The Voice - Match preview Mansfield Town vs Bradford City Saturday 2nd September 2023 3:00pm

Agree. There will always be games , full strength, or the exact opposite , where each will nullify the other.

Pattison was badly missed, Cook wouldn’t have made any difference against Flint. Pace was the only attribute that would beat him!

 

According to Sparks himself, apparently Rupp has no involvement whatsoever and the club is financial self-sustainable with little investment. So isn't Sparks the problem here? After all, he is the ONE constant over the past few years.....

 

At the moment I would agree with but it's early days yet. No team has really teed off yet. Like I said before in the last couple of games we have started to move the ball a lot better, keeping possession much better than last season. With players like Walker, Pattison, Smith and the two new guys we have just signed (plus Chapman when he comes back) we look capable of getting in behind much quicker. On Saturday we eve managed at times to get the wingbacks involved in the opposition's box.
I'm not making bold predictions but I'm not righting us off yet either.

 

This is a sign things are working under the present incumbent.

 

Apologies then, I must have missed it.

I certainly don't think that applies to either manager or players but I can see similarities in the general apathy of fans at the minute.

 

He isn't though is he? Rupp is also a constant so I'm not sure how you dismiss that so easily.

I'm not saying RS doesn't shoulder his portion of responsibility but to completely absolve the totally disinterested Rupp isn't correct in my view.

 

Excellent.

Now pop up the second leg as proof that it didn't.

 

I have a hunch - and I'm prepared to be wrong, of course - that 'apathy' creeps in after about 6-12 months almost regardless of what's happening.

The only way to stave off that apathy is promotion (or in PP's case, promotion AND a cup final).

We entered a promotion lottery last season and had a 1 in 4 chance of promotion. We lost to the team that actually went up.

But the apathy has already reached levels it almost always reaches after that 6-12 month mark.

I think it's boredom, frankly, and not related to the product or the football - boredom related to lack of major success.

But that's not a reason to turn on a manager that achieved a play off spot last season. You can almost guarantee the next manager won't be as good as Mark Hughes, and won't do as well.

Can't we just park the apathy for a season? Does Hughes have to be out of time already? The projections that we're looking nowhere near seem so massively out of proportion with what we're seeing - aside from Morecambe, where we got destroyed, things aren't actually going that badly... I don't know why we have to start readying the firing squad in preparation for a failure we haven't actually suffered yet.

 

In proof that it didn't 'what', Monkey?

That wasn't a sign that something might work under Hughes?

Seriously?!

 

The bit of success with Millwall would have been down to the luck of having both Cascarino and Sheringham as strikers at that time.

 

One word FICKLE. If we aren't winning every game the same lot come out of the woodwork crying for a change of manager , we've played 6 frigging league games yes 6 and already the knives are out.

 

I'm not reading anyone saying he's out of time though? Performances will always be critiqued and when performances are generally thought to be poor and don't yield results then clearly criticism will be fiercer.

Assuming all that means the majority want MH to go is a bit of a stretch given we've seen very little signs of it in the stands up to press.

 

It didn't work. I think that's pretty obvious and Hughes obviously agreed as he's moved away from last season's shape.

 

I think what Hughes has said all along was an inability to change formations effectively cost us in certain games.

This season we're already able to switch between basic formations of 5 at the back and 4 at the back.

So he's achieved what he wanted to, and he believes that will give us a better chance of promotion.

But we already had a decent chance of promotion last season, just as Stockport, Carlisle and Salford all had a decent chance of promotion.

 

You've picked a really bad example there. Hughes' abysmal tactics over BOTH legs cost us a place in the final. Andy Cook's goals during the season gave him a lifeline and Hughes blew it. I'm still haunted by the sight of him, slumped in that dugout in the second leg, while Simpson was urging his team to victory.

 

I just picked us winning a play off game.

That Hughes' tactics led us to victory in?

 

Yep, can't really argue too much with the reasoning behind it and switching formations to be flexible is fine. Not having the personnel to play your preferred formation though, is baffling.

For me he'd have been better off just integrating players like Richards, Pattison and McDonald into his current shape. Another proven striker alongside Cook with a decent replacement for Banks and we'd probably have been good to go!

 

Didn't Docherty sign Cascarino from Gillingham as you say Sheringham was already at the club ?.

 

I can't say it hasn't been frustrating, and I do agree we could have started the season with 4 at the back. I would guess that without actually playing 5 at the back in the early games, Hughes wouldn't consider it a viable option though, and we'd still be stuck with the same old, same old.

I dunno. Chalk it up to a growing pain, I guess. You have to actually use a secondary formation enough for it to be in any way effective.

But yes. I'm hoping we settle into 4 at the back again, with that 5 at the back formation in the back pocket and in reserve. There are no signs of that yet, though, so it might be the inverse (4 at the back being the secondary formation).

I'll tell you what, though, I'm actually looking forward to a home game with McDonald, Pattison, Cook, and all of our best players being available. That's when I think the atmosphere will become optimistic again. We have recruited well this Summer, contrary to regular posts on here saying the opposite, and I think we can do something with some of these better players. Could we have done with a better replacement for Banks? Definitely, unless the new loanees vastly exceed expectations (not convinced, though).

But we need to start scoring, and we need to get the best out of the good players that we have when they're fully fit, and we need to start looking more comfortable in whatever formation Hughes adopts as our primary set up. Criticism is valid, but it does look like we might have something this season, but thus far we've been hampered by untimely injuries, a red card, and too many away days. Excuses? Yes they are. Valid excuses? Well, for now, I'm going to say yes.

 

Agree we weren't that far away as you say money spend on what Hughes thought were our weak areas job done, no not Hughes he rips last seasons blue print up and goes down a completely different route taking precious game time up easing the players into this new formation/system, it's not the end of the world and 3 points against Grimsby with a decent performance would go a long way to rid fans of their doubts.