Match Thread Away V Carlisle Saturday 13th March 3.00pm

Must win TBH

 

Win or score draw. Think we’ll get a bounce back

 

It's the final third that just ain't clicking, so I have my concern.

I'm hoping that we approach the game with a winning mentality from the off (I keep saying we are slow into games) to take the game to Carlisle, who are on a poor run of form, especially if Cooke is back in the fold but it needs to click in that final third. If we retain the ball better, push up them extra yards, to not leave Cook/Rowe somewhat isolated and give up possession, we can win this game.

But I just feel we are looking not to the lose the game first and foremost, so for that reason, a draw.

 

Hope Canavan isn’t injured heard he has a back injury

 

If so, revert to the back four that did well in the earlier games under T&S. Still a loss though, he has been immense.

 

Whilst this not going to define our season, it's a pivotal moment, pretty similar to where we were after the first 16 games. Win it and we bounce straight back and can easily go on a run that could see us less than 15 points off the final playoff requirement with 10 games to go, lose it and we are starting to get cut adrift.

I think we will have learned more from the defeat at Newport (which still hurts) than from any other match under T&S and I trust them to change things in a way I could never trust Stuart "The immovable object" McCall. The primary lesson being we have to have either Cook or Rowe on the field for the full 90 minutes.

It's a win for me, and a pretty comfortable one at that.

 

I agree that you can learn more from a defeat than a string of victories:

I don't think there's any need to throw the baby out with the bath water here. Whilst the first half was a total snoozefest on Tuesday night, in the second half against Newport we looked totally in control. So there's no need for wholesale changes.

That said, we need to stop giving away stupid fouls around our own box. This has been going on for weeks and Tuesday night was the first time a team with a decent dead ball specialist exposed this.

We also need to look to kill games off. Narrow 1-0 leads are okay but we bossed the game for 30 mins in the second half (after our goal) without anything to show from it.

And finally, we need to keep calm when we concede. We saw again on Tuesday night, that it gives the other team a lift (like it did against Walsall) and we allow them to dictate the pace of the game. Up until the first Newport goal, we'd set the pace but after we started haring around the pitch chasing shadows.

 

T&S have alluded to the fact that because of the run of Tue/Sat games, training has been more about recovery than anything else. Hopefully with a free week next week, they will get a chance to really work with the players and make sure they get that 'click'.

 

Heard where? Sellers said in the presser there are no new injury worries after Tuesday.

 

I hope T&S get us back on track.

I've just noticed one thing that suggests we might be getting a little bit predictable - for the last five consecutive games we've made four substitutions, all four attacking players.

Perhaps we need to mix it up a little bit, as it feels like we're going through the motions in terms of game management. Automatically removing our goalscoring strikers (usually one for the other, granted), losing a little bit of balance by automatically replacing our three attacking midfielders even when the changes aren't really like-for-like, and I've felt we've lost a bit of shape at times too.

4-2-3-1 has worked a treat, but it feels like it gets a bit chaotic once we've made all of our changes. Are we phoning them in, or what?

 

Yes it’s predictable, but why take a defender off of the back unit is playing so well?

You could say , in the unlikely event we are “coasting” , that bring off a defender for a “rest”, or those on a yellow, but otherwise it’s a no from me. Let’s face it they rarely charge all over the place and therefore less likely to get burn out.?

 

The newport loss was down to bad luck an was an annomoly, I reckon we’l beat carlisle comfortably

 

Bold bet, we haven't really beaten anyone that comfortably all season.

 

Very quiet in here. Really looking forward to tomorrow's game. (naively perhaps) I think we could actually have a good reaction and a solid win 2-0 / 3-0 / 3-1.







Or not.........

 

Match day. I would have been on the train to Carlisle today with Keighley Massive. Looking for a win today Carlisle have a couple of injuries I believe Devine out Kayoda out . Hopefully Callum Cooke will be back in the lineup and Andy Cook may want to show them a thing or two after his youth spell there . Going for 1-3 City “moving on up”

 

Think I have still got by CTC73 badge somewhere in the loft

 

Is Devine injured or just out of favour? Don't think he's featured for them in more than a handful of games all season.

 

Been injured from reading the comments of players like Riley. Wouldn't have made much difference if he was fit.