Grimsby Home 8th Feb

100% agree with all your points. I also thought their left back was excellent and nullified Connolly both with pace and ability. Glennon? I think he is called
and would be on my shopping list as a proper left back for higher things.Also thought their 10 and 18 were top drawer at this level and gave them a strong left side against our not so strong right side.

 

Connelly was so frustrating. Once he had beaten their excellent full back, he couldn't beat the man in front of him with a cross. I'd be tempted to start with DMH on Tuesday, who looks just as quick, and put two successful crosses in his short cameo, to Connellys zero.

 

We need a sporting director. We can't keep doing this.

I agree we have no real balance in midfield or the squad. Hoping we make the play off's and go up but playing with two target men, a winger with no end product, a midfielder that bottle 50/50 challenges it's going to be tough.

I

 

And BTW, where was Drury? I didn't see him doing his usual clipboard strut on the sidelines.

 

And therein lies the point, of sorts. We were direct at times but when we were, it was purposeful. Not the side to side among a back 9 then lump it to Vaughan on his own nonsense that Bowyer had us doing. There was a marked difference between how we played yesterday and anything we saw under Bowyer

 

cooke is not a wide player though, they have a completely different mentality.. a central player will always drift inside looking to get on to the ball. a natural wide player will know it's his job to ensure he tracks the full-back from the opposition when defending. it was a poor substitution and change in shape.

 

i agree park, it was very direct. you could tell the game plan from the first minute when O'Donnell ushered people forward and played long that those were the instructions. i can't recall many times when we tried to work the ball through the thirds, it was up to the big men and work off the second ball. i'm expecting that to change over the next few weeks as McCall has more time with the squad. if it doesn't I wonder how long people will be happy with long and direct. personally, i didn't find the game yesterday that entertaining. grimsby played by far the better football.

 

He had two players.

He was overloaded.

Watch the highlights.

That's a team issue, not a scapegoat issue.

 

I am honestly not sure this is the priority, I would prefer any finances to be given to the manager (this time not a head coach with an interfering know it all) and to spend PROPER resources on getting the pitch sorted.
I am not saying a DofF is not a possibility down the line but now Stuart is back with have to back him properly this time and trust he and his team will make as many good decisions as possible

 

We played long goal kicks.

In my honest opinion, that alone does not constitute long ball football. Long ball football is constant diagonal balls from the centre back to the strikers, which is not what we saw.

Also,my opinion, League Two sides playing out from the keeper and through the thirds? Absolutely ridiculous and stupid.

The Cheltenham game where they tried to do that was embarrassing viewing. The worst footballing performance I can remember from an away side. Just awful.

 

And the pitch. No more half-arseing it on the cheap. I understand its the best part of a million quid, and I understand that the idea is even more unpalatable because we dont own the ground, but it has to be done.

 

most things were long and direct - whether it was O'Donnell from goal kicks or out of his hands, the centre-half going up to the centre-forwards or the full-backs playing around the corner and in behind the opposition full-backs to turn them and the wingers chase and hustle. it is ok to admit that we played that way and criticise that it wasn't the most glamorous and the there wasn't much quality on show. McCall even admitted that himself. there's nothing wrong with having an opinion on what wasn't the most pleasing on the eye football.

plenty of teams try to play through the thirds; an example of that was Grimsby yesterday whose full-backs and centre-half were happy to take the ball short from the 'keeper. their midfielders were happy to receive the ball and play little one-two's popping the ball around with one and two touch moves and they looked comfortable doing it.

hopefully the more time the new coaching staff have with the squad, the better the quality and standard gets but we were poor yesterday and there's absolutely nothing wrong with stating that. unfortunately, it seems that people aren't now allowed to criticise the performances under the new regime.

 

Wonder what state it is in today after storm Ciara?

 

I agree, I didn't say it was a good substitution. Although in fairness, Cooke has played a lot of football in that role so should be able to play an odd spell there.

I was just replying to the poster who says that the left side was left unmanned.

 

Fully agree there was absolutely nothing wrong with the way we played with two big men upfront and the state of the pitch. What is funny is seeing people on here who hate long ball trying to deny it

 

i agree, however as plenty of people mentioned when criticising previous managers styles and setup - the pitch was the same for both teams and other teams have been able to come to Valley Parade this season and play some decent football on it. like i've said, hopefully the more time McCall gets with them the better the quality and style will become.

it's also funny when people mention effort, running and endeavour. those aspects of the performance were better than they have been and these are the minimum that should be expected but if i wanted to watch people put effort in for running i'd have taken up athletics.

 

Yes I agree, how stupid of me to think we would've been battered by a team on the up, after losing 3-0 twice in the past two weeks to teams in the lower depths of the division. After securing 3 wins from 18.

A battering at home was coming. The stadium would've been half empty apart from the 2500 Grimsby fans and Holloway would've had a field day as Boreyers Bantams sets up 5 at the back and sits us deep in our own half.

Glad to see you're still living in October though, form means nothing to you. Hope we can beat Stevenage on Tuesday, they won the 2010-11 League Two Playoffs, should be tough!

 

Their LB is on loan from Burnley...if Wood was near his level then we'd be in for a hefty payday.

 

Finances have been given to the manager before in Bowyer and look with that we're left with?

Most clubs have a sporting director and we need to get with the times.

McCall hopefully will be here for years but on the recruitment side and football identity side of things the club needs help.

 

It's a fair point. We've lost our identity, if we ever really had one. It's one thing backing the manager, but it has to be within the context of a wider plan. Bowyer has left us with a bloated squad that lacks quality. He's signed some proper duffers and left us top heavy with too many similar players and left us short of a few key ingredients.

We need a big clear out in the summer. Proper rebuild.