Match Thread Most liked posts in thread: Stockport County vs Bradford City Tues 24 January @ 7.45pm

Greetings, County fan in peace. Absolutely horrible game to watch last night for both sets of fans. Thought we were poor by our standards & apart from a brief spell at the start of the 2nd half where we applied a bit of pressure we got sucked into a continuous game of hoofball, both sides seemed content to just keep lumping it up to nowhere with the same unfruitful outcome over & over again. Thought both defences were solid although neither were particularly tested by sustained attacking spells, thought you looked a little shaky defending corners but other that you fully nullified our front men. From our perspective your back line had periods where they passed it about between themselves at will & we did little to press them.

Looked like you had a nailed on penalty shout early 1st half but some of ours are saying on tv replays your fella went down too easy & might of been better staying on his feet to get the shot off, personally in real time I've seen them given this season for far less & thought we got away with that one! The ref in general just didn't want to give anything which may have contributed to the ugly physicality of the game, Refs in this division either seem overly card happy & nit picky or go to the other extreme & completely ignore everything! There doesn't seem to be any inbetween.

I worried a bit when you brought Cooke on near the end as I thought he's just the type of player who could nick a late winner, It say's a lot about the dourness of Mark Hughes though when he's prepared to leave a proven scorer on the bench for over 80 minutes! Thought his shithousery with the throw in incident was also disappointing, a manager trying to impede a player showed a lack of class on his part in my opinion.

Best of luck for the rest of the season. A club your size with your fanbase should be gracing the championship not league two but from our point of view after 11 years of non-league hell it's fantastic to be playing proper teams like yourselves who pack the away end again. Despite the dross served up on the pitch last night it still feels like a return to proper football for us after suffering years of playing village teams who sometimes brought less than 20 fans!

 

I'm not sure where we stand exactly in terms of spend, but I do believe wholeheartedly we're spending enough to get promoted.

What we don't have is a base level of consistency, or a long term footballing identity, and those are major issues currently hampering us whether we like it or not.

Every time I ask myself why Bradford City isn't top two, the only answer is this:

We're suffering a perennial hangover due to chronic mismanagement of issues both on and off the field.

It took Phil Parkinson to come in and show this club how to run itself even under Lawn and Rhodes, who most fans will probably now feel did a solid job running this club as a pair.

We're all hoping it takes Mark Hughes to come in, now, and do the same - and maybe we're witnessing him transform this club into a competitive one not just in League Two, but with the capability to perform in League One as well when we get there.

I believe that's happening, but just like under Phil, it's not easy when the people running the club leave someone like Hughes with the dregs of a poorly-conceived Derek Adams side, which in turn was inappropriately built on the back of a Stuart McCall/Trueman & Sellars side, which in turn was inappropriately built on the back of a Gary Bower side.

If we'd had an appropriate manager in place before Hughes, playing a similar (if ultimately unsuccessful) style of football, and we'd needed fewer signings in the Summer, then I genuinely believe we could be top three right now. But the chronic pressing of the panic button by Sparks, combined with the complete dismantling & rebuilding of our entire squad every season is a recipe for disaster.

But, here we are, Hughes has just under a year in charge, we've got a respectable win percentage of around 40 % under him, and we're still clearly building a team (hence 4 or 5 signings already this window).

What matters more than budgets, sponsors, crowds, and expectations is reality, and the reality is, we're about three quarters of the way to having a quality League Two side consisting of young(ish) players who can potentially play a level above.

Three-quarters of the way there.

It's frustrating, but for God's sake, no more panic buttons, no more rebuilds, no sackings, and even if we don't finish in the top seven, let's give it another bloody go next year with a bit of god damn consistency. If Hughes leaves, he leaves us with a philosophy of playing 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, and with only minimal changes needed. A major fear has to be that we finally start getting things sorted, but because we're not in League One come 23/24, we're hiring another Derek Adams-type and starting from scratch again with absolutely nothing to show for it except an ever-increasing sense of frustration because despite being the biggest fish in the pond, we haven't learned how to bloody well swim.

