manager can say that, but I for one was frothing at the mouth, why waste Saturday on this crap?

The fact they got clapped off shows how far expectations have dropped.

21st in League 2.

Our goal aside, anything positive we did was effort-based or a recovery tackle. Sobowale, McGregor, Wright, Kilkenny all fine. I think that gave it a glaze of being ok at times. But when the crowd got up for it, it’s because McGregor did something defensively, or Sobowale beat his man 25 yards from our own goal.

But my god going forwards…. Zero creativity. Zero threat going forward. No plan. Blind passes into nowhere. I think we might go all season without a counter-attack. Remember them?

Cotterill has an incredible ability to occupy the area of the pitch where nothing is happening, and hold it. I reckon he had about 15 touches today, in centre midfield. It’s miserable, miserable football that would send you to sleep if it wasn’t for Freckleton’s three heart-attack inducing mistakes a game.

I like defenders that are calm, strong and assured, but we’ve chosen a loanee that is skinny and scared. Our loanees are beyond useless, and they’re keeping better players out of the team. If we agreed to a deal where they have to play then Jamie Russell deserves criticism, because you just don’t sign up to those deals unless you’re signing dead cert. They are a liability.

But the manager is the absolute pits. He’s on a par with Gunning for me.

The County Ground has become a really sad place to be of late.

Freckles is a liability.  I don’t care how fit/unfit other options are the guy needs to not be anywhere near the football pitch.  What is worrying is now Barden seems to have the same glue on his feet as Bycroft.  Why do both keepers refuse to leave the goal line.  Yesterday Doncaster made no effort to block him yet he still remained rooted. Mildenhall needs to get this sorted as it’s ridiculous that they are making no effort to own the six yard box.  Both goals were piss poor and very avoidable

Only way we’re going to get Freckleton out the team is to talk him up massively & hope the Sheffield Utd scouts don’t watch him and just read social media so they recall him in January because I can almost guarantee we can’t afford to drop him.

Maybe get him snogging the ill players…

good post. agree with all of that.

loans are supposed to be a 2 way thing. we get a player who is technically above our level, and the lending club gets 40+ games out of them. both parties benefit.

Only sheffield united are benefitting from this so far. Whilst we get closer to the trap door.

After 3 shit seasons with him allegedly in charge of recruitment it's time we had that conversation anyway.

I suspect Russell's hands are tied, but it's his name above the door as it were.

At what stage could we question if Kennedy is actively sabotaging this club? Playing Freckleton every week, dropping Ofoborh, the bizarre subs in game and the even more bizarre comments pre and post match. Something isn’t adding up, I’m struggling to believe a manager / head coach is truly this woeful.

The concern from the boardroom is deafening  ::)

Exactly this.

With less than a minute to go, the ref could at least have sent him off for the handball. Would have offset the loss of two points.

I think on reflection, even in the knowledge that it'd be Gunning or Bignot instead, I want Kennedy gone asap.

https://x.com/OneGFB/status/1847910924184670370?t=JBo9gT3oTSO0irFcjXvQkQ&s=19

Looking at this picture, if Freckleton doesn't stick his arm up, he might have got a foul against the Donny 20 who is all over him.

Problem is he panics and gives the ref the easy decision to give the pen. Why couldn't Delaney have come on for the last 5-10 mins.

Worse penalty handball since one of the Liverpool loaners caught the ball from a corner because one of ours was having treatment

Oh yeah I remember that. He assumed the ref was stopping play like he should. Technically the ref was right.

It was..

I conker

#SeasonalPun

I gave up watching at 0-0 and decided the cleaning the house was a better option. missed their first but caught our equaliser and their late penalty.

Neither got much reaction out of me, just laughed at the end.

We're in big trouble *sigh*

This is the saddest thing.

It's just emotionless now. I don't celebrate goals. I don't get angry when we concede.

I still watch though. Always will. It's hard to be invested though when you know by October that your season is over.

This in a nutshell.

Ironically we would be in better shape if our season was over, at least that would mean we were safe from being relegated to the non league.

