It hasnt still the same penny pinching approach regardless of covid and watch other clubs sign players in january but we cant?
I totally agree with you about the goal scoring and masking games how many times have we hit the post and bar this season when a goal would of totally changed the game. Even yesterday we could of gone in 1 -0 up at halftime. Scrimshaw must of been a gamble to change it so who knows where DC goes from here ? He is probably pinning his hopes on Flash hitting the ground running when he returns
What struck me yesterday was that the players are playing with fear, they seem afraid to take risks or commit themselves. Whether that is because they are all confused by what they are being told or because Clarke does not encourage freedom of expression, I do not know, but it is a very bad sign because it is very hard to fix.
Really disappointed with the performance again , why do I keep thinking we’re going to turn the corner next game and then the next , and start playing flowing passing football .
In my dreams I hope we can start but the more games I see this season the more I realise what a poor bunch of players we have .
Its frustrating how we come out of the blocks looking quite good for 5 or 10 minutes each game and then just implode .
To watch other teams passing all over the pitch and around our players week in week out you would think the penny would of dropped by now , not just hoofing it every time someone picks up the ball.
The manager is perhaps over complicating the game for the players we have , but surely we can be better than just kicking it forward aimlessly every time we get the ball , it really is so un entertaining to watch .
I take absolutely no pleasure our of this, but I have been saying since before this season started that we just lack quality.
Anybody who has played at a decent level or watched enough live football will know this.
The strike force are poor. Hard working maybe but lack any cutting edge. Midfield the same really. And our defenders doze off and lack the quality to be league footballers. I have been massively critical of Scarr and his ability as a footballer and his comments on Friday in the press were also ill judged. I suspected a hammering from Cheltenham and nothing out of the Newport game.
I now think LP has to come out and start being honest about where we are in terms of finance. We seemingly cannot compete with team with zero commercial activity and less that half our crowds. I want to know exactly why that is.
DC out and I would approach Viveash.
You were lucky, it could have been worse if you had seen them live
Fred Carno defence and keeper
If you look back to 07, you could see from before and after ,many if not most of the squad showed themselves to be too good for this division. Is there a player in this squad you could definitely say this about? Holden, possibly, if he wasn’t being played in a position the manager admits is wrong for him. Adebeyo might turn out to be better, but it’s too early to tell. Guthrie and Clarke might have been once, but are where they belong at this stage of their careers. And even all this ignores some are only borderline EFL quality.
Maybe the left back who’s on loan, but ye spot on.
I am sure there are some who think Clarke should stay in charge. However, enough is enough for the majority of us and this run of games recently shows exactly why that is.
Feel sorry for LP. He is obviously passionate about the Club and wants success. He has said many times of his ambitions for this season and on that basis cannot be happy with the results and importantly the performances around those results.
We have limped out of every Cup competition so no cash rewards from those going forward. We have made schoolboy errors in almost every game and given away cheap goals in almost every game. Other clubs do not offer such gifts.
We are not stupid as fans and see our best and brightest prospect (Rory) played out of position constantly, and a keeper that should have been dropped some time ago still gifting goals or not taking command.
We see constant stupid tinkering and “projects” rather than playing a style and your best mix of players on a constant basis. We may not have the best squad but we do have a core that could compete if well managed.
Let’s face it. Whilst Clarke’s appointment might have been understandable at the time, he has shown for too long an inability to solidly manage and coach a League 2 team that can compete or gain success. He is a dinosaur in a fibre broadband world that needs to be put out of his misery. And ours.
As one of the 87% of ST holders deciding to support the Club and support LP in his hour of need, we have even more reason to say to LP that he needs to remember what he would have done to an under-performing Manager in his successful private sector world. After a season and a half of this dross and now firmly having a squad he chose to acquire and work with it is clear that he has failed to deliver and the signs are that it won’t get better any time soon.
All clubs at our level are cash strapped we all realise. There is no reason with our fan base and the 87% factor that we should be any much worse off than most with the exception of the Salford’s of this time. We don’t have cash to waste but time is of the essence imo.
