Mansfield v Swindon Town matchday thread

[DiV]

But he was under contract so we were under no obligation to accommodate his wishes

[Peter Venkman]

Just back for an 80s 48 hour break at Sand Bay where the entertainment was superior to this game was. I hate watching games on a mobile phone when away too.

1st half I thought they were all over us for long periods but lacked overall quality to capitalise.  Defensively we were awful, absolutely horrific at times, even the normally reliable FBT and McCarthy were all over the shop. Brewitt made a couple of good blocks and a goalline clearance butI still dont think hes good enough to rely upon full time at CB.

2nd half we notched up a gear or 2 but still had gaping holes in defence but created a fair bit.

Khan was very weak and positionally all over the place in midfield, Devoy - other than 2 decent passes looked way out of his depth again.

Why not bring on McGurk? the man is a wizard on the ball and makes things happen out of nothing, I think he could have changed the game if he came on instead of RHM, but thats just my opinion.

Dokes looked decent, ran around a lot and played fairly well although not really a LWB as a defensive left sided midfielder at times and carried the ball so well. But the midfield was pretty much bypassed all game by us trying to exploit their weak fullbacks which we did at times.

Bycroft made a few brilliant saves that kept the score down and although far from faultless all game he really kept us in it.

Glatzel and Austin looked a handful all game, Charlie did miss one sitter but still nowhere near the level of RHMs incredible miss later on. Drinan (Dry Nun) again looked to be a bit of a handful too and took his goal so well, he looks a Primark version of Charlie Austin.

Yes Gunnings style is more entertaining than Flynns football but we look tactically all over the place, defensively just not with it, but we do hit on the counter and break with some pace and probably deserved a few more goals, but then it could easily have ended another 7-4.

Please do not appoint Gunning for next season.

As for Mansfield, they were not overly impressive at all for a team where they are in the table, barring the first 15 mins where they applied lot of pressure. They were weak at the back and not great up front, unfortunately they came up against a side in Swindon that is both shit at the back and not great at scoring too, I am still shocked at the low quality of the league this season with no stand out sides.

Boateng looked exactly like the type of midfielder we badly need, defended well and broke with the ball and made a few great passes, if only we could afford him. Also Akins is always a fucking handful  when we play against him, he fluffs a few chances but creates so many really good things too.

[Peter Venkman]

a tough 3 points that should have been easier ,Swindon a very average side, very slow out of the blocks but we let them back into the game but fortunately they didn't take full advantage.. good 3 points

fair play to Swindon for giving ita go 2nd half.

Thought Swindon had a bit about them going forwards to be fair to them but they was to be expected - they’ve scored a lot of goals this season

Swindon were so passive in the first half they must have had a rocket at half time as they caused us lots of problems 2nd half ,particularly there no 7

Gunning said in his interview (which I thought was one of the best I've heard this season btw) that they knew Cargill was a CB playing at left back so Swindon targetted their attacks down his flank.

It's good logic from their manager. CBs tend to be much poorer at 1v1 defending than wing backs. However Cargills quality means not many can take advantage of it, can only remember Peterborough and Swindon doing so. I was confused watching them during the game as I thought their LWB looked their best player yet they never gave him the ball

There 7 Elbouzedi gave Cargill a torrid time 2nd half and Baily is a very good player.Hopefully if we go up he’d be a quality signing for us if we could get him from Swindon,obviously I can’t see that happening but you never know in football

Always nice to beat Swindon who have proved to be difficult opponents over the years. We should have beaten them at the County Ground

[Batch]

Yes Gunnings style is more entertaining than Flynns football .

Flynn's first 9 games were more entertaining than Gunning's first 9 were!

[theakston2k]

Let's not forget we didn't "get rid" of Kinsella. He wanted to leave for personal reasons if I remember rightly.

The club consistently contradicted themselves over the reasons for him going, just like with everything. One minute it was personal reasons the next Gunning was saying it was because he wouldn’t get in the team. They are incapable of giving straight answers.

