Most liked posts in thread: Away v Grimsby Town

That formation and personnel on Saturday gave no one any confidence. The clean sheet bothers me less than the fact of us actually winning and that means playing a different way than we did on Saturday.

 

I was. As far as i was concerned we created 3 decent chances at goal. Vaughans overhead, Vaughans weak attempt which was more of a back pass and Donaldsons stretch to Scannells cross. I don't think we played badly on Saturday but actual decent scoring scoring chances were very few.

 

I feel like are forgetting how absolutely, chronically crap we were last season.

Anyone looking at the worst side in the EFL, and yes I'm including League Two, and wondering why, a few months on, we didn't pagger Cambridge probably need to watch a few re-runs of last season, when ROD, AOC, Kelvin Mellor, Jermaine Anderson, Jordan Gibson and Eoin Doyle proved themselves to be part of the worst side in recent Bradford City memory.

More than half our starting line up consisted of 'that team'.

Hopefully, going forward, that number is reduced.

Drastically.

 

Poor stuff. Even game, but low on quality. Only game two, but the same deficiencies are evident - no width, no pace, no penetration, no control of possession or creativity in the middle of the park.

We don’t yet look anything like a side that should be challenging for top 7, let alone a top 3. A game and a half in and we haven’t looked like scoring a goal.

A need for more quality, and more balanced team selection. What the hell makes Bowyer believe that Doyle can play at number 10 I have no idea. His touch, awareness and link play are awful. Doyle, Anderson, Gibson. None are good enough.

 

We need to be patient in our recovery and there’s much I like about Bowyer. But his selections in the first 2 games are ridiculous. There’s no balance.

Henley at left back is daft - even more so in this system because your full backs need to provide the width.

Doyle at 10 is ridiculous - he can’t play the role and it forces Vaughan and Donaldson to play way too far apart.

Gibson isn’t good enough and Anderson is definitely not good enough. As the half has gone on, Grimsby have established themselves as being the dominant force without doing much.

We’ve been poor. Very poor.

 

This is the trouble when your midfield is garbage. That’s the missing piece of the puzzle.

 

Either the first two games gives GB the ammo to convince SR to to back him to bring the players into play 433 or we go with 442. We looked dangerous the last 15 minutes. I'll take the pelters from my opinion on Anderson because he was poor again today, on the other hand Gibson looks like he has something to me, cuts out some of the tricks and flicks he tries that aren't needed and I think he will develop into a player.

Posted the same at half time but Henley is on the wrong side, makes it quite difficult for us IMO. Put Doyle on the bench and let Donaldson and Vaughan play together, they showed they are clever in the last 15.

Lots to work on.

 

And worst post of the year goes to stropping Bradford City fan 'Captain Black Adder'.

The season has barely started and we've yet to win the league, embarrassing.

 

With all the cra p he gets on here he should have done a lap of honour.

 

Stewarding and policing was shocking.
Im not against chanting with swearing or over zealous celebrations and don't mind a bit niggle between sets of supporters as long as it doesn't end up in violence but some of our supporters take the piss.
Standing on stairs, trying to encroach into other peoples seats just to stand up.
Did none of them see they were right behind where a dozen or so of our disabled supporters were sitting??
I traveled with my 6 year old son and a friend of mine and her 9 year old boy who has severe autism and mobility issues. I was sat 5 rows behind her.
Throughout the whole game my son was stood on his seat so he could see, fair enough no issues.
But the amount of times a lad stood in front of him as we were in the aisle seats so to speak was just ridiculous
As for when we scored, my friends son was nearly crushed as these boys landed on top of him, another lady disabled fan was pushed out of her wheelchair causing each and every one of them to be moved into the Grimsby end.
My friend has said she won't be going to away games now as the same thing happened at Blackpool last season.
2 factors. The complete ignorance of some of our supporters, and these are all regulars as ive seen them at dozens of away games, coupled with the total lack of authority from the stewards and the disgrace that are our police force, ensured that this kind of outcome was possible.
The stewards and police just stood and watched every kind of regulation for the safety of spectators, broken and flouted right in front of them.

 

Or to the goal. Or the ball. Or even his own shadow.

 

I think it's very hard to judge just how good or bad Doyle is now. He has been effective at some clubs and less so at others. What we do know is that he is utterly ineffective both as a target man and as a no 10. He's supposedly a fox in the box but none of our managers have been prepared/able to play him in that role.