 

I'm not normally lost for words but wow, just wow.

 

Just think, 10 years ago today we were celebrating seeing off Aston Villa & getting to the League Cup Final, and now we're worrying about Stockport County maybe being too tough a challenge for us!

 

Just with Andy Cook for a minute, lad gets his nose broken but more than up for coming back on. No theatrics, no rolling around like you've been shot. He might be limited technically but I want this lad starting every week.

 

There are a few pay and display car parks within a 5-10 minute walk of Edgeley Park. There are also a couple of matchday car parks available too. Otherwise it’s street parking though be mindful that some streets are resident parking only zones.

We’ve compiled a list of car parks, below, near Edgeley Park for hassle free parking while you’re at the match.

Car Park Sat Nav Cost Distance to Ground Description
Caroline Street Car Park SK3 9DJ 80p 0.4km This council owned car park is just a 5 minute walk to the stadium and is priced really cheaply at just 80p for 4 hours.
Bulkeley Street Car Park SK3 9AJ 80p 0.4km Council owned, this car park has just 22 spaces so fills up fast but its cheap at just 80p for 4 hours, and is a 5 minute walk to the stadium.
York Street Car Park SK3 9AD 80p 0.5km This is another council owned car park within a 5 minute walk to the stadium, again costing just 80p for 4 hours parking.
Stockport College SK1 3UQ £4 1.1km This car park is a 10-15 minute walk from Edgeley Park. It’s open between 12-6pm on matchday and is cash only. It only has space for 105 cars so it fills up quickly.
Stopford House Car Park SK1 3UQ £3 1.2km Holding approximately 200 cars, this car park is a 15 minute walk to Edgeley Park. Entrance is via Edward Street and parking is on the middle and upper levels. Payment is cash upon entry.

 

In which case, neither player should have been brought to the club

 

I'm sick to death of all the piss moaners.
I'm no happy clapper, far from it.
I'm not blind to players playing poorly or a manager not earning his wage.
If I feel a manager has lost his dressing room then I accept his time is up.
I've slagged Gilliead off all season until the diamond was introduced.
But I'm also clued up enough to think yes we have been dull as dishwater these last 2 games.
But I understand there is a reason.
After we had played Sutton in November we were a win off 3rd.
We had played 18 league games, conceded 14 goals whilst keeping 7 clean sheets.
0.77 goals per game.
Clean sheet in 39% of games
After the Rochdale game, we had played 6 league games since Sutton.
In the 6 matches we were conceding an average of 1.83 goals a game.
We kept a clean sheet in only 17% of the games.
We had gone from a win shy of the top 3 down to 7 points off.
If any of our supporters can't see that the whole team needed a reminder of the type of defensive solidity that had us near the promotion places then these stats show what Hughes is trying achieve.
Get us playing tight again.
If we keep it clean then the chances are we either get a point or grab all 3.
I get that we have better attacking options than played last night.
Chapman, Banks, Cook, Perriera.
Banks was in the stand last night declaring he was fit but not selected.
Chapman was taken out for Wimbledon.
Cook has been out ever since the 3 defeats on the spin.
Perriera is a total luxury.
Coincidences???
For me though these are luxury players, not roll your sleeves up and press, be physical, forget the referee and get on with the game players.
Players that we need right now to try and get us back to being hard to beat.
Football clubs are totally different these days.
The approach is defined by statistics, and we have a dedicated team who will be pointing out the why's and why nots about goals and chances conceded compared to points per game and league positions.
I bet you they use the stat I've just produced of the amount of points we accumulate when we are defensively sound compared to not.
Making us tight again, whilst picking up points at historically tough teams on good runs, whilst keeping our real quality rested and blooding recently acquired loan players into the revised work ethics, for me is good management and something we will see the benefit of in the next 10 games.