Under Clem & his clown show I fear we are heading that way sooner or later

I'm sorry to say Kennedy has been talking about Freckleton again in the Salford presser.

We need a teacher then.

It is very easy to put his mistakes under the microscope and his successes under the carpet.
But statistically one of the best defenders in the league? Really?

In any case team issues run deeper than Freckleton, and I feel for him and the pressure he's under. I don't think Kennedy is actually helping here, but I suppose he has to answer the questions.

Maybe he was high up in terms of blocks, headers and tackles etc. I find it hard to believe that he is still one of the best defenders in the league after the handball on Sat and the Port Vale howler.

Not even just that though. Giving the ball away in key areas and being out of position. Surely there must be stats for such things.

I'm sure he'll get there over time. Not sure it'll be this season.

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/159/Show/England-Swindon STFC defensive stats

Freckleton is top for clearances (per 90), 9th for blocks, 2nd for interceptions, 8th for tackles and 6th for overall statistical rating. If you squinted, you can sort of see what he's saying. There's no stat here for errors or mistakes leading to goals though!

Maybe his intended passes come under "clearances".

Just remember, there are “lies, damned lies & statistics”.

Best defender in the league, fucking laughable.

I get that part of the manager’s job is to protect & build up his players, and to an extent he doesn’t want to publicly throw him under the bus (other teams may look at that & it may influence whether they want to loan us players in the future), but I really hope that privately he is being a bit more critical

4:07pm

On Salford:

I am okay speaking about them because we play them tomorrow. Big big club, I know them quite well as I lived in Manchester myself. Gonna be a tough tough game, good individuals and can be quite direct at times. We will have to be at our ultimate best, we feel like we can win

4:10pm

On Salford not doing so well:

I won't speak about Karl's team

Wtf :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I was lost at big, big club. Feels like we've crashed down 3 divisions this season   :doh:

Agree I'd snap someones hand off for guaranteed safety now.

Not a blame culture

Except if you are speaking about Harrison Minturn.

What a twat.

I was about to say something similar. Didn't he hang Minturn out to dry recently that he couldn't defend set pieces properly?

He's a twat, contradicts himself within the same sentence sometimes.

Some of the stuff he says is very obscure. I wonder if he's genuinely having problems mentally after losing a parent.

Whilst on that subject, haven't we had quite a few managers that have lost parents when employed at STFC? PDC lost both, Sheridan lost one, as did MK. Anyone else?

Calling Salford a "big big club" ffs

Am I right in thinking Ling did? I remember he left because of mental health problems but couldn’t remember if a death of a parent was relating to it

One of the reasons for his sacking at Lincoln was his very public burial of a player. Seems weird to have gone completely to the other end of the spectrum now.

He's a total moron and needs media training. Freckleton is a liability that we simply can't afford to keep playing. He'll continue to make mistakes and we will go down.

Kennedy out.

Without sounding like Kennedy, I really feel for Freckleton. He clearly isn’t the standard or isn’t playing the required standard. IMO it’s not on the player being not good enough whether that’s permanently or through a bad spell, the basics is he shouldn’t by playing right now. That all rests with the manager. The constant and weird over praise by Kennedy in the media is making Freckleton worse, pinning more fans against him. I’m sure he’s a nice lad but professional football is all about winning games and making him play week in week out with this over praise is only going to have a negative impact on his career.

He’s lost the plot.

The whole Freckleton issue is purely down to MK.

Freckleton hasn't been good for the vast majority of the season, neither have most of the squad,  but Freckleton stands out because he'll be sycophantically praised even when he's had a complete mare as per Saturday.

Meanwhile, you've got minturn who Kennedy happily threw under the bus after PV and can't even get on the bench. Kennedy likened Freckletons mistake to learning in school in his press conference and that he was there to teach and make him better, but why isn't this applied to players we actually own like Minturn.

The more it goes on with us struggling, Freckleton failing to perform and MK praising him regardless.  The more frustrations with Freckleton will grow and eventually it'll end up with fans making it plainly vocal in the ground,  which will probably cause his performances to spiral further.

