Match Thread Home v Harrogate Town Tues Feb 22nd @7.45pm

no way did we deserve to lose that game tonight . more fight than we have seen in weeks. two set pieces and a break away goal in the last minute have done for us,
Gillead should have scored twice from his headers and their keeper made the great save to keep it at 1 first half.
Trueman is not the man for me though. 1 point from 36 the last 12 matches he has been in control 10 last and 2 this , says all you need to know.

 

What has happened to Cook? Severely overweight and looks a shadow of himself.

 

Performance was better in parts, once they scored the second we panicked and resorted to just hoofing it. This division is so poor at the times you can string 5 passes together you look like creating a chance. Issues are we make too many individual errors (through the team not just at the back) and we don’t look like scoring. More effort was shown in parts tonight and also a bit more attempt to play football. Vernam and Walker would definitely have made a difference tonight and they are 2 decent players we are missing badly. Foulds is also a positive looked decent until he had to go off.

 

Piled it on at Xmas when we had that long break due to Covid and looked lethargic and even more unfit since hasn’t he

 

Men against boys all night, expect ROD will be back between sticks next match.....

 

We were all saying the same, our team looked to be National League quality at best, Sheridan comes in and we have the same players now running their bollocks off and the whole dynamic has changed!!

 

I personally do not think Trueman is the problem. Our recruitment in the summer and winter is the worst I have seen. Do I want him long term? I want the structure of the club sorted first. Ppl have become obsessed with the manager. We need to look at training facilities, we need a plan, and we keep putting it off. Now we are in a situation where I am not sure we have enough points, but I am not sure a change of manager would get us there. We still have a long injury list, we still have all the same players, we can’t alter anything materially on the field. I so no lack of effort tonight, lack of quality was evident and has been all season.
If it was my decision I would be appointing a DOF first and foremost that is something we can do. Then we get cracking on a plan, and appoint a manager who knows what the plan is and a way of playing that suits this club. If we try and bring somebody in short term, the players have to try and play the way the new manager wants, and we don’t have time. We have kept doing that for 4/5 years, they we didn’t know they were short term, but they were.

it is a very difficult call. Do we bring somebody in till the end of the season or stick with what we have? Trying to appoint a manager before the structure is putting the cart before the horse again!

 

He’s been battered by every center back pairing in League two. Hanson may of managed but Cook is no Hanson. Cook isn’t even a target man, Hes a poacher by nature. Don’t blame him for being disheartened. its the equivalent of playing a CDM at Right Back or at CB. Oh Wait…

 

A tad bitter there mate-they took their chances and looked a well organised side. Above us in the table.

 

Saw more interplay with Robinson Reading cooks flick ons than all season, due to playing 1 up front. Cook won decent amount of balls in the air and didn’t give up unlike when he was fighting 2 at Oldham. I agree he is overweight and not the answer. He is limited on the floor. Harrogate front men possess much better movement and pace than we do. Symptomatic of our atrocious recruitment. Too many similar players up front and in midfield and Gilleard has to bury that header.

 

Had to laugh at some of the OTT reactions at HT. We didn't play well at all tonight. We were a bit better off the ball in terms of our pressing and intensity but the quality was non existent and tactically we were all over the shop.

No surprises though, Trueman isn't good enough and this squad certainly isn't anywhere near good enough.

Sad day when Harrogate Town have better players than us in nearly every position.

 

spot on. Especially that final paragraph.

 

It's funny, I saw real similarities.

The stick that Watt gets for poor passes, Falkingham was even worse. His pass completion when not passing three yards must have been sub-50 %

Their defence looked flimsy, and they struggled with an out-of-shape Andy Cook. Never seen him win so many physical battles. The lad Sheron who I think was playing full back or wing back was particularly awful.

The boy Armstrong up front was mobile and could pass, which we've been missing all season alongside Cook.

I didn't see a particularly good team, and I'm not surprised we're the only side they've beaten in the last 7 games.

 

Cook won every header today , and was our only outlet but he did only have one defender on him for a change ,two up front helped him , we did push up and we’re pressing better ;but with injury’s affecting the defence we’re still always likely to give goals away

 

Yes the phone in tonight was cringeworthy. Whoever Wayne is needs medical assistance and quickly. I swear the second dude with the "blueprint for success" was on drugs.

 

It's unfair to judge Trueman on last season when he was JOINT manager and has different players he didn't sign

 

Twice.

 

5 years ago, our local derby’s were Sheffield United, Rotherham, Doncaster etc

Now its Harrogate. And we’ve lost to em every single time in the last 2 years.

If that isn’t a wake up call, I don’t know what is

 

I normally agree with you Mart but I can't on Cook. He's as average a league 2 striker as you will ever see.

 

Disagree we were tactically all over the shop. It was clear as day what tonight's tactics were. Get the ball forward to the front 2 and give them something to think about and certainly in the first half it was very effective. They were pegged back in their own half for long spells. They scored with their only shot on target in the first half.