 

If you want running, try giving Nevers more than 5 minutes

 

If I’m honest I find it all irrelevant what’s happened in our history and some what defeatist, you can’t change the past but you can effect the future. I bet our time spent in the top two flights isn’t much different than a Bournemouth or Brentford, they don’t seem to have our inferiority complex however.

 

Its more relevant than you think, its part of who you are. Now there's no reason you can't change that history but that usually involves owners with bucket loads of cash and a game plan. Something only Geoffrey Richmond has had in my 40+ years of watching us. And in that 40+ years i can only remember us three times ever looking like a team with grandeurs of automatic promotion, that in 85 (when we were champions), in 87/88 when we should have gone up and in 97/98 when we went up automatically. Effectively, take out BFGs roller coaster ride and we are what we are, a lower league journeyman.

 

Llike @banbrotam , I'm quite happy to see us be more hard edged and tougher to beat, particularly away from home. So a Clayton/Smallwood/ Gilliead midfield seems a reasonable idea when we're away.

But unlike @banbrotam , I don't believe that Smallwood has the creativity required when we're at home. Relying on only three team members to shoulder all the chance creation and goalscoring is a tough ask at the best of times. But it's immeasurably harder if those attackers don't get quick, accurate ball from those playing behind them.

What we've seen all season is that the front players either get hoofball or else they receive the ball - usually when they are static, with backs to goal - after prolonged periods of slow passing between the backs and defensive midfielders.

We need one of our midfielders to either:

a) carry the ball upfield quickly, break lines and lay it off to the attackers when they have forward momentum (a job that Gilliead ought to be perfectly capable of doing but his final delivery/decision making is ,sadly, woeful) or

b) visualise and execute quick, accurate passes in transition - through the channels or out wide - so that our forwards are unmarked and have forward momentum when they receive it. We saw such opportunities yesterday but, instead of playing the forward pass, we went backwards.

I think we've seen that Smallwood is not the man to deliver either of those options. His instinct is usually to play it square or backwards. He and Clayton are essentially the same player - sitting midfielders who break up play and play the safe, easy pass to retain possession. We can't afford two of those at home. Someone has to be able and prepared to hit the early defence-splitting pass through the channels, or quickly find our wide men, or else run at the opposition and get them retreating. Expecting three forwards to create and score goals out of nothing from persistently slow service is asking too much of L2 players.

 

Where you were three years ago is of no consequence. They have spent a shed load of money, have a nice rich benefactor and have one of the strongest front lines in the division in Sarcevic, Madden and Wootton. They are also on a run of something like 10 wins in 13.

 

Good form or not, and I still accept Stockport are a ‘proper club’, but Christ it’s bad when people are talking about being happy with a draw in league two.
Current situation yes, but it says a heck of a lot about our current situation.
Expectations and standards are still low and accepting of mediocrity.
Should be going there looking for nothing less than a win!

 

Great Post @JonButterfield

 

Wow we’re poor. Basic errors. It’s now nearing the end of January, and I’ve still not got a clue what our game plan is. Every game we just look like a Sunday league team pulled together just before kick off. I’m disappointed in Mark Hughes. Had high hopes he’d bring a format of football to the club that would get us winning matches by judgement rather than luck. So far he’s done neither.

 

Truly awful to watch is Adam's back. Thought bola was poor. Actually thought Derbyshire looked alrite I'd start him with cook. Oliver just does nothing for me

 

Cook and Derbyshire looked more of a threat in 10 minutes.

 

yeah for every point against a team 10th there is a loss to a team sat 24th that’s why folk are so angry on here ........... teams that tend to get promoted normally beat up on poor teams and look to pick up points away from home against form teams ........... so please I’m sorry if I ain’t getting all giddy because I will put money on that another Rochdale performance is just around the corner .......... we did nothing to hurt them tonight and that goes for a lot of teams that we have faced this season ......... honestly you would have thought Hughes had pulled off a master stroke in getting a point at Stockport but that performance was like many others we’ve had to endure this season ........... hardly any shots at goal no creativity a poor midfield ......... it’s poor and I don’t care how you try and dress it up