At the very least in cost terms Liera is worth a punt as First Team Coach and Clarke can look after the Youth team. Of course his massive ridiculous ego would not permit him to do that but I would quite enjoy that process.
Goodbye Clarke. You will not go down ever as a fans favourite so please go now.
Agree with pretty much all of this, it’s down to quality and just that little spark going forward, a bit of positivity which can encourage the rest of the team. Wes has it sometimes but he’s proving that it’s few and far between and that last season was just a bit of good form. I remember saying in the summer that pinning all of our hopes on him would be a dangerous game as I thought it would just be a bit of good form from him.
Also about the finances, I wonder how LP and the rest of the board will take DC’s comments? DC comes across as a man not afraid to throw anyone under the bus as an excuse, and whilst it might be a fair point - how can you expect top 7 results if the budget is ‘nowhere near’ as he put it? It’s still no excuse for the dull football which is some of the worst I’ve ever seen.
It shouldn’t be all on one player - but I honestly think you’ll see a big improvement when Gordon is fit.
Don’t get me wrong Josh is way better than the rest works hard will score you some goals but we could be waiting for Kevin De Bruyne to be coming back from injury and it wouldn’t help this lot along the way.
It’s less about his ability but more the domino effect it’s had since his injury.
I’m fairly sure DC wants to play 4231 with Josh the right sided attacker in the 3… but he doesn’t trust anyone to play that position since the injury.
There are many on here who want DC out, personally, I don’t think he’s going anywhere as he and LP subscribe to the same philosophy in moving the club forward. I’m not sure LP would be ruthless enough to sack him now even if he could financially.
There’s no doubt we can’t afford to pay off Clarke’s and his staff’s contracts.
We tend to forget that DC’s successes have come in the second half of seasons, we were playing some decent football before the COVID outbreak in March.
I really had hope when he came on board, hoped he was the answer, I’m still pulling for him but the rope is beginning to slip through my hands and I’m losing my grip.
I’m not making excuses for him, this is not an inherited team it’s his, one he built and he has to take the responsibility for it.
A side that has been together for 18 months should know each other’s game inside out and should not be as unbalanced as we are.
I was pleased with out first half performance yesterday, we got at them early and defended well. The second half really upset me, after their first goal went in it’s like they said “Ok, we lost, why bother.” That is exactly how they played - totally unacceptable!
I thought I had seen the last of that during the Whitney and Keates regimes, something I don’t wish to see again.
I’m not sure I subscribe to this we will get better in the 2nd half of the season thing.
We did improve last season but not that much that we were going to get into the play offs or automatic promotion.
We were a team who had nothing to play for, no pressure to get results for relegation or promotion.
This is the same team and manager and I don’t think they perform under pressure to produce the goods.
This is exactly what I was going to add about yesterday, very well put sir!
Great minds think alike!!
I wonder if the mere two relegation places in this division saps a bit of urgency from players perhaps too inclined to go for the half-arsed approach. A club can really drift along forever here by doing a relatively weak minimum; I recall Rochdale spent a few thousand years here before pulling their trousers up.
People saying finances is the reason we can’t sack him, we can’t afford to pay him off ?
Tbh I reckon he’ll have no trouble getting another job with the managerial Merry go round and once that happens we (I believe) won’t have to pay him, if this is the case as I’m sure I’ve read on here before then I’d take the risk and dismiss him.
But if this does happen the next manager appointment will be the biggest in the history of our club because if that fails we could quite easily fall out the league and out of existence altogether.
Who will be the ones having a big say in appointing the next manager, that’s right Mole and Gamble the same two who appointed the last 3 flops, can LP trust them to get the next one right ?
Worrying times for us fans.
Agree with you both here I think it’s disgraceful when a team gives up the ghost in a match especially at just one nil down I seem to remember Southampton getting hammered 9-0 by Leicester last year and they still ran round and didn’t give up until the 6th went in infact I thought he’d be sacked after that game but look at what Ralph Hasenhüttl has done since maybe an indication that sticking with someone can reap its rewards but not so sure in our situation.