It's really in Kennedy's, Freckleton's and the club's best interest to drop him,  even if it is only for a game or two, but by the sounds of it, that's not going to happen while MK is at the helm

Spot on Lemis.

"If somebody ever spoke to me about team selection, I'd walk straight out of the door."

As it should be.

This is on Kennedy and Bignot to sort out.

If Delaney isn't ready, why the fuck was he in the squad ahead of Minturn?

Im more concerned we thought it would be a good idea to sign a player that has been injured since the start of the year to be honest

We got Hall to keep him company

Are you suprised though. So far it's only really worked with Glatzel and typically Kennedy doesn't seem to like him much.

Presumably not boyfriend material for his imaginary daughter.

I haven’t posted or been on here for a bit so I don’t know if this has already been mentioned. Kennedy has ditched, or semi-ditched, virtually every player that was at the club before he took over. I’m sure Glatzel’s only been playing because the other strikers have not been available. He appears to be a vindictive twat. I understand bringing your own players in but ostracising players who are better than some who are playing smacks of an inflated ego.

He’s a prick. Pure and simple. I can’t bear to listen to him. If he thinks it’s acceptable to have us scrabbling around the drop zone after having, supposedly, the biggest budget since PdC, then it makes an even bigger prick.

How long did we give Flynn? This idiot needs ditching asap.

Where are the board? Absolutely silent about the dire results, and plummeting crowds. Nothing changes.

Flynn

Sacked 15th January.

P28 W9 D7 L12, 34pts, 1.21ppg

Kennedy

P12 W2 D5 L5 , 11pts, 0.92ppg

Imagine 16 more games of Kennedyball

Flynn's last 12 games for comparison: P12 W3 D2 L7, 11pts, 0.92 PPG... it's exactly the same.

It’s the boards fault largely until we get new owners nothing will change

Yeah I’m in the camp of starting to feel sorry for Freckleton. At any normal club, he’d have been taken out of the firing line by now and protected from further poor form. But our remaining CB options are 2 continuously injured players who I assume we will be lucky to see start 5 games consecutively before the end of the season and another young CB who for some reason has had the opposite treatment from MK and been thrown under the bus.

For all the good that Sheffield United will apparently feel for Freckleton starting all these matches, I’m not sure it’s actually doing him any good. Yes part of these loans for young players is navigating themselves through poor bouts of form and Freckleton will no doubt learn a lot from this period to take forward in his career but there comes a point where continuously putting the player in positions where it’s killing their confidence is detrimental over developmental.

And that’s not even taking into account the point of view from the club where we’re clearly suffering from it as well.

A really rough situation on all sides. I understand why MK is continuously backing him in the media and showing faith by continuing to pick him.

Not sure about Ling losing a parent, but he had depression and anxiety hadnt he and had struggled before at other clubs.

For all Powers faults, Power paid him until the end of the season even though he left end of december, which was good of him

😂

Thank God for that, I thought we were getting worse  :beers:

We've plateaued  :clap:

Hold on 4d. Gunning was in-between. What was his record?

Post Flynn, I think it's:
P18 W5 D5 L8 20pts, 1.11ppg

Damn.

Such a shame, remember us looking pretty competent under Ling. He was before my time as a player but my old man spoke very highly of him.

Note on power - I highly doubt Kiely and Austin would have paid Ling til end of season.

I loved Ling as a player, he was my favourite when i was a kid growing up.

I think he won 5 out of 9 iin charge or something like that

MK is just Jay-ing us now.

Seeing how much utter bullshit he can spout before someone pulls him up on it….

Bring back Gav  :)

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that he’d quite welcome a sacking, and 18 months of pay whilst staying at home, and able to take his three boys and imaginary daughter to school.

It would explain the nonsense interviews, implausible tactics and catastrophic man management.

He gave a very open and honest interview with the BBC a few years ago.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to get what sounds like his absolute dream job, and feel the need to walk away from it.  I personally think that takes a lot of strength, not weakness (which sadly I'm sure some people see mental health struggles as).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49177873

They would tell us they have. Then pay him 6 months after he's gone... in club shop vouchers. That have expired.