 

went to the game with me old man and a friend which was a fun day out as we don't do many away games. I thought the diamond didn't work at all well, if we're gonna play that then the fullbacks need to be providing the width and bombing up and down each flank yet both mellor and Henley turned back every time they got to the half way line which made us slow and predictable. It almost seemed to be like this was the instruction to them both but I felt it took the sting out of our play.I also thought Henley was poor and especially so in the 2nd half as a lot of Grimsbys attacks seemed to come from his side. Longridge to start next game for me.

I think Gibson again had a good game but in the 1st half was too deep to really hurt them.His cross for Vaughans goal in the 2nd half was a peach and I think those two seem to be getting a good understanding as it was Gibsons pass that led to the overhead kick last week. As much as I would replace him with reeves when fit, itd be a shame as I think hes slowly becoming a tidy little player, although his decision making is still infuriating at times. Definitely showing way more blood and guts than last season though. Doyle was crap again and as per last week, not being able to control, pass the ball, win headers or tackle has shite all to do with if you're at the tip of a diamond or a target man.He's just rubbish. Vaughan and Donaldson put themselves about well and Donaldson in particular was responsible for some much welcomed shithousery on our part. He's made drawing a foul into a fine art that lad. Goal was off side but you take these decisions as they inevitably even themselves out over a season.

Also felt the ref was pretty poor as both teams mugged him off all game.

Anderson was crap, completely anonymous and I'd rather we play Devine who's looked tidy enough when called upon. As someone who used to play as a holding midfielder myself, I really like the way he recycles the ball and would be worth a punt at DM if he can work on his strength and tackling. Palmer wasn't very good at all by his standards last week, quite wayward passing and relatively poor set pieces again which is becoming a worry with the big lads we have in the side. Again Reeves coming in would benefit him as I think they'd be effective hunting as a pair in midfield with a DM as cover so they could push forward a bit.

The change to 4-4-2 gave us a lot more impetus in attack with the introduction of Scannell, he needs to be starting for me as we really miss a direct ball carrier with a little bit of pace when he doesn't play.Even before he'd kicked a ball Grimsby had to change shape and sit back more to cope with what they knew he's capable of. The change did leave us a bit more open but I think we have enough in defence to cope, BRE's mentalist distribution aside. I really like him for his strength and determination but he has a pair of boats for feet and can't pass for shit. However it's also L2 so that's not a huge worry given AOC can pass reasonably well alongside him. Still think he's a nob but his rehabilitation continued with another good performance here. O'Donnell played really well for me, looks a lot more like the goalie we saw at the start of last season rather than joe hart-esque screaming mess towards the end of the season.

FInally, a massive F U to the idiots letting off a flare right above the disabled fans in our end and that just shows the thoughtlessness of it all for me. I'm all for being a bit boisterous and having a laugh at the footy, and we had some good back and forth with the Grimsby lot at times but the muppets on the right hand side of our stand want to be ashamed of themselves as the vulnerable fans there are our own. Unforgivable even if they were the other sides fans but again it just highlights the lack of thought/care for those around them imo.

 

Bowyer getting a lot of stuck on here and partly correct but a lot of scare mongering.

We have had the second most shots in the whole of the efl in our opening two games. The tide will turn with a couple of tweaks. We are not far away.

 

Hence the need for unreserved seating at away games.
If we all accept it’s unreserved then nobody will moan and the stewards can’t say feck all.

 

Emailed Mick Lamb about a season ticket issue - replied within the hour and issue sorted. Brilliant service again. Top man.

 

This is what worries me about Bowyer. I wouldn't for a minute suggest that we think about replacing him but when the team news came through in the pub before the game you could see and hear a lot of bemusement. Everyone was filled with optimism, however, so we were all happy to see how it went. It was pretty clear from very early on though that it wasn't going to work and as the second half went on the shouts for change began. But Bowyer did nothing until forced to by Anderson's injury. Why didn't he see what loads of the crowd could, even before the match started?
I go to football to be excited. I want to see chances and goalmouth action but that was virtually non-existent on Saturday. In fact I haven't been excited by a City performance since Wigan away 19 months ago. (No I didn't go to Rochdale). If Bowyer sticks with this system I fear we might be in for a dull season, irrespective of results. We'll see.

 

Don’t agree we were far to narrow against a packed midfield and defence and we will face the same problem many times this season. We need width. If we are to continue playing that way we need a proper number 10

 

The kick off went forward, didn't it?

Add another one on.

 

What about saying we only hit the target 3 times because of our formation?

I only remember Vaughan's over head kick, his pathetic attempt easily saved and Donaldson inches away from converting. That's a real chance every 30 minutes against one of the leagues poorer sides.