Let’s not forget though, at the fans forum Gunning said Kahn is one of the best CDM’s in the league which is obviously both a laughable statement and a massive red flag against Gunning’s judgement. He’s obviously not just saying that either, he clearly believes it as he starts Kahn whenever he is available.

[UTR]

Fair point on the not going if it’s not enjoyable anymore. I’ve lost care for the on pitch stuff for a long while now but still attended the home matches mainly through the social aspect of seeing friends for a few beers pre match that made it worth attending. However, Harrogate was the first match where I was sat there thinking “why am I actually here?” and if not for other plans, I’d probably have got up and left at half time.

It’s not a case of being fickle and only not enjoying it because we’re having a poor season, I’ve happily sat through some of the worst seasons in recent memory and still looked forward to the football every weekend, this is a different feeling of complete apathy due to not seeing where a change is going to come from and having no confidence in the controlling powers to get us moving in the right direction. The likelihood is until a sale, we’re stuck in purgatory, we likely appoint Gunning full time, wing a sub par summer transfer window and the downward trajectory continues.

The larger issue for the club is how many other people feel the same and that’s hard to get back. I’ll be interested to see the initial ST renewal numbers to see if that is reflected or not.

[tans]

Gav’s selections get more bizarre game by game. God knows what he thinks he sees when picking his starting XI. Have a proper back 4 and stick with it - Kokolo, McCarthy, FBT, Dokes - simple. We have plenty of options up top so that just leaves the thorny subject of the midfield. Too many players are of a similar physical stature - Cain, McCreachan, Aguiar. Not sure Devoy is up to it. Khan blows more cold than hot these days.

When Stags go up get Boateng ffs.

His selections are bizarre as he doesnt have a fucking clue.

Boateng starting every week for Mansfield

[tans]

But he was under contract so we were under no obligation to accommodate his wishes

And to let him go for no fee just reeked of clearing the wage bill

At least get a small fee for him at least

[Anonymous77]

Our last good result was when Devoy and Aguiar partnered each other in midfield - Kahn was suspended.

I would even bother offering Khan a new deal, has one good game a month if that.

[Bob1978]

I would even bother offering Khan a new deal, has one good game a month if that.

Agreed - it’s a shame because he was great at the start of the season.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

.

[DiV]

Not only that but 2 years on and I couldn’t tell you what type of midfielder he is.

He’s not a DM. Not big enough, strong enough, disciplined enough.
He’s not a passing midfielder. Doesn’t move the ball quickly enough, gets caught in possession too often. No discipline.
He’s not a creative midfielder. Doesn’t create or score goals.

Like, I expect our players to be limited but at least be limited at a certain thing.
For example Brewitt isn’t very good at a lot of things. He’s a reactive last ditch defender. Blocks and recovery challenges. That his strengths and we at least know that.

…but…Khan

[DiV]

I guess a better example would have been Hutton. Good crosser, naff defender but we all knew that & in theory the team set up to try & play to his strengths.

We don’t get that with Khan because I don’t know what his strengths are.

[Nemo]

Rather than having strengths and weaknesses Khan has good days and bad. When he's on, he's every type of midfielder all at once. When he's not, he's a spare part. Almost the opposite of Kinsella who was limited but did roughly the same thing in every game.

[RobertT]

I think Khan is your wildcard midfielder in a three.  Next to useless in a two because of the desire to be all over the pitch.  He and Devoy are sometimes on the literal opposite side of the pitch to each other.

He was an attacking player for Chesterfield I think.

The issue we have, is there isn't a single midfielder that is designed for that holding role, and cramming two in to let Khan go means having two small Whispy types.

I also agree with the point that Kinsella was not very good for us - we were abject pre January as well.  Letting him go without replacing with better was the issue.  That either reeked of budget problems or insane management.  Neither of which